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Pendulum: Back to the Vice President and the Aso Rock Cabal

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By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, as much as one is tempted to gloss over the hullabaloo inside the seat of power in Abuja, it is virtually impossible because there is always one drama or the other emanating from the place too frequently these days. Indeed, the melodrama has since become one day, new scene. Despite endless denials on both sides of the divide by spokespersons for the principal dramatis personae, it seems obvious that things are no longer at ease between the offices of the President, Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, no matter how much they or their mouthpieces try to sweep the unfortunate mess under the carpet.

The latest farce surrounds the removal or otherwise of some of the aides of the Vice President. Approbation, confirmation and denials are rife. It is being touted that the Vice President had too many aides and so it was necessary for him to be shorn of some of them in keeping with the President’s new resolve to prudently manage resources and save government a lot of money. Nobody has said anything about how many of the President’s aides have got the sack. More importantly, I fail to see how this purported removal has anything to do with managing government resources when most if not all of these aides of the Vice President are funded by international donor agencies and not the Nigerian Government. The situation descends to the level of theater of the absurd if, as it is being suggested, they were redeployed to different Ministries, meaning that rather than plugging a drain on government they have become an added burden.

My beloved, all we have to do is apply some logic, and commonsense which is seemingly not too common nowadays. Some audacious people make bold to fool us when they tell us there is only one Presidency. Yes, there is, but that oneness has become more of a mirage in recent times! The day the President came out in the open to direct his cabinet to report practically to his Chief of Staff was the day he smashed the oneness into smithereens. There was no need or basis for such an open and public declaration of protocol. That it was openly voiced out, and etched and scripted in text which was handed to journalists and published and circulated freely, was ample evidence of how things have gone awry between the offices  of the Number One and Number Two citizens of Nigeria. If this was the normal order of events before now, why was it necessary to put it in the public domain at this stage. If it was a new idea, why was a change necessary and, also, why was it essential to tell the whole world, two days in succession, particularly when this directive was for the consumption of only a few people!

Please, don’t get me wrong. I know that the office of the Vice President is totally at the mercy and prerogative of the President who appointed him. Even in America where we have borrowed our latest democratic experiment, the Vice President has no constitutional role apart from presiding over the Senate and having a casting tie-break vote or whatever assignment given by his boss. As John Adams, the first American Vice President and the Country’s second President, said of his position as Vice President to President George Washington, “My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man … or his imagination contrived or his imagination conceived.” Nevertheless, Adams stuck to his task and as the brilliant and astute man that he was, he transformed the position into one that has become indispensable to the democracy. Indeed, it is more than usual in America for Vice Presidents to succeed their Presidents, but this has not yet happened in Nigeria except on account of death of the incumbent. There is always a first time, and perhaps it is the intuitiveness and the knowledge that it is a foregone conclusion that this negative trend is about to be bucked that the babble and cacophony of strident opposition voices has risen to the biggest decibels. This is more so because of the personality and attributes of the incumbent, Osinbajo. For me, a Vice President is almost like a Company Secretary whose duty once upon a time was to act as a mere servant. But like Lord Denning said in 1971, about the role and function of the Company Secretary, “he is no longer a mere servant.” If the Vice President of Nigeria was once treated as an errand boy, by now, in 2019, such attitudes should have changed for many obvious reasons.

Professor Yemi Osinbajo is neither your run-of-the-mill Vice President nor a typical career politician. Before he was considered and chosen to run with President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, he came with intimidating credentials in both his private and public life. In all areas, he had just about reached the pinnacle of what there was to offer. He was also a stabilizing factor between the ever fighting and perennially suspicious Christians and Muslims of Nigeria. Why they are at loggerheads continues to beat me even till today. Religion should simply have no place in the politics or economic development of a country. Everyone agreed Buhari could not have made a better choice. He and Buhari appeared like a perfect couple and one could say the same of their wives. Theirs was like a match made in celestial places.

I won’t bore you with details of how trouble started brewing when President Buhari took ill and Vice President Osinbajo became Acting President. All that I know is some of the decisions he took did not go down well with the ultra conservative members in the Presidential Wing of the Villa, who not only had their own agenda but have the close ears of the President. They grumbled and groaned and lamented to whoever cared to listen that Osinbajo was plotting and planning to upstage his boss. One of the conspiracy theories was that some forces in the South West actually wished evil on the President. Despite the fact that no one had the proof or evidence of such dastardly plot, some people went about spreading the satanic stories. Thankfully, it does not appear that the President with his taciturn sagacity paid heed to such drivel, hopefully.

My take is that some elements are deliberately driving a wedge between the President and his Vice President whose relationship is apparently chummy. What is not known is how far the President has bought into the plot. The body language of the President now suggests that something has gone terribly amiss. The camaraderie that was always so patently obvious is palpably receding. The President has taken to relying on technicalities and monosyllables in his dealings with his Vice President. This was not the case before. If, as may be the case, some nebulous, insidious group of people are using the President’s name to pummel the Vice President and he is unaware that his dutiful and loyal Vice President is being humiliated before the whole world, that is even worse.

I don’t really blame those who abuse power. That is the pattern and tradition of those who wield enormous power by proxy. I hasten to add that the position of Chief of Staff is obviously a powerful position and sometimes people tend to forget this when they cast aspersions on the occupants. In Nigeria’s case,  Mr Abba Kyari is a very sound and cerebral man. The President obviously recognizes that he needs him like oxygen. But I expect him and the Vice President to be able to manage their affair more guardedly with both of them coming from solidly, enviable intellectual backgrounds. Seems the allure of power is irresistible and causes the powerful to wear a new toga of eternal invincibility when indeed, it is very transient. It may be that this is the case because the occupants themselves forget the onerous nature of their job and the grave responsibilities that attaches to the position. Power is best asserted and utilised if treated with humility, deference and decorum.

Let me go back for as long as I can remember. Surrogates of power have tended to be overbearing and inordinately ambitious. They have not imbibed the core lessons that those who know the nature and effect of power teach. It will come and go, but how you have handled it will determine how you are treated in its aftermath – Hero or villain. In Nigeria it has been a lot more of the latter and the lessons have still not been learnt.

In the days of President Shehu Aliyu Shagari, one name was very prominent, Dr Umaru Dikko, who was the defacto President. When the government was overthrown by Muhammadu Buhari and company, Dikko became the main target. He fled to London. The government arranged for a living Dikko to be packed and crated in a coffin like a cadaver and he was nearly smuggled back to face the music in Nigeria. Under the government of General Murtala Muhammed, Chief Moshood Abiola was known to have been his close friend. This drew the ire of many military leaders who waited for many years before pouncing on him.

Major-General Tunde Idiagbon was the second-in-command and the dreaded face of the Buhari regime. His scowling mean face remains indelibly printed in the brain of not just the Second Republic politicians but the generality of the populace. Once flushed out power he reverted to relative obscurity and died unheralded! When President Ibrahim Babangida assumed power, Colonel Sambo Dasuki was reported to have treated Major General Muhammadu Buhari shabbily. No one would have expected Buhari to ever come back to power. But God’s ways are not that of man. Today, Buhari is President, Dasuki has been in detention and incarcerated for many years despite a plethora of Courts ordering that he should be freed.

When General Olusegun Obasanjo was in power as a military ruler from 1976-79, Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was very influential. He wielded that power and attained great affluence even after they left power. He wanted to come back as civilian President, but his dream never materialised. He and his former business partner, Chief Abiola had similar interests and ambitions. Abiola contested and won, but the top military echelons kicked against him. His victory was aborted, his ambition truncated and he was deprived and robbed of his mandate. Abacha who became President after the whole debacle dealt ruthlessly with Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Abiola by keeping them in prison. Only Obasanjo returned alive. Not just that, he came back to be President. A true cat with nine lives! Ebora Owu indeed!

When General Sani Abacha was President, the commonest name on everyone’s lips was Major Hamza Al-Mustapha. When Abacha died, Al-Mustapha was kept in prison for so many years in the days Obasanjo was in power. Mohammed Abacha, the General’s son, who had also lived larger than life and was himself an unofficial Deputy Head of State was also kept away.

When Umaru Musa Yar’Adua became President, the name of Tanimu Yakubu reigned supreme despite being only the Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Economic Adviser to the President. The name of Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, the First Lady, would later feature on the list of those labeled as the ‘cabal’ who controlled shots when Yar’Adua laid mortally stricken. Perhaps it was the First Lady’s involvement that saved Tanimu’s bacon.

Step forward President Goodluck Jonathan. Two names featured prominently under his government, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke and that of First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. Since Buhari returned in 2015 as President, the duo have known no peace.

I have gone through the stories of these different era to show how transient and ephemeral power is. The three things driving these wars of attrition in the name of a power struggle are money, ethnicity and religion. They are the reasons our country is retrogressing. There is no justification for the struggle based on national interest or patriotism. The protagonists are interested only in their primordial, parochial and base instincts. While the world is thinking outside the box, we have chosen to bury ourselves inside the cocoon of backwardness. The most educated people in Nigeria will throw sanity, reason and decorum to the winds once those three selfish interests are involved. Friends become enemies and enemies become friends. Principle, honour and integrity are thrown to the dogs. Woe betide anyone who stands in the way. That is the crux of the fiasco that we face today. The Vice President and his team are merely victims of the interplay of those forces.

However, what nobody should forget is that what will be will be and students of history may do well to look again into the story of John Adams who was the first American President to see his son, John Quincy Adams succeed to the American Presidency as the sixth President of America. When we decide to recognise and embrace excellence and not fight against it, then we shall become better as a nation.

It seems, we are not yet ready to do the needful …

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Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: Prioritize Existing Unfinished Projects, Peter Obi Tells FG

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Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has advised the federal government to prioritize existing unfinished projects spread across the country instead of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.

Obi, in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, stated that the project was a misplaced priority given the numerous unfinished roads throughout the country.

The former governor of Anambra State mentioned that the budget allocated to the Ministry of Works is insufficient for significant progress on the country’s various unfinished roads, much less their completion.

Obi therefore, advised that the government prioritize the existing infrastructural projects in the country before embarking on any new and colossal projects like the Lagos-Calabar super highway project.

“The Federal Ministry of Works 2024 capital budget of N892,461,262,656.00, additional funding from multilateral loan projects of N94,828,535,243.00, alongside other expected contributions from sources like the China-Exim Bank and the World Bank, will not be enough for serious work on all the critical roads, some of which I enumerated above, let alone their completion.

So, why embark on another huge project that will not be completed in the next 20 or 30 years?

“To do so will only exacerbate the problem of abandoned, uncompleted projects that are not contributing to economic growth and overall development.

“Therefore, while acknowledging the potential benefits of coastal superhighway infrastructure, I urge prioritization of our existing uncompleted projects. We must allocate resources towards repairing and completing existing infrastructure.

“In any development formula, the primary focus should be on completing and rehabilitating existing infrastructure rather than embarking on colossal new projects that may never reach completion within the next 30 years,” Obi said.

Back in March, the Federal Government began constructing the 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, designed to extend through 9 states with two spurs leading to the Northern States.

Recall that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, had earlier described the project as a fraud.

“Umahi had announced that Hitech would fully fund the project, and based on this, there was no competitive bidding. He (Umahi) then said that Hitech could only raise just 6% of the money for the pilot phase. This smacks of deceit,” Atiku said.

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2027 Presidential Race: Opposition Parties Under Attack

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By Eric Elezuo

While it is still a whole three years before the next general election in 2027, The Boss has learnt that opposition parties in the countries are being muffled to pave the way for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to return to, and retain power.

From the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the Labour Party (LP), and down to the New Nigerian Peoples Paty (NNPP), crises have engulfed the rank and files, in what a source told this paper was the attempt and making of the ruling party, APC, to decimate, destabilize and make redundant the machineries of the opposition parties.

It is believed that by 2027, the apparatuses holding together the various opposition parties would have weakened irredeemably to the extent the country would seemingly nosedive into the inglorious one party state that every civil right advocate and democrats abhor.

It is alleged that all the crises in all the opposition parties are being engineered by the President Bola Tinubu-led ruling APC, with the hope of getting the fibres of their system weakened, thereby luring the members of the crisis-ridden parties into the APC.

Slightly one year after the last presidential election, the two major opposition platforms, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party, have separately been embroiled in a crisis of confidence which has diminished their capacity to provide viable opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The crises in both opposition parties got to a head. The Labour Party led by its national chairman Julius Abure held its much-opposed national convention which was boycotted by its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi; its only governor, Alex Otti of Abia State; federal and state lawmakers elected on its platform, and the organised Labour.

In the Labour Labour, members have been embroiled in endless battle of supremacy with a faction led by Mr. Apapa steadily contesting the leadership of Julius Abure.

Consequently, the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, reverence as a leader in the fold, noting that whatever the party faces presently, that Nigeria’s problems are far bigger than the crises in his party.

The LP has been embroiled in crises — ranging from allegations of misappropriation of funds, and leadership tussle, to calls for the resignation of the party’s national chairman.

TheCable reported that “On March 27, the LP conducted a national convention in Anambra state where Julius Abure was re-elected as its national chairman.

Obi did not attend the convention, fuelling speculations that he may be mulling over ditching the LP for another platform.

Speaking during an appearance on HaveYourSay247, an interactive online session hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo over the weekend, Obi said he is confident that the crises rocking the LP will soon be resolved amicably.

“Whatever is happening in the Labour Party is so minute compared to what is happening in the country,” Obi said.

“So, for me, it is something we will resolve amicably, and it is not anything to worry about. Let us worry about the country.

“Let us worry about how the average Nigerian would be able to have a means of livelihood to be able to eat, that should be our worry.”

Obi said he has no interest in being the party’s leader but only to make sure things are done properly.

“I don’t see what I do in politics as being the leader of any place or not. My position is that just like I always say, I am not desperate to be president of Nigeria, I am desperate to see Nigeria work because I know it can work,” he added.

“We have a more desperate situation. Parties are just a means to be able to contest elections. What is important is that being a leader of a party does not reduce the price of food.

In the PDP, the shenanigans of former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has practically kept the party in constant crisis with many observers concluding that the now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is working for the APC, and is just a mole in the PDP. Wike has denied the allegation, however,

But news filtered in last week as that the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NEC meeting on Thursday was not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party  state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

While political stakeholders concluded that the outcome of the Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan; every page of what finally transpired at the meeting pointed to the fact.

The much touted removal of the party chairman, who is believed to be a crony of the Abuja minister, Damagum, retained his seat, with his executives.

“It is very clear to everyone that a lot of money politics is being played to cajole many loyal members of the party, forcing them into frustration, and eventually it of the party. The option afterwards, will be the APC. This, will for all intent and purpose actualize the intended one party state as an APC agenda.

The Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso-led NNPP is not faring better either. The only governor under their ticket, Abba Kabir Yusuf, just had the confidence of their party on him withdrawn. He was fighting for his political life until suddenly it was announced the the APC in Kano has collapsed its structure into the NNPP.

“This is just another APC strategy to actualize their hidden intentions. Time will reveal the very sinister agenda they harboring,” an analyst said.

Much as 2027 is still three years away, but intrigues are in play to render Nigeria a one party state, and perpetuate the APC in power. The three other opposition parties are basically under attack to bring to pass this unpopular agenda.

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Akwa Ibom Government, Governor Umo Eno Receive Top Honors at the 10th Wonders of the World Expo in Lagos

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The Akwa Ibom State Government and Governor Pastor Umo Eno were recognized with Travellers Awards at the 10th Wonders of the World Expo in Lagos for their sustained enhancement of infrastructure, support for local talent, and dedication to investment in the tourism sector. The ceremony took place at the National Museum in Onikan, Lagos.

 

While Akwa Ibom won the Most Active Tourism State of the Year, Governor Eno was adjudged the most Tourism-Friendly Governor of the Year at the event that had Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Lola Ade John in attendance.

 

According to Amb. Ikechi Uko, Founder/Publisher of ATQ Magazine, the organizers of the event which is in its tenth edition, Akwa Ibom State won the top prize “in recognition of its valiant and resourceful efforts to drive and sustain domestic tourism by promoting the industry.

‘In 2023, Akwa Ibom was one of the states that hosted World Tourism Day (WTD ) events. The state also organized the famous Christmas Unplugged, which featured music, food, and cultures from all 31 LGAs as well as ensured friendly policies.”

 

While hoping that the Travellers Awards would spur Akwa Ibom to do more to dominate the domestic tourism industry, the organizers hoped that the state would gradually evolve into one of Nigeria’s top international tourism destinations.

 

That was not all, the state Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Sir Charles Udoh was also recognized as one of the Top 100 Tourism Personalities in Nigeria for demonstrating exceptional leadership and innovation in the travel and tourism industry, while other Akwa Ibom indigenes and entity were also celebrated: Mrs. Ime Udo, Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor( Tourism) won Tourism Promoter of the Year, Favour Udo won Tourism Photographer of the Year, Loretta Effiong and Prince Uduak Sunday (Qua Tours) were listed among the Tourism Personalities of the Year and Ibom Air won Airline of the Year International.

In his remarks, Sir Charles Udoh, who represented the Governor at the event, thanked the organizers for the awards and noted that Akwa Ibom is certainly enjoying the golden era when it comes to tourism development. He stated that Governor Umo Eno is very keen on making Akwa Ibom a leading tourism destination with his programmes and policies.

He revealed that with the new Victor Attah International Airport nearing completion, the purchase of a ferry for the Oron-Calabar route, new developments along its coastline and the restoration work that will be done at all its major tourism sites, Akwa Ibom is well on the way to becoming the number one destination for all domestic and foreign tourists.

In her speech, Tourism Minister, Mrs. Ade John hailed the organizers for hosting the Expo, where practitioners were lectured by top experts while also rewarding those who have excelled in the past year.

 

She affirmed that her ministry is open to partnership with public and private sector operators, adding that tourism development can only be successful through collaborative efforts.

 

The event, which attracted leading and budding tourism professionals, also featured interactive and entertainment sessions.

Apart from Sir Charles Udoh and Mrs. Ime Udo, the Akwa Ibom State delegation, also included: Mr. Michael Effiong James, Senior Special Assistant (Lagos Liaison) to Governor, Mrs. Eme Bassey, Special Assistant to Governor (Lagos Liaison) and Akparawa John Offiong, Deputy Director ( Culture) Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

 

More photos below:

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