Headlines
Aisha Buhari, APC Loyalists Force Lawan to Drop Adedayo as Spokesperson
The Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, among other All Progressives Congress (APC) members, were the forces that forced the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan to eventually drop Festus Adedayo as Senate President’s spokesperson.
Mrs Buhari threw her support behind the calls for the removal of Festus Adedayo through her tweet.
Writing on Twitter, Buhari, who recently decided to wear the garb of the First Lady said, “You cannot drive an agenda with people who don’t believe in that agenda.” Her comment was in response to a video showing a protest against the appointment.
The call for Mr Adedayo’s removal was spearheaded by a horde of pro-APC loyalists on social media. They cited the columnist’s history of anti-government rhetoric, a disposition they said was inconsistent with the ideals of the ruling party.
Mr Lawan, who was elected Senate president last week, bowed to pressure late Thursday and rescinded the appointment of Mr Adedayo. He had earlier named him on Wednesday alongside other media aides in his first set of appointments.
But APC social media personalities immediately grouped to fault Mr Lawan for not being sensitive with his choices, saying those so far named, especially Mr Adedayo, had long criticised the party and worked against its interest at the general elections.
Mr Lawan initially dug his heels in on the appointment, but it became too difficult to ignore after a protest was staged by APC loyalists at the party’s campaign office in Abuja on Thursday morning.
Mr Lawan has “decided to rescind its decision on the appointment,” of Mr Adebayo, a statement from the Senate President’s office said Thursday afternoon. Other media aides named alongside Mr Adebayo would, however, be retained, the statement added.
Those who led the campaign included Ayo Oyalowo and Ayo Akanji, two of the most vocal APC voices on social media. A video that circulated online showed more than a dozen APC social media commentators took part in the demonstration.
Mr Oyalowo, 46, said during the protest that Mr Adedayo and other controversial appointments by Mr Lawan went against the party’s “agenda.”
Mrs Buhari on Thursday reacted on Twitter to the video of the protest against Mr Adedayo’s appointment, shortly before the announcement that Mr Adedayo had been dropped.
“You cannot drive an agenda with people who don’t believe in that agenda…how will you achieve your purpose if you bring in people who fought against your agenda,” Mrs Buhari said.
Social media commentators said Mrs Buhari’s eagerness to take sides in the partisan protest could further worsen political polarisation in the country’s social media space, where pro and anti-government bickering has intensified following the general elections.
Premium Times
The Presidency has dismissed claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments were directed at the political situation in Rivers State or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s constitutional decisions on the matter.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency described the reports as a “gross misrepresentation.”
The statement clarified that Vice President Shettima’s remarks at the public presentation of a book by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), were misconstrued by some online platforms and individuals.
“These reports have distorted the Vice President’s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda,” it stated.
“They twisted his account of how the administration of former President Jonathan considered removing him as Borno Governor during the insurgency to falsely link it with current events in Rivers State.”
The Vice President, who spoke at the launch of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block in Abuja on Thursday, was said to have referenced the past solely to commend Adoke’s professionalism while in office, and to reflect on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution regarding federal and state relations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal.
“This action was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time, with the governor facing a looming impeachment and the State Assembly complex under demolition,” Nkwocha clarified.
The Presidency insisted that the action taken by President Tinubu in declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Governor was fully in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which authorises such measures when there is a breakdown of public order requiring extraordinary intervention.
According to the statement, the President’s proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, confirming the legitimacy and constitutional propriety of the decision.
“The action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr. Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the governor’s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading,” the statement further noted.
Nkwocha also stressed that Vice President Shettima’s comments were delivered extemporaneously and intended to underline the importance of public accountability and historical documentation.
He referenced the Vice President’s mention of past public servants, including Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to illustrate principled leadership.
“His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu’s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation,” the spokesman stated.
The Vice President, the statement added, remains in “loyal concert” with President Tinubu and is committed to implementing all constitutional measures necessary to safeguard democracy and uphold order across the country.
Concluding, the Presidency called on media organisations and political actors to desist from misrepresenting public remarks for sensational or partisan purposes.
“We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” Nkwocha said.
Headlines
Akpabio Relieves Natasha of Committee Chairmanship Position, Appoints Akwa Ibom Senator As Replacement
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has replaced suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora/Non-Governmental Organisations.
In her place, Akpabio named Senator Bassey Aniekun Etim (Akwa Ibom -East).
The Senate President, who made the announcement on the floor in Abuja on Thursday, did not give any reasons.
The committee position had remained vacant since March when the Senate suspended the Kogi-Central Senatorial District lawmaker for six months for flouting the Senate’s rule on the seating arrangement and seat allocation.
The suspended lawmaker, at a point, chaired the Senate Committee on Local Content before Akpabio reassigned her to the Committee on Diaspora/NGO, shortly before she ran into trouble with the Senate over her conduct on seat allocation.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2024 governorship election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit. It upheld the earlier judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
