Obi is a big embarrassment to Nigeria and his supporters. The other day, it was the sustainability topic, admitting openly before the world he didn't know much about the topic. In Chatham House, it was a question on healthcare. Again, Obi went dumb.
A few weeks ago, in his usual bid to play to the gallery and make his supporters happy, he dismissed the ongoing Siemens power project, claiming nothing was going on. At Chatham House, Obi promised to continue with the same Buhari's Siemens power project he said a few weeks ago didn't exist.
Novarisammy2: you need to be a fierce reader cos this is a shabby writeup. try to justify your pay or the drug lord aka bobo Chicago will remove you from his pay roll
Just catching cruise man... who has the time to put a writeup together on Obi. No be Obi pandora?
Obi was at Chatham House today in a show of competition for recognition following the memorable appearance of the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Everything Tinubu does, Obi must do his own... which reminds me of the popular phrase in Yorubland - Ibo-made. Ibo-made means anything that is fake or an imitation of an original product or idea. Tinubu brought the idea of townhall meetings into our electioneering. Today, Obi has hijacked it... all his electioneering are now townhalls.
Shehuyinka: FOR many residents of South-East Nigeria, Monday is part of the weekend. Banks, shops, transport companies, churches, schools and government offices are under lock and key.
For 52 Mondays in a year, revenues and profits do not matter. Jobs and contracts are of no significance. What matters is what the people hold dear: freedom.
The South-East zone is made up of five states: Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi. It is the only region with five states in Nigeria, with the other five zones having six, except North-West region that has seven.
On August 22, 2022, a bright Monday morning, The ICIR reporter was in Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of the South-East Nigeria, to witness the much-discussed sit-at-home exercise.
On that sunny Monday morning, markets were all closed. The streets were turned into football fields. It was another day for roadwork – and everybody was allowed to keep fit.
The pubs were full as early as 10 am with boisterous men exchanging banters over bottles of beer.
It was a rowdy session at a taproom close to Urban Girls Secondary School, Fegge, Onitsha.
The reporter sat there, trying to feel the pulse of the people. “Are you happy with this sit-at-home exercise?” the reporter asked a man sitting close to him.
It was a simple question meant for an acquaintance, but eavesdroppers hijacked the discussion and turned it into a row.
A man in his early 40s responded, “Are you also one of the saboteurs?”
The reporter answered in the negative. The atmosphere was getting tense, and tempers could flare.
After feeling reassured that the reporter was not a saboteur, the man said, “This present government of Muhammadu Buhari is responsible for this sit-at-home. We will continue to sit at home every Monday until he releases our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.”
Almost everybody in the pub responded with a nod. But a fellow, who obviously belonged to a different school of thought asked, “How does this sit-at-home exercise affect Buhari?”
A man in his 40s, whom the reporter later understood to be Chima, said it did not matter.
“We are fighting for our freedom. We will continue to shut down our region every Monday until the Federal government releases our leader,” he retorted.
A major point in the sit-at-home exercise is that Chima and others who cheered him were taking its financial implications for granted.
How it all began The ICIR ventured into an estimation of what the region could be losing from its citizens sitting at home every Monday by looking at losses borne by businesses known as nano/homestead and micro enterprises.
Nano or homestead enterprises have one to two workers and make an annual turnover of less than N3 million. Micro businesses, on the other hand, have three to nine staff members and an annual turnover of N3 million to N25 million, according to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the National Bureau of Statistics.
Micro and nano businesses were considered because they make up 99.8 per cent of MSMEs in Nigeria, according to a 2017 SMEDAN report.
Before the investigation officially commenced in August 2022, the reporter had been interacting with businesses in the region, especially micro-enterprises, since January 2022, trying to understand how the sit-at-home exercise affected them and how much they were losing in financial terms from the exercise.
A total of 22 micro businesses were interviewed in each of the five states of the South-East region. They were asked to estimate, based on their financial records, how much they earned in revenue every Monday before the sit-at-home began.
Some micro-business owners refused to disclose their income levels. A few of them even avoided the reporter completely.
However, a sizeable number of them later cooperated freely.
Visited locations In Anambra State, micro and nano business owners, ranging from petty traders dealing in clothes at the Main Market in Onitsha to kiosk operators at Eke Ekwulobia, were interviewed.
They should continue... When they bring their economy to the ground, they will come over here as labourers. We need people to use on our farms and do other odd jobs - cheap labour is loading.
Jalinspy: Tinubu will never succeed. We know it's his plan. Go for debate, he will not. Only to witch-hunt he is good at. By the end of February, he wouldn't have mouth even to say bala bulu bulu
Stop ranting... Is Tinubu the president or head of DSS?
When it suits you, you want us to believe Buhari is not supporting Tinubu. The same you will blame Tinubu for anything the FG does.
Keep your wailing till Tinubu becomes the president... May 29
Evaloyal2J: Mischief maker. Divide obis vote to give the great grandpa a hedge. what master plan does tinubu have that he couldn't give to Buhari since 8yrs to turn things around? It's your turn to fetch water.nansense
which votes obi get? can obi defeat apga in anambra?
NigerianAngelo: Criminal OP. I've seen your post here, more than 1000 jittery about Peter Obi's Presidency.
Now you want Igbos to split votes.
You are funny. Do Igbos look like fools to you?
Do you think Obi stands in a chance in next month's elections? The 2023 presidential election is done and dusted... We know the winners and the losers already. You guys should be smart and begin to pave the way to the future.
Prof Charles Soludo kicked off the presidential campaigns of the APGA in Akwa, Anambra state capital a few days ago. It was a presidential kick-off like no other one in igboland. Seen the turnout and the happiness that filled the air around the venue, I hailed the governor for, once again, making the effort to bring the Ndigbo together and make them a force to reckon with in our national politics.
I only hope the Ndigbo will take advantage of this opportunity to reassert their relevance in Nigerian politics by coming together and delivering a block vote for the APGA candidate. This is the only thing that will make other regions take the igbos seriously in any political calculation. We have done it in southwest and it seems to be paying off. The Buhari's CPC movement of northern Nigeria went into an alliance with the ACN to form the APC because the ACN was largely supported by the people of southwest. It was that alliance that produced Buhari as the president of this country. This same alliance is about to produce Tinubu as the next president of Nigeria. Ndigbo should learn from this and rally around their party (APGA) if they want to have a site at the table. Yes, it may not give Ndigbo presidency in 2023 but will surely lay the foundation on which a future Igbo presidency can be built.
It is sad to note that up till now that Nigeria is drowning and many Nigerians are escaping to other countries, some Nigerians still do not wish for a peaceful and fair election to be conducted in Nigeria.
We all acknowledge that the problem of this country is bad leadership and the only way to save Nigeria now is for a competent leader to be elected to lead Nigeria and the only way to achieve this is through peaceful election.
A Thug was seen in Lagos recently trying to block non-Yorubas from getting their PVC which shows that many people are still blinded by tribal politics, a vice that greedy politicians depend on to perpetuate themselves in office, and that is why everyone is groaning.
People need to be guided concerning the coming elections if Nigeria will ever survive.
These noisy igbos are just complicating issues for themselves. If we Yorubas don't want you to vote, it is on election day we will ambush you. But why do we need to do that? How many are they, igbos put together across nigeria?
Charming1: Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who has been in detention with the Federal Government of Nigeria
Governor Soludo who made the demand during the APGA Campaign kick-off in Awka, specifically appealed to the Federal Government to release Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally.
Governor Soludo went further to assert that if the detained IPOB leader cannot be released unconditionally, he should be released to him saying he is ready to stand surety for him.
"I am making a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally. If he cannot be released unconditionally, i want him released to me and i will stand surety for him"
He went further, "We need Nnamdi Kanu in the roundtable conversation to discuss the insecurity in the South East. We must end insecurity in the South East and we need Nnamdi Kanu to be around."
Governor Soludo promised to cater for Nnamdi Kanu and also offered to bring him to the authorities any time he is required
Who cares if he can't recite any Surah of the Quran? We're not voting for a sheik or an imam to rule Nigeria.
And by the way, many of us are not supporting Tinubu because of his religion. For many muslims, his public association with muslims and islamic activities( like going to mosque, etc) is enough.
EMMYLODE: No matter how bad they make ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU look, we will stand with him Obi is a hypocrites
Obi is not only a hypocrite, he is also grossly incompetent to govern a country in dire need of transformative ideas. A man who struggled to increase the IGR of his state by 1B naira in 8 years and only waiting for crumbs (called subvention) from Abuja to run his state.
Electioneering for various elective positions in the country, especially the presidency, commenced a few months ago. Some contestants started early while some took their time to plan before hitting the road. So far, presidential aspirants have been visiting different states to kick off campaigns. For some, it has been funfair everywhere they go while others have been struggling to implement their campaign plan/timetable. We have seen some contestants talking to an empty campaign ground in many states.
Is the success of campaign rallies a determinant of success in elections? If yes, how do you expect the following presidential contestants to perform in the election?
Kewtt: Tinubu Supported Me 22 Years Ago’, Kanu Nwankwo Replies Critics Ex-International, Kanu Nwankwo, has narrated how Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, reached out to him over two decades ago. The striker said…in a video posted on his Facebook page, Kanu defended his association with Tinubu, recalling how the politician showed generosity to him 22 years ago.
“A lot of people have been talking; all the same, we all are entitled to our opinions. Of course, we have to talk. I’m not a politician; I’m a footballer and a proud one at that. I’m a legend who knows what is good and what is not.”
“22 years ago when Kanu Heart Foundation was looking for people to support and help us touch lives, we got only three governors and Ahmed Tinubu was among them.
PrinceOfLagos: Peter Obi shouldn't be going into massive crowd like this for his safety
It's risky especially now that he's seen as a big threat to The opposition parties.
Obi has spent more than 70% of the campaign time in SE and SS. This man is not a serious contender... How can you be contesting for president and you're limiting your campaign to places that ordinarily should be counted as won? Is Obi not sure of winning SE as we have been insinuating? Is Obi afraid of going to the north for campaigns? This campaign is not going on well for Obi...
lhordspy: Things are starting to Align. The yorubas, ijaws, igala, ebira, eggon, kanuris, idoma, tivs, gbagyi, fulani/hausa and a whole lot of others ......are all behind Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It is left for the igbos to join the winning team. Quit being a lone-ranger. It is time to align with other Nigerians to move the country forward, and for a greater South-East.
Join the winning team now so you dont cry and wail about marginalisation and segregation for the next 8years just like the past years of Buhari's administration.
Na person wey support us, go follow us enjoy the new Nigeria to come. Salam/Shalom