POLITICS
I have no Disagreement with Adamu- Tinubu says
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Presidential Candidate for 2023 poll, says he has no disagreement with the party’s National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, contrary to some media reports.
Tinubu said this when he spoke with newsmen after a visit to the APC National Secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday.
He described the reports as fake news.
“To the rumour manufacturers, I read in some papers about disagreement between myself and the chairman and that was a very big lie.
“They didn’t know that we have come a long way, the big masquerade dance not in the cage, but in the market square, and that is what Adamu use to be, full of wisdom.
“We were governors together, before God put us together on this project again, he is going to deliver as the party’s chairman for me to become Nigeria’s president, and I am very confident of that.
“They can say whatever they want to say, throw all the jabs they want, we are a party strongly determined to fulfil our dreams of turning Nigeria to a very progressive, highly developed, prosperous country,” he said.
Tinubu said that since his emergence as the APC Presidential Candidate, he has working as a progressive toward ensuring victory at the poll.
He said that the APC was determined to change Nigeria into an advance country with bright future for Nigerians.
“It is a matter of great joy and honour for us to be here, especially me in particular, to interact with the team that authorised my becoming the candidate of our party.
“To all the members in attendance that day, we want to say thank you, we have come together as a political party and we have taken progressivism as our doctrine.
“We have to be progressive in our thinking, our did and objective to serve the country,” Tinubu said.
He said that the APC was not threatened by opposition parties, in its quest for victory at the 2023 general election as it was committed to democratic and progressive principles.
“We are not threatened, we are committed to democratic principles and values, we are not bickering in any way,” the former two-term governor of Lagos State said.
This, he said, could not be said about other political parties which according to him, have been spewing fake statistics and wrong figures to Nigerians.
He thanked the party’s leadership and delegates for voting him as the presidential candidate in the March 26 presidential primaries.
He particularly thanked Adamu for his wisdom, support and cooperation over the years, saying that they had come a long way, even as former state governors.
Tinubu said that his visit was to strategies for the presidential campaign, ahead of the Sept.28 commencement date with the party’s leadership with a view to ensuring effective electioneering campaign.
“Yes, I admit that democracy is challenging, very hard and difficult a system to manage.
“We have seen challenges left and right outside international sphere of politics, but we are determined to ensure that we democratise Nigeria fully and remain a beckon of democracy as the largest nation of black race in the world,” he said.
He appealed to members of the party that may not be part of the presidential campaign team to be patient and to continue working for victory at all levels.
“I beg you not to be angry if you are left out because we are going to give you another responsibility. Not every member here can be a member of the presidential campaign council,” Tinubu said.
Earlier, Adamu expressed optimism that the APC would emerge victorious at the 2023 poll by God’s grace.
Some of the dignitaries accompanying Tinubu were his running mate, Sen. Kashim Shettima and the Director-General APC Presidential Campaign Council, Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau.
Others were Speaker House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and Secretary of the Campaign Council, James Faleke. (NAN)
POLITICS
INEC Staff Welfare Association Warns Members Against Manipulating Election Results
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)
POLITICS
Be Thankful APC Didn’t Probe Your Administrations, Okechukwu Tells PDP
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)POLITICS
LG Administration Central to Democracy in Nigeria -Nwoko
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)