₦airaland Forum

In a recent interview with Arise TV, Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president and presidential flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made multiple claims relating to his plans for Nigeria and his track record in public service.

TheCable checked some of the claims, and here is what we found.

CLAIM 1: Abraham Lincoln, one of America’s famous leaders, contested the presidency five to six times before he eventually won.

VERDICT: False.
Abraham Lincoln never contested the presidential election five or six times as Atiku claimed. 
Lincoln won his first bid for the presidency in 1860 and was re-elected in 1864.
He was the 16th president of the United States. He was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre, Washington DC by John Wilkes Booth. He died the following day on April 15, 1865.


CLAIM 2: There is no law stopping public officers from doing business in Nigeria.

VERDICT: False. The Nigerian legislation does not permit full-time public officers to run businesses, save for farming.  

Section 6(b) of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Tribunal Act only allows public servants to engage and participate in running a farm, either subsistence or commercial.
The same provision is found in sections 2 (a) and (b) of the fifth schedule to the 1999 Constitution.

Timi Olagunju, a legal practitioner and policy analyst, told TheCable that section 6 of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Tribunal Act is quite clear on the matter.

“The CCB is an act of parliament backed by the constitution. It is legislation, not a subsidiary or a by-law. Section 6 clarifies that a public office holder, shall not engage or participate in any private business, trade, or profession, except for farming,  basically to promote agriculture,” he said.

“It is important to note that the law provides an exemption. The public officer can engage in private business if he is employed on a part-time basis.”

Olagunju however noted that in his years of practice, he is yet to see a public officer get convicted for running a business while occupying a public office. 

CLAIM 3: Egypt has a population of about 80 million, and more than two million policemen.

VERDICT: Both claims are false.
There is no substantial evidence to back the claim that Egypt has two million police officers.
 
According to the 2015 Home Office analysis of the Egyptian armed forces, the Egyptian National Police Force has approximately 350,000 personnel responsible for law enforcement and maintaining public order across the country.

The total strength of Egypt’s armed forces was estimated, in September 2014, at 458,500 (army: 340,000, air force: 100,000, navy: 18,500), with a total of 479 000 reserves.
The total sum of all the armed forces of Egypt is still less than Atiku’s “two million” figure. 
According to a 2017 report released by Worldatlas, which listed the top thirty countries by number of police officers, China came top with 1.6 million, followed by India and the United States with 1,585,353 and 913,161 respectively.

No country in the top 30 had two million police officers — and Egypt was not on the list compiled by Worldatlas.

Meanwhile, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Egypt’s current population stands at 106.2 million and not 80 million. 

CLAIM 4: The oil sector represents 20 percent of Nigeria’s GDP. 

VERDICT: The claim is false.

Data made available by Statista showed that between the fourth quarter of 2018 and the third quarter of 2021, the contribution of the oil sector to the country’s GDP was less than 10 percent.

TheCable also checked data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and found that the highest oil sector contribution between 2019 and 2021 was 9.77 percent — in the third quarter of 2019

CLAIM 5: There are 17 security outfits in the country, all headed by a section of the country.

VERDICT: This claim is not totally correct. 

Checks by TheCable showed that most of the heads of security agencies are from northern Nigeria. 
However, a few of the security agencies are headed by southerners and they include; the defence intelligence agency, headed by Samuel Adebayo, who is from Ekiti (south-west). Also, Lucky Irabor, the chief of defence staff, is from Delta state (south-south). Oladayo Amao, the current chief of air staff, is from Osun (south-west).

donprinyo:
You will surely see crowd for even Sowore

Penguin2:
I hope the 146,181 votes will be enough to make Tinubu president.

Tetrahedron:
Lol

Why is everyone running from emi lokan

newbornmacho:
Better response. Don't say anything that will bring you under this curse , if you are christian

newbornmacho:
You will orphan your children.

Men and God will be against you.

Why don't you prevail on your candidate to present a balanced ticket. Even Muslim and atheist or mustlim and traditionalist is better than this lopsided ticket.

It will not be well with your unborn children if you sell out the faith because of a morsel of bread.

I swear., if it was an igbo man doing this I would react.the same way.

Don't try it , the entire body of christ is praying against you. Better to abstain from this election if you have no confidence in any other ticket. Than to vote for Christianity to be enslaved in your country.

A word is enough for the wise

newbornmacho:
You will orphan your children.

Men and God will be against you.

Why don't you prevail on your candidate to present a balanced ticket. Even Muslim and atheist or mustlim and traditionalist is better than this lopsided ticket.

It will not be well with your unborn children if you sell out the faith because of a morsel of bread.

I swear., if it was an igbo man doing this I would react.the same way.

Don't try it , the entire body of christ is praying against you. Better to abstain from this election if you have no confidence in any other ticket. Than to vote for Christianity to be enslaved in your country.

A word is enough for the wise

APC2:
The former minister of sport, Solomon Dalung said on AIT Live why delivering speech during the APC Northern Christian Leaders Submit that he is no longer member of APC.

The summit is still going on live on AIT. You can watch it too.

Source
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/524669-buharis-ex-minister-dalung-dumps-apc.html

IamAtikulate:
Tinubu begged for APC presidential ticket. They carry AC tickets give am

seunmsg:
Oshiomhole as DG of Tinubu’s campaign organization will be too controversial.

Fahdiga:
This one has dumped the agbado man for the Cameroonian because his midget father wasn't selected as the running mate. The good news is that both Tinubu and Atiku are just wasting their loots because Nigerians has already chosen Peter Obi as our president.

Advocate500:
So in reality, Tinubu is on his own?

Amunethseranu:
he is playing politics

The stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress in the South-East zone have met in Owerri, the Imo State capital, with a resolution to work for the victory of the party in the zone and the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 general election.

At the meeting, the host and the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, said the party was targeting and was ready to win all the elections in the zone.

Uzodimma said the South-East governors were determined to ensuring the security of lives and properties before, during and after the elections.

He wondered why there should be continued Sit-at-Home protests in the region which had stalled commercial activities in the zone.

He said , “How do you expect that people should sit at home without going to work, for no effort of theirs. And you say you are looking for Biafra? We have decided that we are part and parcel of the Federal Government and the ruling party is APC.

“I charge the South-East leadership of our great party to constitute committees and populate these communities for the APC to win elections.”

On the reconciliation committee of the party, the governor charged members to do more to get everybody on board, adding that efforts should be made to ensure that all polling units, wards and local government areas were manned by party executives on election days and also ensure that the party was voted for in all levels of the election to make it 5/5.


Uzodimma urged them not to allow distractions from detractors to bring them down but ensure that their eyes were fixed on the ball and hoped that by the time the party started its campaigns, which would be rooted in the grassroots, it would be remarkable as “bottom to top approach” would be adopted.

Also speaking, the APC National Vice President, South-East, Ijeoma Arodiogbu, while welcoming the stakeholders to the meeting, commended them for the sacrifices they had made to reposition the party and ensure success at the poll.

He also said the party had enjoyed tremendous support from the governor and that the party had brought a lot of goodwill to the zone through what the president, governors Hope Uzodimma and Dave Umahi had done through their developmental strides.

On whether the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, had what it takes to have in-road in the South-East during the elections, the Zonal Publicity Secretary, Chief Augustine Onyedebelu, expressed optimism that the people of the zone would vote massively for him because he had the capacity to turn things around for Nigerians, especially the zone.

He also said he was impressed that the stakeholders’ meeting was a huge success and hoped that the party would sweep the forthcoming polls at all levels.

Amunethseranu:
This occult bastard is fighting it ...shame on you adeboye by dia cunny fruit we shall know them.

The General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye has told his church members not to distract his attention and that they can vote for any candidate of their choice in next year’s elections.

This comes amidst controversies surrounding the Muslim-Muslim ticket adopted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the position of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Adeboye, in a viral video on social media during sermon told his congregation not to distract him as his assignment had nothing to do with partisan politics.

“My assignment is to pray for you, including Nigeria, my assignment has nothing to do with partisan politics. Don’t distract my attention. You will bear me witness, those of you who are genuine members of Redeemed Christian Church of God, I have never told you this is the person you should vote for.

“Have I ever told you that whether in secret or in open? Never. I have never said this is the party you should belong to, I have never said it and I will never say it. And you know why, because in Redeemed Christian Church of God, every party is heavily represented. Every one, APC, PDP, APGA, Labour Party, etc,” he said.

Adeboye also disclosed the reason he had never voted in any election in Nigeria.
According to him, “The only reason I have never voted is that if I vote for anyone, I will be unjust to the rest of my children, I am the father of all and I like it that way. All I am saying and I am saying it loud and clear, as a Nigerian, everyone of you, you are Nigerians before you became a Christian, because nobody is born a Christian. You are a true Christian because you gave your life to Jesus Christ.

“Before you became a Christian, you are a Nigerian, you have a duty to your country, to register, to vote, to make sure that your vote should count, you have a duty to belong to any party of your choice at the very grassroots, you can’t sit down, fold your hand, refuse to vote and then begin to complain about the government.

“What were you doing when they were voting? They were voting, you sat down at home, you did not register and then some people came round and selected for you whether at the gubernatorial level, presidential level or local government level. They chose for you because you refuse to do anything and then you begin to complain.

“You must register, you must vote, you must sit down there after you have voted until they count the vote, you must know who they said won. You must make sure there is no more rigging in Nigeria. I don’t care which is your party, I don’t care who you vote for but do your duty, that is what I am asking you to do and you must do it.”

9jaRealist:
You are sounding like General Buhari and Liar Mohammed…

You’re FREE to associate with whomever you want, but others are similarly FREE to talk about it.
>

Bilabong:
Another idiot we are dealing with here in cross river state. U where in PDP then Ayade ported to APC u followed like the tail that u are, since then the apc u where against become a saint. Since you join APC the waste in calabar has not been packed, everywhere smelling we are indeed impressed. Commission of health at that.



She is an idiot because she is a double standard person. The woman supported the #endsars movement because she was in PDP then, immediately she moved to APC she deleted the post and now sings the praise of her pay masters.
She is an idiot because she is a commission of health in a state that doesn't evacuate waste in the state capital.
She is an idiot because she said we in the south south are impressed. Impressed by what? The kidnaps, killings, high cost of food, lack of steady power? What exactly are we impressed about?