• Asks Vice President to always cross check facts

The Sokoto government has asked Vice-President Kashim Shettima to always cross check facts before going public.

Shettima, at the inaugural north-west security summit in Katsina on Monday, said the Sultan of Sokoto represents an idea that must be jealously guarded and projected for the growth of the nation.

“And to the deputy governor of Sokoto, I have a simple message for you. Yes, the Sultan is the Sultan of Sokoto, but he is much more than that; he represents an idea,” Shettima had said.

Prior to the vice-president’s remark, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) had alleged that the Sokoto government is plotting to dethrone Muhammad Abubakar as the Sultan of Sokoto.

MURIC had asked Ahmad Aliyu, governor of Sokoto, to exercise restraint and not tamper with the traditional and religious institution of the Sultan.

In a statement on Tuesday, Abubakar Bawa, chief press secretary to the Sokoto governor, said the state government never attempted to dethrone the Sultan as speculated.

“The Sokoto state government has called on our Vice-President Kashim Shettima to always cross check facts before commenting on sensitive national matters,” the statement reads.

“We sincerely expected the Vice-President to have consulted the governor before going public.

“The state government urges Vice-President Shettima as No 2 citizen to have a full knowledge on issues of national concern before commenting on them.

“As an elder statesman and a father to all, he should have facts and figures before judging on issues raised by mischief makers and the mushroom social media handlers known for negative propaganda.

“The fact of the matter is that there was never any attempt to sack the Sultan nor have we sent him any threat regarding that.

“Sultan enjoys all the powers he is entitled to. We never denied him any of his freedom or rights.

“We, therefore, do not need to be told to guard, protect, and promote the Sultan. It is our sole responsibility.

“The government and people of Sokoto cherish and adore the sultanate council and would do everything possible to protect the dignity of the revered institution.”

Shehu Sani, a former senator representing Kaduna central, says the recent visits by northern politicians to former President Muhammadu Buhari are calculated moves to work against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 general election.

Several northern politicians have visited Buhari in his home town of Daura, Katsina state in the past few weeks.

On June 22, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Aminu Tambuwal, ex-governor of Sokoto, visited Buhari.

About 24 hours later, Nasir el-Rufai, an ex-governor of Kaduna, also visited the former president.

In a statement on Monday, Sani said that though the visits have been tagged as “Sallah homage,” they have a political undertone.

“The recent visits by some prominent Northern politicians to Daura appear to be the usual Eid homage, but looking deeper and beyond the facade, it’s surreptitiously a new attempt to build a strong northern alliance using ex-President Buhari as a rallying point to challenge and evict President Tinubu’s government in 2027,” the statement reads.

“It’s a regrouping of Northern political forces for the next general election. A project that will eventually kiss the dust.

“They want to resurrect Buhari’s political charm and fanaticism and mobilise the gullible to another hollow and bewildering end.

“They want to stock up and light up the Arewa sentiment without considering the inferno it would eventually generate.”

Sani said Buhari, a northerner who served as president for eight years, did not make a significant impact on the nation.

“They had power and wasted it. What do they want to do with it again?” the former senator queried.

“A southerner is in power just for one year. It’s too early for the desperate and power-hungry northern elite to start plotting.

“The south never did that to Buhari. Their intended action has the capacity of ruining the democratic process and wrecking the fragile unity of the country when the south is awakened to this reality. Their obsession with power is condemnable.

“Opposition to Tinubu from the point of policies, promises and programs of his administration is a democratic right of any Nigerian.

“People have the right to speak and criticize the government. But attempts to whip up Northern sentiments to achieve their political ends is a dangerous political experiment and expedition at this material time.

“No serious southerner challenged Buhari for eight years. These power-drunk Northern politicians are dragging the region to a new political journey through a land mine.

“The Daura homage of the disgruntled and the obsessed will fail. Our people in the North should reject these faces and their plots.

“They have nothing to offer. From the abandoned Baro Port, Ajaokuta, Lake Chad basin refiling and Mambilla hydropower, they failed.”

Weary of the leadership struggle between the Julius Abure-led Labour Party (LP) and his camp, the Deputy National Chairman, South, of the LP, Lamidi Apapa has collapsed his faction and accepted Abure as the party’s national chairman.

With this development, the leadership tussle between the two camps may have also been laid to rest.

However, the Apapa’s faction has stated that both factions reconciled to fight the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

The crisis between Abure and Apapa almost polarised the party to the extent that both filed separate appeals during the presidential election petition.

In what was described as an anti-party activity to destabilise the party for the benefit of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Apapa had filed a petition to discontinue Obi’s presidential petition against President Bola Tinubu.

The NLC had backed Abure during the war of attrition between him and Apapa.

With the new peace deal between Abure and Apapa, the two camps would team up against the plans by the NLC to take over the party.

Abure, who had enjoyed NLC’s support, fell out of favour with the union following a contentious national convention held in Anambra State that returned him and all his loyal members of the National Working Committee (NWC) to office three months ago.

This compelled the NLC Political Commission to void the new leadership and set up a transition committee, saddled with the task of engaging stakeholders of the party and conducting a fresh convention in 90 days.

NLC also embarked on a series of picketing at LP secretariats nationwide, insisting on an all-inclusive convention but Abure had his way.

A source at the LP national secretariat, who preferred anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, explained that Abure felt the urgent need to close rank with the Apapa’s faction following the open revolt and pressure from the NLC and his perceived differences with Obi.

According to the source, “it is the only logical way for him to have a united front against the threat of the NLC in particular. I believe you already know Abure has a long history with Apapa and Abayomi Arabambi before now,” the source explained.

When contacted, the factional spokesman of Apapa’s camp, Abayomi Arabambi, confirmed the development.

Arabambi told THISDAY that they had no problem with Abure from the outset because they knew he was being misled by NLC leadership.

“Yes, it is true. The reconciliation was done to fight a common enemy.”

When asked who the common enemy was, he said: “Peter Obi and the NLC, particularly the NLC President, Joe Ajaero.”

When reminded that the Abure-led party had reserved the 2027 presidential ticket for Obi, the spokesman of the Apapa faction said “That is a complete fallacy.”

He said: “We are together to stop all those political hawks from taking over our party. We thought they (NLC) were fighting for a just cause. But it is very obvious they only want to take over our party and we are not going to accept that.

He added: “I also want you to know that there is nothing like the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign here anymore. It has been dissolved. Everybody has reverted to former governorship and presidential candidates. We don’t want disinformation from the Labour Party.”

The National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, also confirmed the reunion to THISDAY, saying it was not out of place for Abure to extend olive branches to aggrieved members of the party.

According to him, both leaders reconciled to move the party ahead.

He said: “They have reconciled and Apapa has reverted to his earlier position as the Deputy National Chairman, South. Apapa pledged solidarity with the Abure-led National Working Committee.

“The Labour Party is one united party now except some little pockets of opposition led by Kenneth Okonkwo. We are sure that sooner than expected, he will join the mainstream party led by Abure,” Ifoh added.

Ifoh stressed that it was because of the reconciliation that Apapa had been speaking in favour of one united political party led by Abure.

He also disclosed that there were ongoing talks with the Ajaero-led NLC to put the Labour Party in good position for the politics of 2027 and the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo scheduled later this year.