News
BOMBSHELL! Shettima, does unspeakable things for power! – Datti-Ahmed
Who visited Yakubu Mahmood, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the dead of the night, sprung him out of bed on February 28, and forced him to declare the February 25, 2023 presidential election result in the wee-hours of March 1?
This was the eerie question Datti Baba-Ahmed, the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), posed on Thursday, as he once again weighed into the political development in the country, particularly the controversial election, which he had earlier described as a criminal outcome.
A guest of Prime Time, a public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS television on Thursday, the foremost educationist and owner of the Baze University, Abuja, raised the question while offering his position on the rumoured decision of President Bola Tinubu to drop Kashim Shettima, Vice President ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Known for his daring outspokenness, Baba-Ahmed, indicated that Mahmood must have acted under duress, after someone left a house in Asokoro, a high-brow area in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to pay him a visit at night, on the day he announced to Nigerians that he was retiring to resume the process the next morning.
In a statement he acknowledged was “pregnant with meaning,” Baba-Ahmed, said if it was true that Tinubu had decided to drop the VP, then he must have done him a favour because the relationship between them ought not have lasted this long.
Hear him: “On Shettima, I don’t blame Tinubu, because whoever knows what Shettima did and does, will not allow him last this long. What he did, the airwaves cannot carry it. I know I’m speaking on TV. So, Tinubu has tried keeping him this long. I think the consideration that he be dropped, I think Tinubu has tried.
“It is pregnant. I wish I could say it. What people. What people do for power is unbelievable. I’m more than gasping for air to understand how certain things can give you power. It is not of this world and it did happen. They do, do it. Somebody one day must come out and say, this is what politicians do for power.
Challenged about the fairness of his claims, he argued: “It is not fair, because even saying it is more unfair. It is even more drastic. But I’m saying it because it has to be said. Some of the things, the more you see them, the less you understand.
“Why was it (Tinubu’s election) declared at 4am? On the 28 (February, 2023), Mahmood Yakubu said he was adjourning till next day. Next day technically and legally-speaking is 9am. But by 4am, he sneaked and declared Tinubu the winner. What transpired in-between?
“Who came from one house in Asokoro to another house to say it must be declared. What I’m saying is it is too bad that the airwaves cannot carry it. Something happened that morning before 4am that they said before this thing finished – this thing finished at the Nigerian border.
“Believe me, Tinubu has tried. He has tried for keeping this man this long and for even giving him the privilege of being replaced. I think it’s good enough. In this world, there are things you rather not talk about, because it is just too bad. This tv station is not a court of law. I know what insinuations are, I know what allegations are. I’m not crazy. I’m not insane and I know what I’m saying that what people do for power is unspeakable.
“And this has to stop. Why are we getting everything wrong in Nigeria? Why can’t our leaders perform? Because of what people do for power. The difference between us losers and some winners is because there are certain things we cannot do. There are certain lines we cannot cross. But others will say whatever there is to do, do it. It is better there are no clarity to what I’m saying – better.”
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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