Politics

2027: APC, PDP react to Obi, Kwankwaso proposed alliance

Published

1 week ago

October 8, 2024

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed concerns over a possible political alliance between Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party in the lead-up to the 2027 presidential elections.

Kwankwaso in an interview indicated willingness to serve as Obi’s running mate under unspecified conditions.

This proposal was welcomed by Labour Party National Secretary Umar Farouk, saying the merger could work if Kwankwaso would be humble enough to work with Obi.

However during an interview, Bala Ibrahim, the APC’s National Publicity Director, expressed skepticism regarding the feasibility of this collaboration, citing past failures of similar efforts before the 2023 elections.

Ibrahim spoke on a fundamental issue of trust between the two politicians, suggesting that neither is likely to compromise on their presidential ambitions.

Ibrahim asserted that the conditions that led to the collapse of the previous alliance remain unchanged.

Ibrahim said, “The underlying and most important factor in that permutation is the word trust, which will be the bane of their agreement. These are experiments that have been conducted several times, and the results cannot be expected to change unless the factor responsible for that result changes. If you don’t change the factor and you carry out the same experiment under the same condition, expecting a different result, you are only deceiving yourself. This is a scientific procedure.

“Now, Kwankwaso and Peter Obi have tried forming an alliance in the past on several occasions, but their romance didn’t last beyond the bedroom. This is because they are strange bedfellows who can’t sleep in the same room. Both of them have one ambition—to lead the country at all costs—and neither is willing to surrender the seat to the other simply because there is this superiority complex between them.

“As long as that complex exists, and it is not likely to diminish, there is not going to be any change to warrant the APC having sleepless nights. What they are proposing now is just rhetoric because they are seeing the progress the APC is making and the changes happening in the political scene. They know that come 2027, the victory of the APC is fait accompli. All they are making is just noise to survive. It is also the ranting of a party destined for doom. So, there is nothing there to give the APC any worry at all. It is a merger that won’t come to pass.”

However, the National Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party , Abdullahi Ibrahim, described the proposed Obi-Kwankwaso alliance as a welcome development.

Ibrahim said that the PDP would support any talks on an alliance or merger that would liberate Nigerians from the current hardship and the grip of the APC-led government.

He said, “It is a welcome development. We were the ones who started the discussion at the instance of the PDP, when the major opposition figures met to review the state of the nation. If there is anything we expect from the opposition going forward, it is for them to close ranks and ensure they chart a common cause, whether it is the Peter Obi-led Labour Party, Kwankwaso’s NNPP, or the PDP that is prepared to lead the direction.

“At least, we are the major opposition and have been in power before at the center for 16 years. Presently, we have 13 governors including the FCT (under Nyesom Wike), making it 14. As of the last count, Wike has still not declared his intention to leave the PDP. So, on account of these things, we are still the major opposition party in the country and for that reason, we are charting the course.

“As earlier said, it is commendable regardless of the fact that it is not our political party. It is in the interest of this country for those who have the wherewithal to ensure they salvage the people from despair and despondency, which seem to have taken over the land. Of course, Nigerians no longer want these people in power and can’t wait to see the back of the APC because of the insensitivity that characterizes their way of doing things.”

Politics

INEC announces date for Anambra Governorship Election

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60 mins ago

October 17, 2024

Ekwutos Blog

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the date for the Anambra governorship election.

Addressing representatives of political parties at the INEC headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, October 17, INEC national chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu said the election will be held on Saturday 8th November 2025.

His words: “As you are aware, the last governorship election in Anambra State was held on 6th November 2021. By the effluxion of time, the governorship election is due next year.

“Consequently, the Commission has approved that the 2025 Anambra State Governorship election will hold on Saturday 8th November 2025.

“In compliance with the mandatory requirement of 360 days, the formal notice for the election will be published on 13th November 2024. Party primaries will be held from 20th March 2025 to 10th April 2025.

“The candidate nomination portal will open at 9.00 am on 18th April 2025 and close at 6.00 pm on 12th May 2025. The final list of candidates will be published on 9th June 2025.

“Campaign in public by political parties will commence on 11th June 2025 and end at midnight of Thursday 6th November 2025. Voting will take place in all the 5,720 Polling Units across the State on Saturday 8th November 2025.

“In the coming weeks, the Commission will provide details of other electoral activities, including the registration of new voters, transfer of voters and the replacement of lost or damaged PVCs.

“The detailed Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2025 Anambra State Governorship election will be uploaded to our website and social media platforms before the end of this meeting.”

Politics

A path to Ukrainian peace: Beyond exaggerated expectations

Published

1 hour ago

October 17, 2024

Ekwutos Blog

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following a joint press conference in Kyiv, September 2024 Christoph Soeder/AP

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The protracted, attritional war that Russia has waged against Ukraine for nearly three years has led analysts and political leaders alike to ponder how to end this war as soon as possible and achieve a lasting peace.

Increasingly, proposals are emerging to apply a model similar to the one implemented in Germany after World War II. Adapting to Ukraine would mean that it would never relinquish the annexed territories, and the West would never recognise these territories as Russian.

However, Ukraine would accept the reality that it cannot reclaim the occupied territories through force and would commit to a non-violent approach.

In exchange, Ukraine would demand concrete, not merely symbolic, security guarantees that Russia would not repeat its aggression against Ukraine.

Just recently, both Czech President Petr Pavel and outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg have expressed themselves along a similar vein. So, what is preventing the implementation of such a solution?

I would say that a problem lies in the exaggerated and unrealistic expectations held by Ukrainian citizens and a significant part of the democratic world.

This is a common phenomenon within the political sphere. Unrealistic expectations can be inadvertently cultivated not only by populists but also by well-intentioned politicians who make excessive promises to their constituents.

Such expectations pose a significant risk, not merely to the politicians who propagate them, but more importantly to the communities they represent, as these communities may find themselves on a perilous path with limited options for reversal.

Can we really make Putin kneel?

It appears that Ukraine has experienced precisely this phenomenon. The initial Ukrainian successes, including the defence of Kyiv against a blitzkrieg (a rapid invasion by Russian airborne troops at the outset of the war), the defence of Kharkiv, and the subsequent daring counteroffensive, led both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and parts of the West to experience euphoria and to foster expectations of a Ukrainian victory over Russia, with Western support.

These expectations included the notion of expelling Russian forces from all occupied territories, including Crimea.

Talk of the West’s vast economic and military superiority also contributed to the illusion that, eventually, Putin will kneel.

Russian soldiers guard a pier where two Ukrainian naval vessels are moored, in Sevastopol, March 2014 AP Photo

The West is also to blame for creating these exaggerated, unrealistic expectations. Some leaders hoped to persuade Putin to back down or at least suspend his operation. In the case of Ukraine, the granting of EU candidate status was considered by many to be something that was not even on the table.

Talk of the West’s vast economic and military superiority also contributed to the illusion that, eventually, Putin will kneel.

However, it seems to me that President Zelensky also made a key mistake by not involving the Ukrainian parliamentary opposition in solving the problem.

On the contrary, there have been reports here and there that Ukrainian border guards have not allowed the leader of the opposition, former President Petro Poroshenko, to leave Ukraine.

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, has repeatedly expressed his criticism of the president. There are no known joint negotiations by the wider Ukrainian political leadership to seek a common solution to the key issues of the war.

I believe Zelenskyy should do this

And that’s how misinformation spreads. For example, the idea that these are various nationalist, if not outright fascist, units of Ukrainian fighters who are preventing President Zelenskyy from making any compromises.

In reality, it is the Ukrainian president himself who has manoeuvred himself into a position where the opposition will not proactively help him, and his voters will have a hard time understanding a potential change of approach to ending the war and thus will also have a hard time accepting any compromise.

He should invite the parliamentary opposition to the negotiating table, lay his cards on it and try to find a broad political consensus among Ukrainian leaders in an open discussion on the future arrangement of relations with Russia.

Therefore, I believe that the president of Ukraine should change his approach, first and foremost towards the representatives of the Ukrainian political opposition.

Instead of the pompous global peace summits that are doomed to failure in advance, instead of the “victory plans” that President Zelenskyy is presenting to world leaders (which, it seems, are just a new version of older demands), he should organise a peace summit at home, in Kyiv.

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He should invite the parliamentary opposition to the negotiating table, lay his cards on it and try to find a broad political consensus among Ukrainian leaders in an open discussion on the future arrangement of relations with Russia.

Agreeing on necessary compromises

Undoubtedly, the price for such a change in approach could be a demand from the opposition to participate in the governance of Ukraine. There may also be other political demands.

In any case, the upside of such demands would be substantial: a broad political consensus among the Ukrainian political elite, which would begin to address Ukrainian citizens in a common, unified language.

Only in this way is it possible to agree to the compromises that are necessary to end the war and establish a sustainable peace. At the same time, these compromises in no way mean capitulation or resignation to a part of Ukrainian territory.

Mikuláš Dzurinda is president of Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, the EPP-affiliated think-tank, and former prime minister of Slovakia.

Politics

Bill to create new state passes second reading in House of Reps

Published

2 hours ago

October 17, 2024

Ekwutos Blog

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A bill to create Ogoja State from Cross River has successfully passed its second reading in the House of Representatives.

Co-sponsored by Godwin Offiono and three other lawmakers, the proposal seeks to amend the 1999 constitution to carve out a new state in the South-South region.

Moving the motion, Mr Offiono said the “essence of this bill is rested on equity.”

The bill progressed after a voice vote led by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas during Thursday’s plenary session.

It has now been forwarded to the committee on constitutional review for further action.

The national assembly is actively working on constitutional amendments, including the creation of new states.

Since Nigeria’s return to democratic governance in 1999, no new state has been created.