A former National President, Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria, (YOWICAN) and Co-Chairman of the Interfaith Coalition Conference, Daniel Kadzai, has warned Church in Nigeria against open support for the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi ahaead of this year’s election across the country. He spoke against Christian leaders for turning their pulpits into campaign podiums for Peter Obi, describing such attitude as very wrong. Daniel Kadzai, in an interview on the New Year’s Eve, insisted that there have been bad leaders on both the Christian and Muslim sides, telling church leaders to slow down in pushing a candidate. “These religious leaders, especially the church, must stop deceiving their members. If what they’re proposing fails, it will backfire on their members. So it is better they just stay neutral, especially since the pulpit should be used for the purpose of salvation where they preach love, peace and unity. It should not be a jamboree of politics or political gathering,” he said. “Despite the challenges facing this country, God has been faithful and Everybody celebrated Christmas and New Year in peace. God put these wicked rulers in shame and even though the price of rice is almost N50,000 now Nigerians were able to buy it. No one said they did not have something to eat. “The religious sentiment being played among us with some churches publicly declaring for one candidate. For instance, bringing Peter Obi to church and all that, what if he fails? What if he loses the election? Some come up with Tinubu, saying he is Muslim Muslim ticket but the same people kicking against Muslim Muslim ticket are still holding meetings with Tinubu at CAN’s headquarters.” He said that some of those who criticise Bola Tinubu for his choice of Muslim-Muslim ticket are the same people holding meetings with the All Progressives Congress, APC’s candidate at the national Secretariat of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN. “The same people condemning him are at the same time holding meetings with him at the CAN Secretariat. What kind of integrity are we talking about? “Let’s forget the religious sentiment and go for a candidate that will savage the situation of this country and deliver good governance to our people. Someone who can unite this country “When you talk of bad leadership, we have bad leadership among Christians and Muslims. We have Christians who were bad leaders in the country and we also have them among the Muslims. “So when you are accusing someone just know that something happened earlier. If Christian vote alone could bring a President into power Jonathan wouldn’t have lost the 2015 election because all that was needed to win the election was provided to them but we lost out.” Source: Daily Post.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Bello Musa has appealed to Abuja resdents to support his administration as it continued to demolish illegal structures in the capital city.
In a New Year message to the residents today, January 1, 2023, the minister said: “we solicit your cooperation and support, as we continue the task of removing illegal structures and settlements within our city both for security purposes and maintaining the sanctity of the Abuja Masterplan.”
Muhammad Bello said that these corrective measures are absolutely essential if truly Abuja city is to evolve into one of the most aesthetically pleasing and functional cities in the world.
“The presence of illegal settlements and shanties will only draw us further away from attaining this goal.”
According to the minister, the capital city is confronted daily with the unwholesome and unpatriotic activities of vandals who wantonly destroy or steal public infrastructure installed by government at great cost.
He said that replacing or repairing such critical infrastructure cost a lot of money which otherwise would have been invested in other equally essential projects.
“You are therefore enjoined to treat critical public infrastructure as you would treat your personal property and help to protect all public assets located within your vicinity.
“As residents of the FCT, we are obliged to live up to the ideals of the founding fathers of the Territory as a place where every Nigerian can call home. We must therefore, collectively resist any attempt to cause disharmony and disaffection within our ranks. Elections in the FCT have always been peaceful. Let us ensure that the upcoming 2023 polls also reflect this.”
Muhammadu Bello is happy that despite the heavy rainfalls and attendant floods that devastated several parts of the country, the capital city was largely spared the misfortune.
“This is because, having learnt from our experiences in the past, adequate measures were taken to prevent any such re-occurrence.
“ I must therefore extend our appreciation to residents for their understanding despite the discomforts they must have endured in the course of our remedial measures. I hereby call for your continuous support and cooperation.”
He commended the security agencies in the FCT for the tremendous work they have been doing in ensuring the safety of lives and property within the Territory as the incidences of violent crimes have witnessed a decline over the past few months.
The minister recalled that some of the gallant men and women who have seen to this possibility have even paid the ultimate price in the course of discharging their responsibilities.
He reassured them of the continuous support of the Administration as demonstrated with the provision of 60 high-capacity vehicles in addition to accompanying security and communication equipment last year.
“We will continue to support them in every way possible and also enjoin the citizenry to cooperate with our law enforcement agencies whenever the need arises.
The minister reminded residents that the maintenance of security is the responsibility of all, even as he reiterated the mantra of say ‘something when you see something’.
He assured that his Administration is committed to sustaining the growth and development of the Territory despite the challenges of dwindling financial resources and the ever increasing population.
“We are evolving new strategies to meet our financial obligations in line with growing demands.
“The creation of the Economic Planning, Revenue Generation and Public Private Partnership Secretariat and the upscaling of the functions of the FCT IRS are but two of the measures taken to shore up our revenue base to meet our needs.
“Residents are therefore enjoined to also play their part by being up to date in the payment of their taxes to enable us continue to serve you better.”
He assured the resident that over the next five months heralding the end of the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the his Administration will not relent in its efforts of ensuring the development of the Territory and the well-being of its residents.
So, that mythical Nigerian year, 2023, is here at last? For Nigerians, 2023 is not just a year of newness as all years represent for mankind. It is a year with gross implications, political, economic and social. It is a year that is at once dreaded, expected, venerated and which evokes apprehension, as well as a feeling of de ja vu across board. It is a year of consequence to our existence as a people. A year that has been romanticized as the year of the Nigerian becoming, many analysts have even sacralized 2023 as the year that will determine whether Nigeria will break, be broken, or which will break all the obstructions on the way of the country’s underdevelopment. Welcome to that sacred year of our Lord 2023!
As I said, in 2023, Nigerians do not see what the rest of the world see in a “new year.” They do not just see the picture of a newness that the rest of the world sees or is confronted with. Nigerians’ mental picture is diametrically opposed to or hugely different from the world’s when it comes to the new year 2023. Nor is that newness of a New Year the newness which the philosopher, Martin Heidegger, conceptualized. For Heidegger, German philosopher, best known for his seminal contributions to philosophy in the fields of phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism, in his thesis on the philosophy of being, newness or being, is always and continually in the process of becoming true. This then means that, for him, we can never reach the end of our completeness. In his understanding, newness will always be new; will forever be incomplete and always in process.
For Nigerians, however, 2023 holds some finite meaning. It is a year that the people hold with some magical awesomeness. Or fear, if you like. On the political landscape, for optimists, 2023 is a year that will define where Nigeria is headed, for good. For pessimists, it is a nihilistic year of destruction. If you like listening to Bob Marley, especially that diffident album of his called Uprising and the particular track entitled, Check Out The Real Situation, apparently frustrated by the slide in world affairs, Marley had gone nihilistic.
The philosophy of nihilism believes that values have failed society as they lack base or foundation. It is a philosophy of extreme pessimism and radical skepticism which even goes to the extreme of condemning human existence. It is built on an impulse of destruction of what is. So, to nihilism Bob had sauntered for an explanation of the hopelessness of the world. He had lamented how nations warred against nations. Why, for instance, a skunkhead like Vladimir Putin would want to destroy humanity in Ukraine, will fall under the nihilism propounded by Marley. Wondering when “did it all begin” and “when will it end?,” Bob philosophized that “it seems like, total destruction (is) the only solution” as “there ain’t no use” since “no one can stop them now.”
Politicians and their recruits are all over the place preaching the gospel of redemption that will come with 2023. If you listen to them as they reify Nigeria at campaign podia, you will wonder if there is a newer newness as opposed to the old newness that we have always known that will come into place in 2023. Behind the microphone, Nigerian politicians are grossly irredeemable. When they paint the picture of the Eldorado that 2023 will birth, you will wonder if Nigeria would exchange space with Jupiter in 2023. Or that it will cease to be that same country that has failed all indices of growth, development and theories of leadership since 1914.
To the politicians, that national surplus or plenty that Nigerians have always yearned for will show its beautiful face in 2023. If you have a scientific mind however, you cannot travel on the same boat with the Nigerian politician. You will wonder where the surplus will come from in a Nigeria where Muhammadu Buhari has steeped the country into a debt hole that is unexampled in national history. Recall that as at September 2022, the sum of N44.06triillion lies as Nigeria’s total debt stock. It is no news too that that same Nigeria spent N3.04trillion to service her external and domestic debts in nine months in 2022. When you ask where that magic of surplus will come from, the unscience that Nigerian politicians confront you with hits you like a mound of excrement. It is worse than the voodoo of metaphysics. However, immediately we arrive that selfsame 2023, as we just did now, and Nigeria begins to manifest her old cancerous growths, Nigerian politicians will come up with newer variants of their evergreen prognoses. Or simply run into the embrace of their usual escapism.
That is why I find Oby Ezekwesili’s take on 2023 and the infectious optimism being funneled into space by Nigerian politicians very apt. In a recent interview with the Channels Television, the former Minister of Education had said that there was the danger of a noxious and uncensored hyper-optimism that is being filtered into the Nigerian mind by politicians. They seem to make the people believe that once we land in 2023, all our problems are solved. In the process, they do not tell the people the obvious truth that, with the current rank decadence in the country, reversing the sorry state of Nigeria, beginning from 2023, may be an impossibility.
If we can even be sincere with ourselves for a minute, which of the buccaneers, the vultures on parade for the 2023 race has the capacity to bring about the Nigeria of our dream? Which one? The same people who are grossly complicit in the dross that we found ourselves? Sorry that I embraced Bob Marley in checking out our real situation.
Still on that same political plane, we have been inundated with how the three major political parties hold hope to rescue Nigeria from its present stasis. Depending on who you engage of the three, the unscience that oozes out of them is similar. Whether it is Peter Obi, Bola Tinubu or Atiku Abubakar, what is certain is that this 2023 is a year when Nigeria can never be the same again. The consequences inherent in anyone of them winning the presidential ballot are huge for Nigeria. If Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) for instance, becomes president, Nigeria’s already fragmented unity from 1914, which Buhari whimsically shredded on the altar of his pristine nepotism and cronyism, will further have its apron torn, in a more phenomenal way. This is because, I imagine how Atiku Abubakar will preach unity and togetherness to a country where a Hausa Fulani ruled Nigeria for eight years and another man of same ethnic stock takes over from him for most likely another eight years… and such preachments will hold water?
This is why, perhaps due to his hoarse and husky voice, Nigerians cannot see the primacy of a true Nigeria that Nyesom Wike and his G5 governors have harped upon endlessly. Wike is no doubt a petrel but let us peer beyond him to examine his message. In this war, Wike seems to be shooting his shot on target and naysayers like us are the laughing stock. He and his cronies’ latest trip to the UK was greeted with a baffling frenzy on the political space and even in the media, such that it cancels out what Atiku Abubakar and his fellow travelers have made us to believe was the worthlessness of their threats. While the media was collapsing on a roller-coaster of goofs about where Wike and his group were headed, Atiku seemed to be wetting his trousers.
“I am not someone who will go and see somebody and hide. Hide for who? Who is that person that will threaten me? They said Wike had a deal with so, so, and so person. Meanwhile, no video, no anything. And some of you waste time listening to such things. Don’t you know when I want to do something, I do it? You don’t need to speculate,” the Ikwerre petrel thundered and he seemed to have us by our balls.
Then he detonated the bazooka. “They said we had a meeting with so and so. What is your problem? Assuming there was a meeting, has Atiku not been holding meetings with governors of APC? Ask him. As he is in Dubai, don’t we know what is going on? So, why do you bother about us G-5, that you said you can win without us? Leave us alone,” the nuke exploded and everybody ran helter-skelter to hide from the splinter shells of the bomb.
So some APC governors too are holding meetings with Atiku? Wonders will never end. So why are the Atiku group making issues of the G5’s meeting with Tinubu and Obi? Very shortly, Wike will probably avail us information on who Buhari is talking to too on behalf of Atiku Abubakar. It is such bombastic that has marked the run-ups to the 2023 election. This crazy 2023!
With a Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Aso Rock, a party which Buhari took to its all-time low by his very opaque administration, Nigerian voters will unravel as a people always excited at being in bed with their abusers and suppressors. In saner climes, there should be no other year than 2023, the year of consequence, as a time to pay the APC back for its lack-luster leadership through a massive rejection of the party and everything it represents at the polls.
2023 is also the year of Buhari’s much anticipated departure from office. Already, the president has done what he believes was a fair assessment of his close to eight years in office. To many, Buhari’s exit this 2023 will end the eight years of the locusts which besieged Nigeria since 2015. Buhari did a self-review at an event organised by his family and associates, in celebration of his 80th birthday, tagged “Celebrating A Patriot, a Leader, an Elder Statesman” last week. There, he reviewed his administration through a documentary where he admitted that what he called his best had not been good enough for the country. “I think I’m being harassed. I believe I’m trying my best but still, my best is not good enough,” he said.
At the same event, Buhari then said he was in a hurry to go lock himself up in Daura, Katsina State. “I am eager to go. I can tell you it has been tough…I look forward to the year 2023 when I finish, go home to take charge of my farm,” he said. For Buhari, 2023 is the year to relieve himself of the Nigerian burden but does it bother him that his actions, mis-actions and inactions as president led to the deaths and incapacitation of thousands of people? Never mind. Buhari will go to Daura and he will live happily ever after.
To many pessimists, however, for Nigeria, Buhari’s exit in 2023 will only be a Martin Heidegger’s unending farce that Nigeria as a country is. In many instances, the new has always been worse than the old in Nigeria. This has then reincarnated the same farcical tale that is called the Nigerian sorry refrain. When Olusegun Obasanjo was leaving Aso Rock in 2007, Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief, sure that an end had come to what they perceived as a self-centered, high-handed leadership. Umaru Yar’Adua then came and hope that he would be better was rife in the horizon, especially judging by the deodorized tale of Umaru, as Katsina governor, walking from his office and crossing to the other side of the road to go buy his favourite stick of cigarette.
Midstream, however, death struck and didn’t allow Nigerians know in-depth who Yar’Adua really was. Then came Goodluck Jonathan. By the time he left office in 2015, Jonathan was held as the worst Nigerian leader since independence. Today, those who voted Buhari in place of the Bayelsa shoeless man feel they had made the gravest mistake of their lives. Today, Obasanjo walks about, preaching governance morality and precepts with such majestic swagger that you wonder how, immediately they leave office, Nigerians spray their generally regarded evil leaders with sweet smelling fragrances. So you ask yourself, as execrable as the Buhari government has been in almost eight years, isn’t there the possibility that soon and very soon, Nigerians would beatify him too and look back to say life was better under him? It is because this is the warped judgment of Nigerian leadership history.
For me, my honest wish will be that this 2023, Nigerians will not relent in asking for the Nigeria Police to step out of the fur of bloodthirsty jackals that its officers wear and have a handshake with the rest of humanity. The more I reflect on the killing in Lagos last week of pregnant lawyer, Bolanle Raheem, by Drambi Vandi, a policeman, the more it occurs to me that if we can get this wish through in 2023, then we are beginning a new social order in Nigeria.
By the way, last week, an ally of Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, Chairman of Arise TV and Thisday newspaper, reacting to my piece entitled Emefiele’s Terrorism Mess, told me I goofed by submitting that Obaigbena was engaged in inappropriate dalliance with embattled Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele in the latter’s bid to run for the presidential primary of the APC. Obaigbena had no hand in Emefiele’s crashed ambition, he argued vociferously.
Happy New Year to you all, Nigerians, though I don’t see anything new in 2023!
Dr. Festus Adedayo is a journlist, lawyer, biographer and public affairs analyst.
Former Pope, Benedict XVI has died. He died today, December 31, at his Vatican residence, aged 95. His death came almost a decade after he stood down because of ailing health. He led the Catholic Church for less than eight years until, in 2013, he became the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415. Benedict spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the walls of the Vatican. His successor, Pope Francis said he had visited him there frequently. The Vatican said in a statement: “With sorrow, I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. “Further information will be provided as soon as possible.” The Vatican said the body of the Pope Emeritus will be placed in St Peter’s Basilica from January 2 for “the greeting of the faithful.” Plans for Pope Benedict’s funeral will be announced in the next few hours, the Vatican said. Although the former pontiff had been ill for some time, the Holy Sea said there had been an aggravation in his condition because of advancing age. On Wednesday, Pope Francis appealed to his final audience of the year at the Vatican to “pray a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict,” whom he said was very ill. Born as Joseph Ratzinger in Germany, Benedict was 78 when in 2005 he became one of the oldest popes ever elected. For much of his papacy, the Catholic Church faced allegations, legal claims and official reports into decades of child abuse by priests. Earlier this year the former Pope acknowledged that errors had been made in the handling of abuse cases while he was archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982. Source: BBC.
President Muhammadu Buhari has made it clear that he had done his best in the service to Nigeria in the nearly seven and half years he had presided over the governmental affairs of the country. “I welcome and accept both the accolades and criticisms in equal measure secure in the conviction that I did my best to serve our dear country Nigeria and I pray that the next President will also pick up the baton and continue the race to make Nigeria one of the leading countries of the world by the end of this century.” In his New Year, 2023 message to Nigerians today, December 31, 2022, the President encouraged Nigerians to look with hope to 2023, “a year to move forward as a Nation towards unity, progress and prosperity. “I offer my own personal felicitations, mindful of the various opinions and interpretations of our executive legacies.” The President’s message is reproduced hereunder: First, I would like to thank and honour the Almighty who saw us through the year 2022 and has given us the opportunity to see another year. Each New Year is an opportunity to reflect on the past year, reposition, and move forward with the New. As we celebrate the opportunity to be alive in the year 2023, we must also acknowledge the passing away of our brothers and sisters who didn’t make it into this new year. May their souls rest in perfect peace. This year is particularly important to me because this message is in essence valedictory. After having the honour of serving you, my compatriots, for the last seven plus years, my tenure as your President in the most revered tradition of our ongoing and maturing democracy must necessarily come to an end. In the next five months we would have gone to the polls and elected a new president along with new governors and a plethora of other elected officials at both the national and state levels. All these electoral and democratic principles are working in concert because of the transcendent beliefs, beyond partisan politics, of you the great citizen of Nigeria. In addition is my personal commitment and executive promise to see to the letter that the 2023 elections being diligently conducted by INEC will be free and fair. The collective electoral will and votes of Nigerians will be fulfilled, even in the twilight moments of my watch. Reflecting on year 2022 allows us as a government to examine our legacies of successes and challenges. As we celebrate our wins and review obstacles, we all must understand that governance is a continuum, which still places a transitional responsibility on this administration to provide for the incoming government a non-partisan and objective roadmap for 2023. We as Nigeria; one country united under the will of God and actively growing as an indivisible entity, have been enabled year after year, decade after decade, to weather all stormy waters and emerge stronger and better where others have fallen and disintegrated. This has made us a unique nation across the globe and our continent. In year 2023, Nigerians go to the polls to exercise our right to vote and elect a new Administration, it is an important year for our country to ensure that we have another smooth transition of government, to whoever the people have decided upon. This administration’s landmark Amended Electoral Act will ensure that we have free and fair elections across the Nation. We as Nigerians must also take responsibility to ensure we participate in ensuring that the 2023 elections are free and fair by not engaging in anti-state activities and other nefarious acts that may affect the run of the polls. We must also resist every attempt to be used by politicians to create unrest in any form to disrupt the elections. We, as government will ensure such activities are met with the full force of the law. As our security agencies continue to make the country proud, we must continue to assist our patriotic forces by providing much needed community intelligence. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that Nigeria remains safe and peaceful for us all. Therefore, we have a duty and obligation to support our troops and intelligence agencies by being alert and reporting anything suspicious. The fight against insurgency in the North East region has continually recorded very clear wins in the past year. The Federal Government, and the Borno State government, have started the journey of returning internally displaced persons to their ancestral homes earlier taken by the insurgents. Also, over 82,000 insurgents with their families have surrendered to the Nigerian military. A number of surrendered insurgents are currently being processed by the rehabilitation (Operation Safe Corridor) program. The fight against banditry, kidnapping and other crimes in the North West and other regions is gaining momentum and showing very clear results. One of which is the resumption of Train Service along the Kaduna to Abuja corridor. In the aftermath of the EndSars, our administration took heed and instituted the ongoing Police Reform program based on a new Presidential Vision for Policing in Nigeria. This new vision is framed in a clear road map that transcends the tenure of this administration and it is predicated on six principles: a) Building Trust and Legitimacy b) Leadership, Accountability and Oversight c)Technology and digital media d) Community Policing and Crime Reduction e) Officers Training and Education f) Funding, Officers’ Welfare, Wellness and Safety. This reform program is very much in its foundational phase but has recorded noteworthy successes in improving police welfare and their emoluments. Other gains have been the ongoing training of 500 police cadet trainers to enable a better training regimen for the 2022 first batch of the 10,000 new cadets with an additional 10,000 set for 2023. In support of these reforms has been the provisioning of new material for the Nigeria Police to steadily improve on its constitutional responsibility to enforce law and order, protect lives and property as well as street level peace and security. Despite the ongoing global economic crisis, we have been able to weather the storms. Inflation across the globe is at its highest, the Federal Government has been resolute through its economic interventions to remain above water during this period. 2022 brought a combined impact from ongoing wars and aftereffects of COVID-19. Though creating its own fiscal challenges, we have continued to subsidize our energy costs to buffer households from inflationary pressure of high energy costs. In 2023, we are focused on building on our GDP and sustain the huge surge in the non-oil GDP growth. The Nigerian Start up Bill has been passed as an Act. This is considered a huge step in lowering our unemployment figures by boosting job creation and supporting the entrepreneurial drive of our youths. If you recall in my 2021 New Year speech, I had mentioned the need to secure the future of our youth recognizing that our young people are our most valuable natural resource, at home and abroad. In this regard, we worked with the legislature to develop an enabling law to turn their passions into ideas that can be supported, groomed and scaled across regions. 2023 will see the implementation of the Nigerian Start Up Act nationwide. The year 2023 would, indeed, be a time when we would work to solidify on delivering key strategic priorities under our “SEA” – (Security, Economy and Anti-Corruption) Agenda. Some of the key priority areas we would direct our attention and strengths to include: a. Focus on SECURITY; we will continue to engage, push back and dismantle the operations of both internal and external extremist and criminal groups waging war against our communities across the Nation. We will also focus on ensuring that free and fair elections would be held come February 2023. Our security forces are working in partnership to ensure the wins we have got in war against insurgency, banditry, secession and other crimes are sustained and more wins acquired. b. For the ECONOMY; our focus would be on maintaining and building economic growth through the national economic diversification agenda that supports the goal of national food self-sufficiency and growth in non-oil sources. The ongoing infrastructure revolution by our administration will see us deliver the key projects across the Nation in power, rail, roads, ports and technology. c. ANTI-CORRUPTION: On the anti-corruption drive of our administration, we have created new records in this fight, growing from 117 convictions in 2017 to 3,615 convictions as at December 2022. We as a government are committed to ridding our nation of all forms of corruption, through the collaboration with all the arms of Government to effectively prosecute this fight. As we welcome the New Year, let us look with hope to 2023, a year to move forward as a Nation towards unity, progress and prosperity. I offer my own personal felicitations, mindful of the various opinions and interpretations of our executive legacies. I welcome and accept both the accolades and criticisms in equal measure secure in the conviction that I did my best to serve our dear country Nigeria and I pray that the next President will also pick up the baton and continue the race to make Nigeria one of the leading countries of the world by the end of this century. Long Live the Nigerian spirit of oneness, togetherness, and unity. Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A Happy and prosperous New year. God bless you. Muhammadu Buhari.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Abuja has announced the reintroduction of the suspended On-Street Parking Management, known as Park and Pay in the federal capital city.
A statement by the management Transport Secretariat of the FCTA, said that the reintroduction of the scheme followed the conclusion of all legal processes required before the reintroduction.
The statement said that a sensitization campaign and free trial operation of the park and pay scheme which started earlier in December will end on January 31, 2023.
“Full scale implementation of the scheme is expected to commence by first quarter of 2023.
“The public is hereby assured of excellent service delivery by the operators while maintenance of orderliness in the parking regime in the territory remains the ultimate goal.’’
Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike has come down on the Nigerian media, saying that these days there are no journalists but press men.
Wike, who spoke at the Eneka Road Roundabout, venue of the flag-off ceremony for the construction of Eneka -Igbo Etche Road dualisation project, promised more “trouble” in the PDP.
“They said I had conversation with BBC, where is the picture, where is the video? You know these days we don’t have journalists again, we have press men. You can see people not being able to give out correct information. You see newspapers houses that are now running election. You see television houses standing for election.
“Wike had interview with BBC. Wike said we had a deal with so, so and so. Meanwhile no video, no audio. And some of you waste your time to listen to such things. Don’t you know that when I want to do something I’ll do it. Don’t you know? Do you need to speculate? You don’t need to speculate. They say there is trouble, there is no trouble. What we have is introduction to trouble that will come.”
The aggrieved governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), better known as G5, had travelled recently to Europe.
Some media outfits had reported so many things without any pictorial or audio, to affirm their claims that the G5 met with a presidential candidate in Europe.
A house wife, Olu Wole has agreed to a divorce suit instituted against her by her husband, Imma Wole before Grade A Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Responding to the suit, the wife asked the court to separate the two of them because Imma cannot satisfy her in bed.
She complained that Imma and his family have not allowed her to know peace since they got married, adding that she had been enduring their marriage because her husband lacked sexual prowess and has failed to satisfy her in the bedroom.
“My lord, I have endured our marriage enough. I agree that Imma and I part ways.
“My husband and his family members have refused to let me have rest of mind. His family members never ceased to interfere in our affairs.
“Imma and I are always at loggerheads because he has failed to carry out his marital responsibility towards me.
“I am not happy in our marriage because my husband’s sexual prowess is zero. He has failed to satisfy me in bed.”
In the suit, Imma sought for divorce with his wife on the grounds that she was troublesome and rude.
The plaintiff added that the defendant was in the habit of insulting him in the public and fighting him and their neighbours.
Imma told the court he was tired of living under the same roof with Olu because there was no more love between them.
He pleaded with the court to restrain his wife from harassing and threatening him.
“My lord, I am no longer in love with my wife. I pray this honourable court to dissolve our union.
“Olu has no respect for me. She rubs shoulders with me in the home and flouts my orders at will.
“My wife is in the habit of leaving the home without my consent and would leave no clue about her whereabouts.
“Olu would sometimes be away from home for a week or more and would fail to give any convincing explanation when she returns.
Tribune Online
“She raises her voice at me any time I show my displeasure at her misbehaviour and will sometimes fight me.
“My lord, my wife once slapped me during an argument and showed no sign of remorse even when our relatives mediated in our differences.
“Olu does not limit her rude behaviour to the home. She also insults and humiliates me in the public.
“Our neighbours are also not spared. She extends her hostile nature to them and fights them at every given opportunity, thus making the compound rowdy every now and then.
“My wife has turned me into a source of ridicule in our compound and neighbourhood. People now jeer at me any time I pass.
“My lord, I no longer want Olu under my roof.
“I entreat the court to restrain her from harassing or threatening me at home or in the office.”
The court president, Mrs. S.M Akintayo, adjourned the case after she had heard both parties.
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party(LP), Peter Obi has identified those who he said are those against his presidential bid.
According to him, they are those who brought Nigeria and Nigerians to the current economic and socio-political problems.
Peter Obi, who spoke shortly after signing the condolence register of the late President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Professor George Obiozor, at the National Secretariat of the Igbo socio-cultural organization in Enugu, the Enugu state capital, said that he is not surprised that some people are against his presidential ambition.
“Some people have a structure that has brought us to this juncture where we produce 133 million people who are poor; where our primary health care has collapsed; where we have 20 million out-of-school children; where we have almost 40 per cent unemployment, with 60 per cent youth unemployment, and where we have the highest youth job prevent in the world.
“So, they will not support me but I urge all of us to remember that we need to build a new Nigeria. Nobody is against me, what people have is a different opinion which is allowed in a democratic dispensation.”
The Labour Party flag bearer said that it would be dangerous to have the support of all Nigerians in his quest to be the next president in 2023.
“What is happening is that some people have different opinions, everybody should not support me and everybody will not support me. In fact, if everybody supports me, there is danger. Some will disagree.
Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal has threatened that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will use lawful avenues to deal with erring members of the party, such as the Rivers State Governor, Nyeson Wike and four of his colleagues from the party that are hobnobbing with the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In a statement warning the five governors over there alleged plan to go against the interests of the PDP, Governor Tambuwal said: “the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will respond to the antics of five of its Governors currently being speculated to be in political alliance with the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
Tambuwal, whose Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Muhammad Bello signed the statement, said that there has been reports that the G-5 PDP Governors led by Governor Nyesom Wike have been meeting with Tinubu in London on the possibility of their teaming up to work for his victory in the forthcoming presidential elections.
According to Governor Tambuwal, who is also the Director General of the Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign organization, the PDP is a law abiding party; and it would explore lawful avenues to bring any of its erring members to book.
Tambuwal said that he engages in political engineering and political negotiations with the G5 members, whom he described as “good colleagues.”
“It is not a war of attrition. I always submit that in this our business, whatever it is that you are doing , even if you try to hide it, it will come out. You cannot plan and execute a political project in your own bedroom. You must come out with it.
“So, when my colleagues resolve on what to do, I think it is then that the party will now respond on whatever position they have taken.”
Since his emergence as the PDP presidential candidate earlier this year, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has faced apathy from five PDP governors under the aegis of the G5 or Integrity Group. The recalcitrant governors including Wike, Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Uguwanyi (Enugu), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo).
These governors insisted that the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, a northerner, must resign.
However, responding to allegations of meetings being held with the presidential candidate of the APC, Wike said on Friday that he and his allies in the G5 had not struck a deal with any presidential candidate ahead of next year’s election.
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