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Tag: Pat Utomi

  • 2015: APC’s manifesto was written at Pat Utomi’s house – Osinbajo

    2015: APC’s manifesto was written at Pat Utomi’s house – Osinbajo

    Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has revealed that the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s manifesto was drafted at the residence of Prof Pat Utomi in 2014.

    Osinbajo disclosed this at the 5th edition of Airtel Touching Lives in Lagos.

    According to the statement released by Osinbajo’s Senior Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Laolu Akande, it explained that Yemi and one Mr. Wale Edun met at Pat Utomi’s house to write some portions of the manifesto. It said that they included a social safety initiative to specifically address poverty, among other things in the party’s manifesto.

    The statement read; “Listening to each story of a life touched this evening must remind us of the many others who need our help, our comfort and our kindness. The poor and vulnerable always need a voice.

    “In 2014, Mr. Wale Edun, Prof. Pat Utomi and I met at Pat’s home to write portions of the manifesto of the APC. We all agreed that a fundamental pillar of our party’s plans must be to create a social safety net for the people. We were convinced that the government owed a duty to the poor, the weak, the vulnerable and those who cannot work.

    “Social safety nets are not merely acts of sovereign kindness; they are a sovereign obligation – a responsibility.”

    The All Progressives Congress is a political party in Nigeria, formed on 6 February 2013 in anticipation of the 2015 elections. APC was formed as a fusion of three political parties – Action Congress of Nigeria, All Nigeria Peoples Party and Congress for Progressive Change.

  • BREAKING: Finally, Uduaghan, Utomi reconcile

    The brawl between former Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, and renowned economist, Prof. Pat Utomi was on Saturday put to rest.

    The war of words between the Delta State 2019 All Progressives Congress, APC governorship aspirant, Prof. Pat Utomi and the immediate past governor of the state, lasted for months.

    However, in the early hours of Saturday, both men were reconciled by the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah.

    Recall TheNewsGuru.com had earlier published in details, reports of the altercation between the duo [Uduaghan and Utomi], which was fueled by comments made by the renowned economist, Utomi, that all past governments in Delta State have failed the people.

    Uduaghan, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, responded by describing Utomi, who is seeking to become the governor of Delta State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, as a failed businessman and economist.

    Dr. Utomi, in response to Dr. Uduaghan’s charge on him (Utomi) to start his aspiration from the councillorship level, urged the former governor to give account of the N20 billion expended on the Independent Power Project, IPP.

    Uduaghan, responded by affirming that Utomi does not have what it takes to be governor of Delta State given what he claimed were Utomi’s legacies at Volkswagen Nigeria and as coordinator of the South-South Summit held in Asaba, Delta State.

     

    In the course of their streams of exchange of invective, Utomi was himself put under more pressure after Chief Paulinus Akpeki, a former commissioner in the state who served as an adviser to Uduaghan, said his former boss brought meaningful impact to the development of the state.

    Udugahan had also during a stakeholders’ meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Asaba at the time, urged Utomi to contest the councillorship seat in his ward and stop spreading falsehood against past leaders of the state in his quest to contest the 2019 governorship election.

    But Utomi said that he will prefer that “Uduaghan gives account for the Independent Power Plant, IPP project abandoned in Oghara which has gulped over N20 billion.”

     

  • APC has under-performed – Utomi

    APC has under-performed – Utomi

    Chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Prof. Pat Utomi, says the founding fathers of the party would reform it to correct some of its lapses.

    Utomi said in New York that the party had to be reformed to refocus it to its founding ideals.

    The founder and former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress said some of the founding fathers were more committed to building APC as an enduring political party.

    According to him, however, some people are more interested in taking titles in the party, rather than building it.

    “I’m a member of the APC; I’m one of the real founding members of the APC.

    “Forget that because some of us committed more to building real stuff and others rushed to take titles, but we founded the APC.

    “It’s not been what we thought it would be; let’s be very honest, the party has under-performed, the party’s structure has been poor.

    “The party leadership has been poor; government and the party have not worked well together.

    “But we shall reform it from within by God’s grace and make it work better.

    “We have to wish on God’s grace and hope that things work differently. Anything that works, that will make a difference, I will do,” he said.

    Utomi, a professor of political economy and former Special Adviser in the Second Republic government of former president Shehu Shagari, said he was not ambitious for political power.

    According to him, however, he is more interested in whatever will bring relief to the Nigerians from the hardship they have faced under successive administrations.

    “All my career, all my life, I’ve always been willing to do anything no matter how sacrificial it is to advance the common good of our people.

    “The thing that I have never cared for is pursuit of power for the sake of power. I’m not looking for anything, I’m quite happy with the fortunes that my circumstance has brought to me.

    “But if there is a serious group of people who really are motivated by one thing and one thing alone – service to the people.

    “Making it a kind of life we live better, more harmony among the people of Nigeria, I will be very pleased to do anything – Councillor, President, just name anything.

    “So I have no problem about engaging for serving if it will lead to real progress, not to a title, I don’t believe in titles.

    “We must begin to look at leaders who don’t seek titles and who can make a difference without a title,” he said.

    Utomi who is the Director of Lagos Business School decried what he described as “the triumph of politics” and the “politicisation of everything” in the country.

    According to him, “We are not thinking development, not thinking growth of our country, not thinking our children and their future, we’re thinking politics.

    “Many of the people in positions of authority are so consumed by politics; they don’t think about the Nigerian people.

    “I think this obsession with who is winning the next election, can take Nigeria completely away from the path of development.

    “If you say ‘good morning’, they say ‘is he against Buhari, is he for Tinubu, is he a Jonathan person’; we don’t have public conversation of quality that can help us change our country for good.

    “Take a very simple issue; the government is very concerned about corruption, nothing can more interest me than corruption because it’s done fundamental damage to Nigeria.

    “But because of the triumph of politics, if you talk about corruption, you get the spin immediately because of the way we have managed the whole corruption issue, as a flood of issues.”

    (NAN)