Politics

Atiku, Tinubu, Obi Absent, Kwankwaso, Al-Mustapha Table Agenda

Published

1 year ago

November 24, 2022

A Town Hall meeting organised by a political movement under the aegis of New Dream for Grassroots Development kicked off, on Thursday, in Abuja with the presidential candidates of the major political parties, not in attendance.

Among the presidential candidates that neither came nor sent representatives were Bola Ahmed Tinubu (All Progressives Congress); Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (Peoples Democratic Party); and Peter Obi (Labour Party).

But during the event shown live on Television, other presidential candidates reeled out their plans for a better Nigeria.

The Director-General of NDGD, Dr Onwubuya Breakforth, said the presidential Town Hall meeting was created to assist the electorates to make informed decisions as to who to elect among the 18 presidential candidates and make room for direct communication between the people at the grassroots and the candidates.

He said, “The candidates will address us on various issues but the difference will be on who proves to know how to enthrone a robust productive new Nigeria where all nationalities are neither discriminated nor denied their rights as bonafide citizens.

“We want to know the how rather than the normal rhetoric that is neither pragmatic nor evidential.

As Nigerians head to the polls, with barely two months to elect a new president along with state governors and legislators, millions of our people are ready with their PVCs.

“However, we are not in support of any candidate but will move towards a candidate who proves to have answers and capabilities to build a new Nigeria.’’

Break forth, therefore, charged voters to make the right choice in electing their leaders because their decision would either make or mar the future of Nigeria.

According to him, the NDGD has more than 22 million valued voters across the 8,813 elective wards and would use its number to make the right decision in the 2023 elections.

The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, said his search for a better and new Nigeria was the reason he joined PDP and then later APC but however, said they were all bad government.

He said, “We believe in a new Nigeria, that was why when we started in this Republic, I started with the PDP. Unfortunately, when we were forming the PDP in 1998, we only had one issue kicking the military out.

“Then, when I became governor, we realized that we were completely different people in the same political party as people from the extreme right to the extreme left.

“We thought along the line that there should be a change especially as the party was failing, that was why we formed APC and now everybody believes it is even worse.

We thought it was necessary to bring an alternative, that was why we intended to register our party but INEC was not in hurry to do that. Therefore, we carefully selected NNPP based on its manifesto, beliefs and vision.

“We have a 152-page blueprint, we looked at all the issues and going by my antecedents as a civil servant and governor in Kano State, we believe our party is the best party to handle the crisis situation in Nigeria.”

Kwankwaso said he would tackle insecurity and increase the number of security agents and use technology and carry every Nigerian along in getting intelligence.

Kwankwaso promised to use his expertise as former governor of Kano state to bear in solving national issues.

He promised youth empowerment, scholarship and job creation to harness their potential and build infrastructure, quality healthcare delivery, and free anti-natal for women as well as boost the economy through various interventions.

“For our administration, no Nigerian child shall be denied the opportunity to write WAEC or NECO because of their inability to pay exorbitant registration and examination fees”, he said.

The presidential candidate of Action Alliance and for Chief Security Adviser to late General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, said his party studied Nigeria and noticed that the nation does not require routines but something away from the norm to address its challenges.

He said, “We discovered that there are a lot of games around the Nigerian state and unless we work it out and unless you know it, you will spend 1000 years without making a deference but adopting routines.

“We are not coming to provide leadership from the routine point of it. We are realistic, we are down to earth, we will take painful decisions, and we will take courageous decisions for the common good of Nigerians today and in future.

“So for our security, one of the major mistakes was mixing the police with the military. 23 years today, everybody is talking about hopelessness when it comes to physical security.

“We succeeded in demilitarizing the military and succeeded on the other hand in militarizing the police. So we are not comfortable with the two.”

Al-Mustapha, therefore, said the AA would do surgery in the security sector transforming it scientifically for new direction, doctrine, vision and physiological reorientation among others.

Mr Osakwe Johnson, the presidential candidate of the National Rescue Movement, Johnson Osakwe, said there was a need for the old leaders to take the back seat and allow the new generation to take over the affairs of the nation.

“Everyone will agree with me that in your wardrobe, we have what we call old clothes, the old clothes fade and you find it difficult to put them on. So, we are saying in 2023, old Nigerians, those who have governed us in the past should stand as advisers as lecturers, not forcing themselves on us so that Nigeria will continue the old ways of doing things.”

He said the NRM had a lot to offer the nation, adding that having been in the United States for 30 years and as a clergy, for 40 years he can govern Nigeria.

The presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party, Ado-Ibrahim Abdulmalik, said that although the nation was experiencing corruption, the greatest corruption was the corruption of other nations taking Nigeria’s best to their lands.

He said although the party would not be able to fix all the challenges of Nigeria in four or eight years, it could concentrate on fixing the electricity and boosting the power sector which is the bedrock of development.

“The world cannot work without electrical power, and we fool ourselves by saying we are going to do XYZ. But the basic human rights of power have not been given to us.

We must as a nation demand that from the next leader of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

“In Adamawa, I built a stand-alone power plant with six megawatts, the job requires bravery, vision, empathy but above all, the job requires that we work together.”

Abdulmalik said everybody is running from the country but the party will bring Nigerians back home.

Politics

Edo Guber: Why I Want To Become Governor – APGA Candidate, Osifo

Published

20 hours ago

April 23, 2024

Editor

By Joseph Ebi Kanjo

The Edo State All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, governorship candidate in the forthcoming election, Dr. Isaiah Osifo, has said the yearning by Edo people for good leadership propelled him to join the race.

The former Chief of Staff to Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, who lamented that Edo State has been lacking good leaders for long, promised to deliver good governance if elected into office.

Dr. Osifo stated this during a chat with journalists in Benin City, the Edo State capital, over the weekend.

Rolling out some qualities expected of a good leader, the APGA governorship candidate said: “Many people have asked me why am I contesting? I have several reasons for contesting this election.”

He continued: “What is lacking in Edo State and in African democracy is good leadership. And that is what we’ve been battling with in Africa and Edo State.

“We have an abundance of young men and women, patriotic and talented young men and women that are ready to work. But what is lacking now is good leadership.

“It is that good leadership that’s motivating me to contest the election so that I can feel that gap; that vacuum of lack of good leadership. I said this repeatedly, and God has been so wonderful to me.”

“So, good leadership is needed for Edo State to develop. Good leadership is needed for Edo State to have democracy, because we already have the grace of God upon our life.”

Speaking on how some Edo South Elders are making moves to get the best candidate on board, Osifo noted: “When I met with them I told them there are three things that can make a state to be great: The grace of God; hardworking men and women, patriotism, and of course good leadership.”

He said in Edo people’s bid to elect a good leader in the September 21st governorship election, they must look out for three qualifications, viz: legal, political and moral qualifications, boasting that he is the only candidate that possessed all these qualifications.

He added: “Legal question: Now, you must meet some requirements as a law for you to contest as governor. You cannot go to the Oko prison to go and bring an ex-convict to contest for an election. The law does not allow it. A child that is 30 or 35 years below cannot contest for governor because the law says he must be above 35 years as a necessary requirement. That is a legal qualification.

“Session 182 of the constitution is so clear that if you have sworn to an oath of allegiance to a foreign country or to a foreign power, you are not qualified to contest for any public office.

“Ethically, a politician or a public servant who has sworn to an oath of allegiance is a traitor. Because patriotism is what defines citizenship. So, if you go and swear to an oath of allegiance to a foreign power, it shows you are a traitor. The Nigerian constitution forbids it. And that if you have sworn to an oath of office to a foreign power or country, you are not qualified to hold any public office.

“If you have sworn to an oath of office to foreign power and are still going about telling Edo people to vote for you, you are not going to be a good leader, because you have already lied, liars are not good leaders.”

He continued: “Political qualification: Franchise is defined as a right to vote and to be voted for. For you to be a candidate, you must be a voter here in Edo State. Now, if you have never voted in Edo state, and you are now trying to struggle to get a fresh voter card or to do a transfer, politically you are not qualified to run in this election.

“Moral qualification: I come from a cultural background, whereby a popular adage says you don’t use a stranger to make a head of a community. If you are an Edo man but you have not lived here before as an adult, your family is not here, your children don’t attend any school here, your wife does not go to any market here in Edo State, and you want to be governor, governor over who? “

Politics

Edo Guber Final List : Group Knocks LP, Commends, INEC, Yakubu

Published

20 hours ago

April 23, 2024

Editor

A youth group within the Edo State Labour Party (LP), on Monday, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and Professor Mahmood Yakubu for adhering strictly to the rule of law in deepening democracy particularly in the party’s candidates list ahead of the September governorship election.

in Edo State (SYEG), Tuesday has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and Professor Mahmood Yakubu for adhering strictly to the rule of law in deepening democracy in Edo State Labour Party’s candidates list ahead of the September governorship election.

The statement by SYEG came in reaction to an earlier statement by the Edo State chairman of LP, Kelly Ogbaloi who faulted INEC’s listing Oluyinka Faith Alufohai as the running mate to Olumide Akpata.

A statement signed by chairman of the group, Comrade Jonah Ifada and Secretary, Osagie Omoregie also knocked the Edo State chairman of the party over his rejection of INEC final list and reminded the party that what the electoral body has done was in accordance with the law, hence deserves commendation.

The body under the umbrella ‘Shine Your Eyes Group’, also noted that what has become the lot and tragedy for the Labour Party in Edo State was a clear reflection of the shambles primary it conducted in the state where the “wishes of party’s faithful were subverted by those entrusted to run the affairs of the party.”

Ifada in a widely circulated statement in Benin noted, “Our attention has been drawn to the ranting by the Edo State chairman of the Labour Party, Kelly Ogbaloi, rejecting the nomination of Oluyinka Faith Alufohai in INEC announced final list of candidates as ludicrous.

“We want to state equivocally and remind Ogbaloi that INEC is not like the Labour party and that what INEC has done was in line with the rule of law and deserves commendation for being vigilance and thorough.

“We had warned the Labour Party to play by the rules of the game but they choose to bow to the weight of naira and dollars to subvert democracy and the wishes of our people.

“As stakeholders, we are however confident that the abnormality by the party would be corrected by the court as we have it on good authority that one of the aspirants, Barrister Kenneth Imansuangbon has gone to court to seek interpretation of the constitution as regards issues in the party’s primary.”

Recall that Imansuangbon in his petition stated that Barrister Olumide Akpata committed a horde of offences ranging from giving false information to the acquisition of citizenship of another country, which is a grand departure from the Nigerian Constitution’s accepted norms.

On the allegation of false information, Barrister Imansuangbon alleged that Barrister Akpata, while filling INEC form EC 9 “stated his name to be Akpata Olumide Anthony which is different from and not the same as Akpata Olumide Osaigbovo” which he earlier stated on oath to be his name and under which he contested and reportedly won the primary election of the LP.

Imansuangbon wanted the court to determine whether Akpata “has not supplied or otherwise given false information to the INEC within the meaning or contemplation of the provisions of section 29(5) of the Electoral Act 2022 read together with section 182(1) (a) and (j) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).”

On Akpata taking an oath of allegiance of Vanuatu, an independent and sovereign nation, Imansuangbon wanted clear interpretation of the Nigerian constitution to know if Akpata’s “claim on oath, in the said INEC form EC 9 that he has not voluntarily acquired the citizenship of another country is not or does not amount to false information, within the meaning of the provisions of section 29(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022, read together with section 182(1) (a) and (j) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(as amended).”

On Oluyinka Faith Alufokhai, “who is parading herself” as the running mate of Barrister Akpata, the petitioner cited some information that she supplied in INEC form EC 9 which do not add up. The information includes that “she was born in 1981 and that she obtained her First School Leaving Certificate in the same year of her birth.

“Her name is Alufokhai Oluyinka Faith while her former name was Ikheafe and she obtained three certificates namely OND, HND and PGD the same year, 2005.”

Politics

Ondo APC Primary; A Disgrace To Democracy – Cleric

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

Editor

…It’s a shame APC is taking Nigeria back to dark days

The Senior pastor of Awaiting The Second Coming Of Christ Ministry, Adewale Giwa, has faulted the conduct of the governorship primary election conducted by the All Progressives Congress, APC in Ondo state.

Giwa, described the exercise as a disgrace to democracy and called on President Bola Tinubu to quickly intervene.

Recall that the exercise was characterized with violence, protest in Okitipupa, ldanre, Akure, the state capital, Supare, Akoko South-West, and other areas, by governorship aspirants, party members across the state.

Political thugs who stormed voting centers, disrupted the exercise and prevent supporters of some governorship aspirants from voting.

The governorship aspirants complained that election materials were reportedly not taken to many wards across the state.

Giwa, while speaking in Akure, called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to invite the State Commissioner of Police for questioning.

“We all witnessed what happened in our state.The exercise in Ondo state was a season of great disappointment and embarrassment. We thought the era of thuggery was gone, not until it resurfaced.

“You deliberately bought sophisticated weapons for political thugs to wreck havoc on the people you intend to govern. It’s a shame that the APC is taking Nigeria back to the dark days.

“Thugs were freely moving around the state with AK-47 riffles in the presence of security agents, and nothing happened.

“What are they turning this Nigeria into? Why do politicians want to be in power at all costs?

” If people say they don’t want you, thank God and leave the position honorably.

“A journalist was beaten, harassed and attacked like a party member. What a shameful act!

“A good name is more desirable than great riches. I don’t know why people don’t think that nothing is permanent in life.

“As one of the stakeholders in Ondo state, it will be unfair for me to encourage or support rascality. The exercise is a disgrace to the nation’s democracy.

“If the APC could fail to conduct a primary election within themselves, how can they transform Nigeria?

“Let me call on President Bola Tinubu to quickly intervene for the interest of the nation’s democracy.

“Also, I urge the Inspector General of Police to invite the State Commissioner of Police for questioning why his officers failed to arrest the political thugs who were moving freely with guns and other dangerous weapons,” he said.