I wish our Christian brothers and sisters in Nigeria and across the world happy Easter celebrations. We thank the Almighty God for seeing you through the physically tasking but spiritually uplifting Lenten Season. May all your sacrifices be rewarded. As we celebrate, please spare some thoughts for our brothers and sisters still in captivity. Pray fervently for their safe return.

Many families in Nigeria today are in distress. They are facing psychological torture and emotional trauma. Terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements have been making life unbearable for our people across communities. The latest in a series of abductions is the Abuja -Kaduna Train incident. The abductees have been moved to Shiroro Local Government in Niger State by terrorists. From the North West to North Central to South East, it is a trail of blood and tears. Terrorists and kidnappers have been having a field day. Few days ago 70 persons were abducted from communities in Plateau State. We must not forget that the Chibok School Girls, Leah Sharibu, four female students of College of Health Science and Technology, Tsafe, Zamfara State, and others across the country are still in captivity.

In a statement issued in August 2021 by UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Hawkins, a scary picture was painted of the havoc school abductions have been wrecking on educational institutions in Nigeria. According to him: “An estimated 200 Nigerian students are believed to still be held after school abductions that have plagued the country since December 2020. “More than 1,000 have been abducted in these attacks from December 2020 to date,” he said. Amnesty International on Thursday, April 14, 2022 gave further startling statistics on the abduction of school children. According to AI’s Nigeria Director, Osai Ojigho, “Of the more than 1,500 school children, who have been abducted in Northern Nigeria since the Chibok attack on April 14, 2014, at least 120 remain in captivity. They are mostly school girls, and their fate remains unknown.”

“Of the 276 school girls abducted in Chibok by Boko Haram, 109 are still unaccounted for. Of 102 students, who were kidnapped from the Federal Government College in Birnin Yauri, nine are still being held by their captors. One of the 121 students abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State remains in captivity. Five of the 19 students abducted from Greenfield University were brutally murdered, while one of the 333 students kidnapped in Kankara, was also killed. Five of the 276 students kidnapped in Dapchi were killed, while one student, Leah Sharibu, remains in captivity. Five of the 136 school children kidnapped from Salihu Tanko Islamiya School in Tegina, have also been killed.”

This situation is totally unacceptable. We must not allow terrorists to destroy education in Nigeria and mortgage the future of our children. Let us take our challenges to God Almighty. The Federal Government must reinvigorate the war against terrorists and other criminal elements. Our country has bled enough.

I urge us to seek the face of God in this Easter period for His divine intervention in the affairs of our country. May He touch the hearts and minds of the evil ones in our midst so that the bloodletting can stop. We must restore the dignity of the human person. May we also pray to the Supreme One to continue to guide and strengthen members of the Security Forces as they battle terrorists, insurgents and kidnappers. May He expose the fifth columnists in the Security Forces so that the efforts of our patriotic servicemen and women would start bearing fruits.

I salute the courage, patience and resilience of the good people of Kaduna State. You have gone through a lot in the hands of terrorists, insurgents, kidnappers and other agents of destabilization. The government is not resting on its oars. Please continue to support the government and the security agencies as they battle these enemies of the people. Better and more effective strategies are being fashioned to make life unbearable for the merchants of evil.

HAPPY EASTER CELEBRATION!!!

Uba Sani is Senator Representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly.

A joker in poker is a wild card. It can be flipped; it can substitute and be substituted. And it can just be that jester. Nigeria’s political caravan is saturated with jokers. While some jokers are well aware of their status as factotums of other interests in the political circus, some are just aboriginal jesters taken up in their own vanity and delusion of importance. There are presidential hopefuls and there are presidential jokers.

Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state and member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is a presidential joker. I believe Obi knows that he cannot succeed in his presidential expedition under the current political arrangement. The entrenched system which abominates merit is not of his making, but it is an obvious encumbrance to him emerging as the presidential candidate of the PDP. Peter Obi is no match for any of the APC presidential hopefuls — Bola Tinubu, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, and Rotimi Amaechi. This is an uncomfortable but evident fact.

As I wrote in a previous column, if it were a sectional contest where only Igbo votes will decide the winner, perhaps, the former Anambra governor will have a chance. But this is a national election where every Nigerian – north, south, east, west – will decide the outcome. Obi does not have the requisite community network and he remains suspended on the fringes of political relevance. He does not matter to those who really matter in elections – the hoi-polloi. But I give it to him, he is a favourite of some Nigerians from the south on Twitter. But there are no polling stations on Twitter.

It has been speculated that Obi is using the presidential quest as a gambit to negotiate for a vice-presidential position in the PDP – because he may not get another chance like in 2019 when he was the running mate of Atiku Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate, in the election. According to whispers from party insiders, a running mate from the south-south or south-west may be selected, if the presidential ticket goes to a northern candidate. This is on the assumption that a popular running mate from the south-west can bite into the bloc vote of the APC in the region.

Ayodele Fayose, former governor of Ekiti state, is another presidential joker. The good thing is, the ‘’Amala and Ponmo’’ exponent, admits he is a joker. Fayose does not try to be suave or rational about his status as a hoaxer; he is honest about his ‘’presidential’’ pursuit. He is a political scullion. Fayose knows he is not popular and that he lacks the needed network for presidential nomination and election. He knows it will even take him an effort to win a senatorial election in Ekiti.

But who is the former governor fronting for? It is alleged that Fayose may be jesting at the behest of the ‘’grand patron’’ of the PDP – a certain governor from the south-south. Real contenders in internal party contests often flash jokers to boost their negotiating and electoral chances. The jokers act in the interest of the pied piper while maintaining a façade.

However, Dino Melaye, former senator and the liveried footman of Atiku and Bukola Saraki, accused Fayose of acting in the interest of another godfather in the APC. So, the former governor may not only be a joker but also a spoiler.

“It is clear from the verbal missiles deployed by Fayose that he was simply de-marketing frontline aspirants in PDP as a counterintuitive strategy to shore up the chances of his political godfather in APC,’’ Melaye said in response to Fayose’s ‘’demarketing’’ of Atiku and Saraki.

Dele Momodu is a presidential joker. Cerebral, cosmopolitan, expansive, yes, he is. In 2011, the CEO of Ovation group ran for presidential office on the ticket of the National Conscience Party (NCP). But he only secured 26,376 votes, coming a distant 11th on the election log. Momodu is vacant of grassroots appeal and appears sequestered from everyday Nigerians. He has a mélange of friends in the elite phylum, but not enough political network to swing the presidential pendulum his way. It has been speculated that he is fronting for Saraki.

Tunde Bakare is another presidential joker. He said God told him to run for president. Well, I believe the fiery preacher knows the celestials will not be voting in the elections – only Nigerians. Perhaps, he wants to take the baton from Chris Okotie, the debonair pastor known for running for president every election cycle without getting as much as 50,000 votes.

There are other persons in the band of presidential jokers. They include but not limited to Cosmo Ndukwe of the PDP, Anyim Pius Anyim of the PDP, Orji Kalu of the APC, Bala Mohammed of the PDP and David Umahi of the APC.

There are presidential hopefuls and there are presidential jokers. The jokers bring nothing but comic relief, and perhaps, excitement to the contest. And who does not fancy a good laugh?

Nwabufo aka Mr OneNigeria is a writer and journalist.

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, formally declared his intention to succeed his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, last Monday. By so doing he had put speculations to that effect to rest. The diminutive number two citizen sounded coherent, patriotic, bold and convincing in his declaration speech. He sought to be seen as his own man. Before coming out openly to inform Nigerians of his readiness to compete and serve presidentially Osinbajo must have consulted widely. And above all, he must have sought and obtained the blessing and endorsement of the President himself.

Buhari and the Fulani cabal running the federal government on his behalf must have zeroed in on Osinbajo after the GEJ kite failed to fly. To be sure they must have concluded that Osinbajo is controllable and more loyal than the so-called National Leader of the ruling party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. The VP would definitely abide by the gentlemen agreement by not rocking the boat as it were.

The Senior Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCGG) has a couple of ‘positives’ following his political career. He is seen generally as a man of God in whom one can put their trust. He is not associated with baggages of corruption or political ‘sins’. He could be described as a ‘saint’ compared to other professional politicians, scoundrels et al, whose pasttime is looting the treasury and delivering little in terms of democracy dividends to the people.

Osinbajo‘s declaration speech ‘offended’ the sensibility of some folks especially where he indicated his intention to pursue the programmes and policies of Buharism. The Buhari presidential legacy is not worth emulating or continuing for whatever reason. Osinbajo goofed by saying that he would build on the ‘great achievements’ of his boss. Where are the achievements? Abuse of power? Terrorism? Banditry? Kidnapping for ransom? Secessionist violence?

However, juxtaposed otherwise, we can understand his desperation to eulogize the President and paint him in glowing colours. The history of the Buhari underwhelming regime cannot be written without a mention or two of Osinbajo. The Vice President is practically in charge of economic issues, the initiator and distributor of paliatives to the poor and vulnerable.

Much as the Professor may have meant well by wanting to serve Nigerians at the highest level of governance the challenge before him appears daunting indeed. Unless a consensus candidate is adopted by the APC Osinbajo may not stand a chance of beating his former boss and benefactor, Asiwaju Tinubu, in the race for the presidential flagbearer of the party towards the 2023 presidential poll.

In terms of political organization, followership and popularity Osinbajo is no match to Tinubu. The former may be intellectually more grounded and professionally upright but the latter is an experienced organized politician with intimidating credentials and achievements, especially in Lagos.

Asiwaju Tinubu is far from being a paragon but he had built bridges and made contacts across the lenght and breadth of the country that if the contest, the primaries, are thrown up without manipulation or consensus nonsense no one stands a chance of defeating him. Though his baggages of corruption may play against him he would triumph at the end of the day. Whoever is not corrupt should cast the first stone!

He has the money to prosecute his ‘life-long’ ambition of becoming President. He has the grassroots mobilization team scattered across the federation. He had touched lives and shown his benevolent capacity to help friends in times of need. This demonstration of charity beyond the boundaries of religion or tribe could be said to have an egoistical tinge attached to it but it could be altruistic all the same.

By seeking the presidency, aware that Asiwaju had already declared his candidacy for the same top job, Osinbajo has put himself on a collision course with the Tinubu political machine. The well-oiled machine is desperate and efficacious cutting across boundaries and tongues. Both men may not be the same after all is said and done with the winner and loser emerging.

Asiwaju Tinubu does not look like one to be persuaded to drop his ambition in support of his former ‘godson’. And the glorified godson, sensing history and forces in his favour, may not be willing to forgo his ambition in deference to Lagos godfather. So the clash is evident and unavoidable!

If Tinubu triumphs at the primaries Osinbajo and his supporters may rally around him. But the same cannot be said with the Osinbajo victory at the primaries. Tinubu may pull out of the ruling party and seek solution from elsewhere. If that happens then the APC is sure of losing the presidential election in February next year.

But even if the two men could reach a compromise and make up before or after the primaries the APC is not sure of victory at the polls given the glaring failures of Buharism. Whoever emerges as the ruling party’s representative at the polls may find it difficult to promise anything since the promises made seven years ago by Buhari are yet to be fulfilled.

The biggest challenge to the Osinbajo presidency, with the feeling of his apparent anointment in mind, remains the Asiwaju factor. Who can reconcile both men? Who is capable of reconciling their differences? When power is concerned then to hell with the past or cult of personality!

We welcome VP Osinbajo to the race for the presidency. But we hasten to add that if he thinks succeeding his principal is a ‘walkover’ then he must pray and fast harder. Even if he succeeds in succeeding Buhari the task ahead is not only arduous but a herculean one.

The omnipotent position of President comes with enormous responsibility for the security, welfare and wellbeing of citizens. This burden of responsibility and service has been heightened by the current state of the polity characterized by severe threats to our collective existence as a people. The damage done to the system would take many years to repair.

Fixing the broken system requires leadership anchored on character and patriotism, competence and example. Sadly, Buharism has never exhibited any of these traits!

We are convinced that Prof. Osinbajo would make a good President, a better one indeed than the bumbling fumbling incumbent. Yet the challenges of our time are enormous. Nigeria needs a strong President who neither ‘loves’ God too much nor ‘hates’ Him so much! Prayer or fasting are not enough to clean the Augean stable.