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APC to Wike: Stay away, mind your PDP business *We don’t know you!
A direct, unequivocal message was sent to Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Monday from the headquarters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) – stay away from our business!
The message was conveyed via Ajibola Basiru, a Senator and National Secretary of the party, who expressed its disgust at the role the Minister is playing in trying to muddle up its affairs in Rivers State following his bitter engagement with Siminalayi Fubara, the state governor and a member of the party.
Basiru, who practically told the Minister that he was a meddlesome interloper, and a busybody, since he was not a member of the APC wondered why he should not direct his energy to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which membership he still maintained.
Using his X platform to pass the message, he wrote: “For the avoidance of doubt, our records indicate that Minister Nyesom Wike is not a member of our Party (APC), so he lacks the locus to dabble into the affairs [of] our party.
“From my record, he isn’t a member of APC. I don’t see which authority or temerity he has to be dabbling in APC affairs.
“I am the National Secretary of APC and I don’t see any basis for him to be making comments about my activities either in Rivers State or in any part of Nigeria.
“As the National Secretary of the party, my activities aren’t confined to Osun State contrary to his wrong impression. I am the head of the National Secretariat of the APC.
“So, he has no locus whatsoever to engage me in any political activity that concerns the APC until he joins the party.
“Secondly, I take strong exception to his allusion that I am interested in the N600 billion allocations of Rivers State. My records of service are those of integrity and commitment to service.
“I am not an opportunist, and I have never shied away from taking principled positions on any matter, no matter whose ox is gored.
“As to his veiled threat against me, I am a believer in God, that only God can do something for anybody, no matter how highly placed.
“I am one of the young Nigerians that confronted military dictatorship. I can’t be bullied by anybody, no matter how highly placed. My records as national secretary are above board, and I can’t be queried by somebody who isn’t a member of APC. Finally, my advice to him is that he should resign as Minister and face his obsession with Rivers politics.”
The chiding came on the heels of Wike’s dart thrown at him at the weekend, warning that he would get his fingers burnt if he, as much as interfered in the political business of Rivers State, where he claimed to be the supreme leader and conducting a political structure where both the PDP and APC would work together to deliver President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
The FCT minister had, during his thank-you visit to the Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state, on Sunday, reacted to Basiru who took umbrage to the reference to Fubara as “so-called governor,” by Victor Giadom, National Vice Chairman, South-South of the party, warned him to stop disrespecting the governor.
But in a clapback, Wike, who obviously approved the supposed disrespect to the governor, who seems to have renewed the political battle with him in the control of the political structure of the state, returned the favour by asking him to stay away from the battle.
“Tell your national secretary to leave Rivers alone. Go and ask those who have tried it before, and don’t take our support for Mr President for granted. You have to be careful of the statement you made.
“When Mr. President comes back, when I see the Minister of Blue Economy, I will tell them to tell him. Carry your hand to Rivers State, if your hand burns, don’t say na me burn am. We have taken a decision to support Mr President, and that is exactly what we are doing.
“When we agreed to support Tinubu in 2023, nobody forced us. Now, food is ready, and everybody is coming, and when it was hot, nobody was saying anything. Leave Rivers state alone.”
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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