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PDP Crisis: Former Lawmaker Ossai Blames Party Elders, Defects to APC

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…say the centre can no longer hold the umbrella
…say APC brings solution through president Tinubu
By Gloria Ikibah

A former House of Representatives member, Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai, has attributed the ongoing turmoil in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to its elders and founding members.

Ossai, who represented Ndokwa/Ukwuani Federal Constituency in Delta State under the PDP in the 9th Assembly, officially joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, he stated that attempts to restore unity in the PDP had failed due to deep-seated ideological and political conflicts. He described the situation as a clash of opposing views, making reconciliation nearly impossible.

He said: “I’ve been with PDP since 1999, and we have tried as much as possible to fix PDP, especially when they have issues of leadership in the past. The National Assembly, who are PDP members tried to strengthen PDP, but I believe today that strengthening has been removed from the hands of the Parliament.
“Among the gladiators who are founding fathers of PDP too, have tried as much as possible to break the umbrella. So the centre cannot hold, and judging from the fact that all political parties in Nigeria are centralists in programmes and policies, there’s no sharp ideological programs that you can say you can separate from each political party today in the country.”
Speaking on why he joined the APC, Ossai said Tinubu is a man with focus and championing great feat. And so he wants to assist in navigating Nigeria into the next promise land.
“People want solution and it is the person who will give solution to the people that you have to converge on. APC gives solution through President Tinubu to the people. That’s why we are converging. Tinubu is the personality that is bringing progressive directions to this generation. So we converge on him.
“We need People who are great leaders, who champion policies that can navigate the country to the promised land. We have had some strong leaders before who could not do it, but today we have a very strong leader that I believe in and that leader is Asiwaju Tinubu.
“I followed him up during the time of SDP in Lagos. I was part of the Abalajobi groups in Lagos, and from the human rights up to SDP. I have seen his leadership style. As a governor of Lagos State, I followed him up. Then, I was a member of the House of Assembly.
“He is somebody I pray that he will continue to succeed and become president of the country. And today he is the president, and he has issued in policies that are germane to sustaining our country, strengthening our country for the future.
“Today, my role model, Asiwaju Tinubu is championing the course for the next generations. And there’s every need for me, to follow my role model who is doing great since the umbrella has been broken, by people who are supposed to mend the umbrella.
“His policies aligns with mine. And I feel that also Delta States will align with such policies, which is currently not happening. And I feel that I can join forces with those of them who have been strongly in APC, in Delta State, to face Delta State.
“I can bet you that APC is going to win Delta State. And not only winning the governorship, but winning the presidential election. And not only win the presidential election, I use my federal constituency as the basis to champion this course.
“You will see the recent program that President Tinubu has been chuning out. You can see what is going on in terms of infrastructure development in different places that have been abandoned over the years. You can also see that currently, a policy came out from the federal government through a policy of Inherit, whereby those people who are having challenges in issues of kidney problems, diabetes, and others.
“You can also see policies on agriculture, where all APC governors are gearing towards agricultural revolutions. And you can see that inflationary rate has dropped in terms of food in the market. You people who go to the market to buy food, you go to buy tomatoes and peppers.
“So, I have come to join APC to assist in navigating Nigeria into the next promised land. I think that’s why I joined APC. Like I said, the entire parties is a centralist party. No sharp ideological program. But we have the capability of implementing this program, and APC stands out. So APC to the next level”, Ossai asserted.

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Fuel, diesel prices will drop in Nigeria as crude oil slumps

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Domestic prices of petrol and diesel are expected to decline following a sharp drop in global crude oil prices triggered by the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

As of Saturday morning, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude fell by 11 percent and 9 percent to $83.85 and $90.38 per barrel, respectively, down from about $100 per barrel.

The decline comes after Iran announced that the Strait of Hormuz has been fully reopened for vessel passage.

The development has begun to reflect in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum market, where depot marketers have slightly reduced fuel prices.

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Petrol prices at depots now range between N1,205 and N1,206 per litre— about N5 to N6 higher than the Dangote Refinery price of N1,200 per litre.
This pricing trend was observed among marketers such as Aiteo, Bono, and NIPCO.

Meanwhile, diesel prices at depots in Lagos, including Menj and Duport, stood at N1,775 per liter.
Market observers say the drop in crude oil prices has triggered panic selling among depot marketers.

Despite this, retail pump prices have remained unchanged as of filing this report, with petrol selling between N1,290 and N1,333 per litre, while diesel ranges from N1,850 to N1,900 per litre.

The President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association, Abubakar Maigandi, confirmed the development, noting that further reductions are likely if the downward trend in crude prices persists.

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“We expect fuel prices to drop in the coming days if crude oil prices continue to decline.

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Wife demands divorce from husband for being poor

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An Area Court at Centre-Igboro, Ilorin, Kwara State, has dissolved the Islamic marriage between a couple, Toyin Ajibola and Bashirat Mohammed on grounds of lack of money.

The presiding judge, Hammad Ajumonbi, while delivering ruling said that even though Toyin did not want to divorce his wife, she still had the needed to move on not be left stranded.

He, dissolved their marriage and granted custody of the three children from their union to the wife.

The court also ordered the woman to observe the three months iddah (waiting) period before remarrying.

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Ajumonbi ordered Toyin to be responsible for the feeding of their children.

“The defendant should have unrestricted access to their children, while the plaintiff should always make their children available any time the defendant requested to see them,” the judge said.

Earlier, Bashirat had applied for divorce saying that she was tired of her marriage to her husband due to paucity of fund and her husband’s irresponsibility.

“I want the court to grant me divorce so that I can have rest of mind,” she said.

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The husband, however, told the court that he was still interested in his wife even though he was financially handicapped.

“I have been trying hard to get money to feed my family, but couldn’t.

“It is so painful that I can’t get money to visit her and the children when they left home,” he said.

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Angry Ex-Senate president, Saraki slams Kwara gov, says “you never completed secondary sch education”

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Ex-Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has described as a “desperate ploy by a drowning politician” the move by Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, to initiate a case of criminal culpability against him over the Offa robbery incident of 2018 “which I know nothing about”.

While describing the criminal case as “dirty politics taken too far and too low”, Saraki warned Abdulrazaq to desist from this despicable act of using the Offa robbery incident as a weapon anytime he came under political pressure over his poor policy conception and failure to live up to expectations as a governor of a state known as the State of Harmony.

Ordinarily, my attitude to this insidious move by the incumbent Governor of Kwara State to initiate a case of criminal liability against me in the unfortunate incident of armed robbery which happened in Offa community eight years ago should be to shrug it off and say that we will meet in court since I know I have nothing to do with the incident or any other crime for that matter.

“However, I have been inundated with calls from many well-meaning Nigerians who were surprised by this turn of events. Thus, for the benefit of the general public, let me categorically state that I have nothing to do directly or indirectly with any case of armed robbery or any criminal matter, whatsoever. The Offa robbery incident was designed under the Buhari administration with the connivance of some individuals from Kwara State as an instrument of blackmail to seize political power from our group in 2019.

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“The case was investigated by the police team from the office of the Inspector General of Police. However, following the investigation, in two separate legal advices dated June 22nd, 2018, and August 23rd, 2018, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) stated that there was no evidence directly or indirectly linking me to the robbery incident.

“ The DPP in his first legal advice stated that “For the Senate President and the Kwara State Governor, this office is unable to establish from the evidence in the interim report a nexus between the alleged offence and the suspects”.
In a second report, the DPP stated that “With regards to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, since there is no departure from the earlier findings in the interim report, this office is still unable to establish any prima facie case against him for any offences of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and culpable homicide”.

Based on the DPP’s advice, four suspects were charged in court by the Kwara State Government. They were convicted at the trial court and the conviction was upheld by the appellate court. The matter is now before the Supreme Court.

Suddenly, the governor woke up after I granted my interview to Channels TV where I commented on the insecurity in the state and thought he could resurrect these baseless charges against his two predecessors. I noticed that in his propaganda plan to circulate his frivolous charges and other skewed documents as paid advertisements in the national newspapers, even before serving the defendants, he intentionally hid the DPP reports and other documents which put a lie to the charade he is perpetuating. These are deliberate efforts to mislead the media and induce them to give purchased publicity to the frame-up.

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“Therefore, I am under no illusion that this case was a frivolous move and an abuse of court process to embarrass my person. My legal team will definitely meet this governor in court. I believe that Abdulrahman just feels that he could still use this case to harass and defame my person by abusing the judicial process. He had tried to induce the families of the victims to initiate civil litigations against the other respondents and me, but he seemed not to be making progress with that mischievous effort because the families backed out.

“I need to remind him that this vicious attack on my reputation because he enjoys the immunity of a governor is a huge joke on him. A sitting governor who is accusing his two immediate predecessors of armed robbery is only making a mockery of the institution. He is only taking the governorship of our dear state to the gutter.

This is an example of dirty politics taken too far and too low. He ought to know that nobody at the national or state level is buying his claim. He is the butt of a crude joke. Many of those involved in the plot to blackmail me with the Offa robbery case have since faced judgements of the law of karma. I do not doubt that this governor will end up the same way.

“One would have thought that a governor whose state has lost over 400 lives to banditry between January 2025 and March 2026, with over 100 others kidnapped in the worst cases of insecurity since its creation, would concentrate efforts and focus attention on taming the menace by getting the bandits arrested to face justice. No. He is fixated on filing frivolous and politically motivated charges against his predecessors.

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This shows the dark mindset of the man who is the governor of Kwara State today. A man who emphasises dirty politics over development and security of life and properties of the citizenry. He started working on this plot immediately after my interview on Channels TV where I flayed his lack of capacity in tackling the security crisis in the state. He thought this case would erase his record as the governor with the worst cases of insecurity under his watch in the state’s history. It is an unenviable record he has sustained by his lack of capacity and ability to tackle serious issues of the state.

“This is a mere act of a desperate politician who is losing control in his party and knows that his days in governance are numbered.

It is the reason Nigerians should always take into consideration the level of education of those we elect into office. For a man who never completed secondary school education, it is difficult for him to appreciate the issues involved in any matter. His level of education is definitely affecting his judgement.

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