The secretary of the Kebbi State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Muhammadu Sakaba, has defected to the All Progressives Congress along with his supporters.

Sakaba, who was received by Gov. Atiku Bagudu, announced his defection in Birnin Kebbi on Wednesday.

“I have now defected from PDP to APC due to my belief on the ability of President Muhammadu Buhari and Gov. Atiku Bagudu.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/kebbi-pdp-secretary-defects-to-apc

A member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Kaulaha Aliyu, has also defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) along with the Deputy National Chairman, North of PDP, Babayo Gamawa.

The both, together with other defectors visited the President in Aso Rock.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the defection of the PDP bigwigs from Bauchi State came barely 24 hours after the president received various members of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Support Groups from the North East, who defected to the ruling APC.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/pdp-board-of-trustees-member-decamps-to-apc

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has asked the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, to return to the main opposition party.

Speaking through his Media Aide, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku asked Amaechi, to resign and return to the PDP, a party he left in 2014.

Amaechi served his two terms as governor and speaker of the Rivers state House of Assembly under the PDP.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/elections-atiku-abubakar-asks-rotimi-amaechi-to-resign-return-to-pdp

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2019 elections has condemned the invasion of the offices of Daily Trust newspapers on Sunday by operatives of the Nigerian Army, Police and other security agencies as an attack on Nigerians as it affected press freedom.

Abubakar stated this in a statement on Monday by his media aide, Mazi Paul Ibe.

The statement reads: “We are alarmed at the military invasion of the offices of Media Trust Limited, Publishers of Daily Trust newspapers. We are further outraged by the arrest of their regional editor, Uthman Abubakar, and a reporter, Ibrahim Sawab.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/daily-trust-attack-on-press-freedom-attack-on-nigerians-freedom

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to look for more creative ways of reviving its flagging presidential campaign rather than demonising the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other national institutions.

This, according to BMO, follows a series of attacks by the party and its Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar on the top echelon of the election management body.

It said in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke that PDP has resorted to bullying tactics because of the reality that the former Vice President has no chance to upstage President Muhammadu Buhari in the election.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/bmo-advises-pdp-to-stop-blackmailing-inec

President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate in the forthcoming general elections, will campaign for the party and all its candidates.

A presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, made this known in a statement while reacting to media enquiries over the hosting of Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun by President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Sunday.

Amosun was accompanied by the Ogun state governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Abdulkadir Adekunle Akinlade, during the visit.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/akinlade-no-buhari-will-campaign-only-for-apc-candidates

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council in Ekiti State has challenged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to tell Nigerians the political history of those President Muhammadu Buhari will inaugurate on Monday to lead his re-election campaign, saying “the corrupt people who were looking for presidential cover are now the ones to tell Nigerians to re-elect President Buhari. Where lies his integrity?”

In a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, by Director of Media and Publicity, Lere Olayinka, the campaign council urged Ekiti people in particular and Nigerians in general to take note of those President Buhari would be presenting tomorrow as vice chairmen (North and South), director general as well as zonal coordinators of his campaign.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/pdp-all-corrupt-politicians-seeking-presidential-cover-now-on-president-buhari-campaign-list

The Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial district, Chief Victor Umeh, yesterday described as untrue the impression that the Igbo were against President Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency.

He said the people of the region were rather pushing for equity and sense of belonging in the political space and commonwealth of the country.

Speaking in Awka the Anambra State capital, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) federal legislator commended Buhari for completing the mausoleum of a former president of Nigeria, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe located in Onitsha.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/igbo-not-against-buhari-presidency-umeh

The presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesil, wants the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mamoud Yakubu, to reverse the recent deployment of Mrs. Amina Zakari, as chairperson of INEC’s Results Collation Centre in next month’s presidential election.

Ezekwesili, in a statement yesterday said “The INEC chairman appears to have bowed to pressure from the Presidency.”

She described Zakari’s appointment as political corruption, “considering that having a relation of the President who is a contestant in the February 2019 presidential election amounts to an apparent Conflict-of-Interest situation.”

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/zakaris-appointment-inec-has-bowed-to-buharis-pressure-ezekwesili

Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has tasked women and youths of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to ensure victory for the party in the forthcoming presidential election.

She made the call on Saturday during the launch of the APC Zonal Campaign Rally for the North-West held in Sani Abacha Stadium, Kofar Mata, Kano.

The wife of the President explained that she was encouraged to drum support for the APC because of the various social intervention programmes initiated by the Buhari-led administration.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/2019-aisha-buhari-begs-women-youths-to-vote-for-husband

Few weeks to the 2019 general elections, the country’s leading opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday said it has no confidence in the ability and sincerity of the electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a credible, free and fair election.

The party also said it has genuine information on why the controversial electoral commissioner, Aminat Zakari is been ‘imposed on the INEC chairman’ to perfect the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) rigging plot.

The immediate past Govenor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose made the disclosures on Saturday in Ibadan while addressing the press at the opening of the Atiku/Obi 2019 Southwest Campaign Summit.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/we-have-no-confidence-in-inec-pdp-cries-out

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it does not plan to remove Amina Zakari as head of the collation centre committee for the general election.

The commission also denied claims that by heading the committee, Zakari will be involved in the collation of results.

INEC announced Zakari as the head of the committee on Thursday when it inaugurated key committees for the election.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/inec-why-we-wont-remove-amina-zakari-as-head-of-elections-collation-centre

The presidential candidate of the Allied Congress of Nigeria (ACPN), Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has notified Nigerians of her plans in the new year, one of which is to make Nigeria’s economy the most innovative in the entire Africa as soon as she emerges President.

In a press statement on Tuesday, she said that if well-managed, Nigeria’s economy would outshine that of its contemporaries in Africa.

The ACPN presidential candidate said that this was achievable through the creation of a special fund for science and technology and reformation of key financial institutions.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/oby-ezekwesili-ill-make-nigeria-africas-most-innovative-economy

Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, has sought support for President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mbaka urged Nigerians to pray hard so that the country would overcome what he tagged ‘impending unimaginable difficulty’ in 2019.

The Punch reported that the preacher disclosed this on Tuesday during his New Year prophetic message and crossover service.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/support-buhari-to-continue-the-fight-against-corruption-mbaka-urges-nigerians

Peter Obi, the Vice Presidential candidate of PDP has joined the debate on national minimum wage and submitted the need for states to determine what they pay their workers based on their realities.

“Minimum wage doesn’t have to be universal,” he said on Politics Today, a programme of ChannelsTV.

“I don’t believe that somebody in Lagos should earn the same thing as somebody who is in, maybe, Anambra State or somebody in Maiduguri.”

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/minimum-wage-ex-governer-peter-obi-wants-states-to-determine-their-workers-salaries

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says voting decisions of Nigerians in the 2019 general elections will determine the future of the country.

Uche Secondus, the party’s National Chairman, stated this in his New Year message issued by his Media Aide, Ike Abonyi, on Tuesday in Abuja.

He advised Nigerians to see 2019 as “the restoration year” for the country.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/pdp-nigerias-future-will-be-determined-by-general-election

Bola Tinubu, chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has advised Nigerians to “select the path of forward progress” during the 2019 elections.

The former Lagos governor urged Nigerians to perform their civic duties by voting with the best interest of the country at heart.

In his New Year message, Tinubu said: “We have a choice to make. The choice we make will demonstrate the type of nation we want. I select the path of forward progress for I have never recommended to myself or to the nation the awkward practice of walking backward.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/bola-tinubu-nigerians-must-choose-between-moving-forward-and-walking-backwards

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said elections need not be a do-or-die affair and that politicians should not approach them with mortal fear.

The president who’s seeking re-election in the February 16 presidential and National Assembly elections, made the declaration in his New Year message to Nigerians. He also reiterated his pledge for free, fair and credible polls.

He said “Elections need not be a do-or-die affair, and we should not approach that eventuality in a democracy with trepidation and mortal fear. Happily, a large number of presidential candidates have committed to peace, and peace we shall have.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/president-buhari-my-election-not-do-or-die-affair

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says the claim by the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, that he donated N10 million to victims of the April 5 robbery in Offa “is patently false.’’

In a statement issued on Monday in Lagos, the minister admonished the Senate President “to stop dancing on the graves of the innocent souls” who died in the bloody robbery attack in Offa.

The statement signed Mr Segun Adeyemi, the Special Adviser to the Minister, was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/lai-mohammed-bukola-saraki-lied-over-n10-million-donation-to-victims-of-offa-robbery

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised an alarm regarding the safety of Senator Dino Melaye, even as the police continue its siege on the residence of the lawmaker representing Kogi West in the Senate.

PDP said by the continued lockdown on the residence of Senator Dino Melaye by the police, “the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency is turning Nigeria into a police state, where those opposed to President Buhari’s re-election are treated like enemies of the state”.

This is according to a statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesperson of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/dino-melaye-pdp-accuses-buhari-of-turning-nigeria-into-police-state

The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has lauded the people of Akwa Ibom State for trooping out in large numbers to witness last Friday’s official flag off of the presidential campaign of All Progressives Congress for the 2019 general elections.

Ambode said the development was an eloquent confirmation that President Muhammadu Buhari is head and shoulders above the other candidates.

Speaking to reporters at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Governor Ambode said it was particularly instructive that such a massive crowd received the President and leaders of APC across the country.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/akinwumi-ambode-mammoth-crown-in-uyo-confirms-muhammadu-buhari-remains-candidate-to-beat

The Fulani community comprising of the indigenous Fulani and Bororo assured Bukola Saraki of their support ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The leaders of the Fulani community, Alhaji Garba Dembo (Jowuro Oyun) and Mallam Usman Garba (the Fulani/Bororo union’s secretary) gave the assurance at the weekend when they paid a solidarity visit to the Senate President at his Iloffa, GRA residence in Ilorin.

Jowuro Oyun promised that his people would deliver their votes 100 per cent to all Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidates in next year’s general elections.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/2019-fulani-community-in-kwara-pledges-support-for-bukola-saraki

The former Military Governor of Lagos State, retd. Gen. Buba Marwa said that all those eyeing to occupy Aso Presidential Villa should wait till 2023, as President Muhammadu Buhari would be returned to power in 2019.

Marwa made the declaration while fielding questions from Journalists on Thursday in Yola.

Marwa, who is the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Drugs, said he was confident that President Buhari would defeat other presidential candidates in the 2019 election.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/no-vacancy-in-aso-rock-marwa-tells-atiku-others

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has declared that no amount of blackmail and propaganda will alter the termination of sale of valued state assets to Sahara Energy Limited.

Governor Wike spoke on Boxing Day during the 2018 Ogbakor Etche December Convention at Obiri Etche, Umugwu, Okehi.

“No amount of blackmail will change the situation. The courts are there for them to seek redress.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/nyesom-wike-blackmail-cant-change-termination-of-assets-sale-to-sahara-energy

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reiterated its readiness to hold next year’s general elections, clarifying, however, that the conduct of the polls in security-challenged places in the North-east would be determined by security reports from the military.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Publicity and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, told THISDAY Wednesday that the commission was ready to conduct elections in all parts of the country next year.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/inec-2019-elections-in-north-east-to-be-determined-by-security

The Presidency last night chided the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over its allegation that President Muhammadu Buhari was relooting the $322 million recovered from Switzerland by his government.

This is coming as a spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Buba Galadima, has declared that those who share money in the market, unappropriated money, unbudgeted money, from the so-called Abacha Loot are armed robbers.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement, accused the party of lying with the assumption that its alleged corrupt nature would be overshadowed by blackmailing others.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/presidency-berates-pdp-over-allegation-that-buhari-relooted-322-million-abacha-loot

President Muhammadu Buhari had told the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar, that he should be in jail by now if the system in Nigeria were to be working.

Buhari said this in reaction to a statement by Abubakar that the President should not blame the Nigerian system for his inability to meet the expectations of Nigerians since coming to power in 2015.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/buhari-to-atiku-you-should-be-in-prison-by-now-if-nigerias-system-was-working

Akwa Ibom State Government said it has granted Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari access to use its Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, in Uyo for a rally.

The State Government had earlier denied Buhari access to the stadium for his campaign slated for next Friday, 28 December.

Buhari is expected to kick off his reelection campaign in the South-south state.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/akwa-ibom-finally-grants-buhari-access-to-use-stadium-for-campaign

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari conceived the TraderMoni scheme way back as chairman of the Katsina State Development Foundation, which gave soft loans and micro-credits to people to assist them in their respective businesses.

This was even he as assured that the Buhari administration will continue to maximize the country’s huge resources for the benefit of the common man.

The Vice President made the disclosure during the Family Chats on Sunday and Monday, in Lagos and Abuja respectively, according to the statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/yemi-osinbajo-muhammadu-buhari-conceived-tradermoni-as-katsina-foundation-chairman

The wife of the late Lt. Col Ibrahim Sakaba, has denied claims by the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that he spoke with her on the phone.

Late Sakaba was one of the 44 soldiers killed by Boko Haram insurgents during an attack on 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele, Borno State last month,

Atiku had claimed on Twitter @Atiku on Sunday that he spoke with the widow of the late soldier

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/busted-atiku-lied-i-never-received-his-call-widow-of-slain-soldier

The pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere; Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, and the African Action Congress on Sunday faulted a statement credited to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo that the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential election would guarantee South-West Presidency in 2023.

Osinbajo, who on Saturday went on a house-to-house campaign in Oyo, Oyo State, and held a 45-minute closed-door meeting with the Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, said the 2019 presidential election mattered to the Yoruba people of the South-West because the geopolitical zone had a larger interest in 2023.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/afenifere-ohanaeze-pdp-knock-osinbajo-for-wooing-yoruba-with-2023-presidency

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned President Muhammadu Buhari against considering an extension of the tenure of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris Kpotun, who is due for retirement in January 2019. Also by his service record, he would be due for retirement next year, having served the Nigeria Police for 35 years, since 1984.

Mr. Kpotun was appointed Inspector General of Police by President Buhari on March 21, 2016, replacing Solomon Arase, who retired from the police force on June 21, 2016.

At a media interaction with journalists in Lagos, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP said his party rejects the attempt to extend the tenure of the Inspector General of Police, saying it was another ploy in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government’s strategy to scheme the 2019 general elections in its favour.

Read More at: https://www.thenewsbook.net/pdp-warns-buhari-against-tenure-extension-for-inspector-general-of-police