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Our presidential ticket zoned to South – NDC *Invites Atiku to join party
Unlike the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which was prevaricating on the zoning option for the party, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has come out with a clear declaration on the matter, saying the presidential ticket is going South.
A strong argument at the ADC had been that the party chieftains should zone its ticket to the area to enable it complete the presumed eight years since Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had already taken the first four years of the unwritten power rotation arrangement that Nigeria politicians seem to favour.
It was against this backdrop that some strong voices in the party, had pressurised Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President to shelve his ambition to go for the ADC ticket, which he roundly rejected, insisting that on making the choice through contestation.
But on Monday, Buba Galadima, a chieftain of the NDC, confirmed that the same scenario would not play out in the party, as it had clearly taken a decision to zone the position to the South.
Against the backdrop of the defection of Peter Obi, erstwhile presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election and Rabiu Kwankwaso, his New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), counterpart, from ADC to NDC, on Sunday, Galadima said the matter was already settled from the outset.
A guest of Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television, he told his host: “The NDC will submit its register either on the fifth or the sixth of this month. Once we do that, we’re good to go. We have zoned the party’s candidature to the south. No mincing words. We’ve zoned it to the south. Therefore whoever wants to run, should go and register to have the opportunity to run.
Galadima also made a direct pitch for Atiku to join the party to ensure that the goal of unseating President Bola Tinubu is achieved in 2027, saying that if the former VP declined, he could be held responsible for any failure to unify the and the consequences therefrom.
Hear him: “The truth of the matter is that all of us – Peter Obi, Kwankwaso, all of us migrated into the ADC such that they bring the unity of the opposition forces within the ADC to enable them without much problem to unseat Tinubu.
“Unfortunately, there is this insinuation that the APC and this government – in fact, by extension – Tinubu used the courts to scuttle the opposition. This is why I’m making this call to Atiku Abubakar to follow us as we followed him into the ADC, such that there will be the unity of the NDC to unseat this government.
“If he refuses, then whatever happens to the opposition, the Vice President will be held responsible. The clarity is that all the political gladiators are now in the NDC. If anybody is outside – as Kwankwaso was outside the ADC and he was persuaded to come in, so we’re pleading with Atiku Abubakar to come into the NDC such that we can consolidate again and remove the incumbent government.
“If he refuses to do that, then the ball is in his court, because he has scuttled the movement of the opposition to unseat this government. He cannot continue beyond tomorrow (Tuesday) to be in the ADC or else he has agreed now to forfeit his right to contest in this election in 2027.
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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