Monday, 5 August 2013

A Day for Nigerians, By Ose Oyamendan

Ose Oyamendan

Last Wednesday was a day to be proud as a Nigerian. That is if you’re a Nigerian who is not a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP. And, the five travelling PDP governors do no count because you gotta have a poker face not to laugh at that little circus.

Five governors, four of whom lost the last presidential elections in their states, yet they think they hold their party’s balls in their hands. What’s the worst they can do? Lose the states again! If some members of PDP don’t own most of the banks, they sure would be laughing to them now.

But you know why these governors are “fronting” in kidspeak? It’s the three words that have the possibility of altering Nigeria’s political landscape. All Progressives Congress (APC).

I’m proud of and happy for APC and I’m not even a member of the party. You have to be happy because APC sounds and looks like a worthy opposition that may give PDP a fight for the throne. When things like this go down, the winners are the people who can finally look up.

It’s not an accident that Nigeria has developed at a snail speed because the leaders only feel accountable to their godfathers not the people. The reason is simple – lack of viable opposition. And, the band of the opposition in the past where so worried about survival they were busy consolidating whatever it is they have than to bother with the people who elect them.

Well, not anymore – we hope. Now, we can watch our leaders sweat inside air-conditioned room. Now, they will know what it means to be in a molue on Eko Bridge where the passengers know that an miscalculated steering of the wheel and the bus may tumble into the ocean. The difference now is, it won’t be the destiny of the country floating away into abyss. It may just be the fortunes of the political lords.

Ever since I was a kid in Ibadan whose night was incomplete until my friends and I spot Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his fingers flashing the victory sign inside the moon from a galaxy far, far away, I’d nursed the hope of a viable opposition that will make our leaders accountable just like I was the viable opposition to my sister for the last piece of meat on our father’s plate. That meat meant responsibility because I had to behave during the day; something Nigerian politicians often have no clue about.

In Nigeria’s ego driven politics, the opposition have been something of a mirage. It’s tough to convince a politician to be in the opposition because the juicy contracts are not there and without juicy contracts your pot belly and all the glories that come with it is likely to disappear like a thief in the night. So, what to do? You join the winning party.

Now, if I was PDP, I won’t sit and pretend APC is just a pesky fly. I would go to court! Yes, I will sue APC. Good thing their leaders – Bola Tinubu and Mohammadu Buhari, are veterans of the Nigerian courtrooms. What would be my grouse? Simple. It’s the word “progressives”. If APC is the All Progressives Congress, what is PDP? The People’s Degenerate (or regressive) Party?

You can let some things sit or before you know it, they would change the name of the party to Only Progressives Party. A lawsuit would make them sit up. I know it’s not going to be a winning fight but I would have fired the first shot that would be heard from Daura to Bourdillon. Then, I will sit and watch the ego destroy the party.

Make no mistake about it, APC will rise or fall on one trait: ego.

How does its leaders subsume their egos for the greater good of their new baby. The little matter of national officers almost left a crack on the party. You wonder what elective offices would do to the party whose leaders are rumored to favor selecting rather than electing candidates.

Tinubu is probably going to be a little easy. I do not know a better political strategist in Nigeria. He seems to be a couple of steps ahead of most politicians, definitely anyone in the APC. He has also sacrificed ambitions in the past, like when he reluctantly step aside for Iyorchia Ayu to be Senate President almost twenty years ago, settling for the chairmanship of the banking and finance committee. So, sacrificing the presidency should be easy right? Stop laughing!

Buhari is a different ball game. He has the fervor of a man whose soothsayer has told would be king again and he doesn’t look like he’s going to allow himself be talked out of it. If he can sacrifice his presidential ambition for the good of the nation then politics in Nigeria is about to get very interesting.

Whatever happens, the war drums are out now, 2015 is going to be the political war of all wars. Get your cameras ready and buy some earplugs because the airwaves are about to be bombarded. I can see the cards now – in one corner, Goodluck Jonathan. In the other corner, an APC candidate from the north. Let’s get ready to rumble!

PremiumTimes

Orji Uzo Kalu is Abia’s Greatest Mistake – Gov Orji

North and the battle for 2015 presidency

by Taiwo Adisa

Top actors in the bid to return power to the Northern part of the country have increased their activism in recent weeks. Group Politics Editor, Taiwo Adisa, highlights the rising wave of the 2015 battles, genesis of it all and the issues at stake.

Shortly after Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was sworn-in as President in 2011, top leaders of the North gathered at the Hilton Hotels, Medina, Saudi Arabia to strategise on the way forward for the North in the 2015 general election. That was during the Ramadan/Lesser Hajj season of August 2011. A number of issues were deliberated upon and a blueprint fashioned out. The issues included the need for the North to clinch the 2015 Presidency, need for unity among the political leaders of the region, roles of former heads of state from the North and the Northern governors, and the need to secure the friendship of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the Northern quest for power.

Two years after the historic but secret meeting, the North has remained faithful to the implementation of that blueprint. In December 2011, a unity meeting, which was one of the resolutions of the Medina meeting, was held, bringing together all shades of opinion from the region. That was to lay the foundation for further activism by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Northern Elders Forum (NEF). With that meeting done with, the next on the agenda is fostering unity among the governors of the region. In that respect, the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) has been more active than before under the leadership of Niger State governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu.

With the visit of four governors, including Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako, Niger State governor, Muazu Babangida Aliyu, Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido and Kano state governor, Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, to former President Obasanjo in Abeokuta last week, the North appeared to have kickstarted another phase of the battle for 2015 presidency. The visit confirms the declaration of an emissary of the governor of Adamawa, Nyako to the August 2011 meeting in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

A source at the meeting had quoted Nyako’s aide as submitting that: “one thing that is common and central to all the Northern states’ governors is that, political power must return to the North in 2015, but that so far, how this is going to be achieved is what he and his governor colleagues are yet to decide upon.”

The aide was further quoted as saying that: “The trio of governors Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, Kwakwanso and Nyako who are good friends to former President Obasanjo, have spoken with Obasanjo and advised him not to offer any support to Mr. President should he (Mr. President) be fighting the North.

“He stated that the afore-mentioned governors had also decided to meet with Obasanjo on the following three issues - the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); the 2015 Presidency and Security.”

But that statement was made in 2011, right now, the coast has been widened to include another core friend of Obasanjo in the North, Governor Lamido and the group of governors appeared to be marching forward in the quest for Northern Presidency in 2015.

After the Abeokuta visit, the governors moved to Minna on Monday, where they had a parley with two former heads of state, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdusalami Abubakar. Though Nyako was not at the meeting, his spirit was with his other colleagues. He also spoke from Yola, where he reinforced the plan being pursued in Minna by his compatriots. At a meeting in Yola, he insisted that the governors would have no choice than to help bury the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if things continue to go in different directions.

While the meeting with the former leaders was cloned as a meeting meant to discuss national issues and proffer solutions to the crisis in the polity, utterances of some participants however gave them away as only plotting towards the actualisation of the 2015 Northern agenda.

“I just want to commend the governors here and some of their colleagues, I was very impressed because they saw the problem of this country as our problem and they have taken the right steps to make the consultation widely, in trying to find solution to some of the leading problems,”
“They are real patriots. I am very happy and I told them so,” General Babangida had told newsmen after the meeting.

But Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu gave an indication that the meeting was all about the crisis rocking the PDP and the governors’ Forum. “Now we are consulting with our elders and leaders to look at some of the problems and proffer solutions to the problems that some of us perceived we are facing,” he said.

While responding to further questions, Aliyu said: “There is no gathering in Nigeria now that Rivers’ issue will not come up. Our meeting today (Monday) was a larger issue than even the Governors’ Forum. We are discussing on how to solve them.”

With Aliyu’s submissions, it was apparent that the Minna meeting was more of the 2015 battle. Incidentally, the 2011 meeting which produced the Arewa blueprint for 2015 had indentified the role of former Nigerian leaders of Northern extraction as one of the stumbling blocks to the Northern presidency agenda.

A participant at the meeting had quoted a governor lamenting the roles played by some former leaders and Northern leaders of thought in scuttling the 2011 aspiration, adding that the governors would not accept the attitude of some former heads of State or President as witnessed during the process leading to the 2011 Presidential election. The governor added that his colleagues are opposed to the gang-up leading to the Northern consensus candidate option.

Some of the other respected voices in the North were said to have cautioned on the roles played by Babangida and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the North’s quest for the number one spot in recent years.

Besides, a homily at the start of the meeting had also directed the attention of Northern politicians thus: “If the North is not united, the region will be in a political dilemma in the years to come. The critical issues coming up on the front burner include the 2015 succession, particularly how the North can play a more united role, towards ensuring that political power returns to the region, as well as the issue of stabilising the country.”

Thus, the meetings in Abeokuta and Minna were not just foretold, they were aimed at strengthening the hands of the North in the 2015 presidential bid.
Is all set for a coronation of a Northern candidate as President based on the perceived realisation of the emerging united front? That is an issue political actors will keep providing answers to as time draws close to the 2015 dateline. But the facts on ground confirm that a lot more needed to be done if the North will clinch the presidential ticket off the South South which is the incumbent.

Political observers would hold aloft the belief that the disposition of the five Northern governors who are pushing the peace initiative and the North’s 2015 agenda so far does not cut across all tendencies in the region. For instance, it could be easily said that all the five governors have one thing or the other in common; they are close allies of former President Obasanjo. While Wamakko was helped into PDP by the former President, Lamido was imposed on Jigawa by the Ota farmer. The same scenario happened in Niger, where Aliyu was plucked from the Permanent Secretary job and landed the governorship seat by Obasanjo on a platter. Kwakwanso was Minister of Defence under Obasanjo and he proved a good ally for the former President while the Ota farmer battled the former Speaker of House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba between 2001 and 2003. Nyako was also Obasanjo’s strong ally in the battle to take Adamawa off the control of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Indeed, the former President used his clout to silence critics of governorship primaries which produced Nyako, which was believed to be flawed.

Therefore, with all the protagonists of the 2015 agenda having Obasanjo’s baggage to carry, how will the other 14 governors of the North key into the agenda? Would it be far from the truth to say that Obasanjo’s camp is seeking to stop Jonathan in 2015 by installing one of their loyalists? Was it true that Obasanjo actually sent emissaries to Jonathan to persuade him to drop the 2015 ambition, so as to fast track the above agenda?

These are some of the questions governors like Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State and Isa Yuguda of Bauchi, Gabriel Suswam of Benue and Jonah Jang of Plateau state who have been largely sidelined in the battle will be occupying their minds with. A further question would be now that Jonathan has reached out to Obasanjo with an olive branch, what will be the fate of a Northern struggle anchored on the support of the former President?

Therein lies the dilemma of the North. Thus notwithstanding the decision to start early enough, the strategic moves towards 2015 is proving to be a tricky issue even for the core political strategists in the North.

Indeed, one of the undying issues is how the region will take care of the anger of politicians who felt betrayed by key Northern elements in the past. One of such is Attahiru Bafarawa, former Sokoto State governor, who was said to have also voiced out his anger at the 2011 meeting. At the Saudi meetings, Bafarawa was said to have noted that Northerners are their own problems and that until there is genuine reconciliation among Northerners, political unity might continue to elude the zone. A source had quoted him as sounding a note of caution on Obasanjo, saying that the former President betrayed the North, exploiting the lack of unity in the region.

“He believed that former President Obasanjo would not have been able to betray the North (in 2007), had Northerners not supported him,” a source quoted the former governor as saying.

“There are a lot of issues on ground that the leaders of the North need to address. For instance, someone like Bafarawa reeled out a long list of issues when he addressed the Saudi meeting; that many also have similar experiences which have not been sorted out as we talk. For instance, he said that Obasanjo betrayed him in 2007, and similarly claimed that Babangida betrayed him during the 2007 elections.

“He further claimed that both Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar betrayed him in 2009/2010. These are personal issues that could affect the unity of purpose as far as realising the Northern agenda is concerned,” another source said.

But aside the 2015 Northern agenda within the PDP, the opposition parties, especially the emerging coalition under the All Progressives Congress (APC) also has a similar plan which does not include Obasanjo. The fulcrum of that plan however remains the disintegration of the PDP, whose leaders are supposed to give tacit support to the APC in 2015. Incidentally, the opposition coalition has ceded its presidential ticket to the North. Another pillar on that front however remains the planned accord between the North and the South-West. It is believed that the South-West which is currently controlled by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) will translate that control to the emerging APC, which expectedly will feature a Northern Presidential hopeful and that with the break-up of PDP, the new party could take control of the government at the centre.

But then political observers will recall that such expectations were raised ahead of the 2011 elections and it never came to pass. The bid to ensure a united front within the PDP by its leaders who have set up reconciliatory moves is however said to be upstaging the projection of the opposition once again.

Will the Obasanjo tendency pull any appreciable string as the battle for 2015 hots up? Will the Jonathan camp provide the needed counterpoise to the Northern push to retain the Presidency? All these are questions whose answers lie in the prognosis of the critical political actors as they queue up on the road to 2015.

NigerianTribune

Who Will Fill Fela’s Large Shoes?

Fela

By Yinka Olatunbosun
Sixteen years ago, when the music legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti died at a Lagos hospital on August 2, 1997, the question on the lips of art commentators was, “Who will fill Fela’s shoes?” The search for the feet went typically to the immediate music household of Fela. This search became a huge debate as many took sides with either of his sons, Femi and Seun. The news of Seun’s leadership of the Egypt 80 band was not a surprise to many followers of Afrobeat music, who thought Seun had been groomed to lead the band in his father’s demise. This is coupled with the fact that Femi has his band, The Positive Force, to run. Other strong members of the Egypt 80 Band such as Dede Mabiaku and Baba Ani were under the spotlight as well. In all, the answer to the question was sought in the wrong places.

Fela, the Abami Eda, occupies a very enormous position not just in the music sphere but in the popular culture of his people. While writing this, it was difficult to use “was” when Fela really “is”. One can say that the Fela influence is felt even more at death which occurred shortly before a democratic government was established in Nigeria and people were no longer entertaining the fear that mimicking Fela in fashion, music and political orientation could be deemed criminal or subversive by the state. Not that it did during Fela’s time, but Fela is a symbol of revolution with fear. He was a man persecuted by the state because his philosophy was regarded as anti-government. Some of his songs with revolutionary themes were not aired on the radio or television. Most of his works were released before the advent of privately-owned broadcast stations and as such, the government, who was paying the piper, naturally called the tune.

It took such selfless spirit to continue to perform his art. Fela had so much popularity in his time yet he was not a face to be seen on commercials. His persona is larger than life and no one dared to think of Fela as his key to selling his products or services. Fela’s “enemies” were growing simultaneously with the growing anger he felt towards the way his people were being ruled. When Fela perceived that the government would not listen to him, he took a swipe at the governed in many songs including, “Sorrow, Tears and Blood” where he sang, “We fear for the tin we no see / we fear for the air around us/ we fear to fight for freedom/ we fear to fight for liberty/ we fear to fight for justice…”. The remarkable attribute of all his lyrics was that they are so apt, as though they have just been composed in the light of present situation in the polity. Fela, as some would describe him was like a prophet who had foreseen that his country lay helplessly in the hands of those who had selfish motives. That was Fela’s position.

The media celebrated Fela in his life and at death. He was a man whose opinion counted irrespective of the reaction it begets. His songs became the anthem of student union leaders and till date, his songs live in the heart of students who stand against oppression. At the fuel subsidy removal protest in Nigeria in January 2012, Fela’s songs were chorused by a generation, many of whom were born long after Fela had lived. Fela had such impact that it is indeed very unrealistic to expect that a replica of him is anywhere around.

The thought of filling Fela’s shoes should not be passed off quickly as if one is only seeking to find someone who can fit his role perfectly. Remember when you fit a shoe, especially one that you like, it may not necessarily be a perfect size. But to fit it, you insert a pair of shoe filler or even some other crude items like tissue paper or cotton wool. The point is to wear it to fit. Sometimes, you get a cobbler to trim the shoe to size and then wear it. What lesson do we learn from this shoe exercise? Fela’s shoes are not even being tried let alone fitted to size. Shortly after his death, some artistes, who turned out to be one-hit wonders, arose and swiftly stole his trail to make some popularity. Time tested their ingenuity and authenticity and they failed for the most parts. Others learnt their lessons and left the Fela mimicry game so as not to incur the anger of Fela’s fans many of whom were still licking the wounds of his untimely death.

Although the Afro pop icon D’banj did not establish himself as a Fela replica, it was not long before his performance styles and vocals were associated with Fela. He had to admit that he had been greatly influenced by Fela. Surely, a lot of artistes had been influenced greatly by Fela. But if only they knew what Fela represents, they would have accepted that they are nowhere close. They should also know that for one to influence another, it is reflected in the beliefs and the attitudes of such person.

Yes, many artistes today share Fela’s propensity for coital escapades. However, it would be recalled that Fela married his 27 wives who were members of the band on the grounds that the women were being discriminated against because of their chosen profession. Women in performing art at that time and perhaps till date have been victimised by their spouses and many had been forced to dissolve their marriages to continue their career. Whether Fela’s decision on marriage was noble or not is a different argument.

How many Nigerian artistes in present time have written songs to agitate for national unity, equity and freedom? The queue waiting to wear a different shoe is very long. This other shoe will not only guarantee a daily bread but a lifetime investment. This other shoe is designed to make the artistes dance and gather flying naira notes and foreign currencies. The currencies have a seal-your-lips effect on the artiste, who would rather look the other way than confront the issues affecting his people. The contemporary artistes in Nigeria will not risk or sacrifice their economic returns on the altar of human rights advocacy. For a good number of them, it is better to be “shoeless” than to attempt to wear Fela’s shoe. Today, it is on record that the most expensive and most sought-after posthumous musical works are Fela’s. That is a fine legacy and it may remain a record that will never be beaten.

ThisDay

Atiku protests mistreatment by PDP, says he’s being ostracized

Festus Owete

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar

Former Vice President Atiku also wants to attend BoT meetings and August special convention.

A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has protested to the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, about the manner he is being treated by the ruling party since he revalidated his membership about three years ago.

In a letter dated July 11 to the National Chairman of the PDP, Bamanga Tukur, Atiku specifically complained about the exclusion of his name from the list of statutory delegates to the August 31 Special National Convention of the party.

He also complained about the systematic withdrawal of the respects and privileges accorded to him as a former vice president, in line with the PDP Constitution and sought the rectification of the mistake.

Mr Abubakar served as vice president in the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007.

He however defected to the defunct Action Congress (AC) where he contested the 2007 presidential election, but lost to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The former vice president, who is from Adamawa State as Mr Tukur, returned to the party after securing a waiver which was granted him by the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, at its September 2010 meeting.

In the letter, made available to PREMIUM TIMES, Atiku recounted that he read a news report in a national daily which contained the list of delegates from Adamawa State, his home state, to the convention but that his name was omitted.

He added that his inquiries at the PDP national secretariat confirmed the omission and that after waiting in vain for a response from the party to correct or refute the publication, he decided to write the national chairman to draw his attention to what he regarded a “mistake.”

“In the said report, the delegate list for the Special National Convention submitted by the Adamawa state Chapter did not contain my name and further inquiries at the PDP National Secretariat also confirmed same,” Atiku said.

“After waiting for a public statement for the party, correcting and refuting the abnormally in vain, I decided to draw your attention to this mistake.

Mr Abubakar recalled that NEC, at its meeting of September 15, 2010, approved his application for a waiver to return to the PDP, alongside similar applications from Imo, Abia, Edo, Anambra and Kogi, which enabled him to participate in the party’s activities, including contesting its 2011 presidential primaries.

He reminded the national chairman that his return predated the amendment of the party’s constitution in 2012 and therefore his name should have been on the list.

He stressed, “It is in this regard, that I consider the omission of my name as a mistake since it contradicts Section 32 subsection 1 (a) of our party constitution which states that Board of Trustees members of the party shall consists of all past and serving Presidents and Vice Presidents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who held or hold the respective posts as members of the party and who are still members of the party.”

Atiku requested the party to restore the respects and privileges conferred on occupants of the office of the Vice president and founding members of PDP.

“As a bonafide member of our party, I look forward to the respect and privileges conferred on the Office of the Vice President and founding fathers of the party by our party constitution.

“I therefore request for a correction and restoration of my right to attend the forthcoming Special National Convention of our great party and also membership of the Board of Trustees.

“While looking forward to a public statement in this matter, may I assure the National Chairman of my highest esteem and regards for our great party and all its leaders.”

It was learnt that Mr Abubakar, who contested against President Goodluck Jonathan at the 2011 presidential primaries, is feeling that he is being tactfully de-registered so that he does not realize his full rights as a member of the ruling party.

A source close to the former vice president told PREMIUM TIMES, “His suspicion is that attempts are being made to capture him retroactively so as to deny him his full rights or even push him out of the party as happened before.

“Atiku recalls that prior to the 2007 general elections, the PDP, which he and like-minds formed in order to push the military out and provide a formidable platform for a viable democracy was hijacked and in place of its elected leaders, a set of spineless and zombie-like leadership was imposed on the party.

“Following this, a dubious process of re-registration was invented, through which many bonafide members including the former Vice President were de-registered. Atiku was denied re-registration when he presented himself at his ward in Adamawa State.”

PremiumTimes

Emulate James Ibori – Pastor Tells Nigerians

G5 tour and matters arising

by Abiodun Awolaja

THE nation-wide tour currently being embarked upon by five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, namely Murtala Nyako, Aliyu Babangida, Sule Lamido, Aliyu Wamakko and Musa Kwankwaso, is fast assuming a life of its own in the polity. Although the governors have, to date, refused to link their visit to ongoing intense horse-trading and political manoeuvres relating to the 2015 elections in both PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) circles, the fact that they are perceived to be anti-Jonathan by the leadership of the party, on the one hand, and pro-Rotimi Amaechi, on the other, has tended to fuel the suspicion in many quarters within the ruling party that they are out to upset the apple cart. It is widely believed that the Bamanga Tukur-led National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP is favourably disposed to a post-2015 Jonathan presidency, but the G5 recently handed down a warning to the national chairman that there would be no automatic tickets in the party. In addition, two of them, Lamido and Wamakko, are frequently touted as possible 2015 challengers of the incumbent president. Given this scenario, political meanings are being read to their tour, particularly as they are yet to articulate a coherent agenda.

On July 15, the G5 were in Rivers State on a ‘solidarity visit’ to Amaechi over the ongoing political crises in the state which has pitted him against the Minister of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike. Initially, there was an alleged commotion, with thousands of youths believed to be loyal to Wike reportedly throwing stones and other objects at their convoy. The anti-Amaechi rabble had reportedly stormed the Port Harcourt Airport at about 7am and waited until about 11.40am when the governors and their host arrived. The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, stated that a Government House bus was damaged by some youths, describing the incident as a ploy to cause confusion in the state. This created a lot of tension in the polity and accusing fingers were pointed at the Presidency. But Aliyu later denied any attack on their convoy, confirming the position of the state police command on the issue.

However, the Port Harcourt visit put the G5 in the Plateau governor, Jonah Jang’s line of fire. Reviewing the conduct of the state Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu, in the political crisis in the state, the governors had thrown their weight behind the agitation for state police in the country. “Arising from the actions of the police and Mr Joseph Mbu in Rivers State, the call for state police as a constitutional provision has become a necessity,” they had said. Dismissing their call for state police, however, Jang said: Those calling for state police now are doing so as an after-thought and not for nationalistic reasons. Their calls are stemming from their own induced interpretation of certain events beyond their political control, and so they would wish to see a state police that is readily available to handle a delicate political operation.”

A few days later, the presidency also reacted angrily to the Port Harcourt visit. Presidential aide, Dr Doyin Okupe, while addressing a press conference in Abuja, stated: “Insinuations and statements suggesting that Rivers State is on fire are grossly unfounded. So far, as is it evident to every discerning observer of political developments, the state is calm and peaceful. Residents of the state continue to go about their various businesses, religious, social and political activities, under a peaceful atmosphere. Governor Amaechi, the Chief executive and Chief Security Officer of the state, felt confident enough to travel to the United Kingdom on official assignment. It is doubtful that he would have had the luxury of leaving the country if his state is in turmoil as is being canvassed.

“Since our return to democratic rule in 1999, It is on record that not less than 12 states have witnessed incidents of attempted impeachment of Speakers of Houses of Assembly in Nigeria and none has posed any threat to peace and security in the country even when our democracy was not this established.”

A few days after the G5 visited three former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalam Abubakar, the Presidency again lashed out at them. Speaking with a national daily, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, described the activities of the governors as lacking in patriotism. His words: “The action of the four or five governors from the North, to say the least, is irresponsible because they have abandoned the constitutional mandate which the people gave them, and are now junketing, seeking undue political relevance and trying to cast aspersions on innocent persons but conferring status on themselves. They cannot be seen as patriots but people with ulterior motives, trying desperately to hijack the mandate of the party and those of the other organs of the party.

“The party did not send them to consult with anybody and it does not even understand what they went to consult about in the first place. The party has its internal mechanism to solve its problems; it has committees and subcommittees for reconciliation. It has its constitutional organs such as the national caucus, the Board of Trustees, the NEC, which deal with issues affecting the party and its members nationwide. Let me tell you that the move of the four or five governors is not about getting at President Goodluck Jonathan.”

Last Wednesday, Tukur sought a rapprochement with the governors. In a statement read by one of his aides, Shuaibu-Gara Gombe, Tukur stated that he was in total support of the governors’ visits to President Goodluck Jonathan, former presidents, ex-heads of state and other Nigerians who could contribute to reconciling aggrieved members of the party. However, this surprised political observers, because a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Oliver Okpala, had tongue-lashed the G5 on Tuesday. The fact that Tukur’s newfound love for the G5 came shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) registered APC, was thus perceived by some analysts as being instructive.

Again disowning the statement by Okpala, PDP’s Acting National Secretary, Dr Charles Akitoye, claimed that the thoughts of Okpala did not in any way represent Tukur’s.‘’The national chairman was infuriated particularly when the Media Assistant singled out five Northern governors who were invited by Mr. President for consultations in Abuja recently. He is hereby once again saying that the press statement by the Media Assistant is regrettable and does not contain his thoughts or his position on the 5 Northern Governors and asked all those who feel embarrassed to over look the overzealousness of his Media Assistant.”

Whatever the politics behind trading off Okpala on the altar of political expedience, the motives of the G5, whom an angry analyst described as “self-appointed emissaries in the political drama unfolding in Rivers,” have been largely shrouded in secrecy. First, there seems to be a widespread feeling among political observers that they have been keeping Nigerians guessing as to their real intentions. Do they really have ulterior motives and what are these? Is the agenda to prop up one of them for a 2015 Northern presidency? Or is it to weaken PDP and create a parallel platform to checkmate Tukur, on the one hand, and the presidency on another?

Sequel to their meeting with former Vice President Alex Ekwueme on Saturday, as part of geo-political balancing, Kwankwaso felt compelled to refute the rumours doing the rounds that he, Aliyu and Nyako were planning to dump the PDP, arguing that that their meeting with President Jonathan penultimate week was as a result of their resolve to rescue the PDP.

However, this latest admission raises the question why their colleagues in Yobe and Borno, elected on ANPP platform, accompanied them to the Presidential Villa, following which advertorials appeared in the newspapers, lambasting them for ignoring Jang in their so-called reconciliation effort, and shirking due protocol by failing to interface with President Jonathan before any other leaders of the party. It is in this connection that insinuations that they are only concerned about actualising a 2015 Northern presidency will continue to fester.

NigerianTribune