Rauf Aregbesola - News Proof

News:

Politics

Rauf Aregbesola


Showing posts with label Rauf Aregbesola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rauf Aregbesola. Show all posts

Buhari's Secret Talks With Tinubu's Men REVEALED; Pencils Down Tinubu's Men For The Looming Cabinet Shake-up

Buhari's Secret Talks With Tinubu's Men REVEALED; Pencils Down Tinubu's Men For The Looming Cabinet Shake-up

No comments
Buhari tinubu
The feud that has polarized the ruling All Progressives Congress national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari may soon be resolved should a report according to Punch Newspaper is to go by.

The Sunday Punch reported that the prolonged cold war between President Muhammadu Buhari and his erstwhile close political associate and South-West political strongman, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, may soon come to an end.


The two sides, according to our source began planning to bury the hatchet during a recent meeting that President Buhari held with some of Tinubu’s loyalists in Aso Rock.

The President had met with the trio of Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, former Osun governor, Chief Bisi Akande, and Senator Olusola Adeyeye last week Sunday. The sources also said both parties agreed that the President needed to take some confidence-boosting measures to restore Tinubu’s faith in him.

The two men reportedly fell out following what Tinubu and his loyalists saw as attempts to diminish his contributions to President Buhari’s victory at the 2015 poll and erode his political capital in his South-West base. Some supporters of the former governor had also complained that the President rejected Tinubu’s ministerial nominees, and worked against the ex-Lagos governor’s candidates in the Kogi elections and Ondo governorship primary, among other ills.

A reliable source who was privy to the events that culminated in the meeting said its seeds were planted during President Buhari’s three-day state visit to Germany. Prior to that time, Buhari and Tinubu had not had any private communication in a while. But the source said the President contacted Akande, who is one of Tinubu’s closest associates and a former Interim Chairman of the APC, asking him to see him in Aso Rock.

The President’s call reportedly came barely 48 hours after the controversial interview the President’s wife, Aisha, granted the British Broadcasting Corporation. In the interview which went viral, the president’s wife accused her husband of neglecting those who helped him to power in 2015. Mrs. Buhari also threatened not to support her husband in 2019 if the President did not change tack.

Sources said although both men’s relationship began to sour almost as soon as Buhari won the election, it deteriorated when Professor John Paden, in his book titled ‘Muhammadu Buhari: Challenges of Leadership,’ claimed that Tinubu was against the emergence of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Vice President.  Both Buhari and Tinubu were present at the book launch.

Insiders say this did not go down well with Tinubu and his men, as the All Progressives Congress national leader’s camp saw it as yet another attempt by the President and his men to reduce his contributions to the emergence of the APC government and also rewrite history.

Shortly after, Tinubu in a scathing open letter asked the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to step down, after alleging that the chairman doctored results of the Ondo State APC governorship primary. Odigie-Oyegun, a former Edo State governor, who had been cautious in his initial response to Tinubu’s letter, paid a visit to Buhari in Aso Rock and thereafter launched an attack on Tinubu, describing his letter as ‘reckless.’

Seeing that he was fast losing at the centre, the APC chieftain, popularly known as the Jagaban (of Borgu), started reaching out to his political foes in the South-West in order to consolidate his influence in the region. With several meetings held, Tinubu’s most vocal critics such as Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Sir Olanihun Ajayi, among others, began to drum up support for him publicly.

A source in the presidency told our correspondent that Akande, who cut short his trip abroad to see the President, did not mince words during the meeting.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Akande told Buhari that despite the roles Tinubu and the South-West played in making him President, he had relegated the APC national leader and the region.

The source said, “Baba Akande told the President that they were not happy with him. He told Buhari that apart from not giving Tinubu sufficient consideration during the ministerial appointments, everything that played out in the Kogi and Ondo elections showed that the President was supporting Asiwaju’s enemies.

“Baba also said Paden’s book was a major slight and that they believed the President was aware of the content of the book before it went public. He further said some of the people around Buhari were hell-bent on ensuring that the President and Tinubu became enemies because of what they would gain from the crisis.”

The source stated that Buhari countered that he was unhappy with the acrimony in the ruling party and that he had tried to be fair to all parties. But Akande was said to have disagreed with the President in his response, and cited further examples.

SUNDAY PUNCH further gathered that Akande told the President to take practical steps to show that he was not fighting Tinubu and the South-West. While listing their demands, Akande and others told him that they needed to see more representation of those that helped him to power during the next cabinet reshuffle.

There have been reports that a cabinet change is imminent.

Akande, who travelled abroad after the meeting with Buhari, could not be reached for comments, but a top APC member close to him confirmed details of the meeting, saying, “They want Buhari to accept Tinubu’s list when he makes changes in his cabinet. They specifically told him that they are only in support of one of the South-West ministers in his cabinet. They also asked him to get the party leadership to hold the National Executive Council meetings regularly while also facilitating the constitution of the party’s board of trustees.”

A source close to the South-West leadership of the party disclosed to one of our correspondents that Akande and Aregbesola had met at the former’s residence in Ila-Orangun two Wednesdays ago before meeting the President.

Akande had been honoured by the Catholic Diocese in Otan-Ayegbaju, Osun State, where a school was inaugurated in his name. The late mother of a former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who hailed from Otan-Ayegbaju, was also honoured by the church, which inaugurated a multipurpose hall in her honour.

APC leaders, members and supporters, including Aregbesola, who thronged the venue of the ceremony, accompanied Akande to Ila-Orangun as a mark of respect.

It was gathered that Aregbesola and Akande held a meeting at Akande’s residence, where they discussed the face-off between Buhari and Tinubu.

The source said, “We were at Otan-Ayegbaji together. We later accompanied Baba Akande to Ila-Orangun after the Otan-Ayegbaju ceremony. When we got to Ila-Orangun, both the governor and Baba Akande went inside for a very long time. I’m sure that was where the decision to intervene in the matter was taken.

“When they met Buhari, they complained about the marginalisation of Tinubu’s men. At the meeting, Aregbesola said they (Tinubu loyalists) were not out to fight Buhari, but that the President should consider the Tinubu group in terms of appointments.

“Buhari told them that he was not out to undermine Tinubu’s group and that things would change in the coming days.”

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said he was not aware of what transpired during the meeting between the President and the APC chieftains.

He said, “I am not aware of what was discussed with the President in the said meeting. As a matter of fact, it is not the nature of the President to disclose what people discuss with him in confidence during meetings.”


A FORMER 1 MINUTES MAN REVEALS HOW HE INCREASED HIS PENIS SIZE TO SATISFACTION AND STOPPED HIS CHRONIC PREMATURE EJACULATION ISSUES IN LESS THAN 29DAYS AS HE NOW LASTS 35MINS+ IN BED USING THIS NEW, 100% NAFDAC APPROVED NO-SIDE EFFECT 2-IN-1 SOLUTION.... 

Buhari tinubu
The feud that has polarized the ruling All Progressives Congress national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari may soon be resolved should a report according to Punch Newspaper is to go by.

The Sunday Punch reported that the prolonged cold war between President Muhammadu Buhari and his erstwhile close political associate and South-West political strongman, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, may soon come to an end.


The two sides, according to our source began planning to bury the hatchet during a recent meeting that President Buhari held with some of Tinubu’s loyalists in Aso Rock.

The President had met with the trio of Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, former Osun governor, Chief Bisi Akande, and Senator Olusola Adeyeye last week Sunday. The sources also said both parties agreed that the President needed to take some confidence-boosting measures to restore Tinubu’s faith in him.

The two men reportedly fell out following what Tinubu and his loyalists saw as attempts to diminish his contributions to President Buhari’s victory at the 2015 poll and erode his political capital in his South-West base. Some supporters of the former governor had also complained that the President rejected Tinubu’s ministerial nominees, and worked against the ex-Lagos governor’s candidates in the Kogi elections and Ondo governorship primary, among other ills.

A reliable source who was privy to the events that culminated in the meeting said its seeds were planted during President Buhari’s three-day state visit to Germany. Prior to that time, Buhari and Tinubu had not had any private communication in a while. But the source said the President contacted Akande, who is one of Tinubu’s closest associates and a former Interim Chairman of the APC, asking him to see him in Aso Rock.

The President’s call reportedly came barely 48 hours after the controversial interview the President’s wife, Aisha, granted the British Broadcasting Corporation. In the interview which went viral, the president’s wife accused her husband of neglecting those who helped him to power in 2015. Mrs. Buhari also threatened not to support her husband in 2019 if the President did not change tack.

Sources said although both men’s relationship began to sour almost as soon as Buhari won the election, it deteriorated when Professor John Paden, in his book titled ‘Muhammadu Buhari: Challenges of Leadership,’ claimed that Tinubu was against the emergence of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Vice President.  Both Buhari and Tinubu were present at the book launch.

Insiders say this did not go down well with Tinubu and his men, as the All Progressives Congress national leader’s camp saw it as yet another attempt by the President and his men to reduce his contributions to the emergence of the APC government and also rewrite history.

Shortly after, Tinubu in a scathing open letter asked the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to step down, after alleging that the chairman doctored results of the Ondo State APC governorship primary. Odigie-Oyegun, a former Edo State governor, who had been cautious in his initial response to Tinubu’s letter, paid a visit to Buhari in Aso Rock and thereafter launched an attack on Tinubu, describing his letter as ‘reckless.’

Seeing that he was fast losing at the centre, the APC chieftain, popularly known as the Jagaban (of Borgu), started reaching out to his political foes in the South-West in order to consolidate his influence in the region. With several meetings held, Tinubu’s most vocal critics such as Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Sir Olanihun Ajayi, among others, began to drum up support for him publicly.

A source in the presidency told our correspondent that Akande, who cut short his trip abroad to see the President, did not mince words during the meeting.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Akande told Buhari that despite the roles Tinubu and the South-West played in making him President, he had relegated the APC national leader and the region.

The source said, “Baba Akande told the President that they were not happy with him. He told Buhari that apart from not giving Tinubu sufficient consideration during the ministerial appointments, everything that played out in the Kogi and Ondo elections showed that the President was supporting Asiwaju’s enemies.

“Baba also said Paden’s book was a major slight and that they believed the President was aware of the content of the book before it went public. He further said some of the people around Buhari were hell-bent on ensuring that the President and Tinubu became enemies because of what they would gain from the crisis.”

The source stated that Buhari countered that he was unhappy with the acrimony in the ruling party and that he had tried to be fair to all parties. But Akande was said to have disagreed with the President in his response, and cited further examples.

SUNDAY PUNCH further gathered that Akande told the President to take practical steps to show that he was not fighting Tinubu and the South-West. While listing their demands, Akande and others told him that they needed to see more representation of those that helped him to power during the next cabinet reshuffle.

There have been reports that a cabinet change is imminent.

Akande, who travelled abroad after the meeting with Buhari, could not be reached for comments, but a top APC member close to him confirmed details of the meeting, saying, “They want Buhari to accept Tinubu’s list when he makes changes in his cabinet. They specifically told him that they are only in support of one of the South-West ministers in his cabinet. They also asked him to get the party leadership to hold the National Executive Council meetings regularly while also facilitating the constitution of the party’s board of trustees.”

A source close to the South-West leadership of the party disclosed to one of our correspondents that Akande and Aregbesola had met at the former’s residence in Ila-Orangun two Wednesdays ago before meeting the President.

Akande had been honoured by the Catholic Diocese in Otan-Ayegbaju, Osun State, where a school was inaugurated in his name. The late mother of a former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who hailed from Otan-Ayegbaju, was also honoured by the church, which inaugurated a multipurpose hall in her honour.

APC leaders, members and supporters, including Aregbesola, who thronged the venue of the ceremony, accompanied Akande to Ila-Orangun as a mark of respect.

It was gathered that Aregbesola and Akande held a meeting at Akande’s residence, where they discussed the face-off between Buhari and Tinubu.

The source said, “We were at Otan-Ayegbaji together. We later accompanied Baba Akande to Ila-Orangun after the Otan-Ayegbaju ceremony. When we got to Ila-Orangun, both the governor and Baba Akande went inside for a very long time. I’m sure that was where the decision to intervene in the matter was taken.

“When they met Buhari, they complained about the marginalisation of Tinubu’s men. At the meeting, Aregbesola said they (Tinubu loyalists) were not out to fight Buhari, but that the President should consider the Tinubu group in terms of appointments.

“Buhari told them that he was not out to undermine Tinubu’s group and that things would change in the coming days.”

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said he was not aware of what transpired during the meeting between the President and the APC chieftains.

He said, “I am not aware of what was discussed with the President in the said meeting. As a matter of fact, it is not the nature of the President to disclose what people discuss with him in confidence during meetings.”


A FORMER 1 MINUTES MAN REVEALS HOW HE INCREASED HIS PENIS SIZE TO SATISFACTION AND STOPPED HIS CHRONIC PREMATURE EJACULATION ISSUES IN LESS THAN 29DAYS AS HE NOW LASTS 35MINS+ IN BED USING THIS NEW, 100% NAFDAC APPROVED NO-SIDE EFFECT 2-IN-1 SOLUTION.... 

Tags:

APC Crisis: Buhari In Closed Door Meeting With Tinubu's Men

APC Crisis: Buhari In Closed Door Meeting With Tinubu's Men

No comments
APC Crisis: Buhari In Closed Door Meeting With Tinubu's Men
President Muhammadu Buhari, in a move to resolve the crises currently ravaging the All Progressives Congress, APC, met with some close associate of the party’s National Leader, Ahmed Bola Tinubu behind closed at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Buhari who returned from a three-day working visit to Germany over the weekend immediately went into the meeting with close associates of the former Lagos State governor, who included, former Interim National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande; Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola and Senator Sola Adeyeye from Osun Central.

APC has been in crises since the conduct of the Ondo State primary election that saw the emergence of former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu  as the party’s flag bearer in the November 26 governorship election in the state.

Following Akeredolu’s emergence, Tinubu had demanded the resignation  of the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun for allegedly overruling the party’s National Working Committee, NWC’s recommendation asking for the cancellation and conduct of a fresh primary poll  in the state.

Meanwhile, both Tinubu’s men and the President were said to have discussed the alleged strained relationship between Buhari and the APC National Leader and the internal wrangling within the ruling party in regards to the Ondo State election, Vanguard reports.

While Buhari was in Germany, his wife, Aisha had lamented that some people who did not work for the President’s emergence were occupying sensitive positions  .

Aisha’s comment was perceived in certain quarters to be referring to the apparent sidelining of Tinubu.

A FORMER 1 MINUTES MAN REVEALS HOW HE INCREASED HIS PENIS SIZE TO SATISFACTION AND STOPPED HIS CHRONIC PREMATURE EJACULATION ISSUES IN LESS THAN 29DAYS AS HE NOW LASTS 35MINS+ IN BED USING THIS NEW, 100% NAFDAC APPROVED NO-SIDE EFFECT 2-IN-1 SOLUTION.... 
APC Crisis: Buhari In Closed Door Meeting With Tinubu's Men
President Muhammadu Buhari, in a move to resolve the crises currently ravaging the All Progressives Congress, APC, met with some close associate of the party’s National Leader, Ahmed Bola Tinubu behind closed at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Buhari who returned from a three-day working visit to Germany over the weekend immediately went into the meeting with close associates of the former Lagos State governor, who included, former Interim National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande; Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola and Senator Sola Adeyeye from Osun Central.

APC has been in crises since the conduct of the Ondo State primary election that saw the emergence of former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu  as the party’s flag bearer in the November 26 governorship election in the state.

Following Akeredolu’s emergence, Tinubu had demanded the resignation  of the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun for allegedly overruling the party’s National Working Committee, NWC’s recommendation asking for the cancellation and conduct of a fresh primary poll  in the state.

Meanwhile, both Tinubu’s men and the President were said to have discussed the alleged strained relationship between Buhari and the APC National Leader and the internal wrangling within the ruling party in regards to the Ondo State election, Vanguard reports.

While Buhari was in Germany, his wife, Aisha had lamented that some people who did not work for the President’s emergence were occupying sensitive positions  .

Aisha’s comment was perceived in certain quarters to be referring to the apparent sidelining of Tinubu.

A FORMER 1 MINUTES MAN REVEALS HOW HE INCREASED HIS PENIS SIZE TO SATISFACTION AND STOPPED HIS CHRONIC PREMATURE EJACULATION ISSUES IN LESS THAN 29DAYS AS HE NOW LASTS 35MINS+ IN BED USING THIS NEW, 100% NAFDAC APPROVED NO-SIDE EFFECT 2-IN-1 SOLUTION.... 
Tags:

APC Crisis, Tinubu In Secret Reconciliation With Gov. Mimiko, Other Former Political Foes

APC Crisis, Tinubu In Secret Reconciliation With Gov. Mimiko, Other Former Political Foes

No comments
APC Crisis, Tinubu In Secret Reconciliation With Gov. Mimiko, Other Former Political Foes
The Yorubas will say in a popular highly philosophical proverb that "B'aja ba fori komi, a mole olowo e", which literally mean when a dog is battered outside, it definitely runs back to it owner's home.

Such is the case of the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has now, following the simmering crisis in the APC has started reaching out to his former political foes in the South-West in order to consolidate his influence in the region, a fresh report according to Punch Newspaper suggests

The multi-layered crisis in the ruling party is threatening the erstwhile chummy relationship between Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari.


Prominent among those Tinubu is now reaching out to settle past rift with is the Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko.

According to Punch Newspaper, it was gathered that an attempt at rapprochement was ongoing between Tinubu and the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.

It was learnt that some Yoruba leaders had volunteered to broker a truce between Tinubu and Mimiko as the echoes of their disagreement during the countdown to Mimiko’s re-election is still fresh.

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, a staunch Tinubu loyalist, is said to be the arrowhead of the move to reconcile Tinubu and Mimiko.

A top member of the APC, who is in the know of the developments, told SUNDAY PUNCH that it was public knowledge that Tinubu had been sidelined at the national level.

The source said, “Those leading the rebellion against Tinubu are politicians who lost their wards and constituencies in elections, even when they were governors. His loyalists are not in government, despite the contributions of Asiwaju to the 2015 electoral victory. Asiwaju has realised that they are ready to go to war with him so he is consolidating. This is not a time to hold on to past wounds and we are glad Yoruba elders who were critical of Tinubu before are rallying round him because they understand that this is a South-West matter. It is beyond our national leader.

“The elders have held several meetings with him and they are realigning. Don’t forget what Pa Ayo Adebanjo said; he said any insult to Asiwaju is an insult to the Yoruba race and Adebanjo is not known to be flippant in his choice of words.”

Also, a former leader of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, told our correspondent in confidence that Tinubu had reconciled with some Yoruba leaders. He said the former Governor of Lagos State now needed the leaders in the ongoing political realignments in the South-West.

The source said, “I am aware that they (leaders) have held meetings.  One of such meetings was held in Asiwaju’s home. The 2015 electioneering was a solo game for Tinubu. The Yoruba leaders did not agree with him on the formation of the APC and the choice of the presidential candidate (Buhari). Now that the game is turning against him (Tinubu), he has to manoeuvre. However, I’m not sure that all the people he is realigning with can help him.”

Another Yoruba leader confirmed that some Yoruba leaders, who were opposed to Tinubu up till the 2015 elections, had been holding meetings with him lately.

The ex-Afenifere chieftain said, “The whole thing is shocking to some of us. How come those who knew all Tinubu did to them politically have suddenly made a U-turn in an attempt to save him from the onslaught on him in the APC?”

A founding member of the Obafemi Awolowo-led Yoruba socio-political organisation, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, confirmed to SUNDAY PUNCH that the leaders of the region met with Tinubu recently. He stated that the meeting was to reconcile all political divides in the South-West and chart a common course for the Yoruba race.

The nonagerian had in an earlier interview with SUNDAY PUNCH strongly criticised Tinubu and other governors of the Alliance for Democracy, a party founded by Afenifere leaders, alleging that the governors dumped the AD after gaining power and went ahead to form the Action Congress. He further alleged that the same group of governors, led by Tinubu, destabilised Afenifere for political reasons.

Speaking to our correspondent on Friday, Olaniwun said, “Yes, we had a meeting with him in the recent past. Yes, the meeting was about the Yoruba coming together for the benefit of the Yoruba nation. We have for long been on our separate ways, which is not good for the Yoruba nation. We went to him and the Governor of Lagos State (Akinwunmi Ambode); we met the two of them together. We decided to see (meet with) the former governors and the current governors.”

When asked if Afenifere leaders had forgiven Tinubu, whom they had always accused of leading the rebellion against the group, the elder statesman said, “He has not offended me, if you are referring to me as a person.”

Olaniwun denied that the reconciliation was to protect Tinubu politically.

The crisis in the ruling party started before the 2015 general elections but became full-blown after Buhari was sworn in as president. There has been discontent within the Tinubu camp. Sources said that members of the group and their principal were not happy with what they saw as attempts by the party leadership and the presidency to diminish Tinubu’s premium contributions to Buhari’s emergence as president and undermine the former Lagos State governor’s leadership in his South-West power base.

But SUNDAY PUNCH learnt over the weekend that some of Buhari’s closest associates have been pushing back by telling those who are close to Tinubu that Nigeria cannot have a ‘co-presidency.’

Although the two leaders had tried futilely to keep the frosty relationship away from public knowledge, things came to a head a few days ago when Tinubu wrote an open letter lambasting the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who is believed to enjoy the support of the president.

Tinubu, who faulted the way the party’s governorship primary was held in Ondo State, accused Odigie-Oyegun of conducting a fraudulent primary and he asked the former Edo State governor to resign as the national chairman of the party.

After the letter was published, Oyegun refrained from responding to Tinubu. But he later visited President Buhari in Aso Rock and photographs of the duo laughing and sharing banters was made public. Shortly thereafter, Oyegun replied Tinubu and described the latter’s open letter as ‘reckless.’

Tinubu’s harsh denunciation of the party chairman has been widely interpreted as a direct protest against Buhari. In private, Tinubu’s loyalists are complaining that his political capital is being eroded by the hostile actions of the president’s men and the inactions of the president.

Tinubu’s loyalists in the South-West have listed Buhari’s hostile actions against the APC national leader to include the exclusion of his candidates from Buhari’s final ministerial list, the gang-up against his candidate in the Kogi governorship election, James Faleke, who was the late Audu Abubakar’s running mate; and the alleged fraud against his candidate in the Ondo governorship primary, Olusegun Abraham.

Until the recent crisis, the party had successfully managed the growing discontent within its leadership as insinuations were rife that some of Buhari’s closest political associates had perfected a plan to destroy Tinubu politically.

But pro-Tinubu elements within the party and other sympathisers have vowed to resist any attempt to humiliate Tinubu.

Some of Tinubu’s close associates spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH but pleaded anonymity because of possible reprisal.

A chieftain of the party in Osun State, said, “This is the beginning of the end of the APC. The party will shatter into smithereens. We are ready for them. They are going nowhere.

“We know the political leader of the South-West and that person is unmistakably Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. They are envious of Tinubu’s achievements, but they don’t have Tinubu’s clout. None of those scrambling to wear Tinubu’s shoes have the clout to do so. These ingrates are the people that have benefitted immensely from Tinubu’s large-heartedness. Now, they are stabbing him in the back. We are in the South-West together, we shall see.”

Speaking in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Friday, Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, said he would not hesitate to fight against any anti-Yoruba policy by the Buhari-led administration. He said he would team up with like-minded leaders in the South-West to resist attacks on any of the region’s political leaders. Fayose said, “I will resist any policy that is formulated by the Buhari administration against the interests of the Yoruba. Some people may say it is too early to criticise them now, so, we are watching.

“We will keep our fingers crossed and our gunpowder dry. We won’t be hasty in our condemnation; when you put water on fire, you wait for it to boil. We don’t want it to appear as if we are looking for an opportunity to nail them. Let them continue their governance, we are watching.”

A pro-Tinubu stalwart in the ruling party also told one of our correspondents that the plot to ridicule Tinubu and reduce his standing in the South-West had “already failed.”

Another top APC leader in the South-West told SUNDAY PUNCH that apart from trying to destroy his political structures, many in Tinubu’s camp believe that one of the ways the national leader’s opponents would attack him is to go after his business interests and associates.

“We won’t be surprised if the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission wakes up tomorrow to say they are probing Tinubu or his associates. They may even send the Department of State Services after him because that is the step the Buhari government has taken against all their perceived enemies. Asiwaju knows that they may come for him.”

Similarly, a chieftain of the party said in a telephone interview on Friday that a former Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, had warned Tinubu against the alliance with the North.

The chieftain said, “Baba Akande didn’t like the idea of teaming up with the North. He had advised that the APC should concentrate on the South-West and seek ways to develop it massively.

“But the emerging political scenario at the time made the possibility of the Yoruba coming into the mainstream of Nigeria’s politics a reality. Baba Akande was of the opinion that we should not participate in governance at the centre.”

A party source, who said he was privy to the earliest events that signaled trouble for Tinubu, added that the president had assured Tinubu that he would be shown the list of ministers before it would be made public so that the latter could have his own input. He added that the president, however, sent a copy of the list to Tinubu and the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the same time.

“By sending the list to Asiwaju and Saraki at the same time, Buhari subtly undermined the promise he made to Tinubu because he knew that with the copy of the ministerial list in Saraki’s hands, there was no way Tinubu could make any input into the list.”

A chieftain of the APC in Ondo also explained that Tinubu was deliberately undermined in the Ondo governorship primary with Abuja’s backing of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), who emerged the winner of the primary.

It was gathered that Tinubu had reached out to prominent Yoruba leaders, such as Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, Chief Olanihun Ajayi, among others, in the bid to reposition himself and the South-West.

APC Crisis, Tinubu In Secret Reconciliation With Gov. Mimiko, Other Former Political Foes
The Yorubas will say in a popular highly philosophical proverb that "B'aja ba fori komi, a mole olowo e", which literally mean when a dog is battered outside, it definitely runs back to it owner's home.

Such is the case of the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has now, following the simmering crisis in the APC has started reaching out to his former political foes in the South-West in order to consolidate his influence in the region, a fresh report according to Punch Newspaper suggests

The multi-layered crisis in the ruling party is threatening the erstwhile chummy relationship between Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari.


Prominent among those Tinubu is now reaching out to settle past rift with is the Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko.

According to Punch Newspaper, it was gathered that an attempt at rapprochement was ongoing between Tinubu and the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.

It was learnt that some Yoruba leaders had volunteered to broker a truce between Tinubu and Mimiko as the echoes of their disagreement during the countdown to Mimiko’s re-election is still fresh.

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, a staunch Tinubu loyalist, is said to be the arrowhead of the move to reconcile Tinubu and Mimiko.

A top member of the APC, who is in the know of the developments, told SUNDAY PUNCH that it was public knowledge that Tinubu had been sidelined at the national level.

The source said, “Those leading the rebellion against Tinubu are politicians who lost their wards and constituencies in elections, even when they were governors. His loyalists are not in government, despite the contributions of Asiwaju to the 2015 electoral victory. Asiwaju has realised that they are ready to go to war with him so he is consolidating. This is not a time to hold on to past wounds and we are glad Yoruba elders who were critical of Tinubu before are rallying round him because they understand that this is a South-West matter. It is beyond our national leader.

“The elders have held several meetings with him and they are realigning. Don’t forget what Pa Ayo Adebanjo said; he said any insult to Asiwaju is an insult to the Yoruba race and Adebanjo is not known to be flippant in his choice of words.”

Also, a former leader of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, told our correspondent in confidence that Tinubu had reconciled with some Yoruba leaders. He said the former Governor of Lagos State now needed the leaders in the ongoing political realignments in the South-West.

The source said, “I am aware that they (leaders) have held meetings.  One of such meetings was held in Asiwaju’s home. The 2015 electioneering was a solo game for Tinubu. The Yoruba leaders did not agree with him on the formation of the APC and the choice of the presidential candidate (Buhari). Now that the game is turning against him (Tinubu), he has to manoeuvre. However, I’m not sure that all the people he is realigning with can help him.”

Another Yoruba leader confirmed that some Yoruba leaders, who were opposed to Tinubu up till the 2015 elections, had been holding meetings with him lately.

The ex-Afenifere chieftain said, “The whole thing is shocking to some of us. How come those who knew all Tinubu did to them politically have suddenly made a U-turn in an attempt to save him from the onslaught on him in the APC?”

A founding member of the Obafemi Awolowo-led Yoruba socio-political organisation, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, confirmed to SUNDAY PUNCH that the leaders of the region met with Tinubu recently. He stated that the meeting was to reconcile all political divides in the South-West and chart a common course for the Yoruba race.

The nonagerian had in an earlier interview with SUNDAY PUNCH strongly criticised Tinubu and other governors of the Alliance for Democracy, a party founded by Afenifere leaders, alleging that the governors dumped the AD after gaining power and went ahead to form the Action Congress. He further alleged that the same group of governors, led by Tinubu, destabilised Afenifere for political reasons.

Speaking to our correspondent on Friday, Olaniwun said, “Yes, we had a meeting with him in the recent past. Yes, the meeting was about the Yoruba coming together for the benefit of the Yoruba nation. We have for long been on our separate ways, which is not good for the Yoruba nation. We went to him and the Governor of Lagos State (Akinwunmi Ambode); we met the two of them together. We decided to see (meet with) the former governors and the current governors.”

When asked if Afenifere leaders had forgiven Tinubu, whom they had always accused of leading the rebellion against the group, the elder statesman said, “He has not offended me, if you are referring to me as a person.”

Olaniwun denied that the reconciliation was to protect Tinubu politically.

The crisis in the ruling party started before the 2015 general elections but became full-blown after Buhari was sworn in as president. There has been discontent within the Tinubu camp. Sources said that members of the group and their principal were not happy with what they saw as attempts by the party leadership and the presidency to diminish Tinubu’s premium contributions to Buhari’s emergence as president and undermine the former Lagos State governor’s leadership in his South-West power base.

But SUNDAY PUNCH learnt over the weekend that some of Buhari’s closest associates have been pushing back by telling those who are close to Tinubu that Nigeria cannot have a ‘co-presidency.’

Although the two leaders had tried futilely to keep the frosty relationship away from public knowledge, things came to a head a few days ago when Tinubu wrote an open letter lambasting the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who is believed to enjoy the support of the president.

Tinubu, who faulted the way the party’s governorship primary was held in Ondo State, accused Odigie-Oyegun of conducting a fraudulent primary and he asked the former Edo State governor to resign as the national chairman of the party.

After the letter was published, Oyegun refrained from responding to Tinubu. But he later visited President Buhari in Aso Rock and photographs of the duo laughing and sharing banters was made public. Shortly thereafter, Oyegun replied Tinubu and described the latter’s open letter as ‘reckless.’

Tinubu’s harsh denunciation of the party chairman has been widely interpreted as a direct protest against Buhari. In private, Tinubu’s loyalists are complaining that his political capital is being eroded by the hostile actions of the president’s men and the inactions of the president.

Tinubu’s loyalists in the South-West have listed Buhari’s hostile actions against the APC national leader to include the exclusion of his candidates from Buhari’s final ministerial list, the gang-up against his candidate in the Kogi governorship election, James Faleke, who was the late Audu Abubakar’s running mate; and the alleged fraud against his candidate in the Ondo governorship primary, Olusegun Abraham.

Until the recent crisis, the party had successfully managed the growing discontent within its leadership as insinuations were rife that some of Buhari’s closest political associates had perfected a plan to destroy Tinubu politically.

But pro-Tinubu elements within the party and other sympathisers have vowed to resist any attempt to humiliate Tinubu.

Some of Tinubu’s close associates spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH but pleaded anonymity because of possible reprisal.

A chieftain of the party in Osun State, said, “This is the beginning of the end of the APC. The party will shatter into smithereens. We are ready for them. They are going nowhere.

“We know the political leader of the South-West and that person is unmistakably Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. They are envious of Tinubu’s achievements, but they don’t have Tinubu’s clout. None of those scrambling to wear Tinubu’s shoes have the clout to do so. These ingrates are the people that have benefitted immensely from Tinubu’s large-heartedness. Now, they are stabbing him in the back. We are in the South-West together, we shall see.”

Speaking in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Friday, Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, said he would not hesitate to fight against any anti-Yoruba policy by the Buhari-led administration. He said he would team up with like-minded leaders in the South-West to resist attacks on any of the region’s political leaders. Fayose said, “I will resist any policy that is formulated by the Buhari administration against the interests of the Yoruba. Some people may say it is too early to criticise them now, so, we are watching.

“We will keep our fingers crossed and our gunpowder dry. We won’t be hasty in our condemnation; when you put water on fire, you wait for it to boil. We don’t want it to appear as if we are looking for an opportunity to nail them. Let them continue their governance, we are watching.”

A pro-Tinubu stalwart in the ruling party also told one of our correspondents that the plot to ridicule Tinubu and reduce his standing in the South-West had “already failed.”

Another top APC leader in the South-West told SUNDAY PUNCH that apart from trying to destroy his political structures, many in Tinubu’s camp believe that one of the ways the national leader’s opponents would attack him is to go after his business interests and associates.

“We won’t be surprised if the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission wakes up tomorrow to say they are probing Tinubu or his associates. They may even send the Department of State Services after him because that is the step the Buhari government has taken against all their perceived enemies. Asiwaju knows that they may come for him.”

Similarly, a chieftain of the party said in a telephone interview on Friday that a former Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, had warned Tinubu against the alliance with the North.

The chieftain said, “Baba Akande didn’t like the idea of teaming up with the North. He had advised that the APC should concentrate on the South-West and seek ways to develop it massively.

“But the emerging political scenario at the time made the possibility of the Yoruba coming into the mainstream of Nigeria’s politics a reality. Baba Akande was of the opinion that we should not participate in governance at the centre.”

A party source, who said he was privy to the earliest events that signaled trouble for Tinubu, added that the president had assured Tinubu that he would be shown the list of ministers before it would be made public so that the latter could have his own input. He added that the president, however, sent a copy of the list to Tinubu and the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the same time.

“By sending the list to Asiwaju and Saraki at the same time, Buhari subtly undermined the promise he made to Tinubu because he knew that with the copy of the ministerial list in Saraki’s hands, there was no way Tinubu could make any input into the list.”

A chieftain of the APC in Ondo also explained that Tinubu was deliberately undermined in the Ondo governorship primary with Abuja’s backing of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), who emerged the winner of the primary.

It was gathered that Tinubu had reached out to prominent Yoruba leaders, such as Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, Chief Olanihun Ajayi, among others, in the bid to reposition himself and the South-West.

Tags:

2019: Fayose, Mimiko 'REALIGN' With An APC Governor To Chase PDP, APC Out Of South-west

2019: Fayose, Mimiko 'REALIGN' With An APC Governor To Chase PDP, APC Out Of South-west

No comments
Mimiko and fayose
There are strong indications that Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State and his Ekiti State counterpart, Mr. Ayodele Peter Fayose and probably Dr. Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State are plotting to join force to form another political party in a bid to champion a united course for the south-western Nigeria, News Punch understands

The secret of this new political set up was revealed by a former aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode in his latest article titled "The coming realignment in Yorubaland"


Fani-Kayode in the article x-rayed his admiration for the trio of Mimiko, Fayose and of course Aregbesola. he, however, mentioned that the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, who recently joined his Ekiti counterpart in the celebration the State 20th years anniversary had told the former that "there will be a realignment of political forces both in and outside of the south-west very soon"

The former Aviation Minister said;
"The other significant event is the  rapprochement and blooming friendship that exists between two sons of the Yoruba both of whom I have immense respect and affection for. Like Mimiko I have a SPECIAL place in my heart for them both and this has been so for many years." 
"The first is my brother Ayo Fayose whose courage is second to none and the second is Rauf Aregbesola who is a yoruba nationalist to the core and who is, in my VIEW, the brightest and the best within the ranks of the APC."
"Then comes Rauf Aregbesola who I got to know well in 2013. What I found the most attractive and most extraordinary about him was his loyalty to any cause that he commits himself to coupled with his total and complete faithfulness and fidelity to his political associates and friends and particularly to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu under whom he served as Commissioner for Works." 
"Apart from that few know that he is an expert and authority on Yoruba ancient history and this informs and feeds his very rare and distinct sense of Yoruba nationalism." 
"I have written about him on several occasions over the years and despite the fact that I disagree fundamentally with him on a number of issues and we do not belong to the same party my admiration and respect for him remains intact and unshakeable."
"We may all have our differences in terms of political party affiliation but one thing is clear: as he rightly told Fayose during their recent meeting in Ado Ekiti a few days ago, there will be a realignment of political forces both in and outside of the south west very soon. There is no question about the fact that he is right about that." 
"And when that time comes we all need to wise up, smell the coffee and accept the fact that we must stand together as one in ORDER to defend the interest of our people." 
"When the lion and the tiger stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of the castle it makes it very difficult for the jackals and the bandits to mount the walls and take the gates."  
Earlier this years, Governor Ayodele Fayose made a surprise visit to Rauf Aregbesola in Osogbo, where both governors had a secret meeting.
The meeting, which was strongly condemned and not well conceived by the All Progressives Congress in Osun.
Just last week, despite the current political differences, Aregbesola also, in a surprise manner, stormed Ado-Ekiti, the state capital to honoured an invitation on the 20th anniversary of the creation of the State. In Ado Ekiti, Ogbeni was quoted to have said "there will be a realignment of political forces both in and outside of the south-west very soon."
No doubt, Aregbesola is a staunch supporter and loyalist of the embattled National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Already, speculations are rife that Tinubu may be plotting a return to the party that earned him the governorship of Lagos State in 1999 over the recent rify between him and the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

Tinubu vented his anger on Oyegun over his rejection of the  recommendations of the three-member Election Appeal Committee chaired by Mrs. Helen Bendega, which called for cancellation of the poll that produced Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), and the submission of his name to INEC by the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was the cause of the cold war betweenTinubu and the latter.

Tinubu, while demanding for the resignation of Odigie-Oyegun, accused the former Edo State governor of treating with disdain the joint petition written by Chiefs Oke, Olusegun Abraham and Senator Ajayi Borrofice rejecting the outcome of the primary that produced Akeredolu.

While the national leader backed Abraham for the ticket, forces in the Presidency supported Akeredolu, who was president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).

2019 may be far, but politically it is near. If the realignment as mentioned by Aregbesola sees the light of the day, is Alliance for Democracy the new political frond, or will there be formation of new party? Only time will tell

Mimiko and fayose
There are strong indications that Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State and his Ekiti State counterpart, Mr. Ayodele Peter Fayose and probably Dr. Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State are plotting to join force to form another political party in a bid to champion a united course for the south-western Nigeria, News Punch understands

The secret of this new political set up was revealed by a former aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode in his latest article titled "The coming realignment in Yorubaland"


Fani-Kayode in the article x-rayed his admiration for the trio of Mimiko, Fayose and of course Aregbesola. he, however, mentioned that the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, who recently joined his Ekiti counterpart in the celebration the State 20th years anniversary had told the former that "there will be a realignment of political forces both in and outside of the south-west very soon"

The former Aviation Minister said;
"The other significant event is the  rapprochement and blooming friendship that exists between two sons of the Yoruba both of whom I have immense respect and affection for. Like Mimiko I have a SPECIAL place in my heart for them both and this has been so for many years." 
"The first is my brother Ayo Fayose whose courage is second to none and the second is Rauf Aregbesola who is a yoruba nationalist to the core and who is, in my VIEW, the brightest and the best within the ranks of the APC."
"Then comes Rauf Aregbesola who I got to know well in 2013. What I found the most attractive and most extraordinary about him was his loyalty to any cause that he commits himself to coupled with his total and complete faithfulness and fidelity to his political associates and friends and particularly to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu under whom he served as Commissioner for Works." 
"Apart from that few know that he is an expert and authority on Yoruba ancient history and this informs and feeds his very rare and distinct sense of Yoruba nationalism." 
"I have written about him on several occasions over the years and despite the fact that I disagree fundamentally with him on a number of issues and we do not belong to the same party my admiration and respect for him remains intact and unshakeable."
"We may all have our differences in terms of political party affiliation but one thing is clear: as he rightly told Fayose during their recent meeting in Ado Ekiti a few days ago, there will be a realignment of political forces both in and outside of the south west very soon. There is no question about the fact that he is right about that." 
"And when that time comes we all need to wise up, smell the coffee and accept the fact that we must stand together as one in ORDER to defend the interest of our people." 
"When the lion and the tiger stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of the castle it makes it very difficult for the jackals and the bandits to mount the walls and take the gates."  
Earlier this years, Governor Ayodele Fayose made a surprise visit to Rauf Aregbesola in Osogbo, where both governors had a secret meeting.
The meeting, which was strongly condemned and not well conceived by the All Progressives Congress in Osun.
Just last week, despite the current political differences, Aregbesola also, in a surprise manner, stormed Ado-Ekiti, the state capital to honoured an invitation on the 20th anniversary of the creation of the State. In Ado Ekiti, Ogbeni was quoted to have said "there will be a realignment of political forces both in and outside of the south-west very soon."
No doubt, Aregbesola is a staunch supporter and loyalist of the embattled National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Already, speculations are rife that Tinubu may be plotting a return to the party that earned him the governorship of Lagos State in 1999 over the recent rify between him and the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

Tinubu vented his anger on Oyegun over his rejection of the  recommendations of the three-member Election Appeal Committee chaired by Mrs. Helen Bendega, which called for cancellation of the poll that produced Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), and the submission of his name to INEC by the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was the cause of the cold war betweenTinubu and the latter.

Tinubu, while demanding for the resignation of Odigie-Oyegun, accused the former Edo State governor of treating with disdain the joint petition written by Chiefs Oke, Olusegun Abraham and Senator Ajayi Borrofice rejecting the outcome of the primary that produced Akeredolu.

While the national leader backed Abraham for the ticket, forces in the Presidency supported Akeredolu, who was president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).

2019 may be far, but politically it is near. If the realignment as mentioned by Aregbesola sees the light of the day, is Alliance for Democracy the new political frond, or will there be formation of new party? Only time will tell

Tags:

Tinubu and those who want him dead, By Femi Fani-Kayode

Tinubu and those who want him dead, By Femi Fani-Kayode

No comments
Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
I do not like to delve into matters touching and concerning the APC because I am not a member.

However what is happening in the ruling party  today transcends partisan politics and should be a concern to us all. At the very least we can learn some very hard lessons from it.

The truth is that the behaviour of Chief John Odige-Oyegun towards the man that single-handedly made him the National Chairman of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is reprehensible.


And neither does this matter begin or end with the way and manner in which the Ondo state governorship primaries were conducted or its final outcome.

It goes much deeper than that and the Ondo affair is only symptomatic of a much deeper malaise and wider conspiracy to humiliate the National Leader of the APC by forces within his party that are even greater than him.

Those forces represent the hidden hand. They are a small cabal of power-brokers who constitute the leadership of the Buhari-led CPC. These people believe that they were born to rule and that they own Nigeria.

They simply used Tinubu’s old ACN as a compliant and ready piggy-back to catapult their way back to power and once they achieved that they never looked back.


Some of us warned Tinubu at the time about the dangers of riding the tiger and allowing himself to be used by these very dark and sinister forces but he would not listen.

No true student of history could have made such a cataclysmic and monumental error given the terrible experiences of others from the south-west, and indeed the entire south, who collaborated with such ultra-conservative, sectarian and arcane forces with a clear and distinct ethnic and religious agenda in the past.

Such forces can never be comfortable with a well-connected, highly sophisticated, independent-minded, strong, unpredictable, uncontrollable and experienced Yoruba leader and southern gladiator with a June 12th pedigree, a NADECO background, a massive war-chest and a widespread and formidable political base.

They may use him to achieve their objective but they can never trust him or allow him to have control of the party machinery or to wield any real power when it comes to running the affairs of the nation.

Most importantly once they have finished using him it becomes their duty and cardinal objective not just to cut him down to size but also to castrate and render him impotent and eventually destroy him.

That is their way. It is also a classic and vintage Nicollo Machiavelli move. This great writer that has had more influence on political thinking and strategies than perhaps any other author in human history taught us a critical and crucial lesson in his famous 14th century literary masterpiece and treatise on the power game titled “The Prince”. He tells us that the first thing that a Prince must do once he has achieved power is to destroy those that put him there.

And that is precisely what those that seek to do Tinubu in are doing. Worst still they are using his own erstwhile discipiles as a first line of attack against him.

It is not just Odige-Oyegun that has turned his back on him but also his former political protegees and former ACN associates like Tunde Fashola, Ibikunle Amosu, Kayode Fayemi, Biodun Ajimobi, Olorunimbe Mamora, Niyi Adebayo, Rotimi Akeredolu and numerous others.

Pulling the strings from behind the scenes and encouraging and funding the rebellion are hardline Buhari-supporters like my good friend Governor Nasir El Rufai and a number of others.

Their objective is to establish a new political order in the south west which is beholden to them alone, to replace Tinubu as the National Leader of the party and to utterly demystify and crush him in order to prepare the ground for the emergence of a new and more compliant Yoruba running mate for either Buhari himself or El Rufai in 2019.

As a graphic illustration of this interesting and unfolding agenda, the powers that be in the APC, led by Buhari himself, fired six shots at Tinubu inmediately after they formed government.

The first was the Senate Presidency affair and the Bukola Saraki matter which saw the defeat and humiliation of Tinubu’s prefered candidate for Senate President.

The second shot was the Speaker of the House of Representatives affair and the Yakubu Dogara matter which, again, saw the defeat and humiliation of Tinibu’s prefered candidate for the position of Speaker of the House.

The third was the vital issue of Ministerial appointments in which not one single Ministerial nominee of Tinubu’s was accepted and appointed as a Minister by Buhari.

Every single person that he nominated from the south west and elsewhere as Minister was rejected and instead the slots were filled by his political adversaries and/or their nominees.

Many erroneously believe that Mr. Lai Mohammed, who is from Kwara state, was Tinubu’s choice and nominee for Minister of Information but this was not the case.

The person that he nominated for Minister of Information was not Lai Mohammed but Mr. Dele Alake, his former Commissioner of Information in Lagos state.

Again he nominated Mr. Wale Edun, his former Commissioner of Finance in Lagos state, for the position of Minister of Finance but this was rejected and Governor Ibikunle Amosu’s candidate, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, got the job instead.

This went on across the board for every single person that Tinubu nominated and presented for the position of Minister last year and it was a terrible humiliation for him. It was a dirty slap in his face.

The fourth shot was the James Faleke matter in Kogi state where it was agreed by the real landlords of the APC in the core north that Tinubu must not be allowed to gain a foothold in the north central zone by getting his own Yoruba kinsman and candidate to be elected as governor of that state.

Hence Faleke was ruthlessly dropped and shabbily treated and another person was selected to be the gubernatorial candidate of that state. It worked, Faleke went to court and sadly he lost. That was the end of the story.

The fifth shot is the thorough and systematic, though subtle and covert, humiliation and relegation of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a close associate and political protegee of Tinubu and a spiritual son of the reverred Pastor Enoch Adeboye of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), to not just a spare tyre as Vice President but also to a very flat one.

Rather than being allowed to participate in the crucial decision-making processes on vital and critical issues of state and governance as any Vice President should, Osinbajo has been kept in the dark about virtually everything and he has little or no power to effect anything.

When such decions are to be debated, discussed and made the Vice President is never invited into the room and neither is he even aware that there is such a meeting going on.

Worse still he is constantly being directed to represent the President at official functions all over the country as if he were more his Personal Assistant, Special Advisor or Minister rather than the Vice President of the country. Osinbajo’s crime is simply that he is loyal to Tinubu and he has refused to dump or betray him.

The sixth and perhaps most devastating shot is the fact that the party machinery has not only been taken away from Tinubu with the effective highjacking of Odige-Oyegun but that it has also opted to do the bidding of his mortal enemies and to fight him.

An eloquent testimony to this disturbing fact is the outcome of the Ondo state gubernatorial primaries where Tinubu’s candidate was edged out and cheated of the nomination by the party leadership.

This was the last straw that broke the camels back and predictably Tinubu has reacted in a very loud, aggressive and profound manner by publicly calling for the removal of the National Chairman of the party.

Yet calling for the removal of Odigie-Oyegun is not enough. The whole situation calls for critical thiking, sober reflection and deep retrospection.

The point that needs to be clearly understood when considering these six shots and the unfolding anti-Tinubu agenda within the APC is the fact that, contrary to all pretensions, President Muhammadu Buhari is part and parcel of it and he is in fact the moving spirit behind the whole conspiracy.

Nasir El Rufai and a number of others are simply the strategists and enforcers. Buhari, Mamman Daura and Abba Kyari are the masterminds.

Given all this one thing is clear: these people want Tinubu dead. If he does not realign quickly and fight hard to save his dwindling political fortunes and empire his APC friends and allies will destroy him in a slow, clinical, sadistic and systematic manner. And they will do it with a big, beautiful and friendly smile on their faces.

The fact of the matter is that, right from the outset, Tinubu failed to accept the fact that he was in bed with demons.

He refused to appreciate the fact that he was sleeping with beasts that are hell bent on eating his flesh, driniking his blood and ruthlessly implementing an ancient ethnic and religious agenda.

He gave them his all, caused them to win an election and trusted them to honor their word and treat him with respect and decorum.

He failed to appreciate the fact that you cannot make a deal with snakes and expect them to honor their word.

He forgot that you cannot wine and dine with cancerous lepers and hungry tigers without ending up being served as the final dish in a long, blood-curdling and Byzantian satanic feast.

Yet if the truth is to be told, no matter what mistakes he may have made, Tinubu does not deserve to be treated in this way.

Up until the Presidential elections were conducted last year he led and held together the south-western wing of the APC with an iron fist and he was the undisputed leader of the APC in that zone.

All four APC governors from the south west and virtually every single party leader waited on his every word and he called all the shots.

Sadly today, just over one year later, he is a caricature of his former self. Today Tinubu can only boast of having the ear and the full support of only two of those govermors, namely Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state, who will NEVER betray him no matter what, and Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos state who will also stand firmly behind him until the very end.

The truth is that Tinubu has lost much ground and political mileage in recent times and, as more daggers are pulled out over the next few months and years it is bound to get worse for him.

Yet that does not mean that he is finished. I say this because he is a tried and tested fighter and a formidable adversary who is quite capable of pulling the whole APC house down.

It would be a fatal error for any of his adversaries, including President Buhari, Vice President Atiku Abubakar or Senate President Bukola Saraki, to underestimate him or dismiss his ability to fight back.

In July 2016, just after my release from detention and during the course of an interview with Channels Television (which can still be viewed on Youtube) Mr. Seun Okinbaloye asked me whether I could ever contemplate going back to the APC and how I thought the ruling party would fare into the future.

I told him that I would NEVER go back to the APC under ANY circumstances. I also told him that in any case by 2019 there would not be an APC, as it is presently constituted, left because the party would have spilt up into three separate and distinct political entities.

I told him that the Tinubu group comprising of men like Baba Bisi Akande, Rauf Aregbesola, Akinwummi Ambode and others would establish one party, the Atiku Abubakar group comprising of men like Bukola Saraki, Rabiu Kwakwanso and many of the former PDP leaders and governors that had left for the APC when President Goodluck Jonathan was in power would establish another and that the Buhari group comprising of men like Nasir El Rufai, Bello Masari, Aminu Tambuwal, Rotimi Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha, Chris Ngige, Ogbonaya Onu, Adams Oshiomole and virtually the entire structure of the old CPC leadership in the core north would constitute yet another. I stand by this prediction.

These three strong and equally forceful factions can be likened to the proverbial three blind yet ravenous wolves.

They cannot stay in the same cage or remain on the same platform for long without tearing each other to pieces.

Eventually they will all go their separate ways and, hopefully, contend with a newly-branded and reinvigotated PDP in the field of battle in 2019.

What we are witnessing today in the ranks of the APC is the beginning of that bitter separation and messy divorce and it is going to get far worse.

It will be loud, bitter, acrimonious and rancorous and many political empires, careers and aspirations will be destroyed as a consequence of it.

My hope and prayer is that the PDP, which is also going through its own rigorous process of redefinition and reinvigoration, can get its act together before then, take advantage of the situation, pick up the pieces and win the presidential election in 2019. I am sure that we will.

Meanwhile my advise to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is to watch his back, consolidate his base, fight his enemies, reach out to new friends, accept the fact that he is at war and sleep with one eye wide open. The truth is that it will get far worse before it gets any better.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
I do not like to delve into matters touching and concerning the APC because I am not a member.

However what is happening in the ruling party  today transcends partisan politics and should be a concern to us all. At the very least we can learn some very hard lessons from it.

The truth is that the behaviour of Chief John Odige-Oyegun towards the man that single-handedly made him the National Chairman of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is reprehensible.


And neither does this matter begin or end with the way and manner in which the Ondo state governorship primaries were conducted or its final outcome.

It goes much deeper than that and the Ondo affair is only symptomatic of a much deeper malaise and wider conspiracy to humiliate the National Leader of the APC by forces within his party that are even greater than him.

Those forces represent the hidden hand. They are a small cabal of power-brokers who constitute the leadership of the Buhari-led CPC. These people believe that they were born to rule and that they own Nigeria.

They simply used Tinubu’s old ACN as a compliant and ready piggy-back to catapult their way back to power and once they achieved that they never looked back.


Some of us warned Tinubu at the time about the dangers of riding the tiger and allowing himself to be used by these very dark and sinister forces but he would not listen.

No true student of history could have made such a cataclysmic and monumental error given the terrible experiences of others from the south-west, and indeed the entire south, who collaborated with such ultra-conservative, sectarian and arcane forces with a clear and distinct ethnic and religious agenda in the past.

Such forces can never be comfortable with a well-connected, highly sophisticated, independent-minded, strong, unpredictable, uncontrollable and experienced Yoruba leader and southern gladiator with a June 12th pedigree, a NADECO background, a massive war-chest and a widespread and formidable political base.

They may use him to achieve their objective but they can never trust him or allow him to have control of the party machinery or to wield any real power when it comes to running the affairs of the nation.

Most importantly once they have finished using him it becomes their duty and cardinal objective not just to cut him down to size but also to castrate and render him impotent and eventually destroy him.

That is their way. It is also a classic and vintage Nicollo Machiavelli move. This great writer that has had more influence on political thinking and strategies than perhaps any other author in human history taught us a critical and crucial lesson in his famous 14th century literary masterpiece and treatise on the power game titled “The Prince”. He tells us that the first thing that a Prince must do once he has achieved power is to destroy those that put him there.

And that is precisely what those that seek to do Tinubu in are doing. Worst still they are using his own erstwhile discipiles as a first line of attack against him.

It is not just Odige-Oyegun that has turned his back on him but also his former political protegees and former ACN associates like Tunde Fashola, Ibikunle Amosu, Kayode Fayemi, Biodun Ajimobi, Olorunimbe Mamora, Niyi Adebayo, Rotimi Akeredolu and numerous others.

Pulling the strings from behind the scenes and encouraging and funding the rebellion are hardline Buhari-supporters like my good friend Governor Nasir El Rufai and a number of others.

Their objective is to establish a new political order in the south west which is beholden to them alone, to replace Tinubu as the National Leader of the party and to utterly demystify and crush him in order to prepare the ground for the emergence of a new and more compliant Yoruba running mate for either Buhari himself or El Rufai in 2019.

As a graphic illustration of this interesting and unfolding agenda, the powers that be in the APC, led by Buhari himself, fired six shots at Tinubu inmediately after they formed government.

The first was the Senate Presidency affair and the Bukola Saraki matter which saw the defeat and humiliation of Tinubu’s prefered candidate for Senate President.

The second shot was the Speaker of the House of Representatives affair and the Yakubu Dogara matter which, again, saw the defeat and humiliation of Tinibu’s prefered candidate for the position of Speaker of the House.

The third was the vital issue of Ministerial appointments in which not one single Ministerial nominee of Tinubu’s was accepted and appointed as a Minister by Buhari.

Every single person that he nominated from the south west and elsewhere as Minister was rejected and instead the slots were filled by his political adversaries and/or their nominees.

Many erroneously believe that Mr. Lai Mohammed, who is from Kwara state, was Tinubu’s choice and nominee for Minister of Information but this was not the case.

The person that he nominated for Minister of Information was not Lai Mohammed but Mr. Dele Alake, his former Commissioner of Information in Lagos state.

Again he nominated Mr. Wale Edun, his former Commissioner of Finance in Lagos state, for the position of Minister of Finance but this was rejected and Governor Ibikunle Amosu’s candidate, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, got the job instead.

This went on across the board for every single person that Tinubu nominated and presented for the position of Minister last year and it was a terrible humiliation for him. It was a dirty slap in his face.

The fourth shot was the James Faleke matter in Kogi state where it was agreed by the real landlords of the APC in the core north that Tinubu must not be allowed to gain a foothold in the north central zone by getting his own Yoruba kinsman and candidate to be elected as governor of that state.

Hence Faleke was ruthlessly dropped and shabbily treated and another person was selected to be the gubernatorial candidate of that state. It worked, Faleke went to court and sadly he lost. That was the end of the story.

The fifth shot is the thorough and systematic, though subtle and covert, humiliation and relegation of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a close associate and political protegee of Tinubu and a spiritual son of the reverred Pastor Enoch Adeboye of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), to not just a spare tyre as Vice President but also to a very flat one.

Rather than being allowed to participate in the crucial decision-making processes on vital and critical issues of state and governance as any Vice President should, Osinbajo has been kept in the dark about virtually everything and he has little or no power to effect anything.

When such decions are to be debated, discussed and made the Vice President is never invited into the room and neither is he even aware that there is such a meeting going on.

Worse still he is constantly being directed to represent the President at official functions all over the country as if he were more his Personal Assistant, Special Advisor or Minister rather than the Vice President of the country. Osinbajo’s crime is simply that he is loyal to Tinubu and he has refused to dump or betray him.

The sixth and perhaps most devastating shot is the fact that the party machinery has not only been taken away from Tinubu with the effective highjacking of Odige-Oyegun but that it has also opted to do the bidding of his mortal enemies and to fight him.

An eloquent testimony to this disturbing fact is the outcome of the Ondo state gubernatorial primaries where Tinubu’s candidate was edged out and cheated of the nomination by the party leadership.

This was the last straw that broke the camels back and predictably Tinubu has reacted in a very loud, aggressive and profound manner by publicly calling for the removal of the National Chairman of the party.

Yet calling for the removal of Odigie-Oyegun is not enough. The whole situation calls for critical thiking, sober reflection and deep retrospection.

The point that needs to be clearly understood when considering these six shots and the unfolding anti-Tinubu agenda within the APC is the fact that, contrary to all pretensions, President Muhammadu Buhari is part and parcel of it and he is in fact the moving spirit behind the whole conspiracy.

Nasir El Rufai and a number of others are simply the strategists and enforcers. Buhari, Mamman Daura and Abba Kyari are the masterminds.

Given all this one thing is clear: these people want Tinubu dead. If he does not realign quickly and fight hard to save his dwindling political fortunes and empire his APC friends and allies will destroy him in a slow, clinical, sadistic and systematic manner. And they will do it with a big, beautiful and friendly smile on their faces.

The fact of the matter is that, right from the outset, Tinubu failed to accept the fact that he was in bed with demons.

He refused to appreciate the fact that he was sleeping with beasts that are hell bent on eating his flesh, driniking his blood and ruthlessly implementing an ancient ethnic and religious agenda.

He gave them his all, caused them to win an election and trusted them to honor their word and treat him with respect and decorum.

He failed to appreciate the fact that you cannot make a deal with snakes and expect them to honor their word.

He forgot that you cannot wine and dine with cancerous lepers and hungry tigers without ending up being served as the final dish in a long, blood-curdling and Byzantian satanic feast.

Yet if the truth is to be told, no matter what mistakes he may have made, Tinubu does not deserve to be treated in this way.

Up until the Presidential elections were conducted last year he led and held together the south-western wing of the APC with an iron fist and he was the undisputed leader of the APC in that zone.

All four APC governors from the south west and virtually every single party leader waited on his every word and he called all the shots.

Sadly today, just over one year later, he is a caricature of his former self. Today Tinubu can only boast of having the ear and the full support of only two of those govermors, namely Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state, who will NEVER betray him no matter what, and Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos state who will also stand firmly behind him until the very end.

The truth is that Tinubu has lost much ground and political mileage in recent times and, as more daggers are pulled out over the next few months and years it is bound to get worse for him.

Yet that does not mean that he is finished. I say this because he is a tried and tested fighter and a formidable adversary who is quite capable of pulling the whole APC house down.

It would be a fatal error for any of his adversaries, including President Buhari, Vice President Atiku Abubakar or Senate President Bukola Saraki, to underestimate him or dismiss his ability to fight back.

In July 2016, just after my release from detention and during the course of an interview with Channels Television (which can still be viewed on Youtube) Mr. Seun Okinbaloye asked me whether I could ever contemplate going back to the APC and how I thought the ruling party would fare into the future.

I told him that I would NEVER go back to the APC under ANY circumstances. I also told him that in any case by 2019 there would not be an APC, as it is presently constituted, left because the party would have spilt up into three separate and distinct political entities.

I told him that the Tinubu group comprising of men like Baba Bisi Akande, Rauf Aregbesola, Akinwummi Ambode and others would establish one party, the Atiku Abubakar group comprising of men like Bukola Saraki, Rabiu Kwakwanso and many of the former PDP leaders and governors that had left for the APC when President Goodluck Jonathan was in power would establish another and that the Buhari group comprising of men like Nasir El Rufai, Bello Masari, Aminu Tambuwal, Rotimi Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha, Chris Ngige, Ogbonaya Onu, Adams Oshiomole and virtually the entire structure of the old CPC leadership in the core north would constitute yet another. I stand by this prediction.

These three strong and equally forceful factions can be likened to the proverbial three blind yet ravenous wolves.

They cannot stay in the same cage or remain on the same platform for long without tearing each other to pieces.

Eventually they will all go their separate ways and, hopefully, contend with a newly-branded and reinvigotated PDP in the field of battle in 2019.

What we are witnessing today in the ranks of the APC is the beginning of that bitter separation and messy divorce and it is going to get far worse.

It will be loud, bitter, acrimonious and rancorous and many political empires, careers and aspirations will be destroyed as a consequence of it.

My hope and prayer is that the PDP, which is also going through its own rigorous process of redefinition and reinvigoration, can get its act together before then, take advantage of the situation, pick up the pieces and win the presidential election in 2019. I am sure that we will.

Meanwhile my advise to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is to watch his back, consolidate his base, fight his enemies, reach out to new friends, accept the fact that he is at war and sleep with one eye wide open. The truth is that it will get far worse before it gets any better.
Tags:

Tinubu, Aregbesola Fall Apart Over Akeredolu's Emergence? How Buhari Worked Against Tinubu's Man, Aggrieve Members Vow To Work For PDP

Tinubu, Aregbesola Fall Apart Over Akeredolu's Emergence? How Buhari Worked Against Tinubu's Man, Aggrieve Members Vow To Work For PDP

No comments
Tinubu, Aregbesola Fall Apart Over Akeredolu's Emergence? How Buhari Worked Against Tinubu's Man
NEW TELEGRAPH - The political camp of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is in disarray following the emergence of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) as the governorship candidate of the party for the November 26 election in Ondo State.

Facts have also emerged on how some APC governors and ministers worked against Tinubu in the decisive primary. Akeredolu won the party’s primary election with 669 votes, defeating his closest opponent, Chief Olusegun Abraham, who scored 635 votes.

Chief Olusola Oke scored 576 votes and Senator Ajayi Boroffice scored 471 votes to come third and fourth respectively. It was learnt that the outcome of the primaries has strained the relationship between Tinubu and his political confidant, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State.Many in the Tinubu’s political dynasty blamed the defeat of the APC leader’s anointed candidate, Abraham, on Aregbesola. As at Friday, Tinubu was confident that Abraham would emerge victorious with 805 votes.

Some of Tinubu’s associates believed that Aregbesola supported Oke with the understanding that Bola Ilori, his Special Adviser on Environment, would be made the deputy governorship candidate. But Aregbesola told New Telegraph that he didn’t work against Tinubu.

Impeccable sources told New Telegraph that there is now distrust within Tinubu’s camp, as many believed that Aregbesola and some others undermined the former Lagos governor in the Ondo primaries. The source said: “On August 22, when it was clear to Abraham that Aregbesola has his own agenda and was supporting Oke with the arrangement that if Oke becomes the governorship candidate, Ilori would become the deputy governor; Abraham had to call Tinubu and told him that everywhere he went he saw Aregbesola working for Oke.

“Also, on Tuesday, August 23, Chief Pius Akinyelure, the National Vice Chairman (South-West) called Tinubu in London that the Osun State governor was backing Oke.” The source said Aregbesola was influential in the party’s hierarchy because by the time they were putting APC together, there was no APC governor in Ondo State and Aregbesola was the one coordinating the state and other South- West states for the party. This, he said, made him to have lots of delegates under his control.

New Telegraph learnt that before the postponement of the primary election to last Saturday, Tinubu called Aregbesola from London and accused him of promoting Oke. But the governor denied the allegation. Despite Aregbesola’s defence, New Telegraph learnt that Tinubu said he did not want to hear anything and that if Abraham loses the primary election, their relationship would be badly damaged if not severed. New Telegraph learnt that it was this sort of threat that prompted Aregbesola to send his Deputy Chief of Staff, Gbenga Akano, to Ondo State.

It was learnt that Aregbesola sent Akano with substantial amount of money to Abraham last week Tuesday and he (Akano) remained until the day of the election. Aregbesola himself was in Akure on Thursday, two days before the primaries to support Tinubu’s candidate.

The governor, it was learnt, returned to Osogbo the same day with Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi who had earlier been on ground to support Abraham. The source alleged that while Aregbesola was working for Abraham, his adviser (Ilori) from Ondo town, was busy working for Oke.

The source added that the division in Tinubu’s camp was the major reason why the APC leader was humiliated in the primary election. According to the source, if Tinubu’s camp had worked together, they would have won the primary election because the difference between Akeredolu, the winner of the primary election and Abraham is 34 votes.

In Tinubu’s political family, the wife of the National Leader, Senator Oluremi and former interim national chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande, were die-hard supporters of Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice while Aregbesola was also supporting Oke.

Another source said Akande met and cautioned Aregbesola when the governor was rooting for Oke. The source said what made Oke to score the high number of votes in the primary despite the fact that he was a new entrant into the party was the alleged 115 votes of Ile-Oluji and Ondo, which Ilori delivered to him. But Aregbesola denied supporting Oke.

The governor, speaking through his Director, Bureau of Communications, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, denied supporting Oke in order to undermine Tinubu. According to him, “the insinuation is a strange allegation. I am aware there was a process, which has provided a winner.

The outcome of the exercise is left for those who took part in the exercise to abide by the result or challenge it, depending on what they saw. “Aregbesola is the governor of Osun, the issue of working against the interest of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not arise.”

Also, Mr. Temitope Akintunde, a staunch supporter of Ilori, denied the allegation. He said most of the delegates ascribed to Ilori were disenfranchised on the day of the election. The remaining, he said, voted for Abraham.

Besides, the division in Tinubu’s camp, the effort by the Presidency, represented by some ministers, and another South-West governor to undermine Tinubu ahead of 2019 general elections led to the defeat of his candidate.

It was learnt that some forces in the Presidency who saw Tinubu as being too powerful constituted a committee headed by a minister from the North to work and coordinate Akeredolu’s campaign in order to decimate Tinubu in the South-West.

The ministers and some APC governors were trying to create a third force in the South-West so as to influence who becomes the president in 2019, hence the need to demystify Tinubu. It was learnt that some of the ministers and governors funded Akeredolu’s campaign.

“One of the South-West governors, not Aregbesola, was the arrowhead of those who supported Akeredolu. He worked with some of the ministers both within the zone and outside. They provided the logistics for Akeredolu.

Some of them even ensured that other strong contenders did not step down for Tinubu’s candidate. The APC primary election is part of the battles for the 2019. Tinubu cannot continue to dictate the political direction of the zone,” one of those in the opposing camp told New Telegraph.

The source added that if Tinubu’s camp had put their eggs in one basket, they would have been able to win the primaries. Another factor that led to the defeat of Tinubu’s candidate was the way the Chairman of the Electoral Committee and Jigawa State governor, Badaru Abubakar, handled the process of the primary election.

Sources said Akinyelure and the state chairman, Mr. Isaacs Kekemeke, were not allowed to have a say in the conduct of the election. There were allegations that delegates were changed between the accreditation and voting points, prompting some aggrieved aspirants to be planning a joint petition to the national leadership of the party.

It was gathered that the second runner up, Oke, would lead the onslaught against the validity of the result. A petition by Oke would likely be submitted between today and tomorrow at the national secretariat of the party.

Apart from writing petition against the emergence of Akeredolu, the aggrieved aspirants are reaching out to Governor Olusegun Mimiko in order to see the possibility of working with him in the forthcoming election. Mimiko’s former Commissioner for Justice, Eyitayo Jegede, is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.

The aggrieved aspirants, according to a source in the know, said this is to prevent Akeredolu from becoming the governor as that may end their political career. For instance, Akeredolu already has his team and would not need either the party or the aspirants for the election. Some office holders, including senators and a member of House of Representatives, may kiss their return goodbye if Akeredolu emerges as the governor.

A source in the Akeredolu’s camp stated that they are making moves to appease Tinubu. “We know our oga is angry, but if it means all of us will go and prostrate before him (Tinubu), we will do that. Yes, we are aware that people in Tinubu’s camp are planning to work for Mimiko, but we will still make effort to reconcile with him. He is our leader. What has happened is just the beauty of democracy,” the source said.

Excerpted from NEW TELEGRAPH

How I Increase My Blokos Size & Stopped Premature Ejaculation Issues That Scattered My Relationship For 2years.. Click HERE for Details




Tinubu, Aregbesola Fall Apart Over Akeredolu's Emergence? How Buhari Worked Against Tinubu's Man
NEW TELEGRAPH - The political camp of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is in disarray following the emergence of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) as the governorship candidate of the party for the November 26 election in Ondo State.

Facts have also emerged on how some APC governors and ministers worked against Tinubu in the decisive primary. Akeredolu won the party’s primary election with 669 votes, defeating his closest opponent, Chief Olusegun Abraham, who scored 635 votes.

Chief Olusola Oke scored 576 votes and Senator Ajayi Boroffice scored 471 votes to come third and fourth respectively. It was learnt that the outcome of the primaries has strained the relationship between Tinubu and his political confidant, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State.Many in the Tinubu’s political dynasty blamed the defeat of the APC leader’s anointed candidate, Abraham, on Aregbesola. As at Friday, Tinubu was confident that Abraham would emerge victorious with 805 votes.

Some of Tinubu’s associates believed that Aregbesola supported Oke with the understanding that Bola Ilori, his Special Adviser on Environment, would be made the deputy governorship candidate. But Aregbesola told New Telegraph that he didn’t work against Tinubu.

Impeccable sources told New Telegraph that there is now distrust within Tinubu’s camp, as many believed that Aregbesola and some others undermined the former Lagos governor in the Ondo primaries. The source said: “On August 22, when it was clear to Abraham that Aregbesola has his own agenda and was supporting Oke with the arrangement that if Oke becomes the governorship candidate, Ilori would become the deputy governor; Abraham had to call Tinubu and told him that everywhere he went he saw Aregbesola working for Oke.

“Also, on Tuesday, August 23, Chief Pius Akinyelure, the National Vice Chairman (South-West) called Tinubu in London that the Osun State governor was backing Oke.” The source said Aregbesola was influential in the party’s hierarchy because by the time they were putting APC together, there was no APC governor in Ondo State and Aregbesola was the one coordinating the state and other South- West states for the party. This, he said, made him to have lots of delegates under his control.

New Telegraph learnt that before the postponement of the primary election to last Saturday, Tinubu called Aregbesola from London and accused him of promoting Oke. But the governor denied the allegation. Despite Aregbesola’s defence, New Telegraph learnt that Tinubu said he did not want to hear anything and that if Abraham loses the primary election, their relationship would be badly damaged if not severed. New Telegraph learnt that it was this sort of threat that prompted Aregbesola to send his Deputy Chief of Staff, Gbenga Akano, to Ondo State.

It was learnt that Aregbesola sent Akano with substantial amount of money to Abraham last week Tuesday and he (Akano) remained until the day of the election. Aregbesola himself was in Akure on Thursday, two days before the primaries to support Tinubu’s candidate.

The governor, it was learnt, returned to Osogbo the same day with Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi who had earlier been on ground to support Abraham. The source alleged that while Aregbesola was working for Abraham, his adviser (Ilori) from Ondo town, was busy working for Oke.

The source added that the division in Tinubu’s camp was the major reason why the APC leader was humiliated in the primary election. According to the source, if Tinubu’s camp had worked together, they would have won the primary election because the difference between Akeredolu, the winner of the primary election and Abraham is 34 votes.

In Tinubu’s political family, the wife of the National Leader, Senator Oluremi and former interim national chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande, were die-hard supporters of Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice while Aregbesola was also supporting Oke.

Another source said Akande met and cautioned Aregbesola when the governor was rooting for Oke. The source said what made Oke to score the high number of votes in the primary despite the fact that he was a new entrant into the party was the alleged 115 votes of Ile-Oluji and Ondo, which Ilori delivered to him. But Aregbesola denied supporting Oke.

The governor, speaking through his Director, Bureau of Communications, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, denied supporting Oke in order to undermine Tinubu. According to him, “the insinuation is a strange allegation. I am aware there was a process, which has provided a winner.

The outcome of the exercise is left for those who took part in the exercise to abide by the result or challenge it, depending on what they saw. “Aregbesola is the governor of Osun, the issue of working against the interest of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not arise.”

Also, Mr. Temitope Akintunde, a staunch supporter of Ilori, denied the allegation. He said most of the delegates ascribed to Ilori were disenfranchised on the day of the election. The remaining, he said, voted for Abraham.

Besides, the division in Tinubu’s camp, the effort by the Presidency, represented by some ministers, and another South-West governor to undermine Tinubu ahead of 2019 general elections led to the defeat of his candidate.

It was learnt that some forces in the Presidency who saw Tinubu as being too powerful constituted a committee headed by a minister from the North to work and coordinate Akeredolu’s campaign in order to decimate Tinubu in the South-West.

The ministers and some APC governors were trying to create a third force in the South-West so as to influence who becomes the president in 2019, hence the need to demystify Tinubu. It was learnt that some of the ministers and governors funded Akeredolu’s campaign.

“One of the South-West governors, not Aregbesola, was the arrowhead of those who supported Akeredolu. He worked with some of the ministers both within the zone and outside. They provided the logistics for Akeredolu.

Some of them even ensured that other strong contenders did not step down for Tinubu’s candidate. The APC primary election is part of the battles for the 2019. Tinubu cannot continue to dictate the political direction of the zone,” one of those in the opposing camp told New Telegraph.

The source added that if Tinubu’s camp had put their eggs in one basket, they would have been able to win the primaries. Another factor that led to the defeat of Tinubu’s candidate was the way the Chairman of the Electoral Committee and Jigawa State governor, Badaru Abubakar, handled the process of the primary election.

Sources said Akinyelure and the state chairman, Mr. Isaacs Kekemeke, were not allowed to have a say in the conduct of the election. There were allegations that delegates were changed between the accreditation and voting points, prompting some aggrieved aspirants to be planning a joint petition to the national leadership of the party.

It was gathered that the second runner up, Oke, would lead the onslaught against the validity of the result. A petition by Oke would likely be submitted between today and tomorrow at the national secretariat of the party.

Apart from writing petition against the emergence of Akeredolu, the aggrieved aspirants are reaching out to Governor Olusegun Mimiko in order to see the possibility of working with him in the forthcoming election. Mimiko’s former Commissioner for Justice, Eyitayo Jegede, is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.

The aggrieved aspirants, according to a source in the know, said this is to prevent Akeredolu from becoming the governor as that may end their political career. For instance, Akeredolu already has his team and would not need either the party or the aspirants for the election. Some office holders, including senators and a member of House of Representatives, may kiss their return goodbye if Akeredolu emerges as the governor.

A source in the Akeredolu’s camp stated that they are making moves to appease Tinubu. “We know our oga is angry, but if it means all of us will go and prostrate before him (Tinubu), we will do that. Yes, we are aware that people in Tinubu’s camp are planning to work for Mimiko, but we will still make effort to reconcile with him. He is our leader. What has happened is just the beauty of democracy,” the source said.

Excerpted from NEW TELEGRAPH

How I Increase My Blokos Size & Stopped Premature Ejaculation Issues That Scattered My Relationship For 2years.. Click HERE for Details




Tags:

Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Ultra-Modern College In Osogbo; View Photos

Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Ultra-Modern College In Osogbo; View Photos

No comments
Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Utra-Modern College In Osogb; View Photos
As part of activities to mark the Osun State 25th Year anniversary,President Buhari, today visits Osogbo, the State's capital and commissioned Osogbo Government High School Osun.

An ultra-modern secondary school built by Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola in his education revamping scheme in the state.

View More Photos:


Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Utra-Modern College In Osogb; View Photos

Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Utra-Modern College In Osogb; View Photos



Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Utra-Modern College In Osogb; View Photos

Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Utra-Modern College In Osogb; View Photos




How I Increase My Blokos Size & Stopped Premature Ejaculation Issues That Scattered My Relationship For 2years.. Click HERE for Details

Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Utra-Modern College In Osogb; View Photos
As part of activities to mark the Osun State 25th Year anniversary,President Buhari, today visits Osogbo, the State's capital and commissioned Osogbo Government High School Osun.

An ultra-modern secondary school built by Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola in his education revamping scheme in the state.

View More Photos:


Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Utra-Modern College In Osogb; View Photos

Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Utra-Modern College In Osogb; View Photos



Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Utra-Modern College In Osogb; View Photos

Osun @ 25: Buhari Commissions Aregbesola's Utra-Modern College In Osogb; View Photos




How I Increase My Blokos Size & Stopped Premature Ejaculation Issues That Scattered My Relationship For 2years.. Click HERE for Details

Tags:

VP Osinbajo, Southwest Ministers, Govs., APC SHOCK Buhari; Back Restructuring of Nigeria Clamour

VP Osinbajo, Southwest Ministers, Govs., APC SHOCK Buhari; Back Restructuring of Nigeria Clamour

No comments
VP Osinbajo, Southwes Ministers, Govs., APC SHOCK Buhari; Back Restructuring of Nigeria Clamour
Apparently opposing to the view of President Muhammadu Buhari on the current political and economic structure of Nigeria, the Southwest Zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday  join several other Nigerians who have been calling for the restructuring of the nation, but insist on TRUE FEDERALISM. 

The party leaders made the call at their conference held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

They also called for free and compulsory education in primary and secondary schools in Southwest states and pledged to conduct a free and fair primary for aspirants to political offices in Ondo State.

The conference was attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented by Senator Babafemi Ojudu, special adviser (political) to President Muhammadu Buhari, Governors Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) and Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo). Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun was represented by his deputy Mrs Yetunde Onanuga, The National Newspaper published

Ministers Adebayo Shittu (Communications) and Kayode Fayemi (Solid Minerals) also attended.

APC National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun was represented by Deputy Chairman (South) Chief Segun Oni, who led party leaders in the six states of the Southwest.

In an eight-point communique, the party posited that “meaningful progress and socio-economic development of the Nigerian nation is unattainable without restructuring the extant, largely unitarian geo-political arrangement. “It is by such re-arrangement, leading to genuine and true political and fiscal federalism that the innate energies of the people of Nigeria can be released and new vistas of human development opened up.”

Setting the tone for the discourse, Ajimobi, called on the party in the zone to engage political office holders regularly and make meaningful input in policy formulation and delivery.

He said the party must organise leaders and members to talk together, think together and share ideas and thoughts on how to offer better governance to Nigerians.

He said: “Let our party create avenues to have position papers on policies. President Buhari is one simple individual that is corruption-free. He has integrity. He is completely simple. It is clear he is the best for this time. But we must help him by conversing with him always through the instrument of the party presenting position papers. We must participate more in the APC-led government.”

Aregbesola said without a restructuring of the country, only little can be gained by all stakeholders in the current arrangement.

He lamented that most states are spending their resources to maintain the civil service whose population is scarcely more than 10 per cent of the total population. “That is why we must restructure Nigeria.” He said.

As revenues plummets, Aregbesola said the situation offers opportunity for the Yoruba to revitalize the concept of working for whatever they earn.

His words: “We must make earning for living a core concept. Let Southwest start and lead in reviving this concept. Work for what you earn.”

Vice President Osinbajo said this administration did not fully appreciate the enormity of the corruption and decadence in governance until it took office last year.

He said the pains of today was a result of “yesterday’s mismanagement of the commonwealth of our great country.”

But he said President Buhari was aware of the pains of citizens. The Vice President assured Nigerians that a glorious dawn awaited them.

Osinbajo pleaded with citizens to show understanding and be patient as the administration works to make the country better.

“Change is not easy. But we are not relenting until we achieve a better life for all Nigerians. The change that we advocate will be irrevocable when we are finally done.” He said.

Assuring that the desired change was already here, Osinbajo said some investors have shown interest in building refineries in Nigeria.

He also pointed out that current improvement in power supply is a result of the efforts of the government, adding that the government was committed to the implementation of the health insurance scheme, diversification of the economy, infrastructural development and job creation.

Chief Odigie-Oyegun told party men to educate their followers and members of the public that the ‘change’ mantra is not an event but a process which takes time to be fully achieved.

He promised that recommendations of the meeting would be considered at the national secretariat of the party.

In his welcome address, the National Vice Chairman (Southwest) Chief Pius Akinyelure, said the contribution of the Southwest Zone to the success of the APC at the national level was not in doubt.

But as change agents, Akinyelure said the party leadership in the zone was not under illusion that greater efforts are not needed to put the nation back on track.

He commended governors in the region for sustaining its economic relevance in Nigerian through their popular policies.

Akinyelure also called on feuding governorship aspirants in Ondo State to come together and allow peace to reign. He assured them that the party would conduct a free and fair primary and urged aspirants to support anyone that emerges as the party’s candidate.

In the communique , the party said in view of its huge contribution to the ideological and policy thrust of the APC as well as the enthronement of the party at the federal level, the Southwest Zone must become more engaged with, and engaging in, influencing the affairs of the party and government at the national level.

It added: “The need for diversification of the economy has become mandatory for the successful enthronement of true political and fiscal federalism with each geo-political zone exploring its resources for maximum development.

“The primary role of quality education in the progress and development of a people was acknowledged. However, it is most disturbing that the present Southwest Zone that used to commit as much as 30 per cent of its budget to education is no longer able to achieve such level of support. The conference agreed with the submission of the guest lecturer that primary and secondary education should be made compulsory and free in the Southwest zone.

“In considering the importance of the upcoming governorship election in Ondo State on November 10, the conference made a passionate appeal for the unity of party members throughout the exercise towards the emergence of the party’s candidate. Specifically, the conference pledged the commitment of the leadership of APC Southwest zone to a free and fair process in picking the candidate of the party for the election. It also appealed to all aspirants to rally and give full support to the successful aspirant in order to face the November 10 election with the full force of the party as it is imperative to bring the government of Ondo State into the fold of the progressives.”

Also at the conference were: former governor of Old Ondo State, Chief Bamidele Olumilua; former deputy governors and Chief Ayo Fasanmi.

Others are chairmen of the party in Oyo (Chief Akin Oke); Ogun (Chief Rokeeb Adeniyi); Lagos (Chief Oladele Ajomale); Osun (Chief Gboyega Famodun) and Ekiti (Chief Jide Awe); National Legal Adviser Dr Muiz Banire;  Senator Ganiyu Solomon; Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora;  Chief Tajudeen Olusi, members of the House of Representatives, Houses of Assembly and political office holders.

Excerpted From TheNation

How I Increase My Blokos Size & Stopped Premature Ejaculation Issues That Scattered My Relationship For 2years.. Click HERE for Details  

VP Osinbajo, Southwes Ministers, Govs., APC SHOCK Buhari; Back Restructuring of Nigeria Clamour
Apparently opposing to the view of President Muhammadu Buhari on the current political and economic structure of Nigeria, the Southwest Zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday  join several other Nigerians who have been calling for the restructuring of the nation, but insist on TRUE FEDERALISM. 

The party leaders made the call at their conference held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

They also called for free and compulsory education in primary and secondary schools in Southwest states and pledged to conduct a free and fair primary for aspirants to political offices in Ondo State.

The conference was attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented by Senator Babafemi Ojudu, special adviser (political) to President Muhammadu Buhari, Governors Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) and Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo). Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun was represented by his deputy Mrs Yetunde Onanuga, The National Newspaper published

Ministers Adebayo Shittu (Communications) and Kayode Fayemi (Solid Minerals) also attended.

APC National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun was represented by Deputy Chairman (South) Chief Segun Oni, who led party leaders in the six states of the Southwest.

In an eight-point communique, the party posited that “meaningful progress and socio-economic development of the Nigerian nation is unattainable without restructuring the extant, largely unitarian geo-political arrangement. “It is by such re-arrangement, leading to genuine and true political and fiscal federalism that the innate energies of the people of Nigeria can be released and new vistas of human development opened up.”

Setting the tone for the discourse, Ajimobi, called on the party in the zone to engage political office holders regularly and make meaningful input in policy formulation and delivery.

He said the party must organise leaders and members to talk together, think together and share ideas and thoughts on how to offer better governance to Nigerians.

He said: “Let our party create avenues to have position papers on policies. President Buhari is one simple individual that is corruption-free. He has integrity. He is completely simple. It is clear he is the best for this time. But we must help him by conversing with him always through the instrument of the party presenting position papers. We must participate more in the APC-led government.”

Aregbesola said without a restructuring of the country, only little can be gained by all stakeholders in the current arrangement.

He lamented that most states are spending their resources to maintain the civil service whose population is scarcely more than 10 per cent of the total population. “That is why we must restructure Nigeria.” He said.

As revenues plummets, Aregbesola said the situation offers opportunity for the Yoruba to revitalize the concept of working for whatever they earn.

His words: “We must make earning for living a core concept. Let Southwest start and lead in reviving this concept. Work for what you earn.”

Vice President Osinbajo said this administration did not fully appreciate the enormity of the corruption and decadence in governance until it took office last year.

He said the pains of today was a result of “yesterday’s mismanagement of the commonwealth of our great country.”

But he said President Buhari was aware of the pains of citizens. The Vice President assured Nigerians that a glorious dawn awaited them.

Osinbajo pleaded with citizens to show understanding and be patient as the administration works to make the country better.

“Change is not easy. But we are not relenting until we achieve a better life for all Nigerians. The change that we advocate will be irrevocable when we are finally done.” He said.

Assuring that the desired change was already here, Osinbajo said some investors have shown interest in building refineries in Nigeria.

He also pointed out that current improvement in power supply is a result of the efforts of the government, adding that the government was committed to the implementation of the health insurance scheme, diversification of the economy, infrastructural development and job creation.

Chief Odigie-Oyegun told party men to educate their followers and members of the public that the ‘change’ mantra is not an event but a process which takes time to be fully achieved.

He promised that recommendations of the meeting would be considered at the national secretariat of the party.

In his welcome address, the National Vice Chairman (Southwest) Chief Pius Akinyelure, said the contribution of the Southwest Zone to the success of the APC at the national level was not in doubt.

But as change agents, Akinyelure said the party leadership in the zone was not under illusion that greater efforts are not needed to put the nation back on track.

He commended governors in the region for sustaining its economic relevance in Nigerian through their popular policies.

Akinyelure also called on feuding governorship aspirants in Ondo State to come together and allow peace to reign. He assured them that the party would conduct a free and fair primary and urged aspirants to support anyone that emerges as the party’s candidate.

In the communique , the party said in view of its huge contribution to the ideological and policy thrust of the APC as well as the enthronement of the party at the federal level, the Southwest Zone must become more engaged with, and engaging in, influencing the affairs of the party and government at the national level.

It added: “The need for diversification of the economy has become mandatory for the successful enthronement of true political and fiscal federalism with each geo-political zone exploring its resources for maximum development.

“The primary role of quality education in the progress and development of a people was acknowledged. However, it is most disturbing that the present Southwest Zone that used to commit as much as 30 per cent of its budget to education is no longer able to achieve such level of support. The conference agreed with the submission of the guest lecturer that primary and secondary education should be made compulsory and free in the Southwest zone.

“In considering the importance of the upcoming governorship election in Ondo State on November 10, the conference made a passionate appeal for the unity of party members throughout the exercise towards the emergence of the party’s candidate. Specifically, the conference pledged the commitment of the leadership of APC Southwest zone to a free and fair process in picking the candidate of the party for the election. It also appealed to all aspirants to rally and give full support to the successful aspirant in order to face the November 10 election with the full force of the party as it is imperative to bring the government of Ondo State into the fold of the progressives.”

Also at the conference were: former governor of Old Ondo State, Chief Bamidele Olumilua; former deputy governors and Chief Ayo Fasanmi.

Others are chairmen of the party in Oyo (Chief Akin Oke); Ogun (Chief Rokeeb Adeniyi); Lagos (Chief Oladele Ajomale); Osun (Chief Gboyega Famodun) and Ekiti (Chief Jide Awe); National Legal Adviser Dr Muiz Banire;  Senator Ganiyu Solomon; Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora;  Chief Tajudeen Olusi, members of the House of Representatives, Houses of Assembly and political office holders.

Excerpted From TheNation

How I Increase My Blokos Size & Stopped Premature Ejaculation Issues That Scattered My Relationship For 2years.. Click HERE for Details  

Tags:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)

Trending

randomposts

Like Us

fb/https://www.facebook.com/newsproof
google.com, pub-6536761625640326, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0