Headlines
2023: Adebanjo Blows Hot, Says North Can’t Dictate to Others
The leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has said the North cannot dictate to the rest of the country who becomes the president.
Adebanjo spoke on Monday during a public lecture themed, ‘Nationalism and nation-building in Nigerian history,’ held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs on Victoria Island, Lagos.
He said, “It was said that the South-East must come to negotiate with the North because politics is a game of numbers. My case is – and I told people yesterday – the case for the East is not to beg for a favour; it is their right. Yet, each time I hear that they should go around because the North has the population, what fraudulent population? You can’t sell that to me.
“They tell us to work together but unfortunately because they now have produced a president at the helm of affairs, they say ‘no one can become president except you come to the North and unfortunately, some southerners have been brainwashed that they can’t do anything except they bow to the North. I don’t believe it.
“What right has the North to dictate who will become our president? We were brought together not by peace, not by agreement, they forced us together and we agreed, so to continue to live together in peace must be by agreeable terms. The East has the right not because he is Igbo but because it is in Nigeria. The principle of Afenifere is on ideological basis and principle of rightness, inclusiveness and not any sentiment.”
The President of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. George Obiozor, in his opening remark, explained that no generation of Nigerian leaders since independence had been able to create an atmosphere of credibility to ensure Nigeria’s claim to a political future as one nation.
He said, “Recently, some Nigerian political leaders have said that Nigerian unity is non-negotiable. This is an irony because these leaders seem to have forgotten Nigerian history or have failed to learn the lessons of history in general.
“Nigerian unity is definitely negotiable and must be re-negotiated for it to stand or survive the test of time. The reality over the years remains that in spite of the best efforts of all our leaders past or present, Nigerian unity is not guaranteed.
“It is simply, at best, an aspiration and not yet an achievement. Consequently, the statement that Nigerian unity is ‘non-negotiable’ is simply a historical fallacy.”
On his part, the National Director of Publicity of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr Hakeem Ahmed, said, “Some Nigerian political leaders have said Nigeria’s unity is non-negotiable. I don’t know who these people are, but I can tell you they are not of the North and they are not related to the NEF.
“Nigeria’s unity is negotiable. You either negotiate it because nations are very fragile and very delicate and you have to nurture them and pay attention to their need or they break and we are at that breaking point.”
The guest lecturer, Prof. Jide Osuntokun, lamented that since 1966, Nigeria had struggled to find a method to balance the regional desire for autonomy under a national structure.
The Punch
The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (NWC) has suspended the National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade; National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu; Deputy Legal Adviser, Okechukwu Osuoha; and National Organizing Secretary, Umaru Bature for one month.
The suspension comes on the heels of the judgement of the Federal High Court On Friday, which stopped the party’s planned national convention.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba, told journalists in Abuja on Saturday, that the decision followed an emergency meeting of the national working committee, which was held in Abuja.
President Donald Trump of the United States on Friday designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), in response to allegations of widespread persecution and genocide against Christians.
Writing on his Truth Social account, Trump stated that Christianity faces a serious threat in Nigeria.
The US leader also added Nigeria to a State Department watch list.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter,” Trump wrote.
According to the US president, he was placing Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and most populous nation, on a “Countries of Particular Concern” list of nations the US deems to have engaged in religious freedom violations.
According to the State Department’s website, the list includes China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, and Pakistan, among others.
Trump said he had asked US Representatives Riley Moore and Tom Cole, as well as the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, to look into the matter and report back to him.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has removed Hon. Abubakar Gummi from the House of Representatives after he left the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress.
The lawmaker represented the Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency in Zamfara State.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu delivered the ruling, holding that Gummi’s defection breached the Constitution.
The court said the seat does not belong to any politician but to the political party that sponsored the election.
According to the judgment, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, is barred from recognising Gummi “as a member representing Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency.”
The judge also instructed the Independent National Electoral Commission to “conduct a fresh election” for the vacant seat within 30 days.
The case was instituted by the PDP and its Zamfara chairman, who insisted that Gummi’s move to the APC had no legal justification. They argued that there was no division in the PDP to support his defection, as required by Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution.
Gummi, through his counsel, claimed he left the PDP due to internal crises which he said made it “impossible” to serve his constituents effectively. The judge, however, dismissed his arguments and granted all the reliefs requested by the plaintiffs.
Justice Egwuatu, in a firm comment, warned politicians against what he described as reckless party hopping.
“Political prostitution must not be rewarded,” he declared, adding that lawmakers must not transfer votes won on one party’s platform to another party.
The court also ordered Gummi to refund all salaries and allowances received from October 30, 2024, until the date of judgment. He is also barred from earning any further benefits as a member of the House.
Additionally, the judge imposed a N500,000 cost against the defendants in favour of the PDP.
