Former Super Eagles coach, Samson Siasia, has admitted how terrible he feels being away from football, Saturday PUNCH reports.

Siasia was banned from all football activities for life in August 2019 by the world football body FIFA and fined $50,000 for agreeing to ‘the manipulation of matches’ for betting purposes.

According to FIFA, Siasia’s ban emanated from an extensive investigation into matches that Wilson Perumal attempted to fix.

But in 2021, after an appeal, his ban was reduced to five years by the Court of Arbitration for Sports which lapsed in August 2024 and the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner can’t wait to return to football.

“I thought I was going to be free by this year (2023) and I was so excited,” Siasia said in a radio interview on Kennis 104.1FM monitored by our correspondent.

“But I had to look through the document that FIFA served me, and I found out that it was going to be next year.

“By next year, in August 2024, I will be free from the FIFA ban, and hopefully I will be back to football.

“Irrespective of what happened, I have learned my lessons, but FIFA, who initially gave me a life ban in football, could not prove anything wrong with what they claimed I did. But they had to reduce it to a five-year ban, and it will expire next year. I thank God for that.

“It has been terrible to be away from football for five years, but I am preparing myself to come back to football, so I have to prepare myself so I can start ‘running’ once I resume by next year.”

Siasia also recounted the ordeal his men’s U-23 team went through prior to the Rio 2016 Olympics.

The Nigerian team overcame several challenges to arrive Rio on matchday before defeating Japan 4-3 in their opening group game.

He said, “We were abandoned ahead of our opener (against Japan), but we came into Rio on the same day, played Japan the same day, and won our opener the same day by 4-3.

“The Japanese billionaire, Dr. Katsuya Takasu was so amazed and wanted to see the coach of the team and handed me a cheque for $200,000″. “He also appreciated the team as a whole.”

Siasia also urged the country’s sports administrators to celebrate medal winners at major tournaments.

“My bronze medal is still in my house in the United States of America, but it’s so sad that Nigeria does not appreciate those who win laurels at the Olympics,” he continued.

“It must not be gold always, but once an athlete win either silver or bronze, they ought to be appreciated.

“Our bronze at the Rio Olympics was the only medal Nigeria won at that Olympics, but it was not celebrated.

“We were not received at the airport and no one appreciated us or talked about it. It’s shameful and not fair.

“Wwe have to first celebrate the medals won before looking forward to winning another, so that the younger ones who see athletes being appreciated will look forward to winning for Nigeria, and that is how it should be,” Siasia said.

[Punch]

Siasia is the only Nigerian coach to have won two Olympic medals with the U-23 team at two different Olympics.

The 56-year-old won the silver with the dream team at Beijing 2008 and also won the bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Gabon’s coup leaders have announced a re-opening of the country’s borders, three days after soldiers seized power from President Ali Bongo.

Speaking on national television on Saturday, the army spokesperson said the reopening of the border is because the junta was “concerned with preserving respect for the rule of law, good relations with our neighbours and all states of the world” — and wanted to keep its “international commitments”.

The land, sea and air borders would be reopened “with immediate effect”, the army spokesperson said.

The military officers led by Brice Oligui Nguema, former head of the country’s presidential guard, had cited institutional, political, economic, and social crises as reasons for the coup.

After announcing that they had seized power, the soldiers, who identified themselves as members of the Committee of Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI), said they were dissolving “all the institutions of the republic”.

The soldiers also announced the closure of the country’s borders.

The coup — the eighth in West and Central Africa in three years — has raised concerns about a contagion of military takeovers across the continent, painting a picture of democratic regress.

Oligui is due to be sworn in as the transitional president on Monday.

[TheCable]

Human rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, has reacted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) decision to engage the services of popular social media influencer, Adedamola Adewale, a.k.a. Adeherself, to sensitize serving corps members on the dangers of cybercrime.

DAILY POST recalls that the EFCC had in June 2020 arrested Adeherself for cyber fraud and was granted N500,000 bail by an Ikeja Special Offences Court in July.

In February 2023, the Commission rearraigned the social media influencer before an Ikeja High Court over an alleged N7.9 million internet fraud. On a three-count charge of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretences, attempt to obtain money by false pretences and retention of proceeds of criminal conduct.

However, the EFCC unveiled the defendant as a stakeholder in its anti-graft war and further engaged her to admonish corps members to shun cybercrime.

In a post on its official X, the anti-graft agency said Adeherself was a speaker during a sensitization programme organized by the commission at the NYSC orientation camp in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos.

Aisha Yesufu, reacting to the development on her official X, stated that “In Nigeria, crime is not the issue as long as it is done big time. Petty crime is what is criminalized.”

[DailyPost]

Following the tension generated by the threat of military intervention and the stand-off between the Niger junta and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the statement by Nigeria’s President and ECOWAS Chairman Ahmed Bola Tinubu on Thursday in Abuja, appears to indicate a positive movement and compromise on how to restore constitutional order in Niger.

“…General Abdulsalami Abubakar (a Nigerian former military Head of State) instituted a nine-month transition programme in 1998, and it proved very successful, leading the country into a new era of democratic governance,” Tinubu told a delegation of Islamic leaders, adding: that he “…sees no reason why such cannot be replicated in Niger, if Niger’s military authorities are sincere.”

The Brig.-Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani-led Niger junta, which toppled his former boss President Mohamed Bazoum, had announced a 36-month transition programme, which has been rejected by ECOWAS.

President Tinubu’s statement in an indication that ECOWAS is open to negotiation for a shorter transition timetable, while keeping the military intervention option open.

Tchiani and his colleagues should, therefore, seize the opportunity and agree a negotiated and more acceptable timetable of say 9-18 months. This is enough time to organise a credible election, under an ECOWAS-led support and guidance by the international community.

However, the involvement of external powerful interests, particularly France and the U.S. have complicated matters in Niger.

In fact, the latest Niger coup (the country has experienced several since independence from France in 1960), has further exposed the hypocrisy, inconsistency, double standards, if not perfidy of the West in its relations with Africa.

Scholars and commentors who argue that after more than six decades of independence, African countries should stop citing slavery and colonialism as excuses for the continent’s backwardness or underdevelopment do have a point given the level of corruption, resource mismanagement and governance failures under the watch of post-independent African leaders.

Even so, imperialism and neocolonialism still constitute a dangerous clog in Africa’s wheel of progress and development.

The Niger coup was the seventh successful one in four former French colonies in West Africa in three years with two each in Mali and Burkina Faso, and one each in Mali, Guinea and Niger.

These are all member States of the 15-nation regional bloc, ECOWAS.  Before the 2020 coup in Mali, all ECOWAS members operated one form of civilian administration or another.

International reactions to the coups in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso followed a similar pattern – condemnation, suspension of membership from ECOWAS and the African Union, imposition of sanctions and then negotiated political transition programmes, which are being implemented by the juntas.

In neighbouring Chad, another former French colony, which is in Central Africa and not a member of ECOWAS, international reaction to the unconstitutional change of government there, is markedly different.

In April 2021, the President of Chad, Idris Derby Ito, was assassinated by Chadian rebels and against provisions of the country’s constitution, his son, army General Mahamat Kaka seized power, in a manner many described as a coup.

Surprisingly, French President Emmanuel Macron was one of the few dignitaries that graced the inauguration ceremony of Mahamat Derby to succeed his father.

In contrast, France has been among the most vociferous in condemning the coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger, but not in Chad, perhaps because the principles of democracy does not matter in Chad.

Relations between France and the Mali junta have deteriorated so badly that the French Ambassador and French troops have been expelled from Mali, with the expelled troops moved to Niger.

Then fast forward to the coup in Niger and the unusual outrage and reactions by Washington and Paris.

As expected, France is worried that it is losing grounds in its former colonies in Africa, where anti-French sentiments are openly expressed accompanied by sporadic street protests.

Similarly, U.S., and its Western allies fear that Russia, China, and other emerging interests would move in once they are kicked out of the coup countries.

Furthermore, the palpable diplomatic frenzy in the French and American capitals, is a demonstration that Niger is unlike Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso.

America and France have military bases and along other Western allies, maintain an estimated combined troop strength of 3,000 in Niger.

Niger is also rich in uranium, craved by nuclear power countries such as France, which sources more than 50% of its power from the Niger uranium mines, while more than 80% of Nigeriens remain in darkness, and mining host communities suffering health hazards from radiation.

In the estimation of France, America and their Western Allies, Niger is of strategic importance, but the interests/wellbeing of Niger’s estimated 26 million poverty-stricken and long-suffering people do not matter in the geopolitical equation.

The American constitution frowns at relations with coup-produced regimes, so Washington is still undecided whether the Niger army takeover is “a coup” or “an attempted coup,” but America’s newly appointed ambassador, arrived in Niger recently amid growing tension over possible use of military force to restore constitutional order in the country.

Relations between Niger and France have taken a turn for the worse with the junta expelling the French Ambassador and demanding the departure of French troops from Niger.

President Macron has rejected the junta’s demand, insisting that the French ambassador should stay put because the junta lacks legitimacy.

This has raised tension and made Niger a dilemma for ECOWAS, with its new management at the Commission determined to arrest the drift and leadership failure of the past decade, when the organisation ignored or tolerated “constitutional, ballot box, human rights and anti-rule of law coups” without consequences.

Some ECOWAS leaders blatantly altered national constitutions and rigged elections to obtain or retain power while clamping down on the opposition and protesters against their undemocratic behaviours.

ECOWAS has intervened militarily in several member States in the past including in Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Gambia and Guinea Bissau, under various protocols and instrumentalities acceded to by the member States.

But Niger presents a unique challenge with the ECOWAS response, especially the possible use of force being subjected to various interpretations.

ECOWAS officials insist the regional bloc is acting independently, but critics say it is being teleguided or stampeded into a proxy war in Niger by Western powers.

The popular opinion in Africa is that America, France, and their Western allies, should leave Africa out of their geopolitical battles with Russia and China.

The military coups in former French colonies could be related to opportunism on the part of the military coup makers, but the discontent and disaffection towards France among citizens of these countries cannot be ignored.

Former French colonies such as Cameroon, Togo, Rwanda, and Gabon have either applied or have been granted membership of the British-led Commonwealth Organisation.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, a long-time ally of France, was conspicuous in his attendance of the second Africa-Russia summit in St Petersburg last July.

The policies of foreign countries toward Africa, particularly France toward Africa are unravelling and require recalibration to ensure mutual respect, based on equal partnership, justice, and fair play instead of a master-servant relationship.

The jury is still out on the success or otherwise of the presence of external forces purportedly fighting terrorism in West Africa and the Sahel region. The idea of military bases in African countries should also be reviewed to ensure that they are not inimical to the interests of the host countries.

Anti-French protests on the streets of West African countries may have been engineered by the juntas, but the truth is that the citizens are fed up with decades of unbeneficial policies and toxic relationships that have kept Africa backward.

French President Macron’s bellicose, condescending, and patronising stance and comments such as insisting that the French ambassador in another sovereign nation, who has been expelled and stripped of diplomatic immunity must stay put, are not helping the ECOWAS course either.

It is the neighbouring countries, and not France, that will bear the heaviest burden of a military intervention in Niger, with the attendant humanitarian disaster and other unpredictable consequences of instability in West Africa and the Sahel region.

President Bola Tinubu has given marching orders to security agencies to immediately recover over N577 billion disbursed to farmers as loans under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), THE WHISTLER has learnt.

The ABP was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 17, 2015, to create a linkage between anchor companies involved in the processing and small holder farmers (SHFs) of the required key agricultural commodities.

It was designed to provide farm inputs (in kind and cash) to SHFs to boost production of the key commodities, stabilise input supply to agro-processors and address Nigeria’s negative balance of payments on food.

Agricultural commodities covered under the Programme include cereals (Rice, Maize, wheat etc.), Cotton, Sugarcane, Soyabean, Oil palm, Cocoa and livestock among others.

According to data from the CBN, over N1.1 trillion had been disbursed as loans to states, farmers associations, individuals and companies under the programme as of March this year.

About 4.6 million smallholder farmers cultivating or rearing 21 agricultural commodities have benefitted from the programme so far.

The funds were disbursed through eligible Participating Financial Institutions(PFIs) including deposit money banks and microfinance banks.

According to the CBN guidelines, the tenor of the loans was based on the gestation period of the targeted commodities.

While many of the beneficiaries had reportedly paid back their loans, a total of about N577 billion is said to be outstanding.

A senior presidency source told THE WHISTLER that the president has given security agencies up till September 18 to recover the outstanding loan repayment.

Some banks which reportedly failed to fully disburse the loans to beneficiaries and refused to return the balance to the CBN are also targeted for the recovery effort.

Among other defaulters are states, companies, individuals and various farmers’ associations.

“I can confirm to you that the presidency has ordered security agencies to go after those who have refused to repay the loans received through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme,” said the source who added that a September 18 deadline was given for the loan recovery.

It is unclear which of the security agencies will be involved in the loan recovery effort, but there are reasons to believe the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force could be involved.

The DSS has been at the centre of the ongoing investigation of the CBN under Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the bank.

Peter Afunanya, spokesperson of the DSS, did not confirm the development but said, “It is not out of place for security agencies to be tasked with activities of this nature.”

The Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, has denied a report that he is being considered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the replacement for the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Imram Muhammad had on June 12, claimed that presidential sources told him that Elumelu who is also the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa is being considered for the top job at the apex bank.

Muhammad had tweeted through his X handle @Imranmuhdz, “According to a Source President Tinubu is also considering Tony O. Elumelu as CBN Governor.”

But Elumelu, in a tweet seen by THE WHISTLER advised Nigerians to disregard the report.

“No, please. This is false news!” the UBA boss denied.

Elumelu’s denial of the report came a few days after he met President Tinubu in Aso Rock Vila on August 30.

Although the outcome of his discussions with Tinubu was not made public, Elumelu tweeted through his X account, “Our pursuit of nation-building must be characterised by unwavering determination, empathy, and a commitment to creating a legacy of progress, unity and hope for generations to come.”

President Tinubu on June 9, 2023, suspended the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele over what people described as a personal vendetta. He was replaced by Folashodun Shonubi to head the apex bank in an acting capacity.

But Tinubu suspended the governor on the grounds of his investigation by the Department of State Service and the presidential reforms of the monetary policy.

The DSS had in December 2023 secretly requested a court order from the Federal High Court in Abuja to arrest Emefiele over alleged “terrorism financing, fraudulent activities and economic crimes of national security.”

However, the DSS was denied because they failed to present sufficient evidence to justify the claims.

But Emefiele’s issues with Tinubu can be linked to his naira redesign policy which was announced late in 2022. Emefiele announced the withdrawal of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes on the grounds of reducing vote buying and money in circulation. 

ISESE has come, but not gone. We salute all those – human rights activists, community leaders, affronted citizens, advocates of equity and all - but the state governors most especially - who have taken history to task and boldly formalized a level praying ground for the exploration of the infinite, the realm of intuitions which exists across pedigree, borders, class, politics, social mechanisms and cultures. The battle is not over. There are those who feel compelled to indulge their obsessions through the cooption of public symbols and educational institutions. We must never weary of instructing them, of offering them gleanings from the threshing floor of millenia old and new transformative ideas, rescue them from centuries of false historicism, baseless fears, and will to dominate and/or flaunt an inglorious past of enslavement

       This notation of “ISESE” on the calendar of faiths in any nation is a vital stage in the human incessant yearning for even a semblance of SPIRITUAL TRUTH. It enacts an impartial order, inserts a critical building block in the architecture of universal enlightenment. Hopefully such formal recognition will be read as the commencement of an era of spiritual accommodation, a lesson in humility, not a trigger for sterile contestation and renewed demonization of others among overlapping theocratic realms. The Prototype of such realms, in any case, remain forever closed to any absolute, incontestable mortal certitude. Dogma, says ISESE, however lavishly endowed, or brutally sustained, can never substitute for the Unknowable.

ISESE has always been with humanity, and will remain for all eternity. The celebration of ISESE is not defined by an annual observance only, but as a presiding awareness, a daily companion that offers its essence for humanity’s harmonized co-existence. It transcends religion, since it calls to what is innate to all sentient beings, those strange advocates of Freedom who, paradoxically, nonetheless persist in fashioning chains for themselves and for their fellow beings. ISESE liberates. It is an expression of the collective human spirit, its enveloping, compassionate accommodation of human experience, yet one that strives towards the seemingly inaccessible, intuitively felt as an elevating dimension of one’s material estate.  ISESE is a Path, not a destination, a seizure yet a pursuit of what we experience as the inner quest for ultimate illumination. ISESE does not conclude. neither does it exclude. It does not diminish, rather, it enlarges. It teaches community to embrace, explore, and adjust.  It defends the right to believe or not believe, acknowledges the limitless variety of phenomena, both what is provable and non-provable. ISESE promotes, as foundational consciousness, gratitude for, and sanctity of human life. It repudiates the supremacist claim of any structure of spirituality over another. Content with the pursuit of inner serenity, which is the climax of, and extraction from celebration, ISESE does not seek to exercise power. All true religions know that celebration is prelude to community equilibrium.

Preoccupied with the larger, imponderable questions of existence, ISESE does not thereby neglect the particularized. Thus, it concerns itself with the fate of every unit that makes up community, and is innately bound to engage in questions such as: “What is a youth, by name MUBARAK BALA doing in prison?  Recall, ISESE upholds the right to believe or not believe, thus the question is not trite, it is not academic, but is instantly catapulted from the particularized to the universal podium of Justice. How does a nation define itself, when a youth can be sentenced to waste his years of mental prowess in prison, for no crime beyond the right to believe or not believe?  ISESE speaks to individual and collective conscience. ISESE calls on those misguided forgers of human chains to respond to a plain question: why is that youth, and undoubtedly numerous others, wasting away in hidden dungeons, for crimes that the very protocols of nation definition, known as the Constitution do not recognize. ISESE asks, WHEN is Justice? And what is that ensign worth, if it fails to fulfill the primary condition of social accreditation which is – Justice!

Justice, for which another name is Equity, walks hand in hand with Tolerance. Tolerance is simply according others the right that we exercise on our own behalf. Do we need to seek far and wide to embrace the position of ISESE on the elementary virtue of Tolerance?  Not in the least. In any neighbouring household to nearly every other dwelling in this nation we shall encounter those whose Scriptures extol this very virtue. Listen to the following from the very words of the Prophet, Mohammed.

The first, from Chapter 2 Verse 256, commands:

“Let there be no compulsion In religion: “  

Permit me to repeat that, to drum it into the calcified eardrums of the incorrigible:

“Let there be no compulsion in religion”

Thus declared the Prophet Mohammed in his own person. Even further, from Chapter 10 Verses 99--100: 

“If it had been the Lord's Will, they would all have believed---All who are on earth - Wilt thou compel mankind, against their will, to believe?”

That latter part once more, an unambiguous exhortation, even though couched rhetorically:

“Wilt thou compel mankind, against their will, to believe?”

Now, place those pronouncements side by side wih odu IKADI  from the Scriptures of Ifa, the Muse of Divination as handed down through the priests of Orunmila:

B’omode ba nsawo ogboju, bi o ba ko ogbo awo lona, kio o gba a l’oju. Bi o ba ko agba isegun, ki o je e n’iya lopolopo. Bi o ba burinburin ti o ri agba alufa nibiti o nfi ori k’ale, ki o d’oju re de ‘be. A da a f’awon alaigboran tii wipe: Ko si eniti o le mu won. Ee ti ri? Eyin ko mo pe: Ajepe aiye ko si f’omo ti o na Ogbo awo. Atelepe ko wa fun awon ti nna agba isegun. Omo ti nna agba alufa nibi ti o gbe nkirun, iku ara re lo nwa. Warawara ma ni iku idin, warawara.

Translation:  

“The brash youth encounters an ancient diviner and strikes him. He meets an old herbalist and humiliates him. He runs into a venerable moslem priest kneeling in prayer and pushes his face into the ground. Ifa divined for such inssolent ones who boasted that they were beyond correction. Is that so indeed? Don’t you know that a youth who strikes a priest of Ifa will not partake of this world for long? Premature is the death of the youth who strikes the devout imam at his devotions. Twitches and spasms mark the death of maggots. Squirming and twitching.” 

This divine odu is prescribed despite the fact that, just like its elder sibling faith, christianity, islam invaded the black world, subverted its traditions, its worldview and spiritual certitudes, often violently and contemptuously. Each aggressor rivaled the other violence for violence, contempt for contempt, enslavement for enslavement. Both of them ruthless iconoclasts, yet, what wisdom does this constantly defamed  religion – glibly maligned as idol worship -  prescribe for its own adherents? Tolerance! Tolerance, it enjoins, tolerance! You humiliate the Moslem, christian or indeed any religious cleric, warns Ifa, your fate is as the loathsome death of maggots.

ISESE insists that godhead is not so inadequate that it requires the inflicted suffering of humans, their abuse, torture, and degradation, their recurrent tribute of tithes and offerings in blood transfusion in order to make the essence of godhead manifest, neither does it decree, as a condition for admission into its manifold, the absolute, uncritical veneration of avatars and prophets on its way to ultimate enlightenment. ISESE declares that any such pronouncement or proceeding serves only to inseminate terror, not piety, and thus, remains an abomination in the very sight of godhead. ISESE preaches mutual respect, but insists on the primal sanctity of human life. ISESE turns its face against murder, such as the brutal ending of the girl student Deborah Samuel. ISESE demands justice for that martyred girl, for her family, for her community and – indisputably, the nation itself. ISESE must not rest until all the perpetrators of that hideous crime are brought to justice, including those purveyors of sectional HATE and DISCORD who applauded the deed, including those who have obstructed the cause of justice.  ALL are guilty of instigating others to emulation. Any society that thinks or acts otherwise, even by omission, has chosen the path of disintegration.

ISESE enjoins patience with those who, even while they fill themselves with pride of learning, fail to distinguish between the worship of idols on the one hand – such as some ancient practices that their own religions supplanted - and the symbolic evocation of godhead through images, music, performance and material designations, including life sustaining facets of Nature, be these rivers, mountains, earth and seasons. Most times, such ignorance is feigned. It is deliberately propagated in order to justify their claims to superiority thus promoting an agenda of subjugation, enslavement, and other forms of dehumanization, including racist theologies. This distortion then sanitizes a yet ongoing retrogressive history of the division of the world into The Chosen and – The Disposable. We must remain aware of this colossal, costly deficiency, remain hopeful however of the eventual transformation of such active vectors of historic errors, remain even tolerant of their persistent, negative sermonizing. However, we must present a stern face in defence of our own community of faiths, centred on humanistic values. ISESE preaches that humanity is absolute, not relative, that humanity is one, or not at all.  

ISESE urges further that we even extend a hand in generous fellowship to those who choose to emulate the ways of their marauding ancestors, who sing praises of their spiritual and cultural enslavers. Through example, we may bring them gently into the manifold of this family of faiths that boast of never having launched a war or laid humanity to waste in order to enthrone a monopoly of faith. ISESE is not, has never been at war with any other commonwealth of beliefs – it is content to leave its doors open to the curious, the intrigued, and even the hostile. ISESE does not dictate, it does not maim or kill. We can only commiserate with those who confuse true religions with sinister cults that have sprung, ironically, from schisms within their own doctrinal certitudes. Cults, let us continue to instruct, are the malignant outgrowths of spiritual malformations. Symbols, such as religious statues are deployed to focus the mind on the ineffable. The genuine Path seekers must remain unwavering, and patiently await their detractors’ day of illumination. The Paths that lead to wisdom will survive them all, and continue to beckon to others as seekers after Truth, dedicated to the creation of the elevated community of man, woman and child.

These constitute mere glimpses, albeit basic, into the heart of ISESE, and its abiding articles of faith. Because its precepts are humanistic and universal, ISESE can never be diminished. It is here for all eternity.

[During the Session]

[Cross Section of Guest]

A former Governor of Ekiti State Ayodele Fayose has warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against expelling Nyesom Wike.

Wike, a chieftain of the PDP, worked against the party in the 2023 presidential election and has since been appointed as a member of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.

Despite the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister’s alleged anti-party activities, Fayose is warning the PDP against going after the former Rivers State governor.

“Some people say fight Wike, expel Wike, sack Wike. I think they do that at their own peril. You see, the first thing in your family even when you have extreme situations, or indifferences, is not to drive away your wife or husband. Wike is a force in the PDP and beyond PDP, a force you cannot ignore,” he said on Channels Television’s Hard Copy, a prerecorded show that airs Friday nights.

“Ignore Wike, sack Wike, or fight Wike at your own peril. He is a man of capacity,” he said.

According to him, the PDP needs to unite members and work to restore the party which came second in this year’s presidential election.

Fayose reiterated the need for the southern part of Nigeria to produce the president, saying it could have been unfair for the northern region to have done so. In spite of his stance against the PDP which featured Atiku Abubakar – from the northern region – as its candidate for the poll, the former governor does not want to leave the main opposition party.

“The moment I am not in the PDP, I would never join another political,” he said. “And I would never be a member of the APC – not whether they are good or bad.”

He also debunked reports of him resigning from the PDP.

Away from politics, Fayose spoke about the recent wave of coups in Africa, attributing it to a sit-tight syndrome.

Even though The PDP chieftain hates military incursion into politics, he is “very happy” with developments in Gabon after soldiers seized power in the oil-rich Central African nation.

“In a country where one man is spending 30, 40 years, they must boot him out of the place,” he maintained.

President Bola Tinubu has recalled Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Ishola.

Ishola was appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2021.

However, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Maltama Tuggar, in a letter dated August 31, 2023, stated that the decision signalled the end of Ishola’s tenure as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the United Kingdom.

“By this communication, you are now expected to commence the process of winding down your affairs, and take formal leave of your host government within sixty days and to return to Nigeria by 31st October, 2023 at the latest,” the document read said.

“I seize this opportunity to express Mr President’s appreciation for the service you have rendered in your capacity as Nigeria’s Ambassador and Principal Representative in United Kingdom.

“While looking forward to welcoming you in Abuja on your return, please allow me to join Mr President in thanking Your Excellency for your exemplary leadership and service to Nigeria. I wish you God’s continued guidance in your future endeavours.”