INVICTUS TINUBU

 The past few weeks has been electioneering period in Nigeria, and what stood out for me was how the Jagaban, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu pursued his presidential ambition. He made it known to all that he has been nursing the ambition a long time, and it dictated every move he made since he made the goal his ambition. His ambition drove him to insist that it was his turn to take the presidency, after he'd purportedly helped others to achieve their political dreams. His grandstanding even against the run of play can now be described as something worth emulating, even though at the time it felt arrogant, the sort of arrogance only those willing to go against the gods would exercise before their ultimate fall.

But he didn't fail, and was declared the winner of the elections by the chairman of the body saddled with the responsibility of organising elections in Nigeria, the process that has since been declared as a step back from the progress achieved over the years, and conduct of which is now the subject of litigation at the elections tribunal, with other contestants challenging the outcome of the elections. Barring other unforseen circumstances, Tinubu will be sworn in on the 29th of May, 2023, making his deposition seem near impossible, and an unfavourable ruling from the Supreme Court highly unlikely, as has yet such a precedence does not exist in Nigeria.

The tribunal Justices have already warned against frivolous applications, and attempts to make the court decide the case based on technicalities over the merits, an exercise in futility. This is already pointing to the side of striking out pre-election matters, and the possibility of the justices basing their decision on what they think will foster and engender peace in the country, which makes one wonder what might be sidestepped so that peace may be maintained, as determined by the justices, especially after Tinubu must've been sworn in as president.

Another ominous sign for me is the declaration by the Supreme Court of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the winner of the gubernatorial elections held in Osun State last year. Many PDP members are celebrating this judgement as landmark pointing to its ruling on the BVAS, and by extension, the IREV as a shadow of things to come, as the presidential election tribunal gets under way. Those with discerning eyes are however seeing this in another light, and that is in how it is that each time Tinubu loses in little things that are directly related to him, or big things that are indirectly associated with him, he tends to get compensation in winning big things associated directly with him thereafter. You'd see him showing magnanimity when he endures such losses, so that his reaction can be pointed at when he wins big, and the loser encouraged to exhibit the spirit of sportsmanship, just like he had done.

If you still don't get what I'm saying, remember that Governor Oyetola who lost to Adeleke at the Supreme Court is thought to be related to Tinubu, besides been a member of his political party, such that when he lost the guber elections reference was especially made to Tinubu, with pointers to the effect that he might have begun to lose grip over the southwestern States. It is testament to Adeleke's political sagacity that after coming very close to defeating Oyetola in 2018, and controversially losing in the rerun in a few battle grounds after the main elections, he resoundingly won last year, and went on to deliver his state for his party in the presidential elections, a loss for Tinubu in a state his traducers say he originally hailed from. An example of what I talked about is how when Tinubu lost in Osun and Lagos States in the presidential elections in February, he appeared unperturbed while focusing on the bigger prize, purportedly winning from other states, some of which were outside his immediate control, which made those losses in the states he seemingly controlled inconsequential.

The possibility of viewing the proceedings live is another sore area for me in all these, because this way the events preceding and during the elections, will remain ingrained in the consciousness of Nigerians as they go through their daily routines, and the tense atmosphere which pervaded the country, prior and during the elections, that has gradually begun to fizzle out will return, and may likely conflagrate, depending on the decision of the court, either at the first instance or at the final, at the Supreme Court. The court of public opinion will run pari passu the actual court hearing, in the event of the court granting leave to those seeking the live airing of the proceedings, and much like those days of the TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION headed by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, at the advent of the Fourth Republic, post the 1999 elections that ushered in civilian rule, after many years of military, where sometimes the irrelevants were elevated over the significants, even by the press may become the order of the day.

Regarding the outcome of the presidential election tribunal, I do not foresee the final judgement upturning Tinubu's declaration as president-elect, this is because he'd be president by the time the case would be determined, and there's as yet no precedence of such in Nigeria, as I've earlier mentioned. The next best in that direction would probably be the ordering of a new election, but under whose supervision as Head of State? Okay maybe, the President of the Senate, a member of Tinubu's party? This is where that statement about a ruling that will engender peace will come to make sense. Whether the aggrieved parties will maintain peace afterwards is left to be seen, and that side by side with how President Tinubu will react to dissent or demonstrations if that were to be the immediate reaction to the outcome of the Supreme Court judgement in his favour.

'kovich

PICTURE CREDIT:

- wikipedia

AS NIGERIA HEADS TO THE POLLS IN 2023

It's elections season once again, and every other pressing matter in Nigeria has been relegated to the background, not just by the government which must be heaving a sigh of relief owing to the lull from the barrage of verbal attacks it suffers not only from ordinary Nigerians for making their lives difficult, but also by the press which has since seized to be the mouthpiece through which these complaints, including expletives reach the government, leaving social media, as the only means and voice of the voiceless, many times to an empty "Hall", in the case of a government that couldn't care less, or that goes further to ban outlets such as twitter in a bid to stifle avenues the people engage to ventilate their frustration with the government (before political considerations led to its unbanning). It is for this reason that we are all pretending as if there's no more banditry, kidnappings, killings, insurgency, high cost of living, fuel scarcity etc going on, all because electioneering has taken centre stage.

In this elections, there's no gainsaying that there are mainly three frontrunners, namely and in no particular order, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, and Labour Party, LP's Peter Obi. Some people will like to add New Nigeria People's Party, NNPP's Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, but even those that do so, know that he's no top three candidate, even though I stand to be corrected by the outcome of the elections. There are many others who are there to make up the numbers, including Omoyele Sowore, being the most vociferous of this group. This, his second outing as a presidential candidate, after he, amongst many others worked tirelessly to install this same government he's now eager to replace. It must've occurred to him, soon after this government was installed in 2015, that the devil you know, is better than the angel you don't know, because of the amount of suffering he endured personally, and collectively as a Nigerian, under it compared to the one he actively participated in toppling democratically.

Many people who think Tinubu shouldn't be president because of his frailties, forget so easily that even worse was thought of President Muhammadu Buhari, who then turned out to outlive some of those who didn't see him going beyond a first term in office. Tinubu on the other hand has produced gaffes, and continue to be the engine feeding skit makers and comedians with content at any of his outings, such that they glide in for the giveaway once he tremulously grabs the microphone. In the midst of all the snicker is the apprehension that he might just win the elections. No one gave him a chance before the primaries, indeed some of his opponents thought themselves to be Buhari's anointed, and all Tinubu asked for was a level playing field, which once it was granted, he exploited to become the presidential candidate of his party by a very convincing, incontestable margin. He's the sort of politician that knows what to do to sway votes his way, especially in the dying minutes, that is why he hasn't bothered with debates on TV, where he knows he'd get nothing but more embarrassment from an audience waiting for him to goof.

A peculiarity with Tinubu's campaign is the sense of entitlement. One of the posters of Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, had the inscription, "THE HEROES OF OUR TIME", and before now the catch phrase upon which the campaign is based is "Emilokan", Yoruba for "It Is My Turn", based on Tinubu's supposition that having brought many into positions of power, including the incumbent, President Buhari into power, he also deserves to have a taste of the presidency, which he claims to be at the top of his desires for a long time. This is without considering the clamour from the southeast for the position, seeing as the Yoruba have enjoyed many top political positions at the national level, including the presidency for eight years, and vice presidency for another eight, since the return of civil rule in 1999. The boldness behind the movement is reminiscent of the beginnings of similar adventures with disastrous endings because of its unnatural leanings and lack of respect and recognition of divine will.

Atiku Abubakar is currently nursing the wound that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State continues to inflict on him, with his almost daily tirade, that the media are always on standby to air, hot and sizzling to the reading, listening and viewing public. Wike is so angry with Atiku that he stripped all the privileges from a former Governor Celestine Omehia (that he favoured so much in the past, just to spite the immediate past governor, and former minister for transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi), because he aligned with Atiku, anchoring his decision on a court ruling that declared the latter's tenure unconstitutional. Atiku's response to the avalanche of demarketing that he's suffering is doubling his campaign efforts, nationwide, attending debates and other fora where he thinks he will be able to reach Nigerians, as if the Wike thing is non existent. His decision to go ahead vigorously with his campaign while backdoor efforts are being made to bring dissident "INTEGRITY GROUP/G5" members, consisting of five PDP governors with their supporters, back into the fold, seems to be the best he could've done in his position.

The best case scenario for him will be a situation where Wike, the main protagonist and the other four governors return and support his campaign, or at best stop acting as stumbling blocks to his ambition if they won't support him, and then northern Christians rejecting APC and Tinubu's Muslim - Muslim ticket, as well as hoping the northerners throw their support naturally behind one of theirs, who he directly wooed at the meeting he had with a section of organizations from the region when he told them to support him as only someone from their region could fulfil their aspirations. But when Nigerians from the North Central regions, South West and Southeast remember that Atiku is fulani, just like President Buhari under whose reign fulani herdsmen continue to hold Nigerians hostage security wise, they wonder if it is trite to maintain the status quo, assuming that Atiku may look away from the atrocities of his kinsmen without actively encouraging efforts to bring them to justice. It is for this reason that Benue's Governor Ortom has a different axe to grind with Atiku, apart from the other issue the G5 governors (of which he's a part) have with him.

Peter Obi was Atiku's running mate in the last presidential election in 2019. He actually was in the hall the day Atiku declared for presidency under the banner of PDP, before decamping to the Labour Party, LP to actualize his presidential ambition, once it became clear that the PDP wasn't going to zone the position to the South, even though the chairman of the party is from the North, against PDP constitutional provisions, the core of Wike's angst against PDP and Atiku in particular. It was in the knowledge of this that Wike backed the ascension of the party chairman, Iyorchia Ayu from the North, until not only was the zoning not done in favour of the south, but that Atiku went on to win the presidential primaries despite his efforts.

Obi seems to be the candidate that has mass appeal, especially amongst youths that have become disillusioned with the status quo. It was initially thought that his supporters were mainly noise makers on social media with at best, a scant structure on ground, but as these trooped out to get registered and encouraged others to so do, they began to be noticed as threats by opposing parties. Sadly, the party seems to be only about Obi, and at the national level only, that makes the discerning wonder what will happen should he win the presidency. Some commentators reckon that it will be easier for him to decamp to either of the major two, most likely PDP, than for most members of the national assembly to decamp to his party, LP.

Peter Obi hasn't been helped by his past though, because a lot of what the media recorded during his time as governor of Anambra State wasn't palatable, besides leaving a healthy sum in the states till. Even the present governor of Anambra State appear not to give a hoot about him, and rather than just keep quiet about it, has gone to town to demarket his "brother". As if that wasn't bad enough, one of Anambra's notable billionaires, Prince Arthur Eze, recently advised Obi to shelve his presidential ambition. Another hindrance on Obi's path is the activities of groups perpetrating acts of violence and brigandage in the southeast, including targeting INEC offices and creating an atmosphere of fear that may cause many voters from the region he hails from, who hopefully could vote in his favour to be disenfranchised, unlike his opponents who may/can boast of the majority of the votes in their regions going in their favour, including in the North where in spite of the insecurity there, that Boko Haram and the bandits amongst others know better than to destroy INEC offices or disrupt the political processes, because in Nigeria, politics is local.

It has been public knowledge that former President Olusegun Obasanjo is backing Obi, not even because the latter's campaign Director General was Dr. Doyin Okupe, an Obasanjo loyalist, but for other reasons, however the replacement of Okupe following his resignation with Mr. Akin Osuntokun leaves no one in any form of doubt that Obi's project is OBJ's project, and usually this may just mean also the support of some retired military generals that the latter rolls with, from different parts of Nigeria. Maybe this will form one of the basis of discussion in the meeting the G5 are currently holding to decide who among the aspirants to throw their weight behind.

I don't think this piece will be complete without saying a thing or two about NNPP's candidate, even though I haven't counted him as one of the major contenders. It will be one of the greatest upsets in political history should he win the next election though. It may not be out of place to say that the major candidates are regional leaders, and if they are, Kwankwaso can be described as having a stronghold within one of the regions, and therefore capable to act as spoiler to Atiku's chances in the Northwest, and to some extent Tinubu's as well, and not so much to Obi who hardly stands any chance in that region. Amongst his staunch supporters though, there'll be no yielding of the grounds, but doing very well in just two states can only take a presidential candidate so far in a presidential election. In Nigeria, one of the reasons politicians persist in campaigning for elective positions even when they are in an unwinnable position is for the sake of relevance, which may come in handy for the next elections. This in my view, is the game Kwankwasiya movement is playing.

Whether this is, or will be a two-, three- or even a four - horse race, only time will tell. I have heard some commentators say that what is most likely is a situation where none of the candidates get a majority (due to how a lot of regionalism is tied to the candidates), leading to a runoff, but again impossible Is nothing, and between now and February 2023, a lot can happen, either to make the race even more predictable, or turn predictions and pollings on their head. For now pollings seem to favour candidates that have supporters with social media presence which may be a different thing at the polls when the majority from the nooks and cranny of Nigeria, without or limited access to information and communication technology will come out in their numbers to exercise their franchise. Hopefully, all sides concerned will accept the outcome of the elections with equanimity, so that the air of foreboding regarding post election violence (which is not unusual in Nigeria), will not come to pass. 

'kovich

PICTURE CREDIT:

- https://leadership.ng

AS 2023 DRAWS NIGH

2023 is around the corner, and it isn't unusual and unexpected that permutations as to who would emerge as presidential candidates of the major political parties in Nigeria is gearing up. In fact, preparations for who would succeed President Muhammadu Buhari started ín 2019, after he was sworn in for a second term. There are some people who think it started a few months after he won elections in his first term, and it became apparent that not much would be achieved in terms of building up Nigeria as a nation under him. 

After the 2015 Presidential Elections, where the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), an amalgam of four opposition parties, managed an upset, the first of its kind in Nigeria, in an alliance majorly between the core Northern region that Buhari always aced, or garnered assuring numbers from, and the Southwest where former Governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu held sway; it looked almost certain that the North will return the favour by backing Tinubu for the presidency in 2023. 

Events thereafter has shown that that assertion may not entirely be true, as no sooner had Buhari gained power, than Tinubu was relegated to the background by what was later to be known as the "cabal", comprising of Buhari's kitchen cabinet, made up of close relatives and allies, all either from his immediate locality of birth, or from the north. He didn't seem to have cast his net that so wide, either during his military career, that propelled him to the position of Head Of State, or his political career during the many times he vied for the presidency, in the way he made his choice of those who would be close to him on the basis of trust, especially gained from working with such persons for years, in the past. 

Before his reelection however, he appeared to favour the mending of fences with Tinubu and once again the tape as with the first term was replayed after he regained power, as most of Tinubu's men in government and in the party were either shoved out or rendered redundant or quiet. When the Vice President 'Yemi Osinbajo (a Tinubu ally), instilled hope and shone as a bright light in the many absences of Buhari while the latter travelled abroad to cater to his health, he soon became relegated (from the first term, till date), such that subsequently power was henceforth not transmitted to him whenever his principal was away. Recently though, there's been some noise around the candidacy of Osinbajo with certain groups making it seem like he has the blessing of Buhari to succeed him. President Buhari in a recent and rare interview with the press did allude to the fact that he has a preferred candidate, but would rather not say for now, for the safety of the person. It would appear that Tinubu must've decided it most timely to appear at this stage with his visit to the Presidential villa yesterday. 

He emerged from that meeting with the president to intimate the press that he just informed the latter of his intention to run for the presidency next year, as part of his consultations before making his official declaration. This will be seen in many quarters as him getting ahead of the news, and ending conjectures surrounding his intentions that have gained ground over the years. It can also be viewed as a form of soft reminder to the incumbent of a gentleman agreement that may have existed in the past before Tinubu threw in his political capital to support and propel the former to power, in case he was beginning to forget, or finding it convenient not to remember that such a thing ever existed, even though there might not be evidence whatsoever to substantiate the claim. 

In the midst of these is what the opposition People's Democratic Party is doing. The discordant tune from there though not as loud as in the APC now where everyone is suspiciously eyeing each other, is just as much significant. Southeast politicians who feel they've always kept faith with the party are unhappy with their northern counterparts who feel that fielding a northerner as their presidential candidate in 2023 is the only way the PDP can regain power at the centre, as they seem to be saying that there's no way northerners would overlook (and pass on the chance of producing a president of Northern extraction yet again) a northern candidate, even if from the PDP for a southerner (if the APC opts to go south), and have power removed from the north for another eight years. Elements in the APC who do not want a Tinubu pocketing Nigeria the way he's done with Lagos will be the ones he will have to battle not just for his political future, but for that of any one he might decide to support should odds become stacked against his ambition, and he decides to yield, especially as those opposed to his candidacy are beginning to chance on his age, and possibly health status as their reasons. 

The day is still young though and only time can reveal what lies in stock for everyone one of us. The undeniable fact is that whoever takes over Nigeria in 2023 will have his work cut out for him. A significant event that made many yearn for 2023 was Buhari's seeming helplessness to the activities of Fulani herdsmen, his kinsmen, whom it appears seized on the opportunity that the president was of their tribe, and that most of those at the helm of affairs of the security and intelligence agencies were also of their tribe (at the time), and might be sympathetic to their cause, carried out acts of killings and brigandage with impunity, focusing initially on the North-Central region, Benue State particularly before spreading their nets further afield to other adjoining states in the South, in what was later to be officially termed farmer-herder clashes, even though most of those termed farmers (including women and children) were butchered while they slept at night. 

With the spate of killings and the increasing level of insecurity across the country, many States have adopted something akin to state police by setting up security agencies officially to assist the security agencies with the work of policing their states, and unofficially to nip the activities of marauding herdsmen and criminal gangs operating in their name, in the bud. These groups are especially active in the southwest, as Amotekun, while they are less visible in the Southeast as Ebubeagu, and in places like Benue State they are called Forest Guards. There's no gsinsaying the fact that under the Buhari administration, the security situation has worsened, but unlike many bad situations that have good aftermath, it has also led to the equipping of nigeria's military with hardware that in the future, under proper leadership could be put to the good use of defending the nation's sovereignty and integrity. 

The economy of Nigeria has never been this badly hit in recent times, with the currency battered and hardly competing with its foreign counterparts, alongside mounting debt portfolio that may have been suretied with Nigeria's abundant oil and gas deposits, which is also been threatened with the world gradually and steadily opting for greener alternatives, meaning that those hydrocarbon deposits may not be able to bail us out later. Sadly, the government that promised to diversify, seemed to focus majorly on one thing, and one thing alone, since coming to power, seeking for oil, and it's exploration thereof in the North, to give it bragging rights over the Niger Delta, to stop the latter from holding the country, and northern rulers to the jugular. In the recent interview President Buhari granted, he responded to the issue of the dwindling economic fortunes of Nigeria by saying he'd always asked Nigerians to return to the farm, and one commentator retorted that if agriculture was so important to the president how is it that it is to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and not that of Agriculture and Water Resources that he thought to expend his energy as Minister, which he runs alongside his job as president. The paradox of it all is that the farms are also the places that have become one of the most insecure places to be in today's Nigeria. 

Diehard supporters of President Buhari point to the infrastructural strides he's made, but close their eyes to the cost, not in Naira and Kobo, or Dollars and Yuan, but in what was mortgaged to secure the loans thereof. One time the legislature sought to know the terms and conditions associated with the loans obtained from the Chinese to upgrade Nigeria's rail network, Transport minister, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi responded by saying that digging into the matter will discourage the Chinese lenders from further and future financial and technical support, and after a few more wrangling they (legislators) let the matter rest. Is this how a country is, and should be run? Another issue related to this is how political, sectional and primordial considerations determine the siting of infrastructure over need, and commercial viability. 

These are just a few of the strings Nigeria is trying to balance on, that those in power have set us on, away from terra firma, that anyone wishing to takeover must career us from. Sadly, by the nature alone, of those putting themselves forward, or those suspected to be nursing the ambition, especially in the big parties, there's no sign of change (for the better) in the horizon. There are better and younger people available, even in the so called big parties, they will, and some have already indicated interest to run, but unfortunately Nigeria is structured in such a way as to not allow its best to be put out for elective positions, and in the few occasions, those taught to be idealists make it into power, they are soon corrupted by the perks of their position, and end up turning up worse than the politicians we hoped they'd outperform. Our only consolation is that life must go on regardless, and because no matter how wicked, heartless, and anti-people a government's policy(-ies) might turn out to be, there will always be that one or two things that regime will do to move the country forward. It is those little things that I look forward to, while hoping that the number of such increases with time along with the changes that time enables, because as for individuals in power, in Nigeria, they are usually more, of the same. 

'kovich

 

ATIKU'S CAMPAIGN AFTER OCTOBER 7

Once former Vice President Abubakar Atiku last week named former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi 

as his running mate in next year's General Elections the political space erupted. Interestingly, I'd have thought events preceding that would've caused more earthquakes, unfortunately those didn't read as much on the Richter Scale as the nomination of Obi. Like me, many weren't surprised with the outcome of the Presidential Primaries of the People's Democratic Party, PDP which threw up Atiku

 on the morning of Sunday the 7th of October this year. The only reason I was able to watch the coronation, nay affirmation of President Muhammadu Buhari as the Presidential candidate of his party, All Progressives' (which is more in word than in deed) Congress, APC which climaxed with a speech by President Buhari in the wee hours of October 7th, was because in between the voting process going on at the Port Harcourt venue of the PDP primaries which started 6th October, I'd switch to the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA which has become so partisan, enough not to bother to cover live events of the major opposition party, and have over time become so debased (with analog looking presentation, that sometimes I often think my TV dirty on the very few occasions I watch) that it is now only watched by the majority of Nigerians only when the president intends to make a speech, or on other occasions of national importance, where the National Broadcaster arrogates to itself the sole broadcasting rights.

The thought that the perception of Atiku as corrupt would shake his emergence failed to elicit the anticipated odium, rather people just seemed to have gotten tired of the tag on him, accepting it probably his human frailty, especially as there's been not so much improvement in the life of the average Nigerian being led by the supposed incorruptible (despite the fact that he was supported into power by perceived corrupt individuals, of which Atiku was one in 2015, and surrounded by corrupt individuals in power, some of whom have ought to answer but continue to be shielded) man of integrity. Clinging on the fact that Atiku couldn't visit the United States of America also managed to capture the news for a while, but that also failed to cause a ripple, after it became obvious that that impediment was sure to become a non-issue should he manage to clinch the presidency, because of several instances from Nelson Mandela to Narendra Modi, with people even saying they'd prefer a President that couldn't travel outside of the country than the globetrotter the incumbent had become in the past three years. To nail the coffin, the American Consulate in Nigeria opined that PDP's Presidential candidate has no corruption case against him in the States.



Then Atiku visited Obasanjo, accompanied by two Bishops, David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church

and Matthew Kukah (of the Archdiocese of Sokoto), and a very vocal Islamic Cleric in Sheik Abubakar Gumi,

to mediate in the lingering impasse between the former VP and his erstwhile boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The success of that intervention, with the outcome that included forgiveness handed Atiku by Obasanjo,

to the point of even pledging to assist him in actualizing his dream to become Nigeria's next president, must have irked members of the ruling party so much that they had to dust up Obasanjo's impression of his deputy in his latest book, as if he had no right to change his mind or view over any subject, as he so wishes. As people remained obstinate and unconvinced, the next target was Obasanjo who they now touted as being of no electoral value, even though they'd approached him pre-2015 for support, when due to a letter he wrote former President Goodluck Jonathan berating him for misgoverning Nigeria, he's support was instrumental in getting Buhari elected to replace Jonathan. When that also failed, even President Buhari joined the fray by castigating the religious leaders that were present in the Otta residence of the former President and witnessed the epoch making event, deriding them for mixing religion with politics, even though he'd been visited by a Pastor Kumuyi

of Deeper Life Bible Church, just days back and was endorsed pre-2015 Presidential elections by Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka,

a Catholic Priest and Pastor Tunde Bakare

of Latter Rain Assembly.



All of the brick-bats that followed these events since Atiku was declared PDP's Presidential flagbearer from the ruling party and it's supporters, so far hardly dented the body of the work and progress the campaign was making as the days drew by, until a running mate was named from Southeastern Nigeria. Cyberspace waited with baited breath as to how the APC machinery will react. Interestingly, the response came from the unlikeliest of quarters. A group of so called Igbo leaders

of which the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi spoke for, after rising from a meeting in Enugu State, stating that they weren't consulted by Atiku before the latter decided to choose former Anambra State governor as his running mate. In fact, I read about this, after a friend had called me from Abuja to inquire about what I knew about the development, from the Twitter handle of the APC who had twisted the tale to mean that Southeasterners had opposed the choice of Obi as running mate to Atiku. Like the southeastern leaders, I wasn't happy with the choice of Obi as running mate, but unlike them, it wasn't because I wasn't consulted nor was it because I wanted former Central Bank governor, Professor Charles Soludo for the position, rather I'd thought that in conceding the running mate slot to the southwest (seeing as the Niger Delta and Southeast would cast the majority of their votes in favour of Atiku regardless, having been at the receiving end of Buhari's stick), it would help him make an inroad into the Southwest, but what do I know? Also, in Nigeria, as with other executive presidencies worldwide, the Vice Presidency is redundant, and I thought a stronger position like the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF or Chief of Staff, or Senate President because of Federal Character (that the incumbent regime has effectively damaged to satisfy pecuniary, primordial and nepotistic reasons), would've been more suitable for the Igbo.


Interestingly, those who burst into celebrations after hearing the part of the declaration by the Southeast leaders, they wished to hear, failed to add that they also mentioned the fact that Atiku will soon visit them to commune with them on the way forward, so that everyone will be on the same page regarding not just about his running mate, but his policies without excluding the issue of RESTRUCTURING upon which he's so far based his campaign. They've probably moved on to waiting for another opening or crevice in the Atiku campaign activities to latch on. The APC machinery is currently celebrating the travel ban placed on some Nigerians, expected to be notably of the opposition, by the execution of the Executive Order 6, signed by President Muhammadu Buhari. Some of them gloat over this, while totalling ignoring the drama currently playing out in Kano involving Governor Ganduje literally pocketing wads of dollars into the recesses of his flowing "Babanriga" gown, and many have wondered why he decided to so expose himself by going for the kill personally, when he could've sent aides, the sort for which the First Lady's driver is still in the custody of the Secret Service for allegedly diverting about $2.5M meant for his madam.


Presently, the APC camp is in disarray, and have yet to come up with an articulated response to the Tsunami that the election of Atiku by the PDP as it's presidential candidate has birthed. Some have begun calculations, where they've even ceeded the rest of Nigeria without the Northwest and Southwest to Atiku, and because of the huge voting numbers alloted to the latter two regions by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, brag that those numbers are enough for the incumbent to get re-elected, while grabbing every available straw they can lay their hands on, including the hope that emerging smaller parties can garner more votes to help dilute that by the PDP especially in the South, thinking the north will come through with block votes as it did in 2015, but with politics only time will tell.


'kovich



PICTURE CREDIT:
- www.sunnewsonline.com
- www.guardian.ng
- www.pulse.ng
- Nigerian Twitteratti

APC, DEFECTIONS, TRADER MONI & ELECTIONS

When the All Progressives Congress, APC came to power in 2015, the People's Democratic Party, PDP was demonized. It didn't matter that some of its members once belonged to the party they claimed ruined Nigeria for sixteen years before power was conceded them by the majority of the Nigerian voting public. In the run-up to the 2019 General Elections, the APC seems to now be courting some of the PDP members they once accused of corruption (and even going as far as calling unprintable names), just to see if they can make inroads into some parts of Nigeria, like the southeast and Niger Delta considered No-Go areas before this time.


In making advances to these PDP members, some of whom in the recent past have been visited by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the APC appears to have officially jettisoned it's so called anti- corruption mantra (which since coming to power, its proponent in President Muhammadu Buhari has been executing rather partially, against members of the opposition PDP, dissenting voices within his party, perceived enemies rightly or wrongly), in accommodating those they once described as "thieves" and responsible for Nigeria's underdevelopment.


Not only that the decampees become "saints" after joining the ruling party, they also either have corruption charges against them withdrawn or "disappeared", or have their cases stalled in court, they then go ahead to repeat the refrain of the APC to the effect that the PDP, to which they were members until a few days, underdeveloped and robbed their states of the collective patrimony. Senator Godswill Akpabio, the biggest catch so far for the APC from PDP after the gale of high profile defections that hit the APC involving two Governors and Federal House of Assembly members, even posited that he decided to join the APC to help President Buhari fight corruption.


The APC reminds me of ANIMAL FARM where the so called liberators ended up becoming like those they replaced, only that there truly was never any difference between the APC and PDP, just that the APC managed to make some Nigerians believe so before coming to power in 2015, that's why the change they promised ended up becoming more of the same, and even worse considering that things have worsened for Nigerians, on almost all indices since they wrested power at the centre from the PDP; but of course they are quick to lay the blame of their failures, at the feet of the so called sixteen years of "misgovernance" by the PDP. This is why just weeks to the next General Elections, there appears to be few to no tangibles the party can point to, that in desperation efforts at sharing pittance to the public under different guises like "Trader Moni" (a non- collateralized, no- interest

YOU'D THINK THE BENEFICIARIES OF THE "TRADER MONI" SOFT LOAN WILL BE HAPPIER THAN THE PURVEYORS OF THE SCHEME BEHIND THEM. 

loan of N10,000 for about two million beneficiaries, recently launched in Osun State days before a Gubernatorial Election is scheduled to take place there), for instance have become intensified to "buy" the hearts and minds of Nigerians.


The brazen nature of what the APC is willing to do to hang on to power, is why many people fear that next year's elections will be free and fair. Assurances made by President Buhari last week during his visit to China, that because he isn't afraid of a free and fair election, seeing as he came to be President today via one, and so will ensure same, instils little to no confidence to the discerning considering that he'd never accepted he lost any election in Nigeria, never congratulated all those he contested against and lost, and didn't condemn the violence perpetrated by his supporters after the elections in 2011, after he lost for the third time. It begins to look like an election he'd consider free and fair will be such where he emerges the victor, without room to accommodate a contrary outcome to mean the same.



'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://www.ynaija.com

NGIGE, EKITI, APC & BUHARI

As if the troubles bedeviling the All Progressives Congress, APC wasn't enough, yesterday a chieftain from the party from Anambra State, where he's been roundly defeated severally by the ruling party in that state, a Dr. Chris Ngige, whose political fortunes have long since nosedived, in his speech at the grand campaign rally for the Ekiti States' APC gubernatorial candidate and former governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, mistakenly asked Ekiti residents present at the venue, as well as Nigerians watching proceedings live on TV to vote for outgoing Governor Ayodele Fayose, who he stated had been a good wife to Ekiti people, cooking good food, amongst other attributes of, and to women that feminists may find offensive. By the time he realised his mistake, the damage had been resoundingly done, and tweets by APC followers to reduce it, only further stoked and spread the fire.

If Fayose's deputy, and People's Democratic Party, PDP candidate for next Saturday's poll wins the governorship seat, it may signal the beginning (or an intensification, if things go the other way) of the grand plot and design to have President Muhammadu Buhari lose his bid for a second term. The recent formation of the Reformed-APC, a splinter group from the APC, in what is reminiscent of what happened with the PDP, when the N-PDP was formed, and eventually contributed to a large extent to the failure of the party in the presidential elections of 2015, along with it's collaboration afterwards with other parties, with the sole aim of denying President Buhari his second term ambition signals a possible tectonic shift that will appear to cast him as the tribal leader he's always been, with the ability to win elections only in his neck of the woods, and never good for the diversity that Nigeria represents, a notion he's done absolutely nothing to dispel, first from his appointment of service chiefs mainly from his region, to pursuing policies that only suit the north only, like when he encouraged the World Bank Chief to focus on the Northeast, to reenergizing efforts at crude oil discovery in the north, to attempting to strip control of water resources from states to the federal government, when much of Nigeria's water resources lies in the south, to attempts to make the federal government responsible for the creation of ranches, across Nigeria for herdsmen, which should ordinarily be a private endeavour.

Even though Nigerians looked over his tendency to and for favouritisms, not in the least including in his so called anti-corruption fight, that seem to be targeting only those opposed to his rule and policies, they couldn't get over his quiet and silence, even the deflecting of blame from Fulani herdsmen, which he continues to champion over the killings that have become commonplace especially in Nigeria's middle-belt region, and other states like Taraba and Adamawa, where herders from his Fulani tribe have been severally implicated. The closest he'd come to accepting the responsibility of the group (tagged the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world) in the carnage, coming only when he refers to the asymmetric warfare meted out on indigenes (including women and children while they slept) of the affected places, was to deem the attacks a farmers-herders clash, when evidence hardly supports such.

Unfortunately, because of his below par response, and scant if any, attempt at ensuring justice for victims and survivors by bringing perpetrators of the killings to book despite repeated assurances to do same, the recent reprisal attacks by mostly militia groups of affected tribes and peoples (of Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa in recent times), who have resorted to self help, is the offshoot. Security agents like members of the police and army, deployed most times only as a reactionary force, that may have even stood by when the initial incidence of mayhem and massacres that took place, because they hadn't received orders "from above", have led many of the indigenes, including a retired army General to allege that the military and security forces besides taking sides, have even gone ahead to collude with marauding Fulani herdsmen. When the President recently claimed that it was unfair to say he hadn't wielded the big stick against the herdsmen because he was also Fulani, he failed to mention  things he'd done that should make Nigerians observe otherwise.

Sadly, many of the states, save for Taraba, suffering from the high insecurity situation in Nigeria, are those from which President Buhari gained huge electoral figures that helped propelled him to power. That includes Zamfara, where armed men, this time not suspected to be Fulani, have so menaced the state that the governor recently conceded his largely ceremonial title of Chief Security Officer of the state he superintends over as governor, seeing as he couldn't control how troops are to be deployed, nor have the power to chastise erring officers. On more than one occasion, the President, and members of his party have done what they accused the party they replaced in coming to power of doing, which is dancing on the graves of Nigerians, by organising and holding party rallies during and after deadly attacks on Nigerians, only for the government to release much rehashed statements (the only difference been in dates and places), expressing shock and outrage at the killings, sympathising with the government and people of the affected state, and vowing to bring perpetrators to book, before the Vice President, 'Yemi Osinbajo, now sadly declared "Minister of Condolence and Tragedy" by the unimpressed mass of Nigerian Twitterati, is then sent to the State, to assess the situation.

As if things weren't bad enough, Femi Adeshina, government's spokesman (who  has taken sycophancy to new heights) went on to add salt to injury of Nigerians by insensitively stating that deaths under the immediate past government, was more than it is under the current regime, like the loss of Nigerian lives have become a competition of, and for under whom were more lives lost, as if a life should be lost at all. The irony wasn't at all lost on discerning Nigerians, when Buhari just hours ago, rejoiced with, and thanked Thai authorities for successfully rescuing some teenage footballers and their coach from a maze of caves, after they got trapped there days ago. The shouts of a few, who had aforehand read the handwriting on the wall, concerning the president's lack of capacity to steer the ship of state have now, before and after the 2015 elections, continued to be boosted by the addition of voices connected to eyes from which scales have fallen, leaving the government no choice, seemingly than to explore coercive means to turn things in its favour politically, starting with Ekiti State in but a few days time.

'kovich

NAIJA TOUR (13)

By the time I got to the park in Waterlines, Port Harcourt (South-south Nigeria/Niger Delta) it was past one in the afternoon, and I had already made up my mind to take a raincheck on going to Anambra State in the Southeast. Waterlines seemed the only part of Port Harcourt where you could find commercial transport buses painted in other colors besides the usual light blue and white colours (understandably because most of the buses there ply interstate routes, bearing the colour of their parent companies, sometimes even states, as with state owned commercial buses and saloon cars) which is the states' official colours, even as the states' TV station, Rivers State TV- RSTV shows. I have found that in most states bordering the water bodies like lagoons, rivers, or the Atlantic in Nigeria, the colour of public transportation, sometimes even state emblems include the light Blue colour, like in Lagos where the official public transportation colour is yellow/orange with two black stripes, you find that most of the ones plying the Island route are painted in the white and blue.

Though it is considered late to be deciding to go to Lagos at the time of day I decided to so do from Port Harcourt, it seemed to the right thing to do, especially as I had achieved all that I had intended to businesswise. Besides Lagos is one of the few places I could arrive at at any time of the day or night and not feel lost or fear any evil come to me. I in fact scare people when I come upon them at so late an unholy hour. I reckoned that as I still live, I will always have reason to go to the east, to counter the guilt I was beginning to feel for cutting off that part of my itinerary because of the protest by the pro-Biafra agitators in Onitsha when I first intended to go to the east a few days back. When it comes to travel however, my instincts have never proved wrong, if it said to go to Lagos (despite the time), then to Lagos I should go.

That was how I boarded the minibus to Lagos as the penultimate passenger. Sitting in front beside the driver appeared to be the better option, though it wasn't what I would ordinarily do, particularly because a seat belt wasn't available for any passenger intending to sit there. I wouldn't even consider the  window side seat in front even with the seat belt (for the very obvious reason that in the unfortunate occurrence of a road traffic accident, those who sit in front stand the risk of more injury, even death). My seat of preference is usually way back in the bus (window side) two rows behind and same side of the driver, when I am early enough to choose, otherwise any where else besides the front will just about do it for me.

Luckily, the gear stick was such that is located on the dashboard, just beside the steering wheel, totally eliminating the discomfort due to the passenger in my place, when placed beside the driver and the passenger in the middle, where the driver's hand would hit the passenger's thighs routinely as he makes to change gears. That positive though didn't remove from the fact that the lack of a seat belt for the "middleman" meant that each time the vehicle jerks I be the only one to have to lurch forward, and hence I had to be very conscious and awake to ensure that I didn't jump outta the vehicle after shattering the windscreen, when the driver makes a dangerous swerve on speed in his attempt to be in Lagos before, or at least not too long after dusk.

Finally, after about an hour since I arrived at the park, the bus waltzed out of the motorpark, out of Waterlines road into the persisting traffic of the Trunk B road on our way out of Port Harcourt. It was the day before the gubernatorial elections in neighbouring Bayelsa State and from precedence I was aware that movements would be restricted on elections day, which would've meant traveling to Lagos via the Southeast from Port Harcourt, which is way longer than via the Niger Delta/South-South. The way elections are taken in the Niger-Delta is quite unlike the rest of Nigeria, as contending parties give it all it takes, including the kidnap of opponents or members of their families, and the attendant killings, just so that the winners can gobble up funds accruing to the states into private pockets, evidenced by the paucity of meaningful development despite massive accruals in tandem with their status as Oil Producing States, from Federal Allocations.  

Years back when the Niger Delta was base for me, I had asked an elder why the region always went in the direction of the government at the centre, he replied that it was the only way prosperity could be assured the people, to which I responded by pointing to the squalor around us then in Finima, in Bonny Island, Rivers State. I mentioned to him Lagos State (in Nigeria's Southwest), which prospered despite not only been in opposition to the central government but even had Local Government allocations denied it, for having the guts to declare new Local Government Areas, LGAs which later became Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs. This was in 2007 before Goodluck Ebele Jonathan from Bayelsa State became President.

Interestingly, on the day I was making my journey to Lagos from Port Harcourt last December, Bayelsa State was in the throes of an election to maintain it's status as a People’s Democratic Party, PDP state, now in opposition while Rivers State was awaiting a Supreme Court ruling that will maintain it's PDP status if it upturned the Appeal Court ruling that had decided in favour of rerun of the gubernatorial elections, which the opposition All Progressives' Congress, APC celebrated, even though they'd have preferred victory awarded them by the court. That election in Bayelsa State will be declared inconclusive and reruns held in Southern Ijaw Local Government and a few polling stations in other local governments, and PDP will go on to win eventually. The Supreme Court also went on to rule in favour of the PDP declaring that the PDP candidate wasn't given fair hearing by the election tribunals ab initio amongst other reasons. In the end, all but one of the six Niger Delta states are now controlled by the opposition, a change brought about by the fact that their party which once controlled the centre, and till a few months ago, led by a son of theirs lost the centre to the opposition. What seemed out of place in 2007, has now become the order in the Niger Delta in 2016.

I have always felt that if Lagos that boasts of no natural resources, without special derivations from the federal allocations, despite its status as a former administrative capital can do it, Niger Delta states being the home of Nigeria's greatest foreign exchange earner, with an expansive shoreline, despite federal allocations tilted to and in their favour, with some ingenuity and sincerity of purpose can do far better than they are presently doing. It is disheartening to find a Niger Delta State amongst those owing staff salaries, with several abandoned projects dotting the landscape, not least of which is the MONORAIL project embarked upon by the immediate governor of Rivers State, (Rt. Hon.) Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi


THE NOW ABANDONED MONORAIL PROJECT IN PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

who incidentally is the Transport Minister in the present President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, making one wonder when antecedents ceased to be used as criteria for apportioning portfolios, even if he must be made minister, and that's besides the heavy burden of corruption hanging over his neck, which the Economic and  Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has conveniently elected to overlook, as it intensifies its anticorruption battle (spearheaded by the president) against the opposition PDP.

Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital looked quite peaceful when we passed through, but I could sense the tense atmosphere, in the way posters of the two top contending candidates for the guber elections were intentionally pasted on top of each other, in layers after layer, with the last person to paste been the winner for the day. I surmised that the job of putting up the posters, either on a tabula rasa, or over that of the other candidate would be a job for the night amidst armed guarding by the pasters' peers to forestall "accidental discharge", from thugs of the opposing party or group. The Niger Delta replete with cult groups, militant groups and the likes are war zones during elections, though their activities continue brazenly before and after elections, only that they are better funded by politicians during the electioneering periods.

In the elections that took place the following day to when I passed through Bayelsa, and the rerun that took place much later in January this year, lives were reportedly lost in clashes between the varying groups, during attempts at ballot box snatchings and attempts at warding miscreants off polling booths/units, while it was reported that security agencies contracted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to maintain peace and order, took sides. Unfortunately in Nigeria, deaths from clashes during elections, as with clashes amongst cult groups in the Niger Delta, like those at the hands of marauding Fulani herdsmen nationwide (though with particular emphasis to Nigeria's Northcentral region or middle belt), or at the hands of Islamic Fundamentalist Groups like Boko Haram in Nigeria's North East, naturally go uninvestigated by the police, and perpetrators many times walk the streets free, till maybe they meet their waterloo at the hands of a revenge team/squad by those wronged by their former activities (who are then sometimes arrested by the police, and freed if they can make the police an offer they couldn't reject).

Though the Rivers State portion of the East-West Road was uncompleted as at the time I passed in December. The part as you enter into Bayelsa and onwards was well paved and made the journey seamless. Most of what happened with the Rivers State section of the road was political, due to the no love lost relationship between the then Governor Amaechi and former President Goodluck Jonathan. It will be interesting to see if Amaechi who is now Minister of Transport can prevail on his friend and former Lagos State governor, and minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (who also has an unenviable record of abandoned projects in Lagos in the Housing Sector- Lagos HOMS, and like Amaechi in a Light Rail project that is beginning to also look like a white elephant project) to look favourably on that road, most importantly ask his former Commissioner for information, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, who now heads the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC to commit to the building of that aspect of the road, or allow his seeming hatred towards Governor Nyesom Wike to stifle development in his home state. I wondered if he will attempt to rejuvenate the monorail project he started as governor, but has now joined the list of Nigeria's White Elephant Projects (by governors looking for enduring legacies to massage their megalomaniacal egos), now as minister even routinely inspecting the rail projects initiated (both completed and almost completed) by the immediate past President Jonathan's regime, nationally as we made good speed through Bayelsa onwards Lagos, making me believe that we may in fact make Lagos before dusk!

'kovich

PHOTO CREDIT:
- http://www.africaupdates.com

PRINCE ABUBAKAR AUDU'S DEMISE AND KOGI STATE'S POLITICAL HULLABALOO

Twas my friend George who intimated me of the demise of  Prince ABUBAKAR AUDU yesterday evening and I couldn't help expressing my shock in the way I stammered when he gave me the news. I had never doubted information (many of which he broke long before they made headlines) from him, but this was such that I expressed some doubt over, not because the late Prince was immortal but because of the political ramifications and circumstances around which he had to die.

When I checked Twitter and Facebook and didn't find anything of sorts, I whatsapped 'Luoye, who also gets most of these things firsthand, but this time around, he also didn't know, so I elected to wait before posting such a news on Facebook. Events over time has taught me to exercise restraint in posting news of the death of high profile people in Nigeria or outside of it, till it becomes official, especially as many people have died even severally on Twitter before they eventually died much later or even still lived. This time around because of the integrity of the one who gave me the information, what I did was to simply try to confirm by posing it as a question on Facebook and Twitter seeking to know if anyone had information about Prince Audu's demise.

Soon enough Twitter became abuzz with news of the death of Prince Abubakar Audu, with different reactions to it. Some diehard supporters and those who felt any news that doesn't come through them could only be false, talked about how they just came off the phone with some close family sources to the late politician and were informed that the former governor of Kogi State was still alive, asking followers on Twitter especially to disregard any news of the politicians' death. Unfortunately, by last night speculations were put to rest as it became official that the sixty-eight year old, Prince Abubakar Audu had suffered a stroke Saturday evening, and on Sunday complained of a stomach cramp, then began vomiting blood, and while he was being rushed to Abuja, apparently to be flown abroad, he suffered another stroke from which he couldn't be resuscitated.

The late Prince Audu, the All Progressives Congress, APC Gubernatorial Candidate in the Guber elections which held on Saturday in Kogi State had appeared at his polling booth earlier that day to cast his vote, in elections which by the time counting was concluded on Sunday, was leading his closest rival of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and incumbent Governor IDRIS WADA by about forty thousand votes, but the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC declared the elections inconclusive as the number of cancelled votes (in areas where supplementary elections will now be held next Saturday 29th, November) was more than the margin between the leading candidate (Audu) and the runner up (Wada).

PRINCE ABUBAKAR AUDU CASTING HIS VOTES IN LAST SATURDAY'S GUBER ELECTIONS IN KOGI STATE, HOURS BEFORE HIS DEMISE.

The sudden death of Prince Audu has raised concerns amongst stakeholders who feel that his demise is likely to throw up a constitutional crisis, but the truth really is the political permutation of the state which appear to have been turned on its head by this unfortunate event, as the late Audu's running mate is of the Kabba stock (a variant of the Yoruba tribe, that readily dissociates itself from the Yoruba, if and when political advantage is afoot) and a strong minority in the state which had never made governorship since Kogi was created (compared to the majority Igala who routinely produce governors) just like other tribes such as the Ebira, Bassangi, Nupe amongst others whose people have also given up on ever governing the state. It is because of the sharing of political positions amongst these ethnic groups with the Igala at the top that it now seems that the demise of the Igala guber candidate of a party set on the path of victory, that is making the hue and cry about constitutional crisis rise to the top of the heavens when logic should suggest that the deputy guber candidate should naturally assume the position of his principal, as was the case when President Yar'Adua died and the senate had to invoke a DOCTRINE OF NECESSITY to allow his deputy Goodluck Jonathan to rule in his stead, though in this case the death can be said to have occurred before the conclusion of the election, and a different kettle of fish entirely.

Now, many people are of the view that if the supplementary elections take place next Saturday as planned with the APC retaining the deputy guber candidate as the substantive candidate, currently a member of Nigeria's House Of Representatives representing an area not in Kogi, but in Lagos with many people thinking that his new anticipated position (as deputy guber candidate in Kogi, where he originally hails from) must be the deal the late guber candidate had to agree to for the Jagaban of Borgu's (former Lagos State Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and an APC leader and Strongman of Southwest Nigerian- and to some extent even Nigerian politics) support to win the APC nomination as well as prosecute the guber elections in the state, which he appeared poised to win before his untimely demise. The fear that the whole 49,000 votes to be cast in the supplementary elections will go the way of Idris Wada of the PDP and also of Igala Stock can't be said to be unfounded, as many people view the possibility of a Kabba person becoming governor in the state an anathema, and would rather give the block votes to the Devil they know in Wada (having lost in Audu, the Deep Blue Sea alternative) than the Honourable James Faleke who they fear might be the puppet at the end of the Lion Of Bourdillon's strings from Lagos, as some of the state governors in the Southwest are totally subject to him,  so much so that the Lagos State governor recently represented him (Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, aka Jagaban Borgu aka Lion of Bourdillon, etc) at an event he couldn't attend.

It even came as a surprise to me how Prince Abubakar Audu emerged as candidate of the APC, even though he had a corruption case leveled against him by the anticorruption institutions including that of embezzlement of about eleven billion naira in Kogi States' funds, which a notable figure in his party was said to have promised that the late Audu will pay back if he becomes governor. It seemed that Audu's popularity was more the driving force behind his winning the party's nomination over and above any other consideration, even when it turns the party's anticorruption agenda, as well as President Buhari's Body Language against corruption on its head.

I knew the late prince in his first term as the governor of Kogi the way you'd know someone off the pages of the newspapers. Months back however he made the news howbeit tabloids after he married a very young woman, many would say a teenager, raising dust amongst many who read the item and saw the pictures of him kissing (more like "eating" her lips) the damsel to the disgust of not just a few

THE PICTURE OF PRINCE ABUBAKAR AUDU AND HIS NEW BRIDE THAT SENT TONGUES WAGGING.

people who saw the pictures. The other angle many people considered at that time when politics wasn't even on the cards was that he may have done that to appease a section of the Kogi society by marrying from there, having before married from other senatorial districts. The creation of the APC from several opposition parties in order to wrest power from the then ruling PDP threw him back again into the limelight, and he remained there till his demise yesterday. Though he encountered many obstacles on his path to reclaiming the governorship position he lost many years back after just one term, he still couldn't achieve it after he seemed to be coasting through to power against all odds, as his life was required of him. Today, the issue of the state of health of our politicians have been brought to fore, with many of them logging about huge bodies that may be indicative of the possibility of them living with some chronic conditions, fueled by the frequency with which they proceed abroad for treatment even for what one could consider minor health issues.

Beyond that, we should all be guided in the way we live our lives (like we could be gone the next minute), as death isn't a place we can come back from, isn't a respecter of person, and like a thief in the night can come to anyone at anytime.  Nigerian politicians who rule with impunity once in power can be admonished from this, as well as many other incident of such, because when death comes calling, not even their ill-gotten wealth or legally accumulated wealth can save them, especially when it becomes too late to fly them out of Nigeria for proper medical care abroad, as they failed to provide same for their fellow citizens who couldn't afford such. As Governor Wada has declared today a public holiday, and the next one week as "days of mourning" even for his political opponent, this is wishing the late Abubakar Audu's family and the people of state of Kogi, the fortitude to bear the loss that's come upon them.

'kovich

PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com
- http://www.gistpartner.com