by Kolapo Olapoju

Winners & Losers is a roundup of the week’s major happenings, where we spotlight the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of the news cycle. As always, you can agree or disagree..

THE WINNERS

All Progressives Congress

The major opposition party seems to be working overtime to lose the label of ‘opposition’. In recent months, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has gained thousands of defecting politicians, mostly from the ruling party, peoples Democratic Party.

Over the course of last week, 435 PDP politicians cross carpeted from to the APC, in Kaduna state. Better still, the ‘change’ party welcomed a high profile defector, in the person of deputy governor of Niger state, Ahmed Ibeto, who took along with him 200 politicians from the PDP.

 

Emir of Kano

After declaring that some billions were missing from the coffers of a certain government parastatal, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, fell out with President Goodluck Jonathan, who went on to ease him out of the CBN top-office.

The pair would go on to engage in a war of words in the media and lock of horns, behind the curtains. When Sanusi became Emir of Kano, the president even refused to acknowledge or congratulate him, until the Sultan of Sokoto intervened.
Fast-forward to present day, Jonathan has gone to pay Sanusi a visit, to seek his support as he seeks re-election.

 

Attahiru Jega

In the last 7 days, agitations, clamours and calls for postponement of the elections have reached fever pitch.

National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, went to London to make the say the general election should be postponed, similarly, a PDP chieftain, Bode George, says it wont be a bad idea to push forward the polls.

But thankfully, the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, doesn’t buy or entertain the idea of postponing the election. He says 68.8 million Nigerians have gotten PVC’s, and the election will hold. Amen!

 

Muhammadu Buhari

Perhaps, it’s an exaggeration to conjecture that Muhammadu Buhari, is the most popular politician in Nigeria, no? We don’t think so either.

After much agitation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, recorded a victory during the week, as his certificate and credentials were released by the Katsina Government College and University of Cambridge.

However, the PDP wasn’t impressed, going on to label it as fake and inauthentic… but the school principal has invited them to come and confirm.

 

THE LOSERS

Naira

Proud to kick off our losers list for last week, is the naira, which is currently suffering from ‘down syndrome’.

Dear Nigerians, ever since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) devalued the naira to 168, back in November 2014, it has gone digging for gold, sliding and falling at an embarrassing rate.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are sure you must have heard that as of Friday, January 23, the Naira further depreciated against the dollar as it traded at N208 from the N191.50 it sold for on Monday, January 19.

Ayo Fayose

When Ayo Fayose put out his “state burial” advert on Buhari, he probably never had an inkling that it was inappropriate and would definitely attract harsh backlash.

The Governor of Ekiti state drew himself widespread ire as a result of the political advertorial he placed in some newspapers, about the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

Below is how Fayose got to make our list this week.

“Enough of state burials. Will thou allow history to repeat itself? Enough of state burials, Nigerians vote wisely, vote Goodluck Jonathan, Northern Presidency should wait till 2019.”

 

Violent political thugs/supporters

“If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.” – Martin Luther King

Election season violence in Nigeria, has become rampant in recent elections, and lives have been lost, among other things. Already, there is a body-count and millions of property destroyed, yet violence seem to persist.

The onus is on political parties warn their supporters to avoid a repeat of the attack on the convoy of President Goodluck Jonathan in Katsina, and the unruly disruption of his campaign rally in Bauchi.

 

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)

Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola, is angry with the NCC, and rightly so.

The communications body has exhibited a double standard of sorts, after it shut down a platform, which the All Progressives Congress, was using to raise funds via SMS.

Fashola, who believes Jonathan is behind the blocking of the platform, revealed that a similar platform was approved by the NCC to raise funds for the Jonathan-Sambo campaign, in 2010.