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Buhari Replies Jonathan, Obasanjo, Soyinka, Warns Against ‘Politicising Isolated Cases’
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has taken a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari, saying insecurity is getting worse under his administration.
The ex-President stated this on Tuesday when he paid a condolence visit to the leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, whose daughter, Mrs Funke Olakunri, was killed by suspected herdsmen along the Ore-Sagamu Expressway on Friday.
But in an apparent response to his critics including Jonathan, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, Buhari on Tuesday said those who were criticising his handling of security in the country were not patriotic.
Although Jonathan did not mention Buhari during the condolence visit to Fasoranti, he called on the federal and state governments to be more proactive on the issue of insecurity in the country.
The former President made the comment a day after Obasanjo in a letter to Buhari warned of a Rwanda-like genocide in Nigeria.
Soyinka, on Sunday, during his 85th birthday, pointedly stated that the Buhari government had “failed” in addressing insecurity in the country.
Expressing concern about insecurity in the country, Jonathan on Tuesday stated, “The Federal Government in conjunction with the state government must design a different approach to this issue. I was there as president and security challenge was there, but now it is getting worse every day and we can’t continue to use the same old method.”
According to the ex-President, every generation of human beings faces problems and that generation must find ways of solving those problems.
He added, “Every government faces some unique problems. Insecurity has been with us immediately after the civil war. That was the first time we experienced armed robbery in Lagos. From armed robbery it graduated to kidnapping.
“The first major kidnapping was described as commercial kidnapping because some money exchanged hands which happened in 2006 when I was also a governor of Bayelsa State. From commercial kidnapping, it moved to terrorism in the North and now some kind of terrorist attacks all over the country, when people will just come out of the road and spray bullets on innocent people; that is a terrorist attack. You have no reason to attack somebody you don’t even know; that is terrorism.”
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.
