Innocent Ojefia Blog

Director-General of the forum of APC Governors,  Salihu Lukman has described Thursday dissolution of the National Working Committee instigated by President Muhammadu Buhari as a masterstroke by the latter. At the virtual meeting of the National Executive Committee held at the Presidential Villa, the APC NWC was dissolved and a 13 man caretaker/ special convention committee with Yobe state governor, Mallam Mai Mala Buni as chairman was sworn in. The DG of the Progressive Governors Forum in a statement on Friday declared that by that singular action, President Buhari has finally succeeded in rescuing himself from certain leaders of the party whom he noted have claimed in recent past that they have a grip on President Buhari. Lukman further argued that with the resolution of the NEC, President Buhari has faulted claim in certain quarters that he was indifferent to the crises tearing the ruling party apart. He said: “The fact is, the President was able to discharge hi...

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu, says he has not taken any decision to run for president in 2023 contrary to speculations. He said rather, he was more concerned about the health and economic challenges facing the country at the moment. Tinubu said this in a statement issued on Saturday while reacting to comments that the dissolution of the party’s National Working Committee had ended his purported 2023 ambitions. He described the comments as distasteful, saying “already, you have assigned colourful epitaphs to the 2023 death of an alleged political ambition that is not yet even born”. According to him, rather than politicking, he has been spending his time trying to think of helpful ideas and policies to help in solving the myriad of problems in the country. “During this period, I have not busied myself with politicking regarding 2023. I find that a bit distasteful and somewhat uncaring particularly when so many of our people have been unb...

With three years away to the expiration of the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari as President of Nigeria, intense jostling over his successor has begun in rabid earnest. Here are the issues at play, the major players to watch and the shape of things to come. In recent months, the recurring topic of discussion among major political stakeholders in Nigeria has been centered on the crisis within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), particularly the crisis in Edo State where the Former National Chairman Adams Oshiomole is at dagger drawn with the just defected Edo state Governor Godwin Obaseki who is seeking re-election for a second term. While it looks like the crisis in Edo State has consumed both parties, the crisis within the National Working Committee of APC is still at its crescendo and while the Victor Giadom leadership, ordered by the court, is being recognized by President Buhari, the other members of the NWC is recognized by the National Leader of the Party Asi...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning the public about potential fraud schemes related to antibody tests for COVID-19. Scammers are marketing fraudulent and/or unapproved COVID-19 antibody tests, potentially providing false results. In addition, fraudsters are seeking to obtain individuals’ personal information (names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, etc.) and personal health information, including Medicare and/or private health insurance information, which can be used in future medical insurance or identity theft schemes. In response to the vast number of COVID-19 cases, and in an effort to return to a normal economy as soon as possible, researchers have been encouraged to devise testing methods that can be quickly and easily deployed to test large numbers of individuals for COVID-19 antibodies. However, not all COVID-19 antibody tests have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and their efficacy has not been determined. The FBI...

Popular critic and author, Femi Aribisala has mocked the All Progressives Congress, APC over its recent party crisis. Aribisala, on Friday afternoon, took a swipe at the national chairman of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the suspended national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, tagging them, “Internally displaced Politicians” following the dissolution of the National Working Committee of the party. On Thursday, the party organized a National Executive Committee, NEC meeting where the NWC was immediately dissolved. Oshiomole and Tinubu wielded considerable influence over the NWC. “IDPs: INTERNALLY DISPLACED POLITICIANS Bola Tinubu Adams Oshiomhole RIP.” he tweeted.

The political coalition between Muhammadu Buhari’s CPC and Bola Tinubu’s ACN has all but collapsed. There was nothing even remotely surprising about it. In previous columns, media interviews, and social media updates, I predicted that this would happen. For example, in my June 23, 2018 column titled “Buhari’sJune 12 Pandering and Naivety of Yoruba Elite,” I wrote: “Buhari may well get a second term with the help of votes from the Southwest. But one thing is as certain as tomorrow’s date: he will spectacularly fall out with the Yoruba elite whose support he’s bending over backward to court now. He’d no longer have a need for them after 2019 and might even remember that they betrayed him in 2011. “These same people would then turn against not just Buhari but the entire North. If we’re alive till then, we’d remind them that they are complicit in their own fate. An Italian proverb says, “When a man deceives me once, it is his fault; when twice, it is mine.” In a January 26...

The Governor of Delta State, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, has deplored the increasing cases of COVID-19 in the state, saying it had become obvious that community transmission of the virus had reached an alarming and frightening proportion. In a statement personally signed by him on Saturday, the governor said that it was regrettable that many persons still think that the Coronavirus disease was a hoax. ``It cannot be a hoax when over 20 persons have died including some prominent citizens. ``Therefore, I want to make a passionate appeal to all Deltans to please realise that the coronavirus disease is real,’’ he said, disclosing that as at Saturday, number of confirmed cases of the virus in the state was 781,’’ he said. According to him, On Thursday, June 25, 2020, Delta State recorded 106 cases, coming only behind Lagos, the epicentre of the pandemic. The latest figure from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) shows that on Friday, June 26, Delta recorded 66 additi...