₦airaland Forum

Adams Oshiomhole, the national chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has said God will punish former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, next year.

Mr Oshiomhole said the former president will be punished for supporting Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the forth coming presidential election in 2019.

The former Edo State governor stated this on Wednesday while receiving APC women leaders from Edo State, who paid him a solidarity visit in his office in Aso drive, Abuja.

Obasanjo and Abubakar, popularly known as Atiku, had held sway as President and Vice President from 1999-2007.

The duo fell out politically during the wind down of their tenure, with Obasanjo becoming a stumbling block for Atiku politically.

When the former vice president emerged the PDP candidate for the election, he sought peace with his principal who had earlier said God will not forgive him should he support Atiku to become president.

Obasanjo pardoned the PDP candidate and gave him his support. But for Oshiomhole, the supernatural being will have to punish the former president next year.

“If you are working with me and I said that you are thief, that God will punish me if I support you and when you are confused because your supply line has been chopped off and you enter a new deal, come back to say I now support you, that God you invoked with your name to punish you if you support that person is about to go to work and He will go to work in February next year. He will punish you thoroughly and punish the person he is supporting in favour of Nigeria,” Oshiomhole said.

The APC top official described some governors of his who are at Loggerheads with him as political prodigal sons.

Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha and his Ogun State counterpart, Ibikunle Amosun, are some of the governors tackling Oshiomhole.

“When a child ran out of his father’s house to bear a new name according to history and the Bible, he returned when the weather thoroughly beat him as a prodigal son,” the former Edo governor said.

“That is why APC has prodigal sons. Those who think that their political future is tied to are poor students of history.

“They forget that some of these people thinking that they are invisible have run election before and lost deposit until they abandoned their parties and joined us.

If they return back, history will repeat itself,” he said.

haywire07:
i don't think it's an insult to call someone who is drunk a drunkard. And I don't think it's an insult to tell someone who is clueless the truth

Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has returned to Nigeria.

Mr Abubakar had reportedly visited the United Kingdom (UK) from where he will embark on a visit the United States, (US).

He was recently rumored to have been granted a visa to visit the US, although POLITICS TIMES could not independently verify the claim as at press time.

The former vice president fondly called Atiku has been trying to secure the US visa but to no avail.

He was accused of demanding a bribe of $500,000 to facilitate the award of contracts to two American telecommunication firms in Nigeria.

Atiku has repeatedly denied the allegation, insisting that he was innocent.

Notifying of his return, a spokesman in his campaign organisation, Paul Ibe, said Atiku has returned to the country from UK where he had embarked on a private visit.

“HE @atiku embarked on a private visit to the United Kingdom on Thursday shortly after the inauguration of his Presidential Campaign Council,” Mr Ibe tweeted on Saturday.

“He has since returned back to Abuja,” he added.

Buterflyle0:
There is no online version and there is no form. All data is collected using a mobile device and no passport is required because your picture is taking with same mobile device.

Everything is electronic

Buterflyle0:
There is no form. All data is collected on a smart mobile device.

gurnam:
Lies! This particular form that PDP has been bandying around has been denied.

If you know anyone that filled that form.. swear by your life.

Buterflyle0:
Factual reading makes you better informed while jobless gossip shows your foolishness.

https://theeagleonline.com.ng/geep-tradermoni-designed-to-benefit-all-other-members-of-nigerian-trader-groups-boi/


https://www.businessdayonline.com/life-arts/enterpreneur/article/transforming-micro-businesses-boi-managed-trader-moni/


https://nigerianfact.com/trader-moni/amp/

Click and read any of the links and see that BOI (bank of industry) said no paper forms are used for data collection and no PVC is needed

gurnam:
What would be the objective of demanding for PVC? Nobody demanded for any one Pvc?. The man Saraki was just being mischievous with that statement

gurnam:
When the elite shares Nigeria money through AMCON, it's never vote buying and influence peddling, but it becomes vote-buying when poor Nigerians are benefiting.

All Nigerians should rise up against these people that have sworn that ordinary Nigerians will never benefit from Nigeria.

Bukola Saraki, President of the 8th Senate, has described the Trader Moni initiatives of the All Progressive Congress (APC) led federal government as sophisticated vote buying.

Mr Saraki made the description on Friday while declaring open the presidential campaign council of Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 presidential election.

Vote buying, a corrupt election practice, occurs when those eligible to vote in an election exchange their votes for monetary gains or services.

Trader Moni, launched under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) in August is meant to empower two million petty traders across the country before the year ends.

The microcredit scheme would grant a minimum of 30,000 loan facilities to petty traders in each state and the federal capital territory (FCT).

The programme is being executed by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. The number citizen has recently been travelling across the country giving out the loans to those qualified.

The scheme was designed to help petty traders expand their trade through the provision of collateral-free loans of at least N10,000 which would be repayable within a six-month period.

Beneficiaries can get access to higher loan facilities ranging from N15,000 to N50,000 if they repay within the six-month loan term.

For the top lawmaker, “social intervention funds are for all Nigerians — they should not be used as a partisan tool. However, it goes without saying that Nigerians across the nation will not be deceived by “sophisticated vote-buying” techniques.”

He questioned the timing which followed the implementation of the scheme since provisions for it was made in the 2015 budget. Saraki also queried why those benefiting must give out their Permanent Voter Card (PVC) to be qualified for the scheme.

“The disbursement should involve all the parties because the money belongs to Nigerians but what I see is APC women leaders. It is wrong, morally wrong,” Saraki said.


“It equates in a way to a sophisticated vote buying, because if it’s not vote buy you should have been doing it since 2015, you got the budget in 2015,” he added.

The top lawmaker queried why the scheme was not implemented in 2016 and 2017 saying even when it was launched in 2018 those giving out the loans went with APC governors, women leaders of the party and were collecting PVC from beneficiaries.

“Look Nigerians are not going to be fooled. If you have been doing it since 2015, 2016, 2017 then you can say that but to us it is sophisticated vote buying.”

He advised that the federal government should carry other stakeholders along if the administration is sincere.

“And next time he goes out he should carry people that represent the communities and not just one party but Let them carry members of women associations, not only a party or political association,” Saraki added.

The All Progressive Congress APC seems to only be fighting fake news which does not favor them and promote those in their favour.

Barely a week after the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, kickstarted a campaign against the proliferation of fake news, a top member of the ruling party has been caught posting false information on his social media page.

First, Igbokwe posted a clear misinformation to thousands of his followers on his Facebook wall.

Accompanied with a picture, which was apparently taken inside Aso Presidential Villa of a police officer walking past President Muhammadu Buhari, who was sitting behind a desk in the background, Mr Igbokwe posted:

“Please meet ACP Obinna Chukwuka, the tear rubber Chief Security Officer to Mr President,” Mr Igbokwe wrote. Tear rubber in local parlance means ‘new’.

The post was apparently used to depict the president, who has come under verbal attacks over the perceived lopsidedness of his political appointments, as a detribalised leader.

His claims was later found out to be false.

Mr Igbokwe the Lagos spokesman of the APC has again been caught spreading another fake news without been dealt with by his party.

On November 18 Boko Haram terrorists killed about 200 soldiers and the APC spokesman has again posted another misleading photo as strikes against the terrorists made by the Nigerian Army.

Just like the war against corruption has been one-sided, the fight against fake news seems to be so also.

I don't know why these people cannot do away with plagiarism.

Images of Infrastructural developments in other countries are paraded in Nigerian cyber space as those from the country by presidential aides without been disciplined when caught.

A campaign aimed at getting the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to be apolitical as the 2019 general election draws near is gaining momentum on micro-blogging site, Twitter.

The campaign trending with the hashtag #PoliceNotPoliticians goes alongside with #FreeDejiNow, another move aimed at freeing a political activist, Deji Adeyanju, arrested by the Police on Wednesday.

Mr Deji was picked up when he led some of his colleagues from different Civil Society Organizations to protest against alleged bias of the Police Force in recent political events across the country.

The recent development which triggered the protest is the currently ongoing fracas witnessed at the State House of Assembly in Akwa Ibom State.

POLITICS TIMES gathered that the crisis which started last week does not seems to have an end insight as at press time. It has also led to blames and counter-blames by stakeholders of the state.

Demonstrating at the Police Headquarters, the protesters asked the force to hands off its alleged partisanship as the general election.

The demonstration led to the arrest of Deji and two others, namely; Daniel Abobama and Boma Williams.

The trio were immediately arraigned at Karshi Magistrate Court, Federal Capital Territory for criminal offences of Joint Act, Criminal defamation, Disturbance of public peace, Threat to public security and safety and inciting public disturbance under the Penal Code Law, according to a statement released by the force spokesman, Jimoh Moshood.

They were granted bail but failed to meet their bail conditions as at Wednesday’s evening. They have been remanded to Prison custody in Keffi.

Nigerians on social media, precisely on Twitter, are not backing down on the demand for the release of those arrested. Some of the reactions captured by POLITICS TIMES are reproduced below.

“The arrest of @adeyanjudeji for peacefully protesting about the shameful behaviour of the police in Akwa Ibom and elsewhere represents the last kick of a govt. that can best be described as a dying horse. I condemn it and I call for Deji’s immediate and unconditional release,” Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Aviation Minister, said in a tweet Wednesday evening.


“Deji Adeyanju should be freed unconditionally or should be charged to court,” a Senator, Shehu Sani, said in reaction.

“When and how did Nigerians lose their fundamental human right to peacefully protest and demand for better performance from their public officers and institutions?” Charley Boy, convener of OurMumuDonDo movement queried.

“How can a peaceful protest of #PoliceNotPoliticians be called defamation of character & disturbance of public peace by the @PoliceNG. You think you’re doing @MBuhari @ProfOsinbajo a favor in 2019. @NGRPresident has a chance to prove to us that they are no tyrants. #FreeDejiNow,” Ayodeji Obanla, @dejiobabillions tweeted.

“In a democracy, citizens should be allowed to protest and ventilate their views and grievances. Anything short of this is dictatorship. Full stop. #FreeDejiNow,” Ohimai Amaize, @MrFixNigeria posted.

“Nigerians know that the @PoliceNG have been awfully a part of various election misdemeanor in the history of this country, having a #PoliceNotPoliticians protest is good for our democracy. You are meant to protect us and not aid madness. Protests are rights #FreeDejiAdeyanju,” Ayo George, @iamayogeorge said in his reaction.

Godswill Akpabio, Senator representing Akwa Ibom North West at the Senate, has rejected claims that he is responsible for the crisis bedeviling the State.

POLITICS TIMES had reported how Mr Akpabio, a former governor of the state, was accused by his successor and incumbent governor, Udom Emmanuel, of masterminding the fracas going on at the state House of Assembly.

The former governor until months back when he defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC), was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

While at the PDP, he was appointed commissioner, thereafter elected governor who served out his two term and headed for the Senate still on the party’s platform.

Accusing his predecessor, Mr Emmanuel said Akpabio and his party were out to disrupt the peace being enjoyed in the state since he took over.

Messrs Emmanuel and Akpabio fell out politically after the former took over as governor.

“The mastermind of this crises include, people that this state gave the opportunity to become what they never dreamt they could become,” Emmanuel said during a press conference on Tuesday.

“People that other people gave the opportunity to become a commissioner for 6 years & a Governor for 8 years making it 14 years,” he added.

The governor while calling for the removal of the new Police Commissioner in the state, said the Police who are supposed to be apolitical in the country now belonged to the ruling APC.

READ ALSO: Akpabio Responsible For Akwa Ibom Crises - Udom

Refuting the allegation in a statement issued on his behalf by his special assistant on media, Aneite Ekong, the former governor said the “brazen act of lawlessness by the Governor is responsible for the crisis.”

“Ordinarily, the Distinguished Senator wouldn’t have bothered to respond to the spurious allegation because it is contrived to malign his integrity and stands logic on its head. However, it follows a clear pattern of crying wolf by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since the Senator, who was the live wire of the party in the State left the party to join the All Progressives Congress (APC.) The strategy by the PDP and its chieftains is that anything and everything must be pinned on Senator Akpabio,” Mr Ekong said in the statement.

“In his desperation to shop for who to blame and pass the buck, Governor Udom Emmanuel has blamed the security agencies in the State and Senator Akpabio has only become his latest victim. How can a state Governor accuse Senator Akpabio of being the brain behind the crisis, and at the same time declared that “the police should be held responsible for any breakdown of law and order in the state and not any other person.” Does it add up?

“It beats the imagination of right thinking individuals that a Governor could spew outright lies and falsehood in the face of the crisis in which he is a major sponsor. It is on record that the Governor personally led his security aides and thugs to the House of Assembly and supervised the manhandling of some members of the House of Assembly who were performing their constitutional duties.

“The brazen act of lawlessness by the Governor is responsible for the crisis. In justifying this meddlesomeness and interference in the functions of a separate arm of government, the Commissioner for Information of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Charles Udoh said he went to the House of Assembly as the Chief Security Officer of the State!

“It is instructive that Senator Akpabio was never at the scene of the fracas neither has anyone any evidence of his involvement, except the oft repeated strategy of blaming anything that is wrong in the State on Senator Akpabio.

“Akwa Ibom people have a right to determine who leads them. The choice will be based on performance and not on sentiments.

“We advice Governor Emmanuel to brace up and face the challenges of his office, instead of looking for who to blame for his lacklustre performance in the last three and half years which have made Akwa Ibom people determined to democratically vote him and his party out in the election next year,” the statement added.

Udom Emmanuel, governor of Akwa Ibom State, has accused his predecessor, Godswill Akpabio, of being among the mastermind of the crises recently witnessed in the State.

Mr Emmanuel made the accusation after disrupting alleged moves by some lawmakers of the state who belonged to the All Progressive Congress (APC) to impeach him.

The position of the governor confirms an earlier position held by a young lawyer from the state wherein the legal practitioner noted that the recent development at the State House of Assembly was in the interest of the people.

Trouble started last week when Onofiok Luke, Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly (AKHA) declared the seats of some legislators vacant while banking on a court order from a High Court in the State.

The declaration led to a protest by alleged supporters of the APC lawmakers who were barred from the assembly complex while an appeal of the judgment had been filed at the Court of Appeal.

When the speaker and his colleagues left the chamber, the sacked lawmakers numbering about five who belonged to the APC gained access into the assembly complex and declared Mr Luke impeached.

To curtail further attacks, the Commissioner of Police in the State was removed and replaced with security operatives sealing off the complex.

On Tuesday a new twist was added to it when the APC lawmakers reportedly gained access to the assembly chamber and were said to have commenced the process of impeaching the governor.

On noticing the alleged moves to oust him, Emmanuel who led the speaker and some of their PDP supporters stormed the legislative arm of government and chased away the impeachment planners who took to their heels on sighting the crowd approaching them.

Accusing his predecessor of spearheading the plot, the governor said the planners were out to disrupt the peace being enjoyed in the state since he took over.

Although no name was mentioned, POLITICS TIMES can authoritatively report that Emmanuel was referring to Akpabio.

Messrs Emmanuel and Akpabio fell out politically after the former took over as governor. Akpabio who is now a Senator at the Senate dumped the PDP for the APC months ago.

The lawmaker served as Commissioner before becoming the State governor, all under the platform of the PDP.

He was elected Senator on the same platform before he decamped to the ruling party.

“The mastermind of this crises include, people that this state gave the opportunity to become what they never dreamt they could become,” Emmanuel said during a press conference.

“People that other people gave the opportunity to become a commissioner for 6 years & a Governor for 8 years making it 14 years,” he added.

The governor who said the Police who are supposed to be apolitical in the country now belonged to the ruling party.

“This is the first time where the entire Police structure belongs to a Political Party, but since we don’t have the police, we don’t have anything apart from God and Our People.

“Akwa Ibom is the most peaceful state in our country, Nigeria. We maintain all oil installations so that money could be gotten out of here and be sent to Abuja for peace to be maintained,” the governor added.

Rabiu Kwankwaso, Senator representing Kano Central at the Senate has said President Muhammadu Buhari does not have any idea on what is going on in the State.

The former governor of Kano State stated this in reaction to a statement credited to Mr Buhari wherein the latter accused the former of diverting the funds of the state to finance his political ambition.

Kwankwaso, while he held sway as governor of the state, was among governors of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who left for then opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) prior to 2015 election.

While at the then opposition party, the lawmaker contested the presidential primary of the APC and lost to Buhari.

On loosing, he supported the then presidential candidate of the now ruling party and delivered almost 2 million votes from his state to the APC. He played a vital role to enthrone the now incumbent governor, Abdullahi Ganduje.

Messrs Kwankwaso and Ganduje are now political foes, one of which forced the former governor to return to the PDP from where he had left for the APC.

On return, he contested the presidential primary of the now opposition party and lost to the present presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar.

The president while speaking to Nigerian community in France earlier this month, alleged the lawmaker redirected funds meant for completion of projects in the state to fund his personal ambition.

“I compliment the governor for doing so much. He invited me, I went to Kano, the good projects started by Kwankwaso in education and healthcare, which is [where] a lot of emphasis should be made for ordinary Nigerians, the majority, poor Nigerians, Ganduje completed them,” Buhari had said.

“If it were another person, he could have left them to show them this is the project he started, he diverted the balance to go and contest for presidency, instead of completing it,” he added.

Reacting, Kwankwaso said the president was being misled as the projects being referred to were initiated and left behind by Ibrahim Shekarau, a former governor of Kano, who has now joined APC.

“The president was misinformed, he has no idea about what is going on in Kano,” the lawmakers said while featuring on Aminchi FM, a radio station in Kano, on Tuesday.

“There is no project left behind by me that was completed by Ganduje. What he completed are the former Governor Shekarau’s uncompleted projects, not mine.

“I instructed my supporters not to react to that as there was no need because those informing the president lied to him,” Kwankwaso added.

Reacting to recent video clips showing Ganduje receiving wraps of dollars as alleged bribe from state contractors, the former governor said he had knowledge of the clip even before they were made public.

While describing the clips as an embarrassment to the state in general, Kwankwaso added that he pleaded with those who published the videos not to release them to the public but the plea fell on deaf ears.

Nigerians have been warned not to play politics with the death of soldiers who recently lost their lives during a terrorist attack.

The warning comes from President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday, a week after the unfortunate incident.

Troops numbering over 100 died in the hands of Boko Haram terrorists on November 18, in Metele, Borno State.

A week after the incident, the president released a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, saying he was deeply shocked at the attack on soldiers.

“We must resist the temptation to play politics with the tragedy of the deaths of our soldiers.” Buhari cautioned on Sunday.

“They are heroes on the frontlines, fighting to make Nigeria a safer place for us all,” he said in a tweet.

The president further assured Nigerians that “the circumstances that have led to these deaths will be comprehensively addressed.”

POLITICS TIMES recalls that prior to the 2015 general election, the president who was then a presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) had towed the same part, politicising terrorists attacks on the country at the time.

READ ALSO: EFCC Acts Before Thinking - Fayose
One one of such occasions, Buhari said his predecessor, former president, Goodluck Jonathan, allowed the terrorists attacks to fester for too long before taking appropriate action.

Speaking through Mr Shehu who was then Director of Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Organization, who is now the president’s spokesman said the campaign organization recognized the efforts of the Nigerian Armed Forces – in collaboration with a multinational force made up of armies of neighbouring African countries.

The effort resulted in a number of significant victories in the fight against the Islamic terrorists, who are fighting to create an Islamic state, with about 36 territories taken back from the insurgents at the time.

“This is commendable. We congratulate our armed forces”, Shehu said.

“However, we cannot ignore the fact that President Jonathan left the issue to fester for too long.

“All this effort could have been applied much earlier, thus saving hundreds of lives and preventing thousands of displaced persons who are currently languishing in camps and homes in northeast Nigeria and parts of Abuja – with little help and attention from their government.

“We cannot but conclude that the Jonathan government allowed Boko Haram fester because of the political mileage gained from the crises. He did not show any concern for the people of northeast Nigeria while they suffered under the continuous, brutal attacks of the terrorists.

“He still does not care about them. For him, a victory over Boko Haram is simply an attempted victory over the hearts of Nigerian voters in the 2015 elections,” Shehu added.

Senator Dino Melaye has said President Muhammadu Buhari is not mentally fit to govern Nigeria.

Mr Melaye stated this at The Osasu Symposium in Abuja on Thursday while making his contribution to a question asked on wether Mr Buhari peruse bills sent to him before assenting.

POLITICS TIMES could not ascertain as at press time if the lawmaker is just realising given the fact that he supported Buhari to emerge president in 2015.

He has been attacking the president since he dumped the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in July.

At the event, Rotimi Amaechi, transportation minister, asserted that any law assented upon by the president was in the interest of the country as delays were always from the legislature.

Absolving the legislature of the blames, the lawmaker said any delay on passage of bills or budget should be channeled to the executive.

“The truth will remain the truth. At what point did you bring the budget?”Melaye queried.

“If you will all recall that the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives, had to write Mr. President, accusing leaders of MDAs for refusing to come and defend their budget.

“The president had to order his ministers to go to the national assembly and defend their budgets before they came.

“The truth is, all political appointees, including Rotimi Amaechi must become born again, if we want to move this country forward.

“In whether the president reads these laws or not, all Nigerians, we know ourselves; you cannot give what you don’t have. President Muhammadu Buhari is not intellectually, emotionally, physically, mentally, equipped to govern this country,” he added.

Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation has been booed by Nigerians at the opening of the 2019 presidential debate.

The debate hosted by The Osasu Show held at NAF Conference Centre and Suites on Thursday.

While the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar was represented by his campaign spokesman, Segun Sowunmi, there was no official representing President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Amaechi, who is present at the event did not represent his principal.

Also present at the debate is the presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) Oby Ezekwesili.

While Sowunmi was tabling the plans of the PDP candidate, Amaechi interfered, raising up his hands to ask question.

When the minister stood up with the microphone to speak, Nigerians flared u, shouting the minister to go back to his seat.

“Sit down, sit down,” they chorused while Amaechi tried to make his contribution.

When the situation was brought under control the minister alleged that the Atiku-Obasanjo regime led a privatisation of Nigeria’s assets to their cronies and as such should not be given a second chance to pilot the affairs of the country.

“The first question is that they privatised, to who? Who did they privatise to?” Amaechi queried adding that “To themselves, and they are coming back. Then I was a young man, I didn’t have money to buy.

“Question number two, let me thank the woman who said power had improved. Under them, with $16 billion, we had 3,000 megawatts of power, now we have 7,000.

“Three, and finally, on railways, we all go to Kaduna. We are talking about railway, who has the railway? Our government right?”.

While responding to the questions, the PDP representative said the minister was speaking trash, rather than sticking to an issue-based campaign.

“An eight-year governor of a state in PDP comes to public space, riding on the alleged integrity of just President Muhammadu Buhari, and speaking trash to the people, what exactly is this,” Sowunmi said.

“Now, we had assumed, we had signed up to an issue-based campaign, and we just want to beg the operators of this present government to stick to the issues.

“We speak about opening up the economy to make sure that those who have the competencies to drive growth must be given the enabling environment to create value, and our people can plug in.”