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Tag: Atiku Abubakar

  • PDP almost ruined Nigeria – Sen. Adeola

    Sen.Olamilekan Adeola (Lagos West) on Thursday urged Nigerians to give the All Progressives Congress (APC) the needed support to fix the present challenges confronting the country.

    Adeola gave the advice in Lagos while speaking at a meeting with traditional rulers in his senatorial district.

    He said some of the problems facing the country were inherited by the current APC administration owing to what he called 16years of inept leadership of the People’s Democratic Party(PDP).

    Adeola said that the PDP nearly ruined Nigeria with incompetent leadership, but the APC was making sincere efforts to reposition the country.

    “People talk about the problems in the country but we have to understand that the present challenges of the country were not caused by the APC but inherited from the PDP.

    “For 16 years, the PDP delivered nothing but bad governance; in fact, they almost destroyed the country. So, the mess created in 16 years cannot be fixed in three years.

    “The truth is that the Buhari-led administration has made steady progress in the last three years. And Nigerians can bank on the government to address all the issues to make life better for all,” he said.

    Adeola said the promise of the PDP, particularly its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to make things better for Nigerians was an empty one.

    He said before Atiku’s promise to turn around the country could be taken seriously, Nigerians should ask him to list his achievements as Vice-president under PDP.

    Adeola urged Nigerians to be wary of Atiku, saying his plan to sell some national assets if elected should scare all patriots.

    The senator implored traditional rulers to always criticise the present government constructively and give their support for the continued progress of the country.

    He said that he believed traditional rulers should be given constitutional roles in nation-building, promising to champion the cause in the 9th Senate, if elected.

    Adeola thanked the traditional rulers and the people in the district for their consistent support for him, assuring them that he would always deliver democratic dividends in the area.

    The senator said as a representative of the area, he had put in place impacting programmes and interventions.

    He said thousands of constituents had benefitted from his empowerment programmes in the area and his various interventions in infrastructure development.

    Adeola said he had facilitated jobs for many youths in the area and had supported many in business.

    The senator said he was passionate about the progress of Lagos West and urged the constituents to support him in 2019 to do more.

    The News Agency of Agency (NAN) reports that traditional rulers who were at the meeting include Oba Shakirudeen Kuti (Elewu of Ewuland); Oba Kamilu Isiba (Olu of Agege Kingdom); Oba Kabiru Agbabiaka (Osolo of Osolo Kingdom) and Oba Suleiman Suberu (Alajasa of Ajasaland).

    Oba Nureni Akinremi (Onijegun of Ijegun); Aholu Samuel Olowolabani of Ajaraland and Oba Lasisi Gbadamosi (Onigando of Igando) were also present.

    NAN reports all the traditional rulers endorsed the senator for re-election at the end of the meeting.

  • 2019: CUPP adopt Atiku as sole presidential candidate

    The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has adopted the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as sole presidential candidate for the February 16, 2019 presidential election.
    The CUPP, which is made up of over 40 opposition parties, yesterday announced the decision shortly after a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, a statement by the Coalition spokesman, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere said.
    The meeting, which was said to have been attended by over 41 political parties, arrived at Atiku’s choice after it was noted that the former Vice President, towered high on the criteria used by the opposition in arriving at the decision.
    The Coalition said it picked Atiku as consensus candidate based on national acceptability, financial capacity, spread of his political party, leadership capacity, international acceptability, experience, capacity to rebuild the economy, ability to secure the country and to unite Nigerians among other factors.
    The Coalition said it would be meeting with Atiku before the week runs out, with the view to collapsing into a single presidential campaign.
    Meanwhile, parties have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law, noting that the 30 days time window for the President’s assent will expire on Friday.
    Addressing newsmen on the matter, Ugochinyere said the refusal by the President to sign the bill might deny the nation free, fair and credible elections in 2019.

    Read Also: Atiku seeks emergency on military funding

    The spokesman said, “Today we are 72 days away from the opening of the ballot for the 2019 general elections and in less than 72 hours, the 30 days’ time limit allowed by law for the President to assent to the Bill will elapse.
    “We have credible intelligence that the design of the grand plot to derail the 2019 general elections has been completed and the implementation has accordingly commenced.
    “It is more worrisome that the government toeing this path of dishonour is a government that won an open election where the people were allowed to cast their votes freely and their votes were allowed to count.
    “It is now about twenty eight days since the National Assembly forwarded to the President and for the fourth time, necessary amendments to our Electoral Act. The President has not signed the amendment.
    “We are also sad to say this to you; that there is intelligence that the President has agreed with his kitchen cabinet not to sign the amendment into law.
    “We have been informed that after several undue delays, the President is set to communicate the National Assembly anytime from today that he would not be able to sign the amendment due to the existence of Article 2 of the ECOWAS Protocol on democracy and good governance”.
    The said Article 2 prohibits member countries from making Electoral Act amendments less than six months to elections unless there is consent of the political parties involved in the election.

  • Okorocha, Amosun behaving like poor students of history- Oshiomhole

     Says Obasanjo inviting God’s anger

    National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress  (APC),  Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said on Wednesday that the governors of Imo and Ogun State,  Rochas Okorocha and Senator Ibikunle Amosun  were behaving like poor student of their own history who had forgotten  that they lost elections before winning on the platform of the APC.

    Oshiomhole who spoke while receiving APC women leaders from Edo State and the FCT also hit at former President Olusegun Obasanjo saying the former Nigerian leader was inviting the anger of God upon himself by supporting former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the Presidency after severally saying the God will not forgive him if he supports his former deputy. 

    Oshiomhole was however confident that the APC is stronger now  in IMO and Ogun states  despite grievances of their governors as a result of the outcome of the party primaries where their preferred candidates lost out.

    But supporters of the governor’s have since left the APC for other parties with both governors who are Senatorial candidates of the party promising to work against the party in the governorship elections. 

    Oshiomhole said “The real headline today is that we win in Ogun state and we will deliver Hope Uzodinma in Imo state.  Our popularity in Imo state today are increasing, what we don’t know and Nigerians always make this mistake that once you are a governor, you have electoral value.

    “Yes we have overwhelming majority of APC governors who has electoral value and we also have some few electoral liabilities. I can tell that in Imo state today we will more votes. Politics is about numbers and I am looking at the average Imo voters because on that the governor will have one vote and his Son-in-law will also have one vote, those market women, artisans, mechanics and farmers will also have their vote.

    “Those who think our political future is tied to them; they are poor students of their own political history. Some of these people who talk as if they are invincible, they have forgotten that they have run elections in the past and lost until they abandoned their parties and joined us. So if they return back, history will repeat itself.

    “In Imo state today, APC will win more votes. My focus is on ordinary Imo voters because on that day, the governor would have only one vote, his son-in-law would have only one vote while his Commissioner for Happiness would have only one vote.

    “But artisans, traders, teachers and workers whose salaries are not being paid have the same weight of vote and they are excited about the renewed possibility of a new government coming with fresh ideas free of all the encumbrances of the present system. So in Imo I’m very confident.

    “Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is from Ogun State. The state is one of the most enlightened States in Nigeria. They have a huge history; they are not in a political kingdom headed by one person.

    “If they were looking for true reconciliation, they wouldn’t have done what they did (defection of aides). That is not how democracy works. Nigeria must grow beyond this syndrome ‘I’m the governor, I will decide.’ You have only one vote. With due respect, I was once a governor. Overall APC is much stronger now.”

    Read Also: Imo APC crisis irreconcilable – Okorocha

    Oshiomhole asked former President Olusegun Obasanjo to remember he swore that God should punish him if he ever supports his former vice to become the president.

    “We know there are people across the divide who are fighting back. There is a gang up by those who are used to sucking the system without adding any value but Nigerians will not allow that,” he said.

    He expressed confidence that the 2019 election would be a smooth sail for President Muhammadu Buhari and APC because ethnic and religious sentiments that characterised the 2015 election lost by former president Goodluck Jonathan would have no play this time around.

    “The two candidates are from the North and they are both Muslims. People are now going to look at character. Nobody has ever said Buhari is a thief. But who said the other person (Atiku) is a thief? it was his boss (Obasanjo).

    “When you are working with me and I said you are a thief, God will punish me if I support you. And when you are confused because your supply line has been chopped off, you now turned around to support the same person. That God that you called with your name to punish you if you support the person is about to go to work. And he will go to work in February and HE will punish him thoroughly and the person he is supporting, in favour of Nigeria.”

    Speaking further on Buhari’s chances in 2019, he said: “My hope is that Buhari will win. He will have more votes than he got before because some of those who misused religion, for that was the most potent weapon that was used very recklessly, by people who have no issues in 2015. 

    “This time around, they will have to speak to the issues because the two main candidates are Muslims. Again, the issue of North-South, Buhari maintained the key support in the North, that was because people voted on the basis of son of the soil, this time, the two main candidates are from the North so these things will not be there. So we are now going to look at character. 

    “Who can say Buhari is a thief, nobody has ever said so. But who said the other person is a thief, it is the person he was working with. Because if I you are working me and I say you are thief, God will punish me if I support you, and when you are confused because your supply line has been chopped off, and you enter a new deal and you come back to say I now support you, that God that you call with name that He will punish you if you support this person, that God is about to go to work and He will go to work in February, next year. He will punish him thoroughly and punish the person he is supporting in favour of Nigeria”.

    Turning to the women,  he said “Yes, the women are going to play a key role in the elections, they are going to compare notes,  those of them who were about 20 year’s old in 1999, by the time they were 36 years, they know all that has happened.

    “They won’t forget that the PDP promised that in six months they will provide stable power, 16 years they did not. They will not forget that PDP spent $16 billion, they will not forget that PDP spent so much money on rail and workers will not forget that under the PDP industries have been shut down.

    “Some people recently said that Atiku was one of the most powerful Vice President Nigeria ever had, so he would not say that he didn’t know what was going on on in goverment. So he was a central player and you know all the issues of corruption in goverment then, especially the allegation that sums of money ranging from N50 million was being share to National Assembly members for the third term, all coming from the system. So we can return to those eras of locust.”

  • Protesters against Atiku’s visa storm US embassy

    Protesters under the aegis of Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations in Nigeria, on Wednesday stormed the US embassy in Abuja, urging the American government to deny former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar visa to its country.

    Atiku, who is also the 2019 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), according to the group, was allegedly involved in a bribery scandal for which Senator William Jefferson was tried and jailed for 13 years in 2009.

    The National Convener of the group, Comrade Wole Badmus that led the protest, said that “granting his (Atiku’s) visa request will amount to a negation of the Patriot Act which makes the acceptance of foreign corruption proceeds a US money laundering offense.

    “It also makes a mockery of the United Nations Convention against Corruption enacted in 2003 in which USA played an active role in its enactment and presently ratified by over 40 countries. It is also against the spirit of investigative group dedicated to combating foreign corruption by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) formed in 2003 by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Finally granting such request makes a mess of a president Bush Presidential Proclamation 7750 denying Us visa to foreign officials involved with corruption, and other supporting legislations by the congress.”

    He noted that if the US denied the former Vice President its visa for 13 years and now grants it to him in the twilight of his presidential election, it will be tantamount to making a mockery of the United Nation’s Convention against corruption.

    He added that if  the US that is seen as a global seat of democracy, rule of law and transparency grants it visa to an allegedly political criminals in Nigeria, the country would have aided him to score a cheap political goal.

    Although the US embassy in Abuja was on a public holiday yesterday following the burial ceremony of its former President George Bush, Badmus read his letter addressed to the US Ambassador, Stuart Symington before a surging crowd of protesters and the armed policemen on guard.

    Read Also: Atiku seeks emergency on military funding

    The letter which was titled “The Imperatives of Rejecting Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s Visa Reguest,” said that “we write to officially and strongly advise the United States embassy against granting this request as doing so has the capacity if portraying the great American state as being supportive of illicit transactions and gross abuse of public office for personal aggrandizement.

    “This is apart from the tacit and covert electoral gain such can confer him as the general correct perception in our country now is that an Atiku is being denied America Visa because of proven cases of money laundering and financial crimes against him.”

    The protesters were decked in orange T shirts and faze caps, carrying different placard with inscriptions as “US, stay clear of Nigeria’s internal politics.” No issuance of politically motivated visa to Atiku.” “Senator Jefferson was jailed, Lady Jennifer was jailed, Atiku must also be jailed in the US.”  “Nigerians say no to America’s interference in the nation’s politics.” “Go, Atiku Go to jail in America.”

    The opening part of the letter said that “It was with highest level of discontent that we received an update of purported granting of entry visa to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to the United States of America last Friday. We were jolted that America being the bastion of democracy, rule of law and transparency in public administration can debauch into the abyss of being used by discredited and renowned financial criminals in our country to score cheap political goals.

    “However, our melancholic state transmuted into that of ecstasy upon establishing that such info was just a hoax and an attempt to test the water of public opinion in the eventuality of such request being undeservedly granted.”

    Badmus recalled that the result of the US Senate Permanent sub-committee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Carl Levin that submitted submitted its report in February 2010 was supported  by the US government owing to its concern about corruption in the Third World and its effects on democracy.

    He said that “a summary of the report indicates that between 2000 and 2008, Jennifer Douglas, a US citizen and the fourth wife of Atiku Ababakar, former Vice President and former candidate for President of Nigeria, helped her husband bring over $40million suspect funds into the United States through wire transfers sent by offshore corporations to US bank accounts.

    “In a 2008 civil complaint, the US Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Ms. Douglas received over $2million in bribe payments in 2001 and 2002, from Siemens AG, a major German corporation.

    “Sir, it may also interest you to know that in 2007, Mr. Abubakar was a subject of corruption allegations in Nigeria related to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund and of the $40million in suspect funds, $25 million was wire transferred by offshore corporations into more than 39 US bank accounts opened by Ms. Douglas, primarily by Guernsey a Trust Company Nigeria Ltd, LetsGo Ltd. inc. and Sima Holding Ltd.

    “As each bank began to question the offshore wire transfers, Ms. Douglas indicated that all of the funds came from her husband and professed little familiarity with offshore corporations actually sending her money.

    “In 2009, Senator Jefferson a major accomplice and indicted official in the bribery scandal was tried in the US district court in Virginia on corruption charges. He was found guilty of sixteen corruption counts and was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment on November 13, 2009.”

  • Be wary of PDP, Arewa youths tell Nigerians

    A group of youths under the auspices of Arewa Proactive Youth Coalition has urged Nigerians to be wary of the Peoples Democratic Party, especially the ability of the party to transparently manage public resources when voted into power.

    President of the group, Inuwa Bako, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, the nation’s capital, dismissed the flag-off of the presidential campaign of the PDP as a scam, saying that the youths from the region were wiser now.

    He also described the appearance of some chieftains of the party, including its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in Sokoto as the latest form of “MMM” in town.

    According to him, youths from the northwest would never fall for the scam the PDP is trying to sell to people of the region.

    Boko said it was laughable that the PDP could described its outing in Sokoto as a huge success even when attendees did not fill up a 10,000 capacity stadium that hosted the rally.

    This, he explained, has proven that the PDP can never repent of being fraudulent by passing off its rally for the north-west as a success.

    Read Also: Nigeria must never, ever return to PDP’s evil days

    Bako said: “The North West rally which had the entire PDP loyalists from all over Nigeria left a 10,000 capacity stadium still empty and the mouthpieces of the party were still bereft of shame to lie that the number of people that attended the rally portends victory for Atiku Abubakar. This is nothing but MMM whereby people were made to believe what did not exist, anyone that allow themselves to be taken in by such scam are in for disappointing surprises.

    “The PDP may be playing the ostrich but the reality is that many people that should have attended the rally are aware that they will not hear anything new but that they will be plied with insult and abuses against the ruling party since the PDP and his candidate are incapable of issue based campaign.

    “The people of the North West and other Nigerians are eager to attend rallies that are better organized, where they will be able to here fact based pitches from candidate and not gatherings where actors and charlatans would be hopping on soap boxes.

    “We have done the simple mathematics, which people that cannot gauge the number of people that attended their rally in a 10,000 capacity venue are incapable of. If a single tenure of four years can bring the government closer to citizens more than 16 years of PDP has done then it follows that the wasted era of PDP must never be repeated, which includes not wasting time to attend the party’s paid to attend rally.

    “You can imagine that a party that was in power for 16 years with a candidate that was Vice President for eight years are unable to point to concrete projects or achievements to convince the electorates with. If after previously holding office for 16 years all PDP can do is to make more promises of what it will do if elected instead of showing what it has done to be re-elected then there is something capitally wrong with the party and its candidate.

    “So why should we go and listen to their lies when we know that we can listen to the other candidate that can easily show us what he has done, what he is doing and what he will do, all under four years? This is what President Buhari and the APC has above them and they are yet to realize it. They continue to live their lies.

    “We have resolved that we will not allow the rural population or those with limited political exposure to be scammed by the PDP as they continue their other rallies. Arewa Proactive Youth Coalition has therefore resolved to embark on an enlightenment drive to educate people on the issues they should raise when any party approaches them with non-issue based messaging.”

  • We can’t return to Egypt again, Tinubu tells PDP

    …. says Saraki sold APC mandate for pot of pottage

     

    Former Lagos state governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that Nigerians must not allow the nation to return to part of destruction and retrogression which the People Democratic Party (PDP) led government subjected it to for 16 years but aim to move forward in building a nation that every citizen will be proud of.

    Tinubu who spoke at a National, consultative forum organised by the National Committee of Buhari Support Groups in Abuja accused the Atiku Campaign Organisation and the People Democratic Party of trying to blackmail the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police with the accusation of plots to rig the 2019 elections because “they knew that they will not win”.

    Read Also:2019 poll: Why Buhari must continue, by Tinubu

    He also accused Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki of using the mandate of the APC to negotiate and give lifeline to the opposition, saying “he left the PDP, joined us, got elected, got our mandate, our majority and sold it for a pot of pottage. God is honest, Saraki is not”.

    The former Lagos state governor also recalled how the rigging machineries of the PDP almost denied him his re-election in 2003 when INEC published what he described as fake results of the governorship election in Lagos state on its website, saying it took the then Resident Electoral Commissioner’s courage to insist that what was published was not the real results for his election to be validated.

    He said: “Come February, we will re-elect Buhari. It is not easy to put together a National Committee, but we are in the same family. As free minded people, you are all free to be doing other things this morning, but you are here because you have the vision and the determination that Nigeria must continue the foundation and the progress of the future.

    “Working together to re-elect Buhari is a task that must be achieved. Why are they complaining? Buhari is too busy to exchange words with them because he is building foundation of a prosperous Nigeria that will magnify the economy and provide employment for everyone regardless of the status in the society.

    “A fervent man like him will not have time for the nonsense being thrown at him. I give you one message for them and there will be many such messages. Their candidate who is supposed to beat Buhari has been in our party and many other parties. He has more party members to build a house.

    “All you have to do is to go out there and tell him that a house built on cards will be collapsed with a single stroke of broom. He said they are reformed, but reformed what? Reformed PDP. No. Tell them as you go out that we accept the admission of guilty that they were vagabond before and now being reformed.

    “But they have not served enough probation. You can only be reformed if you are an ex-convict, a drug addict or a political prostitute. It is because Buhari has not temperament and no tolerance for corruption, he is vigorously ridding the nation of blemish and looting, a bad reputation.

    “I can see them celebrating the visa. What a shame? Yet you want to lead this country with the most vibrant economy in Africa? Why should we allow them?

    They ran this country from 1999 till 2015. They were planning for 60 years of doing nothing, lack of direction and concern for the citizens.

    “Are we still in this nation where visionary leadership is required? If yes, then they are not competent and not qualified to be leading Nigeria again and say they want to come back to government. If they left our schools in such dilapidated condition, left out hospitals without Medicare, they don’t deserve to come back.

    “They say we should not talk about their past anymore because they are ashamed of it, but we cannot go without talking about it because a nation has no history if there are no reference. If you give me an application for Employment which is the application of Atiku Abubakar, I must look at what you have done before, you experience.

    “We have to look at Halliburton and why they left Nigeria. Go and ask those questions. They spent 16 billion dollars of NEPA money and what they give us is darkness and when they knew that we were kicking them out, they shared the company through irregularities called privatization which I called personalization of the wealth of Nigeria.

    “We won’t allow that to happen again and I will recommend that we Campaign on that. We should find a way to technically dissolve those companies they shared among themselves. There is no way you can industrialize a nation without providing electricity.

    “So many industries in Kaduna, Ikeja and other parts of the country. What were they doing for 16 years? That is why we believe that President Buhari is the best person to lead us and got him elected in 2015.

    “They said he will die, but he did not die and is back hale and healthy and when they saw seriousness on his part, they now said he was cloned. That is because they know so much about forgery. I am glad he told them he is real. They exist to lie.

    “Take their new found Jehovah Witness, former President Obasanjo. After they disgraced the office of the President, fighting in public and abusing each other, telling us how they stole money and dancing naked in the market square, Obasanjo said he has spoken to God never to allow Atiku to become President.

    “Which God is he now talking to, to say Atiku should be President? I believe he is not telling the truth and not to the God we know. He is just talking to himself.

    We have sacrificed too much under the PDP and we cannot go back.

    “People must ask you why you belong to this support group. Tell them that you are members of a very committed rescue mission that started in 2015. I remember how things were. So, remind them of what happened because they can’t shut us up.

    “They had the best opportunity for prosperity, but they are now complaining. They were there for 16 years and never added one barrel capacity to the refineries in Nigeria. They didn’t even pay counterpart funding for our rail, electricity and we cannot industrialist a nation without the power source.

    “I stand before you as a very proud individual. When I introduced Independent power generation to fire the industries at Ikeja industrial estate, they killed it because there was bribe under the table.

    “Imagine what Buhari is doing today in rail and in feeding our children which creates opportunity for the farmers, it creates small scale business for those cooking the food and a lot of people involved are doing better and we are battling poverty with the best weapon which is education.

    “They are busy changing parties and that is why they are confused. Atiku is now PDP Aladdin. He is going to create 14 million jobs and I say how? They will turn Atlantic into fuel to crash the prices without the refineries working and the population is expanding and people must move around. He just talks of crashing the prices of fuel. They are lying again because a leopard cannot change its skin.

    “They had 16 billion of unprecedented resources and yet, they didn’t bring power to Nigeria. They invested that money in their personal industries. They bought turbines from General Electric and did it add one pipe line to bring gas to the plant.

    “They can say anything now about Buhari. I agree with Okonjo Iweala that it is difficult to fight corruption. The agents of destruction are there fighting us, but we will win with strong determination.

    “Don’t let them sweep things under the carpet that when we came in as a government, before then they had too much resources in their hands, but Buhari funded states to pay salaries. In that period, 27 states were unable to pay salaries as at May 2015. The states and local economy would have collapsed long time ago.

    “If PDP members truly love this country, those should humbly step aside and allow Buhari continue with the work of addressing the ills in our nation. However, since they seem to obstruct and remain focus as applicants, we say no job for them.

    “No matter what they say, don’t listen to them, don’t kind them. What they want is to continue to distract with the talk of rigging because they know that they are losing. They want to blackmail INEC and the police. I remember my own election for my second term.

    “On the website of INEC, they announced a funny result, but a woman of great character who was the State Resident Electoral Commissioner said no, the result she got from the field are the valid results and not the fake ones published and upheld our election. They know they cannot win.

    “That is why all the noise from either Saraki, a man who used our mandate to negotiate and give lifeline to the opposition. Leadership is about character. How can he now ask us to vote for PDP. he left the PDP, joined us, got elected, got our mandate, our majority and sold it for a lot of portage. God is honest, Saraki is not.

    “They talk about farmers and herders clashes. If they are honest, they should know that it also happened during their time, but they have no way of thinking; they have no capacity to convert tragedy into economic prosperity. We have the capacity in this country to do irrigation and utilize our water resources, to create pastures and ranches so that we can convert those miseries, that tragedy to opportunity for our people. Livestock is economy.

    “It is not about intellectual talent alone. There are so many unrewarded talents across the world. It is about character, determination, the love of a country and our commitment to nation building. That is what PDP is opposed to and APC is determined to continue as a progressive entity and the man to lead the nation on that part is President Buhari. Tell Nigerians that after Moses crossed the Red Sea, he is not going to return to Egypt.”

     

  • ‘Igbo not worried about Atiku’s six-year plan’

    A former member of the House of Representatives and a Chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Greg Egu, has described as unfounded and baseless report that there is anxiety in the Southeast over the six years action plan of the PDP Presidential candidate,  Atiku Abubakar.
    Egu in a statement made available to The Nation, said that the Igbo are not worried about Atiku’s plan but are concerned with enthroning a leadership that will restore their pride of place in Nigeria.
    According to the statement,  “Nothing can be more fallacious than this. In the first place, the issue of whether Atiku Abubakar will stay beyond 2023 is not the immediate concern of the people of the zone. Their focus at the moment is the emergence ofAtilu as the next President of Nigeria come May 29, in fulfillment of their quest for a leadership that will fully restore their pride of place in Nigeria’s corporate landscape”.

    Read Also: Atiku goes to America

    It added that, “Of course, the zone has its expectations, fears and aspirations but these are not subject to jaundiced speculations. The support of the Southeast and its people for Atiku is total and unconditional but they have absolute confidence that he will do nothing to hurt them politically”.
    The statement continued that,  “perhaps more important, the people of the Southeast are knowledgeable and sophisticated enough to understand that the universal norm today is strategic economic planning that may transcend tenure limits since government is a continuum. In any case, that Atiku plan stretches into 2025 or so can only be meaningfully interpreted to mean that it is another way of saying the next administration after him, no matter who or which zone takes over, will continue from where he stops. Can there be any better offer or optimism for a country than that?
    “I call on our brethren in the Southeast to ignore these types of distractions and remain focused in partnering with the rest of our compatriots across the country in the collective quest for a new and purposeful administration that our national vision for total political and economic emancipation

  • Atiku yet to convince, placate Ekweremadu

    DESPITE the hoopla about the PDP Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar’s nocturnal peace shuttle to the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, on Monday, the session was still inconclusive. Apart from appeasement, Atiku is still not forthcoming on his idea of restructuring and power shift to the Southeast  in 2023. These were two knotty issues he could not untie.  Instead, Atiku merely rationalised the over-flogged issue of how he chose Peter Obi as his running mate. But   at the parley Ekweremadu made it clear that he had no personal demand from Atiku. He said  the Igbo wanted him to respond to the 2023 conundrum. Although Atiku left satisfied that he had at least had an audience with Sen Ekweremadu, his trepidation on what the Southeast leaders and governors are up to in 2019 heightened. The governors, Sentry recalls, were absent at the installation of Atiku as Wazirin Adamawa last week in Yola by the Lamido Adamawa, a ceremony attended by PDP bigwigs.

    Ganduje, Kwankwaso in battle of attrition

    WHILE ex-Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso is trying to unseat his erstwhile deputy, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, he is painfully unaware that his roof is leaking. Some of his high-profile loyalists, penultimate Tuesday, defied the holy hours of the night to reconcile with the governor on his re-election bid. A few of them even regretted resigning their choice appointments because of rabid loyalty to Kwankwaso. A governor, who was around when the bigwigs sneaked into the Ganduje home at night, was heard saying: “This game(politics)  is the most dangerous and slippery. The red cap man is already feeling secure without knowing that he will probably walk alone in the end in 2019.” What the spectator governor did not say, however, was why the governor seems immune to any anti-graft agency sting going by the numerous allegations against him involving bribery and corruption.

    Lies, damned lies, and statistics in Northeast

    MORE than 10 days after news of the Metele, Borno State, attacks by Boko Haram, the controversy over casualty figures is yet to abate. For those 10 giddy days, domestic and international news sources put the number of those killed by Boko Haram insurgents at more than 100, with some insisting the figure is about 118, and others indicating over 150, and all of them quoting unnamed sources close to the battlefields. In the cacophony, the Nigerian military kept an ethereal silence for about four days before finally admitting the Metele attack but not its severity or the casualty figures, whether manageable or worrisome.

    Since the military abandoned the news field, and could not be tempted to corroborate or deny the casualty figures, independent sources had a field day, leading to the parliament and all manner of vested interests asking for an investigation. President Muhammadu Buhari also deemed the attacks serious enough to visit Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to empathise with injured troops and to attend a military conference holding in that city. Eventually, the government acknowledged 23 soldiers killed and some 31 injured. The worry is that it took more than 10 days to release a figure, a gap sufficient to allow speculations to fester badly and dangerously.

    No one seems surprised that Nigerians disbelieved the government. Too many sources had claimed more than a hundred killed and more than 100 missing; that is the approximate figure likely to stick in the public mind. The parliament has called for a release of the names of the dead and injured; it is not clear whether the government will oblige them. But if the lawmakers will do their job well, they can get to the bottom of the controversy. Sometime in the near future, the truth may finally come out, and that truth will probably indicate who is right or wrong. But that truth will not exculpate the government of failing to expeditiously address the controversy. The government was wrong and irresponsible not to know and disclose their battlefield dead and wounded in two, three days, let alone nearly two weeks, a source in Maiduguri told Sentry. The source insisted the military understated the facts of the November 18 and 19, 2018 attacks.

    Cold war in Yobe

    THERE are speculations that all is not well between Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State and his anointed candidate for the 2019 governorship election, Mai Mala Buni, National Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Sources close to the governor tell Sentry that the governor is ill at ease with the way and manner his anointed candidate is hobnobbing with his perceived political foes after securing the governorship ticket.

    The sources say that the governor is apprehensive about the post-May 29, 2019 Yobe State politics after the APC secretary might have been sworn in as governor should these foes worm their way into the heart of the incoming governor. A source revealed that Gov Gaidam had at some point shunned calls from the APC gubernatorial candidate after learning that the candidate paid reconciliatory visits to some of those who contested the primary election. The governor, Sentry learnt, was particularly piqued by Mai Mala’s visit to the house of one of the aspirants, Sidi Yakubu Karasuwa,  a member of the House of Representatives from the state. “We heard that Gov. Gaidam refused to pick Mai Mala’s call three times when he was in Sudan because he was displeased with him reconciling with the people he contested against,” the source said.

    Hon. Karasuwa, a former commissioner in the state, former council chairman, former state party chairman,  and two-time Director General of the Ibrahim Gaidam campaign organization, had refused to step down for Mai Mala during the primary election despite entreaties. Instead, he insisted on the election which he lost by a wide margin to the governor’s anointed candidate and two other candidates.

    Apart from the anointed candidate’s rapprochement with co-contestants, the governor is said to be also worried by the growing number of his political foes getting close to his successor, and the  shift of loyalty to the APC national secretary by party members in the state who have virtually relocated to the house of the incoming governor in Abuja.

    Southwest PDP candidate begs for campaign cash

    THIS is not the best of time for a PDP governorship candidate in the Southwest who is desperately looking for campaign contributions. The last time he contested, he got a huge war chest from the presidency such that money was not his problem. But the clever man he was, instead of pumping the cash from the presidency into his campaign, he used it to rehabilitate his business and family leading to a big loss. After he wangled his way to get the PDP ticket again, the governorship candidate ran to the presidential candidate of his party for assistance. He hit a  brick wall when the presidential candidate said: “I am also looking for money to finance my campaign.” For PDP chiefs, it is a case of once bitten, twice shy.

  • Atiku’s American visa status, a confidential matter – US Consulate


    Against the backdrop of the controversies trailing the US visa status of Nigeria’s former vice president who also doubles as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, the United States Consulate,  Lagos on Friday said the issue remains a strictly confidential matter which the American government will not discuss publicly.

    The Public Affairs Officer (PAO), US Consulate, Lagos, Brussel Brooks, maintained that irrespective of the social standing or interest of the society in the matter, the US government will give the matter the strict confidentiality that it requires.

    The PAO who did not specifically mention any name, made the disclosure in an interview with journalists at the end of an education forum organised for 150 teachers and students drawn from various public schools in Oyo State.

    Dignitaries at the event include representatives of Oyo State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, students, teachers among other stakeholders in the sector.

    The programme, entitled: “Teaching Resources: Availability, Applicability and Appropriateness”, held at the Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan.

    It was organised by Fulbright Language Scholars’ Association under the leadership of Miss Tolu Akinwole and funded by the US Consulate.

    The organisers said the programme had trained a total of 350 teachers in Oyo and Ondo States in 2018 with the focus of “igniting vibrant teachers and provide solutions to observed inability of students to apply lessons they learn in classrooms to everyday life.”

    Speaking on the Atiku US visa status, Brooks noted that although, the case has been a topic issue in the media for a while, the US with still maintain its stand of taking visa matters as highly confidential, irrespective of the individual concerned.

    He said, “The position of the US Mission has remained the same throughout any discussion of this issue, that visas are a confidential matter.

    “We don’t discuss individual visa’s status of any person, whether it be a highly rated official, a presidential candidate or an average citizen.

    “Anyone who applies for a visa should know that there will be some records that are confidential. It is classified as private document by the United States Government and we never discuss them now public.

    Read Also: 2019: Between Buhari and Atiku



    “We would only enjoin candidates at all levels, especially presidential, governorship and National Assembly, to focus on issue-based campaigns and avoid distractions,

    “We advise Nigerians to ask candidates at all levels the plan they have to improve education and other aspects.

    “Often times unfortunately, campaigns are full of distractions, things that are not that important to the lives and welfare of average Nigerians, especially the children that are with us today. What is important for them is to give them the opportunities to serve in order to thrive in today’s world.

    “This means they need a good education. The school should be improved. When I heard the letter from the students describing their lack of books and dearth of desks in their school. This is very disheartening… There are things that should be corrected.

    “I will also encourage parents and voters to ask the candidates what they plan to do to improve education. I think issue-based campaigns will be beneficial to all Nigerians.”

  • 2019: Sokoto youths endorse Tambuwal, Atiku’s bid

    As campaigns begin for the 2019 general elections, momentum has set in Sokoto state with a Coalition of youth of Resident  Communities‎ unanimous endorsement of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal’s re-election bid.
    Similarly, the youths endorsed the presidential bid of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar‎ with a plan to organise a 5000 man mega rally march round the state for Tambuwal and Atiku.
    The youths described Atiku as a political icon that can sail the country out of the shackles of bad governance by ensuring Nigeria works again.
    Addressing a press conference on Friday in Sokoto, the Leader of the youths, comprising 108 executives from across the 23 LGs, Comrade Luka Jacob‎ said the unilateral endorsement was in view of Tambuwal’s ability and fast standing residence to fulfil the basic and fundamental promises made to electorates and has strengthened and risen the hope of youth wing of  resident communities in the state.
    “Tambuwal has done that for Southern and Western youths in the spirit of friendship and love by empowering members of our organization.

    Read Also: Tambuwal warns PDP supporters against idle talks

    “We have benefited ‎from his educational grants and logistics, health intervention as well assistance to accident victims and disease control to all and sundry across the state”, he mentioned.
    Accordingly, he noted with passion how the governor ensured the inclusion of resident communities in his cabinet to strengthen the bond of unity and brother hood.
    ‎” We are strongly and solidly behind and promise to give him our votes.
    ” Therefore, we shall hold a mega rally to comprise of southern and non indigene youths resident in Sokoto state.
    However, Jacob appealed and solicited the support of security agencies to be friendly and ‎civil to them during the mega rally” I also urge our members to be law abiding and continue to uphold the spirit of peace unity known with Sokoto state as its core value”, he said.