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Tag: Mandate

  • My mandate from Tinubu – Minister

    My mandate from Tinubu – Minister

    The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, has said that President Bola Tinubu’ mandated him to bring back trust and honesty to public communication.

    Idris stated this in Abuja at the 60th Anniversary celebration of the National Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), with theme “Public Relations; Value Re-Orientation and Economic Transformation”.

    I have the blessing and approval of my principal, President Bola Tinubu, who appointed me, to say it as it is, but in a palatable manner.

    “He directed that trust must be returned to public communication.

    “That is the only way people or citizens will respect and always want to listen to the government.

    “We will keep doing that till the end of my job here,” Idris said.

    According to the Minister, it is better to always tell the people the truth and for them to also recognise that you are telling them the truth.

    “Trust and honesty must be restored in public communication.

    “That is why, if I don’t have information about something, I will rather keep my mouth shut, than to reproduce ignorance,” he stressed.

    The immediate past Vice President of Republic of Liberia, Dr Jewel Taylor in her Keynote address narrated her journey through stigma, criticism and ability to change the narrative and people’s negative perception of her.

    Taylor commended NIPR, adding that the life of politicians revolve around crisis management, and therefore public relations remains an effective tool to address the challenges.

    She added that public relations has been an activity in the Africa society, even before the coming of the colonial masters where drums of different categories were used to communicate to the people.

    Welcoming guests at the event, Dr Ike Neliaku, the President and Chairman of Council of NIPR, said, to mark the anniversary celebration, the institute planted 60 trees in each of the 36 states of the federation to address climate change.

    According to Neliaku, public relations is very important for value re-orientation and economic transformation.

    He emphasised the Institute’s commitment to creating a positive narrative for Nigeria.

    Also speaking, the pioneer chairman of NIPR, Mazi Okereke said the cause of some crises in the country was breakdown of communication between the government and the governed.

    “Nigerian Government needs to put public relations on the driving seat. We are delighted that one of us is now Minister of Information and National Orientation”.

    In his goodwill message, the Chief Executive Officer of Ben TV from the UK, Mr Alistair Soyode called on NIPR to set up its branches in other countries to take care of Nigerians and Africans in the diaspora.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the event attracted stakeholders from home and abroad while a panel of notable figures discussed the topic, “leveraging public relations for economic growth”.

    NAN also reports the the students of African International School, Asokoro performed a unity song by Temi Dakolo at the event

  • Nothing will cut short my popular mandate – Fubara

    Nothing will cut short my popular mandate – Fubara

    Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara has said that nothing will cut short his administration, claiming that people of the state can attest that he won the 2023 gubernatorial election.

    Fubara disclosed this while addressing members of the Family Support Group, who were on a solidarity visit to the Government House in Port Harcourt, on Wednesday.

    Represented by the Head of the Civil Service, Dr. George Nwaeke, the governor said the government is for youth, women, men, and every well-meaning Nigerian who wishes the state well.

    A statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Nelson Chukwudi, reads: “The whole land of Rivers State stands in affirmation that we won the election fairly and deserve to serve out our full tenure. There is not going to be anything that will cut short the popular mandate that you all gave to this administration.

    “Just about within weeks of assuming office, His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, flagged off the Port Harcourt Ring Road project that will traverse six local governments. It will be completed within 36 months. But I think it will be completed before the time because the progress of the work we have seen is beyond what we were thinking.

    “The official main Trans-Kalabari Road will start very soon and will begin from Port Harcourt. A lot of plans have been made for that road, and very soon, you will see contractors on site, and Rivers State will be opened.

    “Just yesterday, you heard in the news also that the governor has commenced the construction of the Elele-Egbeda-Omoku Road. That road was initially done with one lane, but now, he is going to dualise it. The government has already awarded the contract.”

  • What Tinubu mandated me to do – Mohammed Idris

    What Tinubu mandated me to do – Mohammed Idris

    The Minister of Information and National Orientation Alhaji Mohammed Idris, says, President Bola Tinubu mandated him to promote patriotism, honesty and transparency as the core values of the administration.

    The Minister made this known in an interview with NAN in Abuja.

    According to him, President Bola Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ is to take Nigeria to an enviable height among the committee of nations and change the negative narrative about the country.

    “He charged me with the responsibility to ensure that Nigerians are reoriented within the few years that we are here, so that, at least, we can recover our sense as a nation and begin to go in the right direction.

    “It is a great challenge. You know that moral decadence is not among the youths only but among the entire social strata of the country.

    “I think that is why the president renamed the Ministry of Information and Culture to Ministry of Information and National Orientation.

    “It means the president want to put the issues of orientation and reorientation in the front burner,” Idris said.

    The Minister further explained that the virtues of patriotism, honestly, and transparency were some of the things that Tinubu is vigorously promoting.

    “He has given us a marching order to see that those values are promoted and put on the front burner and disseminated to the majority of Nigerians for the good of all”.

  • Forum urges APC to help candidates reclaim stolen mandates

    Forum urges APC to help candidates reclaim stolen mandates

    Forum urges APC to help candidates reclaim stolen mandates

     

     

     

    Coalition of 2023 All Progressives Congress (APC), house of representatives candidates have appealed to the leadership of the party to assist candidates currently in tribunals to reclaim their stolen mandates.

    The house of representatives candidates is a congregation of APC standard-bearers who stood in the 2023 election but were not declared elected Members of the Green Chambers by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The group during a press conference on Friday, at the party’s national secretariat Abuja, also called on President Bola Tinubu, to capture people that couldn’t make it through during the last election but are ready to Contribute their expertise to his administration.

    Speaking at the conference, Rt. Hon. Chisom Promise Dike, the chairman of the coalition expressed confidence of the Renewed Hope campaign mantra of President Tinubu.

    “We are a congregation of APC candidates who stood Election but were not declared elected Members of the Green Chambers by INEC. We are the people’s forum and we represent a cross section of the grassroots at various federal constituencies across the Northern and Southern regions of the Federation.

    “Our main objective is to bridge the gap in public service delivery in areas without elected representation from our party and to serve as a medium for discussion on important socio-political and economic issues, supporting government initiatives and offering collaborative solutions to challenges in our society.

    “As candidates and representatives of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the nation, we embrace the fulfillment of the Renewed Hope campaign mantra of our President. We recognize that the battle ahead is not an easy one, but we firmly believe in the potential of a better Nigeria. We stand with His Excellency, President Tinubu, and we are committed to supporting his vision for development of our nation.

    “We appeal to Mr President to capture the interest of the House of Rep candidates that couldn’t make it through during the election but are ready to Contribute their expertise to his administration successes through government patronage.

    Dike urged Nigerians to exercise patience and allow the president the opportunity to fully unveil his policies and agenda for the nation.

    “The task of nation-building requires a careful planning, consultation, and deliberate action. Let us extend our trust and confidence to the President as he embarks on this journey of transformative changes.

    “We also urge Nigerians to set aside their differences and come together in unity because our strength lies in our diversity, and it is essential to embrace the collective identity of being Nigerians. We must transcend the boundaries of religion, tribe, political party, or personal beliefs, and work towards a common goal of national Progress and unity.”

     

  • Adeboye told me I would recover my mandate – Diri

    Adeboye told me I would recover my mandate – Diri

    Bayelsa State Governor Duoye Diri has said he visited the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, during his election travails.

    Diri said this on Friday at the church’s international headquarters along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway during the ‘Testimony Session’ at the church’s monthly meeting. “I contested in the governorship election in Bayelsa State in November 2019 and thereafter I was alleged to have lost the election.

    “I promptly rejected those results and continued with the judicial process in Nigeria. “During the process, I visited this church on the 11th of December during the programme of the Great Turn Around. “After the service, I went to see Daddy G.O. He prayed for me and thereafter, he said, ‘It is well. Go and when you receive it, come back to the church’.

    “The judicial processes continued until the 14th of February about 24 hours to the swearing-in ceremony of the alleged winner. Brethren, a miracle was accomplished. The Supreme Court declared me the winner of that election. “I have come to give Him (God) the glory and to return the glory to Him and to Him alone. “I want to thank Daddy G.O. and all of you who stood with me in prayers. “Today, I am the governor of Bayelsa State,” Diri told the congregation.

  • Presidential poll: All hope is not lost to reclaim our mandate, Peter Obi tells supporters

    Presidential poll: All hope is not lost to reclaim our mandate, Peter Obi tells supporters

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Vice Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, in the last general elections, has urged Nigerians to keep hope alive as the party will reclaim its mandate through the tribunal.
    Obi made the call when he addressed the 8th stakeholders meeting of the Anambra chapter of PDP in Awka yesterday.
    The former two-term governor of Anambra, who said PDP was the solution to Nigeria’s political and economic challenges, said the party had a good case at the ongoing tribunal.
    “Election in Nigeria is not easy, after the election, you have to still go to court and queue up, and that is where real money is spent in hiring lawyers, but I must assure you that all hope is not lost and we are progressing steadily.
    “The man who is there now has contested for four times before he made it, and we are also confident that in no time, the right thing will be done.
    “Nigerians are already disenchanted, so that has made PDP a brand today and marked her out as the only party that can deliver Nigeria,” he said.
    Obi applauded the PDP for its ‘impressive’ performance in the last election across the nation, noting that the party won more governorship, national and state assembly seats even in opposite strongholds.
    He thanked the party in Anambra State for supporting PDP while urging for more sacrifice from members to enable the party win Anambra in the 2021 governorship election.
    Obi promised to stand by the party and help it succeed.
    The Anambra PDP stakeholders in a communiqué read after the meeting endorsed the state executive of the chapter led by Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu.
    The communiqué, which was signed by Chief Kenneth Enemuo, Dr. Rose Nwankwo and Mrs. Helene Nwaeri, applauded the harmonious relationship among elected members of the party, the leadership and other members.
    The party expressed support for Obi and other contestants who were presently in various tribunals in the bid to recover their mandates while calling on the party leadership at the council and ward levels to build the party.
    NAN reports that Anambra PDP stakeholders also expressed unwavering support for Chief Uche Secondus-led national leadership and all its policies and actions to make the party stronger.

  • Election Tribunal: Bauchi governor-elect engages 65 lawyers to defend mandate

    The Bauchi State Governor-elect, Sen. Bala Muhammed said he was optimistic that the petition of outgoing governor, Muhammed Abubakar, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), challenging his victory at the tribunal, would fail.

    Muhammed, who is of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), told newsmen in Bauchi on Saturday that no fewer than 65 lawyers, five of them Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), would defend the mandate given to him by the people of the state.

    He however said that the decision of the APC to challenge his victory at the tribunal was a normal course of action backed by the Electoral Act.

    “We have not been served yet; once we are served and we see the details, we are going to respond.

    “We are also going to have our lawyers, about five Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), 10 other senior lawyers and about 50 Bauchi indigenous lawyers of conscience.

    “They will see to it that the petition at tribunal is dead on arrival because of the endorsement of people of conscience from Bauchi State,” Muhammed said.

    He reiterated his pledge to conduct council polls in the state to enable the third tier of government operate independently.

    “My intention is to make local government councils independent and functional, just like in the past,” he said.

    Muhammed also promised that his administration would effectively engage the people of the state and make them useful, irrespective of their level of education

  • Osun Tribunal judgement: I have renewed hope of retrieving my ‘stolen mandate’ in Ekiti – Eleka

    Prof. Kolapo Olusola, the former Ekiti Deputy Governor and Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate in July 14 governorship election in the state has said that he will soon reclaim his mandate at the tribunal.

    Olusola disclosed this on Saturday in a statement in Ado Ekiti, while congratulating PDP’s Sen. Ademola Adeleke who was declared governor on Friday by Osun Governorship Election Tribunal, in Abuja.

    The former deputy described the tribunal judgement as “a red signal to Gov. Kayode Fayemi.”

    Having lost to Fayemi at the tribunal, Olusola is currently at the Appeal Court seeking to be declared governor.

    He said “The stolen mandate of September 22 in Osun has been recovered and the victory of election riggers have turned pyhrric.

    “One of the two legs supporting election rigging in Nigeria, which is contrived inconclusive and supplementary elections has been crippled

    “The other obnoxious leg, which is militarisation of our elections to give the ruling APC advantage over the opposition as was witnessed in the July 14 2018 governorship election in Ekiti, will also by God’s grace be crippled in due course

    “Ekiti and Osun governorship elections were dress rehearsals for the unprecedented election rigging, vote buying and violence witnessed all over the country in the ongoing general elections

    “If this was not so manifest last year, it has become so with the charade of elections conducted last February and which is still ongoing this March.”

    Olusola added that PDP in Ekiti would, by the grace of God retrieve its mandate allegedly stolen by the All Progressives Congress (APC) very soon.

    He then called on those occupying offices to which they were not dully elected, to get ready to quit saying their days were numbered.

    “If lies travel for a thousand years, truth will catch up with it in one day.

    “Today it is Osun doing poetic justice to impostors and election riggers; tomorrow it will be the turn of Ekiti people to reclaim their own stolen mandate and have the last and best laugh. Who laughs last, laughs best.

    “Ekiti people should not despair but keep hope alive. They should be encouraged with our party’s victory in Osun against all odds”, he said.

  • JUST IN: Atiku meets Southern, Middle belt leaders, vows to reclaim mandate

    The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 Presidential election, Atiku Abubakar has vowed to reclaim his stolen mandate.

    Atiku had approached the Electoral Tribunal, claiming he won the Presidential Election.

    The PDP Presidential candidate, who spoke in Abuja during a visit to the leaders of the Southern and Middle Belt regions, said the struggle to reclaim the mandate would be achievable with support of the elders.

    He was optimistic that justice will be done eventually.

    He thanked the various leaders for their support before, during and after the election.

    Meanwhile, the South-Sourh leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has assured Atiku of the support of the group in the struggle to reclaim his mandate.

    Details shortly…

     

  • 2019 presidential poll: Atiku’s ‘stolen’ mandate will be retrieved soon – Legal team

    The lead lawyer representing the presidential candidate of the main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has expressed optimism that the legal team will do all it takes to retrieve the stolen mandate of their principal.

    Atiku, a former Vice President is contesting the result of the 2019 presidential election held on March 2 which President Muhammadu Buhari won. The former Vice President is alleging President Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) rigged the polls.

    Atiku’s lead lawyer, Mr. Chukwuma Machukwu Ume, SAN, in an interview on Monday night, shortly after leading other lawyers to file a petition on behalf of the PDP presidential candidate at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja, that the case will be successful.

    The challenge came in a bit to meet up with the 21 days stipulated by section 134 of the Electoral Act, 2010.

    The petition, which was signed by Atiku himself, has the PDP as co-petitioner while INEC, APC and President Buhari as respondents.

    Uzoukwu expressed optimism that his client would emerge victorious at the tribunal, saying he was convinced that PDP won the presidential election in the first place.

    “I believe we have sufficient facts to move the court to appreciate our case and grant us our reliefs.

    “We are ready and prepared to prove our case because it all depends on proofs and we are ready to prove our case.

    “We have filed the petition, which is most fundamental, with some documents,” he said.

    Though he admitted the team was currently having challenges accessing documents from INEC, he said that would not deter them from continuing with the suit.

    “We may be having some challenges accessing documents from INEC, notwithstanding, we have filed the petition and with time, INEC shall be made to obey the orders of the court of appeal and grant us access to electoral documents.

    “That we have filed petition does not mean we cannot make use of those documents when we eventually secure them from INEC.

    “Some members of the team were at the INEC office three times last week. They were at INEC on Sunday and even on Monday, but were asked to come tomorrow (Tuesday), that by then, they will provide them with some documents.

    “I do hope that INEC will keep to its words and do the needful, because they have no option as far as the matter is concerned. Because we are talking about the compliance with an order of the court,” he added.

    Considering what has recently happened in Nigeria’s judiciary system , when asked if he still believes in the justice system, Uzoukwu said, “I don’t want to speculate, I still believe, with all honesty, that we have in this country, very knowledgeable and very courageous judges, and bearing in mind that, with this petition, I seriously believe the judiciary will be on trial. Also, the democracy will be on trial.”

    To successfully prosecute the case at the tribunal, Atiku and the PDP are said to have assembled about 20 senior advocates and 400 witnesses.

    The lawyers are praying the tribunal that, their client, Atiku, be returned “as person who won majority of lawful votes cast at the election”.

    In an event that the main prayer does not scale through, the lawyers also pushed for an alternative prayer, “that the election be set aside and for the court to order a rerun”.

    But, according to Uzoukwu, “the alternative prayer can only come to play if the court does not agree with us in the main prayer.

    “But I believe we have substantial facts to prove our case, to prove our entitlement to the main relief. I’m convinced beyond any doubt that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar won the election.”

    Having successfully filed the case, the petitioners now await the respondents to file their reply.

    After filing their reply, the petitioners also have seven days to react to what they file, thereafter, the pre-trial will commence.

    The tribunal has 180 days, under the electoral act, to adjudicate the petition.