Connect with us

News

The Obligatory Onus Of Ousting Osinbajo

Published

4 years ago

on

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo

 

By Bala Ibrahim.

Since yesterday Monday, when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo threw his hat into the race for the seat of his boss, come 2023, the media space became charged with all manner of comments, mostly accusing him of the betrayal of trust. Yes, 24 hours after his declaration, the learned SAN was virtually convicted of treachery in the public court, not just by his political opponents, but even some faithful church members.

At the risk of being too harsh, I would say the idiom, what goes around comes around, is expedient here, because a person’s actions, whether good or bad, will often have consequences for that person, be him a pastor, a senior lawyer or a Vice President. If someone treats other people badly, he or she will eventually be treated badly.

2023 : Emir of Dutse Endorses Ameachi

The first call of condemnation came from the Asiwaju himself, the celebrated benefactor of the Vice President. In astonishment, because, obviously he is not expecting one of his political mentees to challenge his lifelong presidential ambition, Asiwaju denied Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as a political son, telling journalists he has no son grown enough to declare for president.

Shortly after, the Lagos State APC chapter spokesperson, Seye Olajedo, gave notice to the effect that, Osinbajo is no longer their member. That is on the political front.

On the religious front, few hours later, members of his faith, the Northern Christians Movement (NCM), sent their salvo, saying, Osinbajo will deny Jesus and betray Adeboye as he did to Tinubu. The Northern Christians Movement warned certain spiritual and political leaders to be wary of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, predicting that he would betray anyone that has been instrumental to his achievements.

Advert

In a statement issued by its President, Rev. Jonah Omera in Abuja, the movement said, “Professor Osinbajo’s Monday morning online declaration rather unveiled him as a serial betrayal. His eventual declaration is an insult to the intelligence of Nigerians and a slap on their faces, especially when he initially denied having such ambition. Such devious behaviour points to a government that would thrive on being dubious if the electorates ever made the mistake of making him president.” – Rev. Jonah Omera.

The social media was flooded with comments, virtually all like sermons on the ills of treachery. Prof. Yusuf Dankofa’s comment is prototypical, and I quote, “Politics is not madness. It has some ethos and thrives on certain measure of loyalty and appreciation. That Prof Yemi Osinbajo will contest against his benefactor raises some questions of ethics and honour. Africans love backstabbers and any action that will undermine respect for certain core values. How can the Prof. muster enough courage, enter into the primaries with Jagaba Tinubu and be able to look at him eyeball to eyeball. If Tinubu had not suggested his name, if he didn’t submit his name and what of if he didn’t even consider him. But as they say, politics is an unethical venture where vultures who are ready to feast on human carcass holds sway”.

The question begging for answer from people like Dr Usman Isyaku is, where would the Vice President even get the wherewithal to fight the fight, and he wrote, “Osinbajo has never won any elections in his life before he ran with Buhari in 2015. This will be the first time he is running as a candidate and this will be the biggest litmus test in his political career. To my knowledge, he hasn’t got any network that he has personally built both in his native southwest and other regions to leverage his campaign for victory. He is grossly inadequate in terms of grassroots mobilisation beyond Abuja. He must be a political Einstein to pull this off successfully!”

To restore the credentials of honour, and put a tag of shame on the brazen betrayal and tactless treachery exhibited by the Vice President, every patriotic Nigerian owe it a duty to de-market Osinbajo, and there is a long shopping list of reasons to justify that, I think.

I would start by looking at the standpoint of his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari, who had since 2019, stopped giving the powers of acting President to Osinbajo.

PMB first registered his loss of confidence on Osinbajo, by stripping him of the chairmanship of the Economic Management Team, EMT, which was superintending the economic programmes of the administration. In its place, PMB named an Economic Advisory Council, CAC, with Prof Doyin Salami as the chairman.

Next came the stripping of the same Osinbajo of the supervisory powers over the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Social Investments Programmes (NSIP). The two were transferred to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

Information from the grapevine quoted many cases of misdeeds that angered the President, about the roles played by the Vice-President when the President went on medical leave.

From the perceived President’s standpoint, and the profusion of perfidy placed against the Vice President, it is inevitable, for Nigerians to see the onus of ousting Osinbajo from the political stage as an obligatory assignment.

Related Topics:

News

Retired Police Storm Villa Gate, Call Contributory Pension Scheme a ‘Killer Disease’

Published

41 seconds ago

on

April 20, 2026

By

Retired Police Storm Villa Gate, Call Contributory Pension Scheme a ‘Killer Disease’

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

Retired police personnel and their families, under the umbrella of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria, on Monday blocked one of the gates of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in protest.

The retirees are demanding the removal of the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme, which they described as “fraudulent, illegal, inhumane and obnoxious.”

Protesters carried placards reading “End CPS,” “If military, DSS were removed from PENCOM, why not police?” while many were chanting, “Police dey work, PenCom dey chop.”

They said the protest was aimed at urging President Bola Tinubu to assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly on December 4, 2025, and transmitted to the Presidency on March 16, 2026.

Advert

According to them, the bill, if signed into law, would exempt police personnel from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

Speaking in a video of the protest posted by Channels Television, a retired ASP, Nurudeen Dahiru, said, “We are not begging anybody. We have come to fight for our rights. We have suffered.

“We are not here to fight anybody. We are just here to demand for our rights. We have served for 35 years.

“According to the Constitution of the country, when you serve your country for 35 years, you should go home and rest. But see us suffering now. We are not able to take care of our children.

“We have no food to eat. We are dying. Silent killing. So this contributory pension scheme is a killer disease. 35 years is not easy. We are not here to fight anybody.”

Another retired officer said, “We don’t have anything to train them. As I retired 20 years ago, how much are they paying me?

“It is 24,000 that I am paying you because I retired with the inspector. So they have to sign our bill and give us all our money.

“So that somebody can use it for something. You can buy a house. And then now we don’t have a house.

“How can an ASP, a DSP, a CP retire and they are paying him how much? No, no, no. Enough is enough. It is a do or die. Even if some people are killed today, others are coming.”

Speaking to reporters, the National Coordinator of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria, CSP Raphael Irowainu (retd), who led the protest, said the group was at the Villa to press for the President’s assent to the bill exiting the police from the CPS.

Continue Reading

News

Court Admits Nine Exhibits Against Malami and Family

Published

20 minutes ago

on

April 20, 2026

By

 

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

A Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja and presided over by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on Monday, April 20, 2026 admitted nine exhibits against a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, alongside his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe, and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami.

The exhibits were presented before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in its ongoing trial of the former Minister and some family members.

The EFCC is prosecuting the defendants on an amended 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities to the tune of N8,713,923,759.49 (Eight Billion, Seven Hundred and Thirteen Million, Nine Hundred and Twenty-Three Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifty-Nine Naira, Forty-Nine Kobo), contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

The exhibits, which are documentary in nature, were tendered through the fourth prosecution witness, Mashelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank Plc.

Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, J. S. Okutepa, SAN, the witness told the court that, in the course of his official duties, he received correspondence from the EFCC requesting documents relating to several accounts linked to the defendants and associated entities.

“I work as a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, Maitama branch. My duty includes receiving correspondence from law enforcement agencies and responding accordingly,” he said.

Advert

Bata further disclosed that the bank complied with EFCC’s requests by providing both soft and hard copies of documents relating to accounts belonging to the defendants and companies such as Rayhaan Hotels Limited, Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited, Nashab Limited, Golden Age Global Ventures, and Rahamaniyya Properties Limited.

“My lord, the documents are nine,” he stated, confirming his ability to identify them when presented in court.

Upon application by Okutepa, the court admitted the documents, dated between July 19, 2024 and March 12, 2026, as Exhibits D1 to D9, despite an initial objection by defence counsel, J. B. Daudu, SAN, who noted that “the dates are almost all in March.”

Continuing his testimony under further examination by prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, the witness provided details of transactions contained in the exhibits.

He identified Exhibit D1 as containing account opening documents and statements for accounts belonging to Abubakar Malami and A.A. Malami & Co, including a naira account and a dollar account.

According to him, the statement of account for one of the accounts covered the period from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2023.

The witness confirmed that the accounts were active between 2015 and 2023, noting that “there were transfers within that period.”

He further revealed that total credits into one of the accounts stood at N383,637,21.55 between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2023, while total credits from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2015 amounted to N560,506,465.12.

On debits, he stated that N384,322,120.85 was recorded between 2016 and 2023, while N571,891,174.08 was debited between 2012 and 2015.

Giving further breakdown of transactions, the witness told the court that on November 11, 2020, the account received N194,791,608.00 from New Horizons Limited, and on June 24, 2022, it received N622,500,000.00 from Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.

He added that on July 1 and July 7, 2022, the account received N250 million each from Rayhaan Hotels Limited, while on December 22, 2022, there was an inflow of N500 million linked to Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.

Continuing in that format, the witness identified so many transactions running into billions.

Following the testimony, the defence counsel, J.B Daudu SAN sought an adjournment to enable him study the exhibits and prepare for cross-examination.

“My lord, we need time to go through the nine exhibits tendered,” Daudu said.

Justice Abdulmalik subsequently adjourned the matter till May 13, 2026, for continuation of trial.

Continue Reading

News

IEDPU Kano Branch Sets for Historic Foundation Laying of Multi-million Naira Secretariat

Published

4 hours ago

on

April 20, 2026

By

 

 

Ilorin Emirate Descendants’ Progressive Union (IEDPU) Kano Branch, a premier socio-cultural, non-governmental association dedicated to the unity, development, cultural preservation, and welfare of its members, is poised to lay the foundation stone for its multi-million naira state-of-the-art secretariat on 25th April 2026.

In a joint Statement released on Monday by the Public Relations Officer,Sheikh Abdulrazaq Shehu Aladire and the Vice Chairman of the Union, who is also the chairman of Foundation Laying Committee,Mallam AbdulQuadri Ahmed Firdaus,the Union said the occasion represents a monumental leap and defining moment in its pursuit of excellence.

Part of the statement read,”This Foundation Laying Ceremony for the New Secretariat Complex Project marks a significant milestone in enhancing and providing the necessary infrastructure to boost our activities and better support our members and stakeholders”.

Advert

According to the statement,”The ceremony will commence by 10:00 a.m. at the Union’s construction site located at No. 53, King’s College Street, Kurna Asabe, Dantata Estate, Kano. This new facility, often referred to as the “IEDPU Kano Complex,” comprises: a mosque, an Islamic school, a secretariat, and a guest house. It represents a strategic investment in the future of the Association and its members.”

The foundation stone laying will be performed by Alh. Dr. Surajudeen Adewuyi Usman Mohammad (Asamu 1) as the Special Guest of Honour, along with Engineer Suleiman Kale Kawu (Dan Iya Ilorin Emirate), Alh. Abdulrazaq Abubakar Toyin (Founder, AATU University), Alh. Ibrahim Tajudeen Adeta (CEO, Apex Garden Abuja), and Alh. Kazeem Omotayo Akande (Agba Akin Yoruba Kano) the statement added.

“This foundation stone laying ceremony is more than just building a physical structure; it embodies the dedication, commitment, and ambitious spirit of our members. All stakeholders, members of other associations, and media representatives are invited to join us in celebrating this historic milestone.”the statement concluded

Continue Reading

Trending