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Tag: 2023 Presidency

  • I’m contesting for president to change the nation’s narrative – Dele Momodu

    I’m contesting for president to change the nation’s narrative – Dele Momodu

    The Ovation magazine publisher, Chief Dele Momodu, says his decision to come out to contest for the presidency is to change the narrative and work towards achieving growth, progress and the nation’s development.
    Momodu stated this on Monday, during a consultation visit to the residence of Olubadan designate, Oba Lekan Balogun, at Alarere area in Ibadan.
    The publisher, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said he made similar attempts 11 years ago under the umbrella of National Conscience Party (NCP), but “this time around, I will contest under PDP to actualise my dream.”
    According to him, Nigerians have over the years complained about the myriad of problems confronting the country.
    “But solution to those problems can not come through the same set of people that have remained in the corridors of power,” he said.
    The politician described the Olubadan designate as a Nigerian deep and versed in knowledge of either politics or administration.
    He presented three volumes of book, titled ‘The untold story of Dele Momodu’s Presidential Campaign’, which, according to him, encapsulate his policies, to the Olubadan designate.
    Chief Hamidu Ajibade, who responded on behalf of Oba Balogun, noted that Momodu had used his profession through publication of Ovation Magazine to positively project and advance the cause of Nigeria and Nigerians.
    He prayed that his efforts of the past years would go a very long way to assist his aspiration.
  • INEC publishes notice of election in Lagos

    INEC publishes notice of election in Lagos

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday in Lagos State, published the notice of election for the 2023 general elections as required by law, at the gate of the commission.

    The notice read in part : “In accordance with Section 28 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022, notice is hereby given that elections shall hold as follows:

    “Presidential and National Assembly – Saturday Feb. 25, 2023. Governorship and State Assembly – Saturday March 11, 2023.

    “Take notice that the place of delivery of nomination papers for the elective offices shall be the commission’s headquarters, Maitama, Abuja via the online portal established for this purpose.

    The notice dated Feb. 28, was signed by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

    Speaking with Newsmen, Mrs Ademike Oriowo, the Public Affairs Officer, INEC in Lagos state said that the same publication was replicated across INEC offices in all the 20 Local Government Areas of the state.

    Oriowo said the commission had commenced implementation of activities and timetable for the 2023 general elections and would not leave any stones unturned in all the processes involved.

    With this notice, the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections are 360 days away.

  • 2023 Presidency: Igbo inability to inspire consensus a set back – Political analyst

    2023 Presidency: Igbo inability to inspire consensus a set back – Political analyst

    Mr Ahmed Nasiru, a political analyst, has described as a set back the inability of Igbo political elites to inspire consensus around a viable candidate ahead of 2023 presidential elections.

    Nasiru made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

    He said that there had been growing political agreement that it was only fair for the presidency to be zoned to the southeast.

    “Even those, who in principle will prefer merit to the option of zoning believe that if for no other reason than the sake of equity and fair play, someone of Igbo ethnicity should be president this time.’’

    He said the problem remained the incapacity of the Igbo leaders to speak and agree on a candidate that would be widely accepted by the totality of Nigerians.

    He called on the Igbo elites to throw their weight behind a candidate who had shown widespread charity and benevolence, adding that such quality would attract the support of the people.

    He however urged the South eastern people to rally support for the candidacy of Sen. Rochas Okorocha, adding that he had shown remarkable imagination and innovation in his declaration to run.

    He said that Okorocha, had had a more successful run in business and entrepreneurship, stressing that he had also shown a milk of kindness in his widespread charities and beneficent foundations.

    According to him, no matter what one may say, Rochas is not perfect but he has the pedigree suitable to do the job.

    He however said that after the Igbo might have served their term, all parties could then throw their doors open and allow for only the criterion of merit and suitability.

  • 2023 Presidency: Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation launched in Akure

    2023 Presidency: Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation launched in Akure

    Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, a campaign group, Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation, Ondo State Chapter, has been launched as activities are building up towards the polls.

    The Director General of Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation in Ondo State, Mr Ifeolu Fasoranti, at the launching of the programme on Saturday in Akure, said Osinbajo is the right man to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Fasoranti described Osinbajo as the appropriate person to succeed Buhari because he has the wherewithal to fix the nation’s multifaceted challenges.

    He said the vice president would turn around the socio-economic and political situations of the country if given the opportunity by the electorate.

    Fasoranti said the group was formed for the emergence of the vice president as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and subsequently winner of the 2023 presidential election.

    “We believe that as President, Osinbajo will harness all the resources and rejig the system to work towards the interest of Nigeria rather than the interest of individuals.

    “With his vast experiences in the academics, law, governance and administration, Osinbajo has fashioned out many programmes that will effectively address the challenges confronting this nation.

    “No doubt, he will be a bridge between the old and the new, between the North and the South, between the East and the West. He will be a connecting valve among all religious beliefs,” he said.

    Fasoranti noted that the group’s choice of the vice president becoming president was based on the principal that he would drive the economy of the country aright and be totally detribalized, doing everything in the interest of the nation.

    He noted that without trying to ruffle feathers, the nation needs an energetic, fearless, truthful, focused leader with conscience and vision to direct its affairs.

    The group coordinator, therefore, disclosed that many prominent elder statesmen, notable selfless and patriotic leaders and compatriots, are already committed to the course.

  • Obasanjo’s son pledges support for Osinbajo to run in 2023

    Obasanjo’s son pledges support for Osinbajo to run in 2023

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s son, Olujuwon, has pledged to support Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo if he decides to run for the 2023 presidency.

    Olujuwon disclosed this during a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu.

    In a Facebook post on Saturday, Ojudu said Olujuwon urged Osinbajo to run for president in 2023.

    Ojudu promised to inform Osinbajo of Olujuwon’s call.

    According to Ojudu, “Olujuwon Obasanjo, son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, visited yesterday (Friday).

    “He too, like many others, came to register his wish and aspiration that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo throws his hat in the rings for the 2023 contest.

    “Smart and brimming with ideas, he promised that if Osinbajo heeds the call of Nigerians he will be willing and ready to volunteer to join the campaign train.

    “Thank you, Olu. I will pass your message across.”

    There are insinuations that Osinbajo is interested in vying for the office of President in 2023.

    Despite these insinuations, the Vice President has been silent on the issue.

  • We’ll fight, vote against Tinubu in 2023 – Ortom

    We’ll fight, vote against Tinubu in 2023 – Ortom

    Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has disclosed why he would fight and work against the presidential ambition of Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

    Ortom explained that he would urge his people to vote against Tinubu for insisting on continuing with the policies of President Muhammadu Buhari if elected as Nigeria’s next president.

    Recall that the APC National Leader last week informed Buhari of his intentions to run for the Presidency in 2023.

    The former Lagos State governor said he would continue with the policies of Buhari’s administration if elected as president.

    However, Ortom pointed out that Buhari’s policies and programmes were bad.

    He spoke on Thursday in Makurdi, the State capital, while assenting to the amended Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017.

    The Governor warned that the presidential aspirant would fail in his ambition if he opts to pursue Buhari’s policies.

    According to Ortom: “I heard about one of the presidential aspirants who said he would continue from Buhari’s good legacies. I want to tell him that if nobody has told him, me I want to tell him that Buhari’s policies and programmes are not good.

    “And anybody who is saying that some of us, in our own little way, we will fight him and tell our people to vote against him. So, he has failed ab initio.”

  • 2023: Don’t trust Magnus Abe – APC Chieftain warns Tinubu

    2023: Don’t trust Magnus Abe – APC Chieftain warns Tinubu

    A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has warned a presidential aspirant, Bola Tinubu, to be wary of erstwhile Rivers South-East Senator, Magnus Ngei Abe.

    Eze warned that Abe is not a man Tinubu can trust alleging he diverted over N4 billion meant for road projects in his area.

    The APC chieftain issued the warning in response to comments by Abe disparaging the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

    Abe was recently alleged to have taken a veiled swipe at Amaechi, chiding him against coming close to the Presidency; hence he does not love stealing money.

    Speaking at an event in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while declaring his support of Tinubu’s presidential ambition on Tuesday, Abe was reported to have said the seat of the President is strictly for those that love money.

    “Nigerians don’t want anybody who does not like money to come near the Presidency,” Abe said.

    Reacting, Eze challenged the former lawmaker to desist from dragging Amaechi while declaring his support for Tinubu.

    In a statement, the former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP) Eze said “Senator Abe, reputed for political merchandising and sabotage, recently pitched his tent in the camp of former Lagos Governor, Sen. Ahmed Bola Tinubu, following the latter’s declaration to run for the 2023 presidential election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    “A man with a serious character defect speaks from both sides of his mouth and cannot be trusted and thus has severally jumped ship -from Amaechi to Wike to Sylva to Osinbajo and now Tinubu.

    “I have resolved never to discuss Senator Abe, haven seen how lowly placed and irrelevant he has become particularly, after exposing himself as one that cannot be trusted after jumping from Amaechi to Wike. Abe later left Wike and embraced Osinbajo and now he has sneaked away from the Vice President for Bola Tinubu. Sen. Abe is far from a man to be taken seriously and these times are too serious for his kind of politics. He is as unstable as water”.

    Stressing that everyone reserves the right to association and free speech as allowed by law, Eze said Abe is at liberty to support whoever he wishes. Still, where his right to association is expanded beyond its elastic limit to the extent that it becomes toxic, the guardian of public manners is always ready to intervene.

    Noting that “Abe has not escaped the infamy his thievery has earned him,” the party Chief counselled the “Ogoni-born to be preoccupied with thoughts on how to save his neck and the little remainder his public image from the N4 billion road contract fraud perpetrated against his community as publicly alleged by Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, during a visit to Beera, Abe’s home town.”

    Eze counselled Abe to do his best to lay off on issues pertaining to “Amaechi and the APC particularly now that he is no longer a registered member of the party and do his best to clear his name from the allegation levelled against him by Governor Nyesom Wike in a video that has gone viral where he was alleged to have embezzled a whopping sum of N4bn meant to construct a road awarded to him within his community.”

    He added: “It is sad that instead of addressing the issue that Wike raised, which he said is well documented, instead, Abe accused Wike of awarding to himself over 25 school projects without paying the contractors.

    “I am not interested in the comparison between Abe and Wike who ate more Rivers State money than each other but addressing why on earth should a road awarded to him couldn’t be completed or the money returned back to the state coffers.”

    Eze tipped Tinubu to be wary of Senator Abe, noting that a “man who could divert N4 billion meant for the construction of roads in his own community, is not a character to be trusted with matters of public and even private interests.”

    The APC chieftain called on Nigerians to continue to support the President Muhammadu Buhari administration and especially, “the Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, in his quest to offer quality service and deliver democratic dividends to the people.”

  • 2023: Tinubu’s presidency will bring good omen – Babachir Lawal

    2023: Tinubu’s presidency will bring good omen – Babachir Lawal

    A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir Lawal, has said that the entrance of a former Lagos State Governor, Sen. Bola Tinubu, into the 2023 presidential race will “bring light at the end of the tunnel“.

    He said this on Monday in Abuja at a conference convened by the Support Groups Management Council (SGMC) of Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) to harmonise strategies and drum support for the actualisation of Tinubu’s presidential ambition in 2023.

    Lawal, who was the chair of the conference, said Tinubu was not only adequately prepared to be Nigeria’s next president, but would also emerge victorious regardless of the mode of primaries adopted by the APC to pick its candidate for the polls.

    He said delivering Tinubu as APC’s flag bearer for the 2023 presidential poll should be seen as a task for all the party’s members.

    “And this we will do, be it through consensus, indirect or direct party primaries, by the grace of God.

    “We are neither offended nor threatened by whichever method the party chooses to adopt for the emergence of its presidential candidate.

    “But of course, being democrats, we prefer a method that involves all the card-carrying members of the party in this process.

    “Our task, beginning from today, is to develop a smart strategic plan that we will faithfully execute to deliver Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu as APC candidate and thereafter deliver him as the landslide winner of the 2023 presidential election,” he said.

    The former SGF said Tinubu had no equal in terms of suitability.

    Lawal, while describing Tinubu as brilliant, tested and detribalised, said he was a proven excellent manager of both financial and human capital.

    “Above all, he loves Nigeria and has a clear vision of where the country should be and he knows how to take her there.

    “Let us work tirelessly, faithfully and earnestly give our country, Nigeria a bright and an economically prosperous future where people of every tribe and religion will feel free, safe, secured and loved.

    He expressed optimism that Tinubu would lead the country to a brighter future if he became president, adding that the APC would be the platform as the preferred option.

    Also speaking at the event, a former Governor of Borno, Kashim Shettima, asked President Buhari and the APC to see the presidential ambition of Tinubu as pay back time for what he did for the party in 2015.

    Shettima recalled that it was Tinubu that ensured the emergence of Buhari as APC presidential candidate that year.

    “In 2015, some aspirants with a very huge war chest were itching to cling to the ticket of the APC and like the Rock of Gibraltar, Asiwaju and his progressive team stood solidly behind the candidacy of Buhari,” he said.

    Shettima, who represents Borno Central in the Senate, however, said that power should shift to the South in 2023 for equity, justice, as well as fairness.

    He said that Tinubu should be given the choice of first refusal because he had sacrificed more for the APC.

    While dismissing what he described as mischievous fixation on Tinubu’s age and the conclusions that he was physically unsuitable for the office of the president, Shettima said the presidency was not an Olympic Games.

    “We are not here to prepare for the Olympics, but an institution that relies on the superiority of ideas to thrive,” he said.

    He said that Tinubu was a tested, accomplished and large hearted political leader who had invested his resources in building an extensive network of political mentees.

    This, he said, included Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing; Rauf Aregbeshola, Minister of Interior; Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture and Gov. Fayemi Kayode of Ekiti, amongst others.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference was attended by delegates of BAT Support Groups from across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

  • 2023 Presidency: A kingmaker can also become a king – Tinubu

    2023 Presidency: A kingmaker can also become a king – Tinubu

    The National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has dismissed the calls in some quarters that he should remain a king maker instead of nurturing Presidential ambition in 2023.

    Tinubu stated this when he fielded questions from State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in the Presidential Villa Abuja on Monday.

    According to the APC chieftain, he is a Nigerian and he has the right to be the king himself, not just a king maker.

    He said: “I have never seen where it is written in the rule book anywhere in any country that a king maker cannot be a king unless he commits murder. I want to pursue my ambition without the title of a king maker,”

    The APC stalwart said he was in the presidential villa to formally inform the President of his desire to run for President in 2023.

    ”I can say categorically yes! I have informed the President of my intention but I have not informed Nigerians yet.

    ”I am still consulting and I have no problem consulting and I have not set a parameter of limitation to the extent of consultation.

    “You will soon hear what you want to hear all you want to hear, a categorical declaration; you’ve gotten that truth from me that I have informed the President of my ambition and you don’t expect more answers than that,”

    When asked how the President responded to his declaration, Tinubu said the President did not ask him to discard his political ambition.

    “He is a democrat. He didn’t ask me to stop, he didn’t ask me not to attempt and pursue my ambition. It is a lifelong ambition. You are running a democratic dispensation and you must adopt the principles and values and virtues of democracy,” he said.

    On the purported ambition of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi and other politicians nurturing similar presidential ambitions with him in the APC, Tinubu said he would not discuss individuals.

    “I don’t want to discuss individuals now, I must discuss myself. I have the confidence, vision and capacity to build on the foundation of the President and turn Nigeria better. I have done that with commitment and yielding zeal in Lagos State.

    “You have seen that experience and capacity to turn things around and that is also what we are doing. The confusion and drift of the past in PDP is being corrected as we are today. Going back to the data of how many barrels of oil we were producing when we took over and what we have today.

    “You now see excellent infrastructure. Let us think back and be intellectually inquisitive as to the past and the present as well as what the future holds for Nigeria,” he added.

    On the much talked about national convention of the party, Tinubu assured supporters of the party that the convention would hold as planned.

  • PDP has agreed to rezone 2023 presidency to North – Babangida

    PDP has agreed to rezone 2023 presidency to North – Babangida

    Babangida Aliyu, a former governor of Niger State, has said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has agreed to rezone its presidential ticket to the North.

    Aliyu said the party decided to rezone the presidency to the North following requests from some Nigerians.

    He spoke while hosting the Atiku Support Organization (ASO) on a visit

    He noted that the party had decided to reconsider its earlier stance that anybody can contest for the presidency in 2023.

    The former governor expressed the belief that the organization would be successful.

    “In our zoning agreement, we have agreed to rezone it to the North as requested by others but we have agreed and written openly as a result of what has happened that any candidate from any part of the country can now contest this election,” he said.

    The PDP chieftain urged the group to meet with stakeholders across the country and ensure that Atiku emerges the flag bearer of the party.

    Atiku is believed to be gearing up to contest for the presidency in 2023.