Aisha/Buhari saga
One of the controversies that shook the Nigerian political scene was the altercation of the country’s first family.
It started when the soft spoken wife of the President, Aisha, in a BBC Hausa interview monitored in Kano said that her husband, Muhammadu Buhari’s government had been hijacked by a group she referred to as a cabal, who, according to her, were “behind presidential appointments.”
In the revelation, Aisha said: “He is yet to tell me, but I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again.”
The first lady, who spoke against the backdrop of growing discontent over Buhari’s popular declaration that he belongs to everybody and belonged to no one, emphasised: “I may not back him at the next election unless he shakes up his government.”
She thundered: “The President does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I don’t know them either despite being his wife for 27 years.”
However, Buhari laughed off his wife’s comment when he met with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. In his rather comic response to his wife’s outbursts, Buhari said that his wife belongs to his kitchen.
“I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.”
This reaction went viral on the internet and became a somewhat national anthem for those who seemed to have admired Aisha’s courage to confront her husband bluntly.
Tinubu, Oyegun feud
Coming next in no particular order was Tinubu, Oyegun feud. The quarrel between the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, assumed a funny, messier dimension that it got tongs wagging.
The crisis in the party blew open when Tinubu, in a state-ment, called for the resignation of the party chairman.
The bone of contention was the party’s governorship primary in Ondo State, which produced Rotimi Akeredolu as the candidate for the November 26 governorship election in the state.
Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, had faulted Odigie- Oyegun for overruling the decision of the party’s National Working Committee that upheld the decision of the Appeal Committee which recommended the cancellation of the primary.
Senators Dino Melaye and Remi Tinubu’s brouhaha
There was also the story of a closeddoor squabble between Senators Dino Melaye (APC-Kogi) and Remi Tinubu (APC-Lagos), which saw both lawmakers calling each other names and charging at each other.
Those who witnessed the incident said trouble started when Melaye urged the Senate to descend heavily on members who had offered to serve as prosecution witnesses in the ongoing forgery case against Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.
When Mrs. Tinubu was recognised to speak, according to sources, she rose, and said: “I’m just wondering why whenever Senator Dino speaks in this chamber, he is always threatening people and behaving childishly and at times like a thug.
This was said to have infuriated Melaye who, it was said, jumped up from his seat and charged towards Mrs. Tinubu, saying, “Look this is not Bourdillon (referring to the famous Lagos residence of Mrs. Tinubu’s politician husband). I will beat you up, ….. impregnate you and nothing will happen.”
Nasir el-Rufai and Shehu Sani mêlée
Governor Nasīr el-Rufai and Senator Shehu Sani’s fight in Kaduna was also messy. The story was that some officials of the APC had accused Uba Sani, el-Rufai’s political adviser, of offering bribe to some of their fellow executive members to suspend Sani, who represents Kaduna Central in the Senate. What followed has lingered till the end of the year.
Dogara and Jibrin’s budget padding scrap
The year 2016 would also remain evergreen for political juggernauts and Nigerians alike who hard for the first time the word padding being introduced into the country’s budget lexicon.
The Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had removed the Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin. Jibrin, an APC member from Kano State, had serious disagreements with his colleagues over the handling of the controversial 2016 budget following revelations that he allocated projects worth over N4 billion to his Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency.
This allegation somehow forced Jibrin to spill the bean, insisting that the controversial budget was heavily padded by the leadership of the House.
Kwankwaso, Ganduje clash
Not many were surprised at the downturn of events between the former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso and his former deputy, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, which resulted in the state chapter of the APC, threatening to sanction Kwankwaso over “political misconduct.”
For months, there were speculations about the existence of a crack between the two political allies, who had a peaceful and rancour-free tenure as governor and deputy for eight years.
Reports had shown that the two had fallen out just five months after Kwankwaso handed over power to Ganduje, on account of disagreements over cabinet appointments. The Kwankwaso camp accused Ganduje of shutting out their men.
Osinbajo’s nomination hullabaloo
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo cleverly avoided to be dragged into the raging controversy over who nominated him to be the President’s running mate in the 2015 presidential election.
Although he confirmed that “somebody somewhere” must nominate one before occupying a position, Osinbajo refrained from disclosing who nominated him.
Controversy broke out when the author of Buhari’s biography, “Muhammadu Buhari: The Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria”, Prof. John Paden, claimed in the book that Buhari chose Osinbajo as his running mate despite the alleged opposition of Tinubu.
In spite of the general belief that Tinubu was instrumental to the emergence of Osinbajo who served as his Attorney- General when he (Tinubu) was the governor of Lagos State, the author claimed that the names of Tinubu; the then Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola; and Osinbajo were forwarded to Buhari for him to pick a running mate shortly after he emerged the party’s candidate at its convention in Lagos.
The author further claimed that Buhari chose Osinbajo above others despite enormous pressure from Tinubu to do otherwise. Tinubu’s loyalists faulted the account of the author, and insisted that he nominated the Vice-President.
SOURCE.. NEW TELEGRAPH
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