Politics

Stop Romancing Wike, Rivers APC Tells Tinubu, Govs

Published

3 years ago

October 3, 2022

Editor

…Vows not to support Asiwaju if…

…Demands 25% refund of forms’ proceeds

Fresh crisis may erupted in the All Progressives Congress as Stakeholders of the party in Rivers State, including candidates for the 2023 elections, Sunday, called on the presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and governors of the South-West to stop hobnobbing with Governor Nyesom Wike.

The stakeholders comprising national assembly and state house of assembly candidates and other party faithful, said it was discouraging for members of the party in Rivers State to see leaders of the party that they look up to romancing with a known political opponent like Governor Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party.

They frown that these leaders go as far as visiting the state to inaugurate projects on the invitation of the governor, this, they stressed help to campaign for the ruling party in the state by heaping praises on him (Wike) ahead of a general election.

They spoke at a one-day consultative meeting of the South-South executive committee presided over by the APC National Vice Chairman of the zone, Chief Victor Giadom, in Port Harcourt on Sunday evening.

Speaking, the state APC chairman, Emeke Beke, who said he was speaking as an individual, expressed dismay that none of the party members from the zone whose names were submitted to the national level of the party made the list of the APC presidential campaign council.

Beke told Chief Giadom to relate it to the national level when he returns that the state APC chairmen in the zone took a position and have written to the President and the national officers in that regard, even as he called for a refund of 25 per cent from the proceeds of the sale of forms in the state.

According to Beke, “We have written to the President, to the national chairman, to the candidate (Tinubu), to the chairman of the governors’ forum and the Director General of the campaigns.

“You people asked us to nominate five, five names for campaign council. None of the five names we sent appeared on the list because they don’t like Rotimi Amaechi. From the zone, no one (names) appeared. And the chairmen have taken a position on that. We will down our tool.

“As you go back tell the national chairman that Rivers State bought forms of over one billion naira. And what we are asking, remit to the state 25 per cent of that money.

“If that money is not remitted to Rivers State, forget about coming to Rivers State to campaign for a presidential candidate.

“We will vote for our national assembly state house of assembly candidates and focus on the governorship candidate of this state and we will win.

“The truth is that what has happened to Rivers State is because they don’t like Rotimi Amaechi. I speak as Emeka Beke, not as Rivers APC Chairman.

“I have heard and seen Wike’s comments on Television and social media respectively. Wike dines with leaders of our great party.

“If the national does not listen to the APC Rivers State, we will take our destiny in our hands.”

He said Governor Wike does not have the political spread to win an election, but was luring its leaders with financial inducement, even as he expressed worry that respected leaders of the party are constantly visiting the state and dining with Wike just a few months to the general poll.

He said, “We have been out of government for eight years. Now we want to win elections. I can tell you that Wike does not have the political base to win an election in Rivers State.

“What Wike is doing is giving the bride to leaders of our own party to shortchange the APC family in Rivers State.

“My candidates and members in Rivers State have suffered. Candidates are selling their land, selling their property to make sure they win an election and keep the APC in power.

“Then leaders that we look up to will come here and campaign. At the end of the day, they will dine with Governor Wike at night. Please tell them not to dine with Governor Wike again. Let them support this party in the state. We don’t have a super minister because they don’t like one man.

“We are party men, but tell them if they don’t support us we will not support them.”

On his part, the state APC legal adviser, Dike Iheanyi Zubi, while speaking at the meeting said it was unfair for governors of the South-West to hold nocturnal meetings with Wike and return back to their states without bothering to an interface or speak with their party members in the state.

Zubi further said the action of Tinubu who has held meetings with Wike abroad and the action of the governors concerned were tantamount to anti-party activities and called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to call them (Tinubu and the South-West governors) to order.

He said, “It is very discouraging for the APC here in Rivers State to see a situation where the presidential candidate of our party, Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his handlers, including South-West Governors of the APC coming to the state to undermine our party here in Rivers State.

“And they begin to hobnob and hold nocturnal meetings with Wike, who is seen as a contender with the APC here in the state.

“So, we as APC members here frown at such action because it doesn’t encourage us here. We consider it as anti-party on the side of Ahmed Tinubu and his cohorts.

“Instead of coming to strengthen the Rivers State chapter of the party, they are busy hobnobbing with Governor Wike, who is a PDP member. For the APC in Rivers State, we see it as an affront and anti-party.

“So, I call on the national chairman of the party and President Buhari to call him (Tinubu) and his cohorts to order. They should stop dividing the Rivers APC. APC is one family.”

Responding, the APC national vice chairman, South-South and former acting national chairman of the party, Chief Giadom thanked the party faithful in the state for their frank comments and contributions.

“This is my own constituency and I am from Rivers State. I know exactly that everything that you have said here is true.

“Everybody in Nigeria knows that what you are complaining about is true. From the speaker (Femi Gbajabiamila), Governor Fayemi, and Governor Akeredolu, all came here (Rivers) to commission projects, and by doing it, praised Governor Wike.

“By doing that you are marketing our opponents against the APC. So we will put it to them, we will make them know.

“I can also tell you that we are passing through very tough times,” Giadom said.

Also speaking to newsmen after the meeting, he said, “The reason why we are here, is to collect what we feel are the challenges in the party, with the aim of providing solutions for them or be ready to face the consequences.

“We have come, we have listened to them, we have heard them clearly, and we are going to put them together and report to the national party in Abuja to ensure that we find solutions to all the things that we know will help us win election in Rivers State.

“I know the pains of my people, which is also our collective pain. We were not on the ballot in 2019, which of course we know that I was supposed to be a direct beneficiary of that ticket.

“But the manipulation of the system denied us from being on that ballot. So, people have the right to be apprehensive, they have the right to be worried.

“But I can assure them that, by the grace of God, we will be victorious this time around and APC would win in Rivers State and recapture back our possession of becoming in charge of Rivers State leadership and we will form a government and be in government house.”

PUNCH

Politics

Tinubu Under Fire Over Presidential Pardon For Drug Offenders

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Opposition parties and political figures, including the African Democratic Congress and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, have condemned President Bola Tinubu’s recent decision to grant presidential pardons to dozens of convicted criminals, including drug traffickers, describing the move as a grave setback to Nigeria’s anti-drug campaign and a dangerous affront to justice and morality.

The Presidency on Saturday released a detailed list of 175 individuals granted the 2025 presidential pardon, among them the late nationalist Herbert Macaulay, the late Major General Mamman Vatsa, and Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death for killing her husband.

The pardon, which also included presidential clemency, covered more than 30 convicted drug offenders and several others jailed for crimes such as homicide, fraud, and illegal mining. The development has sparked widespread criticism and debate across the country.

In a statement on Sunday, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, described the move as “pathetic and a national disgrace,” arguing that it undermines the nation’s war against drugs, encourages criminality, and damages Nigeria’s international reputation.

“The African Democratic Congress finds as pathetic and an act of immense national disgrace the recent presidential pardon and clemency granted to several convicted criminals by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” the statement read.

“It amounts to a most irresponsible abuse of the presidential power of prerogative of mercy to grant express pardon to dozens of convicts held for drug trafficking, smuggling, and related offences—especially when most of these convicts have barely served two years in jail for crimes that attract life imprisonment.”

The party said the decision sends a disturbing message that remorse and token rehabilitation are now sufficient grounds for freedom, even for serious crimes.

“According to official statements, it appears that all it takes to get presidential clemency for even the worst of crimes in Nigeria—including drug trafficking, gun running, and murder—is to show remorse and learn skills,” ADC said.

It added that the purpose of pardon and clemency is to correct miscarriages of justice and reintegrate those who have genuinely paid their debt to society, not to excuse dangerous offenders.

“We wonder what Nigeria stands to gain from this act of clemency to convicts serving life sentences who have barely served two years.

“For years, NDLEA officers have risked life and limb to combat this problem,” the party said. “Granting clemency to individuals convicted under such laws makes a mockery of their sacrifice and gives the world the impression that Nigeria, under President Tinubu, is sympathetic to drug dealers and a safe haven for traffickers.”

Also, Atiku said the pardon had “rightly sparked nationwide outrage.”

Atiku said while the presidential power of mercy is intended to balance justice with compassion, its misuse weakens confidence in the rule of law.

“Regrettably, the latest pardon issued by the Tinubu administration has done the very opposite,” Atiku said. “Extending clemency to individuals convicted of grave crimes such as drug trafficking, kidnapping, murder, and corruption diminishes the sanctity of justice and sends a dangerous signal to both the public and the international community.”

He described the decision as “shocking and indefensible” at a time when Nigeria is grappling with insecurity, moral decay, and a surge in drug-related crimes.

“Particularly worrisome,” he added, “is the revelation that 29.2 per cent of those pardoned were convicted for drug-related offences, even as our youth are being destroyed by narcotics and our nation continues to battle the global stigma of drug offences.”

In a pointed criticism, Atiku said the pardon raises “moral irony” given the lingering questions about Tinubu’s past in relation to a U.S. drug-related forfeiture case, noting that “it is therefore no surprise that this administration continues to show tolerance for individuals associated with criminal enterprise.”

“A presidential pardon should symbolise restitution and moral reform. Instead, what we have witnessed is a mockery of the criminal justice system, an affront to victims, and a demoralization of law enforcement.

“Clemency must never be confused with complicity. When a government begins to absolve offenders of the very crimes it claims to be fighting, it erodes moral authority and emboldens lawlessness.”

Atiku called for a review of the clemency process to ensure transparency, fairness, and respect for public interest, insisting that “Nigeria needs leaders who defend justice, not those who undermine it.”

Politics

Umahi Fires Back At Makinde Over Lagos-Calabar Highway Cost

Published

3 days ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has fired back at Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, over his recent comments questioning the cost per kilometre of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, insisting that the governor misunderstood the technical details of road construction and cost evaluation.

Speaking during an inspection tour of the Keffi Bridge and the Nasarawa–Toto Road projects, alongside the state governor, Abdullahi Sule, on Saturday, Umahi said the cost of the highway had been carefully computed in line with global engineering standards and should not be reduced to “political soundbites.”

Governor Makinde had queried the minister’s estimated figures on the cost per kilometre of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which is one of the signature infrastructure projects of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Makinde, who spoke at an event in a viral video on Friday, said there was no need for the Minister of Works, David Umahi, to be “dancing around the cost” of the project.

He said, “These are elementary questions. And it makes no sense (sic). A process is ongoing, payment has been made, and you are saying, ‘How has this money been utilised?. The money is meant for the project, and it will be paid according to the work done.

Responding to the inspection tour, the former Ebonyi governor described Makinde as “a brother and friend” but said it was improper for him to publicly accuse him of “dancing around” figures.

“I heard that my brother and friend, Governor Makinde of Oyo state, said something about the cost per kilometre. I don’t want to join issues with him. I think he is an engineer, I think he is an electrician, they call it ‘elect-elect’. But this road construction matter, ‘elect-elect no reach there’,” Umahi said.

He continued, “I am his senior both in governance and in engineering practice. So, anything he doesn’t understand, he should call me and ask. I have great respect for him as my friend and brother, but he should withdraw the statement that I’m dancing around. I never danced around. If he insists, he should come for a debate, which is very important.”

Defending the project further, Umahi explained that there was no ambiguity in determining the cost per kilometre, stressing that it must be understood in both estimated and average terms.

“There is no ambiguity in cost per kilometre,” he said. “I am teaching them that cost per kilometre can be divided into estimated cost, which has elements of variance, and average cost, which is definitive. The average cost of a definitive project and the estimated cost are probable elements.”

He explained that the estimated cost includes allowances for contingencies and variation of price, which may not eventually be utilised.

“When the project is completed, and you remove what you didn’t use, such as contingencies and VOP, then you have your actual cost,” he added.

Umahi expressed amusement that some critics had resorted to asking Artificial Intelligence to explain the difference between estimated and average cost, only for the AI’s response to align with his explanation.

“When somebody who is dangling without knowledge goes to ask AI what the difference is between cost per kilometre and average cost, I’m happy that AI told him exactly what I said,” the minister quipped.

He also cited the National Universities Commission’s clarification on who qualifies as a professor, noting that practical experience in the field also counts as expertise.

“I’m happy that the NUC programme on who is a professor also made me right. You can become a professor by the reason of your practice. And I think God has made me one when it comes to practical, field engineering programmes, that’s what it is; you can’t take it back,” Umahi said.

Politics

Enugu Gov Mbah Set to Dump PDP

Published

5 days ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah is set to dump the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, next week.

National Chairman and Deputy National Chairman, South-East, of the APC, Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda and Emma Eneukwu, respectively, broke the news in Abuja on Friday.

The APC national leadership revealed Mbah’s imminent defection to the ruling party while swearing in the newly inaugurated members of the Enugu State caretaker committee, led by former state chairman, Ben Nwoye, at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja.

The governor is expected to announce his defection at an event schedule to hold in the state next week.

Chairman of the newly inaugurated caretaker committee, Nwoye, who confirmed the development, said the governor will join the ruling party alongside all his appointees.

There are speculations that Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas, is also set to join APC.