Adams Oshiomhole, the national chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has said he is resuming political campaigns for his party despite the restriction placed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mr Oshiomhole stated this on Saturday while addressing newsmen at a press conference called by the electoral body at the International Conference Center (ICC), Abuja, to explain why it rescheduled the general election to next week Saturday.

At the event, the chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, while responding to a question from Osita Chidoka, a campaign spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on continuation of campaigns, said political campaigns remained closed at the moment.

Constitutionally, political campaigns are concluded 24 hours before the election.

But kicking against the restriction, the former Edo State governor said his party was not going to adhere to the directive of the electoral umpire.

“We are governed by law and the law is campaign stops 24 hours before (election), INEC chairman can not freeze that right. We will exercise it and we will do so openly,” Mr Oshiomhole said.

“So tomorrow (Sunday), I am beginning campaign and I don’t need INEC permission to renew campaign…We will go back to campaign, we need to do it to keep Nigerians confident,” the top APC official added.

He criticized the electoral body on why it had to wait until 2:00AM before postponing the election.

Godswill Akpabio, lawmaker representing Akwa Ibom North at the Senate has condemned the rescheduling of the general election initially billed to commence today.

Citing logical challenges, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rescheduled the election to commence next Saturday.

This action has generated nationwide condemnation from Nigerians. The two major political parties in the country are accusing themselves for the development.

The Senator who is a former governor of Akwa Ibom State said the action is an act of impunity to democracy in the country.

“I strongly condemn the decision by INEC to postpone the 2019 general Elections, It is an impunity to democracy,” Akpabio tweeted Saturday evening.

President Muhammadu Buhari also expressed sadness over the postponement saying the electoral body disappointed him.

Bukola Saraki, the president of the 8th Senate also condemned the action of INEC urging Nigerians not be discourage in ensuring that President Muhammadu Buhari does not win his re-election bid.

Nasir El-rufai, governor of Kaduna State, has threatened that any foreigner who intervenes in the forthcoming general election will be killed.

Mr El-rufai handed down the threat when he featured on a live programme on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) on Tuesday. The broadcast was anchored by veteran broadcaster, Cyril Stober.

The threat comes a week after President Muhammadu Buhari and his party the All Progressive Congress warned against foreign interference as the nation goes to elect its leader next weekend.

The United State of America, the European Union and the United Kingdom were major countries who condemned the alleged unconstitutional suspension of Walter Onnoghen, embattled Chief Justice of Nigeria.

Mr Onnoghen, accused of non-declaration of assets and money laundering was suspended last month by Buhari. The action has generated reactions from across the nation and beyond with his action mostly condemned.

This forced the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to sought help from the international communities in a bid to prevent the election from being rigged.

For the Kaduna Governor, any foreigner who intervenes in the election would pay dearly with his or her life.

“Those that are calling for anyone to come and intervene in Nigeria, we are waiting for the person that would come and intervene, they would go back in body bags,” the governor was quoted by Premium Times as saying.

Body bags are bags used for carrying corpses.

During his days in the opposition, President Buhari enjoyed foreign support from the international communities against then government of Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr Jonathan highlighted this to be one of the reasons he lost re-election to Buhari who had sought the exalted office severally.

At his presidential campaign in Kano last week, the president also enjoyed the foreign support for Niger Republic when two state governors from the country led a 60 man delegation to grace the event.

Meanwhile, the opposition PDP has threatened war if the presidential election is rigged by the ruling APC.

Shehu Sani, lawmaker representing Kaduna Central at the Senate says those who worked for the alleged third term ambition of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, are now in the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Mr Sani stated this in reaction to claims by President Muhammadu Buhari that Mr Obasanjo had sought a third term in office against the stipulated two term in the constitution.

In a veiled attack on the former president who advised the incumbent president not to seek re-election, Buhari said all he sought was a second term in office unlike the Obasanjo who served out his two term and wanted more.

“We have just finished one term and are seeking a second one. After that, the constitution doesn’t permit any more,” Tolu Ogunlesi, who oversees digital communications in the presidency quoted the president as saying while meeting with Ondo State Council of Obas in Akure, the state capital on Tuesday.

“There are some who tried looking for more but they did not succeed. We should learn from their mistakes,” he added.

For the Kaduna lawmaker, those who perpetuated the act were now in the party of the president.

“Dear Baba,those who work for that Obj’s third term are now in your party;those who worked with the ex VP,aided and facilitated the auction of our national assets,are in your House,” Sani tweeted Wednesday morning.

“You are in company of the Culprits in the crime you denounce,” he added.

Obasanjo while in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was rumored to be nursing a third term agenda. He was reported to have induced members of the national assembly to amend the constitution so as to accommodate his political ambition.

Atiku Abubakar, the 2019 presidential candidate of the PDP, then vice president was said to have thwarted the plot.

Mr Abubakar’s action pitched him against his principal and the duo became political enemies until recently when the former president forgave the former vice president.

Popularly known as Atiku, the PDP candidate has been endorsed by Obasanjo to slug it out with President Buhari.

The presidential election comes up on February 16 2019, it is clearly analysed by political analysts as a battle between messrs Atiku and Buhari even though there are other contestants.

Walter Onnoghen, embattled Chief Justice of Nigeria, is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged money laundering.

This was revealed in a letter the acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The letter with reference number EFCC/EC/P/01, dated January 30, 2019, was titled, “Interim investigation report: Alleged case of bribery, corruption and money laundering”.

It was distributed to media houses by the spokesman of Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), Imo Ugochinyere, who alleged of plans by the anti-graft commission to arrest the top jurist and force him to resign at gun point.

Mr Onnoghen is accused of non-declaration of assets traced to him. He is being tried at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on a six count charge.

In the letter, Mr Magu said his agency had even before the appointment of the accused was investigating the suspended CJN but had to stop half way because the EFCC could not have access to his assets declaration forms.

“For speedy investigation, a special investigation team which will include lawyers and investigators will be constituted to specifically investigate allegations levelled against the suspect. The investigation is expected to be concluded within a short time frame,” the EFCC chariman wrote.

“There is need to get the Asset Declaration Form of the suspect from the Code of Conduct Bureau for further investigation and to determine his net worth.

“Invitation of all individuals seen to have featured in his statements of account as having sent money to his account or received.

“Invitation of other individuals who paid money into the suspect’s Standard Chartered Bank account for interview.

“Determination of the source and mode of payments of the deposits into the SCB investment account held by the suspect with the aim of unraveling the individuals/entities that have given funds to the suspect over the years and expose his other sources of income.

“It is no doubt indicative of the fact that the suspect must have been involved in bribery and corruption as well as using some corporate entities in perpetrating his money laundering activities.

“Your Excellency, investigation is still ongoing and further developments will be communicated,” the letter read.

Mr Ugochinyere while making his allegations said the agency intends to carry out the operation today.

“The secretariat of the CUPP has uncovered the latest plot by the presidency to arrest the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen tomorrow (Wednesday) being February 6, 2019 and immediately commence their final descent to infamy by forcing him to resign at gunpoint,” the CUPP spokesman said in a statement Tuesday night.

“The latest recruit in this plot against the CJN being the Chairman of the EFCC has been given the mandate to execute this plot and has been told there would be no margin for error as the CJN must resign from office or from life one way or the other,” he added.

Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation, has said former president, Goodluck Jonathan, left funds in government coffers while handing over power in 2015.

The minister’s claim seems to contradict that of President Muhammadu Buhari, who claimed he met an empty treasury when he took over power from Mr Jonathan.

“I hope we are starting gradually,” the president said while addressing State House Correspondent at the Aso Villa, Abuja weeks after he was sworn in as president.

“Treasury is virtually empty and debts running into millions of dollars. The fact that state workers and even federal workers have not been paid their salaries is such a disgrace for Nigeria,” he added.

The Nigerian leader has since then been repeating the claim at any given opportunity with his predecessor debunking the claim.

Mr Buhari defeated the former president in the 2015 presidential election. It was also the first time an opposition candidate would unseat a sitting president who sought re-election.

The Nation Newspaper which quoted Amaechi to have made the claim said the minister hinted that Jonathan left about $2.5billion in the nation’s treasury.

The national daily reports that the former Rivers State governor stated this at APC presidential campaign rally held on Tuesday in Akure, the Ondo state capital. Yemi Osinbajo, vice president was said to be at the event.

The minister who is the director-general of the APC presidential Campaign Organisation was reported to have also claimed that former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, left $68bn while leaving office.

colestephan86:

Ha! This one go Sabi lie pass Lie Mohammed o.
Anyways a desperate man will do and say anything to become PDP president.

alhassanyusuf29:
And it beats our imagination on how nyamuri flat.heads who took Nnamadi cownu serious regarding the "Buhari is a clone from Sudan", to now denouncing and castigating him

Hypocrites, two-faced delusional fool!!

U think u only had the monopoly for madness abi!!

NgeneUkwenu:
But my own is , let Atiku remove his trousers, let's end all these controversies.

NgeneUkwenu:
Atiku's younger brother, Patrick Mboma, an ex-Cameroon national team player.

I think Nnamdi Kanu is right.

See the striking resemblance.

President Muhammadu Buhari has stated why some major socio-cultural groups in the country refused to endorse him for a second term in office.

At the weekend, the Northern Elders Forum (Core North), Afenifere (South West), Ohanaeze Ndigbo (South East), Pan Niger Delta Forum (South South) and Middle Belt Forum (North Central) were some of the groups who kicked against the political ambition of the president.

They instead pitched their tent with Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Speaking through Festus Keyamo, the director of communications in his campaign team, the president said the groups refused to endorse him because he refused to use them as middle men between himself and Nigerians.

“In the past, it used to be that some of this groups, they used this platforms as to purport to represent their people and then purport to be middle men between government and their people,” Mr Keyamo said while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics monitored by POLITICS TIMES yesterday.

“And in so doing, they get patronage from government in the past, and in those patronage they don’t trickle down to their people but they pretend to represent their people.

“They wear big apparel, big beads and go to the villa everyday and say we are the representative of our people, of our regions, whereas this are people who are totally disconnected from their people,” he said.

Buhari’s spokesman who alleged that the leaders of the various group cannot deliver their wards during election challenged them to a popularity contest.

“I want to challenge the so-called groups now, we are still on our campaign rally, let them call a rally the same day we are arriving that region.

“I am challenging them openly, I am challenging the faction of Afenifere, we have not gone to Lagos, Ekiti, I am challenging them to call a Yoruba rally the same day at another venue in Lagos.”

Kayamo also threw the same challenge to Middle Belt Forum, adding that, “the people don’t listen to them (group leaders) again.”

Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has listed two things he will tackle on his first day in office if elected president.

Mr Abubakar who said he will name his cabinet on his first day in office also promised to end the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The former vice president popularly known as Atiku, stated this in Lagos, Sunday evening, at the Silverbird Man of the Year event. Punch Newspaper published the transcript on its website.

The striking lecturers had on November 4, 2018 ceased to discharge their duties thereby paralysing academic activities in tertiary institutions across the country. Since the strike began, the federal government delegations have met severally with the leadership of ASUU with no positive result achieved.

“I am aghast that as I speak, our students across the nation are not being educated due to the ASUU strike caused by an unresolved debate of about N60billion,” Atiku said.

“If I get the job I am seeking, my first task on day one – along with naming my cabinet – will be to end this disgraceful strike and get our students back to their studies,” he added.

The PDP flag-bearer also promised to raised the budgetary allocation of the education sector if he is elected president.

“I will also triple the amount the Nigerian Government spends on education from 7 per cent of its budget today, not just to the 15 per cent recommended by UNESCO, but to 20 per cent.

“I recognize the value education can bring to the individual and the nation. But even more than that, I want every child in Nigeria to have the opportunities I had,” he added.

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) says he ran away from Nigeria because of his life.

Mr Kanu stated this in a live broadcast on Saturday. The facebook page of the outlawed group aired the broadcast.

The IPOB leader had in September 2017 disappeared from public glare, last year he surfaced in Isreal but he is said to be in Britain at the moment.

After he ran away, the federal government hurriedly proscribed his group to curb its growing influence in the South East region and beyond. But this has not whittled down the influence of the group as its membership continued to soar high.

Critics mocked him for abandoning his followers and running away but the Biafra leader has hit back at them saying he needs to be alive and champion the aim of the group which seeks an independent state through referendum.

“Yes, I fled to Israel because it is the safest place for me and I needed to stay alive and achieve Biafra republic,” Mr Kanu said in the broadcast.

“Tell those who said that I ran away to read their history book, they will find out that all the popular human rights activists, both dead and alive, ran away when it’s the best time to.

“I ran away because Jubril sent the military to my house to come and kill me and they expected me to stay and confront them. I’m unarmed just as IPOB members are unarmed group,” he said.

Kanu once described President Muhammadu Buhari as impostor, claiming the present occupant of the seat of power is a certain Jubril from Sudan. He did not provide any evidence to back up his claims.

The separatist leader in his recent broadcast also claimed Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not a Nigerian. He claimed the former vice president is from Cameroon.

Mr Abubakar has challenged him to back up his claims with evidence. He is yet to do so as at press time.

Meanwhile, the group has urged its supporters to boycott the forthcoming general election because it’s not beneficial to them.

sarrki:


Learn to verify before posting

sarrki:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.legit.ng/amp/1219548-president-buhari-god-sparing-osinbajos-life-helicopter-crash.html

sarrki:
You guys aren’t inflated all


https://punchng.com/presidency-orders-probe-of-osinbajos-caverton-helicopter-crash-in-kogi/

President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to officially comment on the helicopter crash involving vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, his second in command.

Also, POLITICS TIMES observed that a national leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, is yet to release a statement on the development.

This is unusual as the duo are known to respond to developments immediately they occur.

The chopper conveying Mr Osinbajo and his campaign team, who were on their way to a political engagement in Kogi State, crash landed in Kabba area of the state on Saturday at noon.

Although the incident claimed no life, the vice president still went on with his engagement.

Saturday’s incident will be the second time the vice president is involved in a helicopter crash since this administration came into power. The first happened last year June.

While Nigerians including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have thanked God for securing the life of the number two citizen, nothing is being heard from the camps of Buhari and Tinubu.

The opposition party has called for an investigation into the matter, this is despite an explanation on why the chopper crash.

Caverton Helicopters, owners of the aircraft, said in a statement issued on Saturday that the incident occurred due to usual weather conditions.

Already, Reno Omokri, an ex-presidential aide, has advised Mr Osinbajo to watch his back because some political forces see him as a stumbling block to their political aspiration.

Mr Omokri was subtly referring to Mr Tinubu who is alleged to be nursing the aspiration to become president in 2023. The APC Chieftain is yet to deny the allegation since Bukola Saraki, Senate President, made it known.

Tinubu had recommended Osinbajo as running mate to Buhari, when his bid to clinch the position failed. The vice president served as commissioner under the former Lagos State governor.

David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi State, has said but for his 2,000 crowd he provided to welcome President Muhammadu Buhari in his domain, the president would have met an empty stadium during his campaign visit to the state.

Mr Buhari is seeking a second term in office on the platform of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) while Mr Umahi is of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The duo despite belonging to different political parties are in a personal relationship, as the governor puts it lately.

The South East presidential rally of the APC candidate is nothing to write home about. During the president’s visit to most of the state, the campaign venues were empty, those present seems to be only members of his political party.

Although the outing in Ebonyi was impressive much more than what was gotten in other states in the region, the state is a known PDP state.

According to a report published on Daily Sun, Umahi said although mobilised crowds to welcome the president, they were not happy with the APC flag-bearer.

The governor said but not for the respect they accord the office of the president, Mr Buhari would have been booed by those he rented to grace the event.

“The crowd you saw there at the stadium, 2,000 of them were from me because I know they have nobody,” the PDP governor said.

“But for it not to seem like Ebonyi people don’t love Mr. President, I had to make available 2,000 persons to come and cheer the president. That is why if you check the crowd, while they were castigating me unduly, the crowds were not clapping’, the people were not happy. But for the respect they have for Mr. President, they could have booed them. I had to do what I because I’m not into extreme politics; I’m into politics for development,” the governor said.

Mr Buhari during one of his visit to a foreign country was asked why he is being accused of nepotism, he said it was because he got 5% votes from those accusing him of the act as one does not reap where he or she did not sow.

In another interview he said he has been fair to the people of the South East region in terms of appointments and infrastructure in the geo-political zone.

The Presidency has revealed why foreigners attended the presidential rally of President Muhammadu Buhari in Kano State.

Mr Buhari while campaigning in the state on Thursday received two state governors from Niger Republic who came to identify with him despite his administration warning foreign countries against interfering in the internal affairs of the country as the forthcoming general election draws near.

Critics condemned the action as being hypocritical while the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), called for the disqualification of the president from the presidential race.

Defending the action of the foreigners, the presidency said the opposition parties were just been jealous of the Buhari phenomenon which it said was sweeping across the African continent.

It said the visitors came to learn and understand how the president does his own politics.

“What we want the PDP to know, there is a Buhari phenomenon that is sweeping across the entire continent. Candidates for national leadership in each country are doing whatever they can to understand the Buhari phenomenon, to copy it, to institute it,” Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said in a statement on Saturday.

“That’s why people from the African continent…when they had the presidential election in Ghana, there was a candidate who branded himself the Buhari of Ghana.

“When they had the presidential election in Chad last year, there was a Buhari of Chad. They had printed posters with their pictures with Buhari side by side.

“So, Nigeria has been gifted with an honest leader, a man endowed with rare qualities and people are trying to copy that.

“So, if our neighbours from Niger come to witness how President Buhari is doing his politics, what is the problem with that? Is there any law that is broken? Or did they see anyone that will buy vote or collect PVC?

“So, it’s jealousy. They are panicky and jealous. It should worry PDP that nobody is coming across the border to understudy PDP,” he said.

Meanwhile, a chieftain of the ruling party has said there was no crime committed in allowing foreigners participate in political campaigns in the country.

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