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Monday 8 July 2019

The Nation Newspapers and the Rascality of APC’S Ugly Agenda


The leaders of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) to my mind, think  that the rest of Nigerians are fools. They believe that other Nigerians lack the power to think, make deductions and take a position.  It is on this premise that the leadership structure of the APC prefers propaganda to National Development.

One of such ugly propaganda tools of the APC is The Nation Newspapers.  And their obsession is to skew Information against the Rivers State Governor,  Nyesom Ezenwo Wiki,  the PDP and Nigeria’s democracy/development process.  Go through every edition of The Nation Newspapers and you will be assaulted with tonnes of concocted lies to justify the failure of the APC,  the criminality of the anti-democratic forces and the attempt to derail plural democracy.


As I went through the newspapers this morning 7th July 2019,  the new propaganda of APC via The Nation Newspapers caught my eyes. With a screaming headline, The Nation Newspapers defined PDP’S nomination for the post of the House Minority Leader,  Kingsley Chinda as Wike’s candidate.

The editorial mischief of The Nation Newspapers and other Pro-APC media outlets is sickening and a disservice to our democracy.  The PDP took a position at the level of the National Executive Committee,  the National Working Committee,  the Board of  Trustees and other stakeholders on who the party’s nominees would be for the House of Representatives leadership roles. This was duly transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives via a letter signed by officials of the party.

Rather than follow laid down parliamentary rules, the Speaker decided to act illegally,  in line with the directive of his benefactor who also owns The Nation Newspapers. The Speaker by that illegal action committed a crime against the country’s democratic stability.

On July 3, 2019, National Publicity Secretary

Kola Ologbondiyan wrote:

“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejects the attempt by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, to impose leaders for our party in the House of Representatives.

“The PDP, in the strongest terms, cautions against this abuse of rules, parliamentary practices and procedures, as well as the convention and we, urge the Speaker to respect the rules and read the list submitted to him by the leadership of the PDP.

For the avoidance of doubt, the list forwarded to the Speaker by the PDP is as follows:

1. Hon. Kingsley Chinda –  Minority Leader

2. Hon. Chukwuka Onyema- Deputy Minority Leader

3. Hon. Yakubu Barde – Minority Whip,

4. Hon. Muraina Ajibola – Deputy Minority Whip”

On July 5, 2019, the National Working Committee of the released a statement on their meeting thus:

“Consequent upon this, the above-mentioned members of our party are hereby suspended for one month and this matter is hereby referred to the National Disciplinary Committee of our party, in keeping with Section 57(3) of the PDP Constitution”.

Also on July 5, 2019, National Publicity Secretary of PDP,  Kola Ologbondiyan warned Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila against the issuance of threats on the Minority Leader nominee,  Mr Kingsley Chinda.

The Party declared: “The PDP remains committed to rules and the sanctity of the Parliament. As such, our party will not allow anybody, let alone, the Speaker of the House of Representatives to undermine our right and deny Nigerians a voice in the House of Representatives”.

I have taken time to outline the position of the PDP on the issue of Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and other minority positions for that matter. The position is collective. It was arrived at after due process and deliberations of all stakeholders.  It was done  fundamentally to promote minority interest and defend the country’s democracy. Therefore,  it is infantile, mischievous, disgraceful, discreditable, disreputable and despicable to describe Kingsley Chinda as Wike’s Candidate. He is the Candidate of the PDP as spelt out by the Spokesperson of the party.

But, I don’t expect The Nation Newspapers to be reasonable.  The medium was set up to promote an individual’s interest and Femi Gbajabiamila comes from that partisan stable.

The Nation Newspapers and her sponsors are happy that Gbajabiamila disregarded the PDP’S list with impunity to allow the leadership of the APC impose leadership on the minority at the House for the ulterior motive of promoting an anti-Nigeria agenda.  We have seen the negative direction of the anti-people agenda, through the depressing policies to suffocate Nigerians. The APC through Gbajabiamila,  The Nation Newspapers and other Related Pro-APC news organisations want to browbeat the opposition into timidity and silence.

This will never happen.  I am surprised that The Nation is yet to learn that Governor Wike cannot be quietened by criminal media blackmail,  injurious falsehood and anti-Nigeria rhetoric.  They started this blackmail and falsehood since 2011 when he was a Minister,  so we are conversant with their partisan mischief, orchestrated to mislead well-meaning Nigerians. But the majority of Nigerians have come to realise that these guys have no atom of performance in their DNA. All they can do is to spread lies and when given the opportunity,  they resort to more lies.

Recall that during a visit to Rivers  State,  the Oyo State  Governor,  Oluseyi Makinde said what happened at the House of Representatives where the position of the PDP has subverted calls for concern.
“We all saw what happened at the National Assembly yesterday, they are things that call for concern, if the party takes a position on certain things, we want to ensure that, that is carried through”, he said.
All well-meaning Nigerians should be concerned that the APC wants to destroy all the structures of democracy.  Nigerians should be concerned that the APC wants all opposition leaders to remain quiet whilst they repeatedly rape the country.
The desperation to stop the PDP nominee for the position of Minority Leader must be viewed from this standpoint.  The APC through Gbajabiamila, The Nation Newspapers and other Pro-APC media outlets are canvassing for a Minority Leadership that will abandon Nigerians and sing Hallelujah on behalf of a non-performing Federal Government.

It beats my imagination that the APC Federal Government does not consider the interest of Nigerians at any time.  At every turn, they only plot to deny Nigerians development,  quieten their democratic voice and unleash hardship on them. Always on hand to assist the APC Federal Government are well-funded accomplices like The Nation Newspapers.  They are never on the side of the people.

Certainly, any story published in The Nation Newspapers on the PDP and the intricacies of party positions and leadership is done with malice, manipulation and falsehood as its centrepiece.  This report on the crime against democracy by Gbajabiamila orchestrated by the APC Federal Government is not different.  It should be disregarded as a piece of trash by a partisan medium that is fast becoming a newsletter of a faction of the APC.

It must be stated in unequivocal terms, that The Nation Newspapers cannot be used to frustrate the plurality of democracy in Nigeria through media falsehood.  We had an unfortunate experience with The Nation during the 2015 and 2019 General Elections.  In the course of the 2019 General elections,  The Nation Newspapers led a campaign of falsehood, misinformation and mischief against the electorate of Rivers State.  They worked with the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army and the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad in the defeated attempt to rig Rivers elections.  It is high time  The  Nation Newspapers retraced their steps. They cannot continue to dwell in mischief and falsehood.  For once, The Nation Newspapers should be objective in their reportage of events. The concoction of reports should be abandoned by The Nation Newspapers.
The ugly promotion of APC anti-Nigeria agenda by The Nation is a slap on the face of the people. The simple truth is that Femi Gbajabiamila,  the handpicked Speaker of the House of Representatives,  erred when he attempted to impose a Minority Leader on the House. It is a crime against democracy.  It remains a crime,  no matter the propaganda and lies churned out by the APC media. Anyway,  Femi Gbajabiamila is always comfortable with such crimes as long as he is backed by the powers that be.

The lies of The Nation Newspapers and other Pro-APC Media outlets were potent in 2014/2015 when they misled unsuspecting Nigerians. This time,  our people are aware of the truth. This trick is no longer tenable.  It is no longer productive to rely on lies in the face of NON-PERFORMANCE  and CLUELESSNESS.

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