₦airaland Forum

The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has dismissed insinuations that he may be unable to win the 2023 presidential election because he and his party lack political structures in all states of the country.

Obi said the over 100 million Nigerians affected by poverty, pensioners as well as students and lecturers affected by the over four months ongoing ASUU strike will embody his political structure ahead of the election.

The former Anambra State governor, who was vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019, had last month defected from PDP to the Labour Party before the parties’ presidential primaries.

His exit from the PDP was hinged on his aversion for vote buying and this was believed to have endeared him to many Nigerians who have since deepened their online and physical mobilization for him.

But despite the huge support he’s getting mostly from the youths, political analysts have noted that his lack of ‘structure’ may work against him at the polls.

Obi, however, believes that millions of Nigerians who have lost hope in the two leading political parties will elect him to lead them.

“Whenever I hear of NO STRUCTURE, my answer to it is simple; the 100 million Nigerians that live in poverty will be the structure. The 35 million Nigerians who don’t know where their next meal will come from will be the structure.

“The elderly, our mothers, fathers, and the old ones dying or being owed gratuity/pension will be the structure. ASUU; the lecturers that are being owed, and the students who are not in school will be the structure.

“We’ll create the structure, and they’ll see what the structure is all about. The structure is about human beings,” the Labour Party candidate said in a series of tweets on Sunday.

Crixxx:
You and your family reach 1m?

A prominent member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, has declared that the party will mobilise one million voters in the state to support the party’s presidential candidate, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 elections.

Abe made the declaration on Sunday while addressing thousands of APC members and supporters at the Port Harcourt International Airport, upon his arrival from Abuja.

The APC chieftain played a prominent role in the campaigns leading to Tinubu’s emergence as the ruling party’s presidential candidate in the just-concluded national convention in Abuja.

He called on the people of the state to join in registering to support the ‘Project SMA 2023’, aimed at allowing the people to choose who will be their governor come 2023.

Abe said: “I am going straight to my village to register as a supporter of Senator Magnus Ngei Abe. We are going to register One Million voters that will vote for Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Senator Magnus Ngei Abe.

“I am going to the village for the Project SMA 2023. As I am going to register, I enjoin all registered voters in Rivers State, who want to have the option of putting a governor of their own in Rivers State to register with me.”

Meanwhile, Senator Abe has condoled with the state chapter of APC over the death of two of her members, Onimiteim Vincent Samuel and Barrister Prince Loveday Motats.

Abe, in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Parry Saroh Benson, described the death of the duo as ‘saddening’ at a time when the party needs committed men like the deceased.

He called on party faithful in the state to rally round support for the immediate families of the deceased as a mark of respect for the grassroot politicians.

The senator said: “The death of Onimiteim Samuel and Barrister Loveday Motats saddens us deeply and our prayers go out to the families and the party in Rivers State over this irreparable loss.

“I will like to extend my deepest condolences to their families and the party, praying that the Almighty God will grant them eternal rest and the sacrifice of their commitment to the APC shall not go in vain.”

oz4real83:
Everybody was buying the milk but this guy just came and bought the full cow. Congrats man

No fewer than 85 youths, drawn from across the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja have benefited from tricycles distributed by the former president Olusegun Obasanjo as part of the activities to mark his 85th birthday celebration.
The tricycles, valued at N1million each, were donated through the Youths Development Centre of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) and were targeted towards ensuring that unengaged youths are kept busy and self-reliant without necessarily depending on anyone for survival.

Speaking at the event tagged, ‘OBJ @85 Free Keke Programme’, Chief Obasanjo charged the Nigerian youths not to abandon the country for those messing it up, but brace up and make necessary contributions towards addressing the plethora of challenges confronting the nation.

Admonishing them to reject the famous cliché that, “youths are the leaders of tomorrow”, the former president said the youths needed to hold the firm belief that “today is their day” and as such, the younger generation must to take advantage of the opportunities galore, which abound in the country to better their lots.

He emphasised that If the youths leave things to those who are messing it up, and who are saying they (youths) are the leaders of tomorrow, they will never have that tomorrow.

“The first thing we want to prove is that there are opportunities galore in this country. Yes, things are not what they should be but you as youths, individually and collectively, must make up your mind, make contributions in order to make things the way they should be.

“If you leave things to those who are messing it up for you and who are saying you are the leaders of tomorrow, you will never have that tomorrow. Today is your day.

“Then the third point is; yes, sometime you may get people who would help you and a times you may not even get who would help you; you must remember God has given you innate ability to be what He wants you to be and if you make up your mind on what you want to be, God will help you and He will provide those people who would help you to reach the sky which should be your limit,” the former president said.

Obasanjo charged those in charge of the project to monitor the progress of the beneficiaries, citing the popular Biblical parable of stewards, who were given talents by their master.

He charged the youths that it is not the opportunities that was given to them that matter, but what use to put the opportunities into.

In her own remarks, the chairperson of the Centre, Dr. Bisi Kolapo, implored the youth to emulate Obasanjo’s passion and commitment in an effort to build “Nigeria of our dreams”.

Kolapo also warned them against corruption and greed, saying it would be difficult to fight those menaces if they are culprit.

She harped on courage, fortitude, forthrightness, respectability, knowledge, loyalty, passion and responsibility as some of the virtues expected of the youths in order to move the country forward.

Responding, two of the beneficiaries, Bashir Ali Modu and Asembe Ngumimi, from Borno and Benue States respectively, commended the centre for the donation, which they said would enhance growth and development of their trades.

They also promised to make judicious use of the tricycles given them, just as they urged other wealthy Nigerians to take a cue from the gesture in order to lift young entrepreneurs across the country.

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Thursday, disclaimed a report circulating in some sections of the media, claiming that it described the election of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the APC as a ‘national calamity, considering the enormity of the baggage he is burdened with’.

Ohanaeze, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, said the statement did not emanate from the group.

According to him, “We have no hands in the contents, context, comprehension and delivery of the unfounded statement.

“Ohanaeze read the message with sadness and views its contents as unfortunate, especially the attacks in that statement on the person and health status of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“The statement is very unfortunate, irresponsible, diversionary and most reprehensible. We had earlier stated that those behind such fake press releases are mischief-makers, impostors, charlatans and unscrupulous social climbers who have shamelessly leeched on the invaluable footprints of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to issue press releases for narrow, perverse and illicit pecuniary interests.

“It is such unwholesome activities by some maladjusted, impish scaremongers that have been the bane of Igbo cohesion.”

Ohanaeze clarified that the writer of the statement ‘is not the secretary general of Ohaneze Ndi Igbo’.

Dr Ogbonnia said, “The secretary general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide is H.E Amb. Okay Emuchay, and not the impostor that authored the ill-informed, ill-advised statement.

“For the avoidance of doubts, Ohanaeze has no personal issues with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to warrant the careless comments on his person, although we certainly have issues with the current political arrangement and structure that appear to be an orchestrated policy to alienate, isolate, exclude, marginalize and frustrate Ndigbo in a country that has the manifest imprints of Igbo sweat, sacrifice, ambience and transformation.”

The statement added that Ohanaeze would soon make its position on the current political situation in the country known.

Quoting the statement, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, led by Ambassador Professor George Obiozor, is following the political development very closely with keen interests, and will make its position public at the appropriate time.”

VandalSavage:
Okoros spending their Fraud money

It's okay

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared a couple, Onyinmiebi (Miebi Baraza) and Beatrice Bribena, wanted.

An alert by the anti-graft agency urged persons with information about them to contact any of its offices across Nigeria.

The agency is searching for the duo over alleged fraud to the tune N2billion.

The Bribenas are the promoters of Baraza Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited.

“We are dedicated to improving members’ lives via financial empowerment, business financing, thrift & credit, housing, scholarship, etc”, its profile reads.

Bribena, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Bayelsa State, is pastor at Christ Embassy Church.

He is accused of scamming thousands of billions of naira after promising a 25 percent Return on Investment (ROI) monthly.

In 2021, the victims repeatedly visited the company’s headquarters on Otiotio Road in Yenagoa to seek a refund. The EFCC has sealed the building.

The company also has branches in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers capital, and some other parts of the country.

Baraza had informed investors it was trading with their money on forex platforms but stopped after it could no longer pay returns.

Last July, Bribena released a video to debunk speculations that his health and business were failing.

“Ignore such news. If I did not faint since, is it now that I will faint? I don’t know whether some people are angry that Baraza could bounce back”, he said.

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Anxiety2022:
Soyinka must be OBIdient. He is a very good Citizen

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on Friday dismissed claims that he paid tribute to the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.

Soyinka disclosed this in a statement titled, ‘I did not pay tribute to Tinubu – Soyinka’, issued by his spokesman, Abiola Owoaje.

Reports had emerged entitled, ‘Prof Wole Soyinka’s tribute to Sen Asiwaju Tinubu’, supposedly written by Soyinka praising Tinubu on his political accomplishments, had gone viral on various WhatsApp platforms shortly after the former Lagos State governor emerged as APC’s presidential flag bearer on Wednesday.

However, Soyinka has come out to describe the trending post as the handiwork of indolent identity thieves whose preoccupation is to deceive the public in a bid to gain prominence.

The elder statesman maintained that he did not operate or own social media accounts.

The statement read in part, “The literary luminary reiterated his position on the 2023 elections and the issues surrounding it, noting that he has no business meddling in the struggle for power by political parties in the country.

“Soyinka enjoins the general public to be on alert to the antics of faceless cowards spreading falsehood, adding that they should not partake in the despicable action of the authors by spreading the cocktail of lies.”

DAILY POST reports that Tinubu scored 1,271 votes to defeat his closest contenders, Rotimi Amaechi, who pulled 316 votes and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who scored 235 votes, on Wednesday.

LEADERSHIP reports that Tinubu polled 1,271 votes at the just-concluded APC special national convention, where the presidential primary held, to defeat 22 other aspirants.

In a letter to Tinubu on Wednesday evening personally signed by Adamu and titled, ‘Letter Of Congratulations’, the APC national chairman said he was pleased that the party spoke with one voice as the delegates “voted overwhelmingly” to nominate Tinubu as presidential candidate.

“I write on behalf of the entire membership of the All Progressives Congress to congratulate Your Excellency on the sterling victory that you recorded at the just concluded Special National Convention to emerge as the Presidential Candidate of our great party.

“Your victory has vindicated our party’s nationalistic outlook and patriotic posture as the Party of choice for every Nigerian. I am pleased that the Party spoke with one voice when the delegates voted overwhelmingly to nominate you as our presidential candidate.

“It is my sincere hope and prayer that our collaborative efforts between the Party’s National Secretariat and your Presidential campaign team will proceed with the shared expectations of victory at the 2023 general elections, by the grace of God,” Adamu wrote.

Following the poor outing of South-East aspirants in the just-concluded presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress, Ohanaeze Youth Council has begun drumming support for Labour Party candidate Mr Peter Obi.

The council, in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER in Awka on Wednesday, described both APC and PDP presidential primaries as ‘dollarised’.

Its national president, Igboayaka O Igboayaka, said, “I warned Nigerian political actors in APC and PDP not to jeopardize the interest of Nigerians.

“I saw this day coming, but I did all I could do to avoid those that emotionally blackmail us without speaking out. All these stand as evidence that we warned Nigeria about the danger of slidelining South East in picking APC and PDP presidential candidates.

“Instead the two political parties to cede their presidential tickets to South East as it was done to the South West in 1999, PDP decided to change the goalpost.

“APC was formed by three political parties (CPC, ANC and ANPP) of North, South West, and South East through President Mohammadu Buhari, Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, respectively.

“In 2015, CPC led by Gen Muhammadu Buhari took president, while ACN led by Ahmed Bola Tinubu took vice president.

“This time when it should be the turn of the South East, they changed the rules of the game.”

Regretting that South East would remain in political limbo for 65 years in the next nine years or thereabouts, Igboayaka said, “They throw presidential tickets in APC and PDP open, but wouldn’t throw open recruitment of federal jobs and federal entrance exams in federal government colleges.

“Those who think that Nigeria will stand on the leg of injustice, marginalization and hatred against Ndigbo should know that the new generation of Ndigbo are not the ones in 1966.

“Nigerian political actors have pushed Ndigbo out of Nigeria, and there’s a price to pay for it. The actions of PDP and APC have legitimized the call for self-determination by IPOB and MASSOB.

“APC and PDP have proven IPOB and MASSOB right. The northern political cabals remind you of tribe and religion during election, after election they remind you that you belong to a begging class.

“This is called social fraud. After the social fraud, they divide you among religions and tribes; after dividing you, they engage in economic fraud to loot what belong to you.”

Igboayaka therefore called on Nigerian youths to support Peter Obi of Labour Party.

He said, “Mr Peter Obi is the last card Nigerians will play. There are two political parties in Nigeria today, Peter Obi representing the ‘Oppressed’, and PDP/APC representing the ‘Oppressors’.

“Nigerian youths arise and take back your country from the hand of political oppressors and political bandits.”

wickedtuna:
;DThat kid with arms akimbo.

Cypress042:
This is what it means to be a cow girl

Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has reacted to the prophecy by a Priest of the Catholic Church, Rev Fr Emmanuel Chibuzo Obimma popularly known as Ebube Muonso, that Fulani herdsmen with tribal marks would invade the state’s Government House and that he saw the governor running out in pool of blood.

Muonso, who was addressing his congregation in a viral video, said there is need to pray for Anambra and Soludo.

According to him, the governor should also pray for himself.

Responding to Muonso’s prophecy, Soludo in a statement he personally signed on Tuesday, said he doesn’t believe the prophecy, adding that no man has a say in his life.

According to Soludo: “On your prophecy, you’re certainly entitled to claim that you “saw” anything, and to call for prayers. I need all the prayers in the world and I believe that thousands of people of goodwill are praying for us and for Anambra.

“No man has a say regarding his plan for my life. I do not believe these political or phantom “prophecies” designed to play to the gallery. That is not my upbringing and faith as a Catholic. You’ve my contact and assuming that anything was “revealed” to you as a threat to my life, do you really believe that the best way to communicate it’s on your pulpit?

“By the way, God didn’t “reveal” to you the attack by unknown gunmen on me last year at a rally, killing three policemen; nor has he “revealed” to you any of the dozens of the attacks on innocent people this year so that the people may take caution or pray.”

Soludo added, “Funny enough, these “pulpit prophecies” are always about high public officials. I’ve lived my life to this age without needing or relying on “prophecies”, and it’s too late now to change. My prayer is simply: “Let your will be done”.

“So please, if you’ve further “revelations” just pray about them or keep them to yourself. I do not want to know because the God in heaven that I serve is totally in charge of my life!”

spinna:
So are they supposed to be french kissing?

Urheadmaster:
Did i hear you say innocent devil

I never knew there is innocent devil

The federal capital territory (FCT) police command has refuted reports of the abduction of residents of an estate in Abuja.

There have been reports that bandits abducted some residents of Genuine estate in Gwarimpa.

The bandits were said to have invaded the estate in large numbers between 1am and 4am, and were armed with bows, arrows, and machetes.

They reportedly abducted an unknown number of residents.

Josephine Adeh, FCT police spokeswoman, however, told TheCable that there was no incident at the Gwarimpa estate.

“Nothing happened in the Gwarinpa estate. The only incident that occurred was a burglary at Queens Efab Estate, Galadima at around 3am,” she said.

“The police received the distress call and responded to it. No one was kidnapped. All the laptops, phones and gadgets that were stolen have been recovered by the police. There was no attack or kidnap at the Gwarimpa estate.”

Less than 24 hours ago, gunmen attacked St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo state.

The church was attacked during service on Sunday.

The gunmen were said to have detonated explosives before firing at the congregants.

Many worshippers were killed in the attack, including children and women.

President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement by Femi Adesina, his spokesperson, said only demons from the underworld would have conceived and carried out the attack.

Buhari condoled with the families of the deceased, the Ondo state government and the Catholic community.

“No matter what, this country shall never give in to evil and wicked people, and darkness will never overcome light. Nigeria will eventually win,” the statement reads.

Buhari wasn't voted in to better the life and lives of Nigeria and Nigerians.

He wasn't voted in to take Nigeria to greater heights.

He wasn't voted in because he has blueprints to Nigeria's problems.

He wasn't voted in because he has anything to offer Nigeria, Nigerians and people living in Nigeria.

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was solely voted in to deal with one section of the country, now, everybody is bearing the brunt.

I had to show them to my neighbors and we laughed it off ...I kid you not naija is gone for good.

Buhari wasn't voted in to better the life and lives of Nigeria and Nigerians.

He wasn't voted in to take Nigeria to greater heights.

He wasn't voted in because he has blueprints to Nigeria's problems.

He wasn't voted in because he has anything to offer Nigeria, Nigerians and people living in Nigeria.

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was solely voted in to deal with one section of the country, now, everybody is bearing the brunt.