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APC In Turmoil …Abe Dares Amaechi In Rivers …Delegates, Gov Battle Buhari, Oshiomhole
Senator Magnus Abe says only direct primaries could guarantee a level-playing field for the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State amid the lingering conflict between his camp and that loyal to Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi in the state.
The Ojukaye Flag-Amachree chaired faction of the Rivers APC, loyal to Amaechi, had, three days ago, adopted indirect primaries to determine Rivers APC 2019 flag-bearers, but Abe, speaking in Port Harcourt, yesterday, countered that decision as unworkable.
The senator, the first aspirant to declare for the 2019 Rivers APC governorship ticket, said, “Rivers is one of those states where we can’t have indirect primaries because the entire structure in the state is embroiled in legal controversies.
“We have more than four, five court cases; so if you want to use indirect primaries, which particular delegates list are you going to use, based on which congress? All these issues are in legal tussles, so you can’t at this stage pick one above the other.
“So for safety and legal comfort of those to contest the election in Rivers, we just have to use direct primaries. Whatever objection anybody may have with direct primaries, be it lack of proper data base, security or whatever it is, these are all defects curable in our system”.
Meanwhile, delegates who emerged through the congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the ward and local governments levels earlier this year have joined their state party executives and governors to reject the direct primary option proposed by the National Working Committee of the party.
Investigations revealed that delegates, who bought forms and contested elections before they emerged as party officials at all levels, had vowed to work against the interest of the governors if they embraced the direct primary option.
A leader of the APC in one of the South-West states, who is also a delegate, told one of our correspondents that it would be unfair to deny ward and local government officers of the party the opportunity to “reap from their investments” during the general elections.
He said, “There are lots of advantages in being a delegate. At least, you are assured that you will make enough money to defray the expenses you incurred in the course of your election.
“Where do they expect this to happen now with the direct primary option? The aspirant will expect you as ward leader to share the money given to you among all your members. That does not make sense at all.”
A source, who was a delegate in the last governorship election primary in Ondo State last year, alleged that two leading aspirants of the APC gave out N200,000 each to every delegate while three others spent N150,000 each to settle each of the delegates.
He said, “The implication of this is that a very smart delegate could pocket about N700,000 without much stress. It would be impossible to make such money in a direct primary arrangement.”
Another delegate in the last Ekiti governorship election also confirmed to one of our correspondents that each leading aspirant, who contested the APC primary, also spent between N150,000 and N200,000 to bribe each of the delegates.
He said, “That is why we are on the same page with the governors to fight the senators who are pushing for direct primary in order to secure automatic tickets from President Muhammadu Buhari and our National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.”
The party’s National Organising Secretary, Senator Osita Izunaso, had, in a statement in April, said ward chairmanship aspirants would pay N10,000 each to obtain the nomination form and that aspirants for other ward offices would pay N2,000.
Local government chairmanship aspirants were expected to pay N25,000 for the nomination form while aspirants for other local government offices would purchase the form for N10,000.
State chairmanship aspirants were to pay N100,000 while the form for other state offices went for N30,000.
According to the guidelines, all females and physically challenged aspirants shall pay 50 per cent of the prescribed fees.
Speaking on the issue, the Chairman, Ondo State chapter of the APC, Mr. Ade Adetimehin, said, the decision of the National Executive Committee of the party in Abuja, actually authorised states to use indirect primaries.
He said, “At the NEC meeting, held penultimate Thursday, the resolution was that the election of the President would be by direct primary while other candidates of the party would be picked through the indirect option.
“There was, however, a caveat that each state could still determine the method that suits them. However from the opinion poll there, the majority settled for the indirect primary.
“No one is afraid of the direct primary. The problem is that there is no correct data across the country for the APC members. If we leave it open, many people will just show up at the primary venue and claim to be members.
“What the NWC wants to do is to cause confusion in all the states. We don’t have security to man the 203 wards in Ondo State. People will just invade the primary venues with fake membership cards and they will destroy the entire process if we try to stop them.”
A delegate from the Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, who pleaded not to be named, said direct primary would be cumbersome to handle.
“If the party decides to adopt direct primaries, it would be too difficult to control the crowd for security reasons. The process could even be infiltrated by members of the opposition,” the delegate stated.
Another Edo delegate, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the issue, told newsmen that direct primary was not only expensive to manage but also time-consuming.
He said, “If the primaries are done directly, aspirants will spend more money because people are hungry. So, the highest bidder would have the day.”
As of Saturday, the states that had adopted the direct primary option, as proposed by the NWC of the party, are Abia, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Jigawa, Kano, Kwara, Lagos and Niger.
Those that had embraced the indirect option are Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Imo, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara states.
However, another faction of the party in Rivers State has opted for the direct primary approach to elect delegates, thereby further deepening the already polarised party in the state.
Further investigations revealed that Ebonyi, Kebbi, Ogun, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Gombe, Osun and Taraba states had yet to take a decision on the issue.
Meanwhile, some of the affected senators have refused to be specific on their chances of getting their dream tickets.
Those who declined to be specific on the matter include Senator Shehu Sani, (Kadunal Central) Lanre Tejuoso (Ogun Central) and Ajayi Borofice (Ondo North).
When contacted on the telephone, Borofice said he didn’t want to talk about the issue at all.
Tejuoso avoided the questions posed to him by one of our correspondents.
He listened to questions bordering on his fate in 2019 and asked that the questions be sent to him through WhatsApp.
He promised to respond to them in writing, saying he did not want to be misquoted.
When he was called again last Friday night, Tejuoso said he could not speak on the matter “for now” until the pending issues had been resolved.
Similarly, Sani refused to be specific on his political future.
He said, “I don’t want to comment on that. I have already made enough statements on my support for direct primary. I don’t want to be specific. In the coming days, we will take a position on that. But now, what I can say it that I want direct primary.”
Speaking to one of our correspondents, a senator from a state in the North-East, who spoke on condition of anonymity, pointed out that the governors would determine the fate of the lawmakers.
According to him, some of the lawmakers made a mistake by engaging their governors in political battles, noting that the governors were the state leaders and financiers of the parties.
The senator said, “If you are a well-grounded politician, why should you worry about whether the primary is direct or indirect? That means you must have a good relationship, rapport and acceptability of the electorate or delegates.
“However, he who pays the piper calls the tune. The governors are the ones who fund the party. In the APC, they are the leaders of the party in the states. If they are the state leaders, they should be in a position to decide which is more appropriate for the primary.
“Some of the senators, who made the mistake of fighting their governors, don’t have the reason to do that. Every state has three senators but every state has only one governor. There are some governors who are the ones going after senators’ seats. Even with that, they can settle the issue amicably.”
Also, Senator Kabiru Marafa, who hailed the decision by the APC NEC, said the choice of direct method for the presidential primary was a ‘vote of no confidence’ in the state executives elected by the congresses supervised by the governors.
He said, “The NEC’s decision passed a vote of no confidence in the congresses conducted by the former National Working Committee and the leadership of the APC.
“The fact that they were specific on the presidential primary, that it should be conducted through the direct method, tells you that they don’t have confidence in the congresses conducted in the states.”
According to Marafa, (Zamfara) lawmakers, who opposed governors on the conduct of the APC congresses, have been vindicated by the NEC’s decision.
He noted that the leadership of the party, particularly the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; and national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, pushed for direct primary to protect President Muhammadu Buhari’s candidacy.
He said, “The intelligence of Adams Oshiomhole and his commitment to the President came to the fore yesterday.
“If indirect primary is done and issues later come up – as a lot of the congresses (that produced the executives who will serve as delegates) are being challenged in court.
“If the courts nullify these congresses and these executives are the ones who elected the presidential candidate, then the candidate has a problem. So, they want to protect the (candidacy of the) President and I am very happy about that.”
Senator Adesoji Akanbi (Oyo Central), however, said that the leaders of the APC in Oyo State were to meet yesterday to adopt either of the two primary options.
“We are having a meeting on Sunday to decide which mode – whether direct or indirect,” the senator said.
President Bola Tinubu has ordered a security outreach to the hotbeds of recent killings in Plateau, Benue and Borno States, to restore peace to areas wracked by mass killings and bomb attacks.
National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, disclosed this to State House correspondents after a four-hour security briefing with the President at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
“We listened and we took instructions from him. We got new directives…to go meet with the political authorities there,” Ribadu told reporters, adding that Tinubu directed them to engage state-level authorities in the worst-hit regions.
Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, Mohammed Mohammed; Chief Defence Intelligence of the Nigerian Army, Gen. Emmanuel Undianeye; Director-General, Department of State Services, Oluwatosin Ajayi and Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, appeared for the briefing.
The Tide’s source reports that in Plateau State, inter-communal violence between predominantly Christian farmers and nomadic herders spiralled into gory slaughter when gunmen stormed Zikke village in Bassa Local Government early on April 14, killing at least 51 people and razing homes in a single night.
In Benue, at least 56 people were killed in Logo and Gbagir after twin assaults blamed on armed herders.
Meanwhile, in Borno State, eight passengers perished and scores were injured when an improvised explosive device ripped through a bus on the Damboa–Maiduguri highway on April 12.
Ribadu explained that after an extensive briefing, intelligence chiefs received fresh instructions to restore peace, security and stability across Nigeria.
“In particular, Tinubu had ordered immediate outreach to the political authorities in Plateau, Benue and Borno States, and the defence team had gone round those States to carry out his directives and report back.
“We gave him an update on what has been the case and what is going on, and even when he was out there, before coming back, he was constantly in touch. He was giving directives. He was following developments, and we, in charge of the security, got the opportunity today to come and brief him properly for hours. And it was exhaustive.
“We listened and we took instructions from him. We got new directives. The fact is, Mr. President is insisting and working so hard to ensure that we have peace, security and stability in our country. We gave him an update on what is going on, and we also assured him that work is ongoing and continues.
“We also carried out his instructions. We went round, the chiefs were all out where we had these incidents of insecurity in Plateau State, Benue State, even Borno, these particular three states, and we gave him feedback, because he directed us to go meet with the political authorities there,” the NSA explained.
Ribadu described Tinubu as “worried and concerned,” and said he directed that all security arms be deployed around the clock.
The government, he added, believes these steps have already produced measurable improvements, even if the situation is not yet 100 per cent safe and secure.
“He’s so worried and concerned, he insisted that enough is enough, and we are working and to ensure that we restore peace and security and all of us are there. The armed forces are there, the Civil Police, intelligence communities, they are there.
“They are working there 24 hours, and we feel that we have done enough to believe that we are on the right course, and we’ll be able to be on top of things,” Ribadu stated.
The NSA emphasised that combating insecurity was not solely a Federal Government responsibility.
He stated, “The issue of insecurity often is not just for the government. It involves the subunits. They are the ones who are directly with the people, especially if some of the challenges are more or less bordering on community problems.
“Not entirely everything is that, but of course it also plays a significant role. You need to work with the communities, the local governments, and the governors, especially the governors.
“The President will continue to direct that. We should be doing that, and that’s what we are able to. We are very happy and very satisfied with the instructions and directives given by Mr. President this evening.”
In Borno State, the NSA noted that while violence had surged in recent months, the insurgents refused to accept defeat.
He warned that most recent casualties there resulted from improvised explosive devices—”cowardly” IED attacks targeting civilians—and from opportunistic raids that follow any lull in fighting.
“We are getting the cooperation of the leadership at the state level, and everybody. It’s not 100 per cent…but we are going there.
“When you are having peace and you are beginning to get used to it, if one bad incident happens, you forget the periods that you enjoyed peacefully,” he added.
He paid tribute to the “many who do not sleep, who walk throughout, who do not go for any break or holiday”—the soldiers, police and intelligence officers whose sacrifices have created the fragile calm Nigerians now experience.
“They will continue to be there,” he said, adding, “Things have changed in this country…we are on the right track and we will not relent. We will not sit down; we will not stop until we are able to achieve results.”
A Federal Government agency – the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, has decried the low patronage of Nigerian-made products by Nigerians.
The agency identified some challenges leading to the low patronage of the local products as affordability and public perception, among others.
Speaking during a stakeholders meeting organised by the agency in Akure, Ondo State capital, yesterday, the Deputy Director of Engineering at NASENI, Mr Joseph Alasoluyi, said Nigerians preferred buying foreign goods compared to local goods.
Alasoluyi, however disclosed that the agency had trained over 50 participants in the production of hand-made products, in a bid to ensure Nigeria-made products are patronised.
He explained that NASENI was set up to promote science, technology, and engineering as a foundation for Nigeria’s development and currently operates 12 institutes nationwide to achieve its objectives.
According to him, the aim of President Bola Tinubu, who is also the overall chairman of NASENI, was to ensure high production and patronage of “our local products thereby creating employment opportunities for many.”
He said, “The idea of this programme is to interface to ensure we produce products using our indigenous technology. This is what NASENI is out for, to ensure that homegrown technologies are encouraged.
“We are out there to ensure we integrate efforts to ensure that local technology is used to develop products within the resources we have.
“ The NASENI’s ‘3 Cs’ – Creation, Collaboration, and Commercialisation – that define NASENI’s strategic mandate: Creating innovations through research, Collaborating with partners to develop and refine products, and Commercialising these solutions to benefit the economy.
“Our achievements include the development of solar irrigation systems, CNG conversion centres, building machines capable of producing up to 1,000 blocks per hour, 10-inch tablets, locally made laptops, and electric tricycles (Keke Napep) set for market launch.”
In his remarks, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof. Samuel Oluyamo, blamed the Federal Government for not properly funding research in the varsities, also noting that many research outputs were left halfway due to lack of funding and weak linkages between research institutions and industry.
Oluyamo also queried the Federal Government’s commitment to funding research and development, saying many academic innovations remained on the shelve due to a lack of support for commercialisation and poor infrastructure.
“Until we upscale research into mass production, technological growth will remain elusive. The government is not funding research in the universities enough. Thank God for TETfund that is trying in this regime. The major interest in beefing up research in universities and research institutions is really not there,” he said.
The Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha, has said that Nigeria is in advanced discussions with JP Morgan to re-enter the Government Bond Index and renew investors’ confidence.
Oniha disclosed this on Wednesday at a Nigerian Investors’ Forum on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C.
The DMO boss explained that Nigeria has enjoyed favourable credit assessment among rating agencies in recent times on the back of the sweeping reforms initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Fitch Ratings recently upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings of seven Nigerian banks and two bank holding companies to ‘B’ from ‘B-‘, noting that the outlooks are Stable.
The affected issuers are Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, First HoldCo Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd, Fidelity Bank Plc and Bank of Industry Limited.
The upgrades of the Long-Term IDRs of the banks followed the recent sovereign upgrade and reflect Fitch’s view that Nigeria’s sovereign credit profile has become less of a constraint on the issuers’ standalone creditworthiness, the rating agency said.
Fitch also upgraded Nigeria’s Long-Term IDRs to ‘B’ from ‘B-‘ on 11 April, a decision that reflected increased confidence in the government’s broad commitment to policy reforms implemented since its move to orthodox economic policies in June 2023, including exchange rate liberalisation, monetary policy tightening and steps to end deficit monetisation and remove fuel subsidies.
“These have improved policy coherence and credibility and reduced economic distortions and near-term risks to macroeconomic stability, enhancing resilience in the context of persistent domestic challenges and heightened external risks,” Fitch said.
Nigeria was removed from the JP Morgan index in 2015 ostensibly due to its deviation from orthodox monetary policies and influence of capital control in its management of foreign exchange.
Principally due to reduction in oil revenues at the time, Nigeria introduced currency restrictions to defend the naira after it failed to halt a dangerous slide with burning of dollar reserves. The bank had earlier warned Nigeria to restore liquidity to its currency market in a way that allowed foreign investors tracking the index to conduct transactions with minimal hurdles.
“Foreign investors who track the GBI-EM series continue to face challenges and uncertainty while transacting in the naira due to the lack of a fully functional two-way FX market and limited transparency,” the bank said in a 2015 note.
Nigeria was listed in JP Morgan’s emerging government bond index in October 2012, after the Central Bank removed a requirement that foreign investors hold government bonds for a minimum of one year before exiting.
The JP Morgan Government Bond Index reflects investor confidence and opens doors to billions of investment flows, making Nigeria’s proposed re-entry a positive signal to the market and investors.
Oniha explained that talks with JP Morgan were ongoing and had gained momentum in recent times due to the stability created by the FX market reforms.
“With all the reforms that have taken place, particularly around FX, we have started engaging JP Morgan again to get back into the index. We think we are eligible now,” the DMO DG said.