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00:00:00when we say at tvc news we are first with breaking news, it is not
00:00:04just a position, it is a philosophy, a
00:00:08principle and a culture. tvc news first with
00:00:12breaking news, at
00:00:16tv news, wherever the big news stories happening,
00:00:19we're get up to break it. tv
00:00:22of news first with
00:00:24britain.
00:00:36of Good evening everyone, welcome
00:00:40to beyond the headlines, I am Nifemi Oguntoye. As the
00:00:44countdown continues now, ahead of
00:00:462027 uh general elections, there are quite a
00:00:50number of things that we are seeing play out, you can
00:00:54also tell
00:00:55of that Nigeria's map is being
00:00:57of redrawn almost every day, politicians, once stood on opposite
00:01:01sides
00:01:01of the divide are finding new allies, old rivers are
00:01:05embracing, and
00:01:07of yesterday of is impossible alliances are becoming today's political reality,
00:01:11just days after the only northern senator
00:01:14elected on the platform
00:01:16of the NDC, um, on the platform
00:01:18of the
00:01:19me NDC, rather, Senator
00:01:20a Rufay
00:01:24me hanger dumped the opposition to return to the APC, attention has shifted this evening to River State
00:01:28where perhaps one
00:01:29of the come country's most beta political fields appears to be given
00:01:33way to an uneasy truth
00:01:36of governor who spent nearly two years locked in intense political battle with
00:01:40this predecessor and current FCT minister Yason wike
00:01:44as publicly embraced
00:01:46reconciliation following uh that intervention
00:01:50we saw earlier on and this exactly what he had to say to his
00:01:57of followers we have made peace
00:01:58of in the states and we have
00:02:01total and i am
00:02:04supporting our
00:02:06a rainbow party, rainbow
00:02:08coalition.
00:02:10of president is our
00:02:14president and is the one we are supporting, okay
00:02:18chinda is a governorship candidate that i am supported
00:02:22and anybody who believes in me will supports and every
00:02:26candidate
00:02:26me that
00:02:26of is under the for those of you who are saying
00:02:33of there's nothing before already to collect,
00:02:38in am i the
00:02:38run, family, want to collect i've we gone something back to our family, so please
00:02:42wherever you are, give your total support
00:02:45of to that
00:02:48of coalition, but perhaps even more surprising is tonight's guest, for the past two
00:02:52years he was one of governor fubora's loudest and most
00:02:57in uncompromising
00:02:57in defenders, of on this program he repeated: accused
00:03:01weekek camp of trying to destabilize river
00:03:05me state, insisted that governor Fubara could
00:03:07me never betray the people. now tonight that same man has
00:03:11announced is joining the
00:03:13of rainbow coalition, the very political platform
00:03:17that he wants criticized and that is aligned with the ASM wiki, and it says
00:03:21it will work for all its candidates ahead of
00:03:242027, is this genuine
00:03:26reconciliation or political opportunity? or simply
00:03:30another
00:03:31of example of Nigeria's ever changing political calculations and that's
00:03:35our conversation tonight and it's happening right after this break. Stay with us
00:03:38everyone.
00:03:51of Thank you for staying with us everyone. joining me tonight
00:03:55is the former caretaker chairman of Obiako local government
00:03:59area. River state ambassador Chijo
00:04:02K uh, thank you so much for joining us on the
00:04:06program, ambassador, you've been on this show twice in the past two years
00:04:09and as one of um
00:04:12of governor Fubara's fiercess defenders against the FCT
00:04:16minister, today
00:04:18of I hear that you are supporting the rainbow coalition aligned with ASM
00:04:22me Wike, what exactly
00:04:25of changed, me okay
00:04:29um... um, you are aware that my
00:04:33me of principal is the governor of river states
00:04:35sirbara and he has said there is peace in
00:04:39river state and that we need to move as a
00:04:42state that uh if we truly support him
00:04:46we should join him to the
00:04:47of rainbow coalition so we are joining the governor who is our
00:04:51leader and my principal to rainbow
00:04:54coalition that is what uh we are doing for peace to rain
00:04:58in our states we are supporting ' governor because we want peace in
00:05:01our state, because he is our leader and
00:05:05uh we are going to follow him wherever he goes to, he has told us, if you love me
00:05:09genuinely, follow me to whatever i'm
00:05:11of going to so w following the governor to where he's going to, that is where we are as Saturday
00:05:15river state. you know, in his recent interview, the
00:05:19FCC minister said governor Fubara became the
00:05:22biggest loser in this crisis because he listened to wrong
00:05:26advisers who encouraged him to fight instead of
00:05:29reconcile, and that was what cost him the chance of second
00:05:33term. you were one the governor's closest
00:05:36political allies throughout that crisis. do you
00:05:40acknowledge tonight that you are? others around him
00:05:44gave him bad political advice that deepen the
00:05:47crisis,
00:05:52well that is not true, that information is not
00:05:54true, like tell people have a personal relationship
00:05:58with the governor, became the governor revers it, everybody is
00:06:01aware, we participated when he was given the
00:06:05candidates of people's democratic party
00:06:09to run for the office the governor, then i was leader in reversed. applies you to
00:06:13university, look,
00:06:14we have seen a man that has conscience because I have met with him, I've deal with him before
00:06:18now, let
00:06:19the youth come out
00:06:20and let us supports the governor, and governor was
00:06:23elected and he became the governor university, lot of things was
00:06:26happening before the crisis started,
00:06:30so you don't expect a man who has
00:06:33relationship with him, then i will abandon him,
00:06:37let tell you, i have a force in this
00:06:40state whether i like it or not, because i come commands the young people as at
00:06:44that time even till now so i have no option than to support the
00:06:48governor because i know he was doing the right thing so for me
00:06:52nobody is loser nobody is a winner we are back to where we are because this state belongs
00:06:56all of us and the governor wants to to the l of peace fact i've never seen
00:06:59anybody in this country that like his
00:07:02excellency sirbara the governor university is a
00:07:06man that love peace is a man that has conscience so for
00:07:10me nobody decives the governor was with
00:07:12the governor
00:07:13to tomorrow, tell you, i am standing with governor, he has
00:07:17told me look, and all of us who believes his
00:07:20ideology, let us sh and let us move forward and
00:07:23support the rainbow coalition, that is why we are following his footstep
00:07:27say look, clearly and i understand your position, but
00:07:31i'm just wondering,
00:07:33hold on, so it will be, it will be, it will be, it will be, it will be a
00:07:37disrespect, okay
00:07:39to the officer when your principal will tell you the chairman made me elected
00:07:42chairman, give instruction and we say that will follow, i am following the instruction the governor
00:07:46to the later. i understand that you're following mr governor's instruction, but where
00:07:50does that leave you in principle? because in our previous interviews
00:07:54you repeatedly accused wiki's camp of
00:07:58trying to own rivers state, you said rivers people had
00:08:01rejected them and even insisted nobody could force
00:08:05governor Fubara to surrender the state's future.
00:08:09today you're joining the same political family, were you wrong then? you are wrong
00:08:13now,
00:08:17let me let tell you um, in politics anything happen in
00:08:21politics, like I said, I have a principle who I am working with, I said,
00:08:24look, let us cheave our sward and move
00:08:27forward, so you don't expect me
00:08:31uh to start fighting when I say look, we are all from river
00:08:34states, let us go back to our political family, all of
00:08:38us were there before now, before this crisis came up, so somebody... tell
00:08:42me that i know what i'm doing and i'm i'm a responsible man and
00:08:46i know what's the good and the r but said look if you love me
00:08:50genuinely follow me and i love the governor everybody knows that
00:08:54you can do the crisis you played because i love f and i
00:08:58love her state so he has said look shif the sword and let us move forward
00:09:01so what has happened before is the past we are not moving forward
00:09:05because we want th in our state and that is why we are trying the line of our governor so look all
00:09:09right follow me if you love me that is why we are doing that so okay that
00:09:12to be very peaceful people can go and do their business. I understand
00:09:16your love for Mr. Governor, but I'm talking about the principle of
00:09:20your position. I mean, your love for Mr. Governor can be
00:09:24at the expense the entire state. These were the same people you
00:09:28said were not interested in the future the state, that they
00:09:32wanted to hijack it, have you suddenly have the suddenly
00:09:35changed that you now believe that they can
00:09:39steer the state to the right cause? and make it
00:09:43prosperous again, i'm talking about the principle the matter now, have
00:09:46i have told have told you that they are making this to move forward, i am only
00:09:50telling you that i a loyal call loyalist of
00:09:54and he has told me look, let us move forward and forget about the
00:09:58past, so if
00:09:59we to talk about the past to bring
00:10:01it to the president, say look forget about those things that
00:10:05happened, if you love me gen, i am not the governor state, if your
00:10:09principal should tell you look, forget about all has happened, move forward so so i
00:10:12think we forget about that and we moving forward so let
00:10:16forget about the past and let the line of peace that is why we out today
00:10:20well talking about forgetting the past the river state chairman
00:10:24the national youth uh council
00:10:27says if your conversion to the real coalition is
00:10:31real or genuine that you should publicly
00:10:34apologize to three people, he listed
00:10:38is on wike right honorable chinda and of course
00:10:42the river state house of assembly he said for statements and
00:10:45actions um during the
00:10:47crisis, will you
00:10:49apologize?
00:10:55have talking issued about he is the chairman of only have one chairman of you council
00:10:58uh is the chairman of you council the person talking about
00:11:01is an imposter he has been part of youth council when i was charman of you council
00:11:05and today he's talking about you have left mainstream
00:11:09politics in university not talking about youth council i don't know him if
00:11:14that it were ambu
00:11:15who kind of statement think i can begin to respond only have one chairman of council
00:11:18com
00:11:19ambrouse is the chairman the national conversity the other person is
00:11:23not existing i also know before now he
00:11:26was he has been following me around
00:11:27of you council, i'm done with you, i talking about moving forward as
00:11:31a man, so the person talking about that, i is don't not know to
00:11:34he me, so i can't answer that
00:11:36kind of question, interestingly he has accused you and former
00:11:40chief of uh chief of staff edison here of
00:11:43sponsoring a parallel youth council structure that
00:11:47according to him as wiken the recognized uh NYC and leadership
00:11:51during the political crisis um when you about
00:11:55peace and we keep hearing
00:11:58factions and differences in this regard, how much
00:12:02of peace really do we have in river state
00:12:04today?
00:12:09well, like I said before, he said the person, the person is unknown
00:12:13to me, he talking about functionalizing you groups in river state, it's not
00:12:16true, we have a functional you council who
00:12:20is from,
00:12:23he is the leader the university, I think he... he perfectly well so somebody coming to
00:12:26issue a statement that I and the Edison are
00:12:29fashionizing is wrong there or
00:12:32here is not that is unknown to me as I'm
00:12:36concerned we have pev our governor who is our principal said
00:12:40look let us move forward we want peace in our
00:12:44states want our state to move for so that is that is the line
00:12:47as his supporters and those who believe let's talk about the
00:12:51allegations that you led supporters to the resident
00:12:55the 27 lawmakers were meeting and created a situation
00:12:59that endangered the legislators, do you accept any
00:13:02responsibility for escalating tensions during that
00:13:06period? please, i don't get the volume
00:13:08is too,
00:13:10say please, i'm talking about the allegations that you led supporters to the residence the
00:13:13law makers and they said that created
00:13:17a situation that endangered the legislators,
00:13:21do you any way accept responsibility?
00:13:25for escalating tensions during that
00:13:28period was my
00:13:32brother listen to me that was you see when we talk about talk
00:13:36about peace we don't begin to bring pasters we have passed
00:13:39this this this asking me you also aware a lot of
00:13:42things happened during that period so i think for me
00:13:45i have forgotten the past and we are moving forward what happened was during the crisis i would not
00:13:49need to begin to talk about what has happened before now so that
00:13:53people don't get angry so we are moving forward as a state
00:13:57and like I tell you people like us have moved forward
00:14:00because look if you love me follow me even most of us have said no but
00:14:04because we love the governor genuinely that is why we are following him most of us
00:14:08who are with the governor left other political parties to run election so you
00:14:12don't expect me to leave my principal who has said this is the
00:14:15man who made you to be counsil chairman who made you to be chical committee chairman and you're leaving to
00:14:19join opposition we said no we are going to follow
00:14:21him since he wants peace since i say look follow me j
00:14:25so what has happened in the past should be the past?
00:14:28we are talking about the present and how the state will move forward? thank you. i like your
00:14:32forward thinking mentality, but
00:14:34you know humans, it doesn't work for humans, for many people like
00:14:38that, you just don't wipe out completely the memory of what has
00:14:42happened in riversid, especially for journalists who cover that story day and
00:14:46night. but let ask you this personally, is there anything
00:14:50you regret about your conduct during the river state
00:14:53crisis?
00:14:57well let tell you frankly
00:15:00speaking, do not regret anything, don't reget
00:15:04anything, did not, what i did i'm supposed to do it then
00:15:08i was leader states and uh the question asking what
00:15:11offence is the the governor they want to be impeached, that is why
00:15:15say no we allow that to happen in our states,
00:15:19just stay two months in office i want to be removed, so
00:15:23like told before we moving forward and uh we will
00:15:27space in our states and i want to join all of my friends
00:15:30who are key supporters to sar to th the line of
00:15:34peace and let us support him yeah have mentioned governor
00:15:38Fubara a couple of times during this conversation, are you ready now to
00:15:42work with
00:15:44, some wieke because apparently is the one leading the rainbow
00:15:48coalition? are you ready to work with him and his men ahead of
00:15:522027?
00:15:55well, i've told you before, he said keep on mentioning my
00:15:58principal, you also played when you started your program where he
00:16:02say look that we are moving forward, he has joined the
00:16:06political family.
00:16:37supporters are from and the speaker supporters, are
00:16:40you going to be working with their men
00:16:44ahead the uh forthcoming election and just
00:16:48how do you intend to do that given the kind of animosity we've reported
00:16:52between you both in the past? what's your
00:16:55strategy? well um, my leader has given
00:16:58instruction that we must work to
00:17:02ensure that the r coalition secures victory university. i'll go back
00:17:06to my local government at the time
00:17:07of my leader.
00:17:07my to also do that, he is directing, he has told us what to do
00:17:11and we are going to do that, so you are not
00:17:13from
00:17:16local government, government, so we know ourselves politically, so we're going to dissolve our
00:17:20matter within us, all right, we're looking forward to that
00:17:23and it will be an interesting watch as we come down to uh the
00:17:272027 election ambassador, when you when you appeared on this
00:17:31program last year over um allegations, i
00:17:35think it was over allegations of um
00:17:38assembly fire, i remember you told me
00:17:42that you are not a man that betrays your
00:17:45critics now say you've betrayed your own
00:17:49principle of joining someone you claimed wanted to make
00:17:53revers his private property. before we go
00:17:57tonight, why should Nigerians take you seriously going
00:18:00forward? let
00:18:04tell you something, i'm a very serious mind person and uh... i have
00:18:07conscience, if you're following a man and the man say,
00:18:11look, you are here because you're
00:18:13following me, you're here because you love me, you're here
00:18:17because
00:18:17you supported me, and please,
00:18:20can we now make peace,
00:18:22can we move the st forward, don't say you don't, he don't expect me to follow my principal
00:18:25because you want peace, so if i start making crisis, who will i call
00:18:29back to, i the governor of river states, i have a leader, i have a
00:18:33principal and i've not betrayed him, we are still working together, i given
00:18:36instruction. the social look, we must come back to our
00:18:40family, let there be peace in our state, so that is where we
00:18:44stand, have you seen anywhere close to any of those
00:18:48persons, like the speaker is from my
00:18:51place, person because my say
00:18:54look, we are working together as team, let us walk together, and i'm
00:18:58following his footstep to say look, let there be peace in our st so me to start
00:19:02fighting, i starting more crisis when i have a leader that i'm working
00:19:06with, i instructions i must obey the instruction the governor who
00:19:10is my direct principle i say if you love me
00:19:13genuinely please for peace today in our states you
00:19:17must follow whatever i'm saying i have no option that to follow
00:19:20him so that we peace in our states because we have we don't want crisis
00:19:24anymore so you don't like i said before when your principal gives
00:19:28order you say he bring a descending voice it to disrespect to his office at the
00:19:32governor of river state they say look follow me if you love me
00:19:35just what i'm doing is not not anybody, i am following
00:19:39the governor because he was the made me known to the
00:19:43public today as formal chairman as
00:19:47so i can't take whatever
00:19:49he directs me to do that is what i do
00:19:50he has said follow me and i'm following him the way he has directed so it sounds
00:19:54like um you're doing this against your will just because the
00:19:58governor said so if the governor wakes up tomorrow and say let's res
00:20:02my will let tell you something if you want peace if you want
00:20:05peace you must told of peace, the government is a man of peace, i said,
00:20:09look, for us to be peaceful in our states,
00:20:12all of this political crisis, can you please let us move
00:20:16together as team, and that is what i did, and everybody has
00:20:20follow suit, those are not with us are in different party, i have the capacity to go to another
00:20:24party and pick from to run an election, but i'm not interested, because do
00:20:28that, they will say is funding me, my elty lies
00:20:32to his excellency, the governor of state, and that is why i'm still here, i'm here sitting here today, i'll
00:20:36follow him to the later, ask me to do
00:20:45to run election, i'm not interested because that will
00:20:48being to causing more crisis. for my principle, so I lie with him, whatever he said, so that
00:20:52is what I'm doing, good place to leave it, former kat chairman, local
00:20:56government area, ambassador, chijok, thank you for your insight
00:21:00on the program tonight, thank
00:21:04you,
00:21:04we wish you all the best, that's a sure everyone, I
00:21:06am
00:21:13nifemy.
00:30:33Welcome everyone, this is Politics United. Niger is navigates in the
00:30:37defining period from the economy and security to governance,
00:30:40political realignment and preparations for the 2027
00:30:44elections. The national conversation is as intense as ever. The federal
00:30:48government says its reforms are laying the foundation for long-term
00:30:51prosperity. Politically, the race towards 20.