Sahara Reporters and Its PMB Gripe, By Bassey Akpan

By Bassey Akpan 

For an organization or platform that prides itself as a new outlet, the only thing worse than being unprofessional is when the unprofessionalism is driven by an obsession to settle scores, which could be made even more sickening when such score settling is escalated into a proxy war. 

Sahara Reporters, a news platform that is hardly different from the persona of its publisher, Omoyele Sowore, is on this slippery slope and in a rapid slide into infamy owing to the way its unprofessionalism has been made worse in its obsession to settle scores with President Muhammadu Buhari. The sick dimension to it is that one of the ways the publication has decided to prosecute its “destroy Buhari” war is to persistently demonize the Nigerian military, particularly the Nigerian Army. The criminal dimension of this warped enterprise is the series of crimes that Sahara Reporters has committed in the strident bid to cast aspersion on the Army in order to tarnish the record of President Buhari.

Its laughable escapades are limitless, and instances abound. For example, it published the falsehood of the death of Ghali Umar Na’Abba, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and that of Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, the National President of Jama’atul Izalatul Bid’a Wa Ikamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS) while the man was busy conducting virtual preaching in Yola. In the desperation to validate its lies as the truth, the website went as far as locating the revered cleric’s death in Jos with photographs of a phantom funeral thrown in to make the inaccurate and false stories look respectable.

Granted that things had not always been the way they presently are between Sahara Reporters and President Buhari, there is no way to make excuses for its pure criminality garnished with a penchant for blackmail. At the height of the Goodluck Jonathan and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) era, while President Buhari and a host of other then opposition figures were pointing out the failings of that government, Sahara Reporters was on the standby to air these voices. The arrangement served its purpose; a news platform that was then considered several layers below a news rag had the opportunity to report contents that were authentic and backed by reputable names as opposed to the diet of hogwash and leaks from embittered Jonathan cabinet members that it was feeding its readers. It has gone back to that junk status or below the rating of a news rag, only that it actually got worse.

Upon Jonathan’s sack by the electorates, Sahara Reporters, which in reality is a pseudonym for Sowore, perhaps thought that the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was spoil of war to be shared among just anyone that made haranguing Jonathan a past time. He was reportedly angling to be named the Minister of Information by President Buhari in his first term. Such pipe dreams. What he failed to realize, which Sahara Reporters is yet to appreciate till date, is that President Buhari is not in the mold of “your enemy’s enemy is my friend.” Mr. President, rather than embrace burning coal to his bosom, for that is what giving Sowore any appointment would have amounted to, settled for professionals and upright Nigerians to populate his government. The result of that is the crop of military chiefs that have met Mr. President’s expectations in many areas such that he has retained them even in the face of the campaign of calumny that has been sustained against them by the likes of Sahara Reporters.

Sowore responded to his failure to make the cabinet, and indeed any government appointment, by drawing an imaginary battle line against the government by launching a sustained campaign of misinformation and disinformation against the Army. Perhaps thinking that he has gained a cult following that will enable him leverage his anti-government rants to make a populist hijack of power, Sowore ran as a presidential candidate in the 2019 General Elections and the 33,953 votes he scored in a country of over 198 million and with 82,344,107  registered voters is confirmation that Sahara Reporters’ readership base is overhyped, consisting mainly of persons with questionable intellect and suspicious mental health. 

This explains why none of such gullible readers ever challenged or questioned the trail of hatchet jobs that Sahara Reporters is doing against the military. This was the platform that started, sustained and perpetuated the account that the Army killed harmless Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) militant members even though that group was to be later procedurally declared a terrorist organization. Sahara Reporters ran a similar racket for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), another group that deservedly earned the label of a terrorist organization, it helped IPOB attribute mass graves from its atrocities to the Army and Nigeria Police Force after gory sights of hurriedly interred bodies were discovered in a forest. Its publisher, Sowore, was to later team up with IPOB’s fugitive leader, Nnamdi Kanu. After a meeting with the terrorist-on-the-lam, Sowore launched the #ReviolutionNow protest that was meant to overthrow a democratically elected government through mob action, a clear indication that he was in cahoots with terrorists with the singular agenda of destabilizing Nigeria.

Its anti-military, anti-Army campaign is so profound that Boko Haram recruiters are reportedly printing its webpages as recruitment literature and collaterals to convince prospective terrorists that Boko Haram has the upper hand in a war it is losing to government troops. If this usage of its content for terrorist propaganda is inadvertent, Sahara Reporters never did anything to correct the impression. Rather, it has shown a commitment to running propaganda for Boko Haram.

These foray into terrorists’ supporting propaganda has been explained away by some analysts as part of an elaborate destabilization agenda that is meant to make Nigeria a failed state. The logic is that the bouquet of foreign donor funding that is propping up the online publication are in reality a laundered form of payment for Sahara Reporters’ contribution to promoting terrorism in Nigeria in addition to being an anchor news platform for releasing contents that are meant to undermine the Nigerian state – a site that publishes contents meant to damage Nigerian institutions such that mainstream news organizations are then pressured as a result of competition to run a toned down version of such stories.

The analysts with this projection are not off the mark. What they did not add to their assessment of Sahara Reporters and Sowore is their demonic zealotry to malign the Nigerian Army as a conduit to get at President Buhari. They shop for stories to paint the military bad and have even been known to have funneled money to vulnerable ones among the troops to incite a contrived mutiny. They have in other instances used costumed actors to stage videos of discontent on the war-front in addition to propped interviews with faceless soldiers or alleged ex-soldiers all with a view to paint the government of the day bad and abuse the military for this purpose.

What Nigerians and indeed the world should know is that believing one line of texts in Sahara Reporters’ publications is to fall for a scam. Let no one make any mistake that the selective attack on the Nigerian militray is anything professional or about the competence of the men and women who are in battle with the enemies of Nigeria day and night. Let no one make the mistake that the persistent attack on the military and government is about good governance in Nigeria. Let no one make any mistake that it is about what the government is not doing or has done. The brief Sowore’s Sahara Reporters has is simple. Demonize Buhari. Make Nigeria bad and let the country go up in flames to please the colonizers that this below-rag-status publication works for.

If the past ten years has taught anything about Sahara Reporters, it is that this organization is incapable of the introspection that will prompt a revert to editorial principles, which it never had for one day since inception. For Sahara Reporters, reporting falsehood is a tradition buoyed by the false sense of being able to abuse the ubiquity and limitless reach of the internet to push its misleading contents at Nigerians while remaining beyond the reach of Nigeria’s legal jurisdiction because it is ensconced in New York, United States, a country against which it dare not publish the kind of incendiary contents it publishes against the President of Nigeria, the state and the military. 

But it is time to leverage the relevant anti-terrorism legislation, same way the United States would have done, such that whatever presence the publication has in Nigeria could be held liable for the terrorist activities of its parent office in the US. The authorities should also exploit inter-agency cooperation to thwart the ability of this criminal enterprise to raise money for supporting terrorists with propaganda as it is currently doing – all that is required is freezing its banks accounts while placing the accounts of its staffers on a terrorism watchlist. 

Sahara Reporters is at liberty to hold grudges against President Buhari just as it is free to nurse its gripe against him and his government, but wittingly or unwittingly supporting the cause of terrorists in an attempt to demonize the military as a way of maligning President Buhari is a red line that few countries in the world will allow a news publication to cross. Why should Nigeria tolerate such?

Akpan is a pan- Africanist and wrote this piece from Uyo.

Insecurity: Understanding the Coalition of Northern Group as a Virus, By Adio Waziri

By Adio Waziri 

The biggest joke of the century is the so-called Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) which issued an ultimatum to President Muhammadu Buhari to stem the tide of insecurity in the northern part of Nigeria or face mass protest. Ironically, the group is one of the reasons insecurity persists in northern Nigeria. 

A bunch of gerontocrats, who in their old age are claiming to belong to an age they have long crossed and are usurping the chances of the real youths in the society, have done more harm to the north than even some of the violent groups that have taken up arms against the Nigerian state. These mercenaries who hide under the guise of 'youths' to offer their services to political recidivists have again offered their discredited platform to the highest bidder to discredit the current administration. Their aim is to make the President Buhari-led administration look bad so they latched on to the recent security breaches witnessed in some northern parts of the country to make their kill. Unfortunately for them, however, this is one area people know they lack moral ground to issue any warning on as the leaders of this so-called Coalition have been the major cause of insecurity. 

Apart from encouraging laziness through thuggery, they have by their over-reliance on renegade and self-serving politicians built an army of followers from among an otherwise innocent, hardworking and unsuspecting lot and have come to make them believe the only way they can make ends meet is through violence and sabotage.

This group has done the worst service to northern interests by taking away the minds of the youths from usefully engaging in productive activities like farming and another semi-skilled labour and putting them on the streets in the name of hired protesters and some times nudging them into acts of violence. They are like Boko Haram that made young and promising northern youths to abandon school and tear their certificates with a promise of an Eldorado in brigandage and opportunism.

The CNG cannot be absolved from the corollary effect of the drug abuse that is killing northern youths as they have made these young and hapless recruits believe that the only way they can do the bidding of these misguided elements is to take mind-bending substances.

The height of the chicanery of this group, however, was the ultimatum they gave citizens of Nigeria some time back to vacate the North not minding the social, economic and security implication of that statement. To them, satisfying their paymasters to have more zeros added to their cheques was more important to them than the peace and unity of this country knowing fully well that their statement would have led to a major crisis of great proportions if not for divine intervention. 

It is this same set of people who want people to take them serious about the security situation in the north when it is clear to everyone that they are the problem. They cause a problem to happen and then hide behind one finger to pretend that they are doing something about it.

If that had been the only damage it would have been tolerable, but everybody knows that in this particular outing as in others, it is the voice of Jacob but the hands of Esau playing out and there's no denying the fact that they are being sponsored by the failed presidential candidate of an opposition party, who is doing his best to discredit the current administration. 

But that is not even the height of inanities. The stupidity of their position is exposed in the fact that they are issuing a threat to an administration that has done more than any other to secure Nigeria and every of its citizen wherever they find themselves. 

The CNG does not know and will not appreciate the much the government has committed to ensuring peace and security in Nigeria because they have been busy going around collecting money from political opponents and making all manners of careless statements to check. 

Neither would the group appreciate the much the government has done in terms of security when its leaders are busy misleading youths to abandon their lawful jobs to line up as thugs for politicians in the bid to line their pockets with filthy lucre.

However, CNG, even with its nonsensical posture and infantile pretence cannot say it did not know the efforts the current administration has put in place to ensure peace the last time it was asking certain citizens to vacate northern Nigeria. 

If only they know the shuttles top government officials had to engage in to suppress the angst of people and the number of efforts by security agencies to proactively nip the threats in the bud, they would not have been opening their mouths to comment on anything concerning security in the next five decades!

To be sure, the current administration does not need any reminder, least of all from an irresponsible bunch of useless adult delinquents to show commitment to security in Nigeria. President Buhari made it clear even in his inaugural speech that security, alongside the economy and fight against corruption would form the focus of his administration. He has not disappointed. 

The current administration has taken steps that dealt heavy blows on insurgency, banditry and related crimes. Troops recaptured all the local governments under the control of Boko Haram and checkmated the activities of criminal all over the country. 

CNG cannot pretend not to recognize the efforts of the Inspector General of Police Special Team led by ACP Abba Kyari which busted several hideouts of criminals including that of the most notorious kidnapper in the country, Evans, and arrested him or Nigerian troops sacked the Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists from Sambisa forest and established a base at camp Zairo and rescued school girls that were captured in Dapchi, Yobe State.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai to show the seriousness of the government towards curbing insecurity, relocated to the Northeast and has been fighting the insurgents with great success. Last week, when there was a security breach in Katsina, all the Service Chiefs went to reinforce their commitment which led to counter operations that destroyed the base of the criminals and many of them were captured.

The government did all these without waiting for any hired group to remind it of its responsibilities to its citizens. The Federal Government is alive to its responsibilities towards citizens and does not need a bunch of lazy adults who prefer to see themselves as 'youths' to remind it, hence they can keep their advice to themselves. 

At the juncture, however, it is right to advice these elders who want to see themselves as youths that the best way they can help in addressing the problem of insecurity is to stop running to politicians for sponsorship on mischief and begin to seek gainful employment. They can lead the youths by example through farming and agriculture or by engaging in other skilled or semi-skilled labour.

Waziri is a development expert based in Kaduna.

Just In: Court bars Obaseki from PDP Pry Election, says his nomination form already late

By Dansu Peter 

Fresh twist has ensued in the political Imbroglio in Edo State as Governor Godwin Obaseki has been stopped by a Federal High Court from participating in the governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The primary election is scheduled for 25 June.

The ban order was given 22 June by Justice E.A. Obile of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt.

It was based on a motion ex parte filed by a PDP member, Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama.

Joined in the suit are Prince Uche Secondus, the PDP, Independent National Electoral Commission, chairman of the party screening committee, Kingsley Chinda and other members of the committee.

Obaseki, an APC renegade, was named as the eighth defendant in the case.

The applicant is seeking a court order to restrain Secondus and the party from allowing Obaseki to buy the forms for the primary, other than those who bought the forms within the timetable initially published for the election.

Justice Obile granted the interim injunction as requested.

The PDP, mindful of the legal minefield announced a waiver for Obaseki, to enable him to participate in the primary election, even though he joined the party only on Friday 19 June last week.

The party also reconvened the Chinda screening committee which had ended its assignment on 5 June

The committee specially screened Obaseki on Saturday 20 June.

All the parties in the case were to be served via substituted means.

Substantive hearing in the case has been adjourned till Wednesday 24 June.

Source : PM News

Failed politicians behind violence, banditry in the North- Security expert

 By Dansu Peter 

A security expert and public affairs commentator,  Mr Terrence Kuanum, has attributed the incessant cases of violence and bandit attacks in parts of northern Nigeria to the activities of failed politicians who want to paint the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in bad light.

He insisted that the Nigerian military is doing a good job of ridding the country of insurgency and terrorism explaining that the scourge has continued only because other critical stakeholders in the sector have not been alive to their responsibilities. 

Kuanum who spoke with our team of editors in his residence in Abuja, said information available to him as an expert in security matters indicates that most of the cases of violence and banditry in northern  Nigeria are politically motivated and sponsored by those who contested and lost against the ruling party in recent elections.

The security expert said the failed politicians believe that by sponsoring violence and other acts of criminality they would be de-marketing the Buhari presidency so as to put them in stead to contest in 2023. 

Kuanum said information at his disposal indicates that many of the failed politicians are not happy with the gains made by the military against insurgents and criminals in recent times and are hellbent on thwarting the efforts due to their 2023 ambitions 

"They are scared that if Buhari is allowed to continue with his streak of achievements especially in the area of  security, then he would have fulfilled one of the cardinal objectives of his administration to secure the nation and that would further bury their dreams of returning to power.

"They know they have nothing to offer to the people so they don't want to allow the President deliver on his mandate as that would put the final nail on their political coffin," he stated.

The security expert said the failed politicians were particularly angered by the accolades the Buhari administration was receiving from all over the world over its ability to neutralise terrorists operating on the fringes of the Lake Chad region so they decided to work against it.

He said, "If you have been observing developments in the Northeast, you will notice that our military have been on top of their games neutralising the insurgents and making it difficult for them the launch surprise attacks on communities and it became obvious that the total defeat of the insurgents is a matter of days.

"Encomiums started pouring in from all over including those critical of the Buhari administration, that the administration is doing well and the president was going to keep his promise about providing adequate secuirty in the country.

"So they distracted the military with banditry attacks in the Northwest and in that moment, struck in the Northeast all in the bid to paint the current administration in bad light."

Kuanum said it is high time people are made aware of this conspiracy so they would realise that the fault is not that of the military which is doing its best to secure the nation but due to the activities of some unpatriotic elements. 

The security expert said it is curious that the Nigerian military which is one of the best in the world should be put on a negative spot light for operations carried out at home.

He asked: "Does it not strike you as curious that the same military which liberated Sierra Leone; rescued UN soldiers from terrorists in Somalia; restored democracy in Liberia and led successful joint military operations in several parts of world would be said to be failing at home?"

He said this is clearly an indication that some forces are behind the campaign to sustain the carnage.

"You cannot reconcile the fact that the Nigerian military which has such a sterling record of achievements abroad could be said to be overstretched at home," he stated.

He maintained that on a scale of a hundred, the Nigerian military has performed at over 90 stressing that the occasional attacks used to assess the military is due to the inability of other stakeholders to perform their tasks and because some of the violence are politically induced.

He said if the other stakeholders are doing half of what the military are doing in the area of security in the last four years, Nigeria would have attained the much needed peace.

He warned the politicians who he described as agents of darkness to desist from their evil acts saying not only would they be exposed in the not too distant future but would be prosecuted and made to face the full wrath of the law.

Kuanum advised those saddled with other responsibilities in the secuiety architecture of the country to wake up to their responsibilites so as to bring an end to insurgency in Nigeria.

He said, " A lot depends on intelligence gathering, consultation, mediation and other subtle initiatives that cannot be handled through field combat.

"These areas are seriously lacking and it forms part of my recommendation to

the government to end insurgency.

He explained that there is no war that is fought using a single approach as he said every conflict is a result of breakdown in negotiations.

"Both methods are usually deployed to speed up the process of ending conflict but in Nigeria the other stakeholders have abandoned their posts and left the entire process in the hands of the military.

This should no longer be the case and I'm calling on all stakeholders to wake up from slumber and contribute their quota so as to complement  what the military is doing," he said and called on all to support the military to stamp out terrorism in Nigeria.

Dr. Olowo Onaolapo, Lagos Fin. Commissioner @35; Deploying Private Sector Driven Template To The Developement Of Lagos, By Abubakar Yusuf- Momony

By Abubakar Yusuf- Momony

In pace setting towards both public and private initiatives,Lagos State is rated to be at the forefront of all activities,this was in line with the appointement of a meticulous,articulate,reserved,hard working and intelligent private driven personalty, Dr RABIU ONAOLAPO  OLOWO's achievements to the economic development of Nigeria, in the last one decade and across the globe, trascends mere rhetorics,but on ground for public benefits.

Soon after the swearing in of the new administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in Lagos State by May 29 2019,the desire to engage people with high level acue, to assist in driving the socio-economic development of the new Lagos State,became germane,hence the assemblage of a well groomed professionals in various fields ,saw the new Finance Commissioner for lagos state,as one of the best hands purely selected on merit,devoid of political undertone,but based on perfomance indices from the private sector, to assist in redirection of the cosmopolitan Lagos economy, likened to a mini Nigeria in the next four years.

DR RABIU ONAOLAPO OLOWO who is 35 years, emerged as the youngest commissioners among other members of the state executive council, along with an intimidating resume exceptionally distinct from the previous order, that got the blessings of the political leaders of Lagos State and by extension Nigeria .

Dr RABIU at his youthful age, had already garnered a robust working experience at the top echelon of Banks, productuon,pharmaceuticals,and other financial institutions at the top level, that led to his establishment of a wholly private training school, Rablo Woods CFLC, sole ACF trainer in Nigeria and Ghana, likened to Lagos Business School,whose scope had gone beyond the areas of human capital developement, trainings and re-trainings of top,middle and high level private and public establishments, geared towards improving their productivity and professional stead in crime and fraud management, both in public and private private sectors, with a potential qualification and proficiency certificate as Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), on graduation.

Dr OLOWO's strides in this area saw him as a Finance strategy leader, certified fraud examiner, conference speaker, and venture capitalist whose in-depth training is being deployed to manage a robust Nigeria economies in Finance Management, payments and assist the anti graft agencies, to reduce fraud, control a seamless and transparent accounting system in Nigeria.

A graduate of first class in  Accounting from Kogi state University KSU ,Anyigba, chattered accountant with ICAN in his early days of graduation in 2007, post graduate program(MSC), at the University of Lagos,and bagged his PhD in his early 30's from the same institution.

A public speaker both within and outside the shores of Nigeria which included Ghana,Johannesburg in South Africa and other foreign countries.

His involvement in the current administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has taken the state to another level of developement in Agriculture, Education,Health, Infrastructural developement and Social services,as the state government response to emergencies is unprecedented in the current dispensation.

As Finance Commissioner,Dr Olowo has engaged both private and public sector as well as mobilise  chunk of funds from the stock market, through bond arrangement, to trigger more developement in all facets of Lagos State and it's environs,payable at ease for years,with less pressure on governance and stress free.

At the build up to the current global emergency of COVID-19,the commissioner did not hesitate in mobilising funds on daily basis,to meet the ever growing expectations of the people on the unforseen circumstances, that occassioned the unprovisioned situation on the state budget.

In line with the state Governor's directives,he was deeply involved in both provision of Finance and logistics, to address the novel pandemic that reduced to the barest minimum,the effects of the scourge.

The Finance Commissioner in conjunction with his colleagues were deeply engaged in the day to day media briefing,and also provided for emergency situation,that reduced drastically,the spread of the disease.

As Dr Olowo Rabiu Onaolapo mark an additional year,it is my believe that his decision to pitch tent with the public sector,will be an opportunity to develop another strides towards fiscal and economic discipline, to the cosmopolitan state of Lagos in the next few years,and by extension Nigeria at large.

Accept my Congratulations,and Happy Birthday,wishing you many more years on the surface of the earth,and in the services to your father Land.   

Abubakar Yusuf- Momony Is A Media Consultant,Writes From Abuja.

Tinubu and 21yrs of unbroken democracy in Nigeria, By Tunde Rahman

By Tunde Rahman

Twenty years in the life of a nation may be a short period of time. But when such a span of time embodies something meaningful and impactful, it is extremely noteworthy. And so Nigeria at present is celebrating two decades of uninterrupted democracy since the democratic restoration of 1999. Considering where the country is coming from- a long period of coups and counter coups, 30 months civil war, three previous short-lived attempts at democratic rule, military dictatorship of the worst form occasioning all kinds of experiments and fraudulent political engineering including an annulment of a free and fair election and then a brutal dictatorship during which many were either killed or maimed- having another democratic resurgence lasting 21 years, and still counting, is indeed significant.

Operating a democracy, the best form of government mankind has evolved, has never been easy anywhere, talk less in Nigeria. For our democracy to have endured all of 20 years means Nigerians have invested heavily in its success. We all deserve special congratulations for working to entrench democracy in the land. These investments have come at great costs, which, however, have not been borne in equal measure. Some Nigerians sacrificed so much for it, including paying the supreme price like business mogul Bashorun MKO Abiola, the winner of the annulled June 12 election, his wife, Kudirat and journalist, Bagauda Kalto, among others. Many were incarcerated. Thousands who suffered immense pain in diverse manners remain nameless and faceless. Some were forced on exile for a long period.

One of those who had to flee into exile to escape the death squads of the Abacha military junta over the agitation for the de-annulment of the June 12 election from where he played a leading role in continuing the struggle is Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress National Leader. In exile, Asiwaju became a critical rallying point for the opposition, making things uncomfortable for the Abacha junta back home until that regime collapsed. Following the promise of the succeeding General Abdulsalam Abubakar regime to hand over power, Asiwaju Tinubu returned to the country from exile in 1998. In no time at all, he became one of the leading lights who formed the Alliance for Democracy, one of the three main political parties of the time. Persuaded by his close associates and friends, Asiwaju threw his hat into the ring for the governorship of Lagos. Against the remonstrations of those who wanted to impose a candidate on the AD, he and his associates insisted on open primaries buoyed by support from some temperate leaders of that party. With open primaries, he emerged the governorship candidate of the party, contested for the 1999 governorship election and was elected.

If his contributions to the return of democratic rule again in 1999 after almost 16 years of military rule was remarkable, his role in nurturing and deepening democracy in the land from that period onward is even more worthy of chronicling. Saying Asiwaju is a major pillar of the nation’s democracy that seized every opportunity to deepen the practice of transparent, responsive and accountable governance, federalism and the rule of law in Nigeria both in words and deeds is stating the obvious.

As governor, he put together a team of tested technocrats and experienced managers, unrivalled in Nigeria’s history, to help him actualize his vision for the state. It is not surprising that many of them are still holding top leadership positions at different levels in the country today. Tinubu and his team laid the foundation for a modern Lagos, fashioned out a master plan and engineered most of the innovations that spurred the unprecedented ongoing development and prosperity witnessed in Lagos today. As he brought radical changes to both the economic and political landscapes of Lagos, enhancing the state’s fortunes in the process, he also made significant contributions to fiscal federalism and constitutionalism.

Under his watch, Lagos challenged the Federal Government on many constitutional issues. His government filed as many as 14 cases at the Supreme Court and won all. One of such landmark cases was the one in respect of creation of additional local councils in the state, with the Supreme Court upholding the validity of the new councils but stating that they remained inchoate until the National Assembly had done its part by listing those councils in the constitution. Nevertheless, the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) are alive and well today. They constitute the basis for accelerated rural development in Lagos State thanks to Tinubu’s vision and courage.

At the inception of this democratic dispensation in 1999, for instance, the Federal Government routinely deducted funds as a first line charge from the Federation Account for what it called “Special Funds”. These included funding of the Joint Venture Contracts and NNPC priority projects, servicing of Federal Government’s external debt, funding of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and funding of the judiciary and other federal responsibilities. It was after the deduction of these monies that whatever was remaining was shared among the states and Local Government Councils. The robust legal challenge by Lagos State at the Supreme Court put a stop to this practice to the advantage of the states and local governments.

Again, it was the crusading legal action by Lagos State under Tinubu’s leadership that led the Supreme Court to declare that planning within the territorial jurisdiction of any state was a residual matter over which the states and not the Federal Government could exercise control. In the words of Tinubu’s Attorney General at the time, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), “The Supreme Court by a majority of four out of seven justices in a full constitutional court held that urban and regional planning as well as physical development were residual matters within the exclusive legislative and executive competence of states and that grant of approvals, permits and licences for building and physical development in Lagos State including under bridges, loops and highways set-back are the residual responsibility of the state government”.

When former President Obasanjo withheld revenue allocations to Lagos on account of the creation of those additional councils, Asiwaju was forced to look inward, devising ingenious means of funding the new councils and running the state. Such resourcefulness birthed the innovations that moved the state IGR from about N600 million monthly in 1999 to around N25billion and over N30billion monthly today. So significant was what Asiwaju and his team did in eight years that many continue to acknowledge his ingenuity.

In a tribute to the APC leader during his 67th birthday in March this year, President Muhammadu Buhari described Tinubu as one of the strong pillars of Nigeria’s democracy while also praising him for his selflessness in serving the country and contributing his quota towards making life better for our teeming people. “Asiwaju’s uncompromising posture in the face of injustice and refusal to follow the path of least resistance for personal gains stand him out today as a rare breed and one of the cornerstones of Nigeria’s democracy, especially with his track record of persistence, consistency and effective leadership,” the President said. “As the father of modern Lagos State,” Presidential Spokesman Femi Adesina quoted the President as commending “the visionary and inclusive leadership style that the Asiwaju provided for the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria for eight years, laying the foundation for a modern and technologically-driven city, and ensuring that every successive leader in the state sticks with the master plan of a greater Lagos.”

From the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Asiwaju and his associates moved to form first, the Action Congress (AC) and then the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) when the AD became polarised in the aftermath of the choice of that party’s presidential candidate for the 1999 poll among other contentious issues. In the 2003 election, Asiwaju became the only AD governor who survived the virulent onslaught of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which contrived to win the election at all cost in the South-west and credit Obasanjo with home-base support. It was to Asiwaju’s credit that he led the struggle in winning back, one by one, those South-west states illegally captured by the PDP through the courts, which upheld the cause of justice.

With the ACN now in firm control of the South-west, Asiwaju’s ACN began alliance talks towards the 2011 election with the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) led by then General Muhammadu Buhari, but that alliance fell through. It is instructive that that merger of the South-west and North-West progressives and other like minds, once predicted by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and which fell through in 2011, was eventually successfully and consummated in the build-up to the 2015 election, thus giving birth to the APC. For the first time in Nigeria’s political history, that rainbow coalition that is APC, unseated an incumbent president and formed government at the centre.

Since then, in a bid to get the party to wax stronger, Asiwaju and his cohorts have had to battle some undemocratic forces within the party and their underhand tactics. For instance, after the initial bright successes of the APC during which elective convention was the order of the day, some members wanted to foist dictatorship and automatic extension of tenure on the party. Asiwaju and other democrats successfully wrestled this move to the ground. Tinubu spearheaded the struggle for the adoption by APC of direct primaries as a method of picking the party’s candidates for elections, involving the generality of the party members as opposed to some small coterie of delegates. That agitation culminated in the election last year of a consummate labour activist and former governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, as APC chairman. Oshiomhole has been changing the narrative in APC to the admiration of many and discomfiture of others.

Asiwaju did much more. Which of those other onerous contributions should one highlight? Is it the crucial role he played in persuading the Federal Government to give June 12 the honour it deserved, thus bringing the matter of the annulled election to a proper close or the leadership he provided, as Co-chair of the APC presidential campaigns, in galvanising the party’s rank and file to work assiduously for the president’s re-election in March this year, knowing full well that President Buhari is a honest and patriotic leader who, in his first term, had taken concrete steps towards laying a firm foundation for a greater Nigeria?

Tinubu’s role as a leading advocate of the legitimation of June 12 has borne ample fruit with President Buhari conferring on the hero of June 12, late MKO Abiola, a post-humous Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) award while MKO’s  running mate, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, received the Grand Commander of the Order of Niger award. The icing on the cake was the pronouncing of June 12 as Democracy Day by President Buhari. Now, the National Assembly has passed the bill making June 12 a public holiday and Nigeria’s Democracy Day. In the 2019 election, President Buhari posted a resounding victory, roundly defeating the PDP, and its candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, to win a second term which he began a few days ago.  

In their book-“Statesmanship and Political Leadership: Analyses of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic-A Festschrift in Honour of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu”, the authors of the book, edited by Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun (SAN) and Adewale Aderemi, Ph D, who interrogated Asiwaju’s role in Nigeria’s democracy, said of the APC leader: “At critical junctures since his emergence as a public figure in the early 1990s, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has been a pivotal figure in the equation, by a dint of political doggedness as the last line of resistance to the ruling party, which historically never ruled the South-west, not only weathered incredible political turmoil but also nurtured the dominant political platform of the region from the brink of disintegration to becoming the nucleus of the new ruling party, ousting the sixteen-year incumbency of the PDP in the process.”

Any need to add more. All that Asiwaju has accomplished hasn’t come easy. As common in the trajectories of great men like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and many other leaders, Asiwaju has had his own fair share of treachery, deceit and campaigns of calumny, even by some of those he trusted. He has, however, weathered the storms. He is carrying on and waxing stronger. One of the tasks he has taken upon himself at present is safeguarding and strengthening party supremacy within the governing party and ensuring adherence to the party’s position in respect of emergence of the National Assembly’s presiding officers. Asiwaju has a lot more to offer. Surely, in the fullness of time and with the gift of life and continued good health, the fullness of his robust intellect, competence, and capability will be released in the service of our country.

Rahman, former Editor Thisday on Saturday and Sunday Newspapers, is Media Adviser to Asiwaju have Tinubu.

Kuye sets new precedence with sterling stewardship in just one year as fed. legislator

By Dansu Peter 

When the 9th Assembly was inaugurated on June 11, 2019, a drastic overhaul was expected. Nigerians anticipated a paradigm shift from the status quo, where lawmakers abandoned their constituencies, instead opting for the exquisite lifestyle in the Federal Capital Territory without any tangible proof of representation. 

In Somolu Federal Constituency, Lagos State, for instance, there was little or no dividends of federal presence. Hence, the coming of Hon. Prince Ademorin Aliu Kuye was beseeched to change the ills. Kuye, though, embodied the new dimension of representation; where all residents would be carried along with happenings at the green chambers. 

And quite astutely, Hon. Kuye has lived up to the billing one year into his term at the National Assembly. The soft-spoken yet charismatic legislator has infact performed way beyond expectations, shocking the naysayers.

There was a bizarre notion that first-term lawmakers are usually redundant for four years. They are believed to be idle while learning the ropes bereft of the nitty-gritty of astute legislation. Hon. Kuye, however, has already changed the narrative by hitting the ground running. 

Dogged, resilient and highly vast, Hon. Kuye, within few weeks after resumption, was able to present bills and various motions at House of Representatives. Analysts are of the view that he has made more impact than the so-called veterans.

Prior to his resumption, Hon. Kuye paid a courtesy visit to the National Orthopaedic Hospital to examine the staff's welfare and how he could use his esteemed office to bring progress to the hospital. This led to the drafting of a motion for the Federal Government to as a matter urgency, attend to the various needs of the hospital, ranging from infrastructural development, provision of medical tools, gadgets etc. 

Due to his stunning contributions and willingness to wholeheartedly serve the nation, he was immediately appointed the Deputy Chairman of Rules and Business Committee. It was a first of its kind but that wasn’t all. He was subsequently named a a member of Committees on Air Force, Police Affairs, Justice, Climate Change, Basic Education, Aids, Loans & Debt Management, Financial Crimes, Petroleum Downstream, Public Accounts and FCT. 

Buzzing with confidence, Hon. Kuye made his first official speech on the floor of the House of Reps on July 11, 2019, contributing a bill presented by a colleague to establish a Commission. He attracted massive adulation. This marked the beginning of almost a daily timeline of events. 

On July 23, during a visit by Mr. Sunday Dare, then a Ministerial Nominee, the lawmaker, instead of the usual politicking tendered the challenges of his people. Barely 24 hours later, he presented his first motion on the ‘Need to Re-equip our National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos’. 

Hon. Kuye then rose to amend a motion on the floor seeking the inclusion of Somolu Printing Industry in the installation of Industrial Power project by the FG on July 24. This was another pointer that he wasn’t carried away, already thinking about his people. 

July 25 marked his appointment as the Deputy Chairman, Rules and Business Committee. After a long recess, on October 10, Hon. Kuye presented a Bill for an act to reform certain provisions of the 2014 Pension Reform Act, which would among others grant quick access to more money from the retirement savings account after retirement. 

"We are ready to provide succor to Nigerians in general and our retirees in particular with effective legislation and this bill will ensure that pension administration in the country improves,” he said in a statement.

Due to his willingness to serve his people and his proactive nature, he emerged the Secretary General of the formidable Lagos Caucus of members of House of Representatives on October 11. At the same meeting, Hon. Dolapo Badru, became the Caucus leader.

On October 30, Hon. Kuye and other members of the Air Force Committee paid a condolence visit to Sokoto State Government regarding the unfortunate incidence that occurred between Air Force personnel and some civilian where lives were lost.

The next month, he presented a motion to amend the Pension Reform Act 2004, criminalizing diversion of pension fund by state governments and prescribes a jail term of 15 years for officials found culpable. 

Still in November 6, Hon. Kuye presented a ground breaking and lives touching motion on the need to stop Higher Institutions from organising and charging students/parents for Post JAMB/UTME exams. This caught the attention of many Nigerians as virtually every family would be financially relieved if successful.

He then represented President, Muhammadu Buhari to decorate Rear Admiral Yakubu Wambai at the adornment of newly promoted Naval Officers of the Nigerian Navy at the Naval Headquarters, Abuja towards the end of November. Before the yuletide,  Hon. Kuye presented a motion on the need to immediately investigate the incessant non-combat crashes of the Nigerian Air Force planes.

The new year came with even more focus for the Somolu lawmaker. On February 22, he was named Chairman Sub-Committee on Police Reform to reposition the Nigerian Police for an enhanced service delivery. Almost one month later, Hon. Kuye presented a bill calling for the compulsory registration of birth and death by amending Section 17 of the Principal Act placing responsibility of the mandatory registration in the hands of local government or area councils.

He said compulsory registration will “lead to accurate statistics for planning, making informed economic decisions, provision of required facilities and empowerment where necessary.

“Mandatory registration of birth will ensure that government monitors every child birth from the cradle through school and employment to the grave.”

According to him, if the amendment being sought is passed to law, every local government will have a data bank and information from the local government will go to the state data bank while federal government data bank will contain information from across the states.

Kuye subsequently chaired Ad-Hoc Committee to investigate the FG’s Abandoned Properties and Assets. Delivering his speech at the inauguration, Hon Kuye informed the general public that the committee won't succumb to any form of intimidation, noting that the committee will perform and surpass the expectations of the house.

In addition to the bills and motions already presented at the National Assembly, Hon. Kuye also raised of Points of Order aplenty. Not only has he provided immense representation for the Somolu people, he has already broken that age-long notion that comes with debutants.

 

BREAKING: University of Ibadan opens up on Obaseki's alleged fake certificate

The University of Ibadan (UI) has confirmed Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki graduated from the institution.

The university, in a statement by its Registrar, Mrs Olubunmi Faluyi, said Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, studied Classics.

According to the statement, the Governor gained admission to the university in 1976 and graduated in 1979 with a Second Class Honours (Lower Division)

“Records of his admission and graduation are intact in the archives of the university.” the statement said.

Some opposition leaders in the state’s chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been accusing Obaseki of presenting a fake certificate, saying he did not graduate from the premier university. The UI statement will draw the curtain on the supposed certificate scandal crisis.

Obaseki has been in a running battle with his predecessor Adams Oshiomhole over the second term ticket. The latter, who is the National Chairman of the APC, has vowed to ensure the governor does not get a second term in office.