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Akpabio to Obi: You lack the qualities to be President
To be President of a country like Nigeria takes achievers with large appetite for and performance and not for those with little to show as accomplishments when they had opportunities, was the central argument with which Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, dismissed the ambition of Peter Obi, for the nation’s number one job.
Akpabio, former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and later, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, was one the aspirants who lined up for the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had thrown in the towel to support Bola Tinubu, who was also aspiring for the position during the party’s primaries in June 2022.
On the other hand, became the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), who mounted a massive political movement, that saw him not only sweeping 12 states including Lagos and Abuja, alongside Atiku Abubakar and Tinubu, who also posted the same number of states, but became the only candidate that got 25 per cent votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Regardless, Akpabio, who seemed to have scant regard for what was seen as a staller performance, given that the former Governor of Anambra State, whose party had no elected official either at the state or national level, dismissed Obi as social media politician.
Welcoming members back to session at the Senate chambers on Thursday, after a long holiday, Akpabio, Chairman of the National Assembly, took on the LP boss over his comments on Wednesday that the present crop of leaders in Nigeria had not only killed democracy in Nigeria, but rendered the labours of past Nigerian heroes useless.
During his speech on the day prominent Nigerians gathered to pay tribute to Edwin Clark, foremost Ijaw leader and Chairman of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Obi, had bemoaned the sorry state of the nation, saying having destroyed the country, everything must now be done to pick the pieces to commence the rebuilding process.
His words: “I listened to my brother Mike when you talked about, ‘may the Labour of our heroes past not be in vain. I’m happy that Jonathan is here. But I can tell you their sacrifice is in vain. They have sacrificed for nothing. We were in this country, when people were protesting, when there was no need to protest under Goodluck Jonathan. where are those protesters? Have they died? Where are they?
“So why are we saying it (labours of heroes past) should not be in vain? Jonathan increased fuel from N87 to N120 and people were protesting in this country. And when it was N900 they weren’t protesting.
“Again, so why are we saying it (labours of heroes past) should not be in vain? People protested when $1 was N180, and when it was N1500 they weren’t protesting. Are they dead?”
But Akpabio in a quick riposte, wondered on what moral ground Obi would be standing to harbour such a damning sentiments about his country, when he had failed to resolve the internal issues in the LP, which he dismissed as a small party.
“If you cannot resolve the crisis in your Labour Party, how can you solve the crisis of Boko Haram or other major national issues? I urge those aspiring to lead Nigeria to first address the issues within their own parties,” the Senate President, said.
Giving himself as an example, he cited the giant strides he made as governor, which he said qualified him to take higher responsibilities compared to Obi, who he stated had nothing similar to show as his records for the same office in Anambra.
Hear him: “I can proudly speak about the dualized thoroughfares in my city, the international hospitals, and the digitalized governor’s offices. I also initiated free and compulsory education and worked towards religious unity by sponsoring over 5,800 Muslims and over 12,000 to 15,000 Christians on pilgrimages to Rome and Jerusalem.”
Akpabio concluded by saying that while social media can be a tool for communication, it is largely unregulated and often used to sow division. He urged Obi and other presidential aspirants to first resolve their party issues before focusing on the national stage.
Nigeria would not be in the sort of socio-political and economic mess it is currently facing but for the cowardice of the present crop of governors, Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers state, said on Tuesday, saying the country needed courageous leadership at the state levels to confront the ugly situation.
As chairman at the public presentation of Sule Lamido’s autobiography titled: Being True To Myself, written by Sule Lamido, former Governor of Jigawa State, Amaechi, who later became a two-time Minister of Transportation under President Muhammadu Buhari, bewailed the parlous political situation where governors could no longer speak for the people.
Stressing the timidity of his successors, the former governor, who was apparently miffed at the rate at which opposition governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were defecting to the ruling APC, in spite the parlous economic situation in the country, he said such a crisis would never have been allowed during his own time.
Amaechi, who was chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) during Lamido’s second term, but eventually defected to the APC to lead the campaign for the election of Buhari, told his audience: “I asked you (Lamido) this morning, what is going on currently in the country, in Nigerian politics — would it have happened when we were governors?
“You said no. And the answer is no. We would confront the government, confront the President. That’s how radical we were, that’s how our governors forum operated, that’s how determined we were to change things.”
Dwelling on his relationship with the ex-Jigawa governor, who was in office between 2007 and 2015, Amaechi said their working relationship was strong, despite occasional disagreements — including Lamido’s initial objection to his election as NGF chairman.
“We were quite good friends in government. We had our bad times when we disagreed. I made the mistake of assuming he was as radical as I was. So, he was one of the governors I clung to when it came to radical decisions. The last one before we broke ranks was when we all agreed to go against President Jonathan. We formed a committee of governors and others.
“At the end of the day, he went to find a new party, the SDP. We said, ‘If we go to the SDP, we will lose the election. Let’s hang on to this one called the APC.’ He disagreed and left us. That’s where we parted ways. You must never forget the battles we fought.”
“There is no question that there are huge challenges. But if you look at the balance sheet that this President inherited — massive liabilities arising from the very reckless misuse of ways and means — you’d understand why these steps were necessary.”
These were the exact words of Adams Oshiomhole, Senator, representing Edo North at the National Assembly on the state of the Nigerian economy, expressing confidence that the way the President was going, it would not be long before the parlous situation would experience a marked improvement.
Oshiohmole, former Governor of Edo State and former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who was a guest of Politics Today, a public affairs progromme on Channels Television, said on Tuesday, Nigerians were justified to feel unhappy over the rising cost of living and the closure of businesses since the removal of fuel subsidy in 2023, but urged them to be patient and maintain trust in the reforms.
He added: “It’s a work in progress. The surgeon has gone to carry out the surgery. He understands that there is a level of pain — there has to be pain. But the good news is that the patient is healing. Maybe he could heal faster, but there can be no question that the patient is healing.”
Stressing on the issue of the exchange rate unification as a painful but critical decision to align supply with demand, he warned that failure to do so could have plunged the country into a Zimbabwe-like economic collapse, adding: “The consequential increase in cost of living was predictable. But if that was not done, Nigeria was on its way to Zimbabwe.
“President Tinubu deliberately chose to make all the difficult but necessary decisions in his first term to pave the way for long-term recovery. He took the right decision by insisting that in the first term, he would take all the tough decisions — prayerfully — so that as we move on, the situation improves.
“There is no magic to governance. I don’t think any Nigerian who understands the macroeconomic environment that was inherited by this government would expect that, in 24 months, everything would be fixed. Truly, this economy was badly mismanaged. This is not to blame anyone, but to speak to fact. I can say the worst is over, and we are going to begin to witness improvements in standard of living.
“As a governor, it took me time to have a holistic view of the challenges I inherited and to decide, in terms of priority, what to do first. As a Nigerian, I live in the community and among the people. I can say that there is a level of hardship, but things are improving.”
“Given where we are today in the economy, Tinubu will still win the presidential election. The President eliminated an exploitative foreign exchange regime that previously benefited only a privileged few. Tinubu abolished the ‘benefit of exchange rate’ transfer to bureau de change. Today, what he gets in exchange rate is what I get. Eliminating that free rate — which was available to a few people connected with the CBN management — took courage.”
Senate on Wednesday brushed aside the objections of Abdul Ningi, Senator representing Bauchi South at the National Assembly to commence acerated hearing on a whopping ₦1.783 trillion statutory appropriation bill for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The bill for the appropriation of the amount, came through President Bola Tinubu to the Senate in charge of making laws for the FCT, urging them to approve the proposal for the 2025 financial year.
Shortly after reading the letter transmitting the proposal, the upper chamber on Wednesday, harkened to the request of the President to give the bill expedited consideration, noting that its passage was critical to ensuring an effective and service-oriented administration for residents of the FCT.
But an attempt by the Bauchi Senator, elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to halt debates on it pending when the members were abreast of the details was ignored as the Senate invoked Order 78 to allow the bill to scale second reading the same day it was introduced.
Palpably dissatisfied, Ningi, who was once suspended for questioning the financial integrity of the Senate, had raised concerns about the procedure under Order 77 (3 and 4), pointing out that lawmakers had not been provided with copies of the bill prior to the debate.
Leading the debate on the bill, after the objections were brushed aside, Opeyemi Bamidele, Senate Leader, explained that the proposed legislation seeks to authorise the issuance of ₦1,783,823,708,392.00 trillion from the FCT Administration’s Statutory Revenue Fund to finance personnel, overhead, and capital expenditures between January 1 and December 31, 2025.
The budget breakdown includes N150.35 billion for personnel costs, N343.78 billion for overhead, and N1.29 trillion allocated for capital projects.
Bamidele underscored that the primary objective of the budget was to drive an effective and enduring service-oriented administration, with a strong focus on completing ongoing projects that have significant impacts on infrastructure and essential services in Abuja.
He noted that the budget prioritises the continuation of existing projects in the FCT, with the introduction of new ones deemed crucial.
It was on the same day that the Senate also confirmed the appointment of five Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) submitted by the President in March for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The confirmation, which followed the receipt and consideration of a report by Simon Lalong, Chairman of Senate Committee on Electoral Matters during plenary on Wednesday, who urged members to confirm the nominees having passed the screening exercise.
The approved RECs are Umar Yusuf Garba (Kano State), Sa’ad Umar Idris (Bauchi State), Chukwuemeka C. Ibeziako (Anambra State), Umar Mukhtar (Borno State) and Dr. Johnson Alalibo Sinikiem (Bayelsa State).
Tinubu having his way because today’s governors are cowards – Amaechi
Tinubu almost clearing Buhari’s economic mess – Oshomhole
Wike to get N1.78trillion as 2025 budget *Senate ignores Ningi’s objection
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