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Tag: BMO

  • Good governance alien to PDP, says BMO

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot appreciate good governance because it spent its 16 years in power mismanaging the country and entrenching wrongdoing as the norm, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has said.

    In a statement yesterday in Abuja, the nation’s capital, by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the organisation noted that the PDP, in the 16 years it ran the affairs of the country, up-ended normalcy and adopted irregularities as the norm.

    It said the main opposition had been displaying the inability to understand good governance under the President Muhammau Buhari administration.

    “We are not surprised to read the statements by the PDP, throwing tantrums and accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) of everything possible and for anything happening in the country. The statements smack of the party’s inability to see and appreciate good governance and strong institutions.

    Read also: BMO: Dubai retreat another PDP’s show of shame

    “For instance, the investigation by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) of Senate President Saraki Bukola is a simple case of an institution doing its work. If Saraki, a member of the PDP, has a case to answer, let him do so. An innocent man with no skeletons in his cupboard has nothing to fear.

    “Nigeria has institutions with the mandate of investigating fraud and financial malfeasance. If they find a person to be a suspect in the breach of any of our laws in this regard, they would act accordingly, investigate and prosecute, where necessary.

    “It is unfortunate that the PDP is not used to seeing institutions working and is consequently confused by the sight of them working without being tele-guided.

    “President Buhari respects institutions and does not interfere with their work. He believes that institutions must be allowed to do their work and not be meddled with.

    “The PDP is not used to this as, during its 16 years in government, it employed government institutions as tools for bullying critics and silencing opposition.”

    The group assured the nation that President Buhari would not bastardise government institutions, adding that because of his respects for the nation’s Federal system, he would not interfere with the domestic affairs of states.

    Also, the BMO accused the PDP of embarking on a fruitless ego trip with its criticism of Federal Government’s decision to schedule some Inauguration Day ceremonies on June 12.

    The group described the opposition as mischievous for suggesting that President Buhari would be inaugurated for a second term in office on the day, as opposed to May 29, which the Constitution recognises as the inauguration day for a new political dispensation.

    In a separate statement by Akinsiju and Madueke, the BMO said it was amused that a party, which outright refused to recognise the sanctity of June 12 for 16 years, wanted to be seen as the defender of Nigeria’s democratic culture.

    “Here is a party that is today speaking on what it described as sanctity of a day that it has the temerity to term as ‘our Democracy Day’.  Yet, it was in total control of the Executive and Legislature at the centre for all of 16 years during which it had three different Presidents but failed to do anything to accord official recognition to a day that it now agrees is important in the annals of Nigeria’s political history.

    “We are indeed shocked that the party, whose members were the biggest beneficiaries of June 12 sacrifice, now remembers that (the late Bashorun) Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola ‘stood and died for democracy’, but did everything possible to stop him from being immortalised while it rode roughshod over Nigeria and Nigerians.

    “It is, therefore, nothing more than an ego trip to nowhere for the PDP to criticise the Federal Government’s decision to move some second-term inauguration ceremonies to June 12 and yet seek to claim the day as ‘our democracy day’.

    “But we need to let opposition elements know that whether inauguration ceremonies are held on May 29 or June 12, the President did enough in his first term to earn the trust of majority of Nigerians who cast their ballots on February 23,” it said.

     

     

  • BMO to PDP: your claim on N14tr sleaze laughable

    The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) yesterday accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of taking opposition to what it called a ridiculous level with its claim of wasteful expenditure and stolen funds running into N14 trillion under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

    In a statement by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, the group said an unsubstantiated allegation that such an amount was stolen under the President’s watch was baseless.

    BMO noted that the latest act by the opposition could only have come from comic characters, adding: “PDP’s latest claim is just a rehash of what this same party put out in a statement sometime in August, last year, when it demanded an explanation from President Buhari on an alleged N9 trillion contract said to have been awarded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    “We recall that back then, the Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, urged the party to direct all questions to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, who made what looked like the original allegation in a letter to the President.

    “Kachikwu had even, as far back as October 2017, clarified that the issue had more to do with governance, not fraud at the NNPC, at a three-day Nigerian content workshop organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Owerri, Imo State.

    “In spite of this, the PDP has continued to raise the claims to tar the integrity of the Buhari administration with the hope that, like mud, it would stick.

    “The claims made in the PDP statement are cock and bull stories, just like the allegation that Keystone Bank shares belonged to President Buhari and his family. Of course, opposition elements were gleefully spreading this as part of their campaign for the presidential election.”

    “The N14 trillion the party claimed was stolen is just slightly higher than N11.5 trillion, Nigeria’s annual total revenue from crude oil sales since June 2015.

    “Even the so-called oil subsidy sleaze was investigated by Federal lawmakers at the instance of Senate President Bukola Saraki, and it was discovered that the NNPC has a revolving fund of $1.05 billion which it used to directly import and distribute fuel.

    “This can never be compared with the massive subsidy fraud that characterised the PDP years and which saw a number of party chieftains benefitting directly or through proxies from a scheme that cost the country trillions of naira and for which some subsidy thieves have been convicted and jailed.

    “PDP’s spokesperson was a senior media aide to the then Senate President David Mark at the height of the multiple investigations into the subsidy scam; he should know better.”

     

    “Also, the so-called NEMA scam is a figment of the imagination of PDP leaders and their media handlers as Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who is the target of this allegations, has since been cleared of any wrongdoing and no fund meant for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in the Northeast is missing.”

     

  • Onnoghen’s resignation: ‘PDP should hide their faces in shame’

    The Buhari Media Organisation on Monday lashes out at the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) over their support for the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, asking them and their leaders to go hide their faces in shame after Justice Onnoghen tendered his resignation letter over corruption allegations.

    In a statement signed by its Coordinator, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, the pro Buhari group said it is funny that the opposition elements and their allies stood firmly behind a senior judicial officer that was facing serious charges and sought to make political capital out of it.

    He said that the resignation of the former Chief Justice has proven that President Buhari acted in national interest by suspending the tainted Chief Justice, saying “Nigerians all saw the manner PDP and its leaders, including its former Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, ran from pillar to post before the election in a bid to defend Justice Onnoghen.

    “The party leaders even suspended their flagging Presidential campaign at that time for 72 hours! Just to be seen to be fighting perceived injustice, but discerning Nigerians knew they were playing to the gallery.

    “They were quick to shout political witch-hunt to the high heavens and that was in spite of the overwhelming evidence which they insisted on not interrogating because the CJN’s suspension tallied with the wrong impression of a dictatorial government that PDP was keen on selling to the electorates in the run up to the election.

    “We were also not surprised that another key PDP leader, the usurper Senate President Bukola Saraki, attempted to drag the Senate into it until the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus which had a clear majority shot it down.

    “We won’t also forget PDP governors in the South-South region in the hall of infamy, especially as they encouraged the man who was at the time the custodian of the nation’s law not to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

    “And now that Onnoghen has done what he should have done in the first instance rather than engage in judicial rigmarole, does it not amount to a smear on what is left of the character of these PDP elements. All these prove that PDP is still what it is-a party that supports and glorifies corruption.”

    Read Also: Onnoghen case ends anticlimactically

    According to them, President Muhammadu Buhari also deserves an apology from a segment of the civil society who castigated him for suspending Justice Onnoghen on the basis of a valid order from the CCT.

    The group said: “We at BMO have every reason to demand an apology on the President’s behalf from everyone, including the latter-day rights activists who were actually paid hacks, and the real ones who failed in their duties to hold people in government accountable.

    “These are the people that used the traditional and social media to whip up enough sentiments that some members of the international community bought the lies and took the unusual step of upbraiding the Presidency in a move that amounted to interference in the country’s internal affairs.

    “The positive take away from this is that those who made genuine mistakes in misreading the situation would now see President Buhari from our own perspective as one who acts always in national interest, no matter whose ox is gored.”

  • Atiku’s suit lacks merit, bound to fail- BMO

    The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) says Abubakar Atiku’s suit challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari would fail because it lacks merit.

    The group said this in a statement signed by its chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke on Monday in Abuja, adding that the suit is a waste of time.

    The group said that Atiku knew that he had no chance of victory even before the elections and is only attempting this suit to hoodwink Nigerians and ultimately waste the time of the country’s judiciary.

    “Atiku Abubakar has yet to wake up from his hallucination that he can steal a chance to defeat Buhari in an election.

    “If the Presidential elections were to hold ten times, Atiku will lose ten times to Buhari.

    “Atiku knew it, even before the elections were held, that he never stood a chance at beating Buhari at the poll,’’ the group said.

    Read also: Alleged hack into INEC server: You are jittery, PDP tells APC, Buhari

    BMO noted that Atiku’s loss at the 2019 Presidential Poll was evidence of Nigerians rejecting the former Vice President.

    The group said that the majority of Nigerians have rejected Atiku and he must come to terms with that.

    The group also said it is not against Atiku exercising his constitutional right to seek justice in a court of law.

    It therefore insisted that Nigerians are aware that his claim to seeking a mandate in the court is only a pipe-dream as the entirety of his observations lack merit, false and only a waste of time.

    The group noted that what the courts would eventually do would be to stamp the authority of victory on Buhari at the end of the day.

    The group reiterated that Atiku’s loss started at his polling unit where Buhari beat him.

    “The signs were very clear before the elections, during the elections, and with the eventual victory of Buhari been the popular appeal across the country.

    “Atiku’s rejection by Nigerians started with his own household,’’ he said.(NAN)

  • Stop whipping up primordial sentiments, group urges Atiku

    The Buhari Media Organisation has asked former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar to come to terms with his loss at the presidential election and stop whipping up what it described as primordial sentiments.

    In a statement by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, BMO said Atiku’s latest meeting with some sectional leaders from southern Nigeria who backed his failed presidential bid shows that Atiku is still in denial over his loss in the election, saying it is part of a ploy to further widen the country’s fault-lines at a time the former Vice President is claiming to have a national mandate.

    The statement said; “Since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared President Muhammadu Buhari duly elected for a second term, the losing candidate had been laying claims to what he described as a stolen national mandate, but surprisingly he has been holding clandestine meetings with sectional heads.

    “It is clearly a ploy by Atiku Abubakar to instigate political disaffection in a section of the country that gave him a large chunk of the votes he got on February 23, at a time he is also expressing optimism at getting a favourable response at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

    “We at BMO see the move as unbecoming of a former Vice president who, in spite of losing by almost four million votes to a more popular President Buhari, still managed to get reasonable votes even from other parts of the country where he did not perform creditably.”

    It said that the outcome of the election showed that majority of Nigerians rejected the variant of restructuring that the PDP candidate attempted to sell to the people during the campaign season.

    “Even after an overwhelming majority of registered voters across the country turned their backs on Atiku Abubakar and his party, he believes that he could still use ‘restructuring’ as a gambit to poison the minds of people.

    “But the former Vice president should realise, as an elder statesman, that now that elections are over and he has opted to exercise his democratic right to seek redress in court, he should not be seen in a gathering where comments like ‘No restructuring, no Nigeria’ are made.

    “We are convinced that Atiku’s loss show that more Nigerians were not interested in the type of restructuring that Edwin Clark and the rump of Afenifere are mouthing.

    “We recognise the constitutional rights of people like Chiefs Edwin Clark, Ayo Adebanjo and John Nwodo who are leaders in their own right, but they should not allow the bitterness of backing the losing horse in the election to becloud their paternal instincts.

    “The nation’s unity should be paramount at this time and if there are wounds that needed to be healed after a bitter political campaign, this is the time for it, not for sabre-rattling.

    “They have a right to support Atiku Abubakar to press on with his election petition but they should also respect the right of the majority of Nigerians who are satisfied with the progress the country is making under President Buhari, and who voted for continuity.”

  • BMO to PDP: stop promoting ethnic hatred

    •Group asks Atiku to accept defeat

    The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has asked the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to stop fanning the ember of ethnic hatred and bitterness over the eventual outcome of the Presidential and national Assembly elections.

    The group also asked the PDP Presidental candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubkar to consider picking his phone and calling President Muhammadu Buhari to congratulate on his impending victory, saying doing so will earn him a place in Nigeria’s history without paying for it.

    In a statement signed by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and secretary, Cassidy Madueke, the pro-Buhari group said calling the President remain the best option for the former Vice president rather than toeing the path of the hawks in the opposition party.

    According to them, “with the trend of result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it is crystal clear that President Buhari has the mandate of majority of Nigerians, who voted last Saturday, for a second term in office.

    “We also know that within the first few hours of collation of results at national level, PDP had issued a statement rejecting a result that had not been fully announced, even at a time when virtually all international observer groups, including that of the Commonwealth, had issued preliminary reports showing that the Presidential and National Assembly elections had been largely peaceful and transparent in spite of few pockets of violence.

    “So, rather than listen to people that are bent on heating up the polity, we believe that this is the ideal time for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to take a cue from the man he loved to quote – former President Goodluck Jonathan, who called the then candidate Buhari when it became apparent that Buhari had won the election.

    “We are convinced that he would earn the respect of more Nigerians without having to pay for it by making that call to the President as early as possible.”

    Condemning the action of the PDP in rejecting results of an election that were still being announced, the group asked the PDP to desist from stoking ethnic hatred and bitterness over the outcome of the elections.

    They said: “Our attention has been drawn to ongoing efforts by PDP sympathisers online to tarnish the President’s hard-earned electoral victory through abusive words targeted at a section of Nigerians.

    “This is ludicrous and it would be necessary for PDP leaders to stop their supporters from painting President Buhari’s impending landslide victory in tribal colours in social media posts.

    “The truth is that even though President Buhari secured a large chunk of votes from his traditional strongholds in Northern Nigeria, he did far better this time than in 2015 in areas that were considered as PDP’s power base in Southern Nigeria.

    “So, he clearly got a pan-Nigerian mandate in a free, fair and credible election that had two distinguished politicians from the same Fulani ethnic stock as the major candidates.”

     

  • BMO hails Nigerians for voting for continuity

    THE Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has hailed Nigerians  for voting President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term in office.

    It described the victory recorded so far by Buhari as an expression of confidence in the ability of the President and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to take Nigerians to the next level of prosperity.

    BMO, in a statement signed by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and secretary Cassidy Madueke, said the widespread national support showed that Nigerians were not prepared to toy with the nation’s future.

    He said: “We were convinced that President Buhari would defeat his main challenger Atiku Abubakar by a wide margin and we made that clear on the eve of the presidential election, but it seems Nigerians were even more determined to deny the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) a return to power at the centre.

    “From the hinterlands of Kano to the urban centre in Kwara, the real voters who have felt the impact of the President’s first term in office have expressed absolute confidence in his economic diversification drive, his anti-corruption war as well as his resolve to make the country safer.

    “A fresh term freely given by the Nigerian people would certainly translate to a completion of the nationwide rail network that would transcend the nation’s capital cities and sea ports as well as continuation of road and power infrastructure.

    “We at BMO congratulate all Nigerians for resisting the massive pressure from opposition elements for a return to a past of ruinous profligacy and abandoned projects.”

    The group also praised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the improved logistic arrangement but urged it to ensure that the process ends on a successful note.

    ”The Election Management Body has done a good job of resolving the initial logistic nightmare even though there were a few hitches in some parts of the country but the job won’t be completed until collation of results from the 176,000 polling centres is completed.

    “We fully endorse the alert issued by the APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesman Festus Keyamo of plans to disrupt the coalition process in many parts of the country with a view to rendering the election inconclusive.

    “We hope that INEC is taking the warning seriously but we are also encouraged by the readiness of majority of Nigerians to protect their votes until the election’s Chief Returning Officer Mahmood Yakubu gets the final results,” BMO  said.

    BMO also praised security agencies for doing a great job of ensuring a peaceful process in spite of pockets of violence in a handful of states.

    It urged the authorities to ensure that everyone arrested for instigating violence is prosecuted according to the laws of the land.

     

  • PDP not committed to peace accord, says BMO

    THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the February 16 presidential election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, were never committed to any peace deal, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) said yesterday.

    It was reacting to the opposition party’s threat to pull out of the peace accord it signed with the National Peace Committee alongside other registered political parties.

    The PDP, in a statement yesterday by its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan, threatened to pull out of the peace accord over comments made by Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai that foreign observers who interfere in the electoral process would leave the country in body bags.

    In the reaction by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju, the BMO alleged the former vice president and his party grudgingly signed the peace pact in the first place.

    He said it took intensive pressure on PDP’s candidate before he “grudgingly” consented to sign the peace accord not more than 48 hours after all willing consenters to the accord had done so.

    Akinsiju said: “In issuing this threat at this time is in furtherance of the PDP’s Dubai agenda to build a case for the disruption of the presidential election or at the minimum, create a perception of ill will around the election with intent at discrediting the election which they know they will lose even before they commenced formal campaign.

    “To advance their evil agenda, in their desperation, they have continued to throw all manners of tantrums, rubbishing institutions of States without any modicum of patriotism and civility.”

    The BMO leader, however, assured that no matter the threat from the main opposition party, “the presidential election will be held peacefully and creditably well to their shame.”

  • ‘Those endorsing Atiku are political jobbers’

    The Buhari Media Organization (BMO) has dismissed the Sunday’s endorsement of the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar by a group of regional blocks, describing it as a gathering of ‘shameless exponents of political adventurism.’

    The group said those endorsing the former Vice President are political jobbers, freelance activist and free-wheeling influence peddlers.

    It added it not surprising members of the socio-cultural groups the individuals claimed to be representing have already disowned the purported endorsement.”

    In a statement by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group said: “These are men who in spite of their advanced age are known to be political middlemen who have been out of job in the last three and a half years of the President Buhari administration.

    “That virtually all of them have been disowned by the core membership of the socio-cultural group they are supposed to be representing say a lot about their credibility.

    “One of them Pogo Bitrus, who claimed to be the President of the Middle Belt Forum is from Borno State but is presenting himself as the leader of the umbrella body of the people of North Central Nigeria, as the name suggests.

    Read Also: Endorsement of Atiku, a fraud, says APC

    “It is even on record that Bitrus was the leader of the Chibok community in Abuja but was removed because of his romance with the Jonathan administration at the height of the clamour for the return of the abducted Chibok girls in 2014.

    “As for the Afenifere, it is clear that the duo of Pa Ayo Adebanjo and Yinka Odumakin are using the name as influence-vending franchise on behalf of a group of people they have no mandate to represent”.

    BMO stated the arrowheads of the endorsement are PDP members and sympathisers who were also in the forefront of support for the failed re-election bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    “This purported endorsement, which Atiku Abubakar is already celebrating, is nothing more than a case of party members backing their Presidential candidates by subterfuge, as is usual with the PDP.

    “Only recently we saw the PDP faction of Ohaneze led by John Nwodo endorse Atiku Abubakar, but few days later, the Anambra State Government and Ohaneze Youth Council led the deluge of dissenting voices which insisted that the people of South East should be allowed to vote in line with their conscience.

    “As for Ango Abdullahi, the leadership of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has questioned his right to speak for and on behalf of the Northern Region.

    “So these so-called Nigerian leaders and elders, led by a known PDP Chieftain, Edwin Clark that claimed they opted for their party’s Presidential candidate because he is ‘capable’, are clearly not representing anybody aside from themselves.

    “And just like in 2015, the fake endorsement is dead on arrival because the people who matter and who heartily received President Buhari at campaign rallies across the country are ready to make their votes count on February 16 by giving him a resounding victory”.

  • Atiku will be a disaster as President, says BMO

    The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) said yesterday that latest revelations from the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, clearly indicate that he would be a disaster if given the mandate to preside over Nigeria’s affairs.

    The organisation said alleged self-confession by Atiku that he took some unilateral decisions as vice president and also ensured that a sitting governor was not given a return ticket were clear acts of impunity.

    It argued that if Atiku could do that as number two, he would do worse if given mandate as number one.

    In a statement signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the group, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, respectively, the BMO said the former Vice President carried out serious acts of impunity when, as Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation, he presided over alleged under-pricing of national assets, while giving his company a whopping 25 year’s concession of Nigerian Ports.

    The group asked Nigerian voters to take proper notice of unilateral actions and the serial acts of impunity by Atiku Abubakar when he was Vice President in the Obasanjo years.

    They claimed that the former Vice President even boasted about some of those acts on National Television during his appearance on ‘The Candidate’, a live TV show focusing on Presidential candidates in the run up to next month’s elections

    BMO said: “On more than two occasions during the programme, Atiku Abubakar made it clear that he took unilateral actions as Vice President that border on impunity and a disregard for all known democratic norms.

    “The first was his confession that he ‘borrowed’ the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) N300m at inception in 2004 from the proceeds of the privatisation exercise. What this means is that the funds were in his custody and not paid into the Consolidated Revenue Account as expected. And he did whatever he liked with it.

    “This is the same man who wrote the international community to complain about President Muhammadu Buhari who sought and secured approval of the National Economic Council to release $1bn from the Excess Crude Account for military hardware. We wonder which of these acts bear the mark of impunity!

    “The second one was the clearly undemocratic decision to deny a sitting governor a second term in office. By his own admission on the ‘The Candidate’, Atiku Abubakar and his principal were not aware that schools were shut in Anambra State for two years and the solution, in his view, was to tell the then President Olusegun Obasanjo that the state governor, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, ‘will never be allowed to go back’. He subsequently boasted publicly that he made sure that the governor never went back.