₦airaland Forum

Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed, has denied speculations that he was planning to dump Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections. The denial brings to an end the purported alliance of Mohammed with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and the G-5 Governors who are opposed to the Atiku/ Okowa presidential ticket.

Mohammed made an open declaration of his total support and loyalty to the Atiku candidacy yesterday, during the flag off of his gubernatorial campaign in Gamawa Local Government Area of Bauchi State Addressing the rally, Mohammed appealed to the thousands of his supporters in Gamawa to vote for Atiku Abubakar saying, Atiku is the only candidate that will restored the lost glory of Nigeria if elected as the number one citizen of the country. He said Nigeria needs a personality with an all encompassing knowledge of the country. According to him, Atiku will have no problems ruling Nigeria, as a former Vice President of the country for good eight years.

The former minister also faulted the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Federal Government for not giving enough time for Nigerians to exchange their old note with the new one as well as closing government account just to create artificial poverty in the country. Mohammed accused APC governors of using public fund in their campaigns in the name of empowerment, adding that they have been giving out cash and food items just to deceive the people.

He charged his supporters to collect what ever they were given during the campaigns but vote wisely for PDP only. He assured the people of the area of his administration’s continued commitment for the provisions of social amenities such as roads, culverts, schools, hospitals and to build sesame company to ease their problems. Earlier, in his welcome address the Chairman of the PDP in Gamawa Local Government Area, Alhaji Danladi, told the governor that Gamawa is for PDP and not any other party. He thanked the governor for choosing Gamawa Local Government as the venue to flag off his campaign.

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Liang has demanded that the Labour Party should furnish it, with a list of persons whom it suspects would use violence to undermine the 2023 electoral process so the British government would take appropriate action against such.

Catriona said this while responding to the avalanche of complaints made by the Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) Barr. Julius Abure, labour party by enemies of the party and democracy in Nigeria.

She said the government of the United Kingdom would be interested in the names of persons it suspected would cause trouble before, during and after the election, thereby undermining the country’s democracy.

“But if you are aware of anybody who has incited violence or certainly actually acted violently, we have used the visa program in the past and we will use it again to prevent that person from visiting the UK.

“So if you have any credible evidence of individuals that you can identify as having conducted violent operations or inciting violence, please do pass that on to us because we do act upon it and it’s concerning to hear the number of potential attacks on all candidates, Catriona stated.

She pointed out that all the complaints by Abure are very timely as “I think those are the key points I have taken from what you’ve said,

“We will raise it with the security partners. We are actually having a meeting with the entire community tomorrow on the elections. So this is very timely,” she stated.

National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barr. Julius Abure had told the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Liang that the condition to guarantee a united and peaceful Nigeria post-2023 general election would be a transparent, free and fair election.

Abure said tempers are already inflamed especially among the Nigerian youths who are only seeking the opportunity of a better Nigeria and the 2023 election offers this opportunity for them to make the right decision and vote for the Labour Party, Peter Obi.

He noted that however, the rate of violence that has been visited by the party and its members, some of whom have paid the supreme price, has called for a lot of reflection.

The Chairman said the youth population which recorded the highest in the last round of registration to update the voters register determined to ensure that a free and fair election that would reflect the will of the people forms the outcome of the election.

Abure said whatever the outcome of the election if it reflects the will of the people it would promote a peaceful and united Nigeria.

However, anything other than that, Abure said would leave a disturbing trail afterwards.

Sharing his thoughts on the implication of a compromised election that undermined the will of the Nigerian people in the forthcoming election, Ruth Catriona, said: “We are very desirous to have credible people-oriented Nigeria presidents. We believe very strongly that if the process leading to the election is free, fair, and credible, then of course, there will obviously be peace in the country.

“We believe that if the process is compromised and the process is not fair. Of course, there won’t obviously be peace,” he stated to the British High Commissioner Catriona Liang.

He pointed out that the party is worried over rumours that there are plots to delay the arrival of the BVAS a critical component of the election to its areas of the stronghold.

While the matter was a rumour it has reason to cry foul over such a rumour that threatens credible elections as such a move if carried out would frustrate the electorates in that area and ultimately undermine the process of the election.

Besides that, We have heard rumours that in most of the places where we are strong, especially in the southeast, and South-south, a few days before the election, they are going to deploy people to cause trouble, cause mayhem and deploy bandits to scare people from coming out to vote.

“Apparently, by the time they do that, the process will be compromised People will be afraid to come up to vote and if we have that kind of scenario, it will be very clear that the election is compromised.

Abure used the opportunity to call on the international community and the federal government to take notice of such a plot and avert it.

He said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has demonstrated preparedness 1ppfor a successful election and the party recognized that, however, the challenges associated with the processes of collection of Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) required a deep reflection as there are classes of denial of voters to access their cards.

The Chairman of DAAR Communications Limited, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi has been arrested by the Police in the United Kingdom.

Dokpesi was said to have been arrested on Sunday while travelling to the United Kingdom.

He had boarded a Lufthansa Flight LH916 from Frankfurt to London and was subsequently picked up at Terminal 2 of Heathrow Airport in London.

A source who was on the flight confirmed his arrest to this website.

The source said, “We were on a flight from Frankfurt to London and as we are about to arrive London, we were informed that we should all stay on our seat when the aircraft lands and that the Police wanted to do something. We were informed that there will be a police operation.

“So when we landed, the police came in and ask who is Raymond Dokpesi and they now took him away. He was wearing agbada. He was arrested in London.”

For the avoidance of doubt H.E @atiku, Presidential candidate of the @OfficialPDPNig and former VP of Nigeria, 1999-2007 will be arriving London on Monday, 9th of January for meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday on the invitation of the British Government.

January 04, 2023

Press Statement

Your Lack of Integrity Has Forced Buhari to Stay Away from Your Campaign, Atiku/Okowa Mocks Tinubu

The Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organization mocks the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for venturing to speak on issue of integrity, saying his total lack of integrity has forced President Muhammodu Buhari to stay away from his (Tinubu’s) presidential campaign.

Is it not an absurdity that a presidential candidate that is beleaguered by several allegations bordering on corruption, perjury, identity theft, inconsistencies in name as well as alleged narcotics offence, for which he forfeited a gargantuan sum of $460,000 to the United States of America, could muster the courage to address any gathering whatsoever on the issue of integrity.

Has Asiwaju Tinubu defended the identity theft of the picture of former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, which was deliberately used by his campaign organization to portray him as a bright youngman?

The Atiku/Okowa campaign says the continuous absence of President Buhari at the APC presidential campaigns showcases a concern by Mr President that Tinubu, because of his lack of integrity, will lose a free, fair and credible poll at the February 25 presidential election.

Our campaign also holds that President Buhari is distancing himself from the Tinubu's campaign because of the inability of the APC presidential candidate to provide convincing explanation on his links to the alleged forfeiture of $460,000 to the United States authorities in a narcotics related matter.

We therefore counsel Tinubu to stop dishing empty promises to Nigerians since compatriots are yet to recover from similar events which he led in the past.

We urge Nigerians to continue to give their support to the leading presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the collective drive to rescue and rebuild our nation.

Signed

Kola Ologbondiyan
Spokesperson
Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation

Akin Osuntokun, director-general of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, says he has “abandoned” his ambition to contest for senate in the 2023 elections.

He spoke on Wednesday in an interview on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television.

Osuntokun, who was announced as the LP campaign DG on Tuesday, is also listed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for Ekiti central senatorial district.

Speaking on the development, the former managing director of NAN, said his position as the LP campaign DG is a “higher calling” compared to running for senate.

When asked if he had dropped his senatorial ambition, he said: “I have abandoned it.”

“The campaign office has issued a press release in that respect. What law have I breached in accepting the appointment? What law has the presidential candidate who appointed me beached in appointing me? I can’t help anybody who wants to pursue notoriety as a way of life,” he added.

“The man who is doing this is supposedly the national publicity secretary of the Labour Party. Ask him: why would a national publicity secretary of a party do that to his own party?

"So, it’s a redundant question at any rate. It’s of no consequence at all, whether legally, constitutionally — very frivolous. There is no moral burden at all.

“It’s a higher order of priority. Joining the Obi campaign is a higher national priority than any other aspiration. As a citizen of this country, who has a realistic appreciation of what we need to move Nigeria forward, you can’t compare an aspiration to be in the senate to the position that I have occupied.

“All these kinds of platitudes are unnecessary. In Nigeria today, there is no way I can define my political and moral priorities better than the path I have followed.

I have no moral burden. I am stepping to a higher sacrificial position. I don’t need to publicly declare it. [Ekiti ZLP senatorial candidacy] is a redundant position. I have the perfect freedom to decide what to do at any minute, so long as I have not breached any legal position. The step I am taking is of greater moral consequence for Nigeria.”

Akin Osuntokun, the newly-appointed director-general of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, is listed as the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) senatorial candidate for Ekiti central.

Osuntokun, a former managing director of NAN, was named the director-general of the campaign council on Tuesday.

Doyin Okupe, the former director-general of the campaign organisation, resigned after he was convicted over money laundering charges.

A look at the list of approved senatorial candidates published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in September shows that Osuntokun is listed as the ZLP candidate for Ekiti central senatorial district for the 2023 elections.

Asked if this was an oversight by the party, Yunusa Tanko, spokesperson of the LP presidential campaign council, told TheCable that Osuntokun will speak on the matter soon.

“I can tell you authoritatively that Akin himself will come and clear the air on that particular matter. He will speak to the press very soon and we will share the press statement,” he said.

Meanwhile, Okoi Obono-Obla, ex-presidential aide, took to Facebook on Wednesday to express his disapproval over the matter.

“The final list of candidates for senatorial candidates for the 23 February 2023 National Assembly election starkly reveals that Osuntokun Olusola Akintola (Akin Osuntokun) is the Zenith Labour Party ( ZPL) candidate for Ekiti State Central Senatorial District,” he wrote.

“There is nothing to show that Akin Osuntokun has withdrawn his candidacy.

“I was therefore flummoxed when Labour Party announced Akin Osuntokun as the Director General of Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organization to replace Dr. Doyin Okupe.

“What an illegality and bundle of confusion and contradictions coming from the Labour Party that has been pontificating about change in Nigeria.

“I am scandalized by the revisionism of the Labour Party and its Presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

“This blunder yet again by Labour Party and its Presidential candidate is the clearest indication of how confused they are.”

Gov Nyesom Wike of Rivers State truncated the chances of zoning of the 2023 presidency to the South-East by the Peoples Democratic Party because of his ‘selfishness’.

A faction of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, led by Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, stated this in a press statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday. Nnabuike described Gov Wike as a man of ‘avarice’.

He said Wike, with his G-5 Governors, is playing ‘the ostrich’ after ‘working against a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction’.

Nnabuike stated that, “We want to tell Nigerians not to be deceived by the likes of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who claims to be fighting against injustice in the PDP whereas he is merely pursuing selfish interests.

“It is on record that Governor Wike scuttled the micro-zoning of the PDP presidential ticket to the South-East because he felt he would bamboozle his way and get the ticket. But having failed to realise that selfish ambition, he turned to be shouting for justice and equity.”

In his words, “Where was the equity when he chased Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party out of PDP? Where was equity when he refused all entreaties to back someone from the South-East for the PDP ticket? Now that he failed to clinch to the ticket, he now realises there is equity.

“Nigerians should not be deceived by Wike’s gimmicks. I also urged the Governors moving with him to realise that he is pursuing a personal agenda. There is nothing like integrity in what he is doing, so his claim of leading an integrity group should be discarded.”

The group said Nigerians should not expect anything good from the G-5 Governors because their goals ‘are laced with personal desires and gains’.

THE WHISTLER reports that the G-5 Governors, comprising governors Nyesome Wike of Rivers, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Samuel Ortom of Benue and Seyi Makinde of Oyo states, is a protest group in the PDP seeking the balancing of power between the North and the South. The position of the G-5 Governors is that the chairmanship of the PDP should shift to the South because its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is from the North.

The group is currently overseas, and might resolve which presidential candidate it might drum support for in the 2023 elections.

Controversial and popular Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Abubakar Ahmad Gumi has called on Nigerians to vote for those who will not fight bandit terrorists if elected president in 2023.

Naija News reports that the Kaduna-based Islamic scholar made the call with the 2023 general election less than 90 days away.

Speaking during a sermon, Sheikh Gumi urged Nigerians to vote for leaders who would negotiate with bandits when elected into office.

While describing bandits as “our people,” Gumi said Nigeria’s next set of leaders should negotiate and give bandits what they want for peace to reign.

He said: “Don’t vote for those who will fight bandits. The fighters (bandits) are our people. So please vote for those who, after attaining power, will call and negotiate with our people (bandits) so as to give them what they want for peace to reign.”

Eight men, Waheed Tijani, 50, Taiwo Yunusa, 38, Afeez Ariyo, 43, Kazeem Tejumaje, 47, Abdulrasheed Tanimola, 55, Muritala Kewulere, 65, Dauda Azeez, 52 and Abdulhakeem Oriola, 51, were on Friday docked in an Iyaganku Magistrates’ Court, Ibadan.

The defendants, whose residential addresses were not provided, were docked for allegedly cutting a dead man’s body parts.

They were also charged with conspiracy and disregard to corpse.

The prosecutor, Mr Philip Amusan, told the court that the defendants allegedly committed the offence on December 13, at Gbedun area, Ibadan.

He alleged that the defendants improperly interfered with the corpse of one late Nimotalahi Amidu by cutting off his head and body parts.

Amusan said the offence contravened Sections 517 and 242(1) of the Criminal laws of Oyo State, 2000.

The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Magistrate, Mrs O. A Akande granted them bail in the sum of N50,000 each and one surety each in like sum.

She adjourned the case until February. 22, 2023 for hearing.

oshozondii:
These two people should just settle by kick-boxing.

President Muhammadu Buhari says he is doing his best for Nigerians but it is not good enough.

Buhari said this in a documentary that was screened on Friday night at a private dinner organised by his family and close associates to celebrate his 80th birthday.

The documentary was tagged “celebrating a patriot, a leader, an elder statesman”.

The president said there are some people who have made attempts to undermine his administration.

“I believe I’m trying my best, but still my best is not good enough,” Buhari said.

“Because there are people around that think that they can intimidate me to get what they want instead of going through certain systems to earn whatever they want to earn. And there are some people who want to be clever by half.”

Buhari said he will not miss his time in office because he is being “harassed.”

“I wonder if I am going to miss much. I think I’m being harassed,” he said.

Speaking at the event, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo said the president is a “forthright, good and kind man”.

“Mr. President is a very humorous man and I think he would make a very good career in entertainment one way or the other when he retires,” he said.

Obi supporters may not like this. The bitter truth is that political party is like a tree. No matter how well you fertilise an Iroko seedling, it will take years to grow into a tree. In a national election, only a political party with ‘organic’ growth will put up a good showing.

A strong political party is what takes a candidate to the crevices he cannot physically go. Winning a national election is symbiotic in nature. Lack of good candidates for other posts may affect the presidential candidate. And this is exactly what LP faces.

Let’s liken the scenario to soccer. A good coach needs a good team to prove his mettle. Obi is a good candidate, but he ventured into the presidential race when the transfer window was shut. So it’s impossible for him to assemble a good team/structure that can beat APC or PDP.

Most Obi supporters capitalising on North Central votes based on religious belief fail to understand that of the 6 states in the zone, only 2 (Plateau and Benue) have majority Christian population. Niger, Nasarawa, Kwara & Kogi States are dominated by Muslims.

I paid a courtesy call at the Anambra Government House, and I am most delighted for the warm and brotherly reception accorded my team and I by Governor Charles Soludo, @CCSoludo.

I admire his passion for developmental politics. It’s gladdening to note that we share a similar commitment to the promotion of good governance to better the lots of the common people. -AA #RecoverAnambraWithAtiku