POLITICS
Atiku Coasting Home to Victory – PDP
By Johnson Eyiangho, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has claimed that from preliminary reports on the results coming from the Saturday Presidential election, it is confident that its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar is coasting to victory.
The PDP said that Atiku Abubakar is securing the highest number of valid votes cast as well as the statutory 25% in at least two third of the states of the Federation to ultimately brace the tape on the first ballot, according to Hon.
Debo Ologunagba, the party’s scribe, in a statement on Sunday.He thanked Nigerians for putting their avowed solidarity and support for Atiku Abubakar into action by coming out en-masse to give their votes to the PDP, irrespective of ethnicity, creed, age and even political affiliations.
Ologunagba said from the preliminary results, it was clear that Atiku’s message of hope, unity, security and rebuilding of our nation had been positively received by Nigerians who are eager to embrace a new era under a purposeful leadership which the PDP and Atiku embody.
”The PDP assures Nigerians that the hope which Atiku Abubakar symbolizes as well as the very onerous task of unifying and returning our country to the path of stability, national cohesion and economic prosperity will soon begin.
”Our Party therefore calls on INEC to ensure very transparent and credible collation process in such a manner that guarantees that all votes count and that the Will of the people is respected.
”INEC should not only ensure prompt uploading of results but also continue to make the result viewing portal available to the public in the interest of transparency” he said.
Ologunagba congratulated Nigerians for peaceful elections despite the threats, resort to violence and desperation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to scuttle the process and urged them to remain calm and resilient until the final declaration of results.
Meanwhile, the PDP has urged President Muhammad and INEC to call Tinubu to order after he – Tinubu, unilaterally awarded victory to himself after the Saturday election.
Dele Momodu, the Director of Strategic Communications, Atiku/Okowa Presidential Council, made the call in a statement on Sunday.
Momodu said the attention of the PDP had been drawn to a ”recklessly dangerous publication unilaterally awarding an impossible victory to the APC Presidential candidate Chief Bola Tinubu in a newspaper owned by Tinubu.”
He recalled that on Saturday, thugs of the APC chieftains and their allies took over the streets of Lagos burning ballot boxes and documents and generally misbehaving in order to disenfranchise the determined electorates.
He said despite all of those ugly attempts at stealing victory, the APC suffered its worst loss in most of the polling centers in Lagos.
”The same happened in Kano. Incapable of ever being sobered by the crushing humiliation in its traditional territories, we woke up this morning to read about the pathetic and illegal lies cooked up by the Tinubu media goons.
”Tinubu remains the only mainstream candidate whose home-base of South West was decimated by opposition parties in Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Osun and Ekiti.
”Most of the Northern Governors he also expected to help him garner votes in the Northern regions failed spectacularly to deliver the badly needed votes. He failed in the South East and South South.
”The only candidate with the national spread is the PDP Presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. But as a responsible citizen and respected statesman, he will never rush to the media to claim his well deserved victory and glory after a long and torturous journey.
”We hereby call on INEC and the Federal Government to cage these troublesome APC Chieftains. We have all been witnesses to their unruly behaviour as they did everything to bully and blackmail President Muhammadu Buhari in order to chicken out of the currency swap policy.
”We also witnessed how they practically intimidated the President to the extent of forcing him to publicly display who he voted for in yesterday’s elections. It was quite a bizarre, unfortunate and unprecedented scene to watch,” Momodu said.
APC Clinches Bosso/ Paikoro Federal Constituency Beating PDP Candidate
From Dan Amasingha, Minna
A former House of Assembly member and candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) party Governorship candidate, Hon Yusuf Baraje Yusuf has defeated the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abdulmalik Mohammed to win the Bosso/ Paikoro federal constituency seat.
The collation and returning officer of the constituency, Professor Mohammed Alhassan declared the APC candidate winner at the collation centre at the Niger State college of Education Minna.
He disclosed that the APC candidate obtained 34, 946 lawful votes to defeat his PDP opponent who obtain 33, 314votes.
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate Kabiru Usman came a distant with 13,191 votes.
POLITICS
Assembly Passes Edo N675bn 2025 Budget for Assent
The Edo House of Assembly on Monday passed the state 2025 budget of N675 billion for assent.
The passage followed the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Budget and Project Monitoring at plenary in Benin.
Presenting the report, the chairman of the committee, Sunday Fada, (PDP Esan Central) said the budget was made up of N225 billion recurrent expenditure and N451 billion capital expenditure.
Fada noted that the committee came up with the increase in the budgetary allocation to enable the governor carry out his five points agenda in the state.
The House at the committee of Supply, considered the budget clause by clause and subsequently, approved the increase from N605.
7 billion to N675 billion.The Speaker, Blessing Agbebaku, thereafter directed Mr Yahaya Omogbai, the clerk of the house to forward clean copies of the budget to the governor for his assent. (NAN)
POLITICS
Poverty, Behind Deadly Stampedes Across Nigeria, says Falana
By Mike Odiakose, Abuja
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, on Sunday attributed the deadly stampede that claimedmore than 105 lives in stampedes during food and cash distribution events to “poverty-induced neoliberal economic policies” and “criminal negligence.
”In a statement released on Sunday, Falana, who chairs the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond ASCAB, demanded justice for victims of the tragic events, saying, “These tragic events are a national shame, the victims were not just statistics but human beings driven to desperation by systemic poverty and the gross incompetence of those entrusted with their safety.
”On December 21, 12 people died and 32 others were injured in Okija, Anambra State, during a scramble for rice distributed by a philanthropist.
On the same day, a stampede at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, Abuja, resulted in the deaths of 10 individuals, including children, as over 3,000 people jostled for palliatives.
Just two days prior, on December 19, 35 children lost their lives in a stampede at a Christmas funfair at an Islamic High School, Basorun. in Ibadan, Oyo State.
“The loss of these innocent lives is heart-wrenching,” Falana lamented.
“It underscores the indignity that poverty imposes on our people.”
Falana also criticized the elite for their treatment of the poor during such events, stating, “No member of the elite invites others to lunch by throwing the food,” and condemned what he termed “class prejudice” in the distribution of humanitarian aid.
He also announced plans to mobilize lawyers to pursue civil suits against the organizers of these events.
“We will ensure survivors and families of the deceased are adequately compensated,” Falana affirmed. “Those responsible for these avoidable tragedies must be held accountable.”
POLITICS
2025 budget: LP Chieftain Lauds Tinubu for Diving Priority to Security, Others
Dr Ayo Olorunfemi, National Deputy Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) ,has commended President Bola Tinubu for giving priority to security and other key sectors in the 2025 Appropriation Bill .
Olorunfemi gave the commendation while speaking with newsmeon Thursday in Lagos.
NAN reports that the President had on Wednesday presented the N47.
9 trillion 2025 Appropriation Bill , christened “Budget of Restoration, Securing Peace and Rebuilding Prosperity” , to a joint session of the National Assembly .The President listed highlights of the 2025 budget allocations to include: defense and security: N4.91 trillion; infrastructure: N4.06 trillion; Health: N2.
48 trillion and Education: N3.52 trillion.Reacting , Olorunfemi described security as an enabler of development.
He called on the President to ensure proper implementation ,saying budgets had always been well-crafted but usually lacked monitoring and implementation.
“There is nothing that can happen if there is no security. This is good if the budget is properly utilised for the purpose.
“Our problem is not about policies and budgets, it is about monitoring and implementation.
“There is nothing wrong in bringing a budget proposal forward in terms of expectation, what we want to do, how we want to do it, and how much we want to spend.
“Now, the most important thing is the implementation,, budgets in Nigeria have always been properly crafted,” the LP boss said.
Olorunfemi called on the President to build strong institutions to prevent sabotaging of his policies.
“If this government wants to do anything, it must wake up to the responsibility of monitoring policies and ensure severe penalty for anyone who attempts to sabotage such policies.
“We need institutions that no one will be able to interfere with. We must allow these institutions to work, that is what we expect.
“Once we have strong institutions, most of our problems are solved,” he said.
He also called on the President to take steps to address the problems experienced by Nigerians in the banking sector.
Olorunfemi decried the inability of many Nigerians to get cash at bank’s Automated Teller Machines and the high charges paid to get cash from Point of Sales (POS) operators.
The LP boss also urged the President to devise ways of ending multiple taxations and high fuel price, describing them as major causes of hardship .
Recalled that the President said that the budget was a demonstration of government’s commitment to stabilising the economy, improving lives and repositioning the country for greater performance.
He also said the budget sought to consolidate the key policies instituted to restructure the economy, boost human capital development, increase the volume of trade and investments and bolster oil and gas production. (NAN)