Tunde Bakare, the senior pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church, has recalled how a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili turned down the request to be President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate in 2011, Daily Post reports.

Pastor Bakare, who was telling the story of how he met and became Buhari’s running mate in 2011, said he listened to the advice of Pastor Enoch Adeboye before accepting to run with Buhari.

Bakare said that President Buhari had called him, requesting that he (Bakare) got him a running mate from the South because Nigeria’s structure makes it difficult for one to win the presidential election without a handshake between the north and the south..

The cleric said the current vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, Oby Ezekwesili, Jimi Agbaje, current Minister of Trade and Industry, Niyi Adebayo, were among those he contacted to run with Buhari then.

He said that while Agbeje was dropped along the line, Ezekwesili, who Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, helped him (Bakare) contact, refused to run with Buhari.

“But Pastor Adeboye told me he (Buhari) would need a strong Christian to be his running mate. I said to him that Oby is strong too; he said no, that she must not leave certainty for uncertainty because she was working at the World Bank then,” Pastor Bakare said as quoted by the Sun.

He said that Buhari insisted that he wanted the greatest grassroots mobiliser in the south-west as running mate and “On January 15, 2011, at 12 noon, my phone rang, it was Buhari. He said, Pastor, I had prayed the way I know how to pray, and I want you to pray also, I want you to be my running mate.

“I said to him…that I will never seek an elective office or join a political party. He said I should pray about it and call him back in seven hours, I didn’t call him.

“I called Pastor Adeboye and informed him, he said that was it and that he already said Buhari needs a strong Christian and that I am the man and I must go there.

“I consulted across the board and I signed on at the last day to become his running mate. Of course, we didn’t win the election.”

Mrs Love Nwanyanwu, a housewife, has been brutalized in Rivers state.

According to SaharaReporters, the woman has cried out for justice as she nurses pains of injuries sustained from brutality suffered at the hands of her in-laws allegedly led by Blackson Nwanyanwu, leader of Etche Legislative Assembly in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.

According to the woman, the councillor, who is her husband’s younger brother, along with two others, beat her to stupor.

She claimed that Blackson boasted after the incident that nothing would happen as he was above the law.

She said one of them broke her head with a chair, leaving her to bleed profusely.

Surprisedly, my brother in-law, Hon. Blackson Nwayanwu, leader of Etche Legislative Assembly accused me of being a witch and led other of his siblings to beat me. They dragged me into a room and hit me with all manner of items including chairs. Blood was gushing from my head before they left me to die.

“This was the boy that lived with me and my husband throughout his secondary and university education when he had no one. If I were a witch, why didn’t I poison or kill him while we were training him? My husband trained him from secondary school to university. I paid his last school fees and he promised that when he graduated, he would ensure my children did not suffer.”

The woman called on the relevant authorities to properly investigate the matter and ensure Blackson was brought to book.

According to a report by SaharaReporters, the Nigerian Army has said that it was not searching for popular Disc Jockey, Obianuju Catherine Udeh professionally known to as DJ Switch.

DJ Switch

This comes amidst claim that the army had been trailing the entertainer and threatening her life, forcing her to flee the country.

Commander of 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brigadier Gen. Ahmed Taiwo, who spoke while appearing before the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Saturday, said the claim was further than the truth.

Taiwo also said the army can’t be bothered chasing one or two people, adding that there are “bigger fish to fry”.

He said, “Some people take delight in misrepresenting Nigeria and particularly the Nigerian Army to the international community and our fellow Nigerians. This, I believe is done for pecuniary gains.

“Quite recently, a Nigerian, Catherine Udeh, also known as DJ Switch, claimed the Nigerian Army was looking for her. There is nothing further than the truth.

“My Lord, we have bigger fish to fry.”

The Nigerian Army testifying on its involvement in the shooting and killing of peaceful #ENDSARS protesters claimed that the protest was hijacked by hoodlums and the military intervened to stop the killings of police officers as well as the looting and raping of citizens in the name of #EndSARS.

He also confirmed a report by SaharaReporters that the military were drafted in by Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
DJ Switch, who was present at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, did a livestreaming of the shooting and killing of peaceful and armless #ENDSARS protesters.

Her video has put her life under threat.

DJ Switch also revealed that soldiers, who shot at peaceful #ENDSARS protesters at Lekki Toll Gate, Lagos, said they were sent to the protest ground on orders from above while speaking with the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the Canadian parliament.

She noted that the military opened fire on the protesters after creating a three-formation line.

Debunking claims by the Nigerian Army that soldiers fired blank bullets into the air, DJ Switch said the soldiers shot at them.

She told the Canadian parliament that she counted not less than seven persons shot, adding that one of the soldiers threatened to shoot her.