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Tag: VON DG

  • Good stories about Nigeria must be told now, says VON D-G

    Good stories about Nigeria must be told now, says VON D-G

    The Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr Jibrin Baba Ndache, says efforts of President Bola Tinubu in tackling Nigeria ‘s challenges must be told in a manner that Nigerians and the international community would understand.

    Ndache made the remark when he paid a courtesy visit to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, at his palace on Thursday.

    He said that Nigeria had suffered negative publicity overtime, and that efforts must be made to change the narrative.

    “We believes that there are positive stories to tell about Nigeria.

    “There are so many good stories to tell about our country, not the way the country is being portrayed.

    “One cannot stop telling positive stories about oneself because if he does not tell it, nobody will do it for him.

    ” The platform of the Voice of Nigeria is  available to tell the positive stories about the country,” he said.\

    The director-general promised that Voice of Nigeria would be available to promote  traditional values.

    He said that he was at the palace to show respect for the emir.

    He recalled that as the President of Students Union of his department at the Bayero University, Kano,  in the past,  he organised a tour of the palace for students.

    The Emir, represented by the Walin Kano, Bashir Mahe Wali, decried dissemination of negative reports about Nigeria by some media platforms.

    He commended the efforts of the director-general and his team members in changing negative narratives about Nigeria.

     

  • Olukoyede’s appointment as EFCC Chair a game changer – VON DG

    Olukoyede’s appointment as EFCC Chair a game changer – VON DG

    Mr. Osita Okechukwu, the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) says the appointment of Mr. Olanipekun Olukoyede as the chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is game changer for an anti-graft-war crusade, going by his antecedents.

    Okechukwu, also a foundation member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

    He appealed to his traducers to sheath their swords, as he settled down for business.

    Okechukwu said that it was not unusual for controversy to erupt after the appointment to an important and strategic office like the chairman of EFCC, without regards to whether the appointment conforms with extant laws.

    “One has carefully taken a cursory analysis of the raging debate and came to the inevitable conclusion that Ola Olukoyede’s traducers had forgotten the famous and ageless maxim of the foremost physician of all time Albert Einstein.

    “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” he said. Okechukwu said.

    Corollary, he said, the truism was that Olukoyede’s appointment was remedy as EFCC was formed to provide alternative for higher performance in waging the Herculean anti-graft war crusade.

    “Therefore, his appointment from fraud angle of the noble legal profession is an appropriate alternative for reforms. Doing otherwise is akin to doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” Okechukwu said.

    On the legalism of his qualification, Okechukwu said that he was in league with the preponderance view of senior counsels that Olukoyede’s cognate experience is unassailable having headed the administration of the EFCC and having devoted the last two decades in the fraud tricky profession.

    “As the intendment of the law is that emphasis should be laid on cognate experience. The reforms contemplated by Renewed Agenda of President Tinubu can only be achieved under an informed insider with requisite legal tools not a learner. That, to me, is the essential thrust of Olukoyede’s appointment,” Okechukwu added.

    Okechukwu said that he expected better results from Olukoyede and urged him to always diligently finish investigations to avoid media trial.

    He admonished him to forthwith embark on investigations with fine combs to fish out billions of dollars looted from Nigeria’s commonwealth stashed abroad.

    “Having served as member of the Technical Committee of the Presidential Advisory Council on Corruption, as well as member of the Technical Committee on the

    Repositioning of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU); he should with fine combs fish out billions of dollars stashed abroad, and bail Nigerians out of economic quagmire and debt burden; for common sense dictates that it cannot be only Gen Abacha’s loot.”

    Okechukwu retorted, while finally appealing to Olukoyede’s traducers to divest their emotions and sheathe their swords

  • Atiku’s greed caused PDP’s defeat at PEPC – VON DG

    Atiku’s greed caused PDP’s defeat at PEPC – VON DG

    Mr Osita Okechukwu, the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) says he fully understands the grief of the opposition parties over the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).

    Okechukwu, also a foundation member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said this when he spoke with journalists in Abuja.

    He said that although the main opposition PDP had bright chances of bouncing back through the 2023 presidential election, the political greed of the party’s candidate, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, denied the party victory.

    Okechukwu said that Atiku’s failure to rise to the golden opportunity and play as a statesman by throwing support for his erstwhile running mate Peter Obi or any other Southern presidential candidate divided the opposition party.

    “Atiku dealt PDP a huge blow from which it might be difficult to recover.”

    He dismissed claims that the petitioners had maintained that President Bola Tinubu was not qualified to run and allegations of irregularities in the conduct of the election as well as the failure to electronically transmit results in real time were fatal to the respondents’ case.

    “Those intricate webs could have been resolved if Atiku had obeyed the zoning convention, supported Peter Obi or any other Southern presidential candidate it could been simply a southern bout.

    “The Wike Masquerade couldn’t have emerged. That would have meant that the bulk of votes he garnered could have been credited to PDP.

    “Atiku divided PDP’s votes irreparably, all the votes Labour Party garnered were from the party’s stronghold, minus voted warehoused by the former

    Vice President who naively forgot that northern voters are one of the most sophisticated in the country, but believed that northern electorate would behave like children in a dormitory waiting for directives on how to vote,” he said.

    Okechukwu said that Tinubu deserved accolades for rescuing the zoning convention which guarantees equity, and natural justice between the north and south.

    “First and foremost, let me congratulate Tinubu, for rescuing the zoning convention, a ligament binding north and south from unprecedented assault.

    “To be honest, my take is that the opposition lost the election that day in 2022, when Atiku Abubakar trampled on the presidential zoning convention, which governed the 4th Republic Nigeria and was also embedded in his party’s Constitution.

    “Recall that Atiku earned accolades when he stormed out of PDP Convention in 2014 in protest that President Goodluck Jonathan was breaching the zoning convention. And, in 2018, Governor Nyesom Wike hosted PDP Convention in Port Harcourt and ensured that only northern presidential aspirants contested for the presidential ticket as a way of honouring the zoning convention.

    “So, it is obvious that when Atiku sacrificed statesmanship on the altar of narrow political ambition, one concluded that he had wittingly or unwittingly fatally wounded the fabric of PDP. And, going by the time worn cliché, a divided house cannot stand, Nigerians should recognise that Atiku by his greed denied PDP a possible victory.”

    On the way forward, the APC chieftain suggested the promulgation of a revised Electoral Act that will resolve all evident ambiguities, by enthroning mandatorily only electronic accreditation and transmission of results.

    “I subscribe to the idea that we should totally abolish manual collation of results and make electronic transmission of results mandatory. We also need to return to the popular Justice Uwais Handbook on Electoral Reform, which among other fine democratic tenets recommended how best to transparently recruit the INEC Chairman, Commissioners and sundry officials.

    “With these altercations, Election Petitions will definitely be concluded before swearing-in of winners. Let us not forget that our democracy has witnessed tremendous advancement and keep in mind the fact that democracy is not a revolution, but a work in progress,” Okechukwu said.

  • Ministerial list: Blame South-East leaders not President Tinubu – VON DG

    Ministerial list: Blame South-East leaders not President Tinubu – VON DG

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), in Enugu State, Mr Osita Okechukwu has absolved President Bola Tinubu of any blame in the nomination of only five people from the South-East as members of his cabinet.

    Criticism has trailed Tinubu’s ministerial list, with some South-East leaders accusing him of marginalising the zone.

    While the South-East was given its statutory five slots out of the 48 nominees, other zones got extra slots.

    But answering questions from journalists in Enugu on Sunday on the perceived shabby treatment meted out to the South East, Mr Okechukwu, a chieftain of APC quipped that without holding brief or defending Mr President, “instead of blaming him, we should rather blame our so-called South East APC leaders.”

    Okechukwu, the Director General of Voice of Nigeria, (VON) said: “As you are aware, I am not a President Tinubu’s apologist; however we must be diligent in our analysis by adopting pragmatic analysis.

    “My take is that we should more pungently blame our APC’s leaders, who instead of genuine advancement of South East interest were more or less petty in their lobby strategy. After all one chairs the APC Governors Forum, the foremost Power Bloc and the other was already in the senate.”

    He added: “To be honest, I was worried when I noticed them blocking our first eleven, and one ridiculously was busy routing for himself as if he is the only qualified person from his State. Their strategy was akin to chasing rats, whilst others were bidding for elephants.”

    Accused of playing blame games to gain favour, as Tinubu a veteran politician does not need any lobby strategy to give the South East their due shares, Okechukwu reminded journalists that it is on record that he was the only one who in December 2021, publicly appealed to Tinubu “to support any Igbo in the race, and his men replied instantly that the Kingmaker wants to be King.”

    Okechukwu asked: “Is it not because from day one these so-called leaders mangled and dislocated South East APC’s structures from ward level to State level that we scored the poorest regional presidential election score?

    “Secondly, is it not because they bided petty, and blocked our first eleven, that we lost the moral high ground for bigger cakes?

    “If there are blame games, they should be laid squarely where they belong most.”

  • Governors can’t excuse themselves on deepening poverty in Nigeria – VON DG

    Governors can’t excuse themselves on deepening poverty in Nigeria – VON DG

    Mr. Osita Okechukwu, the Director-General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), says State Governors cannot excuse themselves from being a major contributor to deepening poverty and insecurity in Nigeria.

    Okechukwu said this in an exclusive interview with NAN in Abuja, while reacting to the position of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) that President Muhammadu Buhari should be blamed for the situation in the country.

    “Am not the spokesman for the Federal Government or President Muhammadu Buhari, however, as a Buharist, the truism is that the governors have no excuse in contributing to the material conditions which deepened poverty and insecurity in Nigeria.

    “They cannot exonerate themselves from the quagmire,” he said.

    Okechukwu added that the governors assumed the toga of Emperors and like Pontus Pilate cannot too late in the day, wash off their hands; whereas they collected the 47 per cent of State and Local Government Councils Revenue allocations, plus derivation and Bail Out funds.

    “This is without commensurate dividends on the ground,” he said.

    He said that the NGF should be reminded that all the federal roads, bridges, dams, primary health care, school feeding programmes, Anchor Borrowers Programme, etc were located at the 36 states of the country.

    He asked how can the NGF excuse itself when out of self interest it had emasculated local government councils, state judiciary, and legislatures.

    “Regrettably, the outcome is abject poverty and general insecurity.

    “By emasculating local councils funds, stopping independent funding of state judiciary and state legislatures, the NGF thereby compounded economic inequality and stimulated insecurity, for security is achieved via kinetic and civil strategic means,” he said.

    The NGF had through its Director of Media and Public Affairs, AbdulRazaque Bello-Barkindo, said “This dereliction of duty from the center is the main reason why people have been unable to engage in regular agrarian activity and commerce.

    Today, rural areas are insecured, markets are unsafe, travel surety is improbable and life for the common people generally is harsh and brutish.

    “The opinion, therefore, of one minister, based on a survey of 56,000 households in a country of 200 million people can never diminish the good work that 36 pro-poor-minded governors are doing for this country.”

    Okechukwu in debunking the generalisation of the Governor-Emperors, said that in an unholy bi-partisan alliance while breaching Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, which made democracy imperative in local councils administration; selectively adopted and mangled the Joint Account proviso of the same Constitution with less than public interest.

    “Hope the NGF did not forget the trillions Bail Out Buhari doled out to them for unpaid State salaries and pension’s arrears? Most of the Emperors were not prudent with the Bail Out Funds and the fall out is despair, despondency and insecurity at the grassroots.”

    “There is no doubt that the Governors-Emperors stymied democracy at the local councils, as none of the State Independent Electoral Commission ever conducted free, fair and transparent elections. The rigging of local councils elections and embracing of Joint Account proviso in the Constitution are the material conditions which enhanced corruption and insecurity at the grassroots.”

    Reminded that the NGF was not in charge of the Armed Forces and security apparatus of the state, Okechukwu said that security was multi-dimensional and required multi-dimensional approach.

    “But as I said before security is multi-dimensional and is fought via kinetic and none kinetic strategic means. In other words if as a governor you failed to provide minimal welfare and security, stop independence of State Judiciary and State Legislatures, pay minimum wage, salaries and pensions as and when due, you creating hunger and anger in the communities.

    “And a hungry man is an angry man. One must admit that we made some unforced errors; but the Governors-Emperors cannot excuse themselves from the sordid scenario we find ourselves.”

  • VON DG, Okechukwu predicts Tinubu’s chance in 2023 election

    VON DG, Okechukwu predicts Tinubu’s chance in 2023 election

    The Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu has predicted the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s chance of winning the 2023 general election is by 60 per cent.

    He made this prediction on Sunday while chatting with newsmen at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.

    Assessing the party’s candidate for the February 2023 presidential election, Okechukwu rated Tinubu high, insisting that the APC standard will win the election by 60 per cent victory over his other opponents.

    Hear the APC leader: “Asiwaju has 60 percent of winning this election. We are in charge of 22 states of the federation. We have the majority in the National and State Houses of Assembly – they are not going to betray him.

    “Even in the South-East, that has never been our (APC) stronghold, on the day of the election, we are going there to protect our mandate.”

    Okechukwu argued that aside from the growing popularity of the APC flag bearer, he said all political appointees of the present administration who are party members would equally ensure victory for Asiwaju Tinubu.

    According to the VON boss, “Whatever is my preference, if I want my office to remain it means I must support Asiwaju, it’s applicable to those who are board members whether you are coming from Yenogoa or Dutse so that is the power of incumbency.”
    On the opposition parties, Okechukwu dismissed the Labour Party candidate as no match and argued that the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the PDP and Musa Kwankwaso as New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidates negate the convention of rotation system, adding that this would be their albatross.

    “They don’t believe in rotation convention. For them, the agitation or the glue and the bound that rotation created since independence. When Tafawa-Balewa as Prime Minister, the president or governor-general was Nnamdi Azikiwe from the South. When Gowon became Head of State, Obafemi Awolowo was his deputy, the same thing with Murtala and Obasanjo. Obasanjo/Shehu Yar-Adua; Shagari/Ekwueme down the line.

    “It’s not as if rotation is a new thing. So, for the PDP because of Atiku’s muscle, they jettison the rotation of the presidency which was an injury to himself. Some of us in the south will forbid him because he touched on the ligament that is holding the country.

    “That is why we thank the northern governors because they recognised the import of that ligament. You may not take it seriously but if you know the sense of belonging it brings to the north and south you can’t just dismiss it.

    “So APC obeyed it. Kwankwaso I know they were afraid of us. I don’t want to name names. This rotation may not have its legal teeth but rotation is a convention. It has its moral angle. That’s why the UK does not have a written constitution they live on conventions. Atiku will not know what he did to himself until the day the votes come.

    So is also the way Kwankwaso is playing with us. The areas he will capture in the north, I know he is not going to give up and since he doesn’t obey the convention, he will not nominate somebody to go with Peter and if Peter does not go strong north, we will be in CPC and ANPP in 2003 we had 12 million votes we didn’t win the south.

    Nobody can win in Nigeria if you can’t have northern support. No northerner can win without a southern stronghold. Atiku has lost in the southern stronghold. That’s why I’m giving Tinubu about 60% chances.”

  • 2023: Blame PDP’s desperation if Presidency does not go South – VON DG

    2023: Blame PDP’s desperation if Presidency does not go South – VON DG

    A founding member of All Progressives Congress (APC) Mr Osita Okechukwu, says Nigerians should hold the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) responsible if the 2023 Presidency is not zoned to the South.

    He said APC has been watching with studied interest the desperation of PDP to prey on President Muhammadu Buhari’s 12 million Vote Bank, stressing that as a political party APC has to fine-tune its strategies for the general elections.

    Okechukwu, who is also the Director General (DG) of Voice of Nigeria (VON), was reacting to the condemnation of APC’s indecision to zone the 2023 Presidency to the South by from Middle Belt Forum, PANDEF, Afenifere and Ohanaeze.

    He said that although it was doubtful that any politician in PDP could sweep President Buhari’s 12 million votes away, PDP’s desperation to break into Buhari’s 12 million Vote Bank explains APC’s indecision.

    The leaders of the regional socio-cultural groupings, MBF, PANDEF, Afenifere and Ohanaeze, had during the recent Greater Nigeria Conference (GNC) held in Abuja accused APC of playing hanky-panky with the zoning of the Presidency to the South.

    But, speaking during an interaction with journalists in Abuja, Okechukwu stated: “Although one is not holding the brief of our distinguished national Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, one’s little understanding is that the leadership of our great party, is watching closely the desperation and antics of our elder sister political party, the PDP.

    “They want to capture power by all means, indeed using Machiavellian tactics. We all know that PDP is famished, thirsty and desperate to win the Presidency in 2023. They loathe the loss of their slogan ‘Share the Money’ through their absence from power at the center for seven going to eight years.”

    Explaining further why PDP should be blamed, Okechukwu said it was unconscionable and despicable that the opposition party should breach the zoning convention, which helped in no small measure to unite and harmonise the country.

    “PDP,” he said, “is aware that President Buhari will not be on the ballot in 2023, therefore, for them there is a void to fill. They must have reasoned that the Buhari’s Vote Bank would be up for grabs if they go north.

    ” PDP’s calculation is a desperate one, and selfish to the extent that they breached their own constitution and their age-long die-hard supporters in the South, especially the Southeast.”

    “As a corollary, APC seems to have adopted the cat and mouse game, because if the PDP adopts the terra firma or doctrine of realpolitik, which places electoral victory above their constitution, the moral high ground and ethics of their members and supporters in the South; APC wants to do the pragmatic thing. That is going back to the drawing board.”

    Okechukwu also explained why the ruling party was shifting away from implementing the party’s earlier zoning format of swapping offices between north and south, as declared by Governor Nasir el-Rufai before the March 26 National Convention.

    “To be frank, my take on the matter is that the swap option is still open, because some of us from the South are still arguing that we have dormant votes, especially Igbo votes which will augment APC members’ votes from the north.

    “However, if at the end of the day the zoning fails, we should blame PDP’s desperation, because we have been advocating a repeat of the Chiefs Obasanjo/Falae; Yaradua/Buhari and Buhari/Atiku models of 1999, 2007 and 2019 models.”

  • Follow Buhari’s roadmap, VON DG charges Adamu-led NWC

    Follow Buhari’s roadmap, VON DG charges Adamu-led NWC

    The Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr Osita Okechukwu has appealed to Sen. Abdulahi Adamu led new National Working Committee (NWC) of All Progressive Congress (APC), to follow the roadmap of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Okechukwu made the appeal Sunday while addressing journalists at the Eagle Square Abuja on the outcome of the just concluded APC convention.

    While congratulating Adamu and members of the new NWC, Okechukwu enjoined the new APC leadership to diligently follow Buhari’s roadmap while conducting the forthcoming primaries of the party.

    He opined that the key items in the roadmap of the president- adherence to the doctrine of internal democracy and equal opportunities- would ensure that the forthcoming party primaries were not hijacked by highest bidders.
    Okechukwu admittethat money bags were seemingly unavoidable in Nigeria’s body politics, but acknowledged the possibility of conducting free, fair and transparent party primaries in the country.

    He said, “My confidence is predicated on the premise that Distinguished Senator Adamu and his team will follow Mr President’s roadmap because he (Adamu)headed the Reconciliation Committee and some members like the National Organising Secretary are with him. Therefore handy with the Report, it will be easier for NWC to navigate.”

    “For me the NWC should first address the recommendations of the Reconciliation Committee Report so as to engender trust and guarantee genuine peace instead of peace of the grave yard in many states before embarking on the primaries.”

    Okechukwu faulted claims that there was no time to waste on reconciliation, describing it as indispensable to the actualisation of Mr President’s roadmap.

  • PDP still behaving like Nollywood party – DG VON

    PDP still behaving like Nollywood party – DG VON

    Founding member of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has expressed regrets that the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demonstrated a monumental lack of foresight even in opposition.

    Okechukwu said as a major opposition party PDP has continued to entertain Nigerians with tales by moonlight as if it was a Nollywood cast, stressing that there was nothing about the party that suggested any seriousness challenge to the governing party.

    He told journalists in his office on Thursday in Abuja that the feeble blame game which PDP hauled by the governors on APC after their meeting left a lot to be desired, lamenting that the opposition party was awaiting its final disintegration as predicted by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar recently.

    Okechukwu, who is also the Director General (DG) Voice of Nigeria (VON) described the PDP governors’ meeting at Aba as a jamboree, saying that their allegation that APC was unfit to participate in the 2023 general elections was a wishful thinking.

    “No matter how you look at it, PDP knows they are responsible for biting petrol, diesel crisis, and the collapse of national grid. The collapse of

    Nigeria’s electricity infrastructure is the culmination of PDP’s 16 years of monumental corruption and financial recklessness.

    “Is PDP still insisting on behaving as a Nollywood cast? For God’s sake PDP should forthwith desist from play-acting, because the party cannot like Pontus Pilate wash its hands off from the material conditions it created, which drove Nigeria into World Poverty Capital, palpable insecurity, biting petrol and diesel scarcity and collapse of national grid.

    “Yes we made some unforced errors; however Nigerians now know better, and are wise enough to remember PDP’s motto – “Share the Money”.

    Instead of using the Oil Windfall to fix infrastructure in sixteenth years they resorted to sharing the money. That’s the infrastructure deficit President Buhari has been borrowing to fix,” he said.

    The DG VON recalled how PDP tied President Muhammadu Buhari’s hand by the hanky-panky corruption in electricity generation and distribution

    value chain called privatisation project. That let down rendered the Siemens overhaul exercise useless and continued to hinder the successful take-off of the Mambilla power project.

    “PDP tied President Buhari’s hand of unbundling the electricity value chain by corrupting the privatisation process. The agreements they had was akin to that of tenant writing agreement for the landlord which in this instance is the Federal Government of Nigeria then led by the PDP. “The outcome today is the poor performance of Distribution Companies (DISCOs) nationwide.

    “Or do we forget how the billions voted to procure military hardware were siphoned by PDP top dogs for personal gains? It pains one when people allege that APC and PDP are same. This is wrong allegation for APC devoted resources to physical and social infrastructure and unprecedented agrarian revolution. Whereas PDP shared money,” Okechukwu said.

  • BREAKING: EFCC detains VON DG Osita Okechukwu

    BREAKING: EFCC detains VON DG Osita Okechukwu

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Saturday detained the Director-General of Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu,

    He was reportedly detained over a case of conspiracy, abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds to the tune of N1.3billion.

    He was said to have arrived at the headquarters of the anti-graft agency in Abuja at about 1.30pm to honour an invitation but was detained and interrogated.

    “Osita Okechukwu, an All Progressives Congress chieftain, was consequently detained and interrogated about his alleged involvement in the fraud.

    He is still in custody as we speak,” a source stated.

    The EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the invitation of the VON chief executive but declined to provide further details.

    Details to follow…