₦airaland Forum

Lol, this is an IPOB campaign �

IPOB apologists have changed to Peter Obi 4 president movement. The ethnic politics their forefathers played that made them second class citizens in Nigeria the children are also doing. After the election, the noise of rigging and Biafra will take over.

Gradually all the insignias used by IPOB is now being replaced with Peter Obi's LP. A day after the election everything him will evaporate like #EndSars campaign #LiesOfObi

I was at one Igbo’s shop yesterday and I saw the man pasted Peter Obi posters everywhere, I asked him… why? He said if you don’t support him as an Igbo man, his friends will call IPOB at home to behead his family - I told him waoooh! So, your campaigned had gone to this length.

The IPOB organization that called the hausa "Malu" and refered to the yorubas as "slave" called Nigeria a zoo cannot give us a president, Peter obi is the IPOB candidate

Your lack of strategy, consistence and focus ruin the endsars protest, the same tactic you have so far exhibited in the so called Obi-dient movement, identifying & championing the Peter obi ambition and the IPOB endorsement has dent a heavy blow on your course.

Have you ever heard or seen where Peter Obi has publicly condemned the atrocious ways of IPOB?

Did Peter Obi ever visit the family of any of those 100 Igbo youths kiiilled during his regime? The answer is No till date

Has he commiserated with the families of IPOB's victims?No

Fine...an Igbo man can do it but definitely not Peter Obi. He is another IPOB agenda. Someone who told El rufai that he had no business coming to Anambra.

My findings is that all the handles that bears Nnamdi Kanu and carry his pictures are now bearing Peter Obi and display pictures.

I hope if Obi didn't win next year, they won't go back screaming Nigeria is a zoo.

IPOB terrorists pretending to be "OBIDIENTS"!
They want to "take back" Nigeria for Biafrans - imaginary citizens of a long dead Biafra!
PRESIDENT PETER "LIAR" OBI WILL MAKE BIAFRA'S RESURRECTION A FORGONE CONCLUSION,WON'T IT?
These criminals think we don't understand their plan!

How many of us realised that "I'm Obedient" was first adopted by IPOB... before it got transformed to "I'm #Obidient" just for Peter Obi.

The movement looks fishy. Tinubu is the headache.

Tinubu is forcing transport workers to buy his sticker to raise campaign funds.

You refuse and you get dealt with. This is the guy educated people are queuing behind?

I feel like anyone who has experienced military rule in Nigeria should undergo therapy.

Most no longer understand what “Freedom from oppression” means anymore.

Bullying is not a norm.

Nigeria needs a secular leader and government that believes in free market policies and supports a private sector led economy. That is why I support Atiku. No one epitomises my democratic and economic principles amongst the current candidates better than him!

#WhyISupportAtiku

Kelvin Ebiri, the Media Aide to the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has debunked insinuations that his principal was planning to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as stated in a manipulated viral video.

A video, in which Wike was threatening to leave the PDP, had gone viral online earlier in the day.

Reacting to the development, Ebiri in a statement issued on Wednesday June 15, 2022, said the video was circulated with the intention to create confusion in the minds of the members of the public.

He noted that the clip was a cut from an old interview the governor granted to a popular television station while reacting to the defection of Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, to the APC from the PDP.

Ebiri said the “manipulated video”, which was now being circulated as if it was new, was the handiwork of unscrupulous persons and should be disregarded, The Punch reported.

The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to a manipulated video circulating on Social Media, purporting that the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, intends to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“It will be recalled that in June 2021, Governor Wike was interviewed on Arise Television, following the defection of the Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress.

“During the interview, Governor Wike, while reacting to the reason given by the Ebonyi State governor for his defection, dismissed it as untenable.

“The excerpt of the interview in circulation has been deliberately manipulated by some desperate and unscrupulous persons with obnoxious agenda.

“The intent of the video being circulated is intended to mislead the unsuspecting public, particularly members of the PDP.

“We, hereby urge the public to disregard the manipulated video.

“Governor Wike has repeatedly maintained that he will never, under any circumstances, defect from the PDP, which has offered him the platform to excel in his political career.

“We urge the public to ignore the distorted video. Those behind it are desperately wicked and intend to mislead the public. Governor Wike remains a faithful, committed member of the PDP and will never leave it for the cancerous APC.”

Wike has been touted as the preferred choice for running mate to PDP presidential aspirant, Abubakar Atiku.

Reports say the governor will face a screening panel on Thursday, June 16, 2022, before he's officially confirmed.

Where did you read or hear me make such
false statement?

This fake news has been roundly debunked by my team. We can always carry on with campaigning for our preferred candidates without consciously misleading the reading public. This report is false and
never emanated from me. Thank you.

A write-up that analysed the motives of three presidential candidates in the 2023 elections has been broadly shared on social media.

The post, which is said to have been authored by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former governor of the central bank of Nigeria (CBN), asserted that none of the candidates are in the race for the money.

“One peculiar thing about the top three guys battling it out for the 001 seat is that [none] of them is there for the money,” the first paragraph of the statement reads.

The publication claimed that Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has milked the country “well enough” and only wants to answer the title “president” at all cost and through all means.

It also claimed that Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), only wants to fulfill his lifetime political ambition of being president. “At the end of the day, he would teach us what being fantastically corrupt actually means,” part of the post reads.

On Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour party, the post claimed that the former governor of Anambra is a contended man, who has volunteered to save Nigeria from impending catastrophe by becoming the president in 2023.

The post, which seems to have started making the rounds since June, 19, has been reposted and shared by multiple users on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.

On June 19, the post was shared on a Facebook page named CeleSylv Updates, with 70,000 followers. The post has accrued over 3, 000 shares, 1, 800 likes, and over 1, 400 comments.

A Twitter user, Fame Kid, put the post up at 2:29pm on the same day, where it has generated over 2, 000 likes and 1, 301 retweets.

Max Vayshia, another user, who posted the claim, generated over 1, 300 likes, 873 retweets and 57 comments.

Many social media users seemed to believe the veracity of the story, as evident in the comments, where the author was appreciated for the analysis.

VERIFICATION

An online search by TheCable revealed that no credible media platform has published the statement credited to the former governor of CBN.

When TheCable reached out to Sanusi, he disowned the viral statement. “The statement is not from me. It is fake,” Sanusi told TheCable.

VERDICT

The post which analysed the motive of Atiku, Tinubu and Obi for wanting to become president is fake. It was not written by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Racoon:
Hehehe! Even Seun! Bullion vans man ambition going up in smoke.

slivertongue:
Even Seun is denying his uncle

CyynthiaKiss:
Seun Is a core IPOB member

CharleyBright:
Ok oooo.
Even Seun Osewa has join the anti Tinubu drumbeat and dance. I no fit laugh�

Las Las the cocaine sniffing Bullion Van criminal will finish his Presidential ambition dream in Jail.

Felabrity:
Seun is really smart

Especially that reply

StrongAlphMale:
Watch and see how they'll tagged Seun as an igbo man

Even seun sef knows that Tinubu can never be president of Nigeria!!!!

Faber:
Watch as they come for Seun
During #EndSars , this man abandoned the youths and fled to France.


Now he wants the youths to come out and fight for him . He should slug it out with his fellow old men, most especially the Bigot he helped to enthrone.

If you sow wind you reap whirlwind
If you sow fire you reap wild fire
If you sow evil you reap perdiction.
If you sow peace you reap paradise

My very 1st statement in that interview, was that I was standing in as the VP candidate and elsewhere I explained that it is an open process till d substitution closes. RENO,this is cheap and mischievious. Labour Party eventually will field a Muslim from the north. End o story.f

https://twitter.com/doyinokupe/status/1538619903585964032?s=19[/quote]Reno Omokri

[quote]Dr. Okupe,

Thank you for your comment. The video was sourced from Channels. We didn’t edit it. In my life, I have only been in one political party. How many parties have you been in and out off? If anyone is cheap, Okupe it is you, not me!

I served in government with you. NOBODY ever accused me of stealing a penny. You were charged with 59 counts of money laundering by EFCC. If anyone is cheap, Okupe, look in the mirror!

By the way, if you have issues with the interview, then face Channels, not me.

#TableShaker

https://twitter.com/renoomokri/status/1538626662149111810?s=19[/quote]

The chairman of the Forum of All Progressives Congress (APC) Organising Secretaries, Dr Blessing Agbomhere, has advised Nigerians to desist from mounting pressure on the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the choice of his running mate.

He said the APC standard bearer should be given the freedom to choose whoever he prefers as a running mate.

Agbomhere, who is also the Zonal APC Secretary for South-south, said a situation where leaders of some political groups and religious organisations are mounting pressure to influence the choice of one of their own does not augur well for the nation’s democracy.

The APC chieftain in a statement in Abuja on Saturday argued it is well within the constitutional rights of Tinubu to pick his running mate irrespective of the religious affiliation of the person he chooses.

He pointed out what Nigerians should be interested in is the candidate and political party that will bring desired development to the country and not whether Tinubu would run for the presidency on a Muslim-Muslim, Christian-Christian or any other combination of religious faiths.

Agbomhere said: “The emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Presidential Candidate of our great party, the All Progressives Congress has received wide acclaim, support and acceptance.

“All we need to do is to focus on winning the 2023 presidential election as a party and our victory will depend on our ability to carry Nigerians along. We cannot afford to lose focus by being distracted by who Tinubu may decide to choose as his running mate.

“The solution to the challenges confronting Nigeria does not rest on whether the running mate to Tinubu is Christain or Muslim.

“Nigerians are not interested in who becomes running mate to any of the presidential candidates. What they need is good governance that would guarantee security, stable polity and social-economic progress.

“Nobody can carry a pass to the market based on Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian tickets for Asiwaju or any other Presidential candidate and get food items free.

“They only need a ticket that would guarantee the availability of products and economic empowerment to meet their needs.

“We are ready to support and vote for Tinubu irrespective of who he chooses as his running mate and we will work to ensure that Nigerians do the same.”

Exclusive: Labour party are now set to submit second bid to NNPP for Kwankwaso as Super Agent Obi lands Nigeria.

Kwankwaso is LP top target as VP, Peter Obi really wants him. Work in progress.

Here-we-go soon.
#ObiKwaso

Nigeria's Labour Party has named Doyin Okupe as the Vice Presidential candidate to the party's flag bearer Peter Obi, but in a placeholder capacity to beat the Friday deadline set by INEC

Only five states are paying pensions under the Contributory Pension Scheme as more workers retired by the end of the first quarter of 2022, findings have revealed.

This development has generated concerns for the National Pension Commission because many of the states that have joined the CPS have not started making preparations or set funds apart for pension payments.

PenCom listed the states that were funding the accrued rights of the retirees and paying pensions under the CPS to be Lagos, FCT, Osun, Kaduna and Delta.

Data obtained from PenCom on ‘Status of implementation of the CPS by states’ showed that 25 states had enacted laws on the CPS and that out of them, 15 had pension bureaux and boards in line with the CPS.

The data revealed that the 25 states are Lagos, FCT, Osun, Kaduna, Delta, Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, Benue, Kebbi, Niger, Rivers, Ogun, Bayelsa, Kogi, Anambra, Abia, Taraba, Imo, Sokoto, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Enugu and Oyo.

According to the data, Kwara, Plateau, Cross Rivers, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Katsina and Yobe states were at the bill stage of joining the CPS.

PenCom data showed that states with other pension schemes were Jigawa, Kano, Gombe and Zanfara.

The pension regulator stated that “The commission engaged the government of Rivers State, expressing concern over the state’s inability to take steps to fully implement the CPS in the state, in view of the impending commencement of retirement of employees of the state under the CPS as from 1 June 2022.

“The commission also engaged the government of Ogun State on the persistent non-remittance of pension contributions into the state employees’ RSAs by the state, in view of the fact that employees of the state would start retiring under the CPS as from 1 July 2025.”

It added that it carried out sensitisation workshops, capacity-building programmes, and stakeholder engagement meetings during the quarter under review, including, but not limited to meeting with representatives of the Ekiti State Pension Commission, which discussed the challenges being faced in the implementation of the CPS in the state.

PenCom said it made presentations at the pension management retreat organised by the FCT Area Councils Staff Pension Board in Akwanga, Nasarawa State, and that the presentations were on the CPS implementation challenges with emphasis on uncredited contributions.

The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Achor Actuarial Services Limited, Dr Pius Apere, explained that the Nigerian pension industry has been operating two pension regimes concurrently since 2004, which are the Pay-As-You-Go defined benefit scheme (the old unfunded pension regime); and the CPS under the Pension Reform Act 2014 as amended.

“Nigerian pensioners have two basic expectations under the CPS, namely to have sustainable standard of living in retirement and receive their retirement benefits as and when due,” he said

Apere noted that the delayed or inability of the Federal Government and state governments to remit the accrued pension rights to the individual retirees Retirement Savings Accounts on a timely basis had increased the plight of pensioners because the regulator insisted that the retirement benefits would not be paid from RSA without the accrued pension rights being added to it.

The Christian Association of Nigeria says it will mobilize against any political party and its presidential candidate that attempt to foist a Christian-Christian or Muslim-Muslim ticket the country in the general 2023 elections.

CAN gave the warning in an open letter to all presidential candidates of political parties, and signed by its General Secretary, Joseph Bade Daramola.

It urged all the presidential candidates to pick running mates of alternate religions.

“We recognise the right of political parties to decide on who becomes their candidates for general elections. The constitution and the electoral law have granted the members of the parties the exclusive right to choose the candidates that citizens will vote into political offices in 2023.

“This right calls for a deep sense of responsibility and accountability. As the umbrella body of Christians in Nigeria, we call on all the presidential candidates to choose men or women of alternative religion as their running mates.

“For avoidance of doubt, the CAN will not accept any presidential ticket that is Christian-Christian or Muslim- Muslim. This simply means that where the presidential candidate of the party is a Christian, the deputy should be a Muslim; and where the presidential candidate is a Muslim, the deputy should be a Christian.

“There should not be a situation where the presidential ticket of a political party in Nigeria, whether a major or minor party, will be two Christians as presidential candidate and running mate, or two Muslims as presidential candidate and running mate.”

ADVANCING THE PATH TO UNITY & PEACE (A press release by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja

Tuesday, 14 June 2022.

We cannot help but once again strongly condemn the atrocious attack and murder of our faithful in Owo inside the Church during Holy Mass on Sunday, 5 June 2022, as not just an attack on humanity, but also a terrible slap on the sovereignty of Nigeria and an indictment on the Federal Government. May God grant eternal rest to the departed, comfort those who mourn and heal the wounded. Amen.

The process for the 2023 General election in Nigeria has been initiated, and there are some things to be happy about: the passing of the Electoral Act 2022, which allows the use of electronic devices for accreditation and in the capturing and transmission of results; the prompt release of election timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); the renewed confidence in the electoral process by the electorate, as demonstrated in the massive last minute turn out for voter registration amongst others.

It is, however, disheartening to observe that the conduct of most of our politicians seems to be going from bad to worse as we witnessed a show of shame and heightened ugly culture of money politics during the recently held primaries.

While all this is going on, we must not lose sight of the fact that the unity of this country has, over the years, been maintained by a delicate balancing of the religious and the regional.

Even in the despotic military era, most juntas ensured a balance of the religious architecture in their regimes. For instance, we had Murtala-Obasanjo, Obasanjo-Yar’adua, Babangida-Ebitu Ukiwe, Abacha Diya. This also applied to the heads of the various military formations and the different government parastatals like Customs, Immigrations, Finance, etc.

Significantly, it was only during the General Muhammadu Buhari era as military Head of State (31 Dec. 1983-27 Aug. 1985) that we had a Muslim-Muslim military dictatorship.

Similarly, only once did we have a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 1993 democratic elections, which featured Abiola-Kingibe ticket and turned out to be one of Nigeria’s freest and fairest elections. But that government never took off!

Fast forward to 2022, 30 years later, some individuals have tried to suggest the Muslim-Muslim ticket for the Presidential election in a country like Nigeria that has unfortunately been badly polarized.

Ordinarily, there would have been nothing wrong with a Muslim Muslim or Christian-Christian ticket in a democratic dispensation if there is mutual trust and respect for the human person and where the overriding desire for seeking political office is the fostering of the common good. But one cannot really say so of our country at the moment.

With the present glaring crisis and division in the nation, a Muslim-Muslim ticket would be most insensitive and a tacit endorsement of the negative voices of many non-state actors who have been threatening this nation’s unity and peaceful coexistence without an arrest.

Going by the Kaduna experience, we can perceive the havoc the Muslim-Muslim ticket has brought upon the predominantly Christian people of Southern Kaduna.

We, therefore, strongly advise those political parties toying with divisive agenda to have a rethink by presenting a more inclusive ticket, while calling on all people of goodwill to resist this budding injustice that may be hatched against a cross section of the people.

In pursuit of peace, it is imperative to remind everyone that all Nigerians, irrespective of creed or region, are equal; as such, there must be sensitivity in the spread of political positions without compromising competence.

Finally, we call on all Nigerians, individually and collectively, to do everything in their power to seek and work for unity and justice, so that we may attain that peace we all desire. There is no alternative to peace!

Very Rev. Fr. Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi

Secretary-General

Very Rev. Fr. Michael Nsikak Umoh

Director, Social Communications

Members of Iwhnurohna Monitoring Group (IMG), a sociocultural group of Iwhnurohna indigenes of the Niger Delta resident in North America and Europe, have called on the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, to pick the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, as his running mate for the presidential election.

The group said that Mr Abubakar should do so immediately and without equivocation, vacillation or contemplation.

Members of the Diaspora-based Niger Delta group made the call at the end of their world-wide zoom meeting on Monday, resolving that an Atiku-Wike ticket will be the winning ticket for the PDP.

A spokesperson for the group, Chindah Wami, said that an Atiku-Wike ticket is the only ticket that will definitely, unquestionably guarantee victory for the PDP.

Mr Wami added that, “No one should forget that without Wike there would not have been any Peoples Democratic Party to which people would have returned to,” adding: “If there is anyone who should be thanked for keeping PDP strong today, Wike is the one. His strong showing as runner-up in the recently concluded primaries will bring the party together if he is picked as the running mate.”

Members of the Iwhnurohna group recalled that prior to the primaries, Mr Wike said that he would not leave the party even if he lost in the primaries.

Mr Wami recalled that even though Mr Wike’s friend, Aminu Tabuwal, lost at the end of the primaries in 2018 in Port Harcourt, Mr Wike still supported the party’s nominee, Mr Abubakar, in the 2019 presidential elections.

“Wike said the same thing now that even if he loses the presidential nomination he would still support whoever is the party’s flagbearer,” Mr Wami said, adding that, “It is not every politician that will act like Wike and mean it.”

Members of the Diaspora Nigerian group said that citizens of the country are concerned about the sordid, unpleasant and depressing state of the Nigerian nation today, and noted that it will be reversed by a leadership that cares about the general wellbeing of the citizens without regard to ethnicity, religion or socioeconomic status.

“An Atiku-Wike ticket will not only guarantee victory for the PDP it is the only ticket will reverse the wrong direction that the country has been sailing in the last seven years,” the IMG spokesperson said.

Members of the IMG pointed out that Wike has a proven track record as an effective governor for which he was nicknamed, “Mr Project” even by some prominent members of the ruling APC party. He was also an effective Minister for Education as exemplified by the hundreds of Almajiri schools he built for the education of school-age children in Northern Nigeria.

Atiku/Wike makes sense to me.
It may be the lesser evil of 2023.

I don't like Atiku or Tinubu. I just want to figure out which of them will damage the country less.

I feel that Wike would push back hard if Atiku wanted to do anything that was detrimental to the south. The fact that MURIC dislikes Wike is very attractive to me.

Both Atiku and BAT will capture Nigeria's wealth for themselves, but Atiku's economic plan is better so maybe we will still be better off after he's done with us.

On the other hand, BAT is more likely to deal decisively with bandits & killer herdsmen as they're not his brethren.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has reportedly beaten Ifeanyi Okowa, his Delta state counterpart in the contest to emerge as the running mate to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar.

However, Wike allegedly bribed the PDP panel members and some members of the National Working Committee of the party with $5 million (N2.1 billion at the official exchange rates) to beat Okowa.

The party’s National Advisory Committee had been given the task of picking the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP by the National Chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.

The committee was chaired by the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the PDP, Amb. Umar Iliya Damagum while its inauguration took place earlier on Tuesday at NWC Hall, National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, in Abuja.

Wike had 16 votes to Okowa’s 3 votes, making the Rivers governor the winner of the contest.
But sources told SaharaReporters on Tuesday that Wike doled out $5 million and promised to pay N10,000 for each vote cast for the party in the 2023 presidential election.

“The panel was set up by the chairman and members of NWC of PDP to choose and recommend a running mate to Atiku Abubakar.

“The panel has recommended that Governor Wike should be appointed by Atiku Abubakar as his running mate. This is because of over $5 million that Governor Wike doled out to them and he promised to use Rivers State funds to buy one vote for N10,000 nationwide during 2023 general elections,”one of the sources alleged.

Another source who lamented that the PDP is desperate ahead of the next general elections, said, “The question on the lips of every Nigerian is why are PDP and Governor Wike very desperate to buy Nigeria off and return Nigeria to darker and worse ages and time?

“Atiku Abubakar will name Governor Wike ad his running mate any moment from now. lt appears that Atiku Abubakar, PDP NWC and the panel members that nominated and recommended Governor Wike to be Atiku's running mate are in a conspiracy together.
“Nigerians will surely reject the desperadoes in the 2023 Presidential election.”

Some southeasterners had hoped that the region would produce the running mate to Atiku after it lost out on producing the presidential candidate of the PDP or the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has warned the presidential flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, against picking the governor of Rivers State, Nyesome Wike, as his running mate.

According to MURIC, the Rivers State Governor is allegedly one of the bigoted Christian governors who had been blacklisted by Nigerian Muslims.

The Islamic organisation shared this view in a statement signed and circulated by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

The group said it had come to its knowledge that Wike is among those being considered by the PDP and Atiku as a possible vice presidential candidate and deemed it necessary to warn the party and its flagbearer against such a move.

“Wike is an open enemy of Islam, a Muslim-hater primus inter pareil and an unrepentant mosque destroyer,” the statement alleged.

“The extremist remarks of Wike are still on record. He declared Rivers State a Christian State contrary to the constitution,” the group’s statement reads in part.

The Islamic rights group expressed the fears that the Rivers State Governor may create a worse situation and an unconducive environment for Muslims in Nigeria if he becomes a vice president of the country.

According to the MURIC, “Wike should not be allowed to hold any post at the federal level.”

The group claimed that “Wike hates the sight of mosques” and is ready to use his office as the number two citizen of the country to destroy all mosques in Nigeria.

MURIC said that the Governor “is intolerant, unpredictable and violence-inclined” and does not have the trust of Muslims in Nigeria.

The rights group believes that Wike, who came second in the PDP’s presidential primary election, “will definitely be a bad market for Atiku.”

MURIC said that Wike does not have electoral value at the national level and for that reason should be overlooked by the main opposition party.

“We, therefore, advise Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to avoid Wike by all means,” MURIC said.

Maybe Tinubu's presidency won't be so bad.
He will end banditry with cassava-fed youths.

That is where his core talents lie. He should have stuck to his specialty! Apologies to Senator Kashim Shettima, the ‘nice’ man!

Betrayer, Judas, Traitor, Untrustworthy fellow who bit the structure that built him!

#APCPrimaries

Tinubu proved today that an unhealthy man with strategic ability to plan, will be more successful than 13 healthy men without strategic planning ability. He also proved that even if you cant stand, those who can will stand down for you if you can drabs your ground!

#APCPrimaries

Even the counter is laughing. The signature Tinubu, Tinubu, Tinubu, is becoming too much!

#APCPrimaries

The way the counter is just calling Bola Tinubu, Bola Tinubu, Bola Tinubu, are we sure that Osinbajo will not collapse from high blood pressure like this? This is too much! It is like the Obasanjo, Obasanjo, Obasanjo 2003 PDP Presidential primary all over again!

#APCPrimaries

President Muhammadu Buhari last night renewed his push for a consensus presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He expressed confidence that the ruling party would retain the presidential seat next year.

Speaking during a meeting of the APC’s National Advisory Council (NAC) at the Villa, he said: ”My charge and appeal to all of you, therefore, is to reach out to your various spheres of influence to actively promote the spirit of consultation and consensus building so that a formidable candidate for the 2023 Presidential elections would emerge from the convention. Our citizens do not expect less from us.”

The President first hinted of the consensus idea during a meeting with APC governors.

He said in the circumstances, in order to prevent any post-convention acrimonies and also reduce noticeable anxiety among members on the possible outcome of the process, the party leadership has recommended the intensification of consultation and consensus building to reduce the number of aspirants at the convention.

At the meeting were former Internal Affairs Minister Maj.-Gen. Mohammed Magoro, pioneer Chairman/former Osun State governor Chief Bisi Akande and former Senate President Ken Nnamani.

Admitting that the party leaders have diverse interests, spheres of influence and expectations, he said: “You similarly possess the collective ability to ensure our victory at the 2023 polls by strengthening the stability and unity of the party.

He promised to lead the transition processes and on-going consultations, “till we successfully choose our candidate for the 2023 presidential elections and record our third straight victory, thereafter, by God’s grace. We are on the way towards winning our third straight victory since 2015.”

The party’s convention which starts today, will climax tomorrow with the emergence of the presidential candidate.

TWO major events dominated the country last week: President Muhammadu Buhari’s request to All Progressives Congress (APC) governors to agree with him in picking his successor in nearly the same manner he allowed them ‘promote’ their successors at the state level, and ex-Lagos State governor and APC national leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Abeokuta impassioned speech against the unending plots to frustrate his presidential ambition.

The consequences of both events will reverberate through the party’s special convention to elect the party’s presidential standard-bearer, and possibly ripple through next year’s general election. Even though adversarial media, not to say the feral social media, made the Tinubu speech the main event of last week, it actually pales in comparison with the request by the president, subject to the convergence and reciprocal support of the so-called progressive governors, to agree with him in picking his successor. In short, he wants consensus; but consensus driven by whom, and openly or conspiratorially covertly? Asiwaju Tinubu’s angry denunciation of his traducers within and outside the party has no bearing on the 1999 Constitution and the APC Constitution. But President Buhari’s peculiar approach to picking his successor, if carried through, could cause a tectonic shift in both constitutions akin to the counterproductive imposition orchestrated by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007.

It is unclear where the progressive governors got the impression that the president’s plaintive plea for reciprocity in picking his successor involved their active participation, but no sooner he met them than they began scheduling meetings to determine who that pick would be. It was presumptuous and irresponsible on their part and showed their poor understanding of the APC constitution and their lack of character. But presidential spokesman Femi Adesina’s clarification that the president did not invite them into the process but in fact asked them only to connive at it should help restrain their fertile imagination. The president was clear that when the governors acted like potentates in scheming their second term or promoting their successors, he was nothing but an onlooker. In effect, he simply wants them to play the same role of onlookers, perhaps giving an advice or two, but really nothing more. It was of course wrong for the president to have connived at the governors’ shenanigans in the states, for it was obvious that his reluctance to interfere was not based on ethical or constitutional considerations but on an intriguing interpretation of the doctrine of separation of powers. However, having let the governors played ducks at the states, he wants to be allowed to also play drakes at the national party level. Most of the governors, from every indication, appear ready to let him do whatever he wants. Even if they know what is right, and this goes beyond the constitution and the laws of the land, they lack the courage and the character to restrain him. He is after all the president.

In his speech to the governors last Tuesday during the consultative meeting, the president said a few things that showed the uncertainty of his thoughts or the imprecision of his speechwriters, or both. In paragraph four, he spoke of great parties being internally cohesive and led by strong leaders. This is incredible. Could these globally acclaimed parties flout their constitutions and turn them into a den of unjust and cruel manipulators and still remain great? Internal cohesion can only be built on justice, fairness and equity. The APC since 2015 has exemplified conspiracy, dissension and ruthless and restless scheming. And as for strong leadership, it must of course be presumed that the leaders in question possess the depth, intuition and character needed to firmly guide their parties. Is President Buhari convinced that the APC is similarly led? The president not only spoke entrancingly of strong leadership, in paragraph five, he also eulogises ‘stronger leadership’ which he swore ready to provide. Strong or stronger leadership must be based on the right values, his speechwriters should have warned him.

In paragraph seven, the president spoke of ‘according the governors the privilege of promoting successors capable of driving their visions as well as the ideals of the party’. Mark the word ‘promoting’. He was at least honest enough to admit that the governors in question promoted successors, not pick, as he went on to advocate in paragraph 10 when he solicited the “reciprocity and support of the governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor…” The governors promoted, he wants to pick. Or perhaps the president used pick and election interchangeably. In any case, paragraph 10 cannot be read separate from paragraph seven in order to understand the president’s intention.

Whoever advised the president to urge the picking of his successor almost as a counterpoise to the governors’ promotion of their successors has done him and the APC injury that may not be easily remedied. Picking a successor in the way he meant it in his speech is unconstitutional and unlawful. He said, however, that he was still consulting, when he appeared to have in fact made up his mind. He made it up months ago when he told reporters he would keep his choice secret lest his preference be destroyed before the D-Day. The fateful day has come, and a week before the convention, he has tried to soften the ground by ‘soliciting’ the cooperation of governors and stakeholders. He was right to keep his preference like a card played close to his chest, in case it turned out that the governors and stakeholders preferred someone else, especially in light of the choice the aggressive, better organised and surprisingly more democratic PDP made during their special convention. The PDP has put their best foot forward, despite it being somewhat gangrenous; the APC will imperil itself should it put a weak, faltering and leprous foot forward.

While the president is contending with his own unforced errors, Asiwaju Tinubu exploded a depth bomb under the APC dreadnought in Abeokuta when he railed against the serial plots of the party to sideline him. His enemies and opponents have gratefully seized the opportunity of his quaint and provocative use of words to chafe at his assumptions and conclusions: he is playing God; he is full of bombast; he is at bottom a dictator; he is a narcissist; he is tribal; he is rude to President Buhari, etc. Asiwaju Tinubu has come to the conclusion that those plotting against him, including a significant number of south-westerners who lack strategic and holistic understanding of Nigerian politics, will always damn him whether he blows his top or not. He also understands that since 2015, many in the administration and the ruling party have made it their cardinal duty to diminish him and if possible politically neutralise him completely. They see him as a man who can call his soul his own, when their ideal of a president is someone who genuflects. His friend and campaign director-general, ex-governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, is mystified by the poor thinking sweeping through the Southwest and the mindless conspiracy wafting through the ruling party and the administration. Mr Shettima knows that Asiwaju Tinubu is the APC’s most credible chance to PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar; but the party seems blissfully desensitised to that fact, while vociferous and scurrilous south-westerners don’t seem to care that their vicious campaign against the former Lagos governor is indirectly enabling a monster or a weakling to take office in 2023.

This column had wondered how Asiwaju Tinubu, after his immense sacrifice for the political advancement of the president and the APC, could stomach all the abuse and plots in the party and among the so-called cabals against him and his ambition. For seven years he had endured the trauma, including when he was not even running for office in 2019. It is, therefore, finally reassuring that he is human after all. He has tried to walk back some of the things he said in Abeokuta, including suggesting that his nuanced statements were misinterpreted or twisted. Yes, that may be true, but his opponents have made up their minds about what he said. Notwithstanding, all he had to say probably indicate how frustrated he had become after virtually giving his life to serve the party, not to say his mentees most of whom have proved absolutely undeserving, that he is still being relentlessly vilified. Asiwaju Tinubu owes the country an explanation of how he feels being shabbily treated. He should ignore the pestilential chatter on social media and the bought traditional media. There is hardly anyone but he who could have tolerated for so long the kind of abuse he was subjected to by his party and friends, including being made to be screened by a former party chairman with whom he had fallen out, and not ask for more than a pound of flesh.

The APC presidential primary begins tomorrow, and someone must emerge as candidate. The president and the governors will hopefully allow an unencumbered democratic process to prevail. But whatever they do – whether they opt for the twisted consensus some attribute to them or embrace something noble – will determine their party’s survival or implosion. They will be mistaken to think they can use state power to foist a weak candidate on the country in the face of a hungry and determined PDP. As for Asiwaju Tinubu, he has proved himself. His cathartic outburst in Abeokuta does not, strangely, condemn him; it canonises him. He is not perfect, and there are indeed justifications for some of the criticisms leveled against him; but there is no presidential aspirant in his party at the moment – not the cautious and ingratiating Sen Ahmad Lawan and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo nor the doting and impressionable Rotimi Amaechi and Kayode Fayemi – who can hold a candle to him.

President Muhammadu Buhari did not demand zoning the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress to Southern Nigeria, his spokesman Garba Shehu has said.

Mr Shehu said reports purporting the Nigerian leader had asked party leaders to consider only southern aspirants for the top ticket during last night’s meeting were false. Peoples Gazette did not run the story, which was attributed to undisclosed sources at the meeting.

“This issue has not arisen,” Mr Shehu told the BBC on Sunday. “All he has to do is negotiate and get one person out of it, and he has shown that as a leader he is ready to provide leadership to make that happen.”

Mr Buhari invited aspirants on the party’s platform to a late-night meeting at the State House on Saturday night. Official transcripts of the meeting released by Femi Adesina said the president asked all the aspirants to seek a consensus amongst themselves.

Reports circulated while the meeting was still underway that Mr Buhari said he would only back a southern candidate, a claim now debunked by his two most-senior media aides.

Mr Shehu, however, said the president would back anyone chosen during consensus talks, notwithstanding the aspirant’s region, the BBC reported.

Activities have intensified for a consensus candidate to be worked out amongst aspirants and party leaders. Meetings were held across Abuja overnight, including the meeting of South-West leaders that was held at Olusegun Osoba’s residence.

Bola Tinubu, Rotimi Amaechi, Yemi Osinbajo, Kayode Fayemi, and Emeka Nwaiuba, amongst others, are southern politicians seeking the ticket. Ahmad Lawan, the Senate President from northeast Yobe, is also a top contender.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has refuted speculations of zoning the party’s 2023 presidential ticket.

Some reports claim that President Muhammadu Buhari directed the selection of a standard-bearer of Southern origin.

The Nigeria leader and party leaders met with the aspirants at the State House in Abuja, Saturday night.

Muhammad Nata’ala Keffi, spokesman to National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu said the gathering didn’t discuss zoning.

In a statement on Sunday, Keffi noted that such claims were false, mischievous and misleading.

He said the President only advised the aspirants to build “a consensus that would help the party reduce the number of aspirants and bring up a formidable candidate”.

“From the quotations from Mr President’s speech, nowhere was zoning mentioned.

“We call on the public to disregard any information about the zoning of the presidential contest to any part country.

“What Mr President want is the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians; no more, no less.”

The statement added that APC was desirous of a credible and acceptable candidate who can move Nigeria forward with sincerity of purpose.

Less than 12 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari urged APC presidential aspirants to meet and come up with a consensus candidate, one of them, Godswill Akpabio, said he will not withdraw from the race.

Mr Akpabio’s position also comes less than 24 hours to the commencement of the presidential primary of the ruling party, APC.

There have been rumours online that the former Senate Minority Leader has withdrawn from the race in favour of an aspirant from the South-west.

But Mr Akpabio, in a post on Facebook on Sunday morning, described the news as “wicked lies” and urged delegates to disregard it.

“Dear national delegates, please disregard the wicked lies making the rounds that I, your choice for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023, has withdrawn from the race.

“I have not withdrawn from the race because I know you are solidly behind my aspiration. I will not withdraw because I have your support.

“Together, we will triumph and I will emerge the presidential candidate of our party and we will march together to win the presidential election,” he said.

Mr Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, recently resigned as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs to focus on his aspiration of securing the ticket of the ruling party to contest the 2023 presidential election.

He has been travelling around the country to seek the support of APC delegates. He was in Edo State on Saturday to meet with the party’s delegates.

Mr Akpabio is one of the 23 aspirants cleared by the APC to take part in its presidential election taking place in Abuja from Monday to Wednesday.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how President Muhammadu Buhari told the aspirants, on Saturday, to consult and produce a consensus candidate among themselves.

Apart from Mr Akpabio, the other APC presidential aspirants include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, ex-Lagos governor Bola Tinubu, Ekiti Governor Kayode Fayemi and Ebonyi Governor David Umahi.

Top leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Sule Lamido, says he foresees a palace coup that will lead to the emergence of Senate President Ahman Lawan and former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Lamido believed Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu is the only presidential aspirant of the APC that can give his party (PDP) a fight for its money but said he (Tinubu) will never emerge as the candidate of the ruling party at the federal level for the February 2023 election.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar only last weekend picked the presidential ticket of the PDP.

Lamido, a former governor of Jigawa State, who earlier served in the Obasanjo administration as Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke to Sunday Vanguard at the weekend.

According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari will never ever support Tinubu to be president because of his mentality and psychology.

“Right now, Tinubu is going through hell from who? His own fellow brothers in Afenifere who openly don’t like him and also the APC governors who don’t like him because they say he is too domineering and a dictator. I mean, he is their own son, why can’t they make him?”, he stated.

“Mark my words, Buhari will never ever support Tinubu. I know the man’s mentality and psychology. He will never ever support Tinubu. I said it but people didn’t believe me but wait and see. The whole thing is not about Tinubu or about any other interest. It is not even about the bigger picture called Nigeria but other interests. There is no way Buhari is going to support Tinubu, because the whole thing is going to take personal dimension.

“Let us be honest, Tinubu today is swimming alone. Look at the phenomenon he was but they are now saying no to him.

“If the South is ready to win this election, the only candidate that can give the PDP a fight for their money is Tinubu. He has goodwill. He has a political family. In Nigeria today, even if it (APC ticket) not given to him, he will still win election because Nigeria wants anything except Buhari.

“I said Buhari will not give Tinubu, he is trying to pair Amaechi and Lawan.

“So I foresee a palace coup”.

President Buhari should endorse an Igbo man in APC as the consensus candidate to show the whole country he believes in equity, unity, fairness and justice. He should never endorse a Yoruba man. This democracy was not created for them. 8yrs as President, now VP.

If Igbos can’t have it, let the North keep it. Yorubas should not be gifted power because they make the most noise & do propaganda all the time.