News
The gathering clouds in Rivers State may envelope the nation
We watch with great awe the dark and heavy clouds that have begun to gather in Rivers State, which may turn into a raging storm that will sweep away the immediate and remote actors in our democratic experiment.
The current political imbroglio started with accusations and counter accusations between a godfather and godson which was described by the parties as family affair and which we foolishly thought had been amicably settled by the duo of father and son.
We are startled to wake up this morning to learn that twenty-seven out of the thirty-four members of the House of Assembly had moved on by way of defection from PDP to APC in a manner that depicts the voice of Jacob and hand of Esau situation.
We are not aversed to their movement, but we are aversed to the manner of their defection which runs against the provision of our Constitution and decided cases on the conditions a member of the House of Assembly or National Assembly.
For defection to inure to a state assembly member,
Section 68.(1).(g) of the 1999 Constitution must kick in. It permits defection on grounds of division or faction in the party and has been given the legal imprimatur by the Supreme Court in Hon. Ifedayo Abegunde vs Ondo State House of Assembly & 11 Others, where the Appellant was sacked by the Court for defecting to ACN from the party that produced him as House of Assembly member, (Labour Party).
We reckon that in the present case of the twenty-seven members of Rivers State House of Assembly who have defected without any case of division or faction in PDP amounts to violation of the 1999 Constitution as Amended, and the full wrath of such breach of the Constitution must be visited upon them following Abegunde’s case. All the seats of the those that have defected from the Party that elected them should be declared vacant immediately and a new election set in motion by INEC
We know and have it on good authority that their defection is a prelude to something untoward against the governor, a grand and sinister plan to forcefully impeach the governor without recourse to the Constitution because he has refused to abandon PDP, the platform on which he came to power to join APC.
We hereby encourage the governor to remain steadfast in his decision to stick with his party PDP as his defection will diminish the multi-party democracy which offers different and differing opinions, which its abandonment brings us a few step closer to the enthronement of one party State which is tantamount dictatorship of the minority.
We also wish to encourage the Chief Judge of Rivers State not to be cowed into partaking in illegality of forcefully impeaching the governor which will further tarnish the image of the judiciary which has become the fall guy and synonymous with everything baleful since the 2023 general elections.
And to the Rivers State, we urge them to rally round the governor to protect the mandate freely given to him by Rivers State people and ward off any external influence/s from plunging the state into chaos and anarchy which may ultimately envelop our dear nation.
Peter Ameh
National Secretary
Former Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Professor Tom Adaba, has passed away at the age of 84.
According to reports, he died peacefully on Saturday in Abuja.
Chief Adinoyi Joe Anivasa, Secretary of the Egbira Elders Forum, confirmed the news, stating, “I feel sad to inform you that our elder and leader, Prof. Tom A. Adaba, has answered the call of nature this morning. Further details about his burial arrangements will be communicated later.”
Born on July 2, 1941, Prof. Adaba made significant contributions to Nigeria’s broadcasting industry. Between 1988 and 1992, he became the first Nigerian to serve as President of the African Council for Communication Education.
Despite calls for suspension from the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Nigeria Police Force, the Osun State local government election proceeded as scheduled on Saturday.
Governor Ademola Adeleke voted in Ede North Local Government Area, describing the process as peaceful and urging residents to exercise their franchise.
The AGF, Lateef Fagbemi, cited a Court of Appeal ruling allegedly reinstating sacked local government chairmen, while the police warned of potential security threats.
However, the Osun State government insisted on holding the election, emphasizing its commitment to obeying a court directive. The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) boycotted the polls.
Voting took place under tight security, with minimal commercial activity observed in Osogbo, the state capital.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Commissioner for Information, Jonathan Vatsa, has indicated that Firmer President Muhammadu Buhari’s absence at the public presentation of former military ruler General Ibrahim Babangida’s autobiography, The Journey of Service, held in Abuja on Thursday was not surprising.
Speaking to journalists in Minna on Saturday, Vatsa suggested that Buhari’s no-show was a result of unresolved bitterness over the 1985 coup, in which Babangida overthrew him and subsequently detained him.
According to Vatsa, Buhari may still harbor resentment, especially over being denied the chance to bid his late mother farewell while in detention.
“It Would Have Been the 9th Wonder of the World If Buhari Had Attended”
Vatsa claimed that Buhari’s absence was expected, given the deep-seated history between the two former leaders.
“The memory of the ‘mother of all betrayals’ has not left him. It would have been the ninth wonder of the world if Buhari had attended that book launch,” he said.
The APC chieftain also linked Buhari’s perceived neglect of Niger State during his eight-year presidency to his history with Babangida.
“The whole world knows that Niger State was made a scapegoat by Buhari because of IBB. For eight years, he did not pay any serious official visit to the state, and not a single federal project was executed here. The Baro Port project was abandoned, and federal roads across the state were left in disrepair,” Vatsa alleged.
He claimed that despite the overwhelming votes Buhari received from Niger State in 2015 and 2019, the state was sidelined due to the personal history between the former presidents.
“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. Niger State paid for the sin of one man,” he lamented.
When asked for his opinion on the contents of IBB’s autobiography, Vatsa said he would reserve his comments until he has read and digested the book fully.
“There are certain things I expected to see in the book. Once I am done reading, I will invite you all for my comments,” he stated.
The book launch attracted several high-profile attendees, including President Bola Tinubu, former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, and Yakubu Gowon, as well as former military head of state Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Other dignitaries included former Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo, former Sierra Leonean President Ernest Koroma, and ex-vice presidents Atiku Abubakar, Yemi Osinbajo, and Namadi Sambo, alongside traditional rulers and state governors.
Buhari’s absence, however, remained a major talking point, reinforcing speculations that the 1985 coup remains a sore point in Nigeria’s political history.
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