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Assembly Leadership Crisis: Dickson Recognises New Speaker

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Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has endorsed the election of a new Speaker for Bayelsa State House of Assembly which took place under chaotic  circumstances last Monday.
Our source reports that there was heavy shooting at the Bayelsa House of Assembly when hundreds of youths stormed the assembly complex in Yenagoa.
Speaker of the Assembly, Mr Emmanuel Isenah, had adjourned the session indefinitely for the house to proceed on recess.
But the youth who besieged the assembly immediately shot sporadically and made away with the mace while some members of the Assembly were still in the chambers.
Some members who sat back reportedly resumed sitting and allegedly impeached the speaker in absentia and elected Mr Monday Obolo (PDP-Southern Ijaw Constituency 2) to replace Isenah.
Dickson, congratulated the newly-elected Speaker, Obolo, in a statement issued on Monday evening by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Fidelis Soriwei.
According to the statement, Obolo was elected Speaker following the impeachment of the former Speaker, Isenah.
Our source, however, gathered that the PDP leadership had advised Isenah to resign or face impeachment for the party to realign the balance of power since Isenah hails from the same area as PDP’s candidate in the Nov. 16 guber poll.
Isenah had held the view that his resignation was premature and could only happen after the polls.
The party believed that giving the position to Southern Ijaw, the zone where the candidate of the rival All Progressives Congress hails from might sway voters.
Reacting to the development in a telephone chat, Isenah said that he remained the Speaker as he had earlier adjourned the sitting sine die and only him could re-convene the house.
“I did not resign, neither was I impeached, I presided over the house and I did not preside as an impeached speaker so as we speak, the house is on recess and anything done by anyone is a nullity.
“The speculation that there was an understanding that I will resign is false; I challenge anyone canvassing that position to come up with a proof.
“The Bayelsa House of Assembly is an independent arm of government and I want the people of Bayelsa and every stakeholder to know that what happened after we went on recess is illegal and therefore a nullity,” Isenah said.

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Presidency Tackles Baba-Ahmed Over Anti-Tinubu Comments

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The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications’, Mr Sunday Dare, says no political “conspiracies” can prevent the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Mr Dare was responding to a recent statement by Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed, former vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election.
Dr Baba-Ahmed had said that President Tinubu’s time in office was over and that the signs of his impending electoral defeat were becoming increasingly clear.
“I expect Tinubu to throw in the towel if he is that smart politician,” he had said.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Mr Dare described Dr Baba-Ahmed’s remark as “flawed, devoid of reason and empty”.
“His political logic is not fit for even a first-year political science class, and even then, they will query his postulations,” the statement read.
“He chose to base his political calculations on President Bola Tinubu not winning a second term given his antecedents and because Nigerians will decide at the polls, among other things. He conveniently avoided the substance of performance and capacity.
“Unfortunately, he chose to walk into a lane he was unfamiliar with and chose to confront a politician he is no match for.
“Politics is not for theorists or the faint-hearted nor the parochial. Politics is for those with a solid track record of performance, the courageous, far-sighted and gifted. Qualities he clearly lacks.
“Another thing Baba Ahmed lacks is the capacity for honesty because that is the only way to describe his claim that President Tinubu is not fulfilling his campaign promises. The positive impacts  of the tough choices President Tinubu has made in the interest of the country are already being felt, and the economic indices are there to prove this”, he added.
Mr Dare said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently applauded President Tinubu for his economic reforms, noting that they have put the economy in a better position.
The presidential aide said President Tinubu “will win comfortably in 2027 no matter the volume of armchair theories and political conspiracies”.
He said President Tinubu’s performance “will clear the path” for his re-election.
“So, instead of running the circuit of television networks to peddle his poorly thought-out conjectures, Baba-Ahmed should seriously consider how to rehabilitate his failed political career, an intervention he urgently needs”.
Mr Dare asked Dr Baba-Ahmed to either keep quiet or leave politics for those “equipped” for the “complicated art”.

 

 

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LP Crisis: Resign Or We Flush You Out, NLC Tells Abure

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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, to resign from office to avert plunging the party into a crisis that could jeopardise its 2027 electioneering campaign.
Acting Chairman of the NLC Political Commission, Prof Theophilus Ndubuaku, said this in an interview with The Tide’s source.
Prof Ndubuaku disclosed that the embattled LP Chairman had, through his lawyer, sought an out-of-court settlement two weeks before the Supreme Court judgment, seeking to step down in exchange for certain conditions.
According to the union leader, Mr Abure still has the opportunity to honour his pledge before the NLC takes a drastic decision to eventually ‘flush him out’ of the party secretariat.
He said, “After the National Transition Committee set up by the stakeholders asked him to vacate the secretariat, Abure ran to court, where he challenged the NLC and NTC leadership. That case came up in the Federal High Court, Zuba.
“After our response to their submissions by our counsel, Abure’s lawyer told the judge they were no longer interested in continuing with the case, adding that Abure had agreed to yield the chairmanship seat to us, based on certain terms he didn’t state.
“They requested more time for an out-of-court settlement, and the judge gave them up to the 28th of June to bring their settlement or adoption to court. This same Abure took that position two weeks before the Supreme Court ruling. So, what has now changed?
“His case is like that of someone with a mental illness. This is no longer a game. Abure is still sitting tight despite knowing that he has been removed.”
But reacting, Mr Abure’s camp denied that the LP chair requested a soft landing in exchange for giving up his position.
Speaking with The Tide source, the National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifoh, said, “It is not true. That is propaganda. There is nothing like that. We didn’t have any out-of-court settlements or any commitment like that with anybody, let alone the NLC.
“Are these not the same people going for discussions on coalition and trying to use the party as a transactional vehicle? They want to sell the party. No, it is not possible.”

 

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LP Condemns Baba-Ahmed Over Statement On Tinubu’s Administration 

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The Julius Abure-leadership of the Labour Party (LP) has condemned a statement by the former vice presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, who said President Bola Tinubu’s government is ‘questionably constitutional’.
The rebuttal, signed by Dr Arabambi Abayomi was issued to newsmen on Saturday in Kaduna by the National Secretary, Umar Ibrahim.
Dr Abayomi said the LP viewed the comment as undemocratic, therefore dissociating itself from any surreptitious action capable of inciting Nigerians against the present government.
He said the party approached the 2023 general elections with all the determination to make a difference in the way Nigeria was run.
The scribe also recalled that the party had sponsored candidates it believed at the time could win elections.
He also recalled that the result of the 2023 presidential election declaration did not go its way, and the party challenged the result up to the Supreme Court and lost.
“For the interest and peace of the nation, the Labour Party accepted the judgment of the Supreme Court.
“This was not because we were pleased but because of the finality of the Supreme Court’s judgment. The party has since moved on,” he said.
Dr Abayomi lamented that the party was astonished by the illegal and unconstitutional meeting called by Governor Alex Otti of Abia and Peter Obi on April 9 in Abuja.
He said that at the meeting, Sen. Baba-Ahmed still referred to the 2023 presidential election as ‘questionably constitutional’ even with the legitimacy conferred on President Tinubu’s government by the Supreme Court.
Dr Abayomi also alleged that Sen. Baba-Ahmed, in an interview with a national television station, said, “The appointments they are making are fake and illegal.
“The paraphernalia of government they are enjoying, destroying our country, and spending our money is only for a little time.”
He, therefore, said for them at the party, such a statement was clearly inciting and a call for mass action against a constituted authority.
Dr Abayomi said, “We think there should be a limit to whipping up the public sentiments against a legitimate government.
“The Arab Spring that rattled the entire Middle East started when the Arab leaders paid no attention to Bouazizi’s subtle comment.
“There was also the persistent galvanisation of the youths against their governments leading into the mass demonstrations, revolts, and revolutions that almost consumed the region.”
He recalled that Senator Baba-Ahmed, while refusing to concede victory in the 2023 presidential election, also alleged that President Tinubu’s government harboured a grand scheme to dismember Nigeria into six possibly autonomous zones.
He had also alleged that the administration had thrown Nigerians into untold hardship.
All these, Dr Abayomi said, were efforts to whip up sentiments against the government.
He emphasised that Nigeria was presently passing through a dangerous and precarious phase.
According to him, this needs every well meaning Nigerian to realise the fragility of the nation by putting politics aside and help to move the nation out of the woods.
Dr Abayomi maintained that the leadership of LP had stated clearly that it was within the right of every Nigerian to hold the government accountable for its inability to live up to the expectation.
He, however, said statements that were inciting and capable of plunging the nation into unwarranted combustion, particularly by the political class, must be avoided.
“The Labour Party under the able leadership of Mr Julius Abure, therefore, wishes to completely dissociate itself from the unfortunate and reprehensible comments by its former vice presidential candidate,” he said.
Similarly, Dr Abayomi said the party also viewed the alleged comment by Gov. Otti of a possible ‘doomsday’ awaiting the Julius Abure-led leadership as a direct threat to the lives of the party’s executive members.
He called on all the security agencies to beef up security around their leaders.

 

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