Rivers Crisis: Yoruba Youths Berate Wike For Disrespecting Tinubu

…say FCT Minister never respected Abuja peace accord

The Oduduwa Youths Initiative (OYI) has rebuked the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, for disrespecting President Bola Tinubu by breaching the Peace Accord initiated by the President.

In a statement signed by its leader, Otunba Gbenga Ojo, the youths said it is against the culture of the Yoruba people to disrespect elders and authorities in government like Wike has done.

In December, Governor Siminalayi Fubara signed an agreement with his predecessor to end the political crisis in Rivers State.

An eight-point peace deal was brokered by President Tinubu and other stakeholders at a crucial meeting in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

However, the FCT Minister and his lieutenants have sustained attacks on the Governor, particularly through the state assembly members.

According to Ojo, the members, led by Martin Amaewhule have made several futile attempts to destabilise the government of Fubara.

He said the lawmakers have continued to make life difficult for Governor Fubara by vetoing him, amending and enacting laws without his assent.

Ojo noted that the recent threat by the 27 lawmakers to resume impeachment proceedings against the Governor lends credence to the deepening crisis between the two parties.

The Oduduwa youths also slammed Wike for his continuous public outbursts, ruling out the possibility of any reconciliation with Fubara.

But on his part, the group said Fubara implemented the agreements, including the re-appointment of the nine pro-Wike commissioners who resigned their positions in the heat of the crisis and payment of the withheld entitlements of the lawmakers.

The Oduduwa Youths Initiative, therefore, called on Wike to apologise for the level of disdain and disregard for the office of the President.

Ojo warned that failure to do so would attract protests across the country by Yoruba youths to demand his sack as Minister.

“We have followed the political crisis in Rivers State and the swift intervention by President Tinubu to end further hostilities,” Ojo said.

“However, we have been surprised that the peace accord has not been implemented by the FCT Minister who appears to have thrown caution to the wind in his conduct.

“For months now Amaewhule and his cohorts have been entangled in unconstitutionality, in their selfish bid to destablise the administration of Governor Fubara and satisfy the whims and caprices of Wike.

“In January, the lawmakers overrode the decision of the governor not to approve four bills earlier passed by the assembly. The governor had withheld his assent rightly stating that such amendments would create confusion and breach constituted laws.

“The Rivers House recently again overrode the decision of Fubara not to assent to some bills. They even resumed impeachment proceedings against the Governor.

“We are not surprised though because Wike has consistently made careless remarks undermining the President. He has been very heedless and uncult.

“Therefore, we are giving the FCT Minister 24 hours to apologise for disrespecting the President. Failure to do so would attract massive protests across the country calling for his sack”.

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Appointees ‘wishing Tinubu dead before 2027, strategising for Presidency’ behind El-Rufai, Yahaya Bello’s ordeals – prominent APC chieftain drops bombshell

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Jesutega Onokpasa, has revealed that certain appointees of President Bola Tinubu are plotting to succeed him before the end of his tenure and are seriously wishing that the President will not make it to 2027 for their selfish reasons.

Onokpasa, a lawyer and former member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who lamented the alleged hypocrisy, pull him down mentality and anti-party activities going on in the governing party, laid curses on those he accused of wishing Tinubu dead, saying, “If they don’t repent, Asiwaju will attend their funeral.”

He said this in a video, where he was seen addressing party members and drawing their attention to the belief that the ongoing drama around the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s allegations against former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello; and the continued attack on former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, were plans mapped out by these individuals to allegedly perfect their plans.

Expressing concern over ill treatments, selective prosecution and hounding meted out on some prominent chieftains of the party since the emergence of Tinubu’s presidency, Onokpasa alleged that the particular appointees he was referring to in Tinubu’s government were behind the ordeals of former Governors Yahaya Bello, Nasir El- Rufai and Abdullahi Ganduje in order to perfect their “satanic” succession plans, while allegedly wishing that the President would no longer be around by 2027.

Referring to a particular appointee of Tinubu whose name was not mentioned, the chieftain said, “You drive Rufai away, you start hounding Ganduje, although there are other things involved, you start attacking Yahaya Bello, what did you do? You don’t have mandate my friend, you are just an appointee… you think we don’t know what is going on?

“Listen, Asiwaju is a child of God. Asiwaju will rule this country for eight complete years. There is nothing anybody can do about that. He will rule this first four years, he will so perform, Nigerians, again, will vote for him and next time around, we will win a majority of the total votes cast. So, all these your satanic plans, plotting that our President will not make it to 2027, you are wasting your time. Get that through your head.”

The party chieftain, who Nigerians know to be a die-hard supporter of President Tinubu, also angrily bemoaned what he called the attitude of “using and dumping” people who worked for the victory of the President in 2023, while those who were against the President and even insulted him, were being given priorities “over authentic supporters and genuine Batists.”

Onokpasa, who was also a member of the APC Presidential Legal Team and Chairman, Tinubu Media Support Group, said, “Of recent concern to me is the case of my younger brother, His Excellency, the former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello. In this party, we have had our brother, the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai basically chased out of our party despite what he did for us to make us win. Now, it is Yahaya Bello. A few weeks or months ago, it was our National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje that was basically almost being chased from our party.”

Blowing hot against those behind the ugly trend, who he claimed were arrogating powers to themselves at the detriment of Tinubu’s wellbeing, and warning them to desist, Onokpasa stated, “Listen, we cannot tolerate such nonsense in a party. Let everybody in this party come to his senses. We know how we won election. We won election because of the grace of God, because the grace of God is upon our President, Asiwaju. We won election with the lowest margin. This our government has the lowest margin since 1999. We won with less than 40 per cent of the votes. In every other election, someone had won with 50 per cent of the votes.

“Everybody that contributed to our victory is important to me, because me, I am a fanatical Batist. This is the way I see Bola Tinubu’s administration. Bola Tinubu is a child of grace. The way I see it, God wants Bola Tinubu to be our President and we need him to be our President for eight years. What we should all square up to right now is a question of, there is no need to beat about the bush; there are people in our party who don’t believe in our President. For whatever reason they feel, I don’t know where they went to, that’s their headache.”

He cautioned those wishing Tinubu dead, stressing that the president would make it beyond 2027.

“Even after that eight years, he (Tinubu) will become an elder stateman for many years after that and none of you … all of you doing this rubbish, if you don’t repent, Asiwaju will attend all of your funerals. I am the one that is saying it,” he said.

Onokpasa recounted how a young man died in Edo State after wishing the President dead, saying, “I will like to share a story with you. There was this young man in Delta State where I come from. He had the guts to come to me and he said, uncle, this man, Bola Tinubu that you are supporting is going to die before the election and I told him, are you the God that created him? Do you know what happened? May his soul rest in peace, he died before Bola Tinubu won election.”

“There are people in this party who don’t believe in Asiwaju, they never believe that Asiwaju can make it to 2027. Do you know what? All these people, if they don’t repent, Asiwaju will attend all of their funerals. They are mad! They don’t have mandate, it is Asiwaju we voted for, it is Asiwaju that has mandate, it is Asiwaju that is the President. And we need Asiwaju to run complete eight years to finally make this country the pride of the black race,” APC chieftain stated.

On the Bello-EFCC controversy, he said it was for the court to decide, stating, “Nobody is supporting corruption. However, we fight corruption according to law and you will not have a personal indifference with somebody and then you use the instrumentality of office to torment that person. We will not tolerate that in this party. We must not.”

He also lambasted a particular appointee that he portrayed to be high-handed, alleging that the appointee funded an opposition member against the APC candidate, Usman Ododo, during the Kogi State governorship election.

The popular Tinubu loyalist said, “I mean, can you imagine the nonsense. You sponsored somebody who left our party, he used to be a member of our party committee, you claim to be a member of our party, you now sponsor him against our own candidate, Usman Ododo, you give him money, he lost, we defeated him. Sorry! Then, you say his lawyer, my learned friend, Jibril Okutepa, he is the one that you now brief to torment Yahaya Bello?

“I am very proud of Yahaya Bello, Yahaya Bello helped Asiwaju to win election. Anybody who helped Asiwaju to win election is my brother. He is my father’s son that my mother gave birth to. I don’t owe you any apology, who are you? Nonsense! You will turn all of us to cowards?”

Gas Explosion: Lagos Lawmakers Demand Better Enforcement Of Safety Law

Following a recent gas explosion in the Ajeromi/Ifelodun area of Lagos that resulted in fatalities, the state House of Assembly has called on concerned ministries, departments and agencies of government to step up enforcement of safety laws to protect lives and property.

The House, at plenary presided over by Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa on Monday, tasked two ministries – Physical Planning and Urban Development as well as Special Duties – to up their responsibilities to ensure that lives are protected against sales of combustible substances in residential areas.

The House frowned against the proliferation of gas shops across the state and asked the Lagos State Safety Agency not to compromise on enforcement of laws regulating the activities of such outlets, a statement by Eromosele Ebhomele, Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, said.

A recent gas explosion had led to the death of 15 residents with at least 35 others sustaining injuries according to their representative at the Lagos Assembly, Hon. Sabur Oluwa (Ajeromi Ifelodun 2).

The House urged the government to support the victims in the form of relief materials.

Before the lawmakers observed a minute silence for the victims of the explosion, Speaker Obasa sympathised with the affected constituents and emphasised the need to address the issue.

He acknowledged that gas regulation falls under the ‘exclusive list’, but urged the state to find a way around it to prevent further tragedies.

“Having gas shops and outlets within the community without proper regulations must be looked into. It calls for concern and we must look for a way out,” Dr. Obasa said as he directed the Clerk, Barr. Olalekan Onafeko, to communicate the resolution of the House to the appropriate authorities.

Meanwhile, the Assembly has commended the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and the Gbagada General Hospital for their swift handling of emergency cases brought to the facilities.

Hon. Desmond Elliot (Surulere 1) said he witnessed how medical personnel at the two hospitals battled to save the lives of fire accident victims recently.

“Our health sector should be commended,” he said while acknowledging the collaboration between arms of government resulting in elevated healthcare standards in the state.

“The commitment and dedication I witnessed in the handling of fire victims at LASUTH and the Gbagada General Hospital are encouraging, reflecting a system where all hands were indeed on deck.

“When I got to the wards, I met over nine doctors and nurses attending to the victims at the LASUTH. I saw the same thing at the Gbagada General hospital,” he said.

Speaker Obasa, who emphasised the role of the legislative body in recognising and supporting such commendable endeavours, added: “This is exactly what the House is expected to do at all times.

“We will always commend the MDAs for a job well-done, and anywhere they falter, we will always point such out.”

He, thereafter, directed the Clerk to forward letters of commendation to the management of LASUTH, Gbagada General Hospital and the Commissioner of Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi.

Eromosele Ebhomele
Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.