Author: The Nation

The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday condemned Arise News – a television station persistent blackmail to railroad the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to its town hall meeting slated for Sunday.

The council, in a statement by its Director, Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga described the continuous broadcast of Tinubu’s participation at the talk shop as “shocking and downright anomalous”, having told the organisers of the debate that Tinubu will not be available for the programme.

The APC flag bearer had since November 7 advanced seven reasons why he won’t be attending the television station-organised presidential debates in a statement by the spokesman for the campaign council, Festus Keyamo.

Tinubu, in the statement, said he had earlier turned down similar invitations from other TV and radio stations, and therefore could not give preference to Arise TV, adding that the APC standard bearer has a well caught out plans to engage Nigerians through various town hall meetings and rallies.

The campaign council expressed shock at the resolve of the television station to continue to have the name of Tinubu as one of the participants at its presidential town hall meeting billed for today (Sunday).

The statement reads: “We find it shocking and downright anomalous that Arise News continues to broadcast the participation of All Progressives Congress Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in its Presidential Town Hall meeting scheduled to hold on 4 December 2022 despite our earlier statement that our candidate will not be available.

“We noticed that Arise News has also been running a campaign on the so-called constitutional duty of the presidential candidates to participate in its debate by dubiously citing section 22 of the Constitution of Nigeria on the obligation of the Mass Media.”

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The campaign council argued that “While it is trite that the media has a clear constitutional duty to hold public office holders accountable to the citizens and its role as the watchdog of the society, there is no part of the Constitution and the section 22 that says a presidential candidate of any political party and least of all, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu must participate in Arise News Town Hall event or any media organised an event at all.

“The same Constitution grants all citizens of Nigeria including, Asiwaju Tinubu the right and freedom of choice and association. The APC Presidential candidate has a right to decide where he goes and what events to participate in as he seeks the mandate of Nigerians to be elected as the next President of our country.

“We want to make it abundantly clear again that Asiwaju Tinubu will not participate and will not attend the Arise News Town Hall meeting slated for Sunday, 4 December, 2022 and any other ones it may plan before the February 2023 presidential election. We want to equally stress that Arise News has consistently shown a pattern of bias against Asiwaju Tinubu and we don’t consider the medium as credible and impartial.”

The council then disclosed that the APC Presidential candidate has his schedule of campaign activities and other engagements within and outside Nigeria.

“One such is his scheduled event for Monday, December 5, 2022 at Chatham House in London where he will speak on Security, Economy and Foreign Policy.

“Asiwaju Tinubu travelled to the United Kingdom early today (Saturday) for this earlier scheduled engagement. We want to reiterate for the umpteenth time that no amount of blackmail, intimidation and media bullying and innuendos by the owner and management of Arise News will change the position our campaign has taken on this matter.”

The council directed all its spokesmen and supporters to steer clear of this station over its consistent unprofessionalism and bias against our candidate and party.

Ondo Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has given Staff of Office and Instruments of Appointments to five monarchs recently elevated to Obaship status in the State.

Akeredolu had implemented the recommendation of the Justice Chris Ajama Judicial Commission of inquiry into Chieftaincy Matters by recognising and upgrading 62 Chiefs to status of an Oba.

The Obas, who got the Staff of Office and Instrument of Office were Oba Olowoniyi Adeniyi Abejoye the Olurokun of Irokun, Oba Olatuga Anthony Anjorin the Orunmija of Idigbengben and Oba Kalejaye Rotimi Williams, the Monehin of Obinehin, the Iresi of Osi Kingdom, Oba Olajide David Okunato and Oba J.K Ajomole, the Ojogbabriaka of Ilado Community.

Akeredolu was represented by his Deputy, Lucky Ayedatiwa, at Irokun, Idigbengben and Obinehin.

At Ilado and Isi, the Governor was represented by his Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy affairs, Hon Akinwumi Sowore.

Akeredolu said he elevated the Obas to address several disputes and agitations as well as ensure lasting peace in the different communities.

Read Also: Akeredolu blames COVID-19 outbreak for rising insecurity, unemployment

He said hs actions were pointer to government’s belief in the efficacy of traditional institution as a vehicle for promoting peace, harmony and unity among the people.

Governor Akeredolu also cautioned traditional rulers to refrain from appointing or installing minor Chiefs outside their jurisdictions, particularly in disputed areas.

His words: “Our Obas as custodians of customs and traditions are the closest to the people at the grassroots level. Mobilisation of people for positive developments, therefore, can best be achieved through them.

“It is our belief that through the instrumentality of traditional administration, our royal fathers, should continue to play their roles as major stakeholders in the security of their various communities and assist the security agents in intelligence
gathering to curb the menace of insecurity in our State.

“I will not end this address without informing Kabiyesi Iresi and other revered Obas here present that government will not allow or tolerate any domineering tendency by any traditional ruler under any guise. Every Oba in the State should therefore refrain from appointing or installing minor Chiefs outside his jurisdictions, particularly in disputed areas.”

The Obas, in their various responses, said they were grateful for the recognition and elevation.

The Federal Government has restated its commitment to proffering lasting solutions to the challenges posed by the rising number of out-of-school-children across Nigeria.

Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs Maryam Uwais, said this in Maiduguri during the closing ceremony of a 3-week capacity building programme for youth facilitators under the federal government’s At-Risk-Children Programme (ARC-P) in Borno State.

According to a statement at the weekend by the Communications Officer of ARC-P, Bright Eugene, Uwais said that the 830 youth facilitators, trained in Borno, would be assigned a minimum of 50 children across the 18 local government areas of the State, noting that more than 41,000 street children and vulnerable young people are expected to benefit in the first phase of the Programme in Borno State.

Uwais, who listed the objectives of ARC-P to include restoring a life of hope and dignity to millions of street children and vulnerable young people in the country, said the youth facilitators were trained on several skills, including basic literacy and numeracy, sports and life skills, vocational and digital skills, mental health, psychosocial support as well as basic monitoring and evaluation.

She said the intensive training exercise was in line with the implementation strategy of the At-Risk-Children Programme organised to empower the youth facilitators with the requisite knowledge and skills that will enable them provide the needed guidance, mentorship and support for the vulnerable children assigned to them.

She advised the youth facilitators to approach the assignment with all sense of commitment, hardwork, diligence and patriotism, calling on them to use the knowledge gained from the various training sessions to make a difference in the lives of the primary beneficiaries of the Programme.

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“Please do not shirk in your responsibilities. Be patient with the children to assigned to you because It’s not easy to look after children. Engage them with every sense of compassion and avoid the temptation of inflicting physical or emotional pains on them. Do not hit them, do not yell at them. If a child behaves unruly, try to find out why. Most times children behave funny because they are looking for attention.

“This is why we had a lot of trainings on mental health, life skills and psycho-socio support. All these skills are necessary. We are also opening their minds up to technology because many of their parents do not know technology, which you all know is very profitable. We want to also support the malams and Ulamas to see how we can encourage their businesses so that they will allow these children to learn new things,” Mrs Uwais said.

Uwais, who is also the National Coordinator of the At-Risk-Children Programme (ARC-P), thanked the Government of Borno State, led by Professor Babagana Zulum, for accepting to sign up on the ARC-P initiative, which, according to her, is critical to addressing the fundamental issues associated with low school enrolment and child poverty.

“This Programme was conceived to support children who are out of school and who do not have support as much as they should. There is nobody here that can claim to love these vulnerable children as much as their parents, but the kids have not been exposed to the kind of skills that will enable them to take ownership of their lives and become assets to their families.

“These children have become part of our lives and we can’t ignore them. So it is much more than enrolling children and giving them skills. It is making sure that they actually remain in those classes and apply the skills. Foundation literacy is critical for skills because everyone needs to understand numbers and letters to be able to engage even in the market places”, she added.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Umaru Kadafur, who represented Governor Babagana Zulum, thanked the Federal Government for Introducing ARC-P to the State and said the humanitarian Interventions of the Buhari administration is impacting significantly on the lives of the people, particularly those affected by insurgency in Borno State.

He said ARC-P is in line with the policy thrust of the State Government and pledged to provide all the necessary support to ensure that the Programme succeeds.

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church Of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye has lamented rising inflation in the nation, especially the constant increase in the price of diesel.

In a seven-day fasting and prayer session organised by Adeboye, he wondered why a country that produces oil will be met with such high rate of inflation and difficulty, he further blamed this on the leaders of the nation.

He said: “We are living in a country, one of the biggest oil producing countries in the world and from what we read in newspapers, the cost of diesel had multiplied for about three times in less than a year.

Read also: Adeboye, Ooni seek continuous prayer for Nigeria

“Covetousness is on increase, corruption like the whole world has never seen before. It’s only in Nigeria we hear of budget being padded, violent, human trafficking, drug trafficking, you even wonder if our rulers knew what’s going on.

“Theft of national treasuries on a level that causes you to shiver. It is even difficult now to buy bread. Let’s cry to God as representatives of our nation and ask for mercy, that we are sorry for all our wrong doing.”

Movie star Ebun Oloyede aka Olaiya Igwe is the news again.

In past months, Olaiya Igwe has been in the news on different occasions for controversial reasons.

The veteran actor in a new video, which has gone viral, stripped himself as he prayed at the beach for the electoral victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The now-viral video has elicited mixed reactions from fans.

The video captured the veteran actor from behind stripped.

He turned around and was caught in a headshot as he prayed to the ocean for Tinubu’s victory.

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In his caption, Olaiya revealed that it is his pleasure to support a candidate who truly reflects our values and highest ideals.

Olaiya noted that he believes that BAT would be the best to protect our dreams and fight hard to keep the promise of Nigeria for the next generation.

“It is my pleasure to support a candidate who truly reflects our values and highest ideals. There is one candidate in this election who will protect that dream.

“One leader who will fight hard to keep the promise of Nigeria for the next generation. And that’s why we must stand up and make ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU JAGABAN the next president of Nigeria,” he said.