Former National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU) and erstwhile Vice-Chancellor of the Imo State University
(IMSU), Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie, has said that it would be difficult for
power to return to the Southwest in 2023 going by power equation in
the country.
According to him, even if the national leader of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, brings all the money in the world,
he would not be the next President as the position will go to
Northeast in 2023.
“Before, the Sokoto emblem was ‘Born to rule’; now if you look at the
six geo-political zones in the country, the Southwest has served for
eight years, South-south six years, put them together it isn14 years,
they left Northwest alone another eight years with two years of
Yar’Adua, which is 10 years, only one zone out of the three, the
Northeast has not gone, North-central has not gone, the Southwest has
gone, the South-south has gone, it remains the Southeast.
“Look at the number of years they have gone, South has covered 14
years; North has covered or will cover 10 years when Buhari completes
his tenure.
“I don’t think they would allow the West, even if it is Tinubu, let
him bring all the money in the world, the President will go to
Northeast in 2023,” he said in an interview with Sun newspaper.
On the political situation in the country, Awuzie described it as
wobbly, saying that sometimes it seems President Muhammadu Buhari is
on holiday and detached from the problems plaguing the country.
He said, “We have a wobbling leadership, sometimes it appears to me
that our president is on holidays, he has to take grip of situations.
“We are in a country you cannot go to bed with your two eyes closed, a
country you cannot guarantee six hours of light, a country priding
itself that we can produce 8,000megawatts when South Africa produces
30,000megawatts, you are talking of 8,000megawatts for a country of
200 million population, I think we have a long way to go.
“What I am saying is that the leadership should be more pragmatic, we
must look at harnessing the best; our problem in Nigeria is that we
are not using the best to drive both the economy and governance.”
Kogi Guber Poll: Tenants can’t dislodge landlords, Gov Bello replies
APC aspirant
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has advised an All Progressives
Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in the state, Professor Seidu
Ogah Mohammed to banish from his thoughts the hope of ever clinching
the party’s ticket “no matter the level of his hallucination”.
Mohammed, who is the newest entrant into the race for the governorship
of Kogi State has advocated the use of direct mode of primary election
to pick the party’s standard bearer for the November 16 poll, boasting
that he would defeat the incumbent governor in a free and fair
contest.
But in a Press statement issued in Lokoja on Saturday, Governor
Bello’s spokesman, Mr. Onogwu Mohammed dismissed the claims by
Mohammed as a day-dream by a political neophyte, who will be trounced
and humiliated during the party’s primary election billed for August.
“Our attention has been drawn to a day-dreamer whose new past time is
to make fantastic claims to having some bogus political clout within
our great party. But we dare say that there is no issue about who will
fly the flag of the APC for the forthcoming governorship election in
Kogi State as stakeholders within the party are unanimous that
Governor Yahaya is the only credible and popular candidate that can
give the party victory at the November 16 governorship election in the
state.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Professor Seidu Mohammed and his
imaginary supporters should be aware that members of the APC in Kogi
are politically sophisticated and would ignore the empty grandstanding
of a political lightweight who has no record of winning any election
in his life—not even a councillorship election,” Onogwu said.
According to Onogwu , APC members in the state and indeed the
electorate will repeat what they did for Governor Bello at the
recently concluded general elections- that is trouncing and
humiliating the governor’s political enemies at the polls.
He reminded governorship aspirants both within the APC and the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that the people of Kogi State have now
established a progressive credential and would never go back on their
resolve to return the people’s progressive governor, Yahaya Bello to
office for another term of four years.
“Even when incumbents in other states became paranoid following
reports that PDP was going to pull some electoral surprise in the run
up to the last general election, the people of Kogi State dared to be
different. They cast their lot with Governor Yahaya Bello and no
amount of hallucination or cajoling can change their resolve. Bello
will win the November 16, 2019 election with a landslide,” he said.
He advised Professor Seidu Mohammed to quietly withdraw from the
governorship race and proceed to enjoy his life in retirement after
his tenure of office as the Director General of National Space
Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) instead of embarking on a
wild goose chase.
