WIKE: LEADING THE PDP AWAY FROM THE WEST

Hate it or love it,the PDP represents our best hope of ridding ourselves of unarguably the worst government we have ever had and as such,its affairs are of paramount importance to a lot of us.If President Buhari packs and heads back to Daura in 2019,it is most likely they made that happen.

It was inevitable that the North and South West lose considerable influence in the party due to their dismal outing at the last general elections to the South South and South East who would not only produce the new big players but also become the major financiers of the party.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state had the added advantage of being a very key member of the Jonathan administration who was reportedly handed a mandate by the then first lady,Dame Patience Jonathan to wrestle back her home state by any means necessary from Rotimi Amaechi.Wike,fresh off an epic battle and being a prominent member of the party in the previous dispensation,assumed leadership status after Jonathan's semi-retirement from party affairs.He has succeeded on foisting Uche Secondus on the party when it made logical sense to zone it to the South West not only because it has never held the position but also to enhance chances of making a major break through into a region that has proven to be the most decisive in our electoral structure especially in these crucial times.

Wike may be apt to bulldozing down opposition and the employment of brute force but leadership of a vast number of people with divergent political and ethnic interests cloaked in the guise of a common goal takes a special kind of skill he hasn't displayed.

Secondus is heavily reliant on his dictates and so far,he hasn't blown him towards galvanizing the troops especially in the South West as efficiently as possible.

The most prized asset the PDP had was Olusegun Mimiko before his defection back to the Labour Party.Mimiko was the best Vice-Presidential candidate in the land and one who would have been pivotal to winning over the South West electorate; a region swayed more by competence and credibility than ethnic or religious sentiments.That Wike and his gang would make a man like that feel under-appreciated tells a lot about the job they are doing.

A reconciliation committee headed by Bayelsa state governor,Seriake Dickson was hurriedly put in place after Secondus' emergence as chairman with a very narrow and myopic objective-pacifying the aggrieved chairmanship candidates instead of the entire South West PDP.It goes without saying that the region is the most strategic going into next year's general elections.With Buhari still enjoying a large followership in the core northern states and only the central ones seemingly switching allegiance,the PDP would need a chunk of the South West votes to complement those of the South-South and South East to guarantee victory.

As things stand,its major players are content with moving solo or as parts of a caucus and that will not augur well.How else can one explain a mega rally in Ekiti state; the only place the party controls in the region without Chief Bode George,Otunba Gbenga Daniel or Alhaji Rasheed Ladoja?.

There is no clearer depiction of the woeful job the PDP has done in rallying its members in the South West than the very notable absences from the region at the Ekiti mega rally.

There is a very important need for the South West members to be brought under the umbrella and not only made to feel special but also to operate as a formidable entity.

As things stand,the only thing anyone who is discontented with the Buhari government has to be hopeful for as far as the South West electorate goes is their tendency to vote purely on the strength of candidates presented and nothing else.

Wike must learn to lead.He,having seized the party machinery,must ensure it is up and fully running.

ADEOSUN, BABACHIR, OBASANJO: THE BUHARI 'SHABALE' POSTURE

If you played or watched 'active' soccer  in the ghetto or the very middle-class neighbourhoods in the late '90s and early 2000s,you should be familiar with the term 'shabale'.It basically means passing or controlling the ball with your face in the opposite direction; what in formal parlance is referred to as the no-look pass.The 'shabale' is classy but if it doesn't go well,the player is chastised by just about everyone from the coach and his colleagues down to the spectators for messing up a very simple task.One he chose to want to feign blind to.

President Buhari's anti-corruption war is a 'shabale' situation as far as his close friends and cronies are concerned.He looks the other way and when the citizenry mounts pressure on him to take action,he lays a pass pre-meditated to go no where.

As it is,Buhari's face is in the other direction regarding allegations his finance minister, Kemi Adeosun is using a forged NYSC certificate and most likely,we will watch this one fizzle out unattended to because nigerians have simply grown tired of forcing this government do the needful.Everything points to the fact that the woman is not sincere.

The NYSC,perhaps in a bid to leave feathers high up unruffled,only issued a statement saying she applied for an exemption certificate.They neglected to tell us whether or not it was granted.

What is more disgusting is the presidency's silence amidst such a grave criminal allegation against a key member of its cabinet.Adeosun has stayed mute and Buhari has not deemed it wise to do anything other than adopt the NYSC's statement as his.He has not set up a committee to probe the allegations or at least promise to look into them with a view to arriving at the truth.It would be interesting to see what he would have done if he was under immense pressure by Nigerians.Not that anyone expects her to be prosecuted and that is largely down to Buhari's woeful 'shabale' antecedents.When he looks the other side,it makes no difference forcing him to do what he should.

Nigerians had to pile up pressure on President Buhari to deal decisively with his former SGF, Babachir Lawal for his role in the embezzlement of funds meant for the IDPs in what is more popularly referred to as the grass-cutter scandal.There was no will whatsoever on the part of the government to make Babachir pay for his sins.Nigerians forced him to hurriedly refer the matter to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation; a law officer, for a 'negative' probe and despatch of a clean bill of health to the senate by none other than Buhari himself.Nigerians forced him to ditch the AGF report for a more elaborate look into the allegations by a committee headed by the Vice-President whose report ended up having Babachir sacked.

As it is today,Babachir is on administrative bail pending further investigation by the EFCC.A man already probed at 3 different levels, each presumably having reached its conclusion after a good look at available evidence.What is the 'further' that has taken the EFCC so long to find out?.How on earth does Buhari expect his war on corruption to be taken seriously?.

While he is busy celebrating as his achievements the conviction of governors in cases filed by other governments,he should bear in mind that a lot of people still remember how the Chairman of his inauguration committee and former Bayelsa governor,Timipre Sylva was discharged and acquitted in controversial circumstances.He was never tried due to a 'programmed' incompetence on the part of the authorities and eventually had his 48 houses (yes,48 houses) handed back to him.The controversy started with Festus Keyamo withdrawing as prosecutor and today,he has been rewarded by being appointed the spokesman of the Buhari 2019 campaign.Most Nigerians did the 'shabale' then in 2015 because they were blind in the desperation to see Buhari succeed and hardly remember this as part of Buhari's hypocritical anti-corruption sins but unlike Keyamo,they have been rewarded with hardship and untold suffering.

It is nobody's fault that Buhari limited the scope of his anti-corruption fight to only the Jonathan administration when he and his cohorts were dispraising a 16 year rule before theirs.He never expected the public outcry that greeted his comments on a 'previous administration' having spent $16b on power.As it turns out,Buhari had known all along President Obasanjo spent that much on power without a commensurate improvement in power supply but he had kept a 'shabale' posture to Obasanjo's outrageous deed and only mentioned it after OBJ criticized his performance and condemned his re-election bid.That was when he chose to let us know he knew.And again,it was only after public outcry became deafening that he called for a probe and till date,the EFCC is yet to make an arrest or even as much as intimate the public on the latest regarding the probe.There have been a lot of stories bandied around about how the ex-presidents that rallied round PMB when he came into office negotiated a deal to keep the Jonathans free from prosecution.A pointer to how true that may be is how despite seizing her money and properties,Patience Jonathan is the one taking the government to court and not the other way round.If Buhari does not lack the balls to probe and prosecute his friend then it may be that he is scared of what OBJ might reveal if pushed to the wall.

Taking things as we see them,it is very obvious that whenever voluntary will power is lacking,the Buhari administration hardly ever takes a corruption battle to the finish line.It succumbs to public discontent and moves to douse it with a-little-something for the cameras before allowing the matter wither away.Forcing the man to make a move still feels no different from his 'shabale' posture.