Perhaps in a bid to avoid a repeat of the 2015 last-minute disappointment, National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, has reportedly relocated to Abuja to personally monitor shifting political developments regarding the election of the next leadership of the National Assembly, Saturday Tribune has learnt.
Calls to the mobile phone of his media aide, Tunde Rahman, rang out and as of press time, he was yet to either return the calls or reply the SMS sent him.
Tinubu is backing Senator Ahmed Lawan for Senate presidency and Femi Gbajabiamila for the speakership of the House of Representatives, the same candidates he could not carry over the finishing line four years ago.
While Lawan is seen more as President Muhammadu Buhari’s anointed candidate for the job, Gbajabiamila, from Surulere Federal Constituency in Lagos, is an anointed of Tinubu, though Lawan, too, was propped up by the leading party chieftain in 2015, after dropping his initial candidate, former Benue State governor, Senator George Akume.
In 2015, Tinubu reportedly failed to show his hand deep in the contest early enough in order not to be seen as being dictatorial, preferring to line behind the then newly-elected president, Buhari.
Gbajabiamila and Lawan were pretty much doing their campaigning then using the party machinery with Tinubu using the president’s influence to rally support for them.
The duo also got involved in horse-trading with opposition leaders.
Saturday Tribune was privy then to Gbajabiamila’s meeting with a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor from the South at a hotel in a posh area of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), weeks to the parliamentary contest he lost to the outgoing Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.
With the stakes believed to be higher this time, Tinubu is reportedly handling the expected high-wire horse-trading trailing the emergence of the duo again as the preferred candidates of the party, considering the internal opposition to their candidature.
While Lawan is reportedly having it easier, selling his candidacy to stakeholders outside of his party, the unmistaken emblem of the Lagos “godfather” on Gbajabiamila’s candidacy is said to be making things difficult somewhat for the four-term lawmaker.
“Gbaja, on his own, isn’t a problem, though people have been talking about his elitist attitude. But anything with Tinubu’s hand on it, many within the party, do not just want to hear it, especially our people from the other side (North) and oga (Tinubu) doesn’t always know when to back down.
There is a popular joke in Abuja now, especially at the party secretariat. If you say you are broke, they will ask, is Asiwaju not in town and that if he is in town, you can’t be broke because all you need to do is go and tell him some lies that he wants to hear about his candidates or 2023 and you will come back with …. (mentions denomination),” a source who was once chummy with the leader, disclosed.
Tinubu is reportedly handling the reaching-out because his rumoured presidential ambition is said to be closely tied to the success of getting Gbajabiamila and Lawan enthroned, particularly the former as the head of the legislative institution with more youthful, exuberant and impressionable politicians.
For allies of Gbajabiamila and those who would play ball from the opposition to get him to the political Promised Land, Saturday Tribune learnt that their loyalty is going to be sustained for some future assignment.
The implication of having a need for them, according to insiders, is that such tested and trusted allies would have four years of comfort under the Gbajabiamila leadership.
The said bait of not using and dumping them, considering future engagement and partnership, is reportedly working more for the Tinubu camp since any form of betrayal from their end would mean losing massive support for the future aspiration which is bigger and of higher political value than what is being sought now.
It was also learnt that lawmakers from the opposition, especially those not too close to Dogara, may find comfort in Tinubu’s arm and possibly break ranks with their party in the event of the party directing its congressmen and women, to, again, work against Tinubu’s interest.
Gbajabiamila recently boasted that he already had the number to sail smoothly in the speakership contest but some opponents are saying it will be too early to declare victory.
While President Buhari has characteristically not been too loud about his support for Lawan, it was learnt that not saying anything regarding Gbajabiamila’s emergence at the dinner where the Lagos politician was presented has made the journey more tortuous for Tinubu’s camp.
The relocation to Abuja to oversee things directly is also said to be connected with the rumoured power play that could see “one go for one.”
With both Lawan and Gbajabiamila being projected as Tinubu’s anointed, there is the likelihood of the party leader being told at the zero hour to pick one and leave the other position for other tendencies in the party.
His camp is said to be working assiduously to avoid a situation of having to make such a tough call.
His allies in the South-West are also coming in and out of Abuja to confer with him but one ally that would be expected to be by his side at this crucial moment, former Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, is reportedly missing in the Abuja action.
Aregbesola spearheaded the defunct Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) parliamentary mutiny of 2011 which enthroned the current Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, as the Speaker of the House of Representatives against then-PDP’s choice, Mulikat Adeola-Akande.
The PDP paid Tinubu back in the same coin in 2015, helping the APC to install Dogara in place of the party’s pick, Gbajabiamila.
Saturday Tribune learnt that Aregbesola is staying back in Lagos fixing the next cabinet of the incoming administration of Babajide Sanwoolu at Tinubu’s behest.
Seen as Tinubu’s closest ally, Aregbesola’s influence has been looming large on Lagos politics since his tenure ended in Osun State.
Saturday Tribune can confirm that names of likely picks for commissioners and special aides have been submitted by party leaders from local governments in the state and the man touching the final list up, in concert with the “Big Boss” in Abuja, is reportedly not the incoming governor but the former governor of Osun State.
Both the incoming governor and his deputy, Femi Hamzat, are said to be having minimal say in the composition of those who will work with them, though they reportedly made nominations.
With many of those expected to be nominated by Sanwoolu and Hamzat left out of the current list, disappointment is said to be setting in for many who worked tirelessly for the party’s victory.
“We are just here; we don’t know our fate yet. They have shared the thing (available positions) among themselves. The hawks are the ones in charge here,” a committed party man lamented to Saturday Tribune.
Meanwhile, the recent involvement of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with the administrative leadership of the National Assembly is said to be part of the game plan to ensure a desired ending to the contest for Senate and House of Representatives’ top jobs.
Clerks of both chambers reportedly played a major role in swinging things in certain directions in 2015 and with the fear that the outgoing Senate President and Speaker may swing the process again using the top officials to keep the party’s anointed out of the seats again, the anti-graft commission is reportedly being involved to “sound a note of warning.”
Operatives of the commission swarmed collation centres in Lagos, Abuja and many other states during the final declaration of results of the 2019 general elections.
The official explanation was to prevent financial inducement of the electoral officers.
The voting procedure for the new NASS leadership has been a major dispute among contending factions with the majority favouring secret balloting, the type that rubbed the ruling party’s face in the mud four years back.
There is palpable fear in the ruling party that another secret balloting could produce a similar result.
The current probe of the assembly’s administrative leadership by the EFCC is said to be a ploy to have an unfettered access to the books and information that could help prevent another humiliating loss.
If things are not going the desired way with the voting procedure, it was learnt, the probe could become a major tool in beating everybody into line.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s quest to be re-elected as Lagos State Governor for a second term may have run into troubled waters as 50 council chairmen loyal to Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Ambode’s estranged godfather, have met and pledged their support for Jide Sanyaolu Sanwonolu, who is alleged to be Tinubu’s preferred choice.
This comes a day after Ambode, alongside some members of his cabinet, stormed the headquarters of the APC in Abuja to get Expression of Interest and Nomination forms for his 2019 bid.
The council chairmen are the most influential grassroots mobilizers under the direct primary system adopted by APC, to pick governorship candidates.
On the other hand, Sanwonolu and Obafemi Hamzat, two prominent members of the APC in Lagos, also picked nomination forms for the governorship election of 2019.
Sanwonolu, who served as a commissioner under Babatunde Fashola, Ambode’s predecessor, is currently the managing director of Lagos State Property Development Corporation (LSPDC).
At a meeting held after he picked up his nomination form, James Odunmbaku, an ally of Tinubu known as “Baba Eto” in the political circle, said “Sanwololu is the incoming governor of Lagos.”
The video below obtained by Daily Post, shows all 57 local government chairman as they signed up to support Sanwonolu.
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, will formally receive the Minority Leader of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, into the All Progressives Congress on August 8, 2018.
The information on the schedule to receive Akpabio into the ruling party came on a day the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State visited the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his Lagos home.
According to the APC Newspaper Twitter handle, Akpabio will be formally received into the APC at the Ikot Ekpene Stadium in Akwa Ibom State by Osinbajo on August 8, 2018.
Others who will join Osinbajo to receive Akpabio include the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang.
Akpabio had during the week had a meeting with Osinbajo in the Presidential Villa.
The meeting was held at about the same time the Peoples Democratic Party, to which Akpabio belongs and on which platform he served as two-time governor of Akwa Ibom State and got his election into the Senate, was having its National Executive Council meeting.
Akpabio, as the Senate Minority Leader, a former Governor and a serving Senator, is a member of the NEC.
As aspirants slugged it out for the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket in the party’s primary election in Ekiti on Saturday, APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu, said in Lagos that he had no anointed candidate.
Tinubu spoke with journalists in Ikeja as the APC held its ward congresses in Lagos.
The winner of Saturday’s primary election will fly the party’s flag in the July 14 Ekiti governorship election, in which the APC is seeking to oust the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.
"I believe those in charge of the primary in Ekiti will do the right thing. I have put my own political gear in neutral.
"I have no anointed candidate. Everyone there aspiring and contesting are very dear members and they deserve the right to participate.
"About 33 of them in all, and we only need one seat for governorship. We have had leadership discussions. I like the fact that they showed up respectfully and committed to the peace and stability of the party in that State," Tinubu told newsmen.
He said that feelers from Ekiti showed that things had been going on smoothly.
"We have responsible leadership around there.
"Sincerely, I had wanted to be in Ekiti but when you have this situation where Congress is holding the same time their primary is holding, charity begins at home; I must stay in Lagos to ensure that I help them.
"There are capable leaders over there that will see to the smooth exercise of the primaries in Ekiti," he added.
Speaking on the ward congresses in Lagos, Tinubu urged party members to conduct themselves peacefully to help the country grow and progress democratically.
He also urged them to report any complaint at the party headquarters, rather than take laws into their hands.
"Until the various officials conducting the congresses write their reports, my own decision is to continue to appeal to the party to conduct themselves peacefully and comply with the rule of law.
"If they have any complaints, they should write to the party headquarters and just don’t take laws into their hands.
"I am proud of what is happening. I am very proud of the leadership. The leaders are for everybody; no biases, and they should move on peacefully and help the country to grow and progress democratically," the party's national leader said.
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode and APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
Meanwhile, speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Henry Ajomale, the Chairman of APC-Lagos, expressed satisfaction over the ongoing exercise.
He urged the incoming Chairman to ensure adequate welfare for members and amicable conflict resolution in the party.
A chieftain of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has asked a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, to speak out on alleged below-par performance of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The elder statesmen, who said Nigerians are suffering under the current ‘change’ government, also insisted that South West leaders of the APC are to blame for not leading the agitation for restructuring.
“I warned some leaders from the South-West that Buhari’s second coming is the greatest mistake you will make if you vote for him. This is a one-man rule”.
“Members of the APC, who are democrats, are conniving and colluding with this autocratic regime. People like Tinubu and other South West leaders, who are in the APC, should talk now.
‘This is not what we bargained for. Is that the change we want? Is this what you led the South-West to do? They have sold out and I am sure the electorates in the South West and South-south, who were led into the APC, are not dunces”, Adebanjo told Vanguard.
Asked what he and other leaders in the South-West are doing to ensure the Nigeria’s situation gets better, Pa Adebanjo repled: “What can we do? The solution to the country is to go back to federalism.
“Not only that. There should also be a return to the constitution which all the leaders in London agreed to before independence. The constitution we are talking about was canceled by the army, dominated by the north. There can be no peace.”
He further declared that Nigeria is still not practicing democracy in the proper way.
“There is no democracy in the country, my friend. Do not deceive yourself. We have only had civilian administration, we have been paying lip service to democracy because the actions of the government have been anti-democracy but they like to make us believe that they are practicing democracy.
“I do not believe that there is a democracy in Nigeria. We have not learned anything. Once you don’t practice democracy, the rule of law and true federalism, you will not have stability because we are not following the footsteps of our founding fathers.
“That is why you will not have political stability and we can never have political stability until you practice true federalism.”
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday opened the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library Complex in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Several dignitaries attend the event, including Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Liberian President and ECOWAS Chairperson, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf former Commonwealth Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku, former interim president, Ernest Shonekan, and President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina.
Other dignitaries at the event include national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, ex Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff, Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, Aliko Dangote, Nuhu Ribadu and others.
Ex president Goodluck Jonathan, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, Former Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniels, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce were also in attendance.
See photos below:
National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has dismissed reports that he is actively planning on contesting for the presidency in 2019. He described the report published in a national daily (not LEADERSHIP), as an example of bad fiction masquerading as professional journalism, pointing out that the story “is a manufactured tale weaved by its authors to try to create division where there is none.”
The former Lagos State governor also said those behind the report seek to place him at odds with President Muhammadu Buhari. A statement by the Tinubu Media Office, signed by Tunde Rahman said “writing such a baseless report is a very foul and a wrong thing to do.”
“First, Asiwaju Tinubu is not gearing up for a presidential run. So there will not be any doubt about this core matter, we shall state Tinubu’s position clearly and unequivocally so that even the reporters cannot misinterpret his position. As long as that patriotic and committed man named Muhammadu Buhari holds and seeks to hold the mantle as our president, then Asiwaju Tinubu stands behind him in unwavering support and confidence.
Asiwaju Tinubu remains faithful to the mission of progressive reform and change that President Buhari, he and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have started. Tinubu was instrumental in the formation and success of the APC. His toil and efforts helped establish this government. He is not one to tear down something he laboured so dutifully to build.
“Instead of trying to convey the truth, the newspaper report opted to gain false sensation by completely mocking the tenor of the brief banter Asiwaju Tinubu had with journalists at the inauguration of Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu. When asked about future political office, Asiwaju said he could not discount that possibility if the nation called upon him for such service, provided, he emphasized, that all political conditions were appropriate; particularly the office in question would have to be vacant, even if it’s local government chairmanship. In our political lexicon, this means the office is not held by a member of the APC in good standing. We all know this,” the statement read in part.
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