Category: Lead

There is suspense in the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the presidential candidate Governor Nyesom Wike is likely to endorse for next year’s poll.

Yesterday, the governor, who urged party faithful and supporters to vote for PDP governorship and parliamentary candidates in the state, advised them to wait for his decision on the presidential candidate to adopt.

Wike, who reflected on preparation for 2023 at the inauguration of the Rukpouku-I30-Ogbodo-Igwuruta link Road, said talks were still ongoing on the presidential flag bearer to pitch a tent with.

The Rivers governor and his colleagues in the G5, also known as the Integrity Group – Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) – are locked in a protracted feud with the party leadership over the refusal of the National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, to resign, contrary to his promise to quit, if the candidate was picked from the North.

They have insisted that Ayu’s resignation is a condition for supporting Atiku in next year’s election.

Sources said the main opposition party is worried by its unsuccessful attempts at pacifying the G5, particularly its arrowhead, Wike, whose Rivers State usually voted massively for PDP in previous polls.

Recently, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, said no presidential candidate can hope to clinch the presidency without winning huge votes from Rivers, Kano and Lagos, which the PDP has not been able to penetrate.

At the inauguration of the road in Rukpuoku, Wike urged the people to vote for the governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates.

He refrained from campaigning for Atiku.

The governor said: “We have started doing Eneka internal roads, phases one and two – Eneka to Igbo Etche. We are doing the SAARs Road, going straight to Rikpogbodu. Remember from Eledo down to Rikpogbodu and Obirikwere road, I was the one who did it. I have now done Rumuakwu – Eneka road; Rumuakwu – Igwuruta link road.

“So, you are the ones owing us now. You did first for us and we retaliated by doing for you. Now, we have come to ask you again to come and do for us. If you do it for us, it means we will come and do it for you again.

“You will vote for our governor, our senatorial candidates, House of Representatives candidates and Assembly candidates. Then, the other one, I will come and tell you where you will vote. Don’t worry, calm down.

“These ones I have mentioned now make sure you come and vote for them. Very soon, we will meet at our houses and take a decision about where we are going. We are still talking.”

Wike maintained that he was concerned only about the Rivers PDP and its candidates, saying: “It is carry go for them.”

However, PDP campaign spokesman Charles Aniagwu said Wike cannot solely decide who Rivers people should vote for.

Wike boasted that candidates of other parties had no chance in Rivers, saying that they were only in the race for formality.

He said: “These other people know there is no way they can win in Rivers. They are only making noise to go collect money from people so that at the end of the day they will say they were rigged out.

“Who and who are following you? Which local government would you win and who are those there that will make you win elections? There are opinion leaders that are influencers of people. You must vote for a party that has brought dividends of democracy.

“Governance is all about the happiness of the people. Some people say they were governors for eight years. They didn’t do anything. So, we have done our part”.

 

‘No southerner can defend injustice in PDP’

Also, in a statement, the Rivers State PDP Campaign Council condemned the lopsided leadership at the national level, saying no right-thinking party member from the South can defend the injustice and marginalisation.

“How fair has the PDP become and how national is the PDP today ahead of the 2023 election?” Chairman of the Publicity and Communications Committee of the council, Ogbonna Nwuke, queried in Port Harcourt.

Nwuke said even those campaigning for Atiku, including his Rivers spokesman, Dr. Leloonu Nwibubase, could not defend the injustice.

Nwuke, a former member of the House of Representatives, said the party should embrace the G-5, correct the imbalance and approach the poll as a united family.

He said the only condition for peace tabled before the party by the G-5 was the resignation of Ayu to pave the way for a Southern chairman in line with the constitution of the PDP.

He said the condition is fair, just and equitable.

Nwuke said the entire state structure of the party in Rivers was backing the G-5, stressing that it was unacceptable for the party to claim that the imbalance would be corrected after the election.

On whether the G-5 would still work for Atiku if Ayu resigned, Nwuke said that was the only condition.

He said: “My question for this Atiku campaign spokesperson in Rivers is if truly he is a Rivers person if truly he is a Southerner, can he in all conscience defend what is happening in his party, which excludes the South?

“You have taken the ticket and we agreed. We are saying give us this one, which will create a sense of balance in the eyes of party men.

“We are saying that in the constitution of the party, Article Seven says power must rotate. We are noting the fact that there was a conversation that preceded Atiku’s victory that if a Northerner wins, Ayu will step aside.

“The G-5 has maintained their integrity and, they have been able to live up to their promises. They told you they will not leave the PDP. They have kept their promise not to leave the PDP. They have remained in the PDP and they are working for PDP candidates in their various states.

“The party should also fulfil the only condition that the Integrity Group has asked for and if they fulfil the condition and the G5, known for their integrity, does not respond, then, this country has something to ask them. What is critical is that that condition is on the table; satisfy this thing.”

Nwuke added: “You won the primary. You have the right to choose your running mate. Nobody is quarrelling with that. The G-5 is saying that in the interest of equity, fairness, justice, the balance of power and objectivity, it is wrong for the North to hold on to the presidential candidate and hold onto the chairmanship of the party.

“The question to ask is: what will the South be voting for when the chairmanship of the party is in the North and when the Presidency is in the North? The North even has all the spokespersons. So, the point we are making is, it is something unfair, something that must be addressed going forward.

“If a man makes a promise and doesn’t keep it, will he keep it after the election is fought and won? Even, Ayu has said that he was elected for four years and was not going to give it up, contrary to what the Atiku people are saying.

“Let me talk about delivering Atiku. Is it Ayu in Benue that will deliver or is it Ortom in Benue that should deliver him? Ayu does not have what it takes to deliver a candidate. So, we will leave that to the Atiku group.

“There’s this feeling that some people are born to rule, and it is time to let them know that some people are born to resist and we are resisting reasonably within the party”.

 

‘Wike can’t solely decide for Rivers’

The Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation said Wike must possess superpowers for him to solely decide who Rivers people should vote for or who not to vote for.

Aniagwu said Wike must realise that by campaigning for PDP candidates in Rivers, he is invariably campaigning for the PDP and Atiku.

He said the people have been voting for PDP since 1999, adding that they will still vote for all PDP candidates in 2023, including Atiku.

Also reacting, a member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) reminded Wike of his assertion when he visited Edo State last May to campaign for the PDP presidential ticket.

The BoT member who spoke under a condition of anonymity recalled what the Rivers governor told journalists when they asked him why he did not visit the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, during his visit.

“Governor Wike told the journalists that votes are not warehoused in the Edo State Governor House and that the votes are with the people on the streets.

“So by the same token, Governor Wike must also realise that the votes in Rivers are not warehoused in the Rivers State Government House and that they are with the people on the streets.”

•Party launches portal to raise funds for campaign

 

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) yesterday debunked the rumour that its standard bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would relocate the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from Abuja to Lagos, if elected.

The council berated the opposition for their campaign of calumny and character assassination against the former Lagos State governor.

A statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, said: “Asiwaju does not contemplate any such plan and will not do anything that is so ultra-unconstitutional.”

The statement reads: “The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council hereby alerts Nigerians about the latest insidious campaign in some parts of the country against our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“After exhausting their arsenal of calumnies and character assassination against Tinubu, the opposition PDP and their surrogate Labour Party have begun a multi-pronged desperate campaign of falsehoods.

“In one of the falsehoods being circulated, especially in the North West of the country, Tinubu is to harbour plans to relocate the Federal Capital from Abuja to Lagos on succeeding President Muhammad Buhari on 29th May 2023.

“This misinformation, according to field reports, is being given some traction by some elders on the payroll of the Peoples Democratic Party.

“We are shocked that some people could contrive such an egregious lie, all in the name of politics, to confuse our burgeoning support base in that part of the country.

“Let us say with emphasis that Asiwaju does not contemplate any such plan and will not do anything that is so ultra-unconstitutional.”

The council also noted that the same purveyors of falsehood have also been distorting the commercialization of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited by the APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to the campaign council: “The truth is that President Buhari has not privatised NNPC as planned by the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. Buhari has instead made it a commercial entity, owned by all the tiers of government, in line with the Petroleum Industry Act.

“In due course, the company will be in a position to declare and share dividends to all its owners, the way Aramco of Saudi Arabia and Petrobas of Brazil do.

“As the destined successor of President Buhari, Asiwaju Tinubu will continue the policy of the Buhari administration. Unlike Atiku, Tinubu has no plan to sell NNPC to his friends or cronies,” the council assured Nigerians.

Private depot owners now sell the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, at N210 per litre, it was learnt yesterday.

The product, officially pegged at N148/litre in depots, has been scarce for three weeks.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said some marketers who paid for petrol at the depots wait for over two weeks before lifting it.

Its National Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar Maigand, told one of our correspondents that the product has become more difficult to access despite the Federal Government’s promises.

Maigandi said: “There is no product availability. Most of the private depots are selling it at N210 per litres. They are supposed to sell N148/litre. It is giving us serious headache.

“Even at that N210/litre, you cannot get the product to load. Before you load it takes up to two to three weeks after the payment.

“Automatically, there is no product in most of the petrol stations. Yet, NNPC is saying it has large amount of product.”

The scarcity bit harder in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday as most of the retail outlets were not open.

Black arketers had a field day, selling in cans for as much as N4,000 per litre.

Our correspondent observed that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has not updated its stock record on its website since November 24.

The scarcity has spread to states, with attendant hike in transportation costs.

In Jigawa, independent parketers hiked prices to N260 far liter.

In Oyo, motorists and commuters in Ibadan, the state capital, are having a hard time as gridlocks caused by fuel queues hinder free vehicular movement.

A litre of petrol now sells for N300 in black market in Ibadan.

Some marketers sell at between N190 and N250 per litre. But most filling stations are closed.

In Plateau, the product sold at between N240 to N270 in Farin-Gada area of Jos, the state capital.

At the city centre, virtually all the filling stations had no fuel.

In Niger, major distributors in the Minna metropolis did not sell. Independent marketers sold for between N240 and N260 per litre.

Though the product is available in Akwa Ibom, most stations sell at N250 per litre.

To attract patronage, some petrol stations in Uyo and other major towns like Eket, Ikot Ekpene, Abak, Oron are dispensing the product at N240 per litre.

The situation has resulted in higher cost of transportation.

The fare from Eket to Uyo, which used to be N500, is now N700 or N800.

In Benue, the only major petrol station that was dispensing the product along the Abu King Shuluwa road sold at N195 per litre, but others sold at N240 .

In Enugu, pump price remained at N250 per litre in most of the retail outlets.

The price has remained the same in most filling stations since late last month.

In Rivers, the product sold at between N179 and N250 a litre.

While major marketers sell for between N179 and N186, others dispense at between N230 and N250 per litre.

In Katsina, major marketers sold for N185 or N195, but others fixed their pump prices at N265 per litre.

Petrol stations in Anambra sold at different prices between N230 and N250 per litre. The product was available.

In Ogun State, none of the 13 petrol stations from Ajebo to Sapon sold the product.

Most petrol stations operating in Umuahia, the Abia State capital and Aba, the commercial nerve of the state, sold at between N240 and N250 per liter.

In Abakaliki, the state capital, the product was sold at between N240 and N250 per litre as against the official pump price.

In Adamawa State, petrol sold at N250 per litre.

Only a handful of petrol stations dispensed the product in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at between N235 and N250 per litre.

As a result, transport fares went up from N100 a drop to between N150 and N200 for tricycles.

Major oil marketers in Gombe adjusted the pump price to N230 per litre even as independent marketers sold for between N250 and N270 per litre.

Petrol scarcity is lessening in Calabar but the pump price has not returned to the official rate of N197.

Independent marketers currently sell at N250 to N300.

Long queues have returned to petrol station in Akure metropolis and environs due to the scarcity.

The product was sold at between N250 to N300 per litre at independent some petrol stations in Akure, Owo and Ondo town.

Petrol is hotcake in Kano state. The product is available but artificially scarce. There is a conspiracy amongst the marketers, according to findings.

Major marketers sell at N185 per a litre, while independent marketers are selling as high as N260 per litre.

The filling stations selling at N260 are always open.

In Yobe, the product was being sold at between N260 and N265.

The product is available in Kaduna, but there were long queues at most of the stations selling at N185 per litre.

 

Sylva: Nigeria to end importation soon

Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, yesterday said Nigeria will stop importing petroleum products by the third quarter (Q3) of next year.

Sylva is banking on the refurbished Port Harcourt Refinery in Rivers State, which he said would be delivering 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refined crude by the end of December; and the 650,000 bpd Dangote refinery which has attained 97 per cent completion stage.

The Port Harcourt Refinery is made up of two units, the old refinery commissioned in 1965 and the new one commissioned in 1989.

The old one has a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day and the new refinery has a capacity of 150,000 bpd, bringing its combined crude processing capacity to 210,000 bpd.

Sylva said Nigeria’s production of crude had improved to about 1.3 million barrels per day from under a million barrels previously, and that the country hoped to meet its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota by May of next year.

The NMDPRA had in October said the Dangote Refinery project had attained 97 per cent completion rate.

NMDPRA had, in a tweet, disclosed this while receiving the company’s 2022/2023 work plan.

The authority said the work plan showed that the project is in its advanced stages.

ENCOMIUMS poured in yesterday for The Nation over its performance at this year’s edition of the Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA)

The newspaper won in 15 categories at the prestigious award, which was held at the Eko Hotels and Suites on Sunday.

In a congratulatory message, the Chairman of Vintage Press Limited (VPL), publishers of The Nation, Mr. Olawale Edun, lauded the newspaper for showing class at the 30th NMMA.

He said the VPL Board of Directors was delighted with the newspaper.

Edun said: “The board is happy that our men are keeping the standard. Last year we did well, this year, we have done well. Keep it up!

“The board is happy that the paper has maintained the high standards for which it is known.

“Congratulations to the winners and the entire staff for serving the public professionally and diligently,” the one-time Lagos Finance Commissioner said.

Editorial Adviser, Prof Olatunji Dare, in a congratulatory letter to the Managing Director Victor Ifijeh, praised the management and staff for the feat.

He wrote: “As in recent years, I have again the pleasant duty of congratulating The Nation on its outstanding performance in every facet of journalism honoured by the NMMA with its annual awards.

“In the 30th edition of the awards announced last weekend, industry leaders and veteran media professionals credited our staffers with the best reporting across 15 categories, almost the entire spectrum of public life encompassing health, culture, oil and gas, human rights, and foreign news, among other categories.

“In the art and craft of newspapering, we were adjudged the best in editorial writing, and print journalism.

“Where our entries did not win outright, they placed second.

“This comprehensive sweep has resulted from the sustained dedication of our editorial staff, management, and the leadership team that has continued to provide a nurturing environment conducive to the practice of outstanding journalism.

“My hearty congratulations to the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, Mr Victor Ifijeh, on his leadership, and through him to management, our editors, reporters, artists, and production and marketing staff.

“It is one thing to win these awards. It is quite another to do so year after year in an increasingly competitive field with dwindling resources.

“We must keep these challenges constantly in view.

“Best wishes to all for a merry Christmas and the most abundant blessings for the coming year.”

Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, congratulated The Nation on its great outing at the NMMA.

He praised the winners for continuing the paper’s tradition of being the best in the land.

According to him, writers at The Nation have kept the practice of reporting, which ‘has made them continue to excel at awards, especially the NMMA, which is the king of all awards’.

The former The Nation Editor said: “An aspect of journalism, which is dying because many are not paying attention to it is reporting.

“It is this same reporting that has made journalists at The Nation Newspaper win great awards.

“NMMA is the king of all awards, and they deserve kudos for winning 15 categories.

“On behalf of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was the chief host of the award ceremony, I congratulate the winners for maintaining the tradition of The Nation newspaper as being the best in the land, turning out journalists who are trained in the best of good, ethical and development journalism, and one which promotes national interest.

“They have shown that they are indeed quality writers and reporters in Nigeria.

“I will urge them to continue to work hard to maintain this tradition. Their writings and stories affect society.

“People are noticing and commending it, and learning from it. I wish them all the best.”

•Quit if you aren’t ready to work, Reps panel tells Humanitarian Affairs minister

 

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, has accused the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) of smuggling  N206 billion into the 2023 budget of Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management.

A statement by the ministry said Mrs. Ahmed pointed fingers at the BOF when she appeared before House Committee on Appropriation’s interactive meeting.

The minister told the legislators that “there was an error in the budget of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs as the N206 billion captured in the budget proposal of the ministry was wrongly coded by the Budget Office”.

“Mrs. Ahmed said the N206 billion alleged insertion, which had generated serious reaction within the week, was for the national social safety nets project funded by the World Bank and domiciled in the Humanitarian Ministry,” the statement said.

The Finance Minister told the legislators that “the wrong coding resulted in the item being wrongly captured as ‘purchase of security equipment’ but that it had nothing to do with Budget padding, but an oversight”.

She added: “The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management should have called the attention of the Budget Office to the anomaly, like her counterparts in other ministries.”

Also, the House of Representatives has asked the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, to quit her job if she is not ready to work.

The lawmakers made the remarks following the minister’s incessant failure to appear before various committees of the House to defend the ministry’s 2023 budget proposal.

Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Muktar Betara, spoke on behalf of the committee during an investigative hearing on alleged budget insertion of N206 billion in the 2023 budget of the ministry yesterday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the N206,242,395,000 is reportedly earmarked for the National Social Safety Nets Project, which is funded by the World Bank and domiciled in the ministry.

The committee chairman had asked why Hajiya Farouq was not present to defend the insertion, saying she should quit, if she was not ready for the job.

“Most times the committee calls the minister, she refuses to come. If she is not ready for the job, she should quit,” Betara said.

NAN also reports that Hajiya Farouq, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Nasir Gwarzo, said the minister directed him to represent her.

“The minister said she did not understand the budget code. It was the media that reported the error as padding.

“We did not go to the media refuting the work the committee or the Ministry of Finance had done. But we wrote for clarification, which was given.

“The amount of money in question was a counterpart funding that was given by the World Bank. If it was done without appropriation, Nigerian would not have known what was borrowed,” he said.

In his response, a member of the committee, Igariwey Enwo (PDP Ebonyi), said the budget should not be subjected to controversy.

“We are talking about the money we borrowed. We should also know how we spend the money.

“Raising unnecessary controversy about the budget will not augur well. There should be inter-agency coordination.”

Benjamin Kalu (APC Abia) said: “My concern is that the image of our country should be protected in respect of the budget.

“I reached out to the Minister of Finance on the issue but nothing was done. I could not go ahead to give the media the information it needed at that point.”