If I Lose This Election, I Will Regard It As My Fate And Accept It In Good Faith – Atiku

February 5, 2023

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has made it clear that if he loses the February 25, 2023 Presidential election in Nigeria, he would regard it as his fate and accept the result in good faith.

Answering questions on the Arise Television programmed today, February 5, Atiku said that he has put his all into the contest so much that he is not expecting failure but a resounding victory that will make him become the President in the next four years.

Atiku said that he had been determined to become the President to give him an opportunity to make Nigeria a better country for his children and future generations.

“I have many of my children schooling both in Nigeria and overseas, and my thinking is that if the country goes on like this, such children of mine will find it impossible to come home and serve their fatherland. There are similar other children and youths across the country that are living in despair. We cannot continue like this.”

The PDP flag bearer looked at the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi and concluded that he would not go anywhere because he doesn’t have any structure anywhere in the Nigeria, which is very essential to win Presidential contest.

“He doesn’t have a single governor, no senator, no House of Representatives member, no local government chairman, yet he and his supporters are hoping that he will win the 2023 Presidential election. That is an impossible dream

“Of course, Peter Obi has started well and needs to be patience, plan ahead for the future. You cannot start an effort from the top.”

How Lux Tera Roots For Good Leadership, Informed Citizenship, By Felix Anayo

Editorial staff

February 5, 2023

In the build up to the 2023 general elections, the Network and Advocacy Group of Lux Tera Leadership Foundation has been in the forefront of organizations working assiduously to drive citizenship education.

It has organized various leadership training programmes, targeted campaigns, public enlightenment programmes, youth development initiatives and community-based initiatives.

The Foundation has also organized developmental workshops, in the course of which it generated and spread advocacy materials, to guide the citizenry towards informed political decision-making.

One of the tool it has deployed most effectively is the media, especially by the facilitation of television discussion programmes in this regard.

Besides its own branded television programme, it has also, on various occasions and through its programme partners and Members of its Think Tank, expanded the frontiers of national discourse through the deployment and appearance of Third Parties to drive its developmental narratives, and the one goal of creating a better society, on various media platforms.

For the 2023 elections alone, the organization has remained consistently visible in the public space through its well thematized initiatives, including, and especially, through its Advocacy Thursday interventions.

These are periodic releases, skits and educational content, which focus on core legal, statutory and social responsibility steps and issues that would lead to free, fair, transparent and credible elections. These issues are central to the integrity of the electoral process/outcomes, as well as lasting development and citizenship education.

By ensuring that each such Advocacy Message addresses specific, current and urgent matters of leadership, citizenship, general public interest and general public good, the foundation has created a unique, impactful and admirable approach to building public awareness in a sustainable way. It is working with a carefully selected persons with confirmed Voice and Credibility in the Nigerian media, public and political space. It, thus, now has a committed group of persons who are held together by their convictions about the paradigms for sustainable leadership and followership in Nigeria.

The Foundation’s installmental and targeted advocacy works in such a way as to ensure that each advocacy theme builds on the one before its. The result is a series of mutually reinforcing narratives that allow breathing space for absorption and application in everyday life. This has been the approach in its handing of matters pertaining to the coming elections.

The communication/campaign on the new electoral Act did not come before the one on display of voters’ register. Nor did the one on the collection of Permanent Votes’ Card (PVC) come before the advocacy message on the need to register, etc.

The approach allows for a period of assessment, a feedback mechanism and periodic review that monitors impact, the objectives attainment of desired impact and for the recalibration of subsequent interventions. All the focal issues for communication, advocacy and public enlightenment are articulated to improve the people’s understanding of the true meaning of development, better leadership, service delivery in office, sense of community, improved political decision-making among the citizenry and a better-governed society.

As we walk into the last weeks before the elections, Lux Tera must be counted among the few organizations that have maintained a consistent focus on improving governance, leadership, citizenship and political engagement in Nigeria. When its Network and Advocacy Group Think Thank is measured against the background of its task as platform for the birth new ideas, promote discourse and suggest solutions for extant and emerging leadership, developmental and citizenship issues in Nigeria, the Foundations stands tall in every sense of the word.

The creative initiative of creating a pool of informed persons who, in addition to being active on their own across several socio/political advocacy platforms and activities of their own, are now part of the Lux Tera team of informed advocated is a unique achievement of the Foundation. By generating, and projecting, new ideas towards creating a better Nigerian society, the Foundation’s well produced Advocacy materials have been effective in this regard.

The print, electronic and social media, and also Talk Shows and Roundtables, have been veritable platforms for advancing the Foundation’s enlightenment and developmental programmes. Its outreach and youth leadership training programmes, including the programmes organized for school teachers, students and education stakeholders are all now dovetailing into three main focal channels, namely: (1) Measurable political education, the expansion of social consciousness/ group cohesion, and (3) Confirmed commitment to, and impact on, the imperative of free, transparent, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.

Nigeria, Niger Republic Sign Pact On Frequency Utilization Along Their Borders

Editorial staff

February 5, 2023

Nigeria and Republic of Niger have signed a bilateral agreement in Abuja for the coordination of frequency utilization along their borders to ensure seamless deployment of services around within the two countries.

A statement today, February 5, in Abuja by the director of Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Reuben Mouka said that the agreement signing ceremony was one of the highlights of the two-day Digital Economy Regional Conference, hosted by the Nigerian government and facilitated by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, which ended at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja.

He said that the Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, signed on behalf of Nigeria, while his Nigerien counterpart, the Minister of Post and New Information Technologies, Moussa Baraze, signed on behalf of his country.

According to Mouka, the agreement will help in effective coordination and sharing of frequencies and channels in the ‘buffer zone or area’ on borderlines between the two countries and also help to address one of the major issues of signal interference regulation that may arise in telecoms signal transmissions by terrestrial telecoms service providers, as it spells out the procedures for regulating such cases.

He said that the agreement provides, in part, that in case of harmful interference affecting one of the parties, the affected party shall inform the other party in writing for necessary action to be carried out.

“Also, the party from whence the interference is originating shall ensure that all necessary means are used to resolve the harmful interference within 30 days of receipt of the notice”, the agreement says.

He said that while the Agreement is without prejudice to the rights and obligations of the parties specified in the Convention, the Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and other inter-governmental arrangements, it however, states that the land and mobile services whose use is restricted for security, maritime and national defence or for which information is not available, shall not be subjected to the provisions of the agreement.

The NCC Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Professor Umar Danbatta and Niger Republic’s Chairperson of the National Council for Regulation of Electronic Communications and Post, Mrs. Aichatou Oumani, were witnesses to the agreement, which applies to the co-ordination of frequencies existing in the Nigeria-Niger trans-boundary areas between 87.5 megahertz (MHz) to 30 gigahertz (GHz).

Tinubu Campaign Team Says Nextier Is A Jester For Predicting Peter Obi Winning Presidency

Editorial staff

February 5, 2023

Presidential Campaign Council of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has described as a jester, Nextier, a public policy advisory firm that just conducted Gallup Poll on the winner of the February 25 Presidential election in the country.

A statement today, February 5, by the Council’s Director of media and publicity, Bayo Onanuga, said that another farcical Presidential Election Poll result was released by Nextier, saying that the exercise sought to mislead Nigerians.

According to Onanuga, the Patrick Okigbo-led organization appears to have the agenda to create confusion and chaos in the country.

“For a start, Nigerians should know that promoters of Nextier are members of Mr. Peter Obi’s Presidential Campaign Council and active campaigners for the Labour Party Presidential Candidate.

“Any poll conducted by such intensely partisan and prejudicially tainted organisation should be taken with a pinch of salt.

“This is apart from the fact that the sample size of the so-called poll and methodology employed cannot stand any integrity test.

“It is quite ludicrous that Nextier Poll that projects a clean sweep of the South East Region at over 90% of registered votes also puts Peter Obi ahead of APC Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the six South West States including Lagos.

“Assuming without absolutely conceding that Peter Obi will enjoy home advantage in his part of the country, we then wonder why the pollsters at Nextier, if they have any modicum of respect for the intellect of Nigerians, thought the factors that will propel landslide victory for Obi in South east will not work for the APC candidate in his own South West base.

“Nextier Pollsters also put Labour Party ahead of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party Candidate in his home state of Adamawa.

“How more ridiculous can Nextier Pollsters get?”

Onanuga said that Nextier Pollsters even called the entire South South Region for Labour Party at 60% in Akwa-Ibom, the base of Chairman of PDP presidential campaign council.

“The partisan pollsters gave Bayelsa 62.9% to Labour Party and also claimed LP would win Delta 65.9 %, home of PDP Vice Presidential Candidate.

“The jesters in Nextier also claimed Obi would win Rivers by 77.8%, Edo 76.9% and Cross Rivers 63.2%. It did not matter to them that in these states, Labour Party has no serving councillor in any ward.

“The summary of Nextier’s so-called face-to-face nationwide poll is that Peter Obi is the preferred candidate of 37% of Nigerians with a conclusion that the Presidential election will go into a run-off.

“We make bold to say this is wishful thinking without any basis in fact and reality.”

Onanuga alerted Nigerians and the international community that the Pollsters at Nextier are working for the Labour Party and their poll results are all cooked up, far away from reality.

The PCC for Tinubu suspected that their first and second fallacious poll results are pretext to cause political crisis and riots in Nigeria after the February 25, saying that they are preparing ground for violent protest by Obi supporters who will allege rigging when their candidate is roundly defeated at the election, in which he is not likely to even come a distant third.

“We want to state categorically that Peter Obi is not a major contender in the coming presidential election in Nigeria and no fantasy and fairytale poll can change the material facts.

“We want to put it on record that Nextier Poll is useless for three reasons:

“First, the sample size of 3,000 is statistically too insignificant in an election with over 93 million registered voters and admits greater margins of error than claimed.

“Second, the distribution of the sample neither reflects voter demographics nor variations in voters turnout across states.

“Third, the main objective of Nextier Poll is to report a predetermined conclusion so that when Labour Party loses by wide margin, its rabid supporters can embark on another violent protests, similar to the destructive #ENDSARS riots of 2020.”

Senator Uche Ekwunife Asks Igbos To Forget Peter Obi And Vote Atiku

Editorial staff

February 5, 2023

Senator Uche Ekwunife, the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the Anambra Central senatorial district, has called on Igbos in the Southeast to forget about the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi but vote for the candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar in the February 25 Presidential election.

“Peter Obi is no doubt, a force to reckon with in the election, but will not be able to garner the required spread that will secure a win, unlike Atiku who has everything it takes to win the election with a high margin.”

Ekwunife, who reacted to an online report claiming that she had endorsed Obi in the February poll, in a statement today, February 5, said that Obi does not have the capacity to garner the required spread across the country to make him win the presidential election.

The statement with the caption, ‘My purported endorsement of Peter Obi,’ reads: “It has come to my notice that an online blog has been circulating articles claiming that I have endorsed the presidential candidate of the LP, Mr Peter Obi, in the forthcoming February poll. It further attributed statements that may translate as adopting Obi as my candidate for the election.

“I want to state categorically that those statements never emanated from me or my campaign council. I also wish to state that Peter Obi is my leader and an elder brother from Anambra Central whom I respect and hold in high esteem.

“But our political aspiration has become divergent, hence, the need for me to focus on delivering our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the vice presidential candidate, Ifeanyi Okowa, who are of the PDP.

“May I restate that I’m of the PDP and we have candidates in all the elective positions across Nigeria and I cannot at this point, work against my party or any of her candidates for whatever reasons?

She then asked the people of Anambra and Nigerians to key into Atiku’s presidential aspiration as a “project to rescue Nigeria and get her on the path of greatness.”

IPOB Alleges Plot To Assassinate Atiku In Southeast

Editorial staff

February 5, 2023

The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has alleged that its intelligence unit, M-Branch, has uncovered a plot to assassinate Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the South East.

Spokesman of the IPOB, Emma Powerful said today, February 5, in a statement that Atiku’s assassination would be blamed on the followers of Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP).

His statement reads: “In view of the state-sponsored insecurity ravaging Nigeria, we, the global movement and family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) under the command and leadership of the great liberator Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu Kanu wish to alert the public on the intelligence report at our disposal of plans to attack Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the South East and blame it on IPOB, ESN or the presidential candidate, Peter Obi’s supporters, the Obidient group.

“IPOB intelligence unit, the M-Branch uncovered a plan by some unscrupulous politicians to cause crises in the country against IPOB and Ndigbo all over the country.

“This group is planning to assassinate Atiku Abubakar in the southeastern part of Nigeria and claim it is done by unknown gunmen, ESN/IPOB, or the Obidient group.”

Source: VOICE OF NAIJA.

Minister Orders Arrest Of Officials, Developer Over Collapsed Building In Abuja

Greenbarge Reporters

February 5, 2023

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has ordered the arrest of some Federal Housing Authority (FHA) officials and the developer of the two-storey building that collapsed in Abuja on Friday.

No fewer than 24 persons were trapped in the collapsed building at 6th Avenue in Gwarimpa Estate, with three confirmed dead and 21 rescued.

Coordinator of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Umar Shuaibu, said that the minister gave the order to carry out the arrest when he addressed media yesterday, February 4.

He said the minister issued an arrest warrant for manslaughter against the developer, the FHA officers overseeing the development, the officer-in-charge of issuing the development permission, and the engineer supervising the project.

National Hajj Commission Distributes 2023 Hajj Seats To 36 States, FCT

Editorial staff

February 4, 2023

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), has announced the distribution of the 2023 Hajj seats to the 36 State Pilgrims Welfare Boards, Agencies, Commissions, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Armed Forces.

The commission’s Assistant Director of Information and Publications, Mousa Ubandawaki, who made this known today, February 4, in a statement in Abuja, said that the decision was reached at the end of the Executive Committee meeting which ratified the allocations.

Ubandawaki gave the list of the seat allocations to the states as follows:

Abia 53

Adamawa 2,669

Anambra 39

Bauchi 3,132

Bayelsa 35

Benue 236

Borno 2,735

Cross River 66

Delta 74

Nasarawa 1,567.

Niger 5,165

Ogun 1,139

Ondo 436

Osun 1,054

Oyo 1,441

Yobe 1,968

Ebonyi 117

Edo 274

Ekiti 197

Enugu 40

FCT 3,520

Gombe, 2,300.

Imo 30

Jigawa 1,525

Kaduna 5,982

Kano 5,902

Katsina 4,913

Kebbi 4,871

Kwara 3,219

Lagos 3,576

Plateau 1,984.

Rivers 50

Sokoto 5,504

Taraba 1,590

Zamfara 3,083

Armed Forces got 543.

According to Ubandawaki, Kogi State allocation would be released after the conclusion of the ongoing review of its activities.

He said that the allocation of Akwa Ibom was suspended due to non-renewal of its operating licence.

He said that all the states are expected to remit payments of 50 per cent of the 2022 seats allocation to NAHCON before the February 10 deadline.

“The inability of any state to comply with the deadline date will lead to the reduction in the allocation to such state.”

Source: NAN.

Afenifere Leader Asks Tinubu To Drop Presidential Ambition And Join Obi’s Campaign

Editorial staff

February 4, 2023

The leader of the pan Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo has asked the Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to drop his ambition and team up with the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi because Northerners won’t vote for him in the 2023 election.

Adebanjo, who spoke today, February 4, at the Labour Party presidential campaign rally in Ogun State at the Ake Palace ground in Abeokuta, foresaw a situation where the north will disappoint Tinubu in the 2023 election.

The Afenifere leader therefore advised Tinubu, who is former Lagos State Governor to join the Obi/Datti movement before it is too late.

“All those that know Tinubu should tell him. I have always told and I will tell him again, the Northerners will not vote for him.

“He (Tinubu) should come back home now and support Obi because when they finally defeat him, he won’t have the courage to come back home again. If he comes back now, we will forgive him and take him back.”

Adebanjo described Labour Party as the new National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), adding that that the LP is set to save Nigerians from the misrule of the APC and the captivity of the ruling class.

“I have told you before and I want to say it again, Labour Party is now NADECO, those of us supporting Obi are the ones that want good governance, we want Nigeria to be better, we want to liberate ourselves from the captive of the ruling class.”

Atiku Uncomfortable With “Degenerating Campaigns” So Far – Internal Source

Editorial staff

February 4, 2023

Information filtering from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) indicates that, about 21 days to the conduct of Presidential election across Nigeria, the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is uncomfortable with the management of his presidential campaign and its outcome thus far.

Internal polling and assessment of Atiku’s chances at the presidential polls conducted by a private firm hired by the PDP presidential candidate revealed that his chances has reduced and continue to reduce with each passing week. The assessment showed that the Atiku campaign has not been able to make the required headway into States and regions he needs to score victories in order to have a clear pathway to victory.

The emergence of Peter Obi and the Labor party into the presidential fray was believed to have caught them off-guard and the Atiku campaign has not been able to readjust the campaign to correct the Peter Obi factor.

Geopolitical regions of the South East, South South and North Central which have historically voted overwhelmingly for Atiku Abubakar and the PDP party appears to be leaning away from the PDP and heavily towards the Labor party.

Efforts were said have been made by the Atiku campaign to correct the Peter Obi and Labor party intrusion. The campaign handlers were given instructions to use politicians of South East extraction particularly Anambra State to “speak” on Peter Obi – to dissuade the communities of the aforementioned geopolitical regions from going along with the Labor party presidential candidates.

Major airtime buys in the media and media appearances by PDP stalwarts were booked and used to disparage Peter Obi’s chances at the polls and also discourage Peter Obi’s followers into believing that Peter Obi’s chances of victory are slim – and thus a vote for him would translate to a wasted vote.

Many of the lieutenants of the Atiku presidential campaign took to the media airwaves with a rebranding message to re-brand Peter Obi in the eyes of the voters. The likes of Chief Arthur Eze – a billionaire from Anambra State – and others spoke brazenly of the need for the south east to know that a vote for Peter Obi is a wasted vote. Amongst the lieutenants is one-time Minster of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka. He has made many appearances both on campaign rallies and on television channels to spread the talking point of rebranding Peter Obi.

Rather than having the expected effect within the targeted communities, the reverse appeared to have taken effect. It resulted in the entrenchment of their belief in the Labor presidential candidate – and a resentment of the purveyors of the rebrand Peter Obi message.

Recently, followers of the Anambra billionaire, Chief Arthur Eze returned all the campaign materials of Atiku Abubakar and dumped them at the front of his country home in Anambra State. They also set the items on fire.

These reactions and/or rejections have, in turn, resulted in frustration to the Atiku campaign and to the presidential candidate. This is as a source who claims to have knowledge of the inner workings of campaign claims the presidential candidate has grown increasingly discontent within the direction of the campaign.

“Atiku is not pleased with the campaign so far. He believes that Peter Obi should have not been allowed to eat into his campaign this much.”

Exacerbating matters for Atiku are the lieutenants within the PDP presidential team who have refused to join the campaign against Peter Obi. Many of the PDP stalwarts from the south east geopolitical zone who are working to materialize the PDP quest for the presidency, have been reluctance to join the train to rebrand Peter Obi. The likes of Senator Uche Ekwunife who is the senator representing the Anambra central district under the PDP banner have turned around her support from Atiku Abubakar to Peter Obi. She had initially made public pronouncements of her support for the PDP presidential candidate while denouncing the presidential candidate of the Labor party as inexperienced – and thus not ready.

Internal wrangling within the party continues to rattle the cohesiveness of the presidential campaign amidst the already tough grind. This adds another dimension to the diminishing returns.

Recent revelation by sources indicate the five governors (G-5) of the PDP led by Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, who had initially stepped away from supporting the PDP presidential candidate is said to have expanded their radius of influence significantly to areas beyond what was previously thought by political experts. Other elected PDP officials including other stalwarts of the PDP have silently joined the crusade against Atiku Abubakar. The identities of the PDP turncoats are not readily available but our source confirms the number to be upwards of eight.

Meanwhile, Atiku is reported to have called upon his lieutenants to double their efforts to turn the tide, especially following the public outcry from Governor Nasiru El Rufai claiming that Atiku was working in tandem with elements in the presidential villa to undermine the chances of the APC. To Atiku, El Rufai’s outcry was similar to that of a whistle blower. It may have unraveled the plans being hatched by the elements in the villa.

Claims by politicians in the know are that indeed elements within the presidential villa have been collaborating with the PDP presidential candidate more than the public would imagine.

A source points to the Central Bank’s recent monetary policy toward cash control and naira redesign as hatched by the same elements in the villa allegedly to checkmate the APC presidential candidate from engaging in vote buying on election day.

Source: 247ureports.com.

1...364365366...2,499 Page 365 of 2,499