In spite of his earlier payment of N100 million for the presidential Nomination and Expression of Interest forms of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and launching campaign with fanfare, the former National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, on 14^th May 2022, participated in the party’s screening for a senatorial seat.

Oshiomhole, who is an erstwhile Governor of Edo State, reportedly arrived the venue of the screening exercise at Fraiser Suite, Abuja, at about 8:12 pm on the aforementioned date.

Mr Oshiomhole had earlier declared to contest for Edo North Senatorial District. However, in a twist, he made a U-turn, then announced his presidential bid some weeks ago at an elaborate event in Abuja, the Nigeria’s capital territory.

In his declaration speech, Mr Oshiomhole claimed he was the best candidate to be Nigeria’s next president having been a labour leader and a governor. He said his government would be for the workers and working people and not the Nigerian elite.

By his participation at the APC’s Senatorial screening exercise, it is now clear that the ex-labour leader bought two forms: for President and Senate.

Despite paying N100 million for the presidential nomination form and launching his presidential campaign with fanfare, the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has been screened by the party for a senatorial seat.

The former Edo State governor arrived the venue of the screening exercise at Fraiser Suite, Abuja, at about 8:12 p.m. and maneuvered his way into the venue of the exercise through the crowd at the entrance.

Mr Oshiomhole had earlier declared to contest for Edo North Senatorial District. However, in a twist, he announced his presidential bid some weeks ago at an elaborate event in Abuja.

In a related development, the wife of the incumbent Ondo State Governor, Betty Akeredolu, who is currently aspiring for the seat of the Imo East Senatorial district, where she hails from, was also at the venue of the APC’s screening exercise for senatorial aspirants.

Mrs Anyanwu-Akeredolu arrived the venue very early at about 3 pm, though the screening did not start until 7 pm.

If given the ticket, Mrs Akeredolu (Nee Anyanwu) seeks to succeed the incumbent Senator for the zone in the person of Onyewuchi Ezenwa.

It’s noteworthy that the Governor of Kano State, Umar Ganduje was equally in attendance at the venue for the APC’s senatorial screening.

Mr Ganduje, who would be completing his constitutionally allowed second tenure in 2023, seeks to join other former governors who have essentially turned the senate to retirement home.

However, on the screening day being Saturday, the venue of the exercise was reportedly chaotic due to the poor arrangement.

The screening committee is expected to screen 351 aspirants who bought the senate nomination and expression of interest forms of the ruling party. The screening is billed to last for two days, though it’s unclear if the exercise would be completed within the stipulated period.

It could be recalled that Oshiomhole’s removal as the National Chairman of the APC was as a result of controversies and various factions that ensued in the party in the period under review.

Hence, it won’t be out of place if stated that the unionist turned politician is synonymous with controversy. Little wonder he is feeding the mindsets of his teeming followers with unreliable actions and inactions, ahead of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria.

Though I’m aware he’s one of the persons that were never aspiring for the Nigeria’s number-one position, am only worried about the electorate who remain gullible and has refused to face realities.

Nigerians ought to acknowledge the politicians that are genuinely willing to occupy any political position, especially the presidential seat. The proposed awareness would enable them to realize how best to take their actions, or react to events as they unfold.

One who is duly informed, can never be deceived, hence cannot be prone to vulnerability. This is, therefore, a clarion call for Nigerians to ensure that they become politically aware as the 2023 polls draw nearer by the day.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has berated Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State for donating huge sums of money to other states in the country, while withholding salaries and pensions of Rivers’ workers and retirees.

The NLC, who disclosed this via its National President, Ayuba Wabba, stated that the situation had caused workers in the state to move around in black ‘mourning robes’, while children of pensioners protest naked in public.

According to the NLC, findings revealed that Wike, a presidential aspirant of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has donated at least N7.4 billion to seven states across the country since he became governor in 2015.

“The gale of donations to different causes has not escaped the attention of hungry workers and pensioners in Rivers State who watch as their state adorns the robe of Father Christmas to other states while their salaries and pensions are withheld.”  Wabba, said this in a letter to Governor Wike, dated May 5, 2022.

The NLC also accused Wike of denying eligible civil servants promotion since 2012 till date and also refusing to implement annual salary increment and pension incremental rates in the State.

Mr Wabba said the non-payment of pension arrears, gratuities and death benefits in Rivers State had exposed retirees to unimaginable pains and trauma, saying Wike’s administration had failed to act on the report of a tripartite committee set up to resolve the issues.

The labour union expressed shock that the governor had not paid the terminal benefits of retirees for the past seven years, despite Rivers State being one of the richest states in Nigeria.

Mr Wabba wondered why Wike would donate money to other states in the country when workers in his state were not paid, thereby reminding the governor that “charity begins at home”.

The NLC further hinted that Bayelsa, Benue, Sokoto and Akwa Ibom States top the list of the seven states that had immensely benefited from Wike’s largesse, saying Wike in January 2021 donated N500 million to support the rebuilding of Sokoto Central Market destroyed by fire.

The governor, in February 2018, donated N200 million to the Benue State Government for relief materials and medicine for persons displaced after herdsmen attack.

It can be recalled that in March 2022, the Radio Nigeria reported that Governor Wike donated N400 million to victims of fire disasters at the Katsina Ala and High level main market. This was the second donation to Benue State alone, totaling N600 million.

Furthermore, there was also a report that Wike in April 2022, donated N200 million to victims of a violent attack in Kaduna State.

He also committed N5 billion for infrastructure upgrade at the Yenagoa campus of the Nigerian Law School, Bayelsa State. In February 2022, his government, again, donated N500 million to the Bayelsa State Medical Science University in Yenagoa.

Reports further indicate that the Rivers State had been rewarded with a campus of the Nigerian Law School in Port Harcourt, which is currently under construction.

Governor Wike last year, pledged N600 million to support the building of a teaching hospital in Akwa Ibom State.

However, the Rivers State Commissioner of Information, Paulinus Nsirim, declined comment on the reports when asked to do so by newsmen. His silence insinuated that the allegations of the NLC were accurate and in order.

It’s no longer news that most Nigeria’s politicians, most times act not unlike people that are placed under a certain spell. If these reports, as stated above, are something to go by or hold water, then it implies these men aren’t just heartless but ‘monsters’ in sheep clothing.

No payment of salaries and pensions has become a recurring decimal to the various sitting governors in Nigeria, yet huge amounts of monies is expended, on a daily basis, on mere frivolities by their governments.

Time has really come for the electorate to, at least for once, get it right for their future’s sake.