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Ibadan kidnap: Tinubu has shown extreme callousness – Obi
That President Bola Tinubu has failed to call Seyi Makinde, Governor of Oyo State till date over the fate of the abduction of schoolchildren in Ogbomoso, close to two months after the incident, is indicative of scant regard to the Nigerian citizenry.
This was the conclusion of Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2027 presidential election, who said he had just discovered at the weekend that there was no collaboration between the President and the governor on the issue, by way of direct conversation.
Obi, former Governor of Anambra State, who recalled similar situations during his time in office, stated that even though the security concerns were not of the current magnitude, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua never left him to his fate, but always called to have conversations on how to redeem the situation, stating that such gestures showed compassion and empathy, which helped greatly.
Bemoaning Tinubu’s current attitude, Obi said in a statement, on Monday, that he was shocked to learn that Tinubu had not spoken with Makinde more than 50 days after gunmen abducted pupils and teachers saying it showed an “evidence of a worsening leadership crisis” in the country.
Narrating how he travelled to Ibadan on Friday with Pat Utomi, economist and political activist, to express solidarity with Makinde over the development, which he described as a national tragedy, he said: “During our two-hour meeting, I shared my experience in addressing insecurity as Governor of Anambra State.
“I recalled how President Olusegun Obasanjo, and later Presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, would personally call us several times whenever we faced major security challenges.
“But, to my utmost shock, I discovered that, contrary to my assumption that they had been in regular communication over the matter, Governor Seyi Makinde had not received a single call from President Bola Tinubu.”
Stressing that the President’s response contrasted sharply with the outrage that followed the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, he wondered where Tinubu’s ferocious attacks on the Jonathan at the time for delaying the rescue had now gone.
Hear him: “I vividly recall that the current President, Bola Tinubu, led a team of vocal critics who called for President Jonathan’s immediate resignation over the incident, citing his delay in calling the state governor. Today, under President Tinubu, there have been more than 13 school kidnappings, yet the President has found it difficult to call the affected state’s chief executive after more than 50 days (over seven weeks). This is outrageous.
“I cannot imagine any issue more important than the lives of our kidnapped children, their teachers, and the many other Nigerians being held captive across the country. It is now an indisputable fact that governance has completely collapsed under this administration. The situation reflects a total lack of capacity and compassion, compounded by glaring insensitivity.
“Amid such an apparent display of incompetence, the President should either resign or, at the very least, abstain from seeking re-election for the sake of our dear country. This call is patriotic, not political.”
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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