Odili's Futile Quest For The Presidency

@ kacey5 , i don't know of you but for me, i expect much more the world is moving so quick, we are playing

@ otokx,  just the same way you guys said Ibori was God sent, please look at the figures, i wont go in details on Odili its pointless,

Odili, Attah, Banangida, Atiku have been disqualified folks.

This is according to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai press conference in Washington DC, expressing FGN's latest position (Read Duke thread for details).

Bye bye corrupt villains.

most likely most of us have also forgotten odili's input in areas of sports

apart from the abuja stadium which other stadia in nigeria can boost of an artificial tuff, and standard running tracks?

take a trip to uniport let them tell u the standard of the school sport facilities it could be compared to olympic standard well u might say federal govt spent most of the funds yeah your correct odili added to it

in all states that nuga have been conducted we can boastfully say that when it took place in port harcourt odili feed the athlete to the last man for the days on running with quality food ask anyone involved they would confirm that


the list is endless , does calabar have a stadium? i doubt

Hi peeps, looks like we are still saddled with Odili according to this report culled frm the Guardian:

PDP clears 20 presidential aspirants

Makarfi withdraws from race

Dispute over Williams, Obanikoro in Lagos
From John-Abba Ogbodo, Abuja
THE ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday succumbed to pressure from its presidential aspirants clearing 20 of the 27 who appeared for the screening exercise conducted by the panel headed by Gen. Orho Obada (rtd).

The development came as one of the aspirants cleared by the committee, Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi, wrote to President Olusegun Obasanjo withdrawing from the race.

A statement issued by the national publicity secretary of the party, John Odey, said that 20 aspirants had been cleared to fight for the PDP ticket at the national convention, which comes up tomorrow.

He gave the names of the aspirants cleared as governors Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa), Obong Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom), Dr. Sam Egwu (Ebonyi State), Achike Udenwa (Imo), Donald Duke (Cross River), Peter Odili (Rivers), Adamu Muazu (Bauchi), Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna), Umaru Yar'Adua (Katsina), Prof. Jerry Gana, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Marwa, Gen. Aliyu Gusau and Vice Admiral Mike Akhigbe.

Others are Mrs. Sara Jibril, Chief Rochas Okorocha, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, Chief Ralph Uwechue, Col. Andrews Sawa, Maj.-Gen. Mamman Kontagora and Albert Horsfall.

The aspirants whose names did not appear include Governor Saminu Turaki (Jigawa) and Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu). Others are Godson Nnaka, Princess Elizabeth Ogbon-Day, Dennis Eheduru, Zeb Abule, Hajia Hadiza Ibrahim, Mary Olutimeyin and Mary Onueka.

The Guardian, however, learnt that the decision to allow as many as 20 aspirants go for the convention was the outcome of the meeting which President Olusegun Obasanjo and other leaders of the party held on Wednesday night at the Presidential Villa. The national chairman of the party, Senator Ahmadu Ali, immediately after receiving the report from the screening panel, went to the President in the Villa.

It was also learnt that some of the aspirants, after hearing that only six of them made the priority list, got in touch with the President and some top members of the party and pointed out the implication of having a large number of the aspirants disqualified. Consequently, most of those who complained reminded the party leaders of the inroad being made by the opposition especially the alliance between the Action Congress (AC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

At the meeting with the president, the issue was tabled and the fear expressed was that already some of the top members of the PDP, especially some of the governors, had been alleged to be surreptitiously hobnobbing with the opposition particularly the AC which Vice President Atiku Abubakar is likely to use. They warned that any mistake at this level could be disastrous because it might swell the ranks of the opposition.

This thinking apparently was thoroughly discussed and it was resolved that since the screening committee had said that it was the party's discretion to either abide by the recommendation that six aspirants should go for the primary or allow the other aspirants to also participate, the leadership of the party could still tinker with the report.

The other issue raised was that of gender representation. The meeting felt that it would not augur well for the party if no female was allowed to contest the primary and it was agreed that the most politically experienced among the female aspirants should be included in the list hence they settled for Sara Jibril.

The early hours of yesterday were characterized by dampened spirit in many of the campaign offices of the aspirants until the news filtered in that the party had soft-pedalled on the decision of many of them. Thereafter, they rushed to pick the clearance certificate from the national secretariat of the party.

Immediately after picking up the clearance certificates, most of the aspirants went into series of meetings with a view to exploring chances of alliance.

The Guardian learnt that Governor Adamu and some governors and other aspirants met in an undisclosed venue in Abuja last night to see how they could come up with a consensus candidate. The meeting was attended by one retired army general from the north who appealed to them to build a consensus and make the exercise a mere coronation.

According to sources, the other governors who attended the meeting were Attah, Odili, Udenwa and Makarfi, Gana. As at press time, the meeting was still in progress.

Meanwhile, Makarfi wrote to President Obasanjo yesterday that he had withdrawn from the race to go to the Senate. In the letter dated December 14 and titled: "My candidature in 2006 Presidential Primaries," the governor wrote; "Mr. President may recall his words to the PDP governors in respect of 2007 elections at several fora, starting with that which occurred soon after the termination of the constitutional amendment debates at the National Assembly. We were asked by you, sir, to talk to each other with the hope that one of us could emerge to be our great party's flagbearer for the 2007 presidential election. It was because of that marching order and also prompting by my colleagues that I set out doing moderate politicking.

"Mr. President may also recall that when the governors voted among themselves, I got overwhelming support. I feel fulfilled that I command such followership and respect from my colleagues. Sir, even though I am qualified and unencumbered to seek for my party's nomination, but having reviewed all issues and consulted, I have come to the conclusion that I need to make a sacrifice in the interest of my party and nation. Accordingly sir, I hereby withdraw my candidature effective today, Thursday, 14th December, 2006. I shall go to the Senate representing my senatorial zone. After formation of a new government, I will be willing to serve in any other capacity the new president may wish to offer me."

In a related development, one of the presidential aspirants, Ukiwe, yesterday made his official declaration stating that he had no other agenda but Nigeria.

The former Chief of General Staff under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who made the declaration in Abuja, said the first area of priority would be to entrench integrity as the hallmark of governance so that the country would no longer slide into the days of locust after Obasanjo's exit.

Describing the Niger Delta issues as an ulcer in the conscience of Nigeria, the presidential aspirant promised to make the citizens of the area proud, stressing that the area would constitute a special challenge.

"The Niger Delta has been an ulcer on the conscience of the nation. Today, it remains a bleeding wound. Under my leadership, we shall make every citizen of the Niger Delta proud. Solving the Niger Delta problem would be a special challenge," he declared.

Ukiwe also promised a revolution in the transport sector particularly the railway while the war on corruption would be won. Internal security, he said, would be accorded priority while education and energy sectors would be re-engineered.

A mild drama took place yesterday at the PDP secretariat over the party's gubernatorial primary in Lagos State as two different results came up. The national publicity secretary of the party, in a statement, said Senator Musiliu Obanikoro won the election. Odey also announced that Jonah Jang won the gubernatorial primary in Plateau State, Segun Oni in Ekiti, Arc. Namadi Sambo in Kaduna and Jibril Bala Alhassan in Niger.

A few hours after the chairman of the electoral panel that conducted the election in Lagos, Babatunde Ogundele brought another result, which confirmed the wife of the late Funso-Williams, Hilda, as the winner of the election. Odey said the party stood by the statement issued earlier.