POLITICS
PDP’s Peter Obi Unveils Illustrious Education, Career Profile
A presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Peter Obi, has released his bio-data, showcasing a copious profile that casts him as standing tall among PDP presidential aspirants. This further makes the upcoming presidential contest look set to parade a crowded field of formidable contestants in both the ruling APC, main opposition PDP and other political parties.
However, only one aspirant from any of the parties will eventually fly the banner of the party in the presidential contest and if elected, the person will take over President Muhammadu Buhari’s plum job next year.
Obi, born on July 19, 1961 in Onitsha, Anambra, had his early education at the famous Christ the King College, Onitsha from where he gained admission in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, one of Nigeria’s first generation universities. The former governor of Anambra is viewed by political analysts as a top contender in the equally crowded PDP camp, which parades over a dozen contenders for the top job.Obi is the fourth son of a devout Catholic and entrepreneur mum and dad, who ran a popular supermarket in Onitsha, the commercial hub of the Southeast more than 50 years ago. Young Obi took to international trade after leaving university, where he studied philosophy. Now 61, Obi made a huge success in his business endeavor and subsequently, ventured into politics.
He was later to enroll at the Lagos Business School in Ajah, near Lagos, where he undertook a course designed for chief executives.Obi also attended the Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts for the mid-to-mid marketing course and another short course on Changing the Game in same school. He was later to attend the London School of Economics for a course in Financial Management and Business Policy as well as the Institute for Management Development in Switzerland.
Obi also attended the U.S. Kellogg Graduate School of Management and Oxford University in England, where he attended a course in Advanced Management and Leadership. He had a short stint at Cambridge University’s George Business School in Cambridge, England.
Obi got elected as governor of Anambra State from 2006 to 2014, shaping the economy of the state and positioning it as first among equals, especially in the secondary education sector. As governor, he was also a member of the Presidential Economic Management Team as well as Special Adviser to the President on Finance. He was also vice-chairman of the influential Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Chairman of the South-East Governor’s Forum from 2006 to 2014.
The PDP presidential aspirant was also a former chairman of the board of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was chairman of Fidelity Bank Plc., Guardian Express Mortgage Bank and chairman of Future Views Securities Ltd. The presidential aspirant was also a former chairman of Chams Nigeria Plc; Paymaster Plc. and Next International Ltd., the expansive supermarket chain, located in Abuja and Port Harcourt.
Obi was a member of many professional bodies, including the Nigerian Economic Summit Group; Nigerian Chartered Institute of Bankers and a member of the British Institute of Directors.
In 2012, Obi received an award by the Methodist Church of Nigeria for his prudent management of public resources and in 2013, he along with former GovernorvBabatunde Fashola of Lagos State were named Silver Bird Men of the Year.
Analysts are waiting anxiously to know who will emerge the flagbearer in the PDP as the countdown to the high-stakes presidential election gets underway. (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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