APC Governors meet Tinubu in Aso Rock

President Bola Tinubu is currently meeting with governors elected under the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the States House, Abuja.

Although the reason for the meeting was not disclosed, sources say it may not be unconnected to the suspension of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.

Recall that the Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, PGF, Hope Uzodimma, had said the case against the minister remains an allegation.

Uzodinma, who spoke after the governors met at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja on Thursday, claimed that the only perfect being “we have observed is God”.

“The functions of government include encouraging good things and good appointees, and discouraging bad things and bad appointees, the case against Edu is just an allegation.

“And in the wisdom of the President, she is being investigated, it is after the investigation is concluded and the report made available to government that it will take a final decision.

“We have agreed on how best to support our party, President Bola Tinubu and his government and get his policies down to the grassroots,” he said.

I won’t go on exile despite being told I’ll be arrested – El-Rufai

A former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has said that he has heard about his possible arrest.

A leader in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who was denied ministerial clearance by the Senate in 2023 on failure to pass security screening, has been locked in a war of words with some members of the President Bola Tinubu administration.

The spat intensified after el-Rufai criticised the APC for ‘straying from its core values’.

In a post on X on Tuesday, El-Rufai, who served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 17 July 2003 to 27 July 2007, said his adversaries intended to force him out of the country.

Responding to a post from X user, Imran Wakili on the alleged plot to arrest and detain him, El-Rufai, who disclosed that he is currently in Egypt, said he would return to the country before 20 February.

He wrote: ‘I will spend more time in Nigeria than ever before.

‘They have sent such similar messages of intimidation and threats through many of my friends, family and political associates because they want me to go on self-imposed exile.
‘I have now put all my previous academic and language-learning plans on hold. Silence is no longer golden. Inaction has never been an option.
‘The arrest, detention and torture of perceived political enemies are nothing new in human affairs. I have been arrested and detained thrice in the past for expressing my views of previous governments.

‘There is always a morning after the arrest or detention or torture, and political life continues. As for death, it is when Allah destines it, and it is ultimately the date of every human.

‘For the attention of the pathetic characters that don’t sleep well whenever I am in Nigeria, take notice that I intend to return in time for the launch of Pres IBB’s memoirs, in sha Allah, scheduled for 20th February.

‘We depend on no one but Allah. We fear no mortal but Almighty Allah. We always hope for the best but plan for the worst’.
El-Rufai has since become an ardent critic of the APC government of President Bola Tinubu government

News

Another PDP lawmaker defects to APC

Amos Gwamna Magaji, a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives, has defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Magaji, who represents the Jaba/Zango Kataf Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, attributed his decision to unresolved crises within the PDP at both the national and local levels.

Magaji, a two-term lawmaker and Chairman of the House Committee on Health Care Services, is also the Kaduna caucus leader in the House of Representatives. He serves as Deputy Chairman of the House Special Ad-hoc Committee on the Restructuring of Government Agencies and Commissions, which is reviewing the Stephen Oronsaye report. Additionally, he has been a member of several House committees, including Defense, Reformation Institutions, Rules & Business, Christian Pilgrimage, Police Affairs, FCT Area Councils, and Constitution Review.

Magaji’s defection makes him the third PDP member to cross over to the APC since the inauguration of the 10th Assembly, following Chris Nkwonta and Eriatheke Ibori-Suenu.

However, Minority Leader Kingsley Chinda objected to Magaji’s defection and called on the Speaker to declare his seat vacant. Citing Section 68(1g) of the Constitution, Chinda argued that while lawmakers are permitted to leave the platform on which they were elected, the law stipulates consequences, including the loss of their seat.

Chinda emphasized, “Members of the House are lawmakers, not lawbreakers. The lawmaker has not complied with the provisions of the law and should therefore be made to lose his seat.”

Politics

Kenneth Okonkwo resigns from Labour Party over leadership crises

Former Labour Party, LP, Presidential Campaign Council, spokesman, Kenneth Okonkwo, has officially resigned from the party.

Okonkwo said his resignation from the party will take effect from February 25, 2025.

In a statement he issued, the Nollywood veteran said LP has been impacted by ongoing internal conflicts and challenges in leadership.

He vowed to join other well-meaning Nigerians to chart a way forward for the country in the area of governance.

The statement reads: “My entrance to politics is for good governance, and I will continue to work for it to ensure that Nigeria becomes a great country of incorruptible men. This aim can no longer be realised within Labour Party as presently constituted.

“This resignation takes effect from the 25th of February, 2025, which marks the second anniversary of the presidential election of 2023, after which I will be at liberty to join other well-meaning, and like minded Nigerians in charting a great future of good governance for this great country blessed by God.”