Politics
Jagaban: Welcoming A UK Patient, Discharged For Presidential Race
Jagaban: Welcoming A UK Patient, Discharged For Presidential Race
By Bolaji O Akinyemi.
Sahara Weekly Reports That Jagaban Welcoming A UK Patient, Discharged For Presidential Race. Our journey into the 4th republic started with hope. 1999 began the race with the rest of the world. Obasanjo was the man at the center, Tinubu, the man at the Center of Excellence. No other word can describe the opposition provided by BAT under AD. The dice was cast and Tinubu beat the progressives Elders in the game they thought him. ACN was formed as an offshoot of the progressive family.
If all virtues of progressivism were lost by Asiwaju one was left, the skills and dynamism of opposition. It was simply excellent! PDP was tackled on the streets and Obasanjo was taught several times in court, lessons in the rule of law and in constitutional democracy.
But ACN was slow paced in its conquest drive for political control of the South West, but for advance tribunal methodology, that saw to it that Osun, Ekiti and Edo States were taken over, it would have been restricted to Lagos!
By 2015, a political propaganda machinery of unequal proportion in the history of the world was supervised by the enigmatic Bola Ahmed Tinubu. PDP was battered on all media, and Buhari was successfully sold for what he wasn’t!
If today is a regret to all, I doubt if it is, to Jagaban! He knew what his fellows in the new ship of APC were capable of, but he presumed he will have no problems outwitting them in the game, but alas, they are not as dull as they look!
Respect must be given to Tinubu against PDP, but I don’t see him surviving the civil war in APC between CPC and the ACN components in the party.
Sentiments is one thing we must not allow to drive our decisions as we approach 2023! Over dose of it drove us to the brink we are in today. My opposition to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ambition for 2023 presidential race has absolutely nothing to do with hatred. Truth be told, he is too burnt out for the dynamism to be provided, bruce and beaten by the code of conduct to escape the oligarchy prows without something to pick. Though, he is the tongue tagged progressive leader of the Yoruba people of South West Nigeria. But my understanding and experience of progressive leadership of Lagos State under the leadership of Lateef Kayode Jakande makes him look like nothing but a capitalist hidden behind progressivism to fester his nest!
The lion of Boudillon is too old to hunt and if left to it, the horn of an antelope may hurt it and end its life!
Let me pull a paragraph from my last article on him, titled, “A Tripling Jagaban”, that makes me a prophet to the nation of Nigeria. “To save us from the risk of fostering any invalid on ourselves in 2023, I will suggest that a bill should be drafted by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and should be forwarded to the National Assembly insisting on a comprehensive medical examination for everyone offering themselves for service to our nation who are above the age of 60, which must be made public”. Malami is too busy with how to keep the list of sponsors of terrorism away from the public to bother about this all important issue!
The decision of APC to zone Presidency to the South is a welcome development, but the fatal consequences of a President who has passed his/her flower must be kept in focus. The decision of Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from 2023 race on the grounds of being 77years old, though still looking smart and fit, is to help us avoid the parable that Joe Biden has become to United States of America!
Atiku, though 77 has not shown the aging signs that BAT has become. It was first revealed at a book launch in the comfort of the banquet hall of the Presidency, where though big, but the retina of Jagaban captured the image of Mrs Osibajo but the memory affixed a different name!
Then came the figure muddling in Kano, where an accountant of no mean repute substituted 50,000 with 50 million!
Then came the straw that broke the Carmel’s back, the event was the 2021 Arewa House Lecture,, the 11th Saudana Leadership lecture series, where he was the Chairman of the occasion, all eyes were on him, he was there at the city of the man with the little finger in the Nigeria game of thrones who once showed up in Lagos to teach Muiz Banire and his co-political travellers how to sack political Godfathers which he boasted he has done successfully in Kaduna State!
If Tinubu must trip, why should it be in Kaduna? The threat to sack him from politics remained an empty threat until ageing showed its hands. Tinubu was walking by the high table, exchanging pleasantries with other dignitaries when the unexpected happened!
From a close study of the video of the event available, it was his left knee that buckled, then the right followed, the struggle that followed showed a body that was hopelessly following his knees, though he staggered, his security details rescued him in time from what would have been the fall of a southern grace on a northern grass!
Eye witness says, the drama was plotted by a sudden decent in the floor level. This however has been generating some concerns for his health and has become a public debate of the state of his health fitness for what lies ahead!
Ageing comes to us in different forms particularly from age 60, this may become pronounced at 70, a recent research has shown that at 70 to 71 a man is considered old, the women have two years advantage over their male counterparts, theirs is pegged at 73. There are however exceptions to this research findings.
In preparation for my mother, late Dorcas Aduke Ogunseye’s 70th birthday in 2010, I had travelled to Ibadan in company of one of my sisters to make necessary arrangements for a successful event, one of which was to decide the event Center and make payment. We were received at our family house by my father who was then 79, he advised that we should leave the cars to make our movements and connections with different events easier. We chased after our 79 years old father all through the movements in the terrain of Apata Ganga, if you know what I mean!
He was very fit while our mother, was already a pitiable sight of her articulate self. Mama teacher had memory challenges. My father recently celebrated his 90th, still showing fitness, I wish President Muhammadu Buhari can. I am sure his driver can’t get him to sign any documents, nor take any undue advantage of him!
Ageing is not a curse but the reality of challenges we are bound to face at certain periods in our lives, it comes with joint changes, raging from minor stiffness to severe arthritis, bones are easily broken at this period if a fall occurs. Memory loss is the worst of it.
What Jagaban displayed in Kaduna was not different from General Muhammadu Buhari’s experience in the build up to 2019 elections, the then Presidential candidate of the APC tripped in Lokoja at the campaign ground, whether it was caused by sudden stiffness of his joints or severe arthritis, no one could tell, for our joke of a nation never provided us a second opinion, if only for political reasons as in Asiwaju’s case!
The President went on to show several other signs of ageing during his electioneering campaigns.Loss of memory, with difficulty to recognize faces was his bane in Delta State, where he mistook the party Chairman for the State Gubernatorial Candidate and raised his hands to a bemoaned crowd! The situation came to a head when on the set with the candidate hosted by Kadara live on NTA. His obvious ageing sign will later inform my question to the Vice President at the Grill, a platform for campaign with Pastors in Lagos.
My question was coloured without sentiments; Sir, given the embarrassments Nigerians were thrown into by the incoherent responses of Mr President on the candidate, and your attempts at allaying his thoughts in the direction of the questions without success, will you before God and man say that the President is mentally and physically fit for the rigours of duties, if elected as the President? The answer to that question posterity has given contrary to what the Vice President made us believe.
If only ours is a country where the health of our President matters, if only ours is a country where democracy is practised, the state would have carried out the duty it owes us of making known our President’s state of health then, failure to do that should have led to our demand for medical investigations into the reasons our President, tripped in Kogi, fumbled in Delta and showing dementia symptoms when he lifted the hands of the party chairman as that of the candidate. We however carried on as usual as if nothing had happened. The consequences of our inaction is a President deceived by his driver to sign a multi million naira contract!
How many of such deceptions our President had and will suffer before he will hand over in 2023 is left to the days ahead to reveal!
President Mohammadu Buhari, in his honest state of mind had informed us after his election in 2015, that he will serve for a term of four years. He gave the toil of age on his body and mind as his reasons. However a man known for one thing, which is keeping to his words, changed it and his life time earning of integrity was squandered!
What Buhari informed us of by words, Asiwaju has, with incoherent and fluttering speech at the Presidency, 3 years earlier of his chance. 50 million for 50,000 and with his trippling in Kaduna!
But ọmọ Alhaja is not the type that will give up on his goal. What Buhari fixed in medical tourism in over a 127 days with direct payments from our taxes, he generously, as usual, probably fixed with over flow of Lagos taxes from Alpha Beta and in less than a 100 days!
With a knee worked on, stuttering tongue, unattended to and memory bank untouched, our patient is discharged to come and become President in 2023! It isn’t about whether he will win or not, but the impact of a patient after another on our Presidency and future as a nation should be weighed by APC Delegates. They will do well to give us a body fit for the job, a brain balanced for the duty.
Nigerians must avoid a repeat of Buhari’s incompetence which is compounded in this 2nd term by his being incoherent. We are obviously under a President whom decisions are taken for and duties discharged by proxy!
On the fall in Kaduna, I wrote, “without doubting the floor excuse, Tinubu’s tripling in Kaduna is worrisome, probably a sign of old age that cooperated with the floor, which must have been as a result of knee buckling, also known as knee instability or weak knees. Frequent knee buckling raises the risk of falling and serious injuries. How often this has been happening is left to Asiwaju to let us know. This should be investigated medically, so that we can figure out the underlying causes. Nature has a way of showing its impact on us with aging differently. While I have nothing against old men and women of Asiwaju’s age who want to serve the nation. But everyone who truly loves them should be worried when tripping becomes regular”.
This 90 days sojourn in UK has confirmed that his spoke person lied to us when he said it was the floor, for the floor has not been operated and may never be. Asiwaju’s knee’s operation has finally confirmed that it wasn’t the floor that gave way, but his knee that buckled.
The roles of spoke persons have have started in earnest. High Chief Raymond Dokpesi confirmed the confusion of our political elites, when in one speech he echoed the right of the north to 2023 supported by PDP zoning, in the same, he reminded us his support will be for Bola Ahmed Tinubu on APC zoning to the South, not for competence but for that which they shared in the past and will continue to share. If “Share” is it for them, what is it for us? Our elites are party less, they are only interested in places where their share are preserve. We also must learn that whichever the party or candidate, good governance should be it for us.
We can’t but hope that APC Delegates will put the interest of a healthy nation first and give consideration to the need for a healthy Presidential candidate!
Dr Bolaji O. Akinyemi, an Apostle focusing on revival in the church and revolution in the nation, the BID, as he is fondly called, is also a communication strategist.
Politics
Pro-Tinubu Group Demands Sack of Badaru, Other Ministers Who Lost Polling Units in Bye-Elections
Pro-Tinubu Group Demands Sack of Badaru, Other Ministers Who Lost Polling Units in Bye-Elections
The Asiwaju Network has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately disengage underperforming ministers who failed to deliver their polling units and wards during the just-concluded bye-elections.
The group also urged a cabinet reshuffle to inject fresh energy and ensure that only those who can add political and governance value remain in the Federal Executive Council.
In a statement issued on Monday in Abuja and signed by its president, Alhaji Musa Ibrahim Dandoka, the Asiwaju Network said the results of the elections were a litmus test that exposed the political weaknesses of some ministers entrusted with strategic national assignments.
At Babura Kofar Arewa Primary School in Jigawa State, where the Minister of Defence, Alhaji Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, cast his vote, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 308 votes to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC), which managed only 112.
Badaru, a former governor of Jigawa and APC chieftain, left the venue without addressing journalists after casting his vote amid heavy security presence.
Dandoka said it was troubling that, despite his high office, the Defence Minister could not secure victory in his polling unit.
He argued that such political setbacks undermine the strength of the APC and the credibility of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope government.
“This defeat is both embarrassing and unacceptable. A minister who cannot win his polling unit cannot claim to possess the political capital required to defend the APC or promote the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda. President Tinubu must act quickly to weed out weak links in his cabinet and replace them with men and women who have proven grassroots capacity,” Dandoka stated.
The group noted that Badaru was not alone in this failure, stressing that another minister from Jigawa and one from Enugu State also lost their wards and polling units.
According to the group, these developments point to a worrying trend of disconnect between certain ministers and their political bases.
“Ministers are not merely technocrats. They are political leaders of the party in their states and zones. If they cannot hold their homes together, then they do not deserve to hold on to strategic national offices. The bye-elections have sent a clear message, and it is that some ministers have lost relevance and electoral value,” the statement reads.
The Asiwaju Network maintained that the APC’s strength lies in grassroots mobilisation, and any minister unable to inspire loyalty within his immediate constituency is a liability.
Dandoka emphasised that President Tinubu’s success in governance must be matched with political consolidation, which requires capable and electorally grounded cabinet members.
“President Tinubu has been bold with tough decisions on subsidy reforms, the economy, and security. Nigerians are beginning to see the fruits of those reforms. But he must also be bold enough to reshuffle his cabinet. A government of results cannot afford ministers who are passengers. The President needs proven drivers of the Renewed Hope vision,” Dandoka said.
The group also commended loyal APC members and supporters who defied intimidation and attempts at rigging in Jigawa and Enugu, saying their resilience was the true strength of the ruling party.
“These members stood firm when those at the top failed to inspire confidence. They turned out in their numbers to defend the APC’s relevance even when some of their supposed leaders abandoned them. These grassroots soldiers of democracy must never be taken for granted,” Dandoka added.
The Asiwaju Network further urged President Tinubu to take the bye-election results as a warning, cautioning that retaining non-performing ministers would embolden the opposition and demoralise party loyalists.
“The message from Jigawa and Enugu is clear: the APC cannot continue to reward failure. A minister who cannot secure a few streets in his ward has no business in the Federal Executive Council. Mr President must urgently rejig his cabinet or risk carrying dead weight into future electoral contests,” the coalition warned.
Reaffirming the group’s loyalty to Tinubu’s leadership, Dandoka said Nigerians expect a government that rewards competence and accountability, not excuses and political failures.
“President Tinubu has the people’s mandate. He must not allow weak ministers to drag down his vision. A decisive cabinet reshuffle now will send a strong signal that the Renewed Hope government is serious about performance, delivery, and results,” he declared.
Customs at the Crossroads: When Lawmakers Look Away and the Executive Looks Aside
By Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi
In a democracy, legislative oversight is the scalpel that cuts through deceit, inefficiency, and corruption in public institutions. It is the people’s last institutional shield against abuse of power. But what happens when that shield becomes a shelter for the very rot it is meant to expose? And what happens when the Executive arm, whose duty is to supervise its agencies, pretends not to see?
The unfolding drama between the National Assembly and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) reveals more than a policy dispute. It exposes a dangerous triangle of confusion, complicity, and economic sabotage. At stake is not only the rule of law but the survival of an economy already gasping under inflation, a weak naira, and suffocating costs of living.
The House Talks Tough
In June 2025, Nigerians saw a glimpse of legislative courage when the House of Representatives Committee thundered at Customs:
> “Nigerian Customs Service, by June 30, must not collect CISS again. You are to collect only your 4% FOB assigned by the President. Even the 7% cost of collection you currently take is illegal—it was an executive fiat of the military, not democratic law. Any attempt to continue these illegal collections will be challenged in court. The ‘I’s have it.”
The voice was firm, the ruling decisive. Nigerians expected a turning point.
But the righteous thunder of the House was quickly muffled by the Senate’s softer tone, which suggested not the enforcement of the law but a readiness to bend it.
Senate: Oversight or Escape Route?
At a Senate Customs Committee session, Senator Ade Fadahunsi admitted openly that Customs has been operating illegally since June 2023. Yet rather than demand an end to illegality, he extended a lifeline to Comptroller-General Bashir Adeniyi:
> “If we come back to the same source… the two houses will sit together and see to your amendment so you will not be walking on a tight rope.”
But should Adeniyi be handed a loose rope while Nigeria’s economy hangs by a thread?
Instead of accountability, the Senate Customs Committee floated adjustments that would make life easier for Customs. The nation was given hints about fraudulent insurance and freight data, but instead of sanctions, what we saw was a search for escape routes. This is not oversight—it is overlook.
Smuggling and Excuses
The Senate Committee also lamented cross-border smuggling—Nigerian goods like cement flooding Cotonou, Togo, and Ghana at cheaper prices than in Nigeria. Senator Fadahunsi blamed the Central Bank’s 2% value deposit for encouraging the practice.
But where are the Senate’s enforcement actions—compliance checks, stiffer sanctions, cross-border coordination? None. The result is predictable: smugglers prosper, reserves bleed, and ordinary Nigerians pay more for less.
A Bloated Customs Budget
The Service’s 2024 capital allocation ballooned to ₦1.1 trillion from ₦706 billion. Instead of channeling these resources into modern trade systems, Customs is expanding empires of frivolity—such as proposing a new university despite already having training facilities in Gwagwalada and Ikeja that could easily be upgraded.
Oversight is not an afterthought; it is the legislature’s constitutional duty. To see waste and illegality and yet propose amendments that would legalise them is to turn oversight into overlook.
Customs has about 16,000 staff, yet many remain poorly trained. Rather than prioritise capacity building, the Service is busy building staff estates in odd locations. How does Modakeke—an inland town with no border post—end up with massive Customs housing projects, while strategic border towns like Badagry, Idiroko, and Saki remain neglected? Is Bashir Adeniyi Comptroller-General of Customs—or Minister of Housing?
The 4% FOB Levy: A Policy Blunder
The central controversy is the Federal Government’s plan to replace existing port charges with a new 4% Free-On-Board (FOB) levy on imports.
Nigeria is an import-dependent nation. This levy will instantly hike the costs of cars, spare parts, machinery, and raw materials—crippling industries and punishing consumers.
Already, the consequences are biting:
A 2006 Toyota Corolla now costs between ₦6–9 million.
Clearing agents who once paid ₦215,000 for license renewal must now cough out ₦4 million.
New freight forwarder licenses have jumped from ₦600,000 to ₦10 million.
Customs claims the revenue is needed for its modernisation programme, anchored on a software platform called B’Odogwu. But stakeholders describe this so-called “Odogwu” as epileptic—if not comatose. Why commit trillions to a ghost programme that will be obsolete by January 2026, when the Nigerian Revenue Service is set to take over Customs collections?
Industry Raises the Alarm
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has warned that the levy will worsen inflation, disrupt supply chains, and hurt productivity.
Lucky Amiwero, President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, calls the levy “economically dangerous.” His reasoning is straightforward:
The 4% FOB levy is much higher than the 1% CISS it replaces.
Peer countries like Ghana maintain just 1%.
The new levy will fuel inflation, raise the landed costs of goods, and destabilise the naira.
He also revealed that the Customs Modernisation Act, which introduced the levy, was passed without Senate scrutiny or meaningful stakeholder consultation. He estimates that the levy could add ₦3–4 trillion annually to freight costs—burdens that will be transferred directly to consumers.
Who Is Behind the “Odogwu” Masquerade?
The haste to enforce this levy, despite its looming redundancy, raises disturbing questions. Who benefits from the “Odogwu” project draining trillions? Why the rush, when NRS will take over collections in a few months?
This masquerade must be unmasked.
The Price Nigerians Pay
For ordinary Nigerians, this policy translates into one thing: higher prices. Cars, manufactured goods, and spare parts are spiraling beyond reach. A nation struggling with inflation, unemployment, and a weak currency cannot afford such reckless experiments.
So, while the Senate looks away, the Executive cannot look aside.
The Executive Cannot Escape Blame.
It is easy to focus on the failings of the legislature. But we must not forget: the Customs Service is an agency of the Federal Ministry of Finance, under the direct supervision of the Honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun.
If Customs is breaking the law, wasting resources, or implementing anti-people policies, the buck stops at the Executive’s table. The Minister of Finance is Chairman of the Customs Board. To fold his hands while the Service operates in illegality is to abdicate responsibility.
History gives us a model. In 1999, the Minister of State for Finance, Nenadi Usman, was specifically assigned to supervise Customs and report directly to the President. Meanwhile, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala focused on broader fiscal and economic policies. That division of responsibility improved accountability. Today, the absence of such an arrangement is feeding impunity.
President Tinubu and his Finance Minister must act decisively. Oversight without executive will is a dead letter.
A Call to Accountability
The truth is stark:
Customs has been operating illegally since June 2023 to the Senate’s own confession.
The 4% FOB levy will deepen inflation and worsen economic hardship.
The Ministry of Finance bears ultimate responsibility for Customs’ conduct.
Until importing and consuming, Nigerians demand accountability—of the Comptroller-General, the Senate, and above all, the Finance Ministry—this bleeding will continue.
Nigerians deserve better. They deserve a Customs Service that serves the nation, not a privileged few. They deserve a House that enforces its resolutions, not one that grandstands. They deserve a Senate that upholds the law, not one that bends it. And above all, they deserve an Executive that does not look aside while illegality thrives under its ministry.
Only public pressure can end this indulgence. If Nigerians keep silent, we will keep paying the price—in higher costs, weaker currency, and a sabotaged economy.
Citizens’ Charge: Silence is Not an Option
Fellow Nigerians, the Customs crisis is not a drama for the pages of newspapers—it is a burden on our pockets, our businesses, and our children’s future. Every illegal levy is a tax on the poor. Every abandoned oversight is an open invitation to corruption. Every silence from the Executive is an approval of impunity.
We cannot afford to fold our arms. Democracy gives us the power of voice, the duty of vigilance, and the right to demand accountability. Let us demand that:
The Senate and House of Representatives stop playing good cop, bad cop, and enforce the law without compromise.
The Ministry of Finance takes full responsibility for the Customs Service, supervising it in the interest of Nigerians, not vested interests.
The President intervenes now, before the Service crosses the dangerous line of turning illegality into policy.
History will not forgive a people who suffered in silence when their economy was bled by recklessness. Silence is complicity. The time to speak, to write, to petition, to protest, and to demand is now.
Customs must serve Nigeria—not sabotage it.
Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi is an Apostle and Nation Builder. He’s also the President of Voice of His Word Ministries and Convener Apostolic Round Table. BoT Chairman, Project Victory Call Initiative, AKA PVC Naija. He is a strategic Communicator and the CEO, Masterbuilder Communications.
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Aare Adetola Emmanuel King Congratulates Hon. Adesola Ayoola-Elegbeji on Election Victory
The Chairman/CEO of Adron Group, Sir Aare Adetola Emmanuel King KOF, has congratulated Hon. Adesola Ayoola-Elegbeji on her resounding victory in the just-concluded by-election for the Remo Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives.
In a goodwill message issued by him, he described the victory as “a historic moment for the Remo people, coming at a time when the constituency yearns for a leader with vision, courage, and genuine commitment to service.”
He noted that the outcome of the election was an attestation to the trust and confidence reposed in Hon. Ayoola-Elegbeji by the people, adding that her sterling qualities, integrity, accessibility, and compassion for the grassroots had endeared her to the electorate.
“The overwhelming support you garnered at the polls is proof that you are the right voice at the right time to carry the aspirations of Remo to the national stage,” he stated.
While acknowledging that the by-election followed the painful demise of the late Hon. Adewunmi Oriyomi Onanuga (Ijaya), Aare Adetola Emmanuel King said Hon. Ayoola-Elegbeji’s emergence symbolizes the continuity of purposeful representation. He expressed confidence that she would not only sustain the legacy of her predecessor but also surpass it with new energy, innovative ideas, and progressive leadership.
The Adron Group Chairman further prayed for divine wisdom, strength, and compassion for the Member-Elect as she assumes office, expressing confidence that her tenure will usher in meaningful development, economic empowerment, and greater opportunities for the people of Remo Federal Constituency.
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