TheNewsGuru

Tag: Peter Obi

  • We may end up with a President worse than Buhari – By Mideno Bayagbon

    We may end up with a President worse than Buhari – By Mideno Bayagbon

    By Mideno Bayagbon

    (mideno@thenewsguru.ng)

    Her decision to quit our class WhatsApp forum was so shocking, that most members were left nonplussed, dumbfounded and searching for answers. She was and is still the life of the class: naughty, full of mischief; witty, sarcastic, caustic and one who could take a hard punch in the face in the form of a joke, and retaliate with devastating tons of iconic humour. We call her our DG for affidavits being the only one who remembers each member’s birthday and who in her usual manner would award a ridiculous age to each and every one, in hilarious mischief. You can be 37years old this year, if in her estimation, you have been a good boy or girl; and be 90years old the next birthday! We, on such occasion, call her “winch!” Of course, behind her back! Only few of us dare call this outstanding lady with a golden heart “winch” to her face.

    Take the instance of these two posts at her naughtiest best: “Next year, I ll state exactly how old Yusuf is. I ll go through all his affidavits thoroughly and get him to swear somewhere; I suspect he is almost 80. I remember that he had grey hair at Jackson Building. No amount of money will stop me.”

    And ….“Victoria was 35 last birthday and she will be 31 on her next birthday. I m working furiously on her documents.” This for someone who is close to 60!

    In this class where almost everyone should be and some are indeed grandpas and grandmas, the camaraderie is infectious. In our forum, no one has ever grown beyond those four years, long ago that we spent together at Nsukka. In this class full of billionaires, professors, top executives and senior civil servants, some of whom have retired, it is a forum of our youth. The place where our school nicknames and yabis are the order of the day. It is the place we not only tug on to our youthful past, but also renew it. It is our place of laughter, a sanctuary to di-stress.

    So you can imagine when she decided to hit us all in the face. Surprise, surprise. She simply, uncharacteristically dropped a note and exited the forum. It was as if she died. Shock. Gloom. Unanswered questions poured in in torrents. Why? Why? we all screamed. But her note said it all.  She earlier dropped a hint which didn’t quite hit home: “Is it possible to leave out the 2023 elections from our discussions? Can we create a new platform like Freedom Square for that?”

    All she got were silence and more divisive political posts. Then she threw in the bomb: “….(my) spirit left the group,” she wrote and tried providing some explanations: “I try these days to ensure my physical and mental well being and won’t think twice about jettisoning anything that will threaten my peace. Many here didn’t lose as much as I did during the war. Most will never understand what it took to still be here after that war.  A lot of us won’t know why I often hated that my mother resisted when my dead father appeared in a dream and demanded to go away with his malnourished children. I don’t see these things like many here. My spirit has left here and any other space plaguing my peace. It will return after 2023. …will be in charge of affidavits henceforth.”

    Badi Gal, as I call her, was, like majority of members of the class, fed up with the divisiveness and the enmity the strident and uncompromising positions those who have pitched their tents with one presidential candidate or the other are afflicting the class with. It was as if the devil himself had sneaked in, pitched tent, stubbornly, in our class WhatsApp group. Caution has gone with outpouring of emotive outbursts. Laughter and camaraderie, the conjugating seal of the class have taken flight as the gods of ObIdient, BATification and ATIKUlating parked their Ukraine vs Russia war arsenals on the class’ “door mouth”.

    Nevertheless, It took all of us bombarding our DG Affidavit’s phone and pledging to be of good behaviour and most importantly,  to stop  posting all divisive political posts, to persuade her to change her mind. But her finger is still on the exit button, her left eye peeping to see who would dare post annoying political posts on the platform.

    As it turned out, the experience of my classmates is not unique. From discussions with friends, colleagues and family, the entire country, at least among the elites and those described as digital natives on the social media, is in the vice grip of  this new demon. Friends are tearing themselves apart, families are embroiled in needless altercations, no longer seeing eye to eye on any political issue. And the language: abusive, abrasive and abhorrent.

    It is clear that we, Nigerians, are one of, if not the most, obdurate set of humans on planet earth. Every group of Nigerians, wherever they gather, are united by one thing: poisoned positions on the coming 2023 presidential elections. We are very dogmatic and very vociferous about our support for the candidate of our choice. We strive to ram this down the throats of our “listeners” with a stance that only our choice is correct and every other persons’ wrong.

    Painfully, for most of these gladiators, logic and our lived-reality is not the basis of their convictions. We concoct lies and propagate them as gospel truths which others must swallow without questioning. We browbeat and use every conceivable gimmick to try to paint the other candidates in devil’s regalia. We manufacture lies and use them to try and pitch Nigerians against themselves. Others respond with equal venom and untruths. Take the case of my friend, Sam Omatseye, an otherwise good writer who out of loyalty to his benefactor tried to paint the Peter Obi campaign as an IPOB campaign, the Igbos as a never to be trusted group of Nigerians. All sane Nigerians could only wonder what would drive an otherwise respected intellectual into the cesspit of atrocious hate speech.

    What for example drives some of those who claim OBIdience to the Labour Party candidate into the asinine and very annoying insults and threats, against anyone who does not agree that Peter Obi is the messiah Nigeria needs now? They are toeing the notorious path Buharideens, those social media rats who attacked and insulted whoever was in disagreement with President Muhammadu Buhari, perfected and used in haranguing the rest of Nigerians. Those who say they are Atikulated  are also not left out.  It is bedlam out there in the social media and even in regular interaction platforms.

    They are all drumming war songs, preaching ethnic and regional satanic verses that could tilt the coming elections into a fratricidal warfare.  The traumatised economy, the serious security problems bedevilling the people; the historically high unemployment and under employment rates hovering around 70 percent are forgotten in their bid to sell their candidates. Yet none of these candidates has come out with concrete plans of how they intend to salvage the economy, end terrorism and generally restore a sense of security, equity and social justice in the nation. None has convinced us that they can end the haemorrhage, and stop Nigeria from tipping over the precipice.

    I have since stopped visiting groups whose past time is the attack and counter attack of people of opposing political views. That is my own way of maintaining my sanity. It is a shame really. Those who should be in the forefront of agitating for a better Nigeria and scrutinising those who are asking for our votes are the same people who are obfuscating the issues, muddling the pool and hurling insults at themselves. How the politicians must be having a good laugh at our expense.

    Truth told, with the attitude of these class of Nigerians, don’t be surprised if a candidate worse than Buhari is declared elected as President next year. But then can any of these candidates ever be worse than President Buhari?

  • Presidency 2023, Obi-Dients and Weaponization Of Christianity – By Magnus Onyibe

    Presidency 2023, Obi-Dients and Weaponization Of Christianity – By Magnus Onyibe

    One thing for sure is that with the active participation of our youths in the 2022/23 general elections,politics in Nigeria will take a new dimension and never be the same again.

    One of the first impact or change being foisted by Gen-Z is that politics has currently been pivoted from real life to virtual reality where our youths rule the roost.

    However,the game of politics will change when political campaigns commence next month (September) after Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC,based on its election timetable,green lights campaigns.
    By that time,action would shift from online to real life,where the so called old generation politicians,would reign supreme with mega campaign rallies coupled with the efforts of the foot soldiers-governors,legislators,ministers and a galaxy of other government appointees that would be embarking on door-to-door consultations with the electorate.

    That is when there will be a test of the will of the bulging youth population in Nigeria that has unprecedentedly seized the political momentum by registering massively and obtaining their Permanent Voters Card,PVC with which they are planning to vote in 2023 in order to retire those that they refer to as old politicians who they accuse of preventing them from benefiting from their common patrimony in the period that they have been at the helm of affairs.

    As a pragmatist,l have pointed out to our youths in the past that the so called old generation politicians that they intend to displace are like old foxes that can hardly be outsmarted. So they should focus on graduated take over with a possibility of achieving their goal in 2027

    That is because it would take more than the first cut which is said to be the deepest, to dislodge the current political class from the political stage.
    And l would like to assure our youths that some of the political grandees are willing to exit the stage.
    At least Turaki Atiku Abubakar, presidential flag bearer of the PDP has alluded to that in his recent public comments.

    And,l am also obliged to intimate the youths that the elders that are currently bestriding the political space would prefer a proper succession plan which l would like to admonish our youths to work towards negotiating with them,as opposed to planning to maliciously or malevolently kicking them out as they appear to be planning.

    Also,since members of Gen-Z appear to be so fixated on joining the new fangled Obe-dient movement of which the name of God is being invoked in vain as mr Peter Obi’s emergence as Labor Party,LP 2023 Presidential candidate is being touted (in my view falsely) as a phenomenon endorsed by God; and a chapter in the Bible -Ephesians 6:5 where the word obedient is mentioned is being used to justify the call for Christian’s to vote for Obi: l would like to stick to the trending ‘God’ narrative by leveraging data from Christendom in an analogy to drive home the point about the handicap that the Obi-dients face in their vaulting quest to catapult Obi into Aso Rock Villa in 2023.

    According to a study published by the Vatican and also corroborated by Pew report,the population of Catholics all over the world is in the neighborhood of 17-18% of the world population estimated to be 8 billion.
    “The Catholic churches form a denomination within Christianity and,with around 1.3 billion believers worldwide, are the largest Christian grouping”.

    For the sake of this analogy,the old generation politicians in Nigeria can be likened to members of the traditional religion like Catholics that have been around for over 2000 years and the oldest institution in the Western world.

    Conversely,Pentecostals represent
    about “8.3 percent of the world population. That means that one in twelve persons today is a pentecostal or charismatic Christian.”

    The statistics above is drawn from the World Christian Encyclopedia,3rd edition (2020) which states that there are currently “644 million Pentecostals/Charismatics worldwide,including all the members of Pentecostalism’s 19,300 denominations and fellowships as well as all charismatic Christians whose primary affiliation is with other churches.”
    And l would like for the purpose of this analogy to designate our youths or so called Obi-dients as the Pentecostals that have been around for 50 years compared to the institution of Catholicism that is at least 2000 years old.

    When 1.3 billion Catholics which l have likened to old generation politicians is matched against 644 million Pentecostals,that l have tagged as our youths or Obi-dients,the old generation politicians more than double the number of Obi-dients.
    The conclusion to be drawn from the analogy above and what readers should ponder is: can the Obi-dients out number,out maneuver or over take the old politicians in Nigeria,just like that ?

    I think not !

    Simply put,although in recent years,the number of Pentecostals in Nigeria has grown in leaps and bounds,it can not eclipse the Catholics over night.
    So also would Gen-Z not defeat at the snap of the finger the old school politicians that have become entrenched.

    That is the prism from which l am interrogating the Peter Obi quest to become the next number one Aso Rock Villa occupant in 2023.

    As l have brought to the attention of youths in my previous interventions on the same issue,our youths should remember the dictum ‘old soldier never dies’

    In my reckoning ,therein lies the dilemma after the conduct of a reality check on the feasibility of Peter Obi’s presidency in 2023 is made,and a question which our youths must ponder.

    Of course l am not by any stretch of imagination proposing that the youth phenomenon and Peter Obi effect on the 2023 general elections would not be significant.

    In fact,the high impact is evidenced by the prevailing political evolution triggered by the injection of youths and Nollywood into the 2023 political milieu.

    That by itself is likely to compel a run-off in the presidential election to be held in February next year as no single political party may be able to win 2/3rd majority votes outrightly as demanded by the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria which stipulates that for a party to be empowered and single handedly be entitled to be the ruling party at the center,2/3rd majority of votes must be won with across the country spread.

    If that is the only difference that Gen-Z and Obi-dients would have wrought on Nigerian politics,when the hurly burly is done and after the electioneering process is over,then they would have convincingly earned themselves the title of the heroes of democracy in 2023.

    It may be recalled that before Nigeria’s independence from British colonial rule in 1960,general elections were held in 1959,but they were inconclusive as none of the political parties was able to secure enough votes to meet the 2/3rd majority threshold which is a constitutional requirement.

    According to records,NPC garnered 142 ,while NCNC had 89 and Action Group,AG won 73 seats. The numbers were not enough for each of the parties to form government alone.

    Consequently,a coalition government had to be formed between NPC,as the senior partner with sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa from Bauchi state as the prime minister, and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe from Anambra state ,as President, representing NCNC which was the junior partner.

    My crystal ball tells me that a similar situation to what obtained in 1959/60 may arise after the much anticipated 2023 general elections.

    Should the above permutation materialize,history would not only be repeating itself,but there would be a fortuitous reset for our beloved country,politically.

    That assumption is underpinned by the fact that it would compel politicians to share power equitably as opposed to the present situation whereby the president from the platform of a ruling party that is not partnering with other parties have total control,such that he could solely determine who gets what.

    If he is a clannish and religiously bigoted president,he would assign all the critical positions to members of his ethnic group and religious leaning.
    That is incidentally the justification for the unnerving agitation for power shift and presidency rotation as well as restructuring of the political system currently wracking our dear country

    While not being unmindful of the fallout of Muslim-Muslim presidency ticket by the ruling APC and the riling up of Christians who feel that they are about to be erased from Aso Rock Villa if APC is voted back with Muslim president and Vice President,l worry about the consequences of weaponizing Christianity by Obi and his supporters who have been visiting churches-Dr Paul Enenche’s Dunamis church in Abuja and Pa Enoch Adeboye’s Redeem Christian Church of God Camp in lagos -where men and women of God have been giving him rousing welcome, even as some online video footages of pastors where they are quoting Bible verses to validate their support for the LP candidate have been trending.

    Thus wittingly and unwittingly,the church is being dragged into the arena of politics in Nigeria which in my view bodes no good to the body of Christ as it might amount to desecrating the house of God and it could even set Christians and Muslims on a collision path. More so as it has the tendency to exacerbate the negative energy which the APC standard bearer Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his running mate,Kashim Shettima, Muslim-Muslim ticket is already eliciting.

    Contrast mr Obi’s cavorting with men and women of God in their sanctuaries alongside their congregation to the presidential candidates of the three other political parties-Bola Ahmed Tinubu,Atiku Abubakar and Musa Rabiu Kwakwanso that are front runners and Muslims,but are not directly or indirectly campaigning in mosques.
    Not even Peter Obi’s running mate senator Datti Ahmed,also a Muslim is openly visiting mosques to lobby fellow Muslims,directly or indirectly.

    I recognize and commend mr Obi’s determination to appear detribalized by making his quest for the presidency a pan-Nigeria initiative,hence he has resisted attempts to make his campaign an lgbo agenda by distancing himself from Ohaneze Ndigbo,Indigenous People of Biafra,IPoB and other lgbo-centric agendas,which is good.

    Nevertheless ,l would like to respectfully advise mr Peter Obi’s camp to borrow a leaf or two from the 44th president of the United States of America,USA,Barack Obama who avoided being cocooned into becoming or being cast as a black candidate during his run for the office of president in 2008 by dissociating himself from rhetorical comments about his race by the pastor of the church in Chicago where he worships.

    The deployment of that strategy helped
    in many ways to bolster Obama’s ‘there is no such thing as Black ,Brown or White America’ element in his famous speech to the Democratic Party convention as he was commencing his race to the White House which he won in 2009.

    Also,does the LP flag bearer’s romance with the churches not vitiate his strategy of detaching himself from the lgbos,and could it not pitch Christians who are showing open preference for him against Muslims who may be wary and therefore cast their votes against Obi’s run for the presidency even when one of their own is Obi’s running mate?

    Without a doubt,the presidential candidates of the other political parties who are Muslims are consulting and courting members of their faith,but in more nuanced ways.
    Is there nothing in the approach of other presidential flag bearers to guide Obi’s camp? Can ‘Obi-Dients’ be less noisome and more strategically subtle?

    If Obi comes across to Nigerians as solely enjoying the confidence of Christians,how about lfeanyi Okowa,governor of Delta state and vice presidential candidate of the PDP who is also a Christian?
    Would Christians ditch him?

    Now,if per adventure Obi fails to win the presidency in 2023,would there not be a backlash of credibility issues in Christendom since some pastors have been openly prophesying that God has ordained Obi to be president ?

    How can we avert a repeat of the negative fall outs of the infamous Reverend Father Mbaka prophecy about the 2015 and 2019 Mohammadu Buhari victorious run for the presidency and the saga of the charismatic priest thumping down Peter Obi ,on account of his alleged tight handedness,when he worshipped with him in Adoration Centre as the running mate of Atiku Abubakar for the presidency of Nigeria in 2019?

    With all sense of humility,l urge the Christian Association of Nigerian,CAN to please take note.

     

    Magnus onyibe,an entrepreneur, public policy analyst ,author,development strategist,alumnus of Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy,Tufts University, Massachusetts,USA and a former commissioner in Delta state government, sent this piece from lagos.
    To continue with this conversation, please visit www.magnum.ng

  • Charly Boy blasts El-Rufai over negative comment on Obi’s two-million-man march in Kaduna

    Charly Boy blasts El-Rufai over negative comment on Obi’s two-million-man march in Kaduna

    Renown entertainer and activist, Charles Oputa aka Charly Boy has blasted the Kaduna Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, for speaking negatively about Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, proposed two-million-man march in the state.

     

    As a way of showing their strength ahead of the 2023 general election, supporters of Obi popularly identified as ‘Obidients’ have been holding marches in state capitals.

     

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that similar marches have been held in Nasarawa and Cross River States where the ‘Obidients’ canvased support for Obi.

     

    One Abdullahi Umar Zarma, a supporter of the former Anambra Governor, had tweeted “Kaduna Two Million March for Peter Obi”.

     

    However, El-Rufai, on Monday, mocked supporters of Obi over the planned two-million-man march for their candidate in Kaduna.

     

    The Kaduna State governor, in his response to the tweet, said he hopes the Obi supporters are able to gather 200 people on the streets of Kaduna for the march.

     

    The outspoken Governor said Obi’s supporters can only get two million to march for their candidate if they import people into the state or they march on Twitter.

     

    El-Rufai tweeted: “In Kaduna? Not Kaduna Twitter? I hope you get Two Hundred persons on the streets, including those ‘imports’ that can’t open their shops on Mondays, and came on an overnight bus last night!! I just dey laff, wallahi tallahi!!”

     

    Reacting to the governor’s remark, Charly Boy urged him to proffer solution to the many woes that has befallen the state under his leadership.

     

    In his words: “Can you just imagine dis clannish clown, El-Rufai, wey dey owe workers salary. Kaduna is now the leading state in terrorism.

     

    “The once upon a time very peaceful state is now a bandit paradise. Many of the victims of the Kaduna train attack dem still hold hostage.”

  • Big Tent for Peter Obi hosts listening clinic on healthcare

    Big Tent for Peter Obi hosts listening clinic on healthcare

    Consistent with its mantra of big thinking and innovation in policy direction driven by the need of the Nigerian people, the umbrella body of the Peter Obi Presidential campaign organisation, the BIG-TENT for Peter Obi has organised the first-ever global town hall meeting on healthcare, the first in a series, designed to listen to Nigerians in every facet of national development.

    In his opening remarks at the town hall meeting on Monday, attended online and physically by medical practitioners in the country and from across the globe, appropriately tagged “Listening Clinic on Healthcare,” convener of the BIG-TENT for Peter Obi, Professor Pat Utomi, regretted that policy articulation in the country so far is not driven by listening because people in government hardly listen with the attendant consequence of misplaced prioritization in allocation of scarce resources.

    Charles Odibo, Director of Media and Communications for the BIG-TENT for Peter Obi, quotes Professor Utomi as reiterating the importance of effective healthcare delivery in our country as no nation can be prosperous without a viable healthcare delivery system, hence the imperative of the listening clinic to elicit informed feedback from doctors and medics to enunciate healthcare policies that will build a healthy and productive nation that the country desires.

    Opening the discussion, a representative of Doctors and Medics for Peter Obi, a group of voluntary medical practitioners supporting Peter Obi’s candidacy identified primary healthcare delivery as being central in fixing the nation’s decayed healthcare system. Other critical factors needed to improve healthcare delivery, according to this group include the need to give adequate health education to the general public, especially in the rural areas, required infrastructure for primary healthcare, and the need to curb the incessant misapplication of funds in the healthcare system.

    Other medical practitioners, at home and from across the globe regretted that the nation still lacks electronic medical record system and harped on the need for it to be developed urgently so that patients can have unified and integrated records in the system across hospitals nationwide.

    Other issues raised by the participating doctors and medics include the need for effective implementation of the nation’s healthcare insurance scheme to ensure that citizens have access to quality healthcare and guarantee proper funding of the sector; regulation of production, supply, storage, and consumption of drugs; enacting and enforcing regulations to prevent non-certified pharmacists owning and running pharmacies.

    Overall, participants at the town hall meeting were delighted and appreciative of the distinctive and differentiated direction in policy formulation by the Peter Obi team to ignite a bottom-up engagement driven by a common purpose.

    As pointed out by Professor Pat Utomi, this new thinking on governance is about Nigerians getting together to follow a well-articulated national agenda based on Peter Obi’s new approach to governance, an approach that underlies his perspective and future-forward positioning on the polity and state of the nation.

  • Peter Obi named 2022 Man of the Year

    Peter Obi named 2022 Man of the Year

    The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi has emerged as the Man of the Year in the 2022 Leadership Excellence Awards.

    In the 14-day Leadership Excellence Awards voting by Nigerians, both home and in the diaspora, via online platforms, Obi was voted ahead of three other nominees.

    The online voting was organised by Igbere TV, a foremost community TV in Nigeria.

    Obi defeated three other nominees to emerge the winner of the voting which took place from August 1st to August 14, via online platforms.

    He polled 2,428,403 votes to defeat the Chairman and Founder of BUA Group, Abdul Rabiu who polled 1,124,172 and popular Nigerian Singer, David Adeleke, a.k.a Davido who polled 881,766.

    The fourth nominee, Apostle Chibuzor Gift Chinyere, the Founder and General Overseer of Omega Power Ministries, had earlier stepped down and publicly endorsed Peter Obi for the award.

    The prestigious award, endorsed by the African Union, African Film Institute, will be presented in November 2022 in Abuja.

    The prestigious award, which is the fourth in a row, is an annual event; it recognises and honours outstanding impacts of leaders across public and private sectors in Nigeria.

    The event promotes outstanding leaders and personalities whose impacts have been felt in Nigeria’s political, social and economic spheres.

    In May 2022, Obi became the presidential candidate of the LP in the upcoming 2023 general elections, after defecting from the People’s Democratic Party.

    Obi is a Nigerian businessman and politician who served as governor of Anambra from March to November 2006 – February to May 2007, and from June 2007 to March 2014.

    Born in Onitsha in 1961, Obi graduated from the University of Nigeria in 1984, he entered business and banking, eventually rising to hold several high-ranking executive positions at banks.

    By the early 2000s, Obi was the Chairman of Fidelity Bank before leaving the position to enter politics.

  • SOLIDARITY: Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi thanks “OBIdient Family” in Calabar

    SOLIDARITY: Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi thanks “OBIdient Family” in Calabar

    The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has thanked the OBIdient Family in Calabar, Cross River State, for their show of love and solidarity during his visit.

     

    Obi, on Saturday visited Owerri, Imo state capital to commission a campaign house donated by a member of the party.

     

    He was received amidst cheers from the waiting crowd.

     

    In Calabar, the Cross River state capital, many Nigerians in unprecedented numbers marched around the city and created awareness of the labour movement.

     

    In a post on his Twitter page on Sunday, Obi wrote, “To the millions of young people in our country who have continued to advance the cause of our OBIdient Movement, I say Thank you.

     

    “To our OBIdient Family in Calabar, Cross River State; your show of love and solidarity to the movement yesterday have added so much courage and greater zeal to our common mission.

     

    “United together, we will take back our country from bad governance, and institute true and diligent leadership and sustainable development.

     

    “It is our journey, and we will never labour in vain. Nigeria’s Democracy must survive.  -PO”.

     

    He said the passion shown by the youths who are members of the movement was a source of inspiration for his presidential ambition.

     

    The former Anambra State Governor stated this in appreciation of the Saturday’s rally by his supporters in Calabar, Cross River State.

     

    He added that with the unity of purpose shown by his supporters behind the movement, they are poised to tack back the country from bad governance.

     

    Obi is a Nigerian businessman and politician who served as Governor of Anambra from March to November 2006, February to May 2007, and from June 2007 to March 2014. In May 2022, he became the Labour Party nominee for President of Nigeria in the 2023 presidential election.

     

    He was born in Onitsha and graduated from the University of Nigeria in 1984.

     

    Afterwards, he entered business and banking, eventually rising to hold several high-ranking executive positions at banks.

     

    By the early 2000s, Obi was the chairman of Fidelity Bank before leaving the position to enter politics. Obi ran for governor in 2003, as a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance but his main opponent was unlawfully declared victor.

     

    After three years of legal battles, Obi was declared winner in 2006 and assumed office in March, 2006. He was then impeached that November before the impeachment was overturned and he returned to office in February 2007.

     

    Again, Obi was removed when a new election was held in April 2007 but the judiciary intervened again and ruled that he should be allowed to complete a full four-year term. In 2010, he won re-election to a second term.

     

     

  • Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore does not speak for Fulani ethnic group – COFPIA

    Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore does not speak for Fulani ethnic group – COFPIA

    A Fulani professional group known as Coalition of Fulbe Professionals in Africa, COFPIA, Monday, called on Nigerians to disregard any statement from Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore, saying it did not speak for Fulani ethnic group or represented the Fulani in any way.

     

    The group distanced itself from a statement credited to one Alhaji Alhasan Salah, said to be National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore.

     

    According to Alhaji Sallah’s statement, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore planned to embark on a campaign of calumny against the 2023 presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi.

     

    The group described the move as “politically sponsored.”

     

    Alhasan had, in an interview with a national newspaper, said the Fulani nation would not support the candidature of Obi, describing him not only as a tribal bigot but also as someone who did not like the North, and by extension, the Fulani tribe.

     

    “As far as Miyetti Allah is concerned, Obi is out of the options of persons to be voted for in the forthcoming elections.

     

    “As far as we are concerned, we know those we cannot vote for. You see the one that they call Obi or OBIdient, any Fulani man who votes for him must be questioned because he may not be a true son of the soil.

     

    “Obi represents the Biafran interest. So, we know those we cannot vote for and those that cannot be President of Nigeria. He is a tribal bigot,” he said.

     

    But, COFPIA, in a statement signed by its National President, Prof. Mohammed Gidado, and Secretary, Hajiya Mairo Modibo, said while it acknowledged their right to freedom of expression and opinion, it would say “they don’t have the right to speak for the entire Fulani in Nigeria, especially when they havd not lived up to expectations.”

     

    COFPIA said Fulbe people all over Nigeria “will not be binded by that politically sponsored statement of Miyetti Allah.”

     

    “Our attention has been drawn to a sectional, unpatriotic, ungodly and senseless statement credited to one of our brothers, Alhajji Hassan Saleh, the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, the most controversial Fulani group in Nigeria, which no doubt, is responsible for the bad name Fulani nation has been branded with in Nigeria.

     

    “The Fulbe all over Nigeria will not be binded by that politically sponsored statement of Miyetti Allah anymore. The Fulani people are wise now and cannot be used as tools of extortion and religious sentiment any more. We will enlighten our people to vote for competence and capacity come 2023. We will never vote for any candidate who has nothing to offer. We have gone far beyond religious and ethnic sentiments.

     

    “We will vote for a President that will tackle poverty and acute hunger that have held our people hostage for so long. We will vote for a President that will fight insecurity with every commitment and unbiased mind, no matter who is involved.

     

    “Our respected tribal group, Miyetti Allah, should channel their campaign to redeem the bad image they have created for Fulani people in Nigeria rather than casting aspersions on Peter Obi, who has demonstrated capacity to rescue Nigeria from the current hopelessness.

     

    “We wish to also make it categorically clear that we have not endorsed Obi or any presidential candidate in the forth-coming general election and we are not Obi’s mouthpiece, but it is wrong for our people to continue to brand Peter Obi as a tribal bigot and that he doesn’t like the North. Available data has shown Obi as an ardent nationalist that believes in the unity of Nigeria.

     

    “We, therefore, call on our brothers in the Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore to only speak for their group, rather than misleading Nigerians that they are speaking for the entire Fulani people.

     

    “They lack the moral, spiritual, and religious rights to speak for the entire Fulani people in Nigeria, especially when they have reduced themselves to tribal bigots that has no regards for other tribes and faiths.

     

    “Nigerians have taken position in the forthcoming elections to vote for the best man for the job and cannot be distracted by any selfish agenda and blackmail.

     

    “As campaigns start, we shall mobilise and enlighten Fulani, young and, old to every ruga’s and town to sensitize our people so as not to be deceived by Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore and its like.”

  • Akufo-Addo did not ask Tinubu to step aside – Ghana High Commission

    Akufo-Addo did not ask Tinubu to step aside – Ghana High Commission

    The Ghanaian High Commission in Nigeria has said that President Nana Akufo-Addo did not write the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential flag-bearer, Bola Tinubu to step aside for the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Flag-bearer, Peter Obi.

    The Ghanaian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Rashid Bawa, made this known in a statement on Sunday, in Abuja.

    Bawa refuted the publications circulating in the media alleging that Akufo-Addo had written Tinubu to give Obi a chance to seek treatment for his health.

    He stated that Ghana and Nigeria have had decades of cordial relations in line with the tenets of democratic governance, rule of law, respect for and adherence to the principle of non-interference in the internal political mechanisms of other countries.

    “To that end, the President of the Republic of Ghana will not interfere in Nigeria’s internal affairs and politics, as captured in the series of tweets of Tuesday, 9 August 2022, from His Excellency’s Twitter handle (@NAkufoAddo).

    “It is hoped that this added perspective would serve to dispel misconceptions created by the online publication,” he stated.

  • Conversation Nigeriana [3] – By Hope Eghagha

    Conversation Nigeriana [3] – By Hope Eghagha

    Orezi: The come has come to become the come in the land of a no-coming government, a government where the President never comes through when trouble come to the land!

    Ahmadu: What do you mean my sweet sister? Is somebody missing in Action?

    Bolaji: You mean its something like Waiting for Godot?

    Emeka: Alhaji, this one that you are calling Orezi sweet sister this morning. I hope you do not have plans for ze ozer room!

    Orezi: Do you mind, Emeka!

    Emeka: Is love in the air? Who is the Romeo?

    Orezi:  Do you mind! There is no Juliet here. I don’t believe in dying for love in a foolish way and in a foolish country. All I am saying is that the come has become the come before our very eyes and we can only gnash our teeth in infant gums!

    Bolaji: Hmmm! You are speaking in parables like an old woman!

    Ahmadu: Me o! I am entitled to four, live, breeding hajiyas! When the time to come and become the come I shall become!

    Orezi: Alhaji, do you mind?

    Emeka: She has caught a wealthy politician boyfriend!

    Orezi: I’m in a serious mood young man; the current situation does not encourage romance. New boyfriend? That’s not a concern now. The come has become the come in the polity. Ordinary bandits have threatened to kidnap our president, a retired Army General and a state governor!

    Emeka: Anybody can issue a threat na; it means nothing. It doesn’t matter.

    Ahmadu: But it’s not the first time. Bandits almost killed Governor Ortom a year or two ago when they opened fire on his convoy!

    Orezi: You are right! They openly challenged him after he banned open grazing in his State. Little wonder Ortom has set up his own army in Benue State. A man must be a man!

    Emeka: Was Governor Zulum not targeted in the past? In fact, he has escaped assassination twice in the hands of non-state actors.  So, anyone can threaten…

    Bolaji: That’s not true; just threaten the president now especially as your name is Emeka whether Tucano jets will not be sent to decimate your hometown and desecrate the graves of your ancestors!

    Orezi: You are correct. The Nigeria Army was sent to attack IPOB after it was declared an illegal organization. They did Operation Crocodile Dance to kill unarmed men and women in the southeast! Now that the real threat from the real terrorists our soldiers are caught napping!

    Emeka: There is a special mindset in this government, indeed in the country that supports anything anti-Igbo! For example, see the vicious campaign against Peter Obi by the agents of the major political gladiators. Ethnic profiling has become second nature in our land!

    Ahmadu: True, ethnic profiling has resulted in the hang-the-Fulani sentiment in the land. All bandits are supposedly Fulani. Yet the Fulani himself is under siege!

    Orezi: Alhaji, please don’t go that route. Don’t go there. The Fulani merchants of death need to be called out. There is an official lack of will to do right by the Nigerian people! But you can see that it has backfired against the Nigerian government. Nigeria is almost a failed state. Do you sincerely believe that our Army is incapable of dealing with the terrorists if given the orders?

    Bolaji: Who is in charge of Nigeria?

    Orezi: God is in charge!

    Bolaji: Which God? The God I know has given up on us on account of our foolishness! How do you account for the fall of the naira?

    Emeka: Why won’t the naira crash when the Finance Minister and governor of the CBN are deeply enmeshed in politics? Should Emefiele not have been fired after the fiasco of the APC convention? Or should he not have resigned?

    Ahmadu: Nobody resigns in Nigeria! The President should have resigned in his first term when the effects of his ailment became glaring. The economy has become sick like the Number One Citizen!

    Orezi: The country is sick too.

    Ahmadu: Even the north is fed up with Bubu. Apart from Arewa Consultative Forum asking him to resign, did you read the story of the young man in Kano who climbed on to a high wall and threatened that he would remain up there until the president resigned? Things are happening even among the ordinary people!

    Bolaji: Let us start thinking of options to save the country. I see Peter Obi as an option. In fact, he is the only option right now. The old, grizzled politicians cannot save themselves let alone save Nigeria!

    Ahmadu: The Peter Obi/Ahmed Datti pair should be given a chance.

    Orezi: Give them a chance? They should fight for power. Right now, they are a social media powerhouse. The reality on the ground is different.

    Bolaji: It is romantic to think Peter Obi can win the presidential elections in the current atmosphere in the country. Much as I believe that we need a third force I have my doubts about Peter Obi winning the elections. Does he have the reach-out capacity? Are his followers ready to vote? Are they not social media persons? Can he secure enough votes in the core north? Can he deliver on the southeast by 70 percent? How can he govern the country even if he wins? There are no polling centres on social media!

    Ahmadu: There you are wrong. Dead wrong! The Peter Obi Movement has caught the imagination of Nigerians. Did you see the million-man march in Nasarawa State? It will soon be replicated in Sokoto and Kano. We in the north are fed up with the mainstream politicians. We suffer the most. Buhari is from the north and he has been president for seven years; what do we have to show for it? We are worse off. Jonathan showed more compassion. He showed care. He opened Alimajiri schools. What has this man done/ appointed his cronies to positions of influence and so people are angry with the north. Which north? The ruling class, my brother, the ruling class. What can Atiku do differently? Can Tinubu change anything? Are they not part of the rot in the system?

    Orezi: This is a full declaration!

    Emeka: Yes o! The Ahmadu Declaration.

    Bolaji: The truth is that no one is certain who the victor will be. The climate is hazy. Things could happen before February 2023 that could change the entire landscape. So, let us be hopeful.

    Ahmadu: True; we are not certain who the victor will be. But we are certain about who will best do the job: its an outsider who is ready to do things differently.

    Orezi: Is there any outsider among the three?

    Ahmadu: That na JAMB question!

  • Obi/Datti will double Buhari’s 2019 votes in 2023 – Dr Yunusa Tanko

    Obi/Datti will double Buhari’s 2019 votes in 2023 – Dr Yunusa Tanko

    …says they enjoy wide acceptance in northern Nig

    …insists we’ve maintained the cleanest campaign so far

    Chairman of National Conscience Party, NCP and spokesperson of Third Force, Dr Yunusa Tanko has said the Obi/Datti ticket of the Labour Party have what it takes to double the 15million votes garnered by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 to change the Nigerian political narrative.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Dr Tanko made this disclosure in a webinar organized by the Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy… Obi/Datti Presidency Project, late Sunday night with vivid analysis pointing to the preparedness of Labour Party to unseat the ruling APC.

    Tanko in his presentation stated that from Labour Party’s projections, Buhari’s 2019 will be doubled with little or no stress as the Obi/Datti support base is in the youths.

    Tanko explained that his presentation is in three perspectives bordering on how we started, where we are and our focus.

    He said for the past 15 months the labour movement started but had been in the struggle for over three decades right from the days of Dan Nwanyanwu down to the present chairman, Comrade Julius Abure and our Hon Secretary, Umar Farouk.

    “This is the first time that the labour movement is well coordinated towards a common purpose and common interest and this should be well encouraged to get the desired results.

    “The TUC, NLC and trade unions across Nigeria are well enmeshed into this movement and there’s urgent need for proper cohesion.

    “By May 2022 Peter Obi joined the movement primarily to give back government to the youths and galvanise Nigeria into a productive nation and not a consumer nation.

    ” I just arrived from a sensitisation tour of the North West with our Hon Secretary where we discovered the massive support for the Obi/Datti ticket as this was an opener considering our findings in the seat of the caliphate, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano and Kebbi.

    “Our findings were astonishing as we discovered that the support cuts across the core northern states of Nigeria.

    He explained that “when we got to Sokoto the only standing billboard was that of Obi/Datti When we got to sokoto one the major billboard is Peter/ Datti standing while some are destroyed signifying acceptance of the Obi/datti candidacy.

    “By the time we finished the sensitisation program in Sokoto, a physically challenged lady, by name Aisha wept uncontrollably that she’s going to support the Obi/Datti ticket with her vote.

    “Just imagine what the outlook will be if all the physically challenged persons in the zone mobilise themselves to support us.

    “The man galvanising the Sokoto axis is Comrade Ikenna Ikeagwu, a Pharmacist who resides in Sokoto, he really deserves commendation for all his efforts.

    Tanko further buttressed that “on a daily basis people register on our website and the numbers are in multitudes across Nigeria and in the diaspora.

    “We have more than 150 support groups across Nigeria and they’re broken down into different groups across various endeavours.

    ” We have the intellectual, financial, volunteer, central groups working day and night to ensure victory is attainable next year.

    On 2023 projections:

    “The 2023 elections is close by and we have the youths behind us and the figures are looking up towards as the recently released figures of newly registered voters in 2022 are 12million with youths having 71percent which represents 8.7m youths between the age of 18 – 34 years.

    “Out of 2022 registration, in Kano had 569,000, Lagos 585,639, Rivers 473,974.

    “These are verifiable figures in the public domain that can be cross checked by anybody.

    “The catch here is that we can’t match the money bags money for money, intimidation for intimidation but we can match them with a procedure that I can’t disclose here for security reasons.

    “There’s an urgent need to arrange the various volunteer groups into a central body for proper coordination to achieve greater results.

    “The NLC, TUC, the various critical stakeholders, now is the time to collapse all into a central group because we all have a home now.

    “So far so good we have the cleanest campaign approach strategy and this we must maintain and by God’s grace victory will be ours in 2023.

    Other participants at the webinar and speakers include Professor Eddie Oparaji, a former NADECO chieftain and convener of Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy… Obi/Datti Presidency, Moderators: Chijike Ndukwu and Dr Jude Iheoma.