Showing posts with label All Progressives for Change -APC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All Progressives for Change -APC. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Leadership Undercurrents In Yorubaland

By Bolaji Tunji
Soon and very soon, the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would be two years old. The two years is the midterm of his four-year mandate. As Nigerians, we have all seen how the past few months have been, but because  I am not God, I can not say what the outlook would be in the next two years. But God has given me the faculty (brain)to project and take a leap into what the next two years would be based on happenings in the preceding months and the present situation. Without being too pessimistic, the outlook is not too rosy especially on the political front.
*Obafemi Awolowo
My concern is how the South west will fare in the coming years. There is leadership undercurrents in the south west. How will this play out in the coming years such that the Yoruba nation will still be relevant in national politics.
Most importantly, what is the manner of leadership that the Yoruba nation requires at this time. Today, it is not in doubt that the South west can lay claim to installing the present government. It is the first time that the Yoruba nation would be taking a major leap, without prodding, by any of the ethnic groups, to promote governance at the national level. Forget the fact that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a president of Yoruba descent was there for eight years. We all know at the time he was put forward that he was not the candidate of the Yoruba race. He was “coerced” into the race by those who felt it was the only way the Yoruba race could be assuaged following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections and the death of the man believed to have won that election, Bashorun MKO Abiola and ideally fit into their agenda.
The story has always been the same from the first republic to the present. The Yoruba race has never progressed to where it was able to promote and subsequently help instal the president as we have today. Not only that, this is the first time the progressives would be in charge of national affairs, all thanks to  Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Lagos governor and leader of APC.
It is not in doubt that he practically assured the presidency of President Muhammadu Buhari who had to contend with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Kano governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha and founder of Leadership newspaper, Sam Nda-Isaiah, even the present Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki had actually signified his intention to also vie for the ticket. It is thus clear and straightforward that Asiwaju actually took the Yoruba race to the centre through the alliance he coupled with the Hausa-Fulani. In one fell swoop, he achieved what late Premier of Western region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola was unable to achieve. For the records, Akintola had favored an alliance with the North at the time. It never worked. Tinubu brought the West and the North together and helped instal the Buhari presidency. For all that is worth, he is responsible for whatever the Yoruba race has to contend with today.
But where does that take the Yoruba nation? There have been speculations that Asiwaju has been sidelined and has been made irrelevant in the present administration. Is that really the case? Is it really true that he has been sidelined and if that is the case, how did this come to pass? What did Asiwaju do, or did not do that led to him being sidelined, in an administration he helped installed. And most importantly, if he was actually sidelined, what would be the position of the West in the build up to 2019? Lastly, how relevant would Asiwaju be in the general equation as 2019 gathers momentum?

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Aisha Buhari: New Face Of The Opposition?

By Steve Nwosu
First Lady, Aisha Buhari, is definitely working for the PDP.
And we can now officially enthrone her as the matriarch of the Wailers. Now, don’t ask me if she has ‘officially’ joined the PDP yet. But to underscore the fact that Hajia Aisha is currently being tempted to publicly tear her APC membership card (OBJ on my mind), President Muhammadu Buhari told a press conference in Germany last week that “I don’t know the party my wife belongs to”.
*Aisha Buhari 
So, officially, husband and wife are no longer in the same political party. My only problem for now is that I don’t know whether she belongs to the Makarfi/Wike faction or the Modu Sherrif faction. I also don’t know how much the umbrella people paid her to do what she’s doing.
Yes, if I or any other journalist or political commentator had said what Mrs. Buhari told BBC Hausa Service about Buhari and his government, I suspect the DSS, Police or EFCC would since have come calling. Yes, they might not resort to pulling down our doors or sneaking up on us like any gang of armed robbers and kidnappers would but bank accounts might have been frozen by now. And Lai Mohammed would be on air, talking about how we had been contracted and generously paid, by the PDP, to discredit Buhari’s government.
I think Aisha is coming from our rich and long production line of strong women in the corridors of power and leadership. Soft exterior, steely interior!
In Nigeria, we are not new to presidencies where the women wear the trousers and have the balls (if you’ll indulge me that expression).
Those who were close to the Goodluck Jonathan’s would swear that it was Mama Peace that had the balls. I was not close to the Umaru Yar’Aduas, but I’ve heard stories about Hajia Turai. President Olusegun Obasanjo may have been as stubborn as a he-goat, but people close to the then first family attest that his beautiful wife, Stella, was one woman OBJ could not put down.
I don’t know how the military leaders coped with their own wives, but legend has it that IBB stood no chance of ever making it to Maryam’s bedroom again if he had insisted, with the then Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), that Asaba should not be the capital of the then about-to-be-created Delta State.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Clearly, Buhari Belongs To Somebody

By Gbemiga Olakunle
“I belong to everybody. I belong to nobody.” 
That was the golden statement or word on marble credited to President Muhammed Buhari, GCFR as part of his Inauguration Speech on the day of his Inauguration on Friday May 29th, 2015 at Eagle’s Square, Abuja. Buhari with that particular statement, among other highlights of his Inaugural speech, the nation that has been put in a reverse-gear and in a state of despondency suddenly seemed to be revived and had her hope rekindled that her tomorrow would be better and alright. But some of us with the eyes of the Spirit by God’s grace, refused to be cajoled by that statement.
President Buhari and Emir Sanusi of Kano
The contents of our rejoinder titled “President Buhari Belongs to Somebody”, widely published online and by national newspapers like The Punch and The Sun, say it all. In that article, we debunked that particular statement and remarked that the President actually belongs to the North (especially the Hausa/Fulani) where he hails from and his party- All Progressives for Change -APC (the party that produced him as its presidential flag-bearer).

But some distrust Nigerians, including a well-respected Man of God who is an ardent supporter of Mr. President found it difficult to be on the same page with us on the views expressed in that article. Although this writer is also a supporter of President Buhari but definitely not a blind supporter or follower. I belong to a section of supporters who still have their eyes wide-open and regularly points out the pit-falls that the new administration may not be conscious of. And true to the prophetic insight clearly expressed in our rejoinder then by God’s grace, the President has begun to come up with his sets of appointments which clearly show where he belongs -  the North.

President Buhari rattled everybody including his Party-Chieftains whom God used to work for his good success at the presidential polls against all odds. The clear-cut lopsidedness in the recent appointments into boards of parastatals and key sectors of the Economy and the security apparatus have left no-one in doubt about where President Buhari’s spirit, soul and body belong - the North, with a particular reference to the Hausa/ Fulani. This unfolding scenario seems to have left the Ruling Party (APC) to be dumb-founded and rattled.