₦airaland Forum

OKDnigeria:
When Buhari assumed office in May 2015, the exchange rate was N197/$1. It currently stands at over [b]N300 to $1 officially [/b]and N495/$1 in the black market.
http://dailypost.ng/2016/12/31/overthrown-1984-devaluing-naira-buhari/

gratiaeo:
“Suddenly, Jema’a, Zangon Kataf and Kaura local governments have been flooded with security men, why were they not brought earlier to defend the people of southern Kaduna?
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President Muhammadu Buhari has commended Nigerian Army troops on the capture of Sambisa Forest, widely regarded as Boko Haram's last enclave. The President made the commendation in a State House press statement issued on Saturday.

"I delighted at, and most proud of the gallant troops of the Nigerian Army, on receipt of the long-awaited and most gratifying news of the final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest.
I want to use this opportunity to commend the determination, courage, and resilience of troops of Operation Lafiya Dole at finally entering and crushing the remnants of the Boko Haram insurgents at “Camp Zero,” which is located deep within the heart of Sambisa Forest," said President Buhari.

The President said he was informed by the Chief of Army Staff, Major-General TY Buratai, that the camp fell at about 1:35 pm on Friday, December 23 and that the terrorists no longer have a place to hide.

President Buhari urged the troops sustain the momentum by also ensuring that the terrorists are made to face justice and called on Nigerians to support the Armed Forces and other security agencies by providing useful information that will expose all terrorists hiding among the populace. He also called for the intensification of efforts to rescue the remaining Chibok girls.

"Further efforts should be intensified to locate and free our remaining Chibok girls still in captivity. May God be with them. I also want to congratulate and commend the able leadership of the Nigerian Army in particular and indeed, that of the Armed Forces in general, for making this possible," said President Buhari.

Following the conclusion of the Ondo governorship election, indications have emerged that some members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, are calling for the suspension of a National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, over his role in the said election.

Recall that there were reports that Tinubu was against the emergence of the Ondo State Governor-elect, Rotimi Akeredolu.

The former Lagos State governor had faulted the primary election that produced Akeredolu as the party’s flag bearer in the November 26 governorship election.


Tinubu who frowned at the election, had demanded the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, John Oyegun for insisting that Akeredolu was the party’s candidate in the just concluded election.


The elder statesman’s disapproval of Akeredolu’s candidacy could be noticed when he was conspicuously absent in the party’s governorship campaign rally in Akure.

But Tinubu said he was out of the country during the governorship campaign rally.

However, those calling for Tinubu’s punishment through suspension insist such measures would send strong signals to others party members who are planning to work against the APC.


Tinubu was accused of supporting the candidature of Olusola Oke of the Alliance for Democracy, AD.

Against the backdrop of his defeat to Akeredolu, Oke, a former member of APC had defected to the AD to contest the Ondo governorship election.

However, an aide to the former Lagos State governor, Tunde Rahman, when contacted by DAILY POST declined comment on the issue, saying, ”I wouldn’t like to talk much on this issue.”

olatade:
Aside that, it was also gathered that the President who has ordered that a security check be conducted on Ahmed and his source of stupendous wealth, is also not comfortable with the groom’s father, Alhaji Mohammed Indimi’s perceived closeness to ex-President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, IBB.

Former President Ibrahim Babangida is believed to be a long time godfather of billionaire Mohammed Indimi, more so the former President was against the emergence of Buhari in 2015.

GlorifiedTunde:
So many childish comments above.

PMB himself is just a simple man who doesn't believe in flamboyancy.

And his daughter's life also matters.

This reaction is unlike greedy parents who will give their daughter away without double checks and caution.

You Nigerians can never be pleased!

GenBuhari:
These clowns who couldn't even compel MTN CEO to attend their investigation, want to arrest the AGF?

melvinjames:
Buhari has made sure we can't send him back to Daura.
Is it coincidence that we have Buhari loyalist in charge of the institutions that will question election credibility?
From the military, to INEC, to Policing and then to Judges, they're all Buhari loyalist.


Onoghen would be removed before 2019 to be replaced by Okon Abang, we're in a one chance bus.

OKDnigeria:
Don’t mind those who think the hardship in the country would make the citizens not to vote for Buhari. And not even the rising popularity of Jonathan as demonstrated by calls for him to return to power during his visit to Sokoto would stop Buhari’s return to the presidency in 2019.

Strengths and weaknesses of Jegede, Oke and Akeredolu

In the next 48 hours, the people of Ondo State will be voting to pick out of 28 candidates, who becomes the occupant of Alagbaka Government House. The election will not only chart a new course for state politics but also determine, because of the preponderance of other influences, to a large extent, the direction that Nigeria politics may likely take in the march towards 2019.

And due to the unprecedented interests that the election has generated both at local and national turfs, a substantial percentage of the 1.54 million registered voters who hold the franchise for the about 3.5 million population of the state, are expected to exercise their voting rights.

Analysts said the weekend’s exercise, which has raised more dusts than similar governorship polls held after the 2015 general elections, will open new frontiers in the management of party politics and electoral litigations in Nigeria.

Two days to the exercise, the air was still not clear about the final list of candidates to feature in the polls as the much-awaited decision of the courts on the rightful flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between Eyitayo Jegede SAN, and billionaire businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim, has raised tension almost to a boiling point.

Jegede however got a reprieve yesterday afternoon when the Court of Appeal, haven been mandated last Tuesday by the apex court to go ahead with the trial, affirmed his candidacy describing Ibrahim as an “impostor”.

In the All Progressive Congress (APC) which internal politics brought a lot of external influences into the Ondo sphere, a lesser degree of litigation is playing itself out as one of the aspirants, Olusegun Abraham, has dragged the candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu SAN, to court to query the legality of the primary election that produced him.

The controversial shadow election has effectively balkanized the party not only in Ondo where three of the four leading aspirants have ganged up against Akeredolu, but also at the national level where the factors that brought President Muhammadu Buhari into office are being redefined in a way to have far reaching effects on the next presidential election.

The National leader of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu who was in the forefront of the movement that succeeded for the first time in Nigeria’s history, to send an incumbent president packing and install an opposition candidate, has distanced himself from the party and allegedly backing a new horse in the candidacy of Olusola Oke, the flag bearer of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), a platform resuscitated to reinvigorate Yoruba regional politics which has produced a safe haven for the Lagos lord.

With Jegede emerging as the third leg of a tripod of contest, the race is now between him and Oke of AD and Akeredolu of APC.


Olusola Oke of the AD
After falling out with the APC as a result of the controversial primary, Oke, at the prompting of Southwest political leaders, defected to the AD, because it originated from the region and people would easily identify with it.

Across the Southwest, the AD leaders have already rallied around Oke whose acceptability is growing by the day among the grassroots population. And being former PDP National Legal adviser, Oke, who with the late Governor Olusegun Agagu sustained the party before Mimiko joined it just before last year’s election, has a solid support base in the party, which he has also brought to consolidate his soaring popularity.

The lanky politician who hailed from the small fishing settlement of Ilowo in the coastal Ilaje local council, has for years been the face of political leadership in his southern senatorial district where he is expected to garner majority of the votes next Saturday.

The alleged marginalization of the southern district by the incumbent administration, which abandoned most of the developmental projects in the area, will also boost Oke’s chances even though an associate of his, John Ola Mafo, has been picked as the running mate to Jegede.

The AD candidate is also expected to reap maximum gain from a formidable state-wide political structure that he had built since he was the Commissioner on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) when he extended projects locations to all parts of the state and which he sustained till when he gave a brilliant showing in the 2012 gubernatorial election as a candidate of the PDP and afterwards.

Eyitayo Jegede of the PDP
Although highly burdened by the distractive litigation that saw his name being removed from the candidates’ list before yesterday’s court-ordered reversal, Jegede, also a Senior Advocate is a very popular candidate particularly among the people of Akure where he hails from.

He is expected to give a good showing in the central senatorial district especially with the incumbency factor of his godfather, Mimiko, who characteristically, had been deploying all the weapons in his arsenal to achieve victory.

But like all coins with two sides, Jegede’s relationship with Mimiko, who critics alleged was trying to get a third term through the back door, could be an albatross on the younger politician’s neck.

As an out-going governor that has less than three months to distribute patronage, what he did or did not do in office are now being held against him and many are extending the “wages of the sins” to Jegede, who, until recently had been avoiding politics like a plague.

While he is expected to garner large number of votes in the central district, many electorate in the north and the south, who are averse to a retention of political authority in Mimiko’s central, are already campaigning against him.

Besides, the long-drawn legal battle with Ibrahim has taken a lot of shines out of Jegede’s campaign as many of his supporters have already pitched their tent with either of the two camps of Oke and Akeredolu.

This setback may have been responsible for the strident calls from his camp for a postponement of the election, a call that INEC and other stakeholders have rejected, to allow for a resuscitation of a campaign that was abandoned midway.

While he has only hours before the Friday conclusion of campaigns to cover lost grounds, the saying that “24 hours is a long time in politics”, could give his team the needed vigor to get back to the top.


Rotimi Akeredolu of APC
For many party faithful, the Akeredolu candidature is the best thing to happen to the state, especially when they reflect on the governance records of the incumbent.

Those who share this view always refer to his stewardship as the President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and his roles in pursuing election petitions for the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
But the APC primary election in which “padded delegates list” was alleged to have been used, is still an albatross on his neck while the roles northern political leaders played in the process has already created an image crisis for him.

It is alleged that he has joined forces with those calling for the head Tinubu, his benefactor who despite opposition in 2012, imposed him as the candidate of the ACN.

Many politicians in the Southwest are already viewing the roles allegedly being played by some northern governors and Tinubu’s estranged associates led by former Ekiti governor, Kayode Fayemi and Ogun governor, Ibikunle Amosun, to foist northern interests on Ondo, with disgust.

Akeredolu however has his strength in Owo where he is expected to garner majority of the votes although he has many well-known politicians as his allies across the state, a fact that had been proved by Mimiko’s trial with his former Labour Part (LP) platform as not enough to secure victory.

The Senior Advocate is however seen as someone who could raise the bar of development in the state because being a professional in politics; he would not be encumbered by political considerations that have allegedly bogged down Mimiko’s administration.

Voting Strength
A breakdown into senatorial districts of the 1,546,081 of registered voters shows that Ondo Central has 615,157, which represents 39:78 percent; Ondo North 418,926, which accounts for 27.10 percent and Ondo South 511,998 representing 33.12 percent. But the political space of Ondo State has been reconfigured among the three leading parties.

First, the people of Akoko may eventually cast a protest vote against APC especially as Abraham and Senator Ajayi Boroffice who contested the party’s primary election, have openly campaigned against Akeredolu.

There are six local government areas in Ondo North which has 418,926 registered voters representing 27.1 percent. Of the six councils, Akoko zone alone, where Abraham and Boroffice come from, has four. Also, Owo zone, which is Akeredolu’s political base, has just two.

Oke picked his running mate, Gani Dauda from Akoko, whose people still believe, were politically raped with the APC refusal to implement the report of its own appeal committee.

With 615, 157 registered voters representing 39.78 percent, Ondo Central is the stronghold of the PDP and Mimiko’s political base and with Jegede back in the saddle, the factor of Akure in Ondo politics may be more pronounced even though the metropolis is inhabited mainly by non-indigenes.

Since the creation of the state in 1976, Akure has not produced an elected governor and Jegede’s candidacy offered them much hope. Like the case of Akoko, the people of Akure may cast protest votes against the APC because it is largely believed that federal might was used to cause the initial displacement of Jegede, whom they believe, would be the first son of Akure to be an elected governor. Akure zone, which comprise Akure North and Akure South, has 302, 888 registered voters, almost half of the voting strength of Ondo North.

In the South, Oke remains a force to contend with even though it is also the district where Akeredolu picked his running mate, Agboola Ajayi. But the choice of Ajayi has generated disapproval even among party faithful because he is Akeredolu’s maternal cousin.

With 511,998 registered voters, which represents 33.12 percent of the state’s voting strength. Oke still holds the ace in the south but the dichotomy in the peculiar politics of Ilaje among the Ugbos of Constituency 1 to which Oke belongs and Mahin/Aheri/Etikan of Constituency 2, to which Mafo belongs, may have some negative effects for the AD candidate

OKDnigeria:
According to him, the former leaders have not
been paid due to unavailability of funds for the
service-wide votes for salaries of ex-presidents.
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A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has stated the election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States of America would help to truncate President Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged Islamic agenda.

Fani, while congratulating Trump, said he was confident the businessman would team up with Russian President, Vladmir Putin, and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Nethanyahu, to curb terrorism worldwide.

Fani-Kayode said, “Those that came to power last year on the mantle of Islamic domination, religious intolerance and racial discrimination and that espoused the most hideous form of ethnic bigotry and religious fanaticism certainly have a lot of soul-searching to do because their friends in the Obama White House are on their way out and their darling Hilary is not coming in to replace him.


“I assure you that President Donald Trump, who I have known and studied closely for many years, will literally give them hell. Not only will he resist their constant and gross violations of human rights and civil liberties, he will also bring them to justice for their regular use of genocide against religious and ethnic minorities in our country.

“He will also confront their hidden agenda to Islamise Nigeria and turn us into a nation of ethnic and religious vassals that must bow before President Muhammadu Buhari and his kinsmen.”

Fani-Kayode recently regained freedom from the nest of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over allegations of N26 million money laundering charges.