Politics
Amaechi And Rape Of Democracy In Rivers
Where is the limit of political ambition? Rivers State has been in the news in recent times for the wrong reasons. The state which has enjoyed relative peace in the last four years was suddenly invaded with an oppressive and vicious culture of political violence driven by one man’s ambition.
The clear abuse of apparatus of the Nigerian state to torment and compel the electorate, and offials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to do contrary to the expressed will of the people at the ballot box, is not only criminal but, is highly condemnable.
This culture of do-or-die politics in Rivers State weaves around the inordinate ambition of Honourable Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi to become the emperor and lord of the manor.
It is an amazement that Right Honourable Rotimi Amaechi who should have every reason to be grateful to the people of Rivers state would become the terror tormenting their very peaceful existence, all in the name of seeking to control power.
Driven into a frenzy by this ambition, former Governor Amaechi wants to determine who becomes anything and everything in Rivers State. He wants to control power and dispense it from his kingdom. Unlike himself who was freely given an opportunity to become someone in life, Amaechi would want everyone in Rivers to crawl on their fours to him, just to receive crumbs dropping from his table.
Himself a creation of the political large-heartedness of former Rivers State Governor, Dr Peter Odili, Amaechi has every reason to be grateful to God and the people of Rivers. But, he has despised in all forms his very little humble beginning.
The story of Rotimi Amaechi is a 20-year journey crafted by his benefactor and political mentor, Dr Peter Odili. But as it is with many, Amaechi has grown monstrous with his political pursuits, so much so he has forgotten where he is coming from. Those who doubt this shoukd ask him about his relationship with Dr Odili. They are daggers drawn.
Currently, Nigeria’s serving Minister of Transportation, Amaechi came into position of value when he was spotted and given opportunity to move up the ladder of life by Dr Peter Odili. He was a debt collector in Dr Odili’s PAMO Clinics in Port Harcourt. Later he became Special Assistant to Dr Odili as Deputy Governor of the state between 1992 and 1993.
In 1999, he was elected through the court into the Rivers State House of Assembly and became Speaker of the House for two terms between 1999 and 2007; at the same time, he was made Chairman of Nigeria Conference of Speakers.
In 2007, Rotimi Amaechi became Governor of Rivers State through the legal process and re-elected for another four years in 2011. He is a recipient of one of the country’s highest national honours – Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).
He defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on November 27, 2013 and as a compensation for his betrayal of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the APC in 2015 appointed him Minister of Transportation.
As Director General of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidential Campaign both in 2015 and 2019, he appropriated and arrogated influence and power to himself telling his new allies in the APC how evil his erstwhile benefactors were.
Aggregating these past and current accomplishments – 8 years as governor, 8 years as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, and four years as minister of the Federal Republic; it would appear that the most recent engagements of Rotimi Amaechi is an outright denigration of the honour done him by his people and those whom God in His infnite wisdom have allowed to assist him become a person of substance.
With a track record of an incurable appetite to destroy the very structure that brought him into relevance, it would be recalled that in the run up to his 2007 governorship ambition in Rivers State, Amaechi who was then the Speaker of the State House, mounted a campaign of calumny against the very government and person of Dr Peter Odili who had sustained him.
For many who do not know, that the battle for the emergence of Amaechi as a governor was fought by present governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike who ensured victory at the courts and brought Amaechi back from Ghana to become governor.
It is on record that this callous hunger to control not only the leadership of the APC in the state but, dictatorial control of a complex state like Rivers, precipitated the series of activities engineered and sustained by Amaechi and which denied the APC an opportunity to vie for any office in the 2019 elections.
It is infra dig for a man who was a nobody, from the back waters of his local village, Ubima in Ikwerre Local Government Area and has emerged into national politics to harbour intense hatred for the people and state that made him.
Honourable Chibuike Amaechi owes the entire people of Rivers State an apology for assaulting their sensibilities and right to choose candidates of their choice at any election.
On the other hand, the APC should be inquisitive as to how and why the party became a subject of ridicule in Rivers State instead of allowing itself to be deceived into thinking that Nyesom Wike is its problem. No, not at all, the APC problem in Rivers is the man who now constitutes the party’s shame in the South-South.
Ifeanyichukwu, a political analyst writes from Enugu.
Alexaander Ifeanyichukwu
Politics
Senegal: Faye Set To Become Youngest Elected African President As Rival Concedes Defeat
Senegalese politician, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, (44), is set to become the youngest elected leader on the African continent.
While Faye’s main rival, Amadou Ba, from the ruling coalition had said a run-off might happen to determine the winner, at least five of the 19 candidates in the race had issued statements to congratulate Faye as of early Monday.
“For our part, and considering the feedback of the results from our team of experts, we are certain that, in the worst case scenario, we will go to a run-off,” Ba, a former Senegalese Prime Minister, had said.
But as Faye’s lead got wider, Ba called to concede victory in Sunday’s presidential elections, BBC quoted a government official to have said.
Faye’s lead had spurred his followers to troop out in celebration on the streets of the capital, Dakar, on Sunday.
Reports revealed that millions took part in a peaceful day of voting to elect Senegal’s fifth president after three years of unprecedented political turbulence that triggered violent anti-government protests and bolstered support for the opposition.
Faye is a Senegalese politician and a former tax inspector, who also served as the General Secretary of dissolved PASTEF.
He contested the highest political position in the West African country in place of disqualified candidate Ousmane Sonko.
Senegalese voters had a choice among 19 contenders to replace Sall, who is stepping down after a second term marred by unrest over the prosecution of opposition leader Sonko.
The incumbent was not on the ballot for the first time in Senegal’s history. His ruling coalition picked Ba, 62, as its candidate.
In a country of over 18 million people, 7.3 million people were registered to vote, and about 71 percent voter turnout was recorded, Senegal’s State TV reported.
Politics
Writing Judgment For Presidential Election Tribunal Allegation, FG Arraigns One
The Federal Government has arraigned one Chike Ibezim for allegedly defaming Babatunde Fashola, former Minister of Works and Housing.
Ibezim is one of three individuals who alleged that Fashola had written the judgments of the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) that dismissed the petitions by the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ibezim was arraigned on Monday before a federal high court in Abuja on a six-count charge.
The charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/434/2023, borders on criminal conspiracy, cyberstalking, and defamation, among others.
The matter is before Bolaji Olajuwon and has been adjourned till April 15 for continuation of trial.
Count one of the charges reads: “That you Ibezim Chike Victor, male with Jackson Udeh, Nnamdi Emmanuel Ibezim and Reportera.ng (body corporate) now at large on or about 05/08/2023 at Abuja, did commit an illegal Act to wit: criminal conspiracy; when you jointly agreed to publish a defamatory statement of false allegations in your online social media, the reportera.ng news, against His Excellency Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, CON, without justification, you thereby commit offence punishable under Section 27(1)(b) of the Cyber-crime Prohibition, Prevention Act 2015.”
However, Fashola said the allegation was “baseless and defamatory”.
The former minister described those behind the allegations as “agents of destabilisation”.
Politics
Soludo’s Performance Assessment, APGA Tackles LP Chieftain
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has faulted a chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), Valentine Ozigbo, over his comments that the performance of Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, after two years in office, was “not impressive.”
Mr Ozigbo, who was the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2021 Anambra State governorship election, now a chieftain of the LP, stated during an interactive session with journalists last weekend that he was not impressed about Governor Soludo’s performance and has therefore decided to contest the 2025 governorship election in the state.
He said, “We have seen the leadership of Soludo in two years, and some of you may be impressed, but I am not. After the last election in 2021, I called and wished him well and moved on, and we have never spoken again. My decision was to assess him after two years, and having seen it, I am not impressed, and I want to start holding him accountable.
“I am here to share my thoughts with you, what I think, and no matter how you see what he (Soludo) is doing, you will be more proud when I mount the saddle.
“We need to change the narrative and look for a way to survive. We must fight to rescue Anambra. I am a non-transactional politician. I have several things I can do, but my worry is how we can recover the state and put her on the path of development.
“Zoning is a good thing. But it must be combined with competence to make sense. Don’t pick a renegade just because he is from a certain zone, and don’t pick the best, when you know you can pick one that is better.”
Mr Ozigbo said further, “I respect zoning, and I will be making a case for a single term of four years. Anyone who sees what Alex Otti is doing in Abia State will know that four years is enough time to do a lot of work.
“I will honour that principle of zoning, and I will not need anyone’s push or prompting to do otherwise. I will be ready to do an agreement and do an undertaking that I will do just one term. I also wish to tell you that Peter Obi has been consistent that a southerner who emerges will only do one term.
“It is a settled matter that I intend to run for just one term. I intend to keep faith with the agreement.”
But reacting to the development in a telephone interview with The Tide’s source on Monday, APGA spokesman, Tony Olisa-Mbeki, dismissed Mr Ozigbo’s utterances, insisting he has nothing to offer the people of the state.
Mr Olisa-Mbeki said, “He is a political stooge. What could he possibly bring in? Last I checked, he only managed Transcorp Hotel. Is that a qualification to be a governor in Anambra State? Soludo runs an inclusive government in Anambra; that is why he holds town hall meetings with different sectors. What other approach to governance is Ozigbo talking about?
“Anambra State governance is not for learners like Ozigbo. Ozigbo can’t even give a good lecture; he would be better suited working as a PA to any governor. Ozigbo’s aspirations in the previous gubernatorial contest in Anambra found him trailing in third place under the banner of the PDP, despite the staunch endorsement from former APGA governor, Peter Obi.
“That alone should tell him that APGA is like an apostle’s creed to Ndi Anambra. However, what reforms could Ozigbo propose? Anambra State, under Governor Soludo’s leadership, is a testament to political and socio-economic ingenuity.”
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