Metro
Targeting the Ally to Weaken the Principal: The Politics Behind the FCT Storm
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By Abraham Amah
Politics rarely unfolds on the surface. Its deepest battles are often waged indirectly, through proxies, symbols, and calculated distractions. What Nigeria is presently witnessing in the sustained political storm around the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory is not an isolated disagreement over governance style or administrative choices. It is a strategic attempt to weaken the principal by attacking the ally. At its core, this unfolding drama is less about Abuja and more about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The current effort to politically discredit President Tinubu has assumed a multilateral character. It is no longer driven by a single opposition tendency but by converging interests that share little in common beyond grievance and exclusion. One front of this convergence has materialized under the banner of a coalition that presents itself as an alternative platform. Yet a closer examination reveals that this grouping is not united by ideas, policy clarity, or a coherent national vision. Rather, it is bound together by dissatisfaction, personal injury, and unresolved political loss.
Those who parade themselves as the new face of opposition are, in truth, familiar actors with long political histories that inspire more questions than confidence. Their records do not reflect a transformative legacy or a capacity for national reinvention. This reality makes it difficult to interpret their sudden unity as anything other than an alliance of aggrieved interests seeking relevance through political disruption rather than democratic persuasion.
Alongside this coalition effort is a more sophisticated maneuver. It is the deliberate targeting of Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. This is not accidental. In political arithmetic, Wike represents a substantial pillar within the broader coalition that produced the Tinubu presidency. His influence cuts across the South South, the South East, and significant political networks beyond these regions. To weaken Wike is to weaken a considerable portion of President Tinubu’s political support base. The calculation is simple and cold. Remove the ally and the principal becomes exposed.
This explains why the attacks on the FCT minister have been relentless and emotionally charged. They are designed to provoke isolation, induce internal fractures, and compel the President into difficult political choices. However, this strategy rests on a fundamental misreading of the man at the center of power. President Tinubu is not unfamiliar with political plots. He is a student of power, shaped by decades of contestation, negotiation, and survival within Nigeria’s complex political terrain. He understands that leadership is not sustained by panic or appeasement but by clarity, loyalty, and strategic patience.
Those who imagine that President Tinubu will sacrifice a key political ally to satisfy orchestrated outrage fail to appreciate the deeper logic of power. Politics is not governed by noise but by structure. It is not driven by momentary sentiment but by long term calculation. Tinubu knows that once a leader begins to abandon allies under pressure, authority itself begins to dissolve.
The suggestion, in some quarters, that Governor Siminalayi Fubara represents a political alternative capable of replacing Nyesom Wike within the national power equation further exposes the superficiality of the argument. Governance, especially at the highest levels, is not an apprenticeship program. It demands political maturity, institutional memory, and the ability to navigate crises without external tutelage. Comparing a relatively new political actor to a seasoned political operator is not only unrealistic but intellectually dishonest. One is still learning the alphabet of power. The other has long mastered its language.
Beyond individuals, this moment invites a broader philosophical reflection on Nigerian politics. Coalitions built on resentment rarely endure. Power pursued through sabotage often collapses under its own weight. History teaches that nations do not progress when political actors substitute grievance for vision and conspiracy for competence. What endures is not the loudness of opposition but the depth of preparation and the discipline of leadership.
In the final analysis, the storm around the Federal Capital Territory is a mirror reflecting a larger struggle for relevance and survival within Nigeria’s political elite. It is a test of political maturity for all involved. For President Tinubu, it is a familiar terrain, one he has navigated before. For his critics, it may yet become a lesson in the limits of political engineering.
Power, after all, is not merely seized. It is sustained through experience, alliances, and an unspoken understanding of when to stand firm and when to yield. Those who seek to weaken the principal by targeting the ally may soon discover that they have underestimated both.
The abductors of retired Major General Rabe Abubakar, former Director of Defence Information, and his wife released a video on Saturday showing the couple in captivity.
Abubakar, a retired major general, served as Director of Defence Information, the media arm of the Defence Headquarters, between 2015 and 2017.
Abubakar, and his wife were both abducted by suspected bandits in Katsina State.
The couple were reportedly travelling towards Katsina when gunmen intercepted their vehicle in Matazu Local Government Area and took them away.
In the now viral four-minute video circulating on social media, the wife of the retired general was seen conveying the abductors’ demands.
The demands included the release of three of their members identified as Sani, Aminu and Nasiru, as well as the return of livestock allegedly seized from them.
According to her account, two of the detained individuals were arrested in Jikamshi while the third was arrested in Kano.
She said: “Three of their boys have been arrested, including Aminu, Sani Nasiru and others, and they want them released alongside all their properties, their cows and goats that were captured as well.
“We are begging all those concerned to help us heed these demands so we can be released.
She also appealed to the Katsina State Government and leaders of five local government areas to facilitate compliance with the demands to secure their release.
“Two of the boys were captured in Jikamshi and the other one was arrested separately, so we are appealing to the government to please adhere to their demands, release them and release their cows.”
A young woman identified as Ihunda Nkiruka Jennifer, who was earlier declared missing after being abducted in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has been confirmed dead.
Her sister, Nurse Jane Ogbu, had earlier raised alarm on social media, calling for urgent public assistance to help locate her sibling. She explained that Jennifer was reportedly abducted by unidentified men, adding that she managed to throw her personal belongings out of the vehicle in a desperate attempt to signal what was happening before she was taken away.
In an update shared on Thursday, June 5, the family confirmed the worst fears that Jennifer had been found dead.
According to accounts from relatives, the incident is believed to have involved suspected “one-chance” operators, a term commonly used to describe criminals who rob passengers inside commercial vehicles.
The family stated that the search for Jennifer led them to a medical facility near the Air Force Road axis in Port Harcourt, where they were later informed that her body had been deposited at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) mortuary.
Preliminary accounts from the family suggest that Jennifer may have been picked up around the Rumuosi area and later thrown from a moving vehicle along the Eliozu axis, close to Harmony Estate. They further alleged that she sustained severe injuries after being forced out of the vehicle and may have struggled with her attackers before her death.
The tragic development has sparked renewed concern over the rising cases of violent robberies and abductions involving commercial transport vehicles in parts of Port Harcourt and other major cities.
Authorities are yet to issue an official statement on the incident as investigations are expected to continue.
Metro
ISIS Bride And Her Mother Charged After They Helped Dad Buy 15-Year-Old S£x Slave For £7,500 For Purposes Of R@ping
An ISIS bride whose family bought a teenage s£x slave for £7,500 has been charged with crimes against humanity.
Zeinab Ahmad, now 31, is said to have forced the 15-year-old girl to perform domestic duties and stood by as she was repeatedly r@ped by her father.
Zeinab abandoned her nursing studies in Melbourne, Australia, to join ISIS in Syria, where the alleged offences occurred, in 2014.
Her father Mohammed allegedly told the girl: “I bought you for the purpose of r@ping and at the same time serving the home.”
Melbourne Magistrates Court also heard that the father said to his family: “I bought her for s£x and to do housework.”
He bought the teen as a slave with his wife in Raqqa, the capital of ISIS-controlled Syria, police told the court. The alleged victim was brought back to the family home which the parents shared with their five daughters
Zeinab witnessed her father hit the girl and drag her by the hair down two flights of stairs, it is alleged. The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was beaten two or three times a month while the family watched on, police said.
Detective Senior Constable Marc Clendenning told to the court Zeinab, then aged 22 and 23, “did not physically hurt her, although she did threaten her very badly and ordered her to do things around the house.”
In an interview with the police, the girl said that Mohammed s£xually assaulted her “many times”. She was sold on more than a year later after Mohammed told her she was “bad” and did not follow orders, local media in Australia reports.
Zeinab and her mother Kawsar Ahmad were among a group of ISIS brides arrested last month when they returned to Australia from Syria.
Zeinab is charged with two counts of slavery. She is accused of helping her family to enslave a Yazidi girl – a member of the Kurdish ethnic minority which lives in Syria. The girl is said to have been one of more than 6,800 Yazidi women and children who enslaved and repeatedly r@ped by members of ISIS.
Zeinab asked to be released on bail in Melbourne magistrates’ court on Thursday, June 4.
The Australian Federal Police have argued she would pose an unacceptable risk if she was released on bail.
Detective Clendenning said Zeinab had been married to multiple members of ISIS and was still the wife of an ISIS member currently being searched for by police.
He told the court: “The accused has never explicitly renounced or stated that she no longer supports Islamic State since her surrender to Kurdish forces.”
She is charged with two crimes against humanity: enslavement and use of a slave.
Her mother Kawsar is charged with four crimes against humanity.
Each holds a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. The two-day hearing continues on Friday, June 5.
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