General
Buhari Backs Giadom’s Fight for APC Leadership
By Chubi Eze
In a surprise move, Nigeria’s President, Mr Muhammadu Buhari, has announced that he will attend a meeting to be convened today, Thursday, June 25, 2020, by Mr Victor Giadom, one of the two men laying claim to the leadership of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC), which controls the presidency and both houses of parliament.
In a series of Tweets, the president’s spokesperson, Mr Garba Shehu, said that: “The president has received very convincing advice on the position of the law as far as the situation in the party is concerned and has determined that the law is on the side of Victor Giadom as Acting National Chairman. And because he will always act in accordance with the law, the President will be attending the virtual meeting called for tomorrow afternoon.
“We urge the media to stop promoting manufactured controversies and to not give any further room for mischievous interpretations of the law on this matter.
“In addition to the president, the Giadom meeting will hopefully, be attended by our governors and leaders of the National Assembly.”
A former Commissioner of Works in the southern oil-rich state of Rivers, Mr Giadom is a political disciple of the Minister of Transport, Mr Chibuike Amaechi, himself a former two-time governor famed for being a vocal maverick.
There has been a growing rift between the factions within the APC since a Court of Appeal announced the suspension of the APC’s erstwhile chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, a combative ex-unionist and former governor of Edo, who has presided over a tumultuous state of affairs at the party.
Mr Oshiomhole, perceived by critics to be a pugilistic politician who shuns consensus-building, has been locked in a fierce battle with a group of governors, who oppose his style and are perceived to be hell-bent on neutralizing him.
Mr Oshiomhole’s opponents say that he has repeatedly flouted the party’s guidelines by refusing to convene meetings of the party’s National Executive Committee, paying bloated salaries to members of the National Working Committee, and appointing unelected officers into the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
Party insiders say that the president’s surprising show of support for Mr Giadom means that Mr Oshiomhole is almost certainly going to be expelled from the party’s NWC.
After Mr Oshiomhole’s shock ouster by a federal appeal court a few weeks ago, the party’s NWC endorsed the appointment of a former Oyo governor, Mr Abiola Ajimobi, to act in his stead. This was resisted by Mr Giadom who relied on an earlier court judgement to declare himself the party’s acting National Chairman.
Mr Ajimobi is gravely ill and while most observers saw the NWC’s coronation of Mr Ajimobi as an attempt by Mr Oshiomhole and his allies to run the party by proxy, Mr Giadom’s aggressive push to take over the party jolted the party’s hierarchy who tried, albeit unsuccessfully to expel him from the party through court judgements in his home state of Rivers.
The impasse effectively led to a schism, and a proxy battle between the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Mr Kayode Fayemi, Transport Minister, Mr Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Aviation Minister, Mr Hadi Sirika, Kaduna’s governor, Mr Nasir el-Rufai and the Bola Tinubu/Oshiomhole faction of the party.
A scrum of governors, upset at the manner in which one of their colleagues the governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, was humiliated out of the party by his predecessor, Mr Oshiomhole, his estranged predecessor, also joined the anti-Oshiomhole camp.
Since Mr Ajimobi was critically ill, after reportedly contracting coronavirus, the party’s executive committee settled on Mr Hilliard Eta, a little-known Cross River politician, who is believed to owe fealty to Mr Oshiomhole.
However, Mr Giadom refused to budge, using the courts and the law enforcement authorities to continue in his disputed role as the APC’s acting National Chairman. And while acknowledging that this was a temporary position, Mr Giadom has repeatedly said that he will only accept decisions taken by the party’s larger decision-making organ, the National Executive Committee (NEC).
Only one member of the party’s NWC, Mr Salisu Mohammed, the APC’s National Vice-Chairman (North-East), himself an avowed critic of Mr Oshiomhole, had supported Mr Giadom.
Mr Buhari’s public declaration of support for Mr Giadom has suddenly changed the APC’s internal dynamics. While the president is perceived as not being a natural politician, no party member would want to publicly challenge the president or oppose his choice of party chief.
Mr Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, an APC leader in Rivers and a supporter of Mr Giadom, praised the president for taking a position on the contentious leadership tussle.
He said that the APC’s NEC should confirm Mr Giadom as the National Chairman while it works towards organising a new executive for the party. He asked party members to sheathe their swords and coalesce around Mr Giadom to strengthen the party.
Mr Giadom’s ascendancy also poses a problem to the APC’s governorship candidate in Edo state, Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu. Mr Iyamu is backed by Mr Oshiomhole who had ensured that his former enemy-turned protege had a clear path to the party’s nomination in Edo.
Mr Ize-Iyamu now finds himself in a bit of a quandary since Mr Giadom had publicly rejected the party primaries that led to Mr Ize-Iyamu’s coronation, raising questions about their legality.
Analysts believe that Ekiti’s Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, the cerebral head of the Nigerian Governorship Forum and Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, one of the president’s most vociferous supporters are the arrowheads of a larger group of powerful governors that counts Jigawa’s Badaru, Kebbi’s Bagudu and Ondo’s Akeredolu as members.
The group, which includes other less-visible members, is said to be wary of Mr Oshiomhole’s combative style and his unwavering loyalty to the party’s “National Leader” Ahmed Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos, who is one of Nigeria’s most polarizing svengalis.
Mr Tinubu, one of the most powerful men in Nigerian politics, is widely believed to be eyeing the presidency in 2023 and a formidable coalition of politicians and intellectuals has been trying to stop him. The word in political circles is that powerful Northern dynasts do not want a Tinubu presidency.
President Buhari’s decision to back the faction of the party opposed to former Chairman Adams Oshiomhole and his benefactor, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, has effectively altered the balance of power within the APC and suggests that a clearer picture is emerging in the battle for the presidency in 2023.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has reaffirmed that electricity meters being deployed under the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP) are free for customers, warning Nigerians not to pay any money for meter supply or installation.
The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi, stated this in Abuja at a joint media briefing on DISREP with the managing directors of Nigeria’s 11 Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos). DISREP is financed through a $500 million World Bank facility.
The DG said the concessional nature of the funding, which comes at single-digit interest rates, makes it more sustainable than commercial borrowing and supports long-term stability in the power sector.
Under the DISREP IPF, 3.2 million smart meters are being procured and installed nationwide over four years through competitive international and local bidding. According to him, close to 700,000 meters have already been delivered, while about 200,000 have been installed across different DisCos.
The DG said, “With DISREP and other Federal Government interventions, the journey to power sector reliability is underway. DISREP is not just a short-term intervention, but part of a broader and coordinated plan of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, towards building a financially viable and service-oriented electricity market
“Nigerians deserve a power sector that works, one that delivers reliable electricity, protects consumers, ensures value for money, and supports economic growth.
“Together, we shall achieve that! The supply and installation of these meters for customers is free.
It was also disclosed that the government had already paid the contractors to supply and install the meters. DISREP is integrated with other metering initiatives, including the Presidential Metering Initiative and the Meter Acquisition Fund, to accelerate the closing of Nigeria’s metering gap.
On his part, the Managing Director of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, Mr Chijioke Okwuokenye, warned customers not to pay for meters.
“These meters are to be deployed and installed freely. Anybody asking you to bring money should be reported,” he said.
MD of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko Disco), Mrs Wola Joseph-Condotti, said the company is working closely with the authorities to weed out bad eggs who extort money from customers for meter procurement and installation.
The programme offers significant benefits to consumers, including the removal of upfront meter purchase and installation costs, accurate billing, the elimination of arbitrary estimated billing, improved service accountability by DisCos, better transparency and dispute resolution, and long-term improvements in supply reliability as the sector becomes more financially viable.
For DisCos, Mr Gbeleyi said DISREP provides access to concessional World Bank financing for metering and network upgrades, reduces Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses, improves liquidity and revenue assurance, and strengthens operational performance for long-term investment.
He disclosed that $250 million of the facility is dedicated to Investment Project Financing, which supports bulk procurement of the 3.2 million smart meters, deployment of Meter Data Management Systems, and provision of technical assistance and capacity-building programmes to strengthen DisCos’ operations and processes.
Describing DISREP as a landmark transaction, Mr Gbeleyi said it is the first initiative of its kind in which the government, beyond investing in distribution network infrastructure, is deploying meters at scale to bridge the country’s metering gap. He cited official figures showing that Nigeria currently has about 5.66 million unmetered electricity customers.
“The plan is to quickly close that gap. These meters are for everybody. They are for Nigerians. Priority is on unmetered customers,” he said.
He clarified that while the policy targets unmetered customers, DisCos have been allowed to deploy up to 20 per cent of the meters to replace faulty or technologically obsolete units, following feedback from the field.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has successfully concluded the review of the Port Service Support Portal (PSSP) application, which is aimed at ensuring seamless handling and efficient resolution of stakeholders’ commercial disputes across the maritime sector.
The Head of NSC-ICT, Mr Benjamin Ivwigheghweta, and his team; the Head of the Complaints Unit, Mr Bashir Ambi and his team; as well as consultants from BrandOne, all collaborated to complete the platform’s final implementation stage.
Mr Ivwigheghweta expressed satisfaction with the successful integration of the revamped PSSP for streamlined dispute resolution. He encouraged the team to fully engage with the new system and to ask questions where necessary, ensuring that every member is well equipped to meet stakeholder needs with precision and efficiency.
On his part, Mr Ambi applauded the deployment of the PSSP as a tool for accelerating grievance resolution, adding that the platform would significantly strengthen the council’s dispute resolution framework by promoting transparency, boosting stakeholder confidence, and generating reliable, data-driven records to support national economic growth.
He further commended the ICT team for its unwavering support-particularly in ensuring extended network availability to support the Unit’s after-hours operations.
Describing the PSSP as a critical modern upgrade for dispute resolution, Mr Ambi revealed that the Council’s operations are now about 90 percent digital. “We rely heavily on electronic platforms to serve our stakeholders,” he said, adding that the ICT Unit has remained the backbone of these efforts by providing consistent support, even over weekends, to ensure uninterrupted online service delivery.
This digital-first approach, he noted, keeps the NSC at the forefront of maritime efficiency.
Following a productive three-hour technical review and interactive question and answer session, the PSSP is now in its final phase.
The next steps include the configuration of individual user access by the ICT Unit and a live demonstration of the platform to Management. Upon completion of these tasks, the council will be ready to go live-ushering in a new era of digital efficiency in port service delivery.
The Port Service Support Portal was officially launched by the former Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, in June 2016 in Abuja. The launch was held alongside the unveiling of the Port Harmonized Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The portal was designed as an online, real-time platform to enhance service delivery, address stakeholder complaints, and curb corruption at Nigerian ports.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu has deployed an army battalion to Kaiama district in Kwara State after suspected jihadist fighters killed about 170 people in an overnight attack on Tuesday.
The terrorists stormed Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Council, according to Kwara State lawmaker, Mr Saidu Ahmed.
The violence highlights fears that jihadist factions prevalent in Northern Nigeria are pushing south along the Niger-Kwara axis toward the Kainji forest.
According to a statement from the Presidency, the new military command will spearhead Operation Savannah Shield to checkmate the barbaric terrorists and protect defenceless communities.
He condemned the attack as “cowardly and barbaric,” saying the gunmen targeted villagers who had rejected attempts to impose extremist rule.
“It is commendable that community members, even though Muslims, refused to be conscripted into a belief that promotes violence over peace,” President Tinubu said in the statement.
The President urged collaboration between federal and state agencies to provide succour to members of the community and ensure that those who committed the atrocities do not go scot-free.
President Tinubu prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased and condoled with those who lost family members as well as the people and government of Kwara State.
Similarly, suspected bandits stormed Doma community in Tafoki Ward, Katsina State, on Tuesday afternoon, killing several residents, injuring many others and setting vehicles and houses ablaze.
There were conflicting figures over the casualty toll, with police putting the number of deaths at 13, while the executive chairman of Faskari Local Council estimated more than 20.
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