 It's a watching plus politics and we are looking at the infighting within the APC in Oshun state as the state is gearing up for its gubernatorial elections and we're being joined by Biadu Shomi. Mr. Shomi, thank you so much for joining us. Apologies for the hiccup in the connections. So let's talk about the Nolof lost between the former governor and the sitting governor and why this has dragged the party into a division that it is experiencing right now? Well, what is clear in Oshun state is that you have the former governor wanting to be a dominant influence on the current governor. The constitution of the APC is very clear. The governor is the leader of the party in the state, irrespective of what. Well, the former governor is also a minister at the federal level who is becoming to remain relevant in the affairs of the state. So there you have the conflict. Now you have the supporters of the former governor, Raouf Aragueshola, and the supporters of the incident of leader of the party in the state trying to slog it out for a return ticket. It's clear that Aragueshola is supporting the second time ticket for Uyethola and the supporters of Uyethola are the champions that it should be returned. Now, where else I found this also understanding is a corollary drawn by the minister for internal affairs about what happened in Lagos in relation to unbodied serving one term and then his own desire that Uyethola should also serve one term. I don't think anybody should be in that situation. Nobody should be so powerful to the extent that they can dictate what the electorates should do in terms of the tenure, termination, or elongation of any administration in Lagos. I don't think that is right. And I think it's at the cross of the present conflict, you know, the former governor wanting to terminate the current governor who is the leader of the party in the state. And I think that's what the party is all about. But this is not the first time we're seeing this. We've seen that tussle, you know, in the APC in, I think, Quira state. We've also seen that tussle in even the PDP in certain states. I think one of the reasons why the governor of Cross River states moved to the APC was because he was having to tussle the leadership of the party with certain other people who were strong men in the party. So, but this is not necessarily new, is it? But what is the party? The APC keeps saying that they're going about in different states to have some reconciliation of sorts. But how is this, is this being dealt with, especially what's happening in Oshun state now gearing up for an election? The whole idea is about the continuation of Godfatherism. You see Godfather wanting to remain in control. You also have new leaders wanting to be Godfather, not necessarily wanting to transform the political power to perpetuate themselves, you know, on the people. And one thing which I've learned, you know, from pedagogy of the oppressed is that an oppressed person, when liberated, does not necessarily want the liberation of Godfather oppressed person, or to perpetuate his own hegemony over them. That is the truism of what is going on in Oshun state. You have a situation where the former governor is determined to call the shots and dictate who becomes governor or not. I think that is what the battle is all about. I think the APC is particularly going towards election. But we still don't know if it's too early to tell whether after the summary, the party will pull itself together, dissolve their differences, and choose to forge ahead. That remains to be seen. But the speculation that is out there on the street, the faction that loses out, or that is bound to lose out in the battle portion, is likely going to theme up, you know, the PDP to ensure that the, to try and ensure that the governor does okay. But the fact of the matter is, they made reference to the fact that it took a faction of the PDP and led by Umi Shuri, you know, to ensure that Oyesula was elected. These are still, you know, on gestures, you know, and we don't know what would happen. We should not forget the fact that Umi Shuri himself has since he said he's done for the shop. So everything is up in the air. It's unfortunate APC is in crisis. But PDP has done internal crisis. You know, you still have the Adelaide with other party leaders there. So it's too early to call, to see about the effect of the political wrangling in APC, whether PDP will benefit from it or not. Let's talk about what happened in the primaries of the APC. This has been on the lips of many, the minister who had in his convoy gunmen who were shooting sporadically in the air. In fact, the tension at that governorship primary, some would term it as something that had automatically boiled over. Guns were, you know, used. People had to scamper for safety. And the shocking part is that those who were armed were members of the correctional service, which are the prisons. And of course, the NSCDC. It's very interesting to see this show of power by the minister at the primaries. And many people have queried this action. What are your thoughts? Yeah, the minister is certainly legally in control of the NSCDM. He made allegations to the fact that shots were fired at his bottle case. That may be true or not. I don't know. For the fact of the matter, he has made adequate arrangements for his own protection by the Nigerian civil defense of PC, you know, just as he's alleging that the minister is abusing the topic by using the NCCDC, you know, to terrorize members of the party with the govnot. Whether that is true or not, I also don't know because you have this issue of Aregbe asking that the Commissioner for Police should be removed. And then you have the ACC party leadership, you know, making allegations against Aregbe. I think this is part of the brickmanship, part of the game. It is almost impossible, you know, for the Nigerian police force not to remain neutral in this issue because the government is just for internal affairs in charge of another security officer. The police force will try to be professional and it seems to get drawn into a party, politically, two factions of the ACC. Let's talk about banding together. In fact, before then, the government of Oshoom State had said that anyone, and I'd quote them directly, irrespective of their office or station, caught disrupting the peace of Oshoom will answer to the law. And also the Oshoom State Police Command also said that when he was called, apparently, he did not have anything to say. And just as you said, they're trying to stay neutral on this particular matter. But then a Senator within the Oshoom APC is calling for some form of, you know, reconciliation. They're asking that both parties be reconciled. Do you see any reconciliation in the, let's say, the next few weeks or in the next coming months before the final primaries happen? Do you see anybody downing or sheathing their swords and embracing peace? I mean, we've seen that happening in a QTAPC where certain people have stepped back and said, let's walk in the interest of the party. Do we see that also happening in Oshoom State, being that these are two strong men? Yes. With politicians, anything is possible. Find a regressional knocking on the door, or your solar. It's not impossible. That is the way of politics in our country. But in relation to the current political control of the party, the party in a large you know, enjoys the party, the support of the leadership of the recognizing it is likely going to be for the solar in terms of delegates. And should that happen, there will be a need for reconciliation. Is it likely that that reconciliation will take place or not? That depends on how the party leadership at the national level. If they don't make efforts to reconcile, calling short and making demands to do that, then there may be a major problem for it. But the process of reconciliation is always there with politicians. You can never, never say no, that politicians can't do anything. They can do anything. They can wake up tomorrow morning and be reconciled. Well, they say no permanent enemies in politics, but interest. Well, I want to say thank you. Be able to show me is a political analyst. Thank you so much for speaking with us. We appreciate your thoughts. All right. Well, thank you all for staying with us to round up the show tonight. Nigerians are still screaming about their frustrations as regards the fuel scarcity and the long lines at petrol stations. Well, we'll leave you with that. I am Mary Anacorn. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good evening. What makes you do something to this fuel scarcity? Because you cannot continue like this. Because people will suffer for it. People are suffering for it. Things are bad because of that scarcity of fuel. People cannot move to one another to do their own business to do. So if they can do something about it. I travel to Ok Mesih on Saturday. There is no NNPZ fuel station self-welfth from Ikodu to Ekiti. Our leader, they know what we are. We are Nigerians today. We are sleeping with fear. We are withdrawing on fear. With the fuel station on fear. This is not supposed to be like that. By now, we should be talking about building and restoring our infrastructures. The major one there is the refinery. So if you want to see any sincere government, they have to put our refineries back to workable position. This is all forgiving for all the leaders of Nigeria. We're talking about a nation over 200 million without a refinery. We probably have to go back to the likes of Qatar, to the likes of Dubai. Nations that are on their news in the early 70s, late 70s, even early 80s begging us. Drivers find it harder to get petrol. And as a result, bus fares are higher. And also at home, to get petrol for your generator is a bit harder now and more expensive. If we do not import petrol, if we make our petrol, there will probably be better ways of ensuring the quality is good. I hope the people here will listen, the people who distribute the fuel, and at least they will do the needful. We don't have to make life difficult for each other. I think they can do better.