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Jonathan to battle Obi in NDC *Ex-President insists Nigeria must rise again!
Indications are fast emerging that Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, may not have a free ride to picking the ticket of the 2027 edition on the platform of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), after all.
The former Governor of Anambra State, might be squaring up against Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s former President and Obi’s boss at a time, who is being pressurised into making a go at the nation’s number one job for the third time.
In recent years, calls for the former President to throw his hat into the ring for another go at the job, which he left when he was defeated in the 2015 presidential election have been off and on by some interest groups, without any clear indication.
But it now appears that the former Deputy Governor, and Governor of Bayelsa State, Vice President and later President might be pecking at the bait right now after the agitators came knocking at his doors once more.
That indication came on Thursday, when a group of youths, under the aegis of the Coalition for Goodluck Jonathan, on converged on the Abuja residence for the same purpose, at which point he promised to begin full consultations on the matter.
The demonstrators, chanting songs and slogans asking Jonathan to run for president again in 2027, had besieged his Taraba Close in Maitama, home in Abuja, overflowing into nearby streets and causing significant traffic disruption.
Amid blasting music, the visitors, who also waved placards with messages such as GEJ: Nigeria is dying, save it!, GEJ, Nigerian youths break the medicine wey dem do you, and ‘GEJ, if you no run, we quench, described Jonathan as a unifying figure capable of rescuing the country from its current challenges.
Calming his visitors down, the ex-President said: “Thank you for showing interest in your country. If you have no interest in your country you’ll not bother to be here. I can say that you’re showing signs of being patriotic Nigerians and I will encourage you to continue to be patriotic to the country.
“It is only patriotic citizens that build their country. Unpatriotic citizens will destroy their country, take the money to other countries to enjoy their lives. So, you must be patriotic. And things are very clear. The key thing we need in this country is peace.
“So, as young people – more than 80 per cent of you here are young people – I don’t even know how old some of you were when I was President. The key thing in this country is peace and we’ll continue to advocate for peaceful and credible elections in the country.
“If we don’t have peacefull and credible elections, most citizens will not bother to get involved and we’re here to advocate for that. It’s very there to us and indeed you. The young people must be fully involved in the electoral process, especially your rights to vote.
“I’ve observed elections in more than 14 or more African countries – some I’ve been there two times and even South East Asia. Nigeria has the lowest turnout of elections in every election circle. We have the highest voter apathy. And it shows that people are not even interested in elections.
“We have the worst – the least – I have never been in a country that has the low numbers we have in terms of voters. I think INEC needs to do something about it. They need to study the circumstances and maybe study the cause and do something about it.
“As young people, you must be involved in the electoral process. If I ask how many of you have voters cards, may be 50 per cent of you don’t have voters cards. And you’re asking me to go and contest elections. So, you must be patriotic, you must participate in the electoral process.
“You’re asking me to come and contest the next election. The presidential race is not a computer game. But I’ve heard you and I’ll consult widely. But the most important thing is that in Nigeria that the new people will have hope – the Nigeria that will plan for its grandchildren.
“These countries people travel abroad to go and enjoy, things don’t happen overnight. Leaders after leaders plan for their grandchildren and build their countries. So, every year, you see things being added and added until they’re in this semi-paradise countries they enjoy.
“The japa syndrome in Nigeria has to stop. The highest level of disdain shown to Nigerian youths abroad has to stop. Even African countries that we helped – African countries that even as students, half of our scholarship money were contributing to solve problems in those countries are treating Nigeria as if we’re all a bunch of idiots. It has to stop.”
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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