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Tambuwal: With clueless policies, weird politics, Tinubu destroying Nigeria
If President Bola Tinubu had not acted on impulse and taken time to iron out the steps to be adopted around subsidy removal on petroleum products, Nigeria would not be plunged into its current sorry economic state.
This was the submission of Aminu Tambuwal, former Governor of Sokoto State, as he bemoaned the current situation in Nigeria, presently posting the unenviable record of the poverty capital of the world.
Tambuwal, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, now Senator representing Sokoto South, at the National Assembly, while appearing as a guest on Prime Time, a public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS Television, on Monday, blamed Nigeria’s worsening economic hardship and democratic decline on flawed policy choices, particularly the abrupt removal of fuel subsidy without a framework by the government of President Bola Tinubu.
It was also a day the former governor bemoaned what he referred to as a compromised electoral process that no longer truly reflected the will of voters poses a big challenge in the polity.
Stating that Nigerians were now paying the highest price for the hasty decision, he said: “The subsidy was removed without any alternative, without any framework, without thinking it through and without consulting Nigerians on how best to go about it.”
Tambuwal, who recently clocked 60, doubled down on his contention at a colloquium he held to celebrate the event in Abuja, where he told an audience of top Nigerian politicians and influential figures that the country was finally sinking, warning that if Tinubu was not checked by stopping his re-election in 2027, its fate could be starker.
But the greatest regret for the lawmaker came from what he identified as the inability of Nigerians to genuinely elect their leaders due to twisted electoral process, lamenting: “At polling unit level, local government level, state level and even national level, things happen that misrepresent what voters actually voted for.”
Attributing the sorry situation to a combination of politicians, electoral officials and institutional weaknesses that created loopholes in the system, he said he was in total agreement that only true reforms in the electoral process, could salvage the situation.
“I wholeheartedly support any reform that will improve the electoral process, including electronic transmission, even if it means I will lose an election,” he said, adding that many of those defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), were doing so wacky electoral process.
Currently a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Tambuwal who said the party was committed to transparent and credible primaries ahead of the 2027 general elections, disagreed with claims that the ADC would not stand a chance in 2027 if it failed to Peter Obi as its presidential candidate, insisting that any candidate who emerged through a credible process would enjoy the coalition’s full support. Tambuwal, who argued that Nigerians must prioritise on capacity rather than zoning in the choice of candidates, said this should be the focus in ADC, adding: “Whoever emerges through transparent primaries, all of us in the coalition will support that candidate.”
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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