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20260806 230000 UTC
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[00:00:00] when we say at tvc news we are first with breaking news, it is not
[00:00:04] just a position, it is a philosophy, a
[00:00:08] principle and a culture. tvc news first with
[00:00:12] breaking news, at
[00:00:16] tv news, wherever the big news stories happening,
[00:00:19] we're get up to break it. tv
[00:00:22] of news first with
[00:00:24] britain.
[00:00:36] of Good evening everyone, welcome
[00:00:40] to beyond the headlines, I am Nifemi Oguntoye. As the
[00:00:44] countdown continues now, ahead of
[00:00:46] 2027 uh general elections, there are quite a
[00:00:50] number of things that we are seeing play out, you can
[00:00:54] also tell
[00:00:55] of that Nigeria's map is being
[00:00:57] of redrawn almost every day, politicians, once stood on opposite
[00:01:01] sides
[00:01:01] of the divide are finding new allies, old rivers are
[00:01:05] embracing, and
[00:01:07] of yesterday of is impossible alliances are becoming today's political reality,
[00:01:11] just days after the only northern senator
[00:01:14] elected on the platform
[00:01:16] of the NDC, um, on the platform
[00:01:18] of the
[00:01:19] me NDC, rather, Senator
[00:01:20] a Rufay
[00:01:24] me hanger dumped the opposition to return to the APC, attention has shifted this evening to River State
[00:01:28] where perhaps one
[00:01:29] of the come country's most beta political fields appears to be given
[00:01:33] way to an uneasy truth
[00:01:36] of governor who spent nearly two years locked in intense political battle with
[00:01:40] this predecessor and current FCT minister Yason wike
[00:01:44] as publicly embraced
[00:01:46] reconciliation following uh that intervention
[00:01:50] we saw earlier on and this exactly what he had to say to his
[00:01:57] of followers we have made peace
[00:01:58] of in the states and we have
[00:02:01] total and i am
[00:02:04] supporting our
[00:02:06] a rainbow party, rainbow
[00:02:08] coalition.
[00:02:10] of president is our
[00:02:14] president and is the one we are supporting, okay
[00:02:18] chinda is a governorship candidate that i am supported
[00:02:22] and anybody who believes in me will supports and every
[00:02:26] candidate
[00:02:26] me that
[00:02:26] of is under the for those of you who are saying
[00:02:33] of there's nothing before already to collect,
[00:02:38] in am i the
[00:02:38] run, family, want to collect i've we gone something back to our family, so please
[00:02:42] wherever you are, give your total support
[00:02:45] of to that
[00:02:48] of coalition, but perhaps even more surprising is tonight's guest, for the past two
[00:02:52] years he was one of governor fubora's loudest and most
[00:02:57] in uncompromising
[00:02:57] in defenders, of on this program he repeated: accused
[00:03:01] weekek camp of trying to destabilize river
[00:03:05] me state, insisted that governor Fubara could
[00:03:07] me never betray the people. now tonight that same man has
[00:03:11] announced is joining the
[00:03:13] of rainbow coalition, the very political platform
[00:03:17] that he wants criticized and that is aligned with the ASM wiki, and it says
[00:03:21] it will work for all its candidates ahead of
[00:03:24] 2027, is this genuine
[00:03:26] reconciliation or political opportunity? or simply
[00:03:30] another
[00:03:31] of example of Nigeria's ever changing political calculations and that's
[00:03:35] our conversation tonight and it's happening right after this break. Stay with us
[00:03:38] everyone.
[00:03:51] of Thank you for staying with us everyone. joining me tonight
[00:03:55] is the former caretaker chairman of Obiako local government
[00:03:59] area. River state ambassador Chijo
[00:04:02] K uh, thank you so much for joining us on the
[00:04:06] program, ambassador, you've been on this show twice in the past two years
[00:04:09] and as one of um
[00:04:12] of governor Fubara's fiercess defenders against the FCT
[00:04:16] minister, today
[00:04:18] of I hear that you are supporting the rainbow coalition aligned with ASM
[00:04:22] me Wike, what exactly
[00:04:25] of changed, me okay
[00:04:29] um... um, you are aware that my
[00:04:33] me of principal is the governor of river states
[00:04:35] sirbara and he has said there is peace in
[00:04:39] river state and that we need to move as a
[00:04:42] state that uh if we truly support him
[00:04:46] we should join him to the
[00:04:47] of rainbow coalition so we are joining the governor who is our
[00:04:51] leader and my principal to rainbow
[00:04:54] coalition that is what uh we are doing for peace to rain
[00:04:58] in our states we are supporting ' governor because we want peace in
[00:05:01] our state, because he is our leader and
[00:05:05] uh we are going to follow him wherever he goes to, he has told us, if you love me
[00:05:09] genuinely, follow me to whatever i'm
[00:05:11] of going to so w following the governor to where he's going to, that is where we are as Saturday
[00:05:15] river state. you know, in his recent interview, the
[00:05:19] FCC minister said governor Fubara became the
[00:05:22] biggest loser in this crisis because he listened to wrong
[00:05:26] advisers who encouraged him to fight instead of
[00:05:29] reconcile, and that was what cost him the chance of second
[00:05:33] term. you were one the governor's closest
[00:05:36] political allies throughout that crisis. do you
[00:05:40] acknowledge tonight that you are? others around him
[00:05:44] gave him bad political advice that deepen the
[00:05:47] crisis,
[00:05:52] well that is not true, that information is not
[00:05:54] true, like tell people have a personal relationship
[00:05:58] with the governor, became the governor revers it, everybody is
[00:06:01] aware, we participated when he was given the
[00:06:05] candidates of people's democratic party
[00:06:09] to run for the office the governor, then i was leader in reversed. applies you to
[00:06:13] university, look,
[00:06:14] we have seen a man that has conscience because I have met with him, I've deal with him before
[00:06:18] now, let
[00:06:19] the youth come out
[00:06:20] and let us supports the governor, and governor was
[00:06:23] elected and he became the governor university, lot of things was
[00:06:26] happening before the crisis started,
[00:06:30] so you don't expect a man who has
[00:06:33] relationship with him, then i will abandon him,
[00:06:37] let tell you, i have a force in this
[00:06:40] state whether i like it or not, because i come commands the young people as at
[00:06:44] that time even till now so i have no option than to support the
[00:06:48] governor because i know he was doing the right thing so for me
[00:06:52] nobody is loser nobody is a winner we are back to where we are because this state belongs
[00:06:56] all of us and the governor wants to to the l of peace fact i've never seen
[00:06:59] anybody in this country that like his
[00:07:02] excellency sirbara the governor university is a
[00:07:06] man that love peace is a man that has conscience so for
[00:07:10] me nobody decives the governor was with
[00:07:12] the governor
[00:07:13] to tomorrow, tell you, i am standing with governor, he has
[00:07:17] told me look, and all of us who believes his
[00:07:20] ideology, let us sh and let us move forward and
[00:07:23] support the rainbow coalition, that is why we are following his footstep
[00:07:27] say look, clearly and i understand your position, but
[00:07:31] i'm just wondering,
[00:07:33] hold on, so it will be, it will be, it will be, it will be, it will be a
[00:07:37] disrespect, okay
[00:07:39] to the officer when your principal will tell you the chairman made me elected
[00:07:42] chairman, give instruction and we say that will follow, i am following the instruction the governor
[00:07:46] to the later. i understand that you're following mr governor's instruction, but where
[00:07:50] does that leave you in principle? because in our previous interviews
[00:07:54] you repeatedly accused wiki's camp of
[00:07:58] trying to own rivers state, you said rivers people had
[00:08:01] rejected them and even insisted nobody could force
[00:08:05] governor Fubara to surrender the state's future.
[00:08:09] today you're joining the same political family, were you wrong then? you are wrong
[00:08:13] now,
[00:08:17] let me let tell you um, in politics anything happen in
[00:08:21] politics, like I said, I have a principle who I am working with, I said,
[00:08:24] look, let us cheave our sward and move
[00:08:27] forward, so you don't expect me
[00:08:31] uh to start fighting when I say look, we are all from river
[00:08:34] states, let us go back to our political family, all of
[00:08:38] us were there before now, before this crisis came up, so somebody... tell
[00:08:42] me that i know what i'm doing and i'm i'm a responsible man and
[00:08:46] i know what's the good and the r but said look if you love me
[00:08:50] genuinely follow me and i love the governor everybody knows that
[00:08:54] you can do the crisis you played because i love f and i
[00:08:58] love her state so he has said look shif the sword and let us move forward
[00:09:01] so what has happened before is the past we are not moving forward
[00:09:05] because we want th in our state and that is why we are trying the line of our governor so look all
[00:09:09] right follow me if you love me that is why we are doing that so okay that
[00:09:12] to be very peaceful people can go and do their business. I understand
[00:09:16] your love for Mr. Governor, but I'm talking about the principle of
[00:09:20] your position. I mean, your love for Mr. Governor can be
[00:09:24] at the expense the entire state. These were the same people you
[00:09:28] said were not interested in the future the state, that they
[00:09:32] wanted to hijack it, have you suddenly have the suddenly
[00:09:35] changed that you now believe that they can
[00:09:39] steer the state to the right cause? and make it
[00:09:43] prosperous again, i'm talking about the principle the matter now, have
[00:09:46] i have told have told you that they are making this to move forward, i am only
[00:09:50] telling you that i a loyal call loyalist of
[00:09:54] and he has told me look, let us move forward and forget about the
[00:09:58] past, so if
[00:09:59] we to talk about the past to bring
[00:10:01] it to the president, say look forget about those things that
[00:10:05] happened, if you love me gen, i am not the governor state, if your
[00:10:09] principal should tell you look, forget about all has happened, move forward so so i
[00:10:12] think we forget about that and we moving forward so let
[00:10:16] forget about the past and let the line of peace that is why we out today
[00:10:20] well talking about forgetting the past the river state chairman
[00:10:24] the national youth uh council
[00:10:27] says if your conversion to the real coalition is
[00:10:31] real or genuine that you should publicly
[00:10:34] apologize to three people, he listed
[00:10:38] is on wike right honorable chinda and of course
[00:10:42] the river state house of assembly he said for statements and
[00:10:45] actions um during the
[00:10:47] crisis, will you
[00:10:49] apologize?
[00:10:55] have talking issued about he is the chairman of only have one chairman of you council
[00:10:58] uh is the chairman of you council the person talking about
[00:11:01] is an imposter he has been part of youth council when i was charman of you council
[00:11:05] and today he's talking about you have left mainstream
[00:11:09] politics in university not talking about youth council i don't know him if
[00:11:14] that it were ambu
[00:11:15] who kind of statement think i can begin to respond only have one chairman of council
[00:11:18] com
[00:11:19] ambrouse is the chairman the national conversity the other person is
[00:11:23] not existing i also know before now he
[00:11:26] was he has been following me around
[00:11:27] of you council, i'm done with you, i talking about moving forward as
[00:11:31] a man, so the person talking about that, i is don't not know to
[00:11:34] he me, so i can't answer that
[00:11:36] kind of question, interestingly he has accused you and former
[00:11:40] chief of uh chief of staff edison here of
[00:11:43] sponsoring a parallel youth council structure that
[00:11:47] according to him as wiken the recognized uh NYC and leadership
[00:11:51] during the political crisis um when you about
[00:11:55] peace and we keep hearing
[00:11:58] factions and differences in this regard, how much
[00:12:02] of peace really do we have in river state
[00:12:04] today?
[00:12:09] well, like I said before, he said the person, the person is unknown
[00:12:13] to me, he talking about functionalizing you groups in river state, it's not
[00:12:16] true, we have a functional you council who
[00:12:20] is from,
[00:12:23] he is the leader the university, I think he... he perfectly well so somebody coming to
[00:12:26] issue a statement that I and the Edison are
[00:12:29] fashionizing is wrong there or
[00:12:32] here is not that is unknown to me as I'm
[00:12:36] concerned we have pev our governor who is our principal said
[00:12:40] look let us move forward we want peace in our
[00:12:44] states want our state to move for so that is that is the line
[00:12:47] as his supporters and those who believe let's talk about the
[00:12:51] allegations that you led supporters to the resident
[00:12:55] the 27 lawmakers were meeting and created a situation
[00:12:59] that endangered the legislators, do you accept any
[00:13:02] responsibility for escalating tensions during that
[00:13:06] period? please, i don't get the volume
[00:13:08] is too,
[00:13:10] say please, i'm talking about the allegations that you led supporters to the residence the
[00:13:13] law makers and they said that created
[00:13:17] a situation that endangered the legislators,
[00:13:21] do you any way accept responsibility?
[00:13:25] for escalating tensions during that
[00:13:28] period was my
[00:13:32] brother listen to me that was you see when we talk about talk
[00:13:36] about peace we don't begin to bring pasters we have passed
[00:13:39] this this this asking me you also aware a lot of
[00:13:42] things happened during that period so i think for me
[00:13:45] i have forgotten the past and we are moving forward what happened was during the crisis i would not
[00:13:49] need to begin to talk about what has happened before now so that
[00:13:53] people don't get angry so we are moving forward as a state
[00:13:57] and like I tell you people like us have moved forward
[00:14:00] because look if you love me follow me even most of us have said no but
[00:14:04] because we love the governor genuinely that is why we are following him most of us
[00:14:08] who are with the governor left other political parties to run election so you
[00:14:12] don't expect me to leave my principal who has said this is the
[00:14:15] man who made you to be counsil chairman who made you to be chical committee chairman and you're leaving to
[00:14:19] join opposition we said no we are going to follow
[00:14:21] him since he wants peace since i say look follow me j
[00:14:25] so what has happened in the past should be the past?
[00:14:28] we are talking about the present and how the state will move forward? thank you. i like your
[00:14:32] forward thinking mentality, but
[00:14:34] you know humans, it doesn't work for humans, for many people like
[00:14:38] that, you just don't wipe out completely the memory of what has
[00:14:42] happened in riversid, especially for journalists who cover that story day and
[00:14:46] night. but let ask you this personally, is there anything
[00:14:50] you regret about your conduct during the river state
[00:14:53] crisis?
[00:14:57] well let tell you frankly
[00:15:00] speaking, do not regret anything, don't reget
[00:15:04] anything, did not, what i did i'm supposed to do it then
[00:15:08] i was leader states and uh the question asking what
[00:15:11] offence is the the governor they want to be impeached, that is why
[00:15:15] say no we allow that to happen in our states,
[00:15:19] just stay two months in office i want to be removed, so
[00:15:23] like told before we moving forward and uh we will
[00:15:27] space in our states and i want to join all of my friends
[00:15:30] who are key supporters to sar to th the line of
[00:15:34] peace and let us support him yeah have mentioned governor
[00:15:38] Fubara a couple of times during this conversation, are you ready now to
[00:15:42] work with
[00:15:44] , some wieke because apparently is the one leading the rainbow
[00:15:48] coalition? are you ready to work with him and his men ahead of
[00:15:52] 2027?
[00:15:55] well, i've told you before, he said keep on mentioning my
[00:15:58] principal, you also played when you started your program where he
[00:16:02] say look that we are moving forward, he has joined the
[00:16:06] political family.
[00:16:37] supporters are from and the speaker supporters, are
[00:16:40] you going to be working with their men
[00:16:44] ahead the uh forthcoming election and just
[00:16:48] how do you intend to do that given the kind of animosity we've reported
[00:16:52] between you both in the past? what's your
[00:16:55] strategy? well um, my leader has given
[00:16:58] instruction that we must work to
[00:17:02] ensure that the r coalition secures victory university. i'll go back
[00:17:06] to my local government at the time
[00:17:07] of my leader.
[00:17:07] my to also do that, he is directing, he has told us what to do
[00:17:11] and we are going to do that, so you are not
[00:17:13] from
[00:17:16] local government, government, so we know ourselves politically, so we're going to dissolve our
[00:17:20] matter within us, all right, we're looking forward to that
[00:17:23] and it will be an interesting watch as we come down to uh the
[00:17:27] 2027 election ambassador, when you when you appeared on this
[00:17:31] program last year over um allegations, i
[00:17:35] think it was over allegations of um
[00:17:38] assembly fire, i remember you told me
[00:17:42] that you are not a man that betrays your
[00:17:45] critics now say you've betrayed your own
[00:17:49] principle of joining someone you claimed wanted to make
[00:17:53] revers his private property. before we go
[00:17:57] tonight, why should Nigerians take you seriously going
[00:18:00] forward? let
[00:18:04] tell you something, i'm a very serious mind person and uh... i have
[00:18:07] conscience, if you're following a man and the man say,
[00:18:11] look, you are here because you're
[00:18:13] following me, you're here because you love me, you're here
[00:18:17] because
[00:18:17] you supported me, and please,
[00:18:20] can we now make peace,
[00:18:22] can we move the st forward, don't say you don't, he don't expect me to follow my principal
[00:18:25] because you want peace, so if i start making crisis, who will i call
[00:18:29] back to, i the governor of river states, i have a leader, i have a
[00:18:33] principal and i've not betrayed him, we are still working together, i given
[00:18:36] instruction. the social look, we must come back to our
[00:18:40] family, let there be peace in our state, so that is where we
[00:18:44] stand, have you seen anywhere close to any of those
[00:18:48] persons, like the speaker is from my
[00:18:51] place, person because my say
[00:18:54] look, we are working together as team, let us walk together, and i'm
[00:18:58] following his footstep to say look, let there be peace in our st so me to start
[00:19:02] fighting, i starting more crisis when i have a leader that i'm working
[00:19:06] with, i instructions i must obey the instruction the governor who
[00:19:10] is my direct principle i say if you love me
[00:19:13] genuinely please for peace today in our states you
[00:19:17] must follow whatever i'm saying i have no option that to follow
[00:19:20] him so that we peace in our states because we have we don't want crisis
[00:19:24] anymore so you don't like i said before when your principal gives
[00:19:28] order you say he bring a descending voice it to disrespect to his office at the
[00:19:32] governor of river state they say look follow me if you love me
[00:19:35] just what i'm doing is not not anybody, i am following
[00:19:39] the governor because he was the made me known to the
[00:19:43] public today as formal chairman as
[00:19:47] so i can't take whatever
[00:19:49] he directs me to do that is what i do
[00:19:50] he has said follow me and i'm following him the way he has directed so it sounds
[00:19:54] like um you're doing this against your will just because the
[00:19:58] governor said so if the governor wakes up tomorrow and say let's res
[00:20:02] my will let tell you something if you want peace if you want
[00:20:05] peace you must told of peace, the government is a man of peace, i said,
[00:20:09] look, for us to be peaceful in our states,
[00:20:12] all of this political crisis, can you please let us move
[00:20:16] together as team, and that is what i did, and everybody has
[00:20:20] follow suit, those are not with us are in different party, i have the capacity to go to another
[00:20:24] party and pick from to run an election, but i'm not interested, because do
[00:20:28] that, they will say is funding me, my elty lies
[00:20:32] to his excellency, the governor of state, and that is why i'm still here, i'm here sitting here today, i'll
[00:20:36] follow him to the later, ask me to do
[00:20:45] to run election, i'm not interested because that will
[00:20:48] being to causing more crisis. for my principle, so I lie with him, whatever he said, so that
[00:20:52] is what I'm doing, good place to leave it, former kat chairman, local
[00:20:56] government area, ambassador, chijok, thank you for your insight
[00:21:00] on the program tonight, thank
[00:21:04] you,
[00:21:04] we wish you all the best, that's a sure everyone, I
[00:21:06] am
[00:21:13] nifemy.
[00:30:33] Welcome everyone, this is Politics United. Niger is navigates in the
[00:30:37] defining period from the economy and security to governance,
[00:30:40] political realignment and preparations for the 2027
[00:30:44] elections. The national conversation is as intense as ever. The federal
[00:30:48] government says its reforms are laying the foundation for long-term
[00:30:51] prosperity. Politically, the race towards 20.