₦airaland Forum

Massiveglory:
Ortom is wicked.

The logo of the Labour Party is missing on the ballot papers sent to Ondo State.

This was noticed barely 24 hours to the presidential election scheduled to hold Saturday.

Penguin2:
Don’t expect that dude to give you an unbiased opinion.

He’s too soaked in Tinubu to think straight.

senatordave1:
His popularity ends in calabar

AntonVince:
These guys with their penchant for trying to force some flawed narratives down our throats.

How exacrly did the north support OBJ and Jonathan when Buhari beat them both blue in black in virtually all the 12 Muslim-dominant core northern states in 2003 and 2011?
I don’t understand why they keep regurgitating this lie when the results are still out there for everyone to see.

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council on Wednesday said the APC flag-bearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is not intimidated by the alleged endorsement of the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, by the Arewa Consultative Forum.

A chieftain of the ACF, Muhammad Yakubu, had announced days ago that Atiku had been chosen as the candidate of the North ahead Saturday’s presidential election.

Yakubu’s pronouncement was in contrast with the position of ACF Secretary-General, Murtala Aliyu, who had, on Sunday, urged northerners and Nigerians to vote any candidate of their choice.

But Yakubu, who is the ACF National Assistant Auditor, told journalists on Monday that recent statements by notable northern elders such as Alhaji Zango Daura, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, among others, were enough evidence that the region had settled for Atiku.

He said, “The North supported Obasanjo and he won; the North supported former President Goodluck Jonathan and Jonathan won.

“The North is supporting Atiku not because Atiku is from the North. No, it’s because at this point, among the candidates we have now, it is Atiku that has the capacity, the competence and the integrity and the reach across the country.”

But reacting to the endorsement, the PCC Director of Strategic Communications, Idris Mohammed, said, “Tinubu is not losing sleep” over the position of the ACF.

Mohammed said, “As far as we are concerned, the ACF is just a group. There are lots of northern groups out there who have also supported Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He is not only reaching out to groups, he is also campaigning to the masses.

“Everywhere you go, you will see the kind of crowd that Tinubu has amassed and the commentaries people make about him. So, we really don’t take the ACF endorsement seriously.

“What we take seriously is the way Nigerians, especially the northerners you talked about are going to vote. We are very optimistic that Asiwaju is going to emerge victorious in Saturday’s poll. Anybody can say anything.”

WARRI- REFORMED Niger Delta Avengers, RNDA, and nine other militant groups, in the Niger Delta, have renounced the All Progressives Congress, APC, citing alleged ‘sins” of the Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Bola Tinubu.

Rising from a meeting in the creek of Delta state, the general officer commanding, GOC, self-styled “Major General” Johnmark Ezon-Ebi, aka Obama, said: “We have critically assessed and seen with clear evidence that Tinubu is the root cause of our predicament in the Niger Delta region, in the last seven and a half years”.
“Therefore, we declare total rejection of Tinubu and his APC draconian party in the entire Niger Delta region and we urge fellow Nigerians to gather the courage to reject Tinubu and his APC party at the polls on Saturday.

“We align with the Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Senator Ifeanyi Okowa rescue mission in other to liberate and bring Nigerians out of these shackles of poverty and economic hardship that Tinubu and APC inflicted on us.

“We also call on all sons and daughters of Niger Delta, and all well-meaning Nigerians to support Atiku and Okowa of the PDP, vote for them massively on 25th of February 2023, because they are the answers to our prayers and agitation for a better Nigeria, true federalism, devolution of power to the state and local governments is key.
“They will change the narrative Nigerians are facing right now, and rescue us from the shackles and chains of the APC maladministration all these years.

“Tinubu’s sins against our region are many. According to Tinubu, he was the brain behind the formation of APC, the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari, and its subsequent winning to cut short a second term for our son, former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
“Tinubu openly claimed, and we have seen that he was the arrowhead of why the APC government neglected and retarded Niger Delta people for standing with their son against Buhari, during the 2015 presidential election.

“Tinubu has opposed the actualization of true federalism and restructuring, which he did openly by opposing the National Confab that former President Jonathan PDP- led administration inaugurated because of his hatred for the progress of Nigeria and Nigerians.

“In the last seven years, the horror that Tinubu brought to befall us is best described as a death trap of maladministration, and by his selfish hidden agenda of becoming a southern President after Buhari’s second term. For this action, we declare he is an enemy to the people of our region and we cannot rule out his sins just like that, and by extension entire of Nigeria.

.“Why are the nation’s four refineries no longer functioning, in comatose since Tinubu and his APC- led federal government took over power in 2015? All four refineries were functioning under the PDP- led administration before Tinubu brought APC.

“Nigerians are now at the mercy of Tinubu, the number one cabal and the sole beneficiary of the Buhari-led APC administration, so where are the Save Nigeria Group and its organizers?

“Tinubu was part of the Buhari-led administration that abandoned the over $16 billion Ogidigben Export Processing Zone, EPZ, project, which former President Goodluck Jonathan performed the groundbreaking ceremony in 2014, at Escravos, Warri South West local government area of Delta state, a project that would have created over 150, 000 direct and indirect jobs for our youths in the region. That was a project of unifying factor between the Ijaw in the Gbaramatu kingdom and its neighbor tribe, Itsekiris living in the riverine communities in the creek of Delta.

“The Tinubu APC government also abandoned the Gas City Project in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State and also neglected the Laudable Gbaramatu Deep Seaport project, and Gbaramatu NIMASA Dockyard Floating project started by the Jonathan-led PDP government.

“He is a man that hurts and never forgives and his hate for Niger Deltans is beyond a reasonable doubt if we may ask how many seaports in the Niger Delta region did Tinubu encourage functioning? Rather, he stood against and prevailed on all previous federal governments not to allow other seaports to function from 1999 until date because of his selfish reasons of greed.

“Where is the Gelegele seaport project that former President Goodluck Jonathan’s government of PDP, approved for the Bini in the 2010/2011 budget? He had already approved the establishment and kick-starting process of the Gelegele seaport at the federal executive council, that year. RNDA militant group is asking Tinubu, Adams Oshiomohle, and their APC where the Gelegele seaport in Edo state is now.

“Also, where is the NIMASA School of Science and Technical College, Okoloba, situated in Okoloba community, Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta state, which was approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan PDP administration?

“Tinubu, where is the proposed Agge Deep seaport in Agge community, Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, that former President Goodluck Jonathan’s federal government of PDP approved?

“We must Tinubu about the Ibaka Deep seaport in Akwa Ibom state; and where is the approved Olokola Deep seaport in Ondo state, which Jonathan’s administration gave the nod?

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has said that he developed an intimate relationship with National Assembly members during his vice-presidential days which enabled them to stop the third term agenda of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Atiku disclosed this at the 2023 Presidential Campaign Organisation strategic engagement meeting with National Assembly candidates, on Sunday night, in Abuja.

He stated, “During my tenure as vice president, I developed a very intimate relationship with members of the National Assembly and it is that relationship that enabled us to stop the third term presidency attempt by President Obasanjo.

“I really look forward to re-engaging you as you return to the National Assembly for your functions from the constitution further to deepen democracy development and progress of our nation.”

The former vice president noted, “Our nation has found itself in one of the most challenging times in the history of this country. You know that we are more divided than ever because of the activities and policies of the current APC government. Saying likewise our security situation has gone from bad to worse, our economy is in shambles.

“If you are elected and I am elected you are not going to work with somebody unknown, somebody who doesn’t have the experience. Like what we have currently today, we have a president that doesn’t even understand what the National Assembly stands for. Facing an incumbent president and still making sure that he protects the constitution.”

The stakeholders resolved their covenant with Nigerians to reduce the cost of government through improving citizen oversight and a strong emphasis on curbing waste and cost reduction.

They also resolved to reduce multidimensional poverty by 40% over the next four years and put food on the tables of Nigerians again.

The communique reads, “We commit to improving transparency and accountability across the whole government

“We commit to the reduction of the cost of government through improving citizen oversight and a strong emphasis on curbing waste and cost reduction

“We commit to reducing multidimensional poverty by 40% over the next 4 years and putting food on the tables of Nigerians again.”

They further committed to reducing unsustainable national debts.

They resolved “to greater investment in education and infrastructure by incrementally increasing budgetary allocation starting from the next budget

“We commit to quick passage of bills that devolve more powers to subnational governments

“We commit to the reduction of the cost of government through improving citizen oversight and a strong emphasis on curbing waste and cost reduction

“We commit to reducing multidimensional poverty by 40% over the next 4 years and putting food on the tables of Nigerians again.”

They further committed to reducing unsustainable national debts.

They resolved “to greater investment in education and infrastructure by incrementally increasing budgetary allocation starting from the next budget

“We commit to quick passage of bills that devolve more powers to subnational governments

“We commit to securing Nigerians through robust conflict resolution mechanisms and improved welfare and funding of security agencies.”

A chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Muhammad Yakubu, has said that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, is the endorsed candidate of the north for Saturday’s presidential election.

The PUNCH reports that the ACF through its Secretary-General, Murtala Aliyu, had, in a statement on Sunday, urged northerners and Nigerians to vote the candidate of their choice in the Saturday election.

The ACF had urged Northern voters to look out for a presidential candidate with clear and objective party manifestos and the character and track records of the candidates.

However, while addressing a press conference at the 11A Sokoto road Secretariat of the ACF in Kaduna on Monday, Yakubu, who is the National Assistant Auditor of the Forum, said from recent statements by notable northern elders such as Alhaji Zango Daura, Prof. Ango Abdullahi among others, the region had settled for Atiku for the poll.

The ACF chieftain, who is also the Convener, Atiku/Okowa Patriots, said the region was supporting Atiku not because he was a northerner but because he had the capacity and experience to take the country to the promised land.

He said, “The ACF came to be as a result of certain happenings in the country. The emergence of the ACF is to protect the northern interest and so far, so good, as we head to the polls in a couple of days, our elders, leaders in the likes of Alhaji Sani Zango Daura (the Danmasanin Daura), Prof. Ango Abdullahi, have given us a direction. Atiku is the candidate of the north and that is the direction we are going to follow.

“And that’s the candidate majority of northerners are going to vote for. So, this is one of the reasons that I called for the press conference and if there are other issues you guys want clarification, I am ready to give you answers. I am also the National Convener of Atiku/Okowa Patriots.”

Fielding questions on the reports yesterday by the ACF secretary-general that the Forum backed rotational presidency, Yakubu said, “It’s not true. That’s why I am holding this press conference. At no time did the ACF met to have taken that kind of decision. That kind of decision can either come from the National Executive Council or the National Working Committee. So, since none of these bodies had met, how would that kind of decision emerge. Either the press is misrepresenting the secretary-general or some […] people had concocted some stories.”

On whether the ACF is in support of his position, he said, “Of course, the ACF is established to protect the interest of the north and where is Atiku from? And let me give you a background story. If you have been following the ACF history, you will discover that at each point in time that the county is at crossroads, the ACF and the north usually come to stabilise the country.

“The north supported Obasanjo and he won; the north supported former President Goodluck Jonathan and Jonathan won. Each time the north supports anybody, not because that person is from the north. The north usually considers capacity and competence and integrity. These are the factors the north used to consider.

“The north is supporting Atiku not because Atiku is from the north. No, it’s because at this point in time, among the candidates we have now, it’s Atiku that has the capacity, the competence and the integrity and the reach out across the country.”

Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has granted the prayer of the Labour Party, LP, seeking an order to bar the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from using the chairman of the Lagos Parks and Garages, Musliu Akinsanya, better known as MC Oluomo from distributing election materials in Lagos.

More details later