THIS WEEK IN THE NEWS

Nigerians are generally considered avid news consumers, with a barrage of stories around scandals and crimes constantly vying for attention on newspaper pages and, more recently, across social media.

There’s a popular saying that the lifespan of any news in Nigeria, no matter how juicy, hardly exceeds 48 hours. This is because, while news consumers are still dissecting and trying to make sense of one “breaking news”, another, even more sensational, hits the news waves. Consequently, many newsmakers are often advised not to “add fuel” to a scandalous story by responding to them, believing that in just a few hours—or at most a few days—another story will break, and people will move on.

With Nigeria just emerging from a 10-day nationwide protest against bad governance, the media might have expected a lull in news. But Vice President Kashim Shettima, former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, a Chinese company that few Nigerians had heard of, an unknown “gold magnate,” and a man who often graces the front pages with stories his handlers would rather avoid, had other plans.

Shettima’s Maiduguri palace vs Tinubu’s Bourdillon mansion

In an apparent attempt to portray his boss as a leader who is not materialistic, Vice President Kashim Shettima inadvertently sparked a debate among news consumers, particularly on Twitter and Facebook. The topic of debate: Which is more palatial, Tinubu’s Bourdillon mansion or Shettima’s Maiduguri palace?

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In search of greener pasture, many Nigerians sleep in cars, abandoned buildings in Abuja

Speaking in Abuja on Thursday at the launch of a book titled: Navigating the Politics of Universal Education Policies in Nigeria, Shettima assured Nigerians that the benefits of the tough measures being implemented would soon become evident.

“In President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we have a leader we can trust. I’m not playing politics; I’m speaking from the heart. I have seen the soul of Bola Tinubu, and he has a good soul,” Shettima began.

“He means well for the nation. He wants to live in a place of glory. He is not in power to engage in primitive capital accumulation. He is in power to leave landmarks in the sands of time. He is the most demonised politician in Nigeria. 

“The first time I went to his house in Bourdillon, I expected to see a mansion comparable to Buckingham Palace, with gardens and swimming pools, but there was nothing special about that house.

“My house in Maiduguri is better than the house in Bourdillon,” the VP declared.

A resident of Maiduguri, Borno State, who has been inside Shettima’s house, described it as one of the city’s most extravagantly constructed buildings, along with those of former governor Ali Modu Sheriff and the most famous building in the city, owned by the late Alhaji Ahmed Mai Deribe.

Describing Shettima’s house, the resident said that from the outside, it looks like every other building, as the first gate leads to a building believed to serve as staff quarters.

“There are three gates before you get to the residential apartments of the VP and his family. There are several buildings inside, including a conference hall, and the view from the rear includes a stream. But from the outside, you wouldn’t make much of it. It can be described as a palace, but you know Maiduguri has several of these buildings. Mai Deribe and Ali Modu Sheriff’s are among the buildings in the city that will leave you breathless,” he said.

The VP also reminisced about President Tinubu’s spartan lifestyle, describing him as someone not given to extravagance.

“At the formative stage of the APC, we held a meeting in his (Tinubu’s) house. They served us a variety of meals, but he opted to take garri with groundnut for lunch.”

Shettima went further, “Since I have known him (Tinubu), he has used only one wristwatch, and, in fact, I dress better than him. He doesn’t even care. He has overcome all those odds to dress well.

“So we need to rally around this poor man. He has taken some bold steps. The economy we inherited was in a huge mess.

“But it wasn’t just for us; we were part of the Buhari administration. We cannot deny that. We belong to the political family. It’s not about apportioning blame, but about finding solutions to our nation’s needs. We knew there were challenges. Forget about the politics being played by Atiku Abubakar and the Obedient crowd; they all said they would withdraw the fuel subsidy.”

Shekarau: The teacher-turned-governor with a hatred for kickbacks

Also making headlines this week was former Kano State governor, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, who declared on Wednesday that contrary to what Nigerians think of all governors and former governors, the ethics instilled in him through his association with the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) made him despise kickbacks and never took it.

Shekarau, popularly called Malam (as a former Mathematics teacher) in Kano, is also renowned for his oratory skills. He dazzled his audience and indeed a large segment of news consumers when he declared, “I have never taken any negotiating percentages with any contractor.

“I always challenge them—if any contractor who has worked with me in the last 44 years knows that I have asked him for a percentage or brought any money, let him come out and say so.

“Secondly, none of my commissioners has ever brought one naira to me in the name of kickback from a contractor.

“No local government chairman during my eight years as governor has ever given me one naira. I have never tampered with their allocations,” he said.

 The former Minister of Education also revealed that when he contested for the governorship in 2003, he had less than N100,000 and was living in a rented apartment. He said nothing changed about his housing status even in 2007, when he was running for his second term.

Protesters cart away Ganduje’s trial documents

The Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf said this week that documents in the bribery trial of the former governor of the state and current Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Abdullahi Ganduje, were carted away by hoodlums who invaded the court during the #EndBadGovernance protest.

The governor said, “It is very unfortunate that enemies of Kano State hired undesirable elements to vandalise one of the historic public buildings with the mission of averting corruption charges against the former governor of the state, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, his family, and aides.”

In response, Ganduje accused the governor of reducing governance to a “huge joke.”

“It is laughable that governance has been reduced to a huge joke in Kano State, where the state government will condescend to suggesting that demonstrators broke into a court and carefully selected documents relating to the trial of the APC National Chairman, handpicked them, and took them away in this digital age. No discerning mind will buy into this pedestrian propaganda. What happened to the documents with the government lawyers? The state government is bereft of ideas on how to run the affairs of the state and has always resorted to churning out myriads of corruption allegations against the former governor of the state, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and his family, who served the state diligently,” the APC chairman said through his Chief Press Secretary, Edwin Olofu.

Chinese company “raids” presidential fleet

In another surprising turn of events this week, a relatively unknown Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, initiated a legal move against Nigeria’s presidential fleet. 

The company, whose export processing zone management contract was revoked by the Ogun State government in 2016, reportedly secured a court order to seize several aircraft from Nigeria’s presidential fleet, currently undergoing maintenance in France.

The aircraft targeted for seizure include a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737-7N6/BBJ, and an Airbus A330-243, which are stationed at the Paris-Le Bourget and Basel-Mulhouse airports. 

This action has raised concerns, especially given the sensitive nature of the assets involved.

Responding to the situation, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, issued a statement accusing the Chinese company of misleading the court. Onanuga stated that Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice is collaborating with the Ogun State government to overturn the court order. 

Bashir Hadejia

Until his name surfaced in recent online reports, Bashir Hadejia was largely unknown to most Nigerians. 

Hadejia, a former aide to the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, during latter’s tenure as Zamfara State governor, has reportedly been arrested on charges including treason, subversive activities, gun-running, and transnational crimes. 

A video that accompanied the news showed him displaying gold bars. A picture of him accompanying Matawalle to Aso Rock to present then President Muhammadu Buhari with gold bars mined from Zamfara State, as part of the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI) also surfaced online.

Other photos of him with several high-profile figures, including President Tinubu and his predecessors Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan, began circulating online. In these photos, Hadejia is seen alongside the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; the Minister of Defence and former Jigawa State Governor, Badaru Abubakar, and Matawalle himself.

Another onslaught against Ganduje’s chairmanship

Reports emerged on Thursday that the president had concluded plans to remove the former governor as APC national chairman and appoint him as an ambassador.

Since becoming the party’s chairman in August 2023, there have been pressures from different quarters for his removal.

But arising from its National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja on Thursday, the party’s deputy national secretary, Barrister Fetus Fuanter, clarified that there was no plot to oust Ganduje and that the party was unaware of any ambassadorial appointment for him.