₦airaland Forum

The presidential ambition of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, received a boost in Calabar, Cross River State, yesterday.

An APC stalwart in the state, Elder David Okon, donated his five-storey building to serve as a secretariat for Tinubu support groups, to achieve the presidential ambition of the former Lagos State governor.

A meeting of support groups in the state for the advancement of the presidential ambition of Asiwaju Tinubu ended on a high note, with the offer of the campaign secretariat by Okon, a former deputy governorship candidate on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Cross River.

Speaking during the meeting at 65, Mayne Avenue, Calabar, Okon, who presided, said he had accepted a proposal from the groups that his building should serve as a secretariat to coordinate the activities of the groups across the 18 local governments.

He said Asiwaju Tinubu was the answer to the clamour of Nigerians, who wanted him to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari, to consolidate the strength of the party and achieve more progress for the country in critical sectors.

toobusy:
Was Twitter really ban in Nigeria?

Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State on Wednesday met All Progressives Congress leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over the forthcoming APC governorship primary in Ekiti State and the 2023 Presidential poll.

Fayemi’s visit to Tinubu came barely two days after Tinubu revealed his intention to contest the Presidency.

Top sources told The PUNCH that Fayemi, who is also the Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum, had discussions with Tinubu over the latter’s Presidential ambition and the need to ensure that the South-West gets the APC Presidential ticket.

To this end, it was learnt that the South-West APC may be endorsing one candidate in order to present a united front.

A politician who spoke to The PUNCH because he wasn’t authorised to speak with the press, said Fayemi and Tinubu’s relationship had become frosty in recent time due to Fayemi’s role in the sacking of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee and his hobnobbing with the APC Caretaker Committee led by Governor Mai Mala Buni.

He recalled that Fayemi, who is also believed to be nursing a Presidential ambition, had been accused of victimising Tinubu’s supporters under the aegis of the South West Agenda 2023 led by Senator Dayo Adeyeye and preventing them from holding processions in the state. Pro-Tinubu groups had also conducted a parallel congress in Ekiti State.

Also, Fayemi in the forthcoming APC primary in Ekiti State, Fayemi is believed to be supporting the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Biodun Oyebanji, while Tinubu is supporting Senator Opeyemi Bamidele

The politician said, “A lot is at stake in this APC governorship primary in Ekiti State. The Peoples Democratic Party is also very strong and the opposition will capitalise on any division in the APC. So, Fayemi came to see Tinubu in order to seek his support.”

“Discussions on 2023 also took place with a view to presenting one South-West consensus. If the South-West is divided, the region could be denied the APC Presidential ticket. So, such consultations will continue.”

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo described the declaration of Tinubu to contest the Presidency in 2023 as against the rules of natural justice as unfortunate.

It regretted that the former Lagos State Governor had chosen to add to the crisis of Nigeria instead of joining hands with patriots to save the corporate existence of the country.

The spokesman for the Igbo apex body, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, who spoke to one of our correspondents while reacting to the Tinubu’s formal declaration, said, “It is an assertion rooted in history and experience that any project that is not supported by justice and equity will not succeed.

Ogbonnia said Tinubu knew that he was doing the wrong thing, embarking on a project that was not rooted in equity, justice and fair play.

He said “It is a project that is dead on arrival. Because God is a universal entity that he is always interested in truth, fairness and equity. So for anybody embarking on anything that is not rooted in equity and justice will not succeed and this is a countervailing force that has sustained this world from the beginning.

“So Tinubu knows that he is embarking on a cause that has no foundation in anything: foundation in equity and justice, and of course is a project that will not succeed.”

Ohanaeze spokesman, however, said it was very unfortunate that Tinubu had decided to add to the crisis in Nigeria, adding “because there is this collective conscience that has been guiding this country. The collective conscience is to culturally determine what is right and what is wrong and to pursue the one that is right and ignore the one that is wrong

But all the same, those who have really gone against the convention has often lost, you know at a point General Sani Abacha wanted to continue but he lost; Goodluck Jonathan ran against the current he lost any other person that tries to go against the convention and the current will always lose it. Mr Tinubu is working across purposes with the foundations of this country – foundation rooted in equity and justice.

“He knows that this is the turn of the Igbo and instead of supporting for the Igbo to emerge for peace to reign, for the corporate existence of Nigeria to remain intact, he decided adding to the problem and crisis. So for one to succeed as a matter of facts, patriots should consider the collective interest – the group interest more than self-interest. But in this case now Tinubu is more interested in self-interest. He considered self-interest above group interest or corporate existence of Nigeria. And that is selfishness at its height and any country that has such people is always in problem.

“Ohanaeze’s position is that Tinubu knows that he is doing the wrong thing. He is embarking on a project that is not rooted in equity, justice and fair play, and is against the common current of the conscience of the people and to that extent he will surely lose

ba7man:
Their target was Lagos state and Tinubu.

Since they failed, they've lost interest.

Wchris:
Make Dem still give Igbos na

Ezewuzie01:
It is a big shame on Enugu the capital of eastern region for a long time and designated capital of Biafra that it doesn't have ordinary water that many towns and villages in other states take for granted. A friend told me that people in Enugu hardly take their baths, they just spray perfume to cover up.

Chukwuma Oji, a resident of Ogui New Layout and teacher in one of the schools in the Enugu metropolis now goes to big hotels and banks every day to answer nature’s call because of unavailability of water in his neighbourhood to clean toilets in his apartment.

Oji now takes his bath once in three days because he could no longer afford N400 everyday to buy two bags of sachet water at N200 per bag for his daily bathing.

Indeed, water scarcity has been a major social problem in Enugu State, especially the Enugu metropolis, over the years.

According to Orji, for the past two months or thereabouts, the state water corporation has not supplied water to the area, adding that wells which he and other residents of the area rely on for alternative water supply have dried up because of the dry season the state is witnessing currently

In two weeks, we have had no water and since then I have been hoping that the tap will rush. Before, if there was no tap water, I used to buy water from a well for N15 to bathe and flush the toilet but wells have dried up and wells that have water, before it gets to your turn, you will spend about two to three hours to fetch a gallon or two. Now since last week, that well has not been opened for the public. It is now restricted to the owners because the water in the well has gone down drastically.”

Narrating how excruciating to source water for his domestic use, he said, “Now, other people that have well have increased the price of a gallon to N50 and the queue there equally is troubling, and before you know it after about 50 gallons have been fetched, it will finish and you won’t get water from it until the following day and if you didn’t get there before 5:30 am, you wouldn’t get water. Now I didn’t have a big tank that I could buy water from.

The Director, Voter Education and Publicity of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Victor Aluko, says some collation officers of the commission are not good at Mathematics.

Aluko stated this while reacting to the conflict between two officials of the Commission in the Orumba North Local Government Area during the Anambra State Governorship Election last weekend.

The PUNCH had earlier reported that the Returning Officer of the LGA, Michael Otu, said he nearly lost his life when thugs attacked the Local Government Collation Centre during the election on Saturday.

“I am lucky to be alive. I was teargassed and as a BP patient, I nearly lost my life. I was forced to sign a result which wasn’t collated by me. The Polling Officer, Comfort Omoroge, who worked with me, compromised,” Otu had said.

In her reaction, Omoroge had stated that Otu was confused and didn’t know the difference between casting of vote and collation of results.

“This man (Onu) has not been involved in an election and it is obvious from the way he behaved on the election day. His actions put us at risk,” she had added.

Speaking on Monday, INEC Director, Victor Aluko, said both officials would be interrogated by the Commission to unravel what actually happened.

Aluko, who spoke on ‘NTA Good Morning Nigeria’ breakfast programme monitored by The PUNCH, also said though many of the ad hoc officers recruited for the election were trained, some of them find Mathematics challenging.

He said, “We were not there in Orumba North when the rural rumble was taking place between the Collation Officer and the INEC Electoral Officer but what we could see when the Returning Officer was collating was that she did the right thing by setting up an emergency team to review what was submitted by the officer.

“For now, we would not really know what happened until we interrogate the collation officer who was making the allegations and until we interrogate the Electoral Officer who was alluding to the fact that the Collation Officer was inexperienced.

“We recruited many Collation Officers and of course, we recruited intellectuals from the academic for local government ward collation position but sometimes when people have to perform such important duties, some people may not be so good in Mathematics or Arithmetic.”

Kissiemu:
Wait!

Governor APGA

Deputy governor APC

How come?

Welcum:
Meaning that I'm an enemy of peace, how? If I'm wrong, prove it and stop beating up sentiments.

gidgiddy:
So pictures of less than 100 prople is 'troop out' for you? In a state with millions of voters?

“We present the Word of God as delivered in the Holy Bible, alright, but we warn that in the long run, the Lord is interested in a fusion of obedience to His Word and relating amicably with fellow human beings, regardless of class, color, caste (religion) or culture. We teach that if you genuinely believe in Christ, you wouldn’t hate your neighbor. Nor would you disdain those in power because they appear not to be delivering on electoral pledges such that you would go on the rampage, destroying government property or pilfering the public till. We teach a linear life of Christian walk: you can’t be a saint on Sunday and a monster on Monday.”