POLITICS
2023: Work for Peaceful, United Nigeria, Obasanjo Tells Politicians
From Kunle Idowu, Abeokuta
Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo Thursday urged the nation’s political class to pay more attention to the unity, peace and progress of the country, rather than focusing their attention on 2023 general elections.
He noted that though, 2023 was important, but posited that the year was not as important as the peace and unity of the Country.
The former President gave the advice when the National President of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus visited him at the Penthouse in the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.
Secondus, it would be recalled got to the Penthouse around 12 midday in company of some PDP leaders and went into closed door meeting with the former President.
Although details of the meeting still remained sketchy as at Press time, but the former President, while briefing newsmen, said the visit was non-partisan, saying that the challenges facing the country required that all hands must be on deck for the survival of the nation.
He maintained that though the situation of Nigeria was very bad, but expressed optimism the situation was still redeemable.
“Every right-thinking individual knows that the “Nigeria situation is very bad, but it is not irredeemable.” he posited, expressing outrage that the nation was not where it was supposed to be.
“We do not have the luxury of time, some people are talking about 2023. 2023 is important, but it is not as important as being able to package Nigeria as a wholesome peace, the unity up to and beyond 2023 with security and understanding, with development and progress.
“And I couldn’t agree with you more, every right-thinking Nigerian and every lover of Nigeria will agree that Nigeria is not what it should be today, unless there is something else wrong with them.
“The situation is bad, very bad, but the situation is not irredeemable. That is where the hope lies. The situation is very bad, but it is not hopelessly irredeemable. Therefore we need all hands on deck. Let’s put partisan politics apart and think of what we can do to get Nigeria to where it is supposed to be and move Nigeria forward”, he said.
The PDP Chairman said he came to visit the former President as an elder statesman to plead with him to advise the present government on the way forward for the country.
“I am here with members of my team and as well as the PDP executives in Ogun State to tap from the wealth of Baba’s knowledge as a statesman. It’s been very difficult lately because Baba is a global personality. He has been resolving issues across the world. In fact, the last place I learnt Baba visited was Afghanistan, despite the situation in that country, he went there and came back alive”.
“So, my team and I are very grateful and we give glory to God. We have discussed Nigeria first before any other thing. Yes, we belong to a political party, but if we don’t have a country, where do we practice the democracy? We need to have a peaceful country where democracy can strive and at this point, we need Chief Obasanjo to come in with solutions”.
“We are aware of the insecurity, the poor economy, banditry, kidnapping all over the country; and we can’t continue to watch without reaching out to the elders so that they can come to gather and advise the present government. That is the duty of a statesman, Secondus said.
In the team were, the National Secretary, Senator Ibrahim Tsauri, National Treasurer, Aribisala Adewale and the Ogun State Chairman of PDP, Sirikullahi Ogundele.
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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