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As the tussle for the zoning of the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly gathers momentum, report emanating from the camp of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, indicates he may return to the country on Monday (today) to take charge of proceedings and give direction.

This is even as the National Working Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress prepares to meet with the former governor of Lagos to take a position to avert a repeat of the 2015 situation that produced Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and House of Representatives Speaker, respectively.

Tinubu had on March 21 travelled out of the country to spend some time in Paris and London.

According to a statement by Tunde Rahman for the Office of the President-elect, the trip was to enable Tinubu to rest and plan his transition programme ahead of his inauguration on May 29.

The Secretary of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and a member of the House of Representatives, James Faleke, in a tweet on Sunday, noted that Tinubu alongside his wife, Senator Remi Tinubu, would land “by 2pm at the presidential wing of the International Airport.”

“My dear brothers and sisters of this unique family, I wish to inform and request of us all that anyone in Abuja and Nasarawa is invited to join in receiving our people’s President-elect and First Lady tomorrow by 2pm at the Presidential wing of the International Airport.

“Departure Time:2pm; departure venue: The Campaign Office; Accreditation time: 12pm. Buses will be provided. Only Accredited persons will be allowed at the airport for security reasons,” Faleke’s tweet read.

Also, another party chieftain and a high-ranking member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, who craved anonymity, disclosed that Tinubu’s private jet will be hitting the tarmac of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Monday (today).

He said, “The report is correct. Asiwaju will be arriving tomorrow (Monday) preparation for the May 29 inauguration. He will also be meeting with the party soon to discuss the leadership of the National Assembly.”

The APC Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, also confirmed that the NWC meeting may take place this week.


He, however, couldn’t confirm whether the President-elect would be in attendance.

He stated, “We are expecting the President-elect to arrive hopefully from tomorrow (Monday). I may not be sure of the exact date, but I think the NWC meeting will also take place this week after everybody must have resumed from the holiday break and their trip from Umrah.”

Earlier on Sunday, the APC announced the dissolution of its Presidential Campaign Council, which was inaugurated in October to campaign for Tinubu’s victory.

The dissolution was contained in a statement that was jointly signed by the PCC Director General, Governor Simon Lalong, and the secretary of the council, Faleke.

Lalong also applauded the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for his unflinching support for the APC presidential candidate throughout the electioneering campaign.

Lalong said, “Since the campaign council began in September 2022, we have witnessed an unprecedented, relentless, and engaging mobilisation of our members nationwide and in the diaspora towards securing the majority popular votes for the Tinubu/Shettima presidential ticket.

“The journey has been a worthy one with our hard-won victory. The credit goes to all our members, particularly, the leaders and members of the various campaign directorates.

“We would like to express our deepest appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), for his unwavering support and leadership throughout the campaign. We could not have achieved this level of success without his single-mindedness, commitment, and forthrightness.

“However, we have concluded that it is in the best interest of the campaign and its stakeholders for us to dissolve our council with immediate effect. This has become necessary to retune us towards the May 29, 2023, inauguration of the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration. The process of transitioning into a new era of a Renewed Hope is underway and all our energies and activities must reflect the principles underlying this process.

“We hope that you will all continue to stay involved in Nigeria’s political process and to advocate issues that you believe in. Our democracy is stronger when we all participate in the political process with patriotism.We would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for your support, dedication, and hard work,” the statement said in part.

Policemen have arrested a Point of Sale operator who reportedly went on a spending spree after N280m was erroneously transferred to his account by a commercial bank.

The POS operator identified as Alfa Rafiu was arrested by the police on Monday in Ilorin, Kwara State capital.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the suspect is a resident of the Akuji compound, the Abayawo area in the Ilorin West Local Government Area of the state.

According to sources in the area familiar with the issue, Rafiu went on a spending spree after he received the alerts in batches some weeks back.

“But instead of him to draw the attention of the bank that mistakenly transferred the huge fund, he went on a spending spree.

“Rafiu bought houses, and cars and sponsored people to lesser Hajj. Although he was generous to several people in the community, some residents were surprised about his sudden wealth as a POS operator,” one of the sources said.

It was further gathered that the bank auditors later discovered the error and sent law enforcement agents after Rafiu who was arrested and moved to Lagos.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the incident.

“His arrest was carried out by the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department from Alagbon-Close, Ikoyi, Lagos which makes it out of our jurisdiction,” Okasanmi said.

divinehand2003:
Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, won the February 25, 2023 election, Rivers State Governor, Barr. Nyesom Wike, has said in a trending video.

Wike said in the 42 seconds video clip: “The winner of this election, whether you like am or you no like-am, is Obi. The winner of this election is Obi.”

As his audience cheered wildly, Wike, who worked for All Progressives Congress (APC) Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, during the election, said: “Listen! Listen! Hold on; I’m not saying this to make you happy. I am saying the truth and nothing but the truth.”

He then added amidst applause: “He (Obi) may not have been pronounced as winner — no problem. The law will take its course.”

The event where Wike spoke appears to have taken place in the state capital, Port Harcourt, during the weekend – going by the address of the rental company that supplied the canopy for the outdoor event. It also appears to have been a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) event as some of the face cap of some of the attendees had the inscription SIM – the pet name of the state Governor-elect, Siminalayi Fubara.

Wike’s revelation comes days after figures uploaded on the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) showed that Obi won the election in Rivers and not Tinubu as announced by INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu.

The INEC Chairman had declared Tinubu winner of the election with 8,794,726 votes, followed PDP’s Atiku Abubakar with 6,984,520 votes, and Obi third with 6,101,533 votes.

Both Atiku and Obi rejected the results and are pursuing their cases in court.




https://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/187203-BREAKING-Peter-Obi-won-2023-Presidential-Election-Wike

The Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners (ANPMP) has kicked against the compulsory five-year service licensing of a doctor proposed by the House of Representatives.

The association, however, said that a national emergency should be declared in the health sector as against the proposed compulsory five-year service.

The National President of the association, Dr Kayode Adesola, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

Adesola said the proposed bill would have an adverse effect on the health sector as it was premised on the wrong notion that such a measure would solve the brain drain in the sector.


He said the proponents of the bill didn’t conduct in-depth research on the factors driving the brain drain crisis nor engaged health stakeholders on the implications before moving such a bill.

Adesola added that the bill would worsen the brain drain in the country.

He noted that medical doctors don’t need Nigerian license to practice in other countries.

“We keep saying that the health sector needs urgent attention. Our health system is not working and many Nigerians are dying because of the underfunding of the sector.

“We have teaching hospitals, general hospitals and primary healthcare centres that are dilapidated with outdated equipment.

“Political leaders are seeking medical treatment abroad while the citizens are left to suffer in a country that has one of the best doctors in the world.

“Before it was the young doctors leaving but now, the consultants are leaving. Many health workers left because of insecurity, not just poor remuneration or poor working conditions.

“Insecurity is impacting negatively on the health of Nigerians and the ability of healthcare workers to deliver services to Nigerians.

“Asides from the medical doctor that was killed at his clinic on Dec.31, 2022; two other doctors have also been killed and nothing has been done to rectify the situation,” he said.

The House of Representatives on April 6, passed for second reading a bill seeking to mandate Nigerian-trained medical and dental practitioners to practice for a minimum of five years in the country, before being granted a full licence.

The bill sponsored by Ganiyu Johnson, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Lagos, said the bill seeks to amend the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act 2004, to address the brain drain in the Nigerian health sector.

Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has described as out of order the resolution of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) that mandated national chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, to make a commitment that he would resign after the 2023 elections.

The governor wondered why the BoT could not make Ayu to fulfil his initial commitment that he would resign if a northerner emerges as presidential candidate from the PDP convention.

Wike spoke yesterday at the international wing of the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, on arrival  from a brief trip to Madrid, Spain.

He was accompanied by Governors Seyi Makinde, Okezie Ikpeazu and Samuel Ortom, of Oyo, Abia and Benue States.

Faulting PDP BoT’s resolution in Ayu, he said, “To say he should make another commitment that he will resign after the elections, for me, BOT resolution is ridiculous.”

Wike noted that Ayu failed to inform the party’s national working committee (NWC) about the N1.1 billion he received on behalf of the party.
 
He also expressed mixed feelings over comments credited to PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that what the North needs is a northerner, not an Igbo or a Yoruba person as next president of Nigeria.

Wike took a swipe at the PDP national chairman for the kind of responses he gave over the allegations levelled against him, saying Ayu stands indicted except proven otherwise.

He said, “Luckily for me, he (Ayu) has now mentioned that he went to the presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Waziri of Adamawa where they discussed the issues of borrowing.

“Now, the question is, when you talk about borrowing, who approves borrowing? You must go to the National Working Committee (NWC) to say you want to borrow money.

“I challenge him to bring the records where NWC approved that the party should go and borrow N1 billion. What is the collateral?”

The governor explained that in matters of funding the party and the governors had been up to that responsibility dutifully.

He said, “It was therefore unthinkable that the national chairman would, in the guise of seeking funding for the party, opt to collect loan on behalf of the party without notifying the NWC and governors.

“Be sincere; how can you talk of N1 billion loan without the NWC mulling the idea, without the governors knowing. Then you talk about the N100 million he said he told the Board of Trustees (BOT).

“If any governor gives you N100million in order to rebuild one of the structures of the party, the Democratic Institute, let him show the minutes of the NWC where he said a governor has contributed N100 million. Let him show the account to reflect this N100 million.

“Let him also say that the N100m was in Naira or in Dollars. He said he gave it to the treasurer. I thought he would have told the world that NWC was aware.”

The Rivers governor maintained that his allegations against Ayu were categorical and it was expected that his responses should address each of the issues separately.

Wike said, “In fact, the normal thing is that once any governor or any party person has donated money to the party, you will go and tell NWC that so and so person has donated money. Let him (Ayu) show us the account where this money was paid into.

“Coming out to do a general denial is not denial. You (Ayu) must specifically deny the allegations that were made.”

The governor also asked  Ayu to mention names of those he contacted to handle the rehabilitation going on at the PDP Democratic Institute and at the national secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone in Abuja.

He said, “Ask him; the contracts that are going on in this Democratic Institute and that of Wadata, who is doing that contract, is it not one of his sons?