Tag Archives: bola tinubu

2023: Tinubu, Buhari In Close Door Meeting Again

January 10, 2022   News, Politics, Society

President Muhammadu Buhari is currently in a meeting with former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, at the presidential villa, Abuja.

The meeting is coming against the president’s expressed fear that the ruling party may lose power in 2023 if it is unable to resolve its present problems.

Tinubu arrived at the villa just before the scheduled 3.00 pm meeting and went to the president’s office.

It is expected that the internal crisis preceding the planned national convention of the APC will be a major focus of the meeting.

Tinubu is perceived to be an aspirant for the presidential ticket of the ruling party.

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Insiders Confirmed Rift Between Tinubu, Aregbesola

October 26, 2021   News, Politics

What could have caused  a fight between the Interior Minister, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and his godfather, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu? Is it Asiwaju’s ambition? Is Aregbesola against the plans by his mentor to become the President? Those were questions raised by people within and outside the circle of the APC regarding the reported fight between these two politicians.

Papermacheonline can exclusively gathered that the matter did not just happen, they had both not been on talking terms, but its well managed that if you don’t belong to the inner caucus of the Lagos APC you wouldn’t have noticed.

‘Aregbe’ who is regarded as the spiritual guardian of the APC and Tinubu, the strongman of the party were said to have fallen apart over an issue concerning the running of the government of Osun State.

According to those in the know, the Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola is alleged to have heavily cut down the influence of his predecessor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in the politics of the State.

The Governor not only cancelled most of the projects embarked upon by Aregbe when he was the Governor, he also collapsed his structures and he didn’t feature any of his aides in his government. This in no little means has affected Aregbesola’s base who complained to Asiwaju Tinubu to call his cousin-Governor to order.

It is revealed that Tinubu’s body language indicated he had already taken a side and Aregbesola took offence and stayed away from the presidential aspirant.

Their fight became public knowledge when Asiwaju Tinubu traveled to the United Kingdom for a knee treatment and he was visited by the who-is-who in Nigerian politics. Aregbesola unexpectedly was not part of the pilgrimage to London.

Also when Asiwaju returned and he was welcomed by his trusted aides and loyalists, the former Governor of Osun State was nowhere to be found.

Insiders among the party confirmed there is an issue, but hinted it was minor, laying claims to similar matters in the past.

It is said that the close bond the two politicians shared makes it difficult for people to wade into their matter. Pundits believe when the time comes, the two men would come back together as they both need each other for strategic reasons concerning Tinubu’s ambition.

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Ahead 2023; Goodluck Jonathan Joins APC

September 15, 2021   News, Politics

Ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan has officially joined the ruling APC.

 

The former President who served under the PDP for four years lost the presidential election to General Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 .

 

There has been rumours that Goodluck Jonathan is been positioned to contest for President in 2023.

 

The coming presidential election has big-wigs like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and many others as contenders.

 

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‘I Am The Only Lawyer That Removed Four PDP Governors In Nigeria’ -Chief Niyi Akintola

December 31, 2020   Interviews, News, Politics
-Remi Ajayi
 
 
Chief Niyi Akintola is not a greenhorn in Nigerian politics, he had seen it all while working with Chief Bola Ige and other Progressives to mould the future of Nigeria.  
 
He was a member of the House of Assembly at age 29 and he rose to the peak of his career when he became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and one of the best in the wig and gown profession.
 
The politician was a guest of Southwest Group of Online Practitioners (SWEGOP) in Ibadan recently and he fielded questions on the aftermath of the last elections, his commitment to the APC and his future plans…
 
 
 
Right After The APC Primaries In Oyo State, There was A Particular Write-up From You Where You Described The Immediate Past Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi. What Went Through Your Mind When You Wrote That?
I said Uncle Biola Ajimobi was my brother, he was my brother in every sense of the word. We’ve come a long way and it was rather unfortunate that what happened really happened. Most of the people that claimed to know him today never knew where we were coming from. I remembered when I built a hospital for my community in 2006, Asiwaju Tinubu came down to lay the foundation of the proposed Teaching Hospital.  All the progressive governors were there that day, including those who were aspiring to be governors,  Adams Oshiomole, Chris Ngige, Fayemi, they were all present. Nobody has ever thought of having a cottage hospital anywhere in this country before then. Ajimobi was there that day too and he wasn’t a governor then.  Asiwaju that day said I should get ready to be the governor of Oyo State. I said I still have an elder and I pointed at Uncle Biola Ajimobi and said, these are my egbons, let them do first.
  I had the opportunity of stealing the show that day, but I didn’t. I took Ajimobi to Asiwaju Tinubu, this is what everybody knows. I took him there because they had fallen out and he was living in my house in Ikeja. I was on exile for 14 months, I was staying in the hotels and he was living in my house. When I had my own house in Omole all of them were coming there, including Chief Ladoja, Uncle Biola Ajimobi, Senator Amosun, Aregbesola, Fayemi…my place was the meeting point when we plotted against the PDP, and that was why it was easier for me to be the only lawyer that removed four PDP Governors in this country.
Ajimobi was actually staying in my house in Ikeja, in fact himself and Chief Ladoja were staying in my guest room. He was my brother and we knew each other far more than what I can tell you. Most of the people around him never knew him, they were just opportunists.
The write up was actually an interaction with a friend and compatriot from Ibadan who is a medical doctor. He put a call to me, I didn’t pick, so he messaged me on whatsapp to inform me about the loss of election by Ajimobi . I don’t dance on the grave of defeat of my adversaries, by my own assessment, I believe he would have been a better Senator, even he had his faults which I enumerated. it was Wole Arisekola that later called me from Dublin and said they’ve made 5000 copies of the write up to Ibadan indigenes in Dublin. That was it, I never knew it would go viral. The truth of the matter remains that I knew this man more than the people claiming to know him. They knew nothing about him, I knew him, we plotted many things together and like every human beings he had his faults and virtues, but he was the best. In terms of intellectual, he was articulate, he had class but unfortunately he lacked native intelligence. The write up wasn’t meant for public consumption, it was meant to be a chat between me and a friend who threw it out to the public. I’m not flippant, I choose my words.
After the primaries, you claimed you would quit partisan politics. But judging from recent activities, it seems you are coming back. Are you contesting again in 2023?
In the heat of the moment I felt betrayed and cheated and I knew what was going to be the implication for our party. Some of our compatriots don’t read and that has become the bane of our politics. If people read and look at the past… I saw myself in the same position  Chief Bola Ige found himself in 1998. Chief Bola Ige had been with the progressives since the 50’s . He anchored the Pan-Yoruba congress and we took a decision that the Yorubas should participate in the government. Bola Ige was in the thick of all these on behalf of the Yorubas. Suddenly some people just brought Chief Olu Falae and asked Chief Bola Ige to come and sit with Falae and he refused.  I’m an Ige boy and I’m proud to be. I was the one that asked him not to attend, it was outrageous. So my case was similar, and i looked at myself, with all the things I’ve done for these people , a lot of them were beneficiaries of my effort. I was the first in this country to remove a sitting governor and I was also the first to return an impeached governor. I had to go on exile because of these people and for somebody that joined our party in April to get the ticket in August, like Chief Bola Ige would say,  ‘do you expect me to start clapping?’.
 I don’t know why people don’t subject issues to perusal analysis again, no sense of value, no serious thinking, how did Yoruba degenerate to this level that we now tie everything to money? We have sense of value and concept called Omoluabi.
 I remembered in 1998 that Omisore financed the AD and we didn’t because of that throw the ticket at him.  See how he has been very useful to us the progressives of recent with what happened in Osun State. I was the one charged with the task of removing him as Deputy Governor. I went to Osogbo to remove him. How would you feel if you are in my shoes? I felt the way Chief Bola Ige felt. Just look at the conglomerate of the aspirants. We have a concept in Yorubaland called Omoluabi. One of the first lessons you learn in politics is to know your limitations.
 Some people, the only qualification they have is because they are from Ibadan. I didn’t just get up from the blues, I paid my dues, I went through the mills and that was why we are at this stage of quagmire because we have mixed it up. We’ve mixed the wheat with the chaff.
 Ordinarily the people our leaders would never sit with. Bola Ige would never sit with some people not to talk of them coming out to say they want to become Governor.
 I remembered in 1998, myself and Uncle Yemi Farounbi and Chief Tunde Adeniran, we were the foot soldiers of Uncle Bola Ige , we followed him to Abuja after the emergence of the aborted PDP . We actually wrote the constitutions of the PDP. Chief Bola Ige was the Chairman, I was an errand boy to him in that process and we produced the constitution, but when things could not work, we pulled out. We were to join another party called APP, but when we got there and saw Baba Adedibu and Governor Akala on the high table we walked out. But these days we sit with all sort of people, all sort of charlatans. People our leaders will not touch with a long pole. no more principles, no more value, everything is now about money. But there are some of us who still hold tenaciously to these principles.
So are you contesting again in 2023?
By the grace of God.
State of lawlessness in Nigeria and Oyo state has increased. What’s the cause and how can it be handled?
The issue of security is tied to social problems. If you subject the challenges facing this country to simple analysis, you’ll see that they are tied to our nonchalant attitude to the socio economic and political development in the country, the issue of crime is also tied to that.
 When we were growing up in the 70’s, we hardly find a Yoruba man begging on the street. In fact the Yorubas had this concept then, that when you are giving him free things they will start suspecting you. But they brought feudalism into our system.  Awolowo fought all his life against feudalism. he would tell you that its better to teach you how to fish than to give you fish. Have you ever read in the history where Chief Bola Ige was giving people rice, giving them garri? Our lives had degenerated to that level. They now call it stomach infrastructure which is another name for feudalism. The man who controls what you eat has taken all from you, and the moment that happens to you, it means the man has died in you, and when the man dies in you, you lose everything.
 As an 11 year old boy I couldn’t proceed to Secondary School, I had to go and do what they call ‘birisope’, there’s a house around Odo Ona there I was part of the people that lifted sand and stones to build it. I would trek from there everyday to my grandmother’s house at Foko, that’s what they call dignity of labour. But now you will see them standing in front of a rich man’s house to beg. We have over the years been creating social problems within the community.
We used to have ways and means of leadership recruitment, but it has been thrown away. Now what is used to measure that is money. I was barely 29 years old when I was a member of the House of Assembly, there were 52 of us. There were accountants, estate surveyors and other people with means of livelihood in our midst and that was why we were able to look straight into the eyes of the then Governor, that was how we did what we did and I ended up in the booth of a car.
 We stood up against tyranny, but today virtually all the Houses of Assembly are in the pockets of the Governors. If you don’t have a means of livelihood you would never be considered under Bola Ige. you must have been useful to the system over the years, you can’t just come from nowhere. Baba Akande was a chartered accountant before he became Secretary to the Government and later became a Governor. Today we have people we don’t know the source of their income all over the place. All of us are guilty of this.
You sometimes criticised Seyi Makinde, but recently you’ve been praising him. Why the sudden change?
I’ve not changed my position. I don’t belong to the class of disco critics, the disco critics never see anything good in their opponents. I’m a political scientist and a lawyer, a chartered arbitrator. I don’t belong to the disco critics who don’t see anything good in their opponents.
Seyi Makinde came on board and had no template. The template of the development of Oyo State was anchored by Governor Ladoja, give that credit to him. It is the template that Tinubu established in Lagos and others followed. When Makinde came and didn’t have a template I criticised that. When he decided to take up some projects, like reviving Ajoda… how many people have thought about that? Governor Jemibewon established Ajoda New Town, he established Agbowo Shopping Complex and the successive Governors did nothing about those infrastructures and Makinde touches that, I had to commend him. Idea rules the world, its not just for you to have degrees.
when Governor Makinde came on board and in a year didn’t have a plan and I had to comment. I told him we made our mistakes in APC and he capitalised on that, he used two weapons, Populism and Demarketing against us. He saw the fundamental mistakes we made due to lack of native intelligence and appraisal and he capitalised on that, but unfortunately for him, he has people like me to contend with. If he does well, I will praise him even to the detriment of our party, because our members would tell me not to praise him even if he was doing good, but I’m not a disco-critic and I can never be.
WHERE DO LEADERS MISS IT? THEY USUALLY HAVE LOFTY PLANS BEFORE THEY GET INTO OFFICE AND LOSE IT WHEN THEY GET THERE. HOPE THIS WONT HAPPEN TO YOU WHEN YOU ACHIEVE YOUR AIMS?
Morning will show the day, I was reading Tribune’s editorial comment  yesterday that said by their convoys you shall know them and I kept the copy. Those who ruled us before had money but they never flaunted or use it to oppress. By all standard Awolowo was never a poor man  and so also was Bola Ige and Jakande. But they never left their old houses, they lived there, even Lam Adesina. How many houses can you attribute to them? But those sense of value is gone, look at them. Only mad men use the same weapon and expect a different result. I was a Deputy Speaker in this state, I had an official car, a 504, my own personal car was a 505, the official car was given as a back up to my personal car. I was a Deputy Speaker and still go to court and  do my job. You cannot grow outside of your background.
If there’s any move in the future for you to step down again for another person in your party considered to also be competent, would you agree?
Why are you comparing apple with an orange? I’m a core progressive. Ours is anchored on legacies. Awolowo died in 1987 and we still celebrate him, so is Bola Ige. I’m an unrepentant Ige boy. Against that back drop I don’t see myself on the same level  with others.
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Tinubu’s Men Named In 16.4 Billion Naira Scandal (the WEMA Bank connection)

November 23, 2020   News, Politics, Society
Not long after Dapo Apara, the former Managing Director of Alpha-Beta Consulting came out with allegations of corruption and money laundering against the company in late 2018, associates of Bola Tinubu who were running a shell company identified as critical to the movement of funds from Alpha-Beta started scrambling to protect their financial interests.

Bank records of Ocean Trust Limited  showed how the company hurriedly shuffled billions of naira between its accounts with Wema Bank.

Between January and June 2019, Ocean Trust summarily moved N16.4 billion from its operations accounts into a fixed deposit account, all domiciled at Wema Bank, a bank.

Ocean Trust was specifically mentioned in Mr. Apara’s court documents as one of the firms allegedly used to siphon funds from Alpha-Beta, the controversial Lagos tax contractor whose financial activities have come under scrutiny amidst ongoing publications by the Gazette.

Alpha-Beta has received billions from Lagos treasury since Mr. Tinubu was governor, according  to Apara who said the firm received N150 billion in the past 15 years from Lagos.

Most of the transactions, which Mr. Apara said were later laundered through fronts, were conducted in secrecy, and Mr. Tinubu and his successors have rejected all requests to publish the state’s financial records.

The men, believed to be Tinubu’s cronies named in the scandal are Yemi Adefarakan, Frank Obi and Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti.

On January 2, 2019, Ocean Trust moved N1.5 billion from its 0702892574 Wema Bank account to another 0122613238 account within Wema Bank. The description for the transaction was labelled “Closure proceeds”. A week after on January 9, N800 million was transferred to the same bank account.

On January 16, 2019, N500 million was also transferred to the same account. N1.5 billion, N800 million, and N500 million were transferred to the 0122613238 Ocean Trust account on February 1, February 8 and February 15 in 2019, respectively.

The same account got N1.5 billion on March 4, while N800 million and N500 million were transferred on March 11 and 18, 2019.

On April 3, the account received yet another N1.5 billion while N800 million was credited to it on April 10 and another N500 million on April 17.

N1.5 billion was moved to the account on May 3 while N600 million and N500 million were credited to the account on May 10 and May 17 respectively.

On June 3, N1.5 billion was transferred to the Ocean Trust account with another N600 million on June 10 and another N500 million on June 17.

The suspicious N16.4 billion transactions that went into a fixed deposit with Wema Bank were also carried out with 08092317155, a telephone number linked to a TVC executive Adefarakan.

On April 10, 2019, N200 million was transferred directly from Ocean Trust to Continental Broadcasting Service, the parent company of TVC which Mr. Tinubu admitted he had shares in a statement last month.

The broadcaster also received N10 million directly from Ocean Trust on June 14, 2019, even though the company had already been exposed as a shell business by Mr. Apara.

CAC filings showed Mr. Adefarakan once held a majority share of 4.6 million in Ocean Trust. Mr. Adefarakan now holds the position of executive director and group financial officer of Continental Broadcasting Service, owners of TVC News and other related media subsidiaries in Lagos and Abuja.
Mr. Adefarakan is also a director at Primero, operators of Lagos metro services BRT. Primero is led by Fola Tinubu, a cousin of the former Lagos governor and ruling party chief.

Also on the registration filings of Ocean Trust was Frank Obi, group executive director of Paragon Holdings.

Paragon built Ikeja City Mall, Circle Mall, Oshodi LAWMA Complex, Simpson LAWMA Complex and once held a 20 percent stake in Ikeja City Mall. Mr. Obi, who is also a non-executive director at Primero, had two million shares in Ocean Trust.

Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, head of Lagos State Security Trust Fund, was also on Ocean Trust CAC document obtained by the Gazette with 2.4 million shares, alongside a former senator Jonathan Zwingina, who had 2.5 million shares.

Wema Bank account opening package obtained by the Gazette showed Mr. Adefarakan was a signatory to Ocean Trust’s financial activities.

Mr. Adefarakan declined requests seeking clarifications about the transactions, but he warned the Gazette earlier this month to stop publishing suspicious transactions of Ocean Trust.
Source; Peoples Gazette
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‘You Have Every Reason to Fear’, Group Chides Tinubu Over Remark On Atiku

November 2, 2018   News, Politics

N4Atiku, a group working towards enhancing the Atiku Abubakar presidential project, has lambasted All Progressives Congress chieftain, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu over his comment on Thursday that Nigerians cannot go back to the illusion of the PDP.

Tinubu while speaking to newsmen after his meeting with President Buhari said ‘ we don’t fear, whether it is in the jungle or Dubai but we are not going back to the illusions of the PDP”.

The N4Atiku Group, in a statement released by its spokesperson, Isiaka Abdulai claimed ‘Tinubu has every reason to fear. The Atiku’s candidacy is divine and anyone standing against it will be crushed’.

Abdulai stated that since the PDP picked Atiku as its flag bearer, the All Progressive Congress has been having sleepless nights because they know he has the plans, the brain and the plot to send President Muhammadu Buhari packing in 2019.

The N4Atiku Group also advised Tinubu to stop speaking for Nigerians, ‘Tinubu can only speak for himself, his family and followers and not Nigerians who are tired of their gimmicks, lies and are ready to massively send them away in 2019’,.

The recent exchange attracted a lot of response from people who think Tinubu is not in the best position to ridicule Atiku who was in Dubai for meetings and consultations on how to actualize his ambition in 2019.

“The former VP is not ignorant of the plans by the PDP and its agents to get as much information about the parley as possible, hence the provocative comments”, the Group concluded.

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He Whom The Gods Favour; Seyi Tinubu’s Rising Influence In Lagos

March 9, 2018   News, Society

The enormous power wielded by APC chieftain and ex Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is not about to wane anytime soon as his son, Seyi also appears to be leveraging on his father’s hold on Africa’s most populous city.

According to reliable sources, the younger Tinubu is using his father’s influence to seal some deals in the state that is fetching him a fortune.

One of the opportunities cited by the source is the Lekki-Epe toll gate 1 and 2 roads, the Lekki/Ikoyi link bridge controlled by the Lekki Concession Company. It is being alleged that Loatsad Promomedia, an outdoor advertising agency owned by Seyi Tinubu owns the massive LED advertising screens at the three toll gates.

Investigations put the cost of advertising on the screen at N7Million-N10Million monthly.

‘It is not known how the young businessman came about the opportunity to locate the massive screens at the strategic points, no one can also remember when LCC called for open bids for outdoor advertisers to take up the vantage positions at the toll gates’ stated the source.

Those who know Seyi Tinubu revealed to papermacheonline that he is quiet and unassuming, but wields so much influence, an information that a source that knows the inner working of the state disclosed that has so much power that it is difficult for the State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode to say ‘No’ to some of his many requests.

Seyi  graduated from the university in 2011 with a law degree. He received a LLB from the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom, in 2011, became a member of Nigeria Bar Association in 2013. His profile also shows he has vast companies and investments spanning across Energy, Construction, Agriculture, Advertising, Technology, Human Resource, Entertainment, Branding.

Lagos State government have been in the eye of the storm lately owing to the increase in toll charge, land use charge, refuse management and the recent discovery that Alpha Beta, a tax consultant, allegedly owned by Bola Tinubu, was included in the new Land Use Charge law of the state, as a revenue collector for the state.

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