POLITICS
Atiku’s Convoy Nearly Crushed Me to Death — Bayo Onanuga
By Ibraheem Hamza Muhammad, Abuja
Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Director of Media of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has alleged that the convoy of the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has nearly killed him on the street of Abuja.
According to him, “I had a close shave with death on Sunday night in Abuja as I was returning home at about 9p.
m. after a visit to Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi. I was driving on the first lane of Shehu Shagari Way when I noticed a convoy emerging from one of the feeder roads.“I counted in the centre lane, four vehicles ahead of me.
I slowed down on my own lane to give a wide berth to the convoy. My slowing down turned a mistake as a Toyota SUV emerged from the same road where the convoy had earlier emerged. It headed straight to my car.“I was petrified as the driver rammed into my Toyota Camry, by the passenger side. The force of the collision immediately severed the side mirror from the body, severely dented and scratched the two doors on its path.
“I watched in horror as the driver of the SUV reversed the car and joined the cavalcade, leaving me behind to my fate. He didn’t bother to stop to check the damage his vehicle had done to my own car, whether he had left me or anyone inside it traumatized by his recklessness. He just drove away.
“Instinctively, I followed the convoy, which headed to Asokoro area of the city. At this point, I didn’t know the VIP embedded in the convoy. Initially I thought it was a governor as the car that hit me bore a number plate that starts with RSH.
“My interest in following the convoy was to lodge a complaint about the murderous driver and get my car repaired.
“The convoy drove deep into Asokoro, into TY Danjuma Road and then entered one of the mansions, at the entrance of which were several banners of Atiku-Okowa campaign. I drove into the compound with the convoy as I had my hazard light on like other vehicles in the convoy.
“My adventure was certainly getting interesting. I, an APC and Tinubu campaigner inside the PDP Atiku-Okowa den. Who was the big man, whose convoy nearly killed me? Was it Okowa or Atiku or an Atiku supporter?
“Up till this point, I had no idea as the mystery big man had been shepherded into the house, well ahead of me by the security aides, who now accosted me as I wanted to enter the house.
“You can’t just enter the house, one of the aides blustered as some policemen blocked my path, as well.
“One of your drivers nearly killed me at the Secretariat. He damaged my car”, I shouted back and demanded to see their big man.
“Our argument was creating a scene as more people came closer to behold the audacious intruder that I seemed to be.
“Another aide asked me to show him the damage to the car. He introduced himself as the chief of staff and gave an undertaking to repair the car. He tendered an apology as well.
“His approach mollified me. I gave him my complimentary card and we exchanged phone numbers.
“Moments after, I entered my car to continue my interrupted journey home, but because I had not cracked the mystery big man, I stopped outside to ask a guard about the owner of the house, where I just emerged.
“It’s Atiku”, he said. Another neighbor also confirmed this.
“As I drove off into the night and shared my experience with Senator Afikuyomi and others, I simultaneously imagined what the headline would have been if the accident had been more severe or had resulted into some fatality”, said Mr Bayo Onanuga.
As of the time of filing this report, Atiku Abubakar’s media office didn’t deny or confirm the incident.
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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