News / politics

Osun Primary: Jagaban ‘house of commotion’

The gloves have been worn and the fight for who controls the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State promises to be bloody, literally.

The mud fight may have already been brought to the doorstep of National Leader of the party and presidential hopeful, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

If something is not urgently done to pull the combatants back from the brink, the center might hold no longer, both for Tinubu’s political family and his presidential ambition.

Sources close to the first layer of Tinubu’s political lieutenants told The Guardian that the maverick politician might face stiffer opposition to his presidential ambition from his supposed loyalists more than people outside his political caucus. Specifically, it was learnt that some of his core loyalists do not see him as “politically fit to govern the country apart from his rumored health challenges.”

And the seeming crack in the “Bourdillon school of politics” is said to be the chief reason many beneficiaries of his magnanimity are also gunning for the presidency or supporting another aspirant against their supposed leader.

It was gathered that while some governors in the country are planning to “retire” Tinubu from active politics by 2023, some other ‘enemies within’ are working round the clock to whittle down his political influence and stop his bid for the presidency.

But sources close to the former Lagos State governor said the gang-up against him is not new and expressed confidence that Tinubu will clinch the party’s presidential ticket and become Nigeria’s president by 2023.

One of them said: “Go and check the records, many politicians that worked against him in the past later came back to be his friend, and he was magnanimous enough to welcome them back with open arms. Those working against him now will soon know that they are political featherweights.”

Sources said the open vituperation by Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, against Tinubu in a video that has gone viral is mere child’s play compared to what would be coming out from his “loyalists” in the …

News / politics / Security / Transportation

Afenifere decries kidnapping on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has reacted to the recent kidnappings on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and worsening security in the country.

The group spoke in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, on Wednesday in Lagos State.

Afenifere said the kidnapping of seven people around Isara Remo on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway last Sunday was evidence that the governments have failed in their primary duties of providing security to the people and seeing to their welfare.

Ajayi said in the statement: “Reports had it that some displaced terrorists in the northern part of the country led by one Belo Turji are making an incursion into Yorubaland in the western part of Nigeria. “We recall the incessant kidnapping of and attacks on innocent people in Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti States. We also recall the sacking of certain villages in the Imeko area of Ogun State last week.

“These are unacceptable and must be stopped forthwith by all means.

“The lamentations by Governors of Niger, Zamfara, Benue, Nassarawa, Borno, Kaduna, Sokoto and Katsina states on how terrorists seem to be dictating the pace in their areas ought to serve as a wake-up call for the governments and the security agencies.

“Afenifere acknowledged that President Muhammadu Buhari was aware of the security situation going by his recent expressions on the issue. For instance, the President ordered for a ‘robust’ military intervention in the wake of terrorists’ take-over of some local government areas in Niger State just as he asked Nigerians to put their prayers for security before God. The latter he said in a message delivered on his behalf when Governor Ganduje of Kano State hosted the head of Tijanniyah organization worldwide in Kano last week.”…