₦airaland Forum

A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has said that from the utterances of the party’s National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, he is immature.

George, who is also a former Military Governor of Ondo State, stated this on Thursday while inaugurating Omerelu internal roads in Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State, which were constructed by the Rivers State government.

He was reacting to Ayu’s recent interview on the BBC Hausa Service where he said those calling for his resignation as the national chairman of the PDP were making mere noise and that they were children when the party was founded.

George said: “You see and you hear when a serving National Chairman of our party is calling elected governors children. Does he think that children don’t grow or there is a life perpetual for him? We need to watch our language. It look to me that it is him that is premature.”

Meanwile, the PDP chieftain stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration has negatively affected the fortunes of the country, adding that only restructuring will guarantee peace and security in the country.

George said: “The government of APC has negatively affected the fortunes of our nation. The only sector that is functioning in the APC government is the monumental corruption in the land.



“Since 2015, insecurity has been rising geometrically, thereby threatening the unity of the country. Today, Nigeria, the most populous black nation in the world is at a cross road.

“There is no way we can guarantee peace and security of this country is not restructured. It is my belief that if this country is restructured the way that every locality control the instrumentality of security, wanton killing of Nigerians will stop considerably.

“If our country is also restructured economically, no Commissioner of Finance will be going to Abuja every month to collect remittance in the name of monthly allocation.

“There is no nation in the world that becomes prosperous without becoming industrialized. Industrialization is only achievable in the nation if there is constant power supply. In the last three months, the national grid has collapsed for more than three times but the national greed of the APC government has not collapsed.

“If this country is restructured equitably, the current revenue formula, which the federal government collects 52 percent of centrally collected revenue through the federation account, leaving states with 26.6 percents and local government areas with 24.3 percent.

“Even the so-called fight against corruption is being guided by blind loyalty to their cronies and not in the interest of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nigerians are tired and are waiting for our party in 2023.

“To have an egalitarian society, restructuring is the answer. We want Nigeria to survive as a nation and that is why we are agitating that Nigeria must be restructured.”

Ahead of the 2023 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed the date for the release of the final lists of presidential and governorship candidates.

The nation’s electoral body also said all hands must be on deck to ensure the success of the elections as the nation is entering critical stages.

The INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the ‘Expert Meeting on Conducting Elections in Volatile Security Environment’, organised in collaboration with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).

Yakubu said on 20th September, 2022 the commission will publish the final list of candidates for national elections (Presidential, Senatorial and House of Representatives) as provided in Section 32(1) of the Electoral Act 2022.

He said, “Activities towards the 2023 general elections will enter the critical stages this month. In the next 19 days, that is on 20th September 2022, the commission will publish the final list of candidates for national elections (Presidential, Senatorial and House of Representatives) as provided in Section 32(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 and the Timetable and Schedule of Activities released by the commission.

“This will be followed on 4th October 2022 by the publication of the final list of candidates for State elections (Governorship and State Houses of Assembly). Campaign in public by political parties will officially commence on 28th September 2022 as provided by Section 94 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022.”


He also urged all political parties and candidates to focus on issue-based campaigns.

“This is the best way to complement our efforts to ensure transparent elections in which only the votes cast by citizens determine the winner,” Yakubu said.

He commended the CDD for providing a platform for stakeholders to discuss an important enabler to the full participation of citizens in the electoral process that is election security.

Kudos To INEC For BVAS!

According to him, by bringing together experts, senior security officials and the INEC leadership to share experience and discuss security concerns ahead of the 2023 general election, CDD hopes to kickstart further collaborative engagements among stakeholders around the security challenges ahead of the election.

He said, “It is timely because the election is fast approaching but there is still time to address the security concerns ahead of the election. Most appropriately, I believe that arising from the shared experience of participants at this meeting, specific recommendations will be made to further enrich our understanding of the security issues in the forthcoming election, the various dimensions of the challenges, and, most importantly, possible measures to respond to them to ensure that elections peacefully hold nationwide as required by law.

“The commission welcomes this initiative and as co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), there is no doubt that the security agencies also welcome ideas and citizens’ support towards peaceful elections.

“After all, only recently the office of the Inspector General of Police organised a nationwide capacity-building for police personnel on election security. The Police was not only motivated by the same concern of ensuring a secure environment for the election but also enhancing the professionalism of police personnel on election duty.”

Earlier, the director, CDD, Idayat Hassan, said that the event was important, especially based on the coming 2023 elections, the seventh consecutive elections since the return to democracy in 1999 and also being the second time Nigeria is having a transition from one government to another government.

“This represents the fact that as a country, we do respect the maximum two term-limit. This election is generating a lot of excitement, one because of the youth interest in the election and importantly because of the new Electoral Act, which has infused technological innovations into our election as can be seen in the Ekiti and Ondo governorship elections,” Hassan said.

She said that the prevailing insecurity across the country is a source of concern and which must be addressed, especially since they are not the normal electoral violence, but it can also add to the electoral violence.

On his part, the director (Development) Foreign Commonwealth and Development, Dr. Chris Pycroft, said that the 2023 elections are very critical and that security is a top priority in the relationship between the British and Nigerian governments.

“Nigeria is facing more challenges than ever before to deliver a peaceful and secured elections. At the same time, the demand for democracy remains unchanged, especially among Nigerian expanding youth populations who continue to grow.

“These elections are important not only to Nigeria, or Africa but to the world. Democracy across the world is under threat and Nigeria can demonstrate the power of democracy to represent the world and ambition of a nation,” he said.

The crisis that has hit the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) escalated yesterday as the National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, drew the battle line with aggrieved chieftains calling for his resignation.

He described those calling for his removal as children who did not witness the birth of the main opposition party.

He said the “children” were nowhere when PDP was formed.

In 1999, when Ayu was a minister in the cabinet of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike was the chairman of Obio Akpor Local Government Area in Rivers State.

Ayu had earlier served as Senate President from 1992 and 1993 when Wike was a law student at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt.

In a veiled reference to a caucus in his party demanding his sack, led by Wike, the chairman said he will not quit.

He insisted that he has a four-year mandate, adding that he has not spent a year in office.

Ayu said his fate was not tied to the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, because he was a product of the party’s constitution.

However, Wike said he cannot be intimidated by anyone in the PDP.

He said Rivers will soon decide on the 2023 elections.

Ayu opened up for the first time on the protracted crisis in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service.

He said the leaders of the party will not allow any individual to destabilise it.

Ayu said: “I was voted as PDP chairman for a four-year tenure and I’m yet to complete a year.

“Atiku’s victory doesn’t affect the chairman’s position. I won my election based on our party’s constitution.

“I didn’t commit any offence; I’m only reforming the party. So, I’m not bothered by all the noises.

“I know I’m doing my work and I didn’t steal any money. So, I see no reason for all these talks.

“When we started PDP, these children were not around. They are children who do not know why we formed the party.

“We will not allow any individual to destabilise our party.”

Wike: get ready for decision

Wike, who spoke yesterday during the flag-off of Igwuruta road construction in Ikwere Local Government Area, told the crowd to get ready for an important decision soon.

The governor said Rivers would soon take a decision and declare its position on next year’s election.

He said Rivers’ votes would no longer be acquired freely, adding that those interested in the state’s support must make an acceptable offer to its people.

He said: “Nobody should come and deceive you. No amount of social media war against us can solve any problem.

“Anybody who wants our votes must tell us what is there for us. Our vote is no longer for dash. It is for you to tell us what you will give to us.

“If you have given to Adamawa, you have given to Benue and you have given to Delta, won’t you give Rivers? What should we take? You just want to come and collect votes. It won’t happen.

“The God of confusion will put confusion in them. They think it is Rivers State that they are doing. They are doing themselves. They will see confusion from now to the end until they withdraw and understand that there was no road there.”

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, the running mate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has berated the Labour Party flagbearer, Mr Peter Obi over his outing to churches.

Okowa, who spoke with reporters in Kano State on Wednesday, said he does not believe in dragging the church into partisan politics, stressing that politics is not the calling of the church.

He lamented that out of desperation, some presidential candidates are currently reaching out to anything even at the detriment of their faith just to win the February 2022 election.

“Now you begin to look at what is going on; the Peter Obi factor is as if he is trying to go through the church and make it look as if he is driving the Christians into politics. I do not believe that the church should actively go into politics because that is not their calling.

“But people are just hanging to anything they can reach out to even to the detriment of their fate. I don’t believe that’s the right part to go,” he said.

DAILY POST reports that Peter Obi had on several occasions appeared in different church programmes.

Recall that video of the former Anambra Governor, who was given an unusual ovation when he appeared at the Glory Dome, Abuja, had trended on all social media platforms.

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BREAKING: I Tackled ASUU Strike In One Day – Jonathan

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 18:23:54 GMT

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has stated how his administration resolved a four-month old strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in one day.

He said this on Wednesday in Abuja at the 70th birthday celebration of Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, organised by The Kukah Centre.

Daily Trust reports that the university lecturers have been on strike since February this over over irreconcilable difference with the Federal Government.

“The society we are managing is complex, now we are talking about ASUU strike, during my time too, ASUU had four months of strike, different committees were meeting and meeting and nothing was working. I said how can our children stay out of school for four months? So I had to call a meeting of all the leadership of ASUU.

“I presided over the meeting with my vice president, the Attorney General was there, I said that that night we must solve the problem. The Attorney General was there, Second to the Government of the Federation was there, the ministers of education were there, the labor ministers were there the finance ministers, everybody that has to do with it.

“And I thought that my being there would help us to do things quickly. But we spent the whole night, before we finished on like 5:30am Before we concluded and the strike was called off, so there were issues,” Jonathan said.

He noted that Bishop Kukah despite his friendship with leaders also bash them when he feel they were not doing some things right, including himself.
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The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited will have the first right of refusal to supply the Dangote refinery with about 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day for the next 20 years.

The Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, disclosed this to journalists when he appeared at the 49th Session of the State House Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

A supply of 300,000 per day in 20 years brings the total supply to 2.1 trillion by the NNPC.

According to him, the corporation had succeeded in locking down the huge supply as part of the Federal Government’s means of guaranteeing sufficient petroleum products supply for Nigeria.

“We have secured the right to sell up to 300,000 barrels of crude oil to the Dangote refinery for the next 20 years. Not only that, by right, we also have access to 20 per cent production from that plant,” he said.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, has accused religious leaders, security agencies, and even some NNPC staff of the theft of the nation’s crude oil.

The NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Kyari said this during the 49th session of the weekly ministerial brief at the State House in Abuja, stressing that oil theft is largely carried out by Nigerians.

Kyari disclosed that the stolen products, pipelines are found mostly in churches and mosques, Channels Tv reported.

“When a fire outbreak happened in one of our pipelines, we discovered that some of the pipelines were actually connected to individual’s homes. And not only that, and with all sensitivity to our religious beliefs, you know, some of the pipelines and some of the products that we found, are actually in churches and in mosques,” Kyari said.

“This means that everybody is involved. There’s no way you will take products, bring them in trucks in populated neighborhoods, load them, and leave without everybody else knowing about it. Everybody includes members of the community, members of the religious leaders and also and most likely government officials of all natures, including security agencies personnel.”

Kyari revealed that vandalism has led to the shut down of the entire network of pipelines for petroleum products distribution in Nigeria.

The NNPC Boss mentioned that a national reserve company will be established to manage the pipelines on a commercial basis to efficiently put them to use for the distribution of products across the country.