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Fubara unfair to me, says Eze Sergeant Awuse
A leading traditional ruler in Rivers State, Eze Ohna Sergeant Chidi Awuse, has faulted Governor Siminialayi Fubara’s action when he removed him as chairman of the Traditional Rulers’ Council.
Eze Awuse decried the aspersions cast on him by the governor, who described him as “unsteady” at a time he was battling for his life, lying in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the hospital.
He said he spent six months in critical condition.
Eze Awuse, who is from Emohua Local Government Area, spoke at the weekend during the visit of Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
Wike led a delegation of his political family to his palace to rejoice with him for surviving a debilitating ailment.
Fubara removed Awuse on June 21 from his position as Chairman of the Rivers Traditional Rulers Council. The monarch was appointed by Wike.
Accusing Awuse of inactivity and absence of effective leadership of the council under his watch, the governor replaced him with the Paramount Ruler of Apara Kingdom, Eze Chike Worlu Wodo.
Fubara had said: “I want the council to live up to its responsibility. From my observation, the council is moribund. So, I can feel that the council, for a while now, has been very inactive. Inactive because, maybe, the chairman has decided not to be responsible as a chairman. I think that is the best way to describe it.
“I am not talking about other things that have been happening. But I feel there are responsibilities of the chairman, and so far, I have not felt it and you can also attest to that, that you are not seeing that leadership that you expect
“I would like to draw your attention to a special insult that was meted to this government. The council produced a calendar for the year of our Lord 2024, and the governor’s picture and the deputy governor’s photographs are not in the calendar.
“I want to ask you: does it show any sign that, that leadership is working with this government? I hope you have a copy of it? Does it show that your chairman is working with this government?
“So, I have decided today, we have to move forward. By the special grace of God, the administrative life-span of the chairman is one year, which is renewable. So, at this particular time, I have to say that with the power vested on me, I announce that the tenure of Chief Sergeant Awuse has been terminated.”
But Awuse, who just returned from a medical trip, rued the governor’s comments about his personality and leadership, describing the governor as “ungrateful”.
Recalling his sacrifices as a first class traditional ruler during the making of Fubara as a governor, the monarch said he backed his candidacy and followed the campaigns to the 23 local government areas of the state.
According to him, he formally informed the governor on three occasions about his trips in writing and that all his letters were acknowledged by the government.
Awuse said: “I never went out of this state without telling my governor; not just once; all written; all acknowledged. So, when somebody said he didn’t know where I went to, I was surprised unless there was another chairman other than me.
“He was my candidate. I took him as my candidate. All the people running around him today, none of them showed face. I am the only traditional ruler, first class, that followed that campaign from local government to local government and I went to every local government.
“In most of the local government areas I mounted the rostrums to speak for him because I trusted him. I was the main one. But today in the house of politics, you see the good the bad and the ugly. Anyone that falls into your hand you take.
“I was sacked from my seat the day I was in ICU. I was in coma for 10 hours. I told only him (Wike) because everybody rejected me.
“The government I was serving rejected me. People have the mind to say I will support the governor to the fullest. Why won’t you support him to the fullest when you did not contribute to his being there.
“I am learning how to stand up because I was in ICU six weeks with gadgets all over my body fed through my nose. And you (Fubara) told people when I was in ICU that I was a man of questionable character.
“You said Sergeant Awuse, I am not steady. That is one quality I don’t deserve. Call me any other name but I am a steady human being.”
On the controversy trailing his recent warning that those opposing Wike should not to come to his house, the monarch said if not for God and Wike’s interventions, he would have died.
“Why shouldn’t I say so. I have the right to say so. All of them gallivanting in government house we never saw them. I suffered. I went to 23 local government campaigns, all the flag off and commissioning I went to nobody complained. Thank God I am alive.”
Turning to Wike, he said: “We give God all the glory. Your coming has added another life to me. You don’t know what you are doing for all us here. Anybody who is with you you touch the person’s life but now you have saved a life.
“Nothing will make me say anything other than that. I know what you did for me. I wrote three letters to my governor to allow me go and look after myself. If I had remained one week here I would have died here.
“But you (Wike) told me that ‘nothing will make you to die. Continue to pray you will not die’. That was what you told me.”
Referring to Wike as “our leader, he added: “Our leader to say thank you will be understatement. Apart from God Almighty who gave directives to the relevant agencies of medicine to put me where I am today, I am sorry for anybody who may be angry, you are the next person that I will thank.
“You are a leader worthy to be followed. Our former Governor and now minister I am repeating it to all of you who may have double mind, leave one and follow one and that one is Wike. As a friend, he is number one to me today.
“Every other things don’t matter. That I said if you are not supporting Wike don’t come to my House. The other day Emohua stakeholders came here. Two of them are coordinators of Sim (Fubara). I am not a politician of that kind of character. I am a liberal politician but standing on my course when I move”.
Speaking on behalf his political family, Wike said he was surprised to hear the governor cast aspersions on Sergeant Awuse, whom he said was revered as an astute politician.
He said Awuse was one of the few leaders, who ensured that Fubara got the governorship ticket of the PDP.
The minister said: “I was watching television and I heard when the governor said, ‘that one that can never be steady’. And the next thing I heard is that they had removed you.
“He was one of the few people who made sure on the day we were deciding who will run as a governor that the ticket was given to the governor. The governor never bothered to ask about Awuse even if it is to ask his children.
“But he was on television casting aspersions on somebody who all of us revered in politics. When politics was politics, we don’t know where the governor was whether he was in primary school. That is all part of life.”
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Just in: Ooni Ex- Queen Naomi, Oriyomi Hamzat, others to spend Christmas in prison
A Chief Magistrate Court in Iyaganku, Ibadan, has ordered the remand of three people in connection with last week’s tragic stampede at Bashorun Islamic High School.
The individuals include Mr. Abdullahi Fasasi, the school’s principal; Alhaji Oriyomi Hamzat, the proprietor of Agidigbo FM and Naomi Silekunola, the estranged wife of Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ile Ife.
Presided over by Chief Magistrate Olabisi Ogunkanmi, the court’s ruling came on Tuesday, following their arraignment by the Oyo State Police Command.
The proceedings took place under heightened security, with a crowd of family members and interested parties gathered outside the courtroom.
The defendants face four counts of charges related to the incident, as outlined by the police prosecutor, who cited a violation of Section 324 of the Criminal Code, Cap. 38, Vol. II, Laws of Oyo State, 2000.
After hearing the charges, Chief Magistrate Ogunkanmi ordered that the trio be held at Agodi Correctional Center while awaiting further guidance from the state prosecutor.
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Mozambique Top Court Confirms Ruling Party Disputed Win
Fears are high that more violence could break out in the nation after the opposition threatened to call an uprising following the decision.
Mozambique’s highest court confirmed Monday the ruling party’s victory in a disputed October vote after allegations of rigging triggered weeks of deadly street clashes.
Fears are high that more violence could break out in the southern African nation after the opposition threatened to call an uprising following the decision.
The Constitutional Court said the ruling Frelimo party presidential candidate Daniel Chapo secured 65 percent of the vote, revising down provisional results from the electoral commission which said he got nearly 71 percent.
Chapo’s main challenger, exiled opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, received an upward revision to 24.2 percent of the vote.
The final results extend Frelimo’s half-century grip on power, lining up Chapo to take over from President Filipe Nyusi whose second term ends on January 15.
Mondlane has said that the election was rigged in favour of Frelimo and that a separate count shows he won enough votes to take office, which he intends to do.
Several international observer missions have also said there were irregularities.
Some had thought the opposition’s challenge of the results was “a bluff,(that) we’re joking,” he told supporters on social media on Saturday. “So they will also be surprised on January 15 when they see Venancio Mondlane take office in Maputo.”
Mondlane has been in self-imposed exile since the assassination of his lawyer on October 19, a killing he blames on security forces, and it was unclear if he intended to return.
“Difficult days will come,” said the 50-year-old, who appeals to disenchanted younger voters in a country of 33 million people marked by poverty despite its abundant resources.
“The Constitutional Council’s ruling will lead Mozambique either to peace or chaos,” Mondlane said in an online address, promising a “new popular uprising at a level never seen before.”
– Country on edge –
The southern African country has been rocked by unrest since the election commission said that the October 9 vote was won by Chapo.
No fewer than 130 people have been killed in two months of violence, most of them opposition demonstrators shot by security forces, according to local NGOs.
Cities, mines, borders and ports have been affected by protest action and operations at the main border with South Africa halted, causing its neighbour major losses in exports.
Tension was already mounting in the capital Maputo ahead of the court decision with many businesses shut.
The main roads into the city centre were barricaded by police and access to the presidential palace and Constitutional Council office shut, AFP journalists saw.
The US government on Thursday raised its warning level against travel to Mozambique ahead of the Constitutional Council announcement.
Pope Francis called Sunday for dialogue and goodwill to “prevail over mistrust and discord” in Mozambique.
President Nyusi and Mondlane had talked, both men confirmed last week, without announcing any outcome.
In an address to the nation on Friday, Nyusi said he hoped that once the final results were proclaimed, all sides “will open their hearts to a constructive and inclusive dialogue.”
– ‘Maputo under siege’ –
The protests have been the “most dangerous” ever seen in Mozambique, said analyst Borges Nhamirre, continuing despite deaths and arrests, and intensifying with police stations and Frelimo offices torched.
“Protests have already been called for Monday. The main cities, including Maputo, will be under siege because of the fear of protests,” he said.
“I’m convinced that if Monday the Constitutional Council declares the election as free and fair, which I am 100 percent convinced it will, then the blood is going to flow,” Maputo-based political and security risk analyst Johann Smith told AFP.
“The whole game changes on Monday,” said Smith. “It will be a lot more intense and bloody.”
Mondlane had awakened resentment against Frelimo, he said, similar to discontent that this year led to the party that governed Botswana since independence being voted out and threatening to do the same in Namibia.
“It’s almost like the Southern African Spring,” Smith said, in a reference to the Arab anti-government protests in North Africa in the early 2010s.
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Tinubu Bombs Obasa Over Controversial Lagos Council Law
The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, has reportedly slammed the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, over the contentious 2024 Lagos State Local Council Administration Law sent to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for assent.
Visibly upset, President Tinubu questioned Obasa’s qualifications to draft laws that could destabilize the political harmony in Lagos State.
He repeatedly scolded the Speaker for his perceived individualistic approach to state matters and his confrontational stance toward the state executive, the party, and its elders.
A stunned Obasa was reportedly left speechless as Tinubu lambasted him for his alleged political misconduct and defiance toward the party, its leaders, and the governor. The President emphasized that matters concerning local government laws were beyond Obasa and the House of Assembly at this stage. Tinubu directed the Speaker to align with Governor Sanwo-Olu’s directives, particularly regarding the screening, approval, and confirmation of board members for the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC).
Obasa was further instructed to comply with other instructions that would be communicated to him in the future.
The incident comes after Obasa, during the Lagos State 2025 budget presentation, boasted that no serving or former Lagos State governor was better qualified than him to oversee the state, which boasts the fourth-largest economy in Africa. His assertion, seen as a direct indictment of President Tinubu, who governed Lagos from 1999 to 2007, also highlighted his ambition to run for Lagos State Governor in 2027.
The controversial 2024 Local Government Administration Law has been widely criticized as a tool for Obasa to install his loyalists as administrative secretaries in the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs). This move is viewed as part of his 2027 gubernatorial agenda, branded as the “Muda Eko, Obasa Lagos 2027 Agenda” under The Mudashiru Movement (TMM). The proposal has reportedly caused divisions within the APC in Lagos State.
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