Featured

Pendulum: Saraki, APC and the Future of Nigeria

Published

7 years ago

July 7, 2018

Eric

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, these are not the best of times for the Buhari strategists. Certainly, it can’t be; not with the way they’ve obviously been goading President Muhammadu Buhari on and encouraging him to fight on all fronts, and losing grounds regularly, which a retired Major General of his calibre should know is not the best. They’ve spent the better part of over three years digging holes, and setting traps, for real and imaginary enemies, setting villages ablaze in order to catch rats. Such shame and tragedy. If I were Buhari, I will sack many of my aides and advisers who have been misleading me.

I had told the President in 2015 how I appointed myself a Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan for five years, free of charge, but no one listened to me. I even gave Baba a special compilation of my weekly sermons to the PDP government and I left the Presidential villa feeling cool and reassured that at last we have a listening government.

Before I could say Jack Robinson, things began to fall apart. The most disturbing was the war of attrition between the executive arm and the legislature. The President of the Senate, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki was subjected to all manner of attacks and humiliation. He was tried and convicted on the pages of newspapers. A few of us who cautioned against this political harassment were called names because of our faith in the rule of Law. The warriors played to mob mentality and gullibility, and apparently enjoyed the way they knocked heads and scandalised those who were their bosom friends, once upon a time. I knew life is turn by turn. Never abuse God-given power because you hate someone because no one knows tomorrow.

I’m very happy that I stood by the principle that an accused person is innocent until proven guilty. I thank God for the gift of access, the greatest tool of a journalist and reporter. When the Saraki saga started, I booked an appointment to meet the Senate President at home in Abuja. And he was gracious to oblige me.

He welcomed me into his home office where he took me into confidence about the myriad of chrges against him. I bombarded him with a barrage of questions including the Societe Generale conundrum which has dogged him everywhere. He expressed visible remorse and explained all efforts he has made to pacify all those affected and aggrieved. He demonstrated that no one was above mistakes but that he never set out to hurt any soul deliberately. Until you listen to the other side, it is always easy and convenient to jump to conclusions.

He assured me that his case was highly political and it would never fly. As a matter of fact, on the surface, anyone who ever took time to study the case file on Saraki would have pronounced him instantly guity. But the Senate President was extremely confident that his was an audacious witch-hunt.

During my session with him, he brought out his statement of defence which was well articulated and I knew prosecution was going to be ridiculed whenever the case comes up but I kept mute about the privileged information. If you folowed the case, you would remember how prosecution witnesses were taken to the cleaners, as they spoke incoherently, and torn to shreds by defence counsels. The case was a complete waste of resources and judicial process. The time the executive should have spent working in synergy with the National Assembly for the betterment of our dear beloved country was wasted on jejune and needless litigations.

Yesterday, the ghost of Code of Conduct Tribunal was finally laid to rest at the Supreme Court of Nigeria. What a great relief and de javu? Saraki was declared innocent. Yes, by all the five learned Justices. When the news came, I thought it was a joke but it was indeed true.

Patience is truly a virtue. While it lasted, Dr Saraki bore his pain and unnecessary humiliation with uncommon equanimity. The idea of the case was ostensibly to apply pressure and force him to resign since he appeared too strong to be easily removed from office. Such act of man’s inhumanity to man should be discouraged, no matter who’s affected. It is Saraki today, Dasuki tomorrow and someone else day after.

I salute the courage of our judges in the face of stupendous intimidation. No man is perfect but our judges should continue to seek for perfection. They shoud be above board and stand always on the side of the oppressed, whether rich or poor.

Please permit me to tell the President for the umpteenth time that the price of peace is far cheaper than the cost of war. Those advising him to keep fighting are what the Yoruba call “arijenidimodaru” (those who profit from confusion). It is far better to spend the next few months in tranquility than in strife.

It was obvious APC was going to suffer the same fate as PDP did under President Jonathan. A house divided against itself can hardly stand. I know the next strategy would be to bully opposition but that would be very unfortunate. The reason I respect President Jonathan is the way he did not see power as the beginning and the end. He had the power to haunt and hound Major General Buhari but he resisted the temptation.

Buhari has the opportunity to either consolidate our democracy or kill it. Whichever option he takes is up to him but one thing is certain, power must come to a terminal end some day and, usually, sooner than later.

I hope my dear Brother Comrade Adams Oshiomhole will succeed in restoring some sense of decorum to his faction of APC, if it is not too late. I was happy to see him visit the Senate President days ago. That should be the spirit.

Congratulations to Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki. Thanks for your calmness in the face of unfortunate acts of intimidation. Please, leave your life to God and forgive whoever has wronged and punished you, even if you can’t ever forget. It is obvious that you have ten lives.

I LOST A FATHER 20 YEARS AGO

I lost my biological father 45 years ago but God provided another father for me from 1988, in Chief Moshood Abiola, who adopted me without ever knowing any member of my family intimately.

For the years I knew Chief Abiola, I was treated with tender loving care. On July 7, 1998, the sad news came that Daddy as we fondly called was dead, after a sudden heart attack. My life stood still, momentarily, but I still thanked God for the wonderful life Chief Abiola lived, touching lives everywhere at home and beyond.

As a token of my own celebration of Chief Abiola, I’m lauching three books next Wednesday, July 11, 2018 at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, with Pastor Tunde Bakare as keynote Speaker. Daddy, continue to rest in peace, Sir.

And here’s wishing my second son, Enitanyole, happy birthday today. I love you more than you can ever imagine. Stay responsible.

Featured

Sanusi Lamido Remains Emir, Kano Govt Insists, Says Appeal Court Can’t Contradict Itself

Published

10 hours ago

March 15, 2025

Eric

Kano State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Haruna Isa Dederi, has insisted that the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on the lingering emirship tussle has not invalidated the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir.

Besides, Dederi declared that having passed a landmark verdict on January 10, 2025, reaffirming the power of the Kano State Government to reappoint Sanusi, it is impossible for the Court of Appeal to set aside or quash its own decision on the same matter.

The Attorney General made this position known to journalists while reacting to Friday’s ruling of the Appellate Court on the application for a stay of execution filed by Alh. Aminu Baba DanAgundi, one of the kingmakers loyal to the 15th Emir of Kano, Alh. Aminu Ado Bayero, pending the determination of the appeal at the Supreme Court.

According to Dederi, the matter is functus officio, adding that only the Supreme Court has the power to set aside the decision of the Appeal Court handed down by Justice Mohammad Mustapha on January 10, 2025.

“The Appeal Court today, after hearing their application for a stay of execution, ruled that the status quo should rather be maintained as it is now until after the judgment of the Supreme Court. They have filed an appeal at the Supreme Court.

“It doesn’t mean that the judgment delivered on January 10, 2025, has been quashed. That judgment is still standing, still in place, and subsisting. The Court of Appeal cannot reverse its own decision. It is not possible. Only the Supreme Court has the power to set aside the judgment given by a lower court.

“So, the Court of Appeal, Abuja, today has just said that execution of the judgment has been stayed pending the outcome of the appeal, which has been filed at the Supreme Court by Aminu Baba DanAgundi on behalf of Bayero,” Dederi noted.

It would be recalled that on January 10, 2025, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, led by Justice Mustapha, set aside the judgment of Justice A. Liman of the Federal High Court, Kano, which nullified the steps and actions taken by the Kano State Government pursuant to the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law 2024, including the appointment of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the 16th Emir of Kano.

The Appellate Court also dismissed the decision of the Federal High Court judge to hear the matter relating to the emirate council, ruling that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to do so. This decision upheld the removal of Bayero as the 15th Emir.

Dissatisfied with the verdict of Justice Mustapha’s panel, DanAgundi proceeded to the Supreme Court to seek the overturning of the lower court’s verdict. He also filed a motion for a stay of execution of Justice Mustapha’s judgment pending the hearing and determination of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the matter.

The application was also moved on the grounds that the applicant initially instituted the suit in Kano to protect his fundamental rights and argued that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit.

In a unanimous ruling, the three-member panel of Justices led by Justice Abang on Friday held that the application was meritorious and deserving of the court’s discretion in the interest of justice.

“The law is settled. The court is enjoined to exercise its discretion judiciously and in the interest of justice,” Justice Abang said

Justice Abang held that the mandatory injunction ordered that the status quo ante bellum be maintained by the sheriff of this court and the trial court as it was before the trial court’s decision on 13/6/2024 in Suit No. FHC/KN/CS/182/2024.

In granting the injunction, Justice Abang emphasised that the applicant’s process was competent and had met all the necessary legal conditions required to obtain the relief sought.

He noted that a valid appeal was already pending before the Supreme Court, reinforcing the need to preserve the subject matter of the litigation.

Featured

Obi Employs Sarcasm, Mocks Tinubu on Prevailing Hardship

Published

1 day ago

March 14, 2025

Eric

Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has taken a swipe at President Bola Tinubu, sarcastically praising him for fulfilling his promise to continue where former President Muhammadu Buhari left off.

Speaking during a visit to Governor Bala Mohammed in Bauchi on Thursday, Obi criticized the current administration’s handling of the economy, stating that Nigeria must now move beyond ethnic and religious politics to focus on competence and capacity.

“Tinubu promised to continue where Buhari stopped. If you look at it, Buhari left the dollar at about N400, today it is about N1,500. Rice was about N40,000, it is now over N100,000. Fuel was about N300, it is now over N1,000. I can go on and on—everything has doubled and tripled. So, he has done exactly as he promised,” Obi remarked.

Obi contrasted Nigeria’s economic performance with that of Indonesia, citing how their government transformed the country’s economy over the past decade.

“In Indonesia, a president was sworn in about the same time as another one in Nigeria. Ten years later, Indonesia moved their GDP from $800 billion to $1.3 trillion, and their per capita income from $3,000 to $5,000.

Here in Nigeria, our GDP fell from $500 billion to $200 billion, and per capita income dropped from $3,500 to below $2,000—that is the difference,” he explained.

He further emphasized the need to revive Nigeria’s industries, invest in education and healthcare, and steer the nation towards productive governance.

Obi stated that his meeting with Governor Bala Mohammed was part of a broader discussion on addressing the country’s challenges.

“We have just started discussions. You can’t consummate a marriage in one day. But the most important thing is that our thoughts are centered on issues that affect the ordinary Nigerian.

We want a Nigeria where a child of nobody can become somebody. We will eliminate the elite conspiracy that uses tribalism and religion to divide the people. We have voted for tribe and religion before; now, we must vote for competence and capacity,” Obi declared.

Governor Bala Mohammed affirmed that their collaboration transcends party lines, religious affiliations, and geopolitical interests for the betterment of Nigeria.

“Our collaboration is beyond party, religion, and personal interests. The government in power thrives on division, but we will use knowledge, strategy, and unity to build a better Nigeria,” the governor stated.

Obi’s visit signals a growing political alliance among opposition figures, with a focus on economic recovery, national unity, and leadership accountability ahead of future elections.

Featured

Fubara Bows to Pressure, Invites Pro-Wike awmakers to Peace Meeting

Published

5 days ago

March 10, 2025

Eric

Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara has extended an olive branch to lawmakers loyal to his rival, Nyesome Wike.

The governor invited the Amaewhule-led House of Assembly members to a peace meeting, following the Supreme Court’s judgement on the state’s political unrest.

The invitation was made through a letter from Dr. Tammy Danagogo, Secretary to the State Government, to Speaker Martins Amaewhule.

The meeting is scheduled for Monday at 10 am at the Government House in Port Harcourt.

The agenda includes addressing lingering issues, presenting the 2025 state budget, and discussing payment of lawmakers’ allowances.

The letter read: “I hereby write in furtherance of His Excellency’s promise stated in my letter dated 5th March 2025 to notify you that His Excellency has received the Supreme Court Judgment, and has therefore directed me to invite you and your colleagues -the Honourable members of Rivers State House of Assembly, to a meeting to discuss:-

“Provision of a befitting space for the Assembly’s sittings. Payment of all outstanding remuneration or allowances of the Honourable members. Presentation of Budget and sundry matters;

“Any other matter(s), as may be necessary, to chart the way forward in the best interest of the State. Sequel to the above, I hereby humbly invite the Rt. Hon. Speaker, and all the Rivers State House of Assembly members to a meeting with the Governor as follows.”