POLITICS
2023: Tinubu ‘ll give us Better Nigeria- NLRC Chairman
Alhaji Fatai Ibikunle, the Chairman, National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), says Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, will give Nigerians a better nation.
Ibikunle gave the assurance on Tuesday while addressing youths on the platform of youth professionals in Ibadan.
NLRC chairman and APC chieftain was reacting to myriads of challenges confronting the nation and the much talked about Muslim-Muslim ticket of the party.
Ibikunle advised Nigerians to “consider the myriads of problems confronting the country and choose leaders that can confront them, irrespective of religion or creed”.
According to him, Nigeria’s current problems know no religion, ethnicity or region.
Tinubu will give us a better Nigeria.Ibikunle said that the much talked about Muslim-Muslim ticket of APC for the 2023 presidential election had become “a distraction taking away the eyes of Nigerian players from the ball”.
He said that those stoking the debate against the ticket should concentrate more on the capabilities of the two names on the ticket.
The NLRC chairman urged them not to
“weaponise religion to deny poor Nigerians the opportunity of being served by a capable team of leaders”.
He said: “There is lot of work to be done by youths of this great nation. You need to go out there and let the ordinary people understand the true situation of things.
“Some people just want to tell us that religion is our main problem at this time whereas it is not. This is a ploy to take our eyes away from the ball.
“The real problems confronting us right now, as a nation, are hunger, poverty, insecurity and comatose economy. These problems don’t know religion; they don’t know regions,” he said.
Ibikunle said things were getting worse as they continue to dissipate energy over Muslim-Muslim ticket, adding that such matter was less important in the bid to salvage the troubled nation.
“Some people are fanning embers of disunity through religion, instead of engaging in robust discussions on the increasing wave of insecurity in the country.
“We should be challenging the presidential candidates on how they intend to end insecurity, bring back our economy, as well as foster unity and peace in the country,” he said.
Ibikunle said that the terrorists were getting bold to say they would kidnap elected leaders, while they were listening to those babel about religion.
He urged Nigerians to look at the quality of Tinubu as APC presidential candidate and Alhaji Kashim Shettima as his runningmate, not their religions.
“Can Tinubu replicate the unprecedented and unmatched success he recorded in Lagos State in Nigeria as a whole?
“Will his global connections as a top flight international accountant be deployed to Nigeria’s economic benefit? These are the kind of questions we should be asking now.
“Let Nigerians not be deceived about religion. Tinubu’s wife is a senior pastor, while most of his children are Christians,” he said.
Ibikunle said that Tinubu won’t have a Pastor as wife and allow his children practicing Christianity, if he hated Christians.
He said that the APC had simply put up a pair capable of winning the presidential race as well as bringing sustainable progress, unity and peace to the country.
According to him, it is the best and done by the party in the best interest of Nigeria.
“We all know Tinubu as a highly liberal and broadminded Nigerian with the love of masses at heart.
“Talking about mentoring and building leaders, the APC presidential candidate is clearly the best. He has mentored and built Nigerian youths of various faiths, tribes and regions,” he said.
Ibikunle, however, assured youths of a better future and a greater Nigeria with Tinubu as the nation’s President.(NAN)
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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