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I didn’t attack Tinubu, enemies twisting my Jonathan story – Shettima
Vice President, Kashim Shettima, on Friday, pushed back against the pervading insinuations in many circles of a serious rift at the Presidency, saying the comments he made on Thursday was not in any way linked to the State of Emergency rule imposed in Rivers State.
Shettima, had at a book launch in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), declared that the President did not have powers under the Nigerian Constitution to remove an elected leader in Nigeria at whatever level, a comment that was immediately linked to the emergency rule Tinubu imposed on the troubled state on March 18 and interpreted to mean that he was not on all fours with Tinubu’s action.
Stanley Nkwocha, spokesman for the Vice President, in a statement, on Friday, clarified the comments by his boss, stating that they were strictly historical and bore no reference to Tinubu’s intervention in the Rivers crisis.
The VP, who shared his experience with former President Goodluck Jonathan, who he said sought to remove him as governor of Borno State during the Boko Haram insurgency, spoke against the backdrop of the interpretation in many quarters that his narrative was a veiled critique of Tinubu’s decision to impose the emergency rule, which suspended the democratic institutions in Rivers, including the suspension of Siminalayi Fubara, the state governor.
Shettima, while narrating an account of the event on Thursday during the public presentation of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Nigerian Oil Block, a memoir authored by Mohammed Bello Adoke, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ), had told his audience, how Adoke and others intervened by warning the ex-President that he had no powers of removing a councillor not to talk about a governor.
Following the intervention of other lawyers in his government, including Aminu Tambuwal, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Jonathan was said to have banished the idea and halted the move.
Following the interpretation of his narrative as an attack on Tinubu, Shettima said in the statement: “Some news outlets have irresponsibly twisted the vice-president’s account of how the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan floated the idea of removing him from office during the most intense and critical phase of insurgency in the North-East.
“Such commentary amounts to a reckless endangerment of national cohesion and a deliberate misreading of the vice-president’s message. His remarks were purely historical references made to acknowledge the courage and professionalism of Mohammed Adoke.
“President Tinubu followed the constitutional process with honest precision. The president’s proclamation properly invoked Section 305(2) of the 1999 Constitution, which was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly.
“Vice-President Shettima remains firmly aligned with the administration’s goals and has consistently demonstrated his commitment to national stability, constitutional order, and responsible leadership. Vice-President Shettima’s comments were made in good faith and should be appreciated in the proper historical context in which they were delivered. It is dangerous to politicise such statements, especially at a time when unity and clear-headedness are most needed.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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