The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Obi

  • 2019: Ezeife, Obi, Nwosu, others endorse Atiku

    The Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket received a boost at the weekend when a frontline Igbo political organisation, Igbo Political Stakeholders Assembly,  threw its weight behind it.

    The alliance comprises  former governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Senator Ben Obi, Dr ABC Nwosu, S.N Okeke,   wife of the PDP presidential candidate, Mrs Jennifer Douglas Abubakar  and Mrs Margaret Obi,  wife of PDP Vice Presidential candidate.

    In a statement by the group’s Chairman, Chief S N Okeke, a one-time chairman of the Police Service Commission under the Obasanjo Presidency, the group expressed confidence in the capacity of Atiku/Obi ticket to end mass poverty, grow well paying jobs, diversify the  economy and, most importantly, restructure the nation.

    “We find the Atiku policy document progressive in conception, compelling in vision and actionable given its specific details, timelines and implementation schedule”, the group further averred that “apart from the well articulated policy document that has the capacity to radically transform the nation’s economic and social landscape for the better”, the group is “impressed by the track records of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi as ‘broad-minded’ Nigerian patriots who will be fair and just to all irrespective of ethnic, regional, gender or class orientation,” it stated.

    Urging the PDP Presidential ticket to regard its policy and programme on restructuring not as a mere campaign mantra but an article of faith and binding social contract with the Nigerian people which should be delivered in a timely, well structured and consensual fashion,  the group declared that “it will deploy its considerable human and material resources, leverage on its extensive network of support across Igboland and the whole nation, and partner with like-minded patriotic women and community based organizations to ensure the victory of the Atiku-Obi ticket in the 2019 Presidential election”.

    Other leading members of the group are AVM C E Umenwaliri, Chief Sam Nkire, Chief Rex Onyeabor, General C R U Ihekire, Chief Coleman Uba,  Prof Uka Ezenwe and many other prominent figures.

  • Osinbajo, Obi trade tackles at VP debate

    In measured tones, All Progressives Congress’ Yemi Osinbajo and Peoples Democratic Party’s Peter Obi tactically turned the vice presidential debate held in Abuja yesterday into a sparring match as they expressed their knowledge of the economy and other national issues.

    During the debate organised by the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) and the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Osinbajo utilised his hands-on knowledge and involvement in running the nation’s economy to project a capacity for effective leadership while Obi made generous use of facts and figures.

    The three other Vice presidential candidates at the debate – Young Progressives Party’s Hajia Umma Getso, Alliance for New Nigeria’s Hajia Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya  and Ganiyu Galadima of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria – all strove to communicate their readiness for the responsibilities of a vice president.

    However, during the live television debate, skewed audience cheered and jeered, eliciting threats by the organisers to sanction errant members of the audience.

    The five vice presidential candidates all managed to project the preparedness of their political parties and presidential candidates.

    During the largely economy-focused debate, the five participants proffered solutions for the various social and economic problems bedeviling the nation with one of the high points being the exchange of barbs between Osinbajo and Obi on the issue of petroleum subsidy.

    While Young Progressives Party’s Hajia Umma Getso pointedly noted widespread perception that petroleum subsidy is “a scam”, Osinbajo noted that even advanced economies sustain some forms of subsidy for logical reasons.

    According to Osinbajo, without subsidy, the price of petroleum could go as high as N220, adding that the prevalent fraud in Nigeria’s fuel subsidy system has been effectively curbed as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation now procures fuel abroad.

    “Today, the NNPC is the sole importer of petroleum, so it is from the balance sheet of the NNPC that the subsidy is being taken.

    “Now, let me say that if today you are to remove subsidy, petrol price could go as high as N220 per litre or higher.

    “There is no country in the world, not even the wealthiest ones, that don’t run some type of subsidy or the other,” Osinbajo stated.

    In his own response, PDP Vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi alleged that the APC administration’s pattern of fighting corruption has cost the nation jobs and economic progress.

    “It is not that you cannot fight corruption, but you can fight it more aggressively while addressing economic issues. For example, in 2015, unemployment was 24 per cent, today, it is 40 per cent.

    “In 2015, we attracted $21bn in Foreign Direct Investment but we attracted only $12bn last year; our GDP was $500bn in 2015 while per capita was $2,500 today it is under $1,900.

    “If you look at our stock market, we have lost over N2tn in one year, so that is not a policy. You’re just fighting corruption, you are not creating jobs.

    “You cannot shut down your shop and be chasing criminals,” he said, eliciting Osinbajo’s response that “if the assault by thieves continues, there may be no shop to look after.”

    Earlier, Obi had criticised the Buhari/Osinbajo administration over petroleum subsidy, waving it off as a subsidization of inefficiency that should be done away with.

    “Why are you actually subsiding? Nigeria has one of the lowest car ownerships in the world; it is 10  per 1,000. So, we have only two million vehicles and you’re paying almost a trillion when you have 87 million people that are poor,” he said.

    As the debate progressed, Nigerians keenly followed online, with some identifying lies and mix-ups in the candidates’ presentations.

    For instance, on Twitter, an activist, Sega L’éveilleur, using the handle @segalink, faulted Osinbajo’s statement that “major cause of poverty is corruption”, noting that while corruption also exists in developed countries, Nigeria is far behind in productivity.

    Another twitter user using the handle @Ayourb criticised PDP’s Peter Obi for lying.

    “Why is Peter Obi a compulsive liar? He just said there are two million vehicles in Nigeria. But according to the NBS (National Bureau of Statistics) data, there are 11 million vehicles in Nigeria,” he stated.

  • Secondus alleges plots to arrest Atiku, Obi, Saraki, Dogara

    •You’re flowing stream of fake news, says Presidency

    PEOPLE’S Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman Prince Uche Secondus has raised the alarm, alleging plots by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest some key leaders of the opposition party on trump up charges.

    Secondus listed the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar; his running mate, Peter Obi; Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the party’s other leaders as some of those marked for arrest.

    But, the Presidency denied the reports claiming that the Buhari-led government ordered raid on the home of PDP presidential candidate’s son and the alleged blockage of the Obi’s bank accounts and his family.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the reports are manifestation of the PDP’s growing expertise in fake news.

    He called on the public to disregard the reports.

    The statement reads: “The story about the raid ‘ordered by Buhari-led government’ on the home of PDP presidential candidate’s son and the fairy tale on the alleged blockage of the bank accounts of the running mate and his family are both untrue, and should be dismissed as just another manifestation of the PDP’s growing expertise in fake news.

    “Nigerians must be becoming wary by now, of a political party with absolutely nothing to offer in the coming elections and has instead, transformed into a knight in shining armor, slaying the truth.

    “In this so-called transformation, PDP has changed into nothing but to a ceaselessly flowing stream of fake news.

    “It is impossible to find in Nigeria today, anyone propagating fake news more than the PDP.

    “Our advice to Nigerians is: ignore them.”

    In a statement yesterday by his media aide, Ike Abonyi, Secondus warned that the country would explode any moment the EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu continued with such impunity.

    Alleging plots to prefer frame up charges against the PDP chieftains, the main opposition party chairman warned that the country is presently sitting on gunpowder.

    Prince Secondus cautioned the Acting EFCC chairman, saying that he won’t get away with the hatchet job he has taken upon himself by using instruments of state to harass and intimidate opposition figures.

    Regretting that Magu has made himself a willing tool for oppression, Secondus said available intelligence indicated that the EFCC chairman was working in cahoots with some prominent chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    “They are presiding over clandestine meetings and developing strategies for the APC, which is aimed at caging and crushing critical leaders of the opposition,” Secondus said.

    The party chairman said aside arrest and detention of the targeted opposition leaders, their family members and business associates have also been lined up for intimidation and harassment, including freezing their business interests and their bank accounts.

    Read also: 2019: Knocks for Obasanjo over anti-Buhari comment

    He described as an afterthought fabrication, the EFCC’s statement that the two sons of Atiku, whose residence was raided by the commission operatives on Saturday, were not the target of the raid.

    Secondus noted the security search on Atiku on November 11, when he arrived in the country from Dubai, saying the country has gone into full blown dictatorship.

    “After that embarrassment and harassment aimed at intimidating the candidate and nothing incriminating was found on him, no apology was extended to him as a former number two citizen.

    “They followed it up with the freezing of the bank accounts of our vice presidential candidate as well as that of his friends and family members as part of a large scheme to keep the party distracted from its focus of regaining power in 2019,” the statement added.

     

     

  • Why Nigeria needs Obi, by ABC Nwosu

    The choice of former Governor Peter Obi as running mate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar is one of the most profound and strategic political moves in the history of the nation, a former Minister of Health, Prof A.B.C Nwosu, has stated.   The elder statesman spoke  during the meeting of Igbo leaders at Nike Lake Hotel.

    Nwosu, who decried the scheming out of Igbos from strategic positions in Nigeria as if they do not have stakes in the country, said such tendencies were not good for the growth and development of the country.

    Nwosu, who said he was sure of Atiku/Obi victory in the forthcoming general elections, described Atiku’s choice of Obi as a round peg in a round hole.

    According to him: “Obi’s choice shows Atiku is coming to work. Obi is young,  knowledgeable,  competent and humble.”

    On specific attributes of Obi that made him choice acceptable,  Nwosu added: “Obi’s achievements as two-term governor of Anambra State speak volumes of his competence and point to him as a round peg in a round hole for a country that is seeking to come out of recession.

    “For a country that is seeking massive creation of jobs; for a government that badly needs prudence in government expenditure; for a government that wants to fight corruption effectively by plugging the expenditure leakages to have Obi is a step towards solving Nigeria’s myriad of problems.”

  • Obi calls for unity among Nigerians

    A former Anambra State governor and the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi, has urged Nigerians to continue to pray for the repose of the soul of former Biafra warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who died on November 26, 2011, exactly eight years today.

    He spoke yesterday at domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, in response to a question on how he would like Ojukwu to be remembered.

    Obi advised Nigerians, no matter their state of origin, not to perceive Ojukwu as their own or an ethnic figure.

    The former governor said those close to the late warlord marvelled at his sense of amity and desire for national unity built on equity, trust and belief that the country should be administered in a manner that it would accommodate all the constituent ethnic groups.

    Recalling that many qualities and legacies of Ojukwu remain veritable lessons for nation-building, Obi said: “The way he was accepted is a lesson all Nigerians should emulate – that we must accept one another in the spirit of love, unity and progress of the country.”

  • El’Rufai, Obi in fresh verbal exchanges over bigot label

    Following the recent allegation made by Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State, that Mr. Peter Obi, the Vice Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is a tribal bigot, the two are currently engaged in hot verbal exchanges.

    El-Rufai in a tweet yesterday wrote: “Peter Obi is a tribal bigot. He was widely quoted on national television that the SSS was right to detain me for 48 hours in an hotel in 2014 on the grounds that ‘el-Rufai has no business being in Anambra State as it is not Katsina State!’”

    Responding to the allegation, Obi expressed shock saying, “the statement came unprovoked, suggesting that it was what he sat down to think of rather than thinking about how to solve the many problems plaguing the country.”

    Obi said this while responding to journalists who sought his reply to el Rufai’s tweet during Youth Programme at Nnewi yesterday.

    In Obi’s words: “What His Excellency, Gov.  Nasir Ahmad el Rufai said about me has been brought to my attention. I believe that as we grow older and are saddled with more responsibilities, we are expected to become circumspect in our thinking and avoid recklessness in our speeches and utterances.  How does the circumstance he referred to relate to bigotry to warrant such a label?  All I do for people like el Rufai is to pray for them and encourage them to concentrate on doing those things that will better the lots of Nigerians rather than engage in hate speeches that will divide and destroy the country.”

    Insisting that Nigeria does not need violence of speech to solve her numerous problems, Obi continues:  “At this difficult time in our country, when thousands of our brothers and sisters across ethnic divide are killed  all over the country, including innocent citizens in Kaduna State;  millions of our  children from all the parts of the country  are  out of school;  millions of Nigerian youths from all the parts of the country are without jobs, our  pre-occupation, especially among those that are in government should not be  making reckless speeches.  What our leaders should be doing today is seeking solution to numerous problems of our dear country,” he said.

    Concerning the claim that he was arrested on the Election Day in Anambra, Obi said: “I am aware that during  the said election he referred to, security agents merely  restricted his movement  because he has no business being in Anambra as I would not have been in Kaduna  on an Election Day.”

    Concluding, Obi cautioned “Nigerians, especially those in positions of authority, to avoid the dominance of the vice of hate over the virtues of love in whatever they do.”

    Responding in the same vein, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned el-Rufai, over what the party described as his “unguarded comments.”

    In a statement yesterday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said Obi is well known for his nationalist disposition and cannot in anyway be associated with tribal bigotry.

    The statement said, “Governor el-Rufai should not attempt to export the kind of inciting and inflammatory statements that have led to conflagration and bloodletting in his Kaduna State to our national political firmament.

    “From el-Rufai’s comments, Nigerians now know those behind the series of smear campaigns and spurious allegations against our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Peter Obi.”

  • Catholic bishop, groups back Obi as Atiku’s running mate

    The Catholic Bishop of Awka, the Anambra State capital, Rev Paulinus Ezeokafor, and prominent groups in the state have expressed support for former Governor Peter Obi as the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Groups that endorsed Obi’s vice presidential candidacy include the youth wing of Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU) and Anambra New Generation Vanguard (ANGV).

    Ezeokafor and leaders of the groups – Osita Ozalagba of ASATU, Chinemerem Oguegbe and Dr Nonso Okoye, of ANGV – urged politicians in the Southeast to support the Abubakar Atiku-Obi presidential project.

    The priest spoke yesterday at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church, Ifitedunu, while addressing the congregation.

    The cleric thanked Atiku for choosing Obi as his running mate.

    He said: “I believe that with Atiku as an astute politician and Obi as a good manager of resources at the helm of affairs, Nigeria’s economic and administrative challenges would be adequately tackled.

    “I am convinced that the Atiku/Obi combination would put smiles on the faces of the masses as the duo, hitherto job creators and renowned human capital developers, would place Nigerians on the path of progress.

    “Nigeria’s current problem is lack of economic management and maladministration. I think, with Atiku and Obi at the helm of affairs, Nigeria would be changed for good. We are tired of leadership ineptitude.

    “I think, without having all the facts, Obi’s candidature is the greatest thing to have happened to Nigerians in recent times.

    “It is a blessing for the Igbo race. We have long been forgotten. Those who know Obi’s antecedent know him as a great manager of resources.”

    ANGV urged Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi and others who opposed the nomination of Obi as Atiku’s running mate not to truncate Igbo chances of being key players in the county’s polity.

    In a statement in Awka, ANGV’s leaders Chinemerem Oguegbe and Dr Nonso Okoye said Igbo youths would not take it lightly with anybody, no matter how highly place, to plunge the ethnic nationality into another era of deprivation and marginalisation.

    It warned PDP leaders in the Southeast to stop arrogating the leadership of the Igbo to themselves.

    ANGV said: “We wish to state that the issue in question affects the dreams of the entire Igbo nation to once again be key players in the politics of Nigeria and most importantly the hope of the younger generation of the Igbo nation to become political stakeholders in a united Nigeria.”

  • Obi to lead SSRC Africa Initiatives

    NIGERIA-born United States (U.S.) – based scholar Dr. Cyril Obi has been appointed by the New York-based independent nonprofit organisation dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines, Social Science Research Council, to direct its Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa programme.

    Obi will combine this new role with that of Programme Director of the SSRC’s African Peacebuilding Network, which he has served for the last six years.

    According to a statement by the organisation, Obi, a former Senior Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, will build new synergies between these efforts, connecting both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellows and each programme’s broader networks of scholars and partners in the region.

    This ambitious goal, with the critical support of Carnegie Corporation of New York, of nurturing an integrated and sustained research capacity in Africa on issues of peace, security and development, the statement added, rests on a strong foundation, as the two programmes have awarded grants to 421 fellows in the past seven years.

    Before joining the APN in 2012, Obi was also a Senior Researcher and Leader of the Research Clustre on Conflict, Displacement and Transformation at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala, Sweden.

  • Nigeria is in a state of stupor, says Obi

    Former Anambra Governor Peter Obi said Nigeria needs men of vision with proven track records to wake from stupor.

    He spoke yesterday at the 2018 Making Nigeria Great conference organised by the Summit Bible Church at Abuja.

    Obi, who looked at the trajectory of the nation’s development from 1980-date, bemoaned Nigeria’s backwardness.

    He compared Nigeria to a car with knocked engine, insisting the engine must be fixed first even before the question of who drives it arises.

    “To make Nigeria great is a welcome development which Nigerians are called to work towards. However, we must at all times recognise where we are and what should be done.

    “In our own case, we have lost it completely as a country. The idea of greatness is good but we must start from doing basic things.

    “We cannot aim to build skyscraper when we cannot maintain simple toilets. I believe as St. Theresa of the Child Jesus said, that greatness consists in doing small things in an extraordinary way,” Obi said.

    Other speakers at the event were Mr. Osita Chidoka and Leke Alder.

    They submitted Nigeria needs a man of vision to move on.

  • Presidency hits Obasanjo over Fayose, Ladoja, Obi

    Ex-president accused of undemocratic actions

    The Presidency yesterday attacked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration, especially under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, for “toppling” elected state governments, using the police and the secret service.

    In an article to commemorate the third anniversary of the Buhari Presidency last night, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhamadu Buhari on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu recalled how former Governors  Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo) and Peter Obi (Anambra)  were removed for reasons not noble.

    The statement added that under that dispensation, “it took an insider collaboration to thwart the unseating of Governor (Chris) Ngige (of Anambra State) by a powerful thug sponsored by the PDP administration.”

    Shehu added: “The parliament at the centre seized the law-making powers of the Rivers State House of Assembly as a way to save Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the then chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, from impeachment by the PDP presidency.”

    Recalling the way the governors were removed  without going through the due process, the statement said:  “A five-man legislature met at 6:00 am and ‘impeached’ Governor Dariye in Plateau; 18 members out of 32 removed Governor Ladoja of Oyo from office; in Anambra, APGA’s Governor Obi was equally impeached at 5:00 a.m. by members who did not meet the two-thirds required by the constitution. His offence was that he refused to inflate the state’s budget. The lawmakers had reportedly met with representatives of the President in Asaba, Delta State and then accompanied to Awka by heavy security provided by the police Mobile Unit.

    “The PDP President at that time had reportedly told Obi to forget re-election in 2007 if he did not join the PDP because he (the President) would not support a non-PDP member.

    In Ekiti, Governor Fayose in his first term faced allegations of financial corruption and murder. Following the failure to heed the instruction of the Presidency to impeach only Fayose and spare the deputy, Madam Olujimi, now a senator, the PDP President declared that there was a breakdown of law and order in the state and declared a state of emergency.

    “He appointed Brig-Gen. Adetunji Olurin (rtd) as the sole administrator of the state on October 19, 2006. In an earlier incident in Anambra, it took an insider collaboration to thwart the unseating of Governor Ngige by a powerful thug sponsored by the PDP administration.”

    The Presidency said: “Thank God for Buhari, none of these absurdities has happened under his watch but the PDP is indicating their boredom with his meticulous observance of the constitution by calling for a return to the old order.

    “If not for “dry eyes,” as said in our common parlance, what is it that would push this party to write a letter to the United Nations, laying false claims to constitutionality and alleging that democracy is presently under threat?

    “But then, we all understand that by its tone, this is an angry opposition unhappy about the loss of privileges they desperately want to hang on to, privileges now abolished by the prudent, austere Buhari Administration. “The former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, shocked the world by the revelation in her new book, titled, Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines, that they paid N17 billion bribe to the National Assembly to get them pass the 2015 budget.

    “President Buhari’s first budget in 2016 was the first year of passing the budget without the bribery of legislators. He came to power to clean up the mess and has so far managed a cleaner government than all of the past administrations.”

    The article said “the beneficiaries of the old order have since been complaining that they are being starved. Four more years of Buhari?”

    “If by chance or accident you have a USD 16 billion question hanging on your neck, money large enough to construct the Lagos-Port Harcourt standard gauge railway and the massive Mambila power plant put together without borrowing a kobo, then you see a capacity in the change administration to end the shenanigans and get to the root of what happened with the money in that exercise, what do you do? Most people will say start running, scream it: that this change we voted for has gone too far. Foxy generals don’t wait to be caught.”

    “It is the same thing with the narrative of suffering and hunger in the land, the blame which is unfairly being heaped on this administration. Understood in its proper meaning, it is just a way of saying that the country’s ghastly and complicated corruption industry, which provides inestimable amounts of disposable incomes to public servants and elected officials is being shut down. What government has done in the trade and investment sector, and in other processes of government are illustrative of this. Government has been streamlining systems as a result of which there is transparency and fewer rules.”