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| Daily Trust Newspaper | Wednesday, 29th June 2022 | Aftermath Of APC Primaries: Buhari Wades In As 22 Aggrieved Senators Insist On Defection | President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday intervened to halt the defection of 22 senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) following controversies trailing the party’s primaries across the country. In the event they leave, the ruling party will become the opposition in the Senate as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have more legislators. The ruling party had concluded its primaries to elect candidates for various elective positions ahead of the 2023 general election on June 9 with the emergence of the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as its presidential candidate. However, reports from across the country revealed that no fewer than 75 litigations are trailing the primaries with senators and members of the House of Representatives most affected. Daily Trust reports that a sizeable number of members of the APC at the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly were unable to secure return tickets, thus leading to the gale of defections of the lawmakers. No fewer than 22 senators, who are of the APC, have signified their intention to cross to other parties. Observers believed that while some of the prospective defectors have genuine grievances, others became disgruntled after they were defeated in the primaries. President Buhari Tuesday received in an audience the aggrieved senators at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Some of the lawmakers who attended the meeting held behind closed doors were Frank Ibezim (Imo), Adamu Bulkachuwa (Bauchi), Hezekiah Dimka (Plateau), Kabiru Barkiya (Katsina), Yakubu Oseni (Kogi), Oriolowi Tolulope Odebiyi (Ogun) and Kola Balogun (Oyo). Others were; Smart Adeyemi (Kogi), Yusuf A. Yusuf (Taraba), Yahaya Oloriegbe (Kwara), Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia (Jigawa), Adelere Adeyemi Oriolowo (Osun) and Lawali Hassan Anka (Zamfara). All the lawmakers have lost their return tickets. Buhari, who noted their concerns about the future of the ruling party, praised their effort to find a solution. He assured them that as the leader of the party, one of his roles is to create an environment for members to ventilate their grievances. He, therefore, gave an assurance to continue to address the challenges through the party machinery. In his remarks, leader of the delegation, Chief Whip of the Senate, Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu, said at least 22 senators and members of the party were unhappy with the outcome of the primaries in their states, noting that they felt disenfranchised by the process. But one of the aggrieved senators, who preferred not to be named, said the president was very frank in appealing to them to shelve their planned massive defection as their matter would be looked into. “We have met after our engagement with President Buhari at the villa and had agreed to take necessary actions if we discovered that time was running against us and nothing positive was coming from the party,” he said. | APC Aggrieved Senators, Aftermath of APC Primaries, APC | Page 4 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Wednesday, 29th June 2022 | Vote-Buying, Violence Threat To 2023 Polls, IPAC Tells UN | The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has said that vote-buying, violence and the use of state resources by public office holders for campaigns and other political party activities are the leading threats to the 2023 general elections and overall national political development. The National Chairman of IPAC, Engr. Yabagi Yusuf Sani, said this during a meeting with the United Nations, Secretary General’s Representative for West Africa, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, at the council’s headquarters yesterday in Abuja. He, therefore, urged all stakeholders, particularly the international community, to save Nigeria’s democracy from imminent collapse, as the only way a nation can thrive and remain peaceful is through credible elections. “The bane of our political development are three key issues. They are the obscene use of money to induce voters and buy their votes, the spate of violence that normally increases when elections are near, the use of state resources for electioneering by those in power to gain an unfair advantage over others,” he said. Speaking earlier, the UN envoy called for peace ahead of the forthcoming elections amid reports of insecurity in parts of the country. Annadif re-assured of the commitment of the UN to supporting the country’s efforts to consolidate its democratic gains and strengthen national cohesion. He also advised political leaders and their parties to resolve their disputes through dialogue. “Our message is very simple: The West African sub region is facing many challenges in terms of peace and security. If Nigeria, with its challenges and issues, will impact the region, we wish that the 2023 elections will be conducted in a peaceful manner,” he said. | IPAC, Vote Buying, UN Secretary General's Representative for West Africa, Mahamat Annadif, 2023 General Elections | Page 10 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Wednesday, 29th June 2022 | APC guber aspirant sues Cole, wants Rivers primary cancelled | All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, has been dragged to court by an aggrieved governorship aspirant in the just-concluded party primary in Rivers State, Mr. Benard Mikko, over alleged violation of Electoral Act and his (Cole) indictment by a panel Mikko, in a suit at the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, is asking the court to restrain Cole from parading himself as the governorship candidate of the APC following his disqualification for alleged questionable character as contained in the white paper report of Rivers State Commission of Inquiry. The applicant, in the suit, argued that despite the indictment by the panel report, he (Cole) went ahead to contest the party’s primaries. When the matter was mentioned before the presiding judge, yesterday, Justice Phoebe Ayua, the judge granted the application by the counsel for the plaintiff , Usman Sule, to serve the defendants court process through substituted means. Justice Ayua, thereafter, adjourned the matter till July 8 for reports of service and hearing on application for jointer by counsel for Ojukaye Flag-Amachree , another aspirant seeking to be joined in the matter. Speaking to newsmen outside the courtroom, counsel for Mikko, Sule, explained: “My client is suing Tonye Cole and APC for not complying with Electoral Acts in the last primary election. The court has adjourned for us to come back. We are to serve Cole, the first defendant and once he is served, his day starts to run. “We are seeking for that primary to be nullified because it alters the Electoral Act. Secondly, Cole is not a man of substance to the extent that there is a panel report against his person and Chibuike Amaechi.” On his part, a legal representative of the APC and Cole, Achi Wobodo Williams, who stood in for Tuduru Edeh (SAN), said it was unfortunate that the plaintiff relied on a section of the Constitution that has been deleted. He said, however, they will appear on the next adjourned date to respond to the process by the applicant. | APC Governorship Candidate, Electoral Act 2022, Rivers State, Governorship Aspirant, Tonye Cole, APC | Page 28 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Wednesday, 29th June 2022 | Disqualify Tinubu over controversial certificate claims, Frank urges INEC | The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should, without further hesitation, disqualify presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Comrade Timi Frank, has urged. In a statement he personally issued in Abuja, yesterday, the Bayelsa State native also called on the ruling party to replace Tinubu if it hopes to be on the presidential ballot for 2023. His demand followed the controversial educational qualification claims by the Lagos State ex-governor as contained in his presidential nomination forms recently published by the electoral umpire. Frank, who is United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and Middle East, said the issue about Tinubu’s basic education certificates or lack of it represents a test case for INEC, as it would form one of the yardsticks to determine its partisanship or non-partisanship as the 2023 general elections approach. His words: “By not presenting his basic certificates as required by law for those running for political offices in the country, Tinubu stands automatically disqualified from partaking in the presidential race.” He added: “Inconsistencies in Tinubu’s several depositions over the years before INEC show that he is either being evasive or attempting a cover-up, an action that is a direct breach of the Constitution.” | INEC, APC, APC Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Timi Frank | https://bit.ly/3OwXBtE | |
| Punch Online | Wednesday, 29th June 2022 | Aggrieved aspirants reject INEC lists, begin multiple court cases | The lists of candidates contesting the 2023 elections have sparked multiple court cases by aggrieved aspirants in many states. States, where aggrieved aspirants are challenging the lists include Ogun, Gombe, Plateau, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Kano, and Taraba. Some of the aspirants, in separate interviews with The PUNCH, faulted the lists submitted by parties and published by the Independent National Electoral Commission.Political parties had on June 17 submitted to the commission the lists of their candidates contesting the 2023 elections. The electoral commission on Friday released lists of candidates vying for various positions at the federal level in the 2023 general elections. In Ogun State, Sanya Akindele, the Media Aide to Senator Tolu Odebiyi, who lost the Ogun West senatorial primary to the incumbent senator representing the Lagos West, Olamilekan Adeola, said his principal was challenging Adeola’s nomination. Akindele said “Yes, Senator Odebiyi is challenging the case in court. There was an injunction before the primary election stopping Yayi (Adeola) from partaking in the primary. But the Media Aide to Adeola, Kayode Odunaro, faulted Odebiyi for taking his boss to court. Odebiyi said the senator was suffering from self-delusion for taking the move after he had lost at the appeal committee set up by the party. The member representing the Ado-Odo/Ota in the House of Representatives, Jimoh Ojugbele, is challenging a former Commissioner for Forestry, Tunji Akinosi, whose name is on the INEC list. Both Senator Odebiyi and Ojugbele filed their suit at the Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta. In the Akwa Ibom North-West, a former Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Udom Okpoudum, through his media director, Mr Peter Idiong, threatened that he would go to court if his name was not on the INEC list as the senatorial candidate. Although INEC has yet to release the list of candidates, contesting elections at the state level, 18 aggrieved APC governorship aspirants in Plateau State kicked against the nomination of Dr Nentawe Yilwatda as the party’s governorship candidate in the state. In Taraba State, some APC governorship aspirants have dragged the party and Senator Emmanuel Bwacha to court seeking to stop him (Bwacha) from parading himself as the party governorship candidate in the state. | Aggrieved Aspirants, Ogun State, Gombe State, Plateau State, Akwa Ibom State, Benue State, Kano State, Taraba State, Law Suit, Court Case, INEC, Senatorial Seat, Governorship Candidate, Senatorial Candidate | https://bit.ly/3a1dlpS | |
| Punch Online | Wednesday, 29th June 2022 | 2023: APGA Reps candidate challenges others to open contest | The candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance for Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency, Ogbonna Abarikwu, on Tuesday, challenged aspirants of other political parties to an open contest on agenda for the constituency. Fielding questions from newsmen in Umuahia, Abarikwu said, “It’s the electorate that will decide the best candidate. Let them (those contesting for the seat) come out to tell the people what they have for them; their visions and records. “The public will investigate and make their decision at the poll.” Describing himself as an engineer that rose to become one of the leading engineers in California, United States, Abarikwu believed that he would win in 2023 and would be bringing in some innovations that will impact positively on the people if elected 2023. He said that his positive ideas and blueprint which he had designed and planned to unveil to the constituency during the campaigns would give him an edge over other candidates as well as electoral victory in next year’s elections. “It’s my belief that the best candidate that will give the people quality representation should be elected. I won’t take it for granted that my opponents are moneybags, they have a lot of strong power base. “There’s money politics in today’s Nigeria, but I decided to try because governance doesn’t belong to anybody or family,” he pointed out. | APGA, House of Representatives Candidate, HOR, Abia State | https://bit.ly/3OxpLoz | |
| Daily Post Online | Wednesday, 29th June 2022 | How I lost my original certificates – Tinubu’s running mate, Masari | The vice presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Kabiru Masari has informed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that his original certificates are missing. The placeholder running mate of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu said in an affidavit submitted to the electoral body that he misplaced the original certificates while on transit in part of the nation’s capital. According to reports, Masari in the documents submitted to the INEC, filed an affidavit that he lost his primary and secondary schools certificates. According to the documents, Masari claimed he had his Primary school education in Katsina State between 1972-78 and later obtained a Grade 2 Certificate from Katsina Teachers College in 1982 and a Higher Certificate in 1995. The affidavit reads in part, “That I am the above-named person and bonafide owner of the under-listed documents. That sometimes in January 2021, while on transit within Wuse Area, FCT– Abuja, I discovered that my original Certificate of Occupancy of plot NoKT 17522, GRA Katsina Estate; Certificate of Kaduna State Development Centre from 1994-95; Grade 11 Certificate from Katsina Teachers College from 1979-83 and First Leaving School Certificate issued by Masari Primary School Katsina State from 1972-78 got lost”. He noted that all efforts to recover the missing documents since 2021 have proved abortive. | APC Vice Presidential Candidate, Placeholder, Kabiru Masari, Missing Certificate, Affidavit | https://bit.ly/3ubI4Hx | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Tuesday, 28th June 2022 | 2023 presidency: What I discussed with Obasanjo – Ango Abdullahi | The Chairman, Northern Elders Forum, Prof Ango Abdullahi has said Nigeria’s political situation was the major issue that dominated his discussion with former president Olusegun Obasanjo during the latter’s visit to Zaria, Kaduna State. Speaking in an interview, the former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) explained that, “The first thing the former president said was ‘are we heading towards a new leadership that will take us out of the huge challenges bedevilling the country?’ Because there were divergent views on whether the nation is on the right track or not.” Prof. Abdullahi stated that he and Obasanjo seemed to share the same view regarding the two major presidential flagbearers contesting for the apex seat of the nation, saying that they all felt that both Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar do not have what it takes to fix the challenges bedevilling the nation. The Chairman of Northern Elders’ Forum explained that that had been his personal stance, and he still maintains it. He stressed that it was borne out of the fact that he knew both of them too well, and going by their antecedents and track record of services, he doesn’t think they have what it takes to fix the challenges in the country. Abdullahi observed that Nigerians may decide to go for an option elsewhere since there are 15 other candidates aspiring for the exalted seat. Speaking on the stance of the Northern Elders’ Forum, the NEF chairman opined that the Northern region was more concerned on quality leadership irrespective of where it comes from. Abdullahi, however, hoped that such quality leader would emerge from the North. | Chairman Northern Elders Forum, Ango Abdullahi, Presidential Flagbearers, NEF | Page 12 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Tuesday, 28th June 2022 | 2023: INEC Won’t Interfere In Nigerians’ Choice – Yakubu | The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has assured the international community that the commission will always submit itself to the sanctity of votes cast by voters. Yakubu stated this when the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mahamat Saleh Annadif, led a delegation to the headquarters of the commission in Abuja. While commending UNOWAS for supporting INEC during the conduct of elections in Nigeria, he assured the team that the commission remains committed to a fair electoral process. He said INEC, as a responsible agency, was aware of the strategic importance that a peaceful Nigeria meant to the stability of the West African region in terms of seamless electoral process. “I recall that the UNOWAS was supportive of the commission ahead of the last general elections held in 2019. Each time Nigeria conducts a general election, is like a general election in the whole of West Africa. So, we appreciate the enormous responsibility the commission is charged with. We work very closely with the political parties, civil society organisations, media, security agencies in the country but at the same time, we also work closely with our friends in the international community such as UNOWAS. So, I want to assure you that we will continue to do what is right on the basis of the law; the ultimate choice is going to be made by Nigerians. Nigerians will determine who they want in the 2023 general election and we will continue to uphold the choice made by Nigerians,” Yakubu said. | INEC Chairman, INEC, UNOWAS, 2023 General Elections | Page 12 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Tuesday, 28th June 2022 | PDP threatens to expose Obasanjo over ‘mistake’ comment on Atiku | The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked former President Olusegun Obasanjo to publicly confirm his comment that he made a mistake picking Atiku Abubakar as running mate in 1999, otherwise it will expose him within 48 hours. Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, yesterday, the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Sen. Walid Jibrin, who said he and the party had high regard for the former president, asserted that it would be disappointing if the statement credited to Obasanjo and published in national dailies was true. According to Jibrin, the statement that Obasanjo made a mistake of appointing Atiku then as PDP vice presidential candidate is unfortunate. “I wish to appeal to former President Obasanjo to come out openly to repeat what he has said. Whether or not he was misquoted or meant what was credited to him. Although he has not debunked what was reported, one can assume what was quoted to have been said by him is correct. But if he fails to openly come out and say which is correct in 48 hours, you will hear the bombardment and I will have no option but to break the egg and tell the whole world and Nigerians who Obasanjo is,” he stated. | Olusegun Obasanjo, PDP Board of Trustees, BOT Chairman, Atiku Abubakar | Page 8 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Tuesday, 28th June 2022 | Tinubu jets off to France as APC refutes alleged N6.5tr budget for flag bearer | Presidential candidate and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, travelled out of the country early yesterday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. According to a statement by his aide, Tunde Rahman, Tinubu jetted off to Paris, France to hold some important meetings and is expected back in the country, shortly. Earlier before his departure, he attended the public presentation of a book, titled: ‘Mr. Speaker’, and launch of the legislative mentoring initiative in commemoration of the 60th birthday of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila. This came as the APC distanced itself from a leaked document suggesting it voted N6.5 trillion to sway votes in favour of Tinubu. The document alleged that an obscene amount of money was designated for vote-buying and compromising staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, the judiciary and others. But in a statement, the party’s national publicity secretary, Felix Morka, said there was no iota of truth in the story, describing it as a figment of the imagination of opposition party members.He, therefore, urged Nigerians to disregard the document, saying: “The APC wishes to place firmly on record that the document is not of the party. We neither authored nor own any such document, and it certainly did not emanate from our party. “How in the world does a government operating a national budget of N17 trillion dole out N6.5 trillion to rig elections? It clearly betrays the authors’ extreme ignorance of the complexity of the systems and processes for appropriation and utilisation of state funds.” The statement added: “Our party is focused on delivering the dividends of democracy to Nigerians in hope that they will reciprocate by supporting and voting for our candidates in the 2023 elections.” | APC, APC on Vote Buying, INEC, Allegation, 2023 General Election | Page 3 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Tuesday, 28th June 2022 | Soludo Denies Attacking Obi, Umeh | Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo has denied attacking the former governor of Anambra State, and Labour party presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi. Soludo also denied attacking the former National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and senatorial candidate of the Labour Party, Chief Victor Umeh. Some news reports had on Sunday quoted Soludo to have mocked members of APGA, who recently dumped the party for the Labour Party. In the reports, Soludo who was addressing members of APGA had said those who left the party for Labour Party would labour in vain. He was also quoted to have said it was unthinkable for a party that does not have an elected officer to believe it would win a presidential election. There had been a new wave of defection from APGA to Labour Party since Obi joined the party. But Soludo in a statement by his press secretary, Mr. Christian Aburime said the statement credited to his principal was totally false and unfounded. Aburime said: “Our checks reveal the statement was a total misrepresentation by an overzealous reporter who was not among the journalists present when Governor Soludo spoke extempore during his interaction with some audience after his 100 days in office media broadcast.” He described the attribution as an attempt by some misguided elements to cause disaffection between the Labour Party presidential candidate and his party leadership. He urged the public to disregard the entire statement, insisting that it never emanated from Soludo. | Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, Victor Umeh, Chukwuma Soludo, Labour Party, LP | Page 12 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Tuesday, 28th June 2022 | Osun 2022: PDP Appoints Diri, Wike, Makinde, Tambuwal, 124 Others to Campaign Council | The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, constituted a 128-man national campaign council for the Osun State governorship election coming up July 16. The campaign council is headed by the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri as chairman. Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, was also named among the 128 other members of the campaign council by the party. Others were the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde; Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State; Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, and other PDP governors. A former President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and other members of the PDP stakeholders were also on board. According to PDP’s National Organizing Secretary, Umar Bature, the council would be inaugurated today, Wednesday, at the party’s headquarters in Abuja. | PDP National Campaign Council for Osun Governorship Election, Osun State, Osun Governorship Election | Page 35 | |
| Daily Post Online | Tuesday, 28th June 2022 | 2023: We will kneel, beg Wike not to dump our party – PDP | The chairman of the board of trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Walid Jibrin has claimed they will do whatever it takes to ensure that Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, doesn’t defect. Jibrin stated this on Monday while addressing journalists in Kaduna. Wike lost out to former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, in the PDP presidential primary. Following his loss, Wike accused party stakeholders from the south of “betrayal”. His frustration was made worse when Atiku snubbed him as running mate and picked Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa. Following these developments, there have been speculations that Wike may dump the opposition party, having been visited by Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, presidential candidates of the Labour Party (LP) and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), respectively. But Jibrin said: “We in PDP know how to solve our problems. We know that Governor Nyesom Wike may not be happy. It is the intention of this party to constitute a reconciliation committee that will meet Wike to talk to him, appeal to him, and pray that he will not leave our party.” Jibrin described Wike as “a great man who has been fighting for the party, and the party will not want to see him move to another party. We will all visit Wike together and if it means kneeling to Wike, we will kneel for him,” the BoT chairman added. | PDP BOT, Nyesom Wike, PDP, LP, Labour Party, NNPP | https://bit.ly/39TXBoJ | |
| Punch Online | Monday, 27th June 2022 | Running mate: North-West, North-East fight over slot, I’m still searching, says Tinubu | There are indications that the northern governors of the All Progressives Congress from the North-West and North-East are divided over the choice of a suitable running mate for the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. This is as the former Lagos State governor on Sunday revealed that he was still searching for his running mate for the 2023 presidential election. The development is coming in the wake of controversy over Tinubu’s claims that he lost his academic certificates in his submission to the Independent National Electoral Commission. A party chieftain, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The PUNCH that the delay in settling for an acceptable candidate among the governors spurred the party to temporarily opt for a placeholder. The APC had submitted the name of a party chieftain in Katsina State, Ibrahim Masari, to the Independent National Electoral Commission as its surrogate running mate. Masari is a serving board member of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Plateau State. The source told one of our correspondents that weeks after Masari’s name was submitted to the INEC, the APC had yet to settle for a candidate. He attributed the challenge to internal wrangling and agitation between governors from the North-East and North-West. “I think it is down to two governors, Babagana Zulum of Borno and Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, who have been seriously agitating for the vice-presidential slots. While the former wants his predecessor to be considered for the exalted, the latter has his eye on the seat,” he said. The APC Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, however, kicked against the report, which he averred must be the figment of the imagination of people peddling the speculation. “I can’t respond to speculation. All I can say is the media should allow the APC presidential candidate to make his decision. Once a decision is taken, we will announce it,” he fumed. The Spokesman for the Bola Tinubu Campaign Organisation, Bayo Onanuga, also toed his line when he disclosed that his principal was still consulting with the party and the northern governors. When asked about any probable northern candidates being touted as Tinubu’s running mate, Onanuga disclosed that he could not speak on it. “I am telling you the truth. I don’t have any information on it at the moment,” he said. | APC Vice Presidential Candidate, Bola Tinubu, Placeholder, APC Publicity Secretary, Campaign Organisation | https://bit.ly/3HSl2LC | |
| Punch Online | Monday, 27th June 2022 | BREAKING: Justice Tanko Muhammad resigns as CJN | "Justice Tanko Muhammad has resigned as the Chief Justice of Nigeria. Citing sources, Channels Television confirmed that he resigned on Sunday night on the grounds of ill-health. When contacted, the Special Adviser on Media and Communication to CJN, Ahuraka Yusuf Isah, said, “All I know is that he’s going to declare open a workshop this morning at the NJI (National Judicial Institute).” Other attempts to reach close associates of the CJN, such as Dr Mike Ozekhome (SAN), proved abortive as they didn’t take their calls. Following his resignation, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola will be the next Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, following Senate’s confirmation. More details shortly… | Tanko Muhammad, CJN, Resignation | https://bit.ly/3bwtXWY | |
| The Nation Online | Monday, 27th June 2022 | 10,000 Osun PDP members defect to APC | Osun State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Iyiola Omisore will tomorrow welcome 10,423 members of the Peoples Democratic Party into the ruling party. APC Chairman in the state Gboyega Famodun and Chairman of the Defectors Care Committee, Timothy Owoeye confirmed the reception yesterday. Oyetola described the planned defection of the PDP members as the dawn of a new day for the APC. | Osun State, Osun Governorship Election, Defection, PDP to APC | https://bit.ly/3u4o6P1 | |
| This Day Live | Monday, 27th June 2022 | Kwankwaso: APC, PDP Have Failed Nigerians, Not Fit for Governance | Former governor of Kano state and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) for the 2023 election, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are no longer fit for governance, having allegedly failed the populace. The former Defence Minister, urged Nigerians to reject the candidates of the two main parties in 2023 presidential election on the premise that their respective political parties had failed the nation woefully over the years. The former governor argued that the parties had performed abysmally in delivering dividends of democracy to the people, saying this reflects in the level of insecurity, joblessness, economic deprivation and hardship that are pervading the land. Kwankwaso, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State, during a consultation visit to the state at the weekend, lamented the decayed infrastructure in the country, as manifested the deplorable Akure-Ado road. He knocked the APC-led federal and state governments for abandoning the people to suffer on the road. Calling on the people to have trust in the NNPP to transform the country and place it on the right path to progress, he explained that the party had been experiencing surge in membership in the last few months since he joined the platform. He stated that the rising cases of insecurity across the country and excruciating economic policies, which he said had resulted in poverty, unemployment, inflation were enough reasons for the people to reject the ruling party, adding, “the way we are going now is one way to disaster in the country.” | NNPP Presidential Candidate, NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso | https://bit.ly/3QPRwKw | |
| This Day Live | Monday, 27th June 2022 | Atiku: Judge Me with My Track Records as Vice President | With the publications of personal particulars of all candidates for the Presidential and National Assembly candidates concluded by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has urged Nigerians to judge him with his track records as the nation’s former vice-president. This is as he has aligned with the Supreme Court judgment on the Electoral Act, saying it was part of the process to guarantee the independence of the judiciary. In a statement yesterday, Atiku, said, “Our assets in this campaign are my track records of performance, when I served as vice-president between 1999 and 2007. The second asset is the policy document that details the work plan of what we shall do to rescue Nigeria back to her glorious heights. Above all, my attributes as a unifier and bridge-builder will stand us in good stead in this era characterised by disunity and absence of inclusion,” he stated. According to the former vice-president, “Our opponents will want to confuse you with alternative facts as we progress and when the campaign starts in full. But I will urge you to always reman focused and remember that this is not why we are in the race. My promise to you as we run this race together is that as your candidate, I shall ensure that we remain focused and disciplined. And I shall expect the same spirit of sportsmanship from you,” he said. | PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, PDP | https://bit.ly/3nlEEyk | |
| Daily Post Online | Monday, 27th June 2022 | 2023: Tinubu will stop APC lawmakers from dumping party – Shettima | A former Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima has said the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has nipped the crisis in the Senate caucus of the party in the bud. On Sunday, Shettima led some APC senators to meet with Tinubu in Abuja. Speaking with reporters after the meeting, he said Tinubu had helped to address the pressing issues among senators in the ruling party. He also said the lawmakers were ready to work for the progress of the APC in the 2023 elections. “These senators are accomplished individuals in their own right, who have a lot of value-addition capabilities. We believe his (Tinubu) intercession will go a long way to avoid an implosion in the party. We had a very productive cross-pollination of ideas with our distinguished brothers and I believe we have succeeded in nipping in the bud whatever that is forthcoming,” Shettima said. | Kashim Shetimma, APC Senate Crisis, 2023 General Elections | https://bit.ly/3HU17M6 | |
| Daily Post Online | Monday, 27th June 2022 | Defection: PDP loses Sokoto leader to APC | Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a former Chairman of Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State, Alhaji Jelani Danbuga, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). This was contained in a statement by Malam Bashar Abubakar, the Special Assistant to Sen. Aliyu Wamakko (APC-Sokoto) on New Media, and issued to NAN in Abuja on Monday. Abubakar disclosed that Wamakko, who is also the leader of the party in the State, received Danbuga into the APC fold on Saturday in Sokoto. According to him, Wamakko described the defection of Danbuga as a “welcome development and promised, he would be carried along like any APC member at all the times.” He said that Danbuga was accompanied by Alhaji Yawale Sarkin-Baki, the APC Chairman, Sabon Birni Local Government, and a former Commissioner in Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmad Barade, among other chieftains of the party. | PDP to APC, Jelani Danbuga, Defection, Sokoto State | https://bit.ly/3nqhOoZ | |
| This Day Newspaper | Friday, 24th June 2022 | Buhari to Johnson: No 3rd Term for Me, First Person Who Tried It Didn’t End Well | President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, reassured Nigerians and the world that he would not stay in office a day longer than May 29, 2023, when his second and final term as president will end. Buhari spoke in Kigali, Rwanda, during the 26th edition of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), a biennial gathering of Commonwealth countries hosted by different member countries on a rotating basis. The Nigerian president told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on the sidelines of the conference, that the first person, who tried to extend his tenure – an apparent reference to former President Olusegun Obasanjo – did not end well. A release by Buhari’s media adviser, Femi Adesina, said at the meeting with Johnson, the Nigerian president reiterated his resolve to respect the maximum term limit in the Nigerian constitution. Johnson had asked if Buhari would run for office again, perhaps, unfamiliar with the country’s democratic system, but the Nigerian leader immediately retorted, “Another term for me? No! The first person who tried it didn’t end very well.” Obasanjo had towards the end of his second term in 2007 attempted to seek a third term in office but met stiff resistance at the National Assembly. The federal legislature threw away the clause that sought to give a sitting president the right to seek a third term. But the former president has always denied having anything to do with the idea. | PMB, President Buhari, CHOGM, Kigali, Rwanda, 3rd Term | Page 1 & 5 | |
| This Day Live | Friday, 24th June 2022 | Osun Declares Friday Work-free for PVC Collection | Osun State Government has declared June 24 as work-free day to enable civil servants who are yet to collect their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) to do so ahead of the July 16 gubernatorial election in the state. In a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prince Wole Oyebamiji, the state government harped on the importance of the PVC to the performance of their civic responsibility. The statement read in part: “The Osun State Government acknowledges the importance of workers in democratic process, and is aware that the only way workers can give life to their aspiration for a worker-friendly government is through their votes. The government does not want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right, especially as it affects their overall wellbeing and the security of their future. Consequently, June 24 has been declared work-free day in all government offices across the state to enable all public and civil servants pick their PVCs so they can perform their civic duty.” | Osun State Government, PVC, Osun Governorship Election, July 16, Work-free Day | https://bit.ly/3NhGU4e | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Friday, 24th June 2022 | We’ll approach Osun with zero tolerance for failure, says APC chairman Adamu | National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, yesterday, explained why the July 16, 2022 Osun governorship election is a must win for the party. Speaking during the launch of the APC campaign council for the Osun governorship poll at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja, he said the outcome has a direct bearing on the fortunes of the party’s presidential flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He urged the 86-member council to unleash the arsenal at its disposal to win the state for the party. He said the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opposition political parties must not be allowed a breathing space during the election. Adamu said: “We are going there to win, by the grace of God. The plan is to win. The ability to execute the plan depends on the leadership that this council is going to provide in the campaign efforts. I urge you to leave no stone unturned. I urge you to go there and do whatever is doable within the laws of Nigeria and our electoral laws. My tolerance level, and this national working committee’s level for failure, is really really zero. Go down the trenches and bring that victory we want". | APC National Chairman, Osun State, Osun Governorship Election, July 16 | Page 3 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Friday, 24th June 2022 | Suspected thugs disrupt PVC collection in Osun | There was pandemonium in the ancient town of Ilesa, Osun State, yesterday, when some suspected political thugs stormed some wards and registration centres where registered voters were collecting their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and disrupted the exercise. The Guardian gathered that while the exercise was ongoing in some wards at Ilesa West Local Council, some armed hoodlums, stormed the collection centres simultaneously and terrorised the participants. An eyewitness said that amid resounding gunshots, officials of the electoral body and registrants scampered for safety. “Because many of our members decided to come out en-masse to collect their PVCs, the All Progressives Congress (APC) sent their thugs to attack us. They know we are many in this area, so, they were shooting and scared us away,” a PDP member in the area said on the condition of anonymity. When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Olabisi Atanda, confirmed the disruption of the PVC collection exercise, saying that the Corps and the Nigeria Police were on the trail of the hoodlums. However, Director of Media and Publicity of the APC in the state, Kunle Oyatomi, said he was not aware of the incident. | Osun State Government, PVC, Osun Governorship Election, July 16, Political Thugs | Page 8 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Friday, 24th June 2022 | Falana Seeks Prosecution Of Vote Traders | A human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), yesterday called for the prosecution of all those involved in vote buying and selling. He said for the electoral process to be more credible in the country, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must ensure that politicians involved in vote buying are prosecuted. Falana spoke during a lecture tagged ‘The mass media as the fulcrum of democracy: A celebration of BCOS Television at forty’, held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Oyo State. Represented by Dr. (Mrs.) Tayo Omitola, the legal luminary said media organisations have critical roles to play in stemming the tide of electoral crimes and vote-buying by exposing the perpetrators. “Needs to assist in fighting against the prevalent electoral crime of vote buying under the ‘vote-and-get-paid’ culture as was witnessed in Ekiti State governorship election. The evidence of vote buying in Ekiti State is overwhelming. Some of the buyers were arrested by the law enforcement agencies. These criminal elements and their cohorts recklessly breached the provisions of the Electoral Act on bribery and corruption of the democratic system. Apart from exposing some of the criminally minded politicians, the media should mount pressure on the Independent National Electoral Commission to prosecute them in line with Section 145 of the Electoral Act. The ruling class must be allowed to practice democracy with plutocracy.” | Vote buying and Selling, Prosecution, Electoral Act 2022, INEC | Page 33 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Friday, 24th June 2022 | PDP Members Join APC In Ogun | At least 5,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The defectors are believed to be loyalists of the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Ladi Adebutu and late Senator Buruji Kashamu from Iperu, Ikenne Local Government Area of the state. A statement yesterday by the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Kunle Somorin, said Governor Dapo Abiodun received the defectors into the party. Led by lfaneye Shittu, lsiaka Sonoiki and Mufutau Gbadamosi from the Ladi Adebutu faction as well as Adeleke Adesanya, the chairmanship candidate of the party from Buruji group, at a political meeting, the defectors cited the sterling performance of the state governor as the reason for their action. Receiving the former PDP members, Abiodun thanked them for joining the ruling party, stating that the inclusiveness and open-door policy being adopted by the current administration has attracted many members of other political parties to pitch their tent with the APC. “I want to assure you that you will be given equal treatment as every member of the party is one family. This government is your government and we are ready to accommodate whoever is ready to join hands with us towards the development of the state irrespective of religious, political or tribal affiliation". | Defection, PDP to APC, Ogun State | Page 33 | |
| The Cable | Friday, 24th June 2022 | Supreme court strikes out Malami’s suit challenging section 84(12) of Electoral Act | The supreme court has struck out the suit challenging section 84(12) of Electoral Act. Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation, on behalf of the federal government, had filed a suit challenging that section of the Electoral Act, 2022 on the grounds that it violates the rights of political appointees. More to follow… | Electoral Act 2022, AGF, Abubakar Malami, Suit | https://bit.ly/3ydCqHn | |
| This Day Newspaper | Thursday, 23rd June 2022 | Adamu Meets Senators, Says He is Worried By Gale of Defections | National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, met with senators elected on the platform of the ruling party behind closed doors, yesterday in Abuja. Speaking with journalists after the meeting with the APC caucus in the senate, Adamu said the party was worried by the gale of defections among senators. He however, said it was a usual occurrence in election periods and not peculiar to the ruling party. Two senators from Bauchi and Imo states resigned their membership of APC and PDP, yesterday. That was as other senators from the ruling party, who were said to have planned their defection for next week gave conditions under which they would halt the trend. They said only justice could reverse the gale of defections currently rocking the party. A chieftain of the APC and former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, hinted that no fewer than 22 more APC senators might dump the party for the main opposition PDP soon. Similarly, the new Senate Minority Leader, Senator Philip Aduda, yesterday, boasted that the opposition PDP would soon form majority in the senate if the gale of defection by APC senators was sustained. | APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, Defection, PDP, APC | Page 1 & 10 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Thursday, 23rd June 2022 | Sanwo-Olu Heads APC Osun Election Campaign Council | Ahead of the July 16 governorship election in Osun State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced an 86-member National Campaign Council for the poll with the Lagos state Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the Chairman. The Campaign Council which was announced in a statement signed by the National Chairman, Senator Abdulahi Adamu and Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has 21 other Governors and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila as members. Beside Sanwo-Olu, Governors Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano) and Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger), would serve as co-chairman and deputy chairman respectively. The campaign council is to be inaugurated today at the APC national headquarters in Abuja, according to the statement. The Sanwo-Olu-led APC National Campaign Council is expected to work for the victory of APC and the party’s gubernatorial candidate in Osun State, Governor Gboyega Oyetola, who is seeking re-election. The campaign council comprises serving and former governors, ministers, members of the National Assembly, political appointees and APC chieftains across the country. Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; Minister of FCT, Mohammed Bello and 18 governors, which comprised Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Chairman, Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) and Kebbi State Governor, Senator Atiku Bagudu; Chairman, Southern Governors Forum and Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu; Chairman, Northern Governors Forum and Plateau State Governor, Rt. Hon. Simon Lalong will serve as vice-chairmen of the APC National Campaign Council. Other APC governors who are vice chairmen in the campaign council are Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Babagana Zulum (Borno), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Aminu Masari (Kastina), Abdulrahmah Abdulrasaq (Kwara), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Hope Uzodinma (Imo), Bello Matawalle (Zamfara), Ben Ayade (Cross River) and Yahaya Bello (Kogi). The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; his counterparts Abubakar Malami; (Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation), Niyi Adebayo (Industry, Trade and Investment), Gbemisola Saraki (State for Transport) and Timpreye Sylva (State for Petroleum) as well as Senior Special Assistant to Governor Sanwo-Olu on New Media, Mr. Jubril Gawat are also part of the campaign council. Mallam Aliyu Ahmed and Prince Tona Famodera are the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the APC National Campaign Council. | Osun State, Osun Governorship Election, APC National Campaign Council | Page 11 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Thursday, 23rd June 2022 | INEC denies extending voter registration, insists on June 30 deadline | The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied extending the deadline of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), describing the report that it has agreed to extend the deadline by 60 days as false. Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Aishatu Jibril Dukku, had while briefing lawmakers told members during a plenary session yesterday that the Commission had agreed to extend the CVR by 60 days. “The Committee held a meeting with INEC yesterday (Tuesday) and they agreed to extend the CVR, all our resolutions were approved,” she said. But responding, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, clarified that the Commission has not announced an extension of the CVR deadline. The exercise, which was meant to end on June 30, has been greeted by calls for an extension. Also, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had stopped INEC from ending the exercise until all eligible voters had been registered. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has faulted media reports associating it with the extension of the ongoing CVR. The House spokesperson, Benjamin Kalu, said it was untrue that the shift of the INEC voter registration was announced on the floor of the House yesterday. Flanked by the chairman, of the House Committee on INEC, Hajia Aisha Dukku, he said the decision on the shift is left to Prof Mahmoud Yakubu-led INEC to take. Kalu acknowledged that INEC may not be able to adhere to the recently adopted motion of the House, which demanded an extension of the exercise by two additional months in view of the extant provision of the electoral amendment Act and the 1999 Constitution as amended. He reiterated the resolve of the House to ensure that eligible voters are not disenfranchised in the 2023 poll. Dukku expressed optimism that INEC would heed the call for an extension. | INEC, Call for CVR Extension, House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters | Page 2 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Thursday, 23rd June 2022 | 2023: No place for placeholder, Falana, senior lawyers back INEC | Senior lawyers, yesterday, weighed in on the concept of ‘placeholder’ for vice presidential candidates and backed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in insisting that there is no place in the regulations for an interim holder. In the last few days, the new phenomenon of proxy or interim running mate crept into the electoral process, when the All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) is forwarded the names of their presidential candidates, listed their running mates as ‘placeholder’. INEC had set June 17 as the deadline for the nomination of vice-presidential candidates following the completion of presidential primaries of political parties. To beat the deadline, some parties submitted names of vice-presidential candidates whom they described as placeholders. But speaking on the development, INEC’s Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, had said the “placeholder is a unique Nigerian invention” for which the Commission’s law has no provision. In a chat with The Guardian, yesterday, Femi Falana (SAN) reiterated INEC’s position, stating: “There is nothing like a placeholder in our laws. They have submitted names and that is it. All they can say is that those people may withdraw later, but there is no provision for placeholders in our laws. The constitution recognises the fact that when you are submitting the name of your running mate, there is no primary for it. There is no primary for the office of the vice president or the deputy governor. So, the person nominated by the presidential candidate can withdraw at any time. Even a presidential candidate himself can withdraw. There is no fixation about it. Some of the things being said by some lawyers are rubbish.” Another senior lawyer, professor of Comparative Constitutional Law and Governance at the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, Abuja, Edoba Omoregie (SAN), said: “There’s no portion of the Electoral Act 2022 that clearly provides for the use of a placeholder, proxy or interim running mate in the nomination process or in submitting the name of the candidate of a political party in presidential or gubernatorial elections. However, as a general rule, what the law does not prohibit is permissible. The Electoral Act doesn’t prohibit the interim arrangement of placeholder. It’s noteworthy that by the said interim arrangement, the individual whose name is put forward is expected to ‘step aside’ in due course. For Prof Sam Erugo (SAN), the placeholder expression has no precise legal or technical meaning under Nigerian electoral law. “In politics, placeholder is not a popular jargon in our political trajectory, that is not to say in our political history we have not had cases of parties substituting already nominated candidates, including, running mates of candidates, for permitted reasons. | Placeholder, INEC, Senior Lawyers, Femi Falana, Edoba Omoregie, SAN, Electoral Act 2022 | Page 1 & 6 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Thursday, 23rd June 2022 | 2023: I’m Confident Of Defeating Atiku, Tinubu – Kachikwu | The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mr Dumebi Kachikwu, has said he entertains no doubt about his chance of winning the presidential election, come February 2023. Speaking to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, Kachikwu said he was not afraid of the major gladiators in the field who, he said, were making political statements without providing solutions. This is a long-distance race. It is not a sprint. It is not about who is in the news about this time. Nigerians will have the opportunity to assess all the candidates in the next eight months. “You will hear all the aspirants talk about issues but you never hear them talk about solutions to those problems. They will speak on how Nigeria has failed in education, health, security and others but you will never hear them tell you their solutions to those problems and how they will go about getting those solutions. Nigerians will hear from all the candidates. Nobody will be hoodwinked this time,” he said. The presidential candidate dismissed allegations in a section of the media describing him as a tax evader and accomplice in the case of bribery involving a former US congressman, William Jefferson, saying it was the handiwork of people he defeated in the ADC primary. “I don’t need distractions. I know that people expect that if you are in a public space; you should expect to be attacked. Attacks are okay, but they should be objective; they should stick to issues rather than defame people and make it a way of life. We are focusing our campaign on how to take Aso Villa next year and we will not be deterred by unscrupulous agents who want to distract us,” he said. Kachikwu stated that he was never been involved in any criminal activity anywhere in the world neither has he absconded from the US. “I have a residence in the US. I just came back from there. My family lives there and my children school there. I have no criminal case in any part of the world.” | ADC, Presidential Candidate, ADC Presidential Candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu | Page 15 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Thursday, 23rd June 2022 | Don’t Sell Your Votes, Oyetola Begs Electorate | Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, has urged the people of the state to shun the act of selling their votes to politicians whom he said have been boasting to induce electorate with ‘dollars and pounds’. The governor alleged that a gubernatorial candidate was planning to involve in the act of vote-buying, calling on the people of the state to reject the act, encouraged the electorate should collect their money without voting for them. The governor, who said the APC was not for ‘fire for fire’, said they were to uphold a good democratic system. He stated this while addressing thousands of supporters at Ibokun in Obokun Local Government Area of the state. According to him, “We are not for fire-for-fire politics, and not for pound, euro game but we are to uphold a good democratic system. Let us consider the future of our children, don’t give room for inducement. If they bring the money collect it but don’t vote for them. The future is very important. They are coming out to reach the people of the state once a year like a masquerader; they are feeding the people of the state with deceit, so I urge you to reject them. Osun State should not be used as a test of governance with all the challenges facing the state. | Osun State, Osun Governorship Election, Osun State Governor, Vote Buying | https://bit.ly/39JSmYG | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Thursday, 23rd June 2022 | Kumuyi advises politicians on choice of running mates | General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM), William Kumuyi, has said the controversy over choice of vice presidential candidate for some political parties along lines of religion remained a slippery slope. Nonetheless, he believes the exigencies of the time in Nigeria should be the fulcrum on which the decision of the choice should be based. He advised Nigerian politicians to consult widely and research extensively before concluding on the issue of Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian tickets for the 2023 presidential election. The pastor told reporters, yesterday, in Ilorin, Kwara State, after a meeting with Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, that the presidential flagbearers should look at the country’s heartbeat and people’s desires before making their decisions. “Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian ticket is a difficult and slippery area. So, political office holders should know that they are not there for themselves; they are there for all of us. They should ask and make their research about what the country wants, what the people want. If they listen to the people, we will be confident that they will listen to us when they get there,” he said. | DCLM, Deeper Life, General Overseer, William Kumuyi, Vice Presidential Slot, Muslim-muslim ticket, Christian-christian ticket, 2023 Presidential Election | Page 28 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Tuesday, 21st June 2022 | Tinubu: If My VP Nominee Decides to Step Down Within Timeframe, That’ll Be No Breach | Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, last night, cleared the air about the status of his choice running mate, a former National Welfare Secretary of the APC, Kabiru Ibrahim Masari, whom he insisted was duly nominated, but could choose to step down within stipulated time, and would not have breached any known laws, rules or regulations. Tinubu, who maintained that Masari remained his choice as running mate and also denied sending his name in as a place holder, however, said consultations with President Muhammadu Buhari and other stakeholders of the ruling APC were still ongoing. This is as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, fired warning shots at politicians, saying their new invention – the use of place holder – to sidestep its deadline was not only unknown to law, but alien to democratic practice. It warned that there were no forms or space in its forms for Place Holders, stating categorically that as far as it was concerned, the parties fielding candidates for next year’s presidential election, have submitted the names of their running mates as at the July 17 deadline as contained in the schedule of activities by the commission. Responding to comments by INEC’s National Commissioner of Information and Chairman, Voter Education, Festus Okoye, while on ARISE TV, Tinubu’s Media Aide, Tunde Rahman, maintained that Masari was his principal’s choice of vice-presidential candidate for 2023 general election and the situation remained so, despite ongoing consultations. He said: “Without taking issues with the INEC National Commissioner, I just like to state the situation as it relates to the presidential candidate of the APC, Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And it is that Asíwájú Tinubu has duly completed his nomination forms, including giving the particulars of his running mate. He has returned the completed nomination forms to INEC. He even returned the forms two days ahead of schedule. I don’t know about a placeholder. This is the coinage of the media. I know he has picked a running mate.” | APC Vice Presidential Candidate, INEC, Placeholder | Page 1 & 10 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Tuesday, 21st June 2022 | 2023: Orubebe Quits PDP, Says Party Not Ready to Return to Power | A former minister of Niger Delta Affairs in the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Elder God’sday Orubebe, has announced his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the party was not ready to return to power in 2023. Orubebe made his resignation from the PDP known yesterday in a letter dated June 20, 2022,personally signed and forwarded to the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, a copy of which was made available to newsmen. The former minister stated that the reason for his resignation was because of the emergence of a northern presidential candidate in the party. The letter read: “I write to formally inform you of my resignation from the PDP. This I have communicated to the Chairman of Burutu Ward 3, Burutu Local Government Area, Delta State, effective 20th June, 2022. Consequently, I am by this letter intimating you of my total withdrawal from all activities at the Ward, Local, State and National levels of the PDP. I am highly honoured and privileged to have been part of a political party that successfully transformed a pariah nation to one that commanded respect in the comity of nations,” he stated. Orubebe, however, expressed satisfaction with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State for pursuing his presidential ambition vigorously in the just concluded PDP presidential primary election. He also queried the moves by the northern region to superimpose themselves in leadership against other regions in the country. | God'sday Orubebe, Resignation from PDP | Page 6 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Tuesday, 21st June 2022 | Wike’s threat to prosecute Amaechi, ploy to divert attention, says APC chief | Few hours after Rivers State slammed nine-count charge of stealing, cheating and conspiracy on former governor of the state, Chibuike Amaechi, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Eze Chukwumeka Eze, has said the move was a ploy to divert public attention from the N345 billion Wike allegedly squandered on his presidential bid and N20 billion on vice presidential dream. Eze, a supporter of Amaechi, recalled that Wike had directed his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor, to commence prosecution of Amaechi and others over alleged illegal financial dealings involving Amaechi, Mr. Tonye Cole, Sahara Energy, and others over sale of state assets, describing the move as exercise in futility. He stated that former governor, Peter Odili, obtained perpetual injunction against probing financial activities of Rivers State Government.The state government, in a suit marked PHC/1818/CR/2022 and filed on June 7, also listed the governorship candidate of the APC, Tonye Cole, Dr. Chamberlain Peterside, Augustine Wokocha, Sahara Energy Resources Limited, NG Power-HpS Limited and Cenpropsaroten Management Limited as Amaechi’s co-defendants. But reacting to the moves, Eze said Wike by his actions was embarrassing innocent and respectful sons of Rivers State due to his type of politics.Eze said: “The issues he (Wike) raised are the same issues he has used to embarrass his benefactor, Chibuike Amaechi, before his nomination as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have addressed these same issues at various fora and let me repeat myself again. Nigerians are very much aware of Chief Nyesom Wike’s desperation to drag Amaechi’s name in the mud in order to continue to portray him as a corrupt person before the public.” His plots against Amaechi and Rivers APC are exercises in futility. He will not allow EFCC to investigate his former accountant general and his governorship candidate but he is giving directives to file a case against his predecessor even when there is a perpetual injunction procured by Odili against probing financial activities of Rivers State Government officials. Let’s see how the judge will handle this matter and ignore this existing injunction.” | Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, Nyesom Wike, APC Chieftain, Eze Chukwuemega Eze | Page 29 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Tuesday, 21st June 2022 | British Commission worries over vote buying, selling in Ekiti poll, seeks probe | The British High Commission, yesterday, expressed concern over reports of vote buying during Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State. Stressing that the development has no place in a democracy, it called on authorities to investigate and bring perpetrators to justice. The Commission, however, commended “improvements in the electoral process including the timely opening of polls, better functioning of the Biometric Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) devices for accrediting voters, and the transparent and efficient electronic transmission of polling unit results to INEC’s results viewing portal.” A statement signed by the Commission’s Press and Public Affairs Officer, Ndidiamaka Eze, reads: “We congratulate the people of Ekiti State for their peaceful and democratic participation in the governorship election that was held on Saturday, June 18, 2022. As the first major election conducted since the enactment of the Electoral Act 2022, we commend the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, our civil society partners and all stakeholders for their collective effort in the successful conduct of the poll under the new legal framework. Our team of observers on the ground noted commendable improvements in the electoral process including the timely opening of polls, better functioning of the Biometric Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) devices for accrediting voters, and the transparent and efficient electronic transmission of polling unit results to INEC’s results viewing portal. ""We are concerned about reports of vote buying during the election and call on the relevant authorities to hold any persons involved accountable. The buying and selling of votes has no place in a democracy. We encourage INEC to reflect on other potential improvements to the electoral process ahead of general elections in 2023, especially the re-distribution and assignment of voters to newly established polling units to reduce queuing times, better awareness and implementation of electoral guidelines by INEC staff and improved accessibility at polling units to help with the participation of persons with disabilities. We urge any party or individual who is dissatisfied with the process to seek redress in a peaceful manner and through the appropriate legal channels. As Nigeria moves closer to the 2023 general elections, we encourage people to register and collect their Permanent Voter Cards and participate actively in the political process. The UK will continue to assist INEC and our partners in their aspiration to support peaceful, credible and inclusive elections in Nigeria.” | British High Commission, BVAS, Ekiti State, Ekiti Gubernatorial Election, INEC, Vote Buying | Page 4 | |
| The Daily Trust Newspaper | Tuesday, 21st June 2022 | Mass Exodus Looms As Orubebe, Afegbua Dump PDP | A mass exodus is looming in the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the outcome of its presidential primaries and process leading to the emergence of the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as the vice presidential candidate of the party for the 2023 elections. Supporters of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, who came second in the primaries behind the eventual winner Atiku Abubakar, are aggrieved and threatening to leave the party en masse. Daily Trust reliably gathered that the supporters are also planning to meet today to decide their next line of action. Ahead of the meeting, two chieftains of the party and allies of Governor Wike have already left the party. They are the former minister of Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe and a former commissioner in Edo State, Kassim Afegbua. Orubebe, in a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr lyorchia Ayu, a copy of which was seen by Daily Trust, said “the present situation in the party does not inspire confidence that the party is ready to regain power in 2023.” The former minister lamented the emergence of a northerner, Atiku Abubakar, as the party’s presidential candidate, against the zoning arrangement of the party even though Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, also a northerner, is the national chairman of the party. On his part, in a letter to the chairman of Ward 5, PDP, Awuyemi-Okpella, Afegbua said he was leaving the PDP because it was the turn of the southern part of Nigeria to produce the next president in line with the provisions of Article 7 of the party’s constitution. He said since “the party has jettisoned the provision and manipulated the convention by eliminating zoning, my aspiration as a member is impaired. For the above reasons only, I align myself with the considered standpoint of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Northern Governors who spoke so eloquently about the need to allow power to rotate to the South, in the true spirit of fairness, equity and justice,” Orubebe said. | Mass Exodus in PDP,God'sday Orubebe, Kassim Afegbua, Party Exit | Page 25 | |
| Daily Post Online | Tuesday, 21st June 2022 | BREAKING: Buhari replaces ex-ministers, sends nominees list to Senate | The Nigerian Senate has received the executive communication with the nomination of six names as replacements for ministers that resigned to contest the presidential election. In a letter that was read by the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawa,n on Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari said the nominees would replace the former ministers that resigned from his cabinet. The letter read: “In accordance with Section 8 Subsection 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, I hereby forward the underlisted ministerial nominees for your confirmation.” The nominees are: Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh – Abia State Umana Okon Umana – Akwa Ibom State Egwumakama Joseph Nkama – Ebonyi State Goodluck Nnana Opiah – Imo State Umar Ibrahim El-Yakub – Kano State Ademola Adewole Adegoroye – Ondo State Odum Odih – Rivers State | Executive Communication, Replacement for Ministers | https://bit.ly/3QuvNYt | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Tuesday, 21st June 2022 | Sanusi Denies Endorsing Peter Obi | The 14th Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi ll, has denied a viral statement attributed to him on social media endorsing the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi. The statement posted several times across different social media platforms had chided the presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar. But in a statement on Monday, the chief of staff to the deposed emir, Munir Sunusi Bayero, said the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor did not author the article. The statement said, “Our attention has been drawn to an article circulating the online media space analysing the motives of the three presidential candidates in the 2023 elections. We would like to emphatically state that this was not authored by His Highness Khalifa Muhammad Sanusi II as is being widely attributed.” Bayero further clarified that the former CBN governor did not bear Sanusi Lamido Sanusi any longer. The statement added, “Consequently, given the need to set the records straight, we hereby state for the benefit of those unaware that the Khalifa is not officially referred to as Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, but as HH Muhammad Sanusi II. We also take this opportunity to encourage readers to scrutinise the information they find online to identify false and misleading information purported to have come from eminent personalities and thought leaders. While we restate that we have no affiliation to the article itself in any way, we staunchly continue to place our faith and trust in Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala) to continue guiding His Highness as an elder statesman in his socio-economic advocacy for all Nigerians, Africans and humanity in general.” | Statement by Muhamma Sanusi II on Peter Obi, 2023 Presidential Election | Page 3 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Monday, 20th June 2022 | Ekiti Gov’ship: Buhari Hails Oyebanji’s Victory; SDP Kicks | President Muhammadu Buhari says the victory of Biodun Oyebanji at Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State has affirmed the acceptance of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Buhari, in a statement yesterday by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, congratulated Oyebanji, the candidate of the APC who was declared winner of the gubernatorial election. He said the victory was well deserved considering his contributions to the development of the state and the party before his nomination as the standard-bearer. He, however, urged him to be magnanimous in victory in the interest of the people of the state. He also felicitated with the APC National Chairman, Abdulahi Adamu and the National Working Committee for the victory. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has rejected the results of the Ekiti State governorship election. The party, according to its collation agent, Barrister Owoseni Ajayi, threatened to approach the tribunal for justice. Owoseni who spoke to Daily Trust at the collation centre in Ado Ekiti alleged that the election was marred by state-sponsored violence and vote-buying. “The election is an embarrassment to Nigeria as voters were openly induced with money by the APC. This is sad, purchasing the conscience of the people because of the level of poverty in the state. We saw this even at the presidential primaries conducted by APC and PDP,” he said. | Ekiti State, Ekiti Gubernatorial Election, SDP, APC, Vote Buying, NWC, Ado Ekiti | https://bit.ly/3bdBEB2 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Monday, 20th June 2022 | 70% Of Nigerian Politicians Are Lunatics – Peter Obi | Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has said most of the politicians in the corridors of power have no reason to be there, describing politics in Nigeria as a case where lunatics have taken over the asylum. He said this Sunday at the Men of Valour conference with the theme: “Navigating the corridors of power, the church, and the politics” organised by the Revival House of International Church (RHOGIC), Abuja. The former governor of Anambra State, who described 70 percent of politicians in Nigeria as “lunatics”, said only a lunatic in government would steal N80 billion of the citizens money for personal use. He said Nigeria would continue to suffer unless these “lunatics” were flushed out and replaced with competent people at the next elections. He said: “We can’t allow this gangsterism to continue, Nigerians should take back their country. 70 percent of those who are in politics today should not have any reason to be there. I have said it, politics in Nigeria is a case where lunatics have taken over the asylum. This is the only country where the worst is leading. I was a trader and gradually entered into politics. When you take far more than you need, you are sick. How do you explain that one person took N80 billion, it is not greed, it is sickness. When you take one billion that is greed but when you take N80 billion that is sickness. Mad people have taken over our politics. If we get young people with the competence and capacity to be there, things will change.” Obi, while speaking on whether a third force could take power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the people will decide. On the 2023 general elections, Obi said prayers alone could not salvage the country. According to him, Nigerians have played their religious roles enough and, therefore, it is time to take action by mobilising and voting for their candidate of choice. | Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, 2023 General Elections, Asylum | https://bit.ly/3y3wUXF | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Monday, 20th June 2022 | Group insists Lawan, Akpabio, others didn’t participate in APC primaries | A group, Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, has warned Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to take the country to inglorious days, when impunity reigned, by substituting the names of validly elected candidates in the just concluded political parties’ primaries with people that did not participate in the process. The group also advised INEC to ensure its actions are guided by the Electoral Act to avoid external manipulations by anti-democratic elements. It gave the warning at the weekend via a statement issued by its Director, Dr. Sam Amadi. The Abuja School told INEC to reject the fraudulent and false submissions of candidates by parties. The warning came against the backdrop of the controversy surrounding the submission of the names of Senate President Ahmad Lawan and Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio. Their names were said to have surreptitiously appeared on INEC’s portals as senatorial candidates when they reportedly did not participate in elections. The group contended that for anyone to emerge as a candidate based on the provisions of the Electoral Act, the person must have participated in a primary. It said an aspirant must have purchased the expression of interest form for the senatorial election and be screened, adding that by the provisions of Section 33 of the 2022 Electoral Act, a political party cannot remove or substitute a candidate that emerges from a valid primary. Besides, the person must be on the list of contestants sent by a political party to INEC and must have participated in the senatorial election on May 27. | Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, INEC, Electoral Act 2022, Godwill Akpabio, Ahmad Lawan, Senatorial Election | https://bit.ly/3MZE0Rq | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Monday, 20th June 2022 | Ohanaeze restates call for zoning of presidency in constitution | The Council of Elders, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has said rotating the country’s presidency within its six geopolitical zones should be made constitutional for equity, justice and fairness. Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Chairman of the council, said this while briefing newsmen at the end of its extraordinary meeting in Abuja, yesterday. He said limiting the zoning of the country’s presidency to the North and South is vague and should therefore be discouraged. Iwuanyanwu said the council believes that if it was agreed that the presidency should be zoned to the South in 2023 since the South West and South-South had produced the country’s presidents, it was now the turn of the South East. According to him, South East leaders did everything possible to convince South West and South-South leaders of the need for the zone to produce the next president in 2023. He said leaders, including those in the Middle Belt, agreed that it was the turn of the South East, and even made public statements to support the Igbo presidency in 2023. He said while the leaders agreed that it was the turn of the South-East to produce the next president at the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure in 2023, the political class took a contrary decision. Iwuanyanwu said: “The political class, unfortunately, took another decision, which made us feel terribly betrayed, not by the elders, but by the political class. We are sure that the elders in the entire South and Middle Belt supported the Igbo presidency in 2023. “So, it is our strong view that issues of zoning the presidency should be put in the Constitution and it should be rotated among the country’s six geo-political zones. The question of rotating the presidency between North and South is very vague, after all, the federal character is very glaring.” | Council of Elders, Zoning, South-East, Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, 2023 General Elections, Rotation of Presidency. | https://bit.ly/3biW4ZK | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Monday, 20th June 2022 | VP Slot: Reps Minority Leader Tasks Okowa On Reconciliation | Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, has the charged Ifeanyi Okowa, the governor of Delta State and running mate of the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, on reconciliation. Elumelu, in a statement, urged Okowa, as the chairman of the South-South Governors’ Forum, to use his emergence as Atiku’s running mate for the 2023 presidential poll “to immediately initiate processes that will lead to peaceful reconciliations and calming of all frayed nerves, including some leaders who may feel side-lined or scorned in the process of nominating the vice-presidential candidate.” Ekumelu congratulated the governor on his emergence. He said Okowa had again brought honour and pride to Delta State “where you have demonstrated uncommon commitment as evinced in your unprecedented achievements in all sectors.” | Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, PDP Vice Presidential Candidate, Ndudi Elumelu, Peaceful Reconciliation | https://bit.ly/3OblhUk | |
| The Cable | Monday, 20th June 2022 | Tinubu: I turned to God when I knew there was a gang-up against my presidential bid | Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says he resorted to prayers when he knew there was a gang-up against his presidential bid. Gboyega Akosile, chief press secretary (CPS) to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, quoted Tinubu as saying this when he visited Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos, on Sunday. The former Lagos governor defeated Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Rotimi Amaechi, former minister of transportation; Senate President Ahmad Lawan and 10 other hopefuls to clinch the ticket. “There is no Lagos indigene that has had the opportunity to become President of Nigeria, despite the contribution of the state to the national stability and progress,” Tinubu said. “Getting our people to vote is the most important task before all of us. We need to take this message to our people across communities and sensitise them on the need to vote in the general elections,” he said. On his part, the Oba prayed that Tinubu realises his quest to be president of Nigeria. “Your emergence as the presidential candidate of your party is the beginning of another journey in your political career,” he said. All Yoruba ancestors shall be with you on this journey to make our fatherland a better place.” | Bola Tinubu, APC Presidential Candidate, CPS, 2023 General Elections | https://bit.ly/3bg8KAc | |
| Daily Post Online | Monday, 20th June 2022 | 2023: INEC reveals only way Peter Obi, Tinubu, others can substitute their running mates | The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has stated its position on the substitution of candidates for the forthcoming presidential election. DAILY POST can report that most of the presidential candidates submitted to the electoral umpire, what is being referred to as space or place keepers. The name suggests that such vice-presidential candidates would be substituted later on as they were submitted to beat the deadline provided by the Electoral Act. While Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, beat the deadline and submitted the name of Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate, the likes of Labour Party, LP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, are yet to pick their running mates. APC candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, submitted the name of Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, while Peter Obi of the LP gave INEC the name of his Campaign Director-General, Doyin Okupe. And appearing on Arise TV on Monday morning, Festus Okoye, the INEC’s National Commissioner of Information and Voter Education, said the running mates can only be substituted if only they write the Commission, attaching a sworn affidavit. “The law says that as a presidential candidate, you must nominate an associate to run with you and as far as the Independent National Electoral Commission is concerned, the presidential candidates have submitted their associates to run with them in the presidential election. As far as we are concerned, there’s no form submitted by the presidential candidate where they said ‘we’re submitting this person’s name as a place or space holder’. The issue of space or place holder is a unique Nigerian invention that has no place in our constitutional and legal framework,” he said. “Politically parties’ candidates have submitted names of associates to run with them and that is the position of the law as at today and nothing has changed. For there to be a substitution of candidate, the Vice presidential candidate must write to INEC, with a sworn affidavit stating that he is withdrawing from the race within the time frame provided by the law. That’s the only way there can be a substitution of candidates.” | INEC, Presidential Candidates, Substitute, Placeholder, place keeper, Electoral Act 2022, Festus Okoye | https://bit.ly/3baymi4 | |
| Punch Online | Thursday, 16th June 2022 | Wike, Okowa face panel today, camps fight over Atiku’s VP slot | The opposition Peoples Democratic Party will on Thursday (today) screen nominees for the vice-presidential position. A chieftain of the party, who confided in one of our correspondents on Wednesday, said contrary to reports, three candidates were shortlisted for the position, not one as reported by some newspapers (not The PUNCH). According to him, those shortlisted include Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa; his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike and the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel. This came to the fore on Wednesday as supporters of Okowa and Wike disagreed over the party’s VP slot. There were reports on Wednesday that a committee headed by the PDP Deputy Chairman, Ambassador Umaru Damagun, had on Tuesday nominated Wike as the running mate of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar when 13 out of the 17 members voted in favour of the Rivers State governor. When contacted on Wednesday, the PDP spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, told The PUNCH that the nomination of Wike remained a rumour. He stated, “The party is going through its processes. When it comes in a name, it will be announced. We don’t rely on rumour, we don’t work on that, in the next couple of hours or probably just before the expiration of the time, we will come out with a position and the name will be announced.” But a member of the PDP advisory committee disclosed to one of our correspondents on Wednesday that three names were recommended by the panel. According to the source, the three aspirants who were recommended would face the screening committee of the party before the party’s final decision would be made known to the public. The source said, “The matter is not in the hands of Atiku yet, When the committee members are done with their job, they will report back to the leadership of the party. A PDP and former Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Ogbonna Nwuke, said picking Governor Wike as vice presidential running mate would be the right choice. Nwuke, in an interview with The PUNCH, said Atiku and Wike would make a good pair, as they both had political structures and leadership acumen. | PDP, Shortlisted Candidates for Vice Presidential Position | https://bit.ly/3N0Rkoy | |
| Punch Online | Thursday, 16th June 2022 | Ekiti: Gov candidates sign peace accord, NSCDC deploys 9,747 personnel | The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese and member of the National Peace Committee, Rev Matthew Kukah, on Wednesday implored voters in Ekiti State to take advantage of the off-season elections and vote to install leaders of their choice on Saturday. He spoke in Ado Ekiti during the signing of peace accord among governorship candidates in the forthcoming governorship election in the state which was organised by the National Peace Committee. 11 governorship candidates participated in the signing of the peace pact. Kukah, who appealed to the electorate to “live up to the ideals of your state, integrity and honour,” urged them to take a cue from Edo, Anambra and Ondo states where credible and violence-free elections were conducted. The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, lauded the NPC for the peace accord and as well the traditional rulers for working voluntarily for peaceful elections. Yakubu, who said the peace accord had contributed immensely to peaceful conduct of elections, expressed confidence that the election in the state would be credible, free, fair and transparent. The INEC boss assured voters, saying, “The votes of people of the state will count,” as he appealed to the parties and their candidates “to work according to the spirit of the peace pact.” This is coming as the Social Democratic Party governorship candidate, Chief Segun Oni, on Wednesday dismissed insinuations that he had signed pact with the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to step down from the governorship contest. Oni, who said though he would not deny the fact that himself and the former Lagos State governor were once intimate political bed-fellows, stated that Tinubu’s emergence as presidential candidate would not make him abandon his governorship bid. Meanwhile, the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ahmed Audi, has deployed 9,747 operatives to the state. The Corps Director of Public Relations, Olusola Odumosu, in a statement on Wednesday, said Audi approved the deployment of the officers to provide watertight security during the election. | National Peace Committee, Peace Accord, Ekiti State, Ekiti Gubernatorial Election, INEC, NSCDC, SDP, Segun Oni | https://bit.ly/3mQytll | |
| Vanguard Online | Thursday, 16th June 2022 | Defection: Oyo Assembly serves dep gov ‘impeachment’ notice | Oyo State House of Assembly, yesterday, alleged gross misconduct, abuse of office, financial recklessness, abandonment of office and official duty and insubordination, as well as other offences, against the Deputy Governor, Rauf Olaniyan, directing him to respond to the allegations within seven days, or face impeachment. Twenty-four out of the 33 members of the Assembly wrote and signed the petition, which was read during the plenary yesterday. Speaking after the petition was read by the Clerk of the House, Yetunde Awe, the Speaker, Mr. Adebo Ogundoyin, said the petition met the two-third requirements to initiate the process. He said the House would give the Deputy Governor a seven-day grace period to respond to the allegations, adding that failure to do so can lead to the commencement of an impeachment process. The petition, entitled: ‘Petition And Notice of Allegations of the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Rauf Olaniyan’, reads: “Consequent upon listed below, we the under listed elected members of the 9th Assembly hereby allege the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Rauf Olaniyan, with the following allegations. “Gross misconduct, abuse of office, financial recklessness, abandonment of office, official duty, insubordination and other offences. This is in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended in 2011, Section 188.” The House, thereafter, adjourned till today. | Oyo State, Oyo State House of Assembly, Oyo State Deputy Governor, Petition, Impeachment | https://bit.ly/3Qs0qha | |
| The Nation Online | Thursday, 16th June 2022 | PDP, five other parties shun peace accord | Six candidates for Saturday’s governorship elections in Ekiti State shunned the peace agreement signing meeting called by the National Peace Commission (NPC). Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Reuben Famuyibo (Accord Party), Daramola Roland (Labour Party), Moses Olajide (African Action Congress), Peter Adegbenro (Allied Peoples Movement) and Debo Ajayi (Young Progressive Party) were all absent at signing held at the Amazing Grace Event Centre in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. They were also not represented. Those present were Biodun Oyebanji (All Progressive Congress); Segun Oni (Social Democratic Party); Wole Oluyede (African Democratic Party), Modupe Olatawura (Action People’s Party) and Oladosu Fatomilola (New Nigerian People’s Party). Others are Kemi Halle-Elebute of the African Democratic Party (ADP), Kolade Akinyemi (Zenith Labour Party), Olufemi Obidoyin (All Progressives Grand Alliance) and Olaniyi Agboola (People’s Redemption Party). Chairman of National Peace Commission (NPC) Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar (rtd) said the initiative was to commit the political parties and their candidates to a peaceful election. Abubakar, represented by the Convener and Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church, Matthew Kukah, appealed to the candidates to see the election as a game with sportsmanship and not a do or die affair. He advised the stakeholders to demonstrate commitment to the spirit of the accord, saying violence-free election is a fundamental means to sustainable peace and development. | Ekiti State, Ekiti State Gubernatorial Election, Political Parties For Ekiti Election, peace Accord | https://bit.ly/3tDGkqn | |
| The Guardian Online | Thursday, 16th June 2022 | Northern youths support Wike as Atiku’s running mate | Arewa Youth Awareness Forum (AYAF) has said the choice of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State as running mate to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, demonstrates the party’s determination to win the 2023 election. Besides, it called on religious groups, particularly the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), to float political parties with their ideological direction, instead of criticising existing parties. In a statement issued by AYAF Chairman, Mohammed Sani-Kabir; Vice Chairman, Salihu Abdulrahaman and Secretary-General, Ben Alege, the group said the capacity to roll back poverty, insecurity, illiteracy and other vices matter more than sentiments. The Northern youths urged religious leaders to allow political parties choose their flagbearers. | AYAF, Nyesom Wike, CAN, MURIC | https://bit.ly/3xVjpJz | |
| Leadership Online | Thursday, 16th June 2022 | Reps Move To Override Buhari On Electoral Act Amendment | The House of Representatives yesterday resolved to move a motion to override President Muhammadu Buhari for failing to assent to Clause 58(8) of the Electoral Act (Amendment) bill, 2022, which provides for statutory delegates. The lawmakers representing Ethiope federal constituency of Delta State, Hon. Ben Igbakpa, at the plenary yesterday raised a constitutional point of order, citing section 58 (8) of the 1999 constitution which empowered the National Assembly to enact laws and also override the president with two-thirds majority of the members’ vote. Igbakpa, who was among the lawmakers that lost out in the just concluded primaries, said there was no need for the House to fear anyone. He, therefore, urged his colleagues to rise up, take the pen, collect signatures and override President Buhari and give Nigerians the enabling electoral law. He further insisted that the legislature cannot continue to act as if it was under the executive arm of government. He went on: “This Constitution gave us the powers just as it gave to them. We must wake up as a Parliament where we pass our laws, and we are sure we have done the right thing we should start overriding Mr. President because this is just the beginning.” He recalled that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act came into being because the parliament, which the Speaker was part of, overrode President Olusegun Obasanjo. | House of Representatives, Clause 58 (8) of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2022, Statutory Delegates | https://bit.ly/3MQpg7i | |
| Daily Trust Online | Thursday, 16th June 2022 | Running Mate: I Believe In Politics Of Inclusion – Lalong | Ahead of tomorrow’s deadline of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for submission of candidates for the presidential positions by political parties, Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong, has said that he believes in politics of inclusion. He added that jettisoning a known tradition would not augur well for the polity and that it amounted to exclusion. Lalong in his interview with Trust TV said he is not aspiring to be the running mate of Tinubu because of religion. “I am not aspiring to be vice president because of my faith; I am aspiring because I am qualified,” he said, stressing the need for all to be carried along in all spheres. Speaking on the role northern governors played in reducing tension at the height of campaigns before the APC’s special convention, Lalong said, “When we picked them (five presidential aspirants), we didn’t talk about religion but then in politics, there is always a tradition. When people believe in that kind of tradition, the moment you deny them that tradition, it means that you are already excluding them from politics.” On how he managed politics of inclusion in his state, Lalong said, “I realised that some of the crises that were happening in Plateau were because of exclusion. People believed that they were excluded. In politics, you talk about the majority having their way while the minority should be given the opportunity to have a say. Once you have that, you have complete peace in your place,” he said while responding to a question on the Muslim-Muslim ticket"". Lalong added that “We are talking about a peaceful federation. Already we are in crisis. Managing the crisis is not only winning the election but also how to govern the country. | Chairman of NGF, Simon Lalong, Politics of Inclusion | https://bit.ly/3xULnVM | |
| The Guardian Online | Wednesday, 15th June 2022 | Running mate: PDP to unveil Wike, Buhari parleys APC governors | As the waiting game continues 48 hours to the deadline given by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for parties to submit names of their presidential candidates and running mates, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyiochia Ayu, has expressed confidence that the party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will, today and tomorrow, present a running mate Nigerians will relate well with and vote into office. Ayu gave this assurance, yesterday, in his opening remarks at a meeting with members of the consultative committee set up to assist Atiku choose a running mate. The meeting, which lasted into the night, had Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Aminu Tambuwal; Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed; Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom; former Senate President, David Mark; House Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu; former Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko; former Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke; former Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu; former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido and Senator Philip Aduda, among others in attendance. The Southeast lost out in the battle to produce the running mate to Atiku, as the committee may have settled for Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. The 20-member committee on Atiku’s running mate, it was gathered overwhelmingly endorsed Wike during a 16 to 3 vote in favour of Wike, who was runner up to Atiku in the presidential primary. The committee chairman, PDP deputy national chairman, Umaru Damagun, abstained from voting. According to a source, the committee had earlier come up with three names for consideration – Wike, Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa and Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State, before finally settling for Wike. The source further disclosed that the committee voted for Wike, following his contributions to the development of the party. At the end of the meeting, each member “had to sign the final decision.” Meanwhile, presidential candidates have been urged to pick women and youths as their running mates in the 2023 election. The Conference of Civil Society of Nigeria, which made the call yesterday, also lamented the exclusion of women and youths from elective positions. | INEC Deadline, Presidential Candidates and Running Mates, PDP, PDP Governor's Forum, South-east, Conference of Civil Society of Nigeria | https://bit.ly/3QgV1cJ | |
| The Guardian Online | Wednesday, 15th June 2022 | Resurgence of violence raises concerns about Ekiti guber election | The spectre of politically motivated violence in Ekiti State has reared its ugly head and is creating fears in the mind of voters, ahead of the governorship election holding this Saturday. Violence before, during and after election, has been a recurring decimal in the state, since the return of democracy in 1999. Hardly will election be held without bloodshed in Ekiti. As the state is on the march again, to elect a governor who will succeed Dr Kayode Fayemi, there are concerns within and outside the state that the pre-election violence being recorded may affect the conduct of the poll. The election is expected to be a three-horse race among Biodun Oyebanji of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bisi Kolawole. Pockets of violence have polluted the peaceful atmosphere that was being experienced before now in the state. Although, the number of casualties cannot be ascertained, but the killing of Tope Ajayi, a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) as well as a staunch member of All Progressives Congress (APC), and fears of reprisal attack has heightened tension in the state. The tensed political atmosphere has led the security forces, like the Army, Police and the Civil Defence Corps to deploy a large number of their personnel to the state capital. The streets of Ado Ekiti was deserted on Sunday, as rumours went round that rival union members were planning to take their pound of flesh. The havoc is believed to be perpetrated by the leading political parties in the election. Though the candidates may not have expressly given their supporters the go ahead to unleash mayhem on their opponents, the overzealous supporters have been out of their way to attack their perceived political opponents. In the ensuing melee, life is lost and property destroyed. | Ekiti State, Ekiti State Gubernatorial Election, Politically Motivated Violence, Ado Ekiti | https://bit.ly/3xmQufW | |
| Punch Online | Wednesday, 15th June 2022 | Report on Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial ticket final, INEC tells Akpabio | The Resident Electoral Commissioner for Akwa Ibom State, Barrister, Mike Igini has said that the report of the Independent National Electoral Commission on the Akwa Ibom North-West (Ikot Ekpene) senatorial ticket is “final and cannot be reopened again,” adding that Senator Godswill Akpabio has nothing to do about it. Akpabio, the immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, emerged the winner of a re-run primary conducted at the Skill Acquisition Centre, Ikot Ekpene, having polled 478 votes out of 512 accredited delegates for the election. But speaking on Tuesday at the Comfort FM news and Current Affairs programme monitored by our correspondent in Uyo, Igini said the re-run primary that led to the emergence of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the All Progressives Congress candidate for the district is strange and unknown to law. According to him, the May 27, 2022 primary, which produced a former Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Udum Ekpoudum (retd.), subsists because it was not cancelled, neither was it rendered inconclusive. He added that Senator Akpabio’s emergence is nothing but a “Nollywood fantasy.” Igini added that what he knew about Akpabio was that he was the presidential aspirant for the All Progressives Congress who stepped down for Bola Tinubu, adding that, even if there was a re-run, it could only be conducted for aspirants that participated in the first primary. He advised politicians contesting the 2023 general election to meticulously study the new provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act as amended, so as not to continue with the hope that things were still the way it were with the repealed 2010 and 2012 Electoral Act. “By virtue of Section 31 of the 2022 Electoral Act, the only way somebody can be replaced in any form is that we no longer have substitution by political party. What you have now is withdrawal by individual or nominee and or death. The report of the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District APC primary as submitted to INEC headquarters in Abuja is final. It is concluded. The train has left the station. The timeline is clear. All those who are in politics should go and study the 2022 Electoral Act very well. | Akwa Ibom State REC, Akwa Ibom State, Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial Ticket, Godswill Akpabio, Electoral Act 2022 | https://bit.ly/3b3bl0g | |
| Punch Online | Wednesday, 15th June 2022 | Muslim-Muslim ticket: CAN, others warn parties as Buhari meets govs, PDP names Atiku’s VP Thursday | Groups including the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Catholic Society of Nigeria have warned political parties against fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 presidential election. They gave the warning as the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), the All Progressives Congress governors and the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday intensified moves to pick Tinubu’s running mate ahead of Friday’s deadline by the Independent National Electoral Commission. Groups campaigning for Tinubu told The PUNCH that what mattered was a responsive and responsible government, not religion. Since the emergence of Tinubu, a southern Muslim, there has been controversy over his running mate for the 2023 presidential election with CAN insisting that a Muslim-Muslim ticket was a recipe for crisis. But the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in an interview with Channels Television on Sunday, said competence not religion should be considered when picking a running mate. CAN, in an open letter addressed to all political parties on Tuesday said it would take a Muslim-Muslim ticket as a declaration of war and would mobilise against political parties that adopted it. The religious body in the letter advised politicians not to sow seeds of religious conflicts among Nigerians. The letter which was signed by the national secretary of the association, Joseph Daramola was addressed to the chairmen of all political parties in Nigeria. He stated that although there were reports of corruption at presidential primaries, it was a big relief that generally the activities were largely peaceful. According to him, although it is the responsibility of political parties to pick their candidates, there is the need to strike a balance,” to guarantee that the nation enjoys peace and security after elections. | CAN, Catholic Society of Nigeria, 2023 Presidential Election, Muslim-muslim ticket | https://bit.ly/3MS5W9U | |
| The Guardian Online | Wednesday, 15th June 2022 | Lawan, Gbajabiamila pick holes in electoral system, bemoan lawmakers’ loss at primaries | House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and Senate President Ahmad Lawan, yesterday, bemoaned lawmakers’ loss of return tickets, even as they faulted the nation’s electoral system. Speaking during the resumption of legislative business, hitherto suspended to allow lawmakers fight the battle for return tickets ahead of the 2023 general elections, Gbajabiamila blamed the delegates system for the rejection of his colleagues in the recent primaries held across the country. He said: “It is rather unfortunate that the process went the way it went. I make bold to say, here, that the legislature has, once again, suffered losses. The loss really is not for members who lost; it is a loss to democracy, to the institution and to the country. If it means anything, I know and I am aware that many of our members did not lose their primaries because they were rejected by their constituents. Many of our members lost because of the process, which we foresaw in the House of Representatives – the delegate system, which, unfortunately, is not what a delegate system is supposed to be.” He added: “Many of our members lost because they were not even given a fair shot. We have good legislators, both here in the chambers and back home, who are probably not coming back because of this same process. Similarly, Lawan admitted the electoral process threw up new issues that may need to be addressed by parliament. He gave assurance that the National Assembly would look at the issues, with a view to addressing them and making the electoral process better. According to him, “the Electoral Act itself, even though a good document, is not a perfect one. So, it needs some refinement from time to time to improve our electoral process.” He expressed sympathy with colleagues that lost out at primaries, even as he congratulated winners. Meanwhile, Yobe North senatorial candidate, Bashir Sheriff Machina, has vowed he would not relinquish the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket to Lawan. His spokesman, Hussaini Isa, in Damaturu, yesterday, insisted the candidate has not and will not step down for any other aspirant or candidate. | HOR, Senate, Electoral Act 2022, Loss of Return Ticket, Lawmakers, Ahmad Lawan, Femi Gbajabiamila | https://bit.ly/3zCDHZA | |
| Vanguard Online | Wednesday, 15th June 2022 | Women, youths can determine winners of 2023 polls if…, —INEC | The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said women and youths formed over 75 percent of registered voters in Nigeria, urging them to form alliances ahead of the 2023 general elections and use their numbers to their advantage. National Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who spoke in Ilorin, argued that if both Nigerian youths and women come together they could conveniently determine the winners of the forthcoming general elections since they formed the larger percentage of registered voters. Yakubu who was represented by Kwara INEC, Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mallam Garuba Madami spoke at the Democracy Day lecture titled, “The importance of PVC in the electoral process.” jointly organised by MINILS and INEC. According to him, “From the available data of INEC, over 75 percent of registered voters are youths and women. They form the largest percentage in the statistics index of INEC. I encourage them to work together because they can conveniently win elections in 2023 if they can truly work together.” He also allayed the concerns of electorate ahead of the 2023 general elections, saying “elections are more credible and transparent now unlike before, in view of the new technology that has been introduced into the electoral process.” Madami equally advised Nigerians against multiple registrations, warning that it is punishable under the law with N1million fine, jail term or both upon conviction, pleading with leaders of political parties to encourage their members to transfer their registration to place of residence. “Your Personal Voter’s Card, PVC, is your power, get your PVC now, and vote your conscience. Vote out bad leaders, you need to take back your country,” he said. | INEC, Women and Youths, Multiple Registrations, 2023 General Elections | https://bit.ly/3zBPCqL | |
| Vanguard Online | Wednesday, 15th June 2022 | Political alliance only way to Igbo presidency — Ozobu | Following the failure of the Igbo man to clinch the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressive Congress,APC, and the major opposition party ,the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, chieftain of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prince Richard Ozobu,has said that the Igbo can only actualize their dream of producing a Nigerian president through going into political alliances with other sections of the country. Ozobu told Vanguard since it is known that no section of the country can produce a president on its own,Ndigbo could have long concluded an alliance through the support and acceptance of other zones. He advised that producing the president requires tact ,strategy and long term planning and alliances in reaching out to various interest groups across the federation. In his words; “No tribe can get the presidency alone,you must get the support and acceptance of others through going into alliances with other sections of the country.Since Igbo leaders are aware of this fact, what have they done to get the support and acceptance of other zones for the Igbo presidency project? You can see that most of the Igbo aspirants in the last presidential primaries were not even prepared. None of them told us their agenda. Most of the Igbo presidential aspirants were only campaigning in Abuja.We didn’t see their posters in any of the Igbo cities.There was no interface with Igbo leaders on their vision. Igbo votes can’t make anyone president neither can it deny anyone the presidency as we have seen. Therefore ,we must learn our lessons. We must emulate the great Dr.Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara who entered into alliances with the North during their time. You saw that the Igbo benefitted from the Azikiwe and Okpara alliances with the North. | PDP Chieftain, Prince Richard Ozobu, Political Alliance | https://bit.ly/3zMcdRg | |
| The Cable | Tuesday, 14th June 2022 | I won’t step down for Lawan, says winner of APC Yobe north senatorial ticket | Bashir Sheriff Machina, All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Yobe north senatorial election, says he will not step down for Senate President Ahmad Lawan. Lawan contested the ruling party’s presidential ticket but lost to Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos. Speaking with Daily Trust, Machina said he has been approached by some people to relinquish the ticket, but that he would not. The candidate said he was not opposed by any senatorial hopeful for the ticket because “I was the one that was qualified”. “As far as I’m concerned, I contested for the Yobe north senatorial ticket and I won the election,” the candidate said. ""I was confirmed elected because there were other contestants but I was the one that was qualified. I happened to be unopposed. I am still the candidate; I have not withdrawn and I will not withdraw for anybody. I am being approached by some persons but I will not withdraw, Insha Allah.” Lawan has been representing Yobe north senatorial district at the national assembly since 2007. Until that time, he was in the house of representatives. Ola Awoniyi, spokesman of Lawan, is yet to respond to an enquiry on the issue. | APC, Yobe North Senatorial Election, Ahmad Lawan, Bashir Machina | https://bit.ly/3xq2zBa | |
| The Cable | Tuesday, 14th June 2022 | ‘Labour Party now orphanage for homeless politicians’ — Sowore mocks Peter Obi | Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), says the Labour Party (LP) has become an orphanage for displaced politicians. In a video shared on his Twitter handle, Sowore, in what appears to be a mockery, said the AAC polled more votes than LP in the last presidential election. The publisher of Sahara Reporters asked members of LP and supporters of Peter Obi to join the AAC, saying the former has no structure to win an election. Obi left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for LP after it was clear he will not secure enough votes to win the PDP presidential ticket. The former governor of Anambra won the LP presidential primary election days after he joined the party. “The Labour Party has become an orphanage for politicians that are homeless. It didn’t take long before our man ran there when he became homeless,” Sowore said in the viral video. ""The Labour Party should not have in its company somebody who managed 13 months of workers’ strike in Anambra state.The reason Obi left PDP was that they outplayed him with transactional politicking. Where is the structure of the Labour Party? You should ask yourself.In 2019, the Labour Party presidential candidate got 5,000 votes. I was allocated 33,000 votes. So even if you want to look at the structure, a structure that delivered 33,000 votes is probably bigger and better than that of 5,000 votes. The Labour Party and the Peter Obi people should come and join us. We are the ones who know how to stand up for you. You said you were a governor of Anambra state. When you were a governor, did you build schools, and universities that your children could attend? Did you build hospitals in that state where you can go for treatment if you fall sick? Did you do quality roads? If it is no, why are you lying? I am not here to do ethnic politics, I’m not here to do religious politics. I’m here for the liberation of the Nigerian people.” | AAC, LP, Omoyele Sowore, Peter Obi, 2023 General Elections, Presidential Candidates | https://bit.ly/3NRQpIo | |
| Punch Online | Tuesday, 14th June 2022 | South-East PDP demands Atiku’s VP slot, party dismisses Obi’s threat | The Peoples Democratic Party in the South-East is reaching out to the leadership of the party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to ensure that the PDP standard-bearer picks his running mate from the zone, The PUNCH has learnt. It was gathered that the leadership of the party in the South-East argued that having failed to cede the presidential ticket to the zone, which had consistently supported the PDP since 1999, the only thing left for the party was to cede the vice-presidential slot to it. The Publicity Secretary of the Anambra State PDP, Nnamdi Nwagwu, in an interview with The PUNCH, confirmed that the South-East had demanded the vice-presidential slot like the South-South. He noted that both the PDP and the APC had sidelined the South-East, adding that it was only in the PDP that the zone could get the VP slot. He added that only the VP slot could, at least, secure votes for the party in the South-East. He said, “They (South-East leaders) are making such a demand for the VP slot. Let us see how it goes. They are making the demand because every party has sidelined the South-East and it is only in the PDP that they can get the VP slot because they cannot get it from the APC as the APC already has a southern presidential candidate. Only the VP slot can secure votes for the party in the zone, if not, it will be difficult to wrest the votes of the region from Peter Obi. And let us see how it goes if the VP slot will be given or not.” On its part, the Imo State chapter of the PDP said that it was not perturbed by the growing acceptability of Obi in the South-East. | PDP South-East, South-East, PDP VP Slot | https://bit.ly/3OeF5Wt | |
| Punch Online | Tuesday, 14th June 2022 | 2023: Okowa may emerge Atiku’s running mate | As parties are gearing up to fill in the slot of the vice-presidential positions of various parties for the 2023 elections, the Peoples Democratic Party standard-bearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has lowered to one person for deliberation as his running mate. Sources said Atiku’s supporters were wrapping-up talks on the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, for the role of the vice president. Except for a final minute change, Okowa may be disclosed as the running mate of the fore-front candidate for the 2023 race. Okowa had played a prominent role in Atiku’s emergence as the standard-bearer of the PDP during the party’s convention last May. A source said, “Okowa mobilised resources for us during the primary. He is the preferred contender even though others are making case for Wike and Udom.” In the meantime, the report of a PDP committee, including governors, members of the National Working Committee, and the Board of Trustees, put in place to quest for a suitable running mate is anticipated to be ready today Tuesday. The Party via its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologbunagba, reacting to the matter, did not give any specifics but rather advised that time would be the judge after consultations are concluded in the week running. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, parties have until June 17, 2022, as the final day for the submission of candidates for the presidential jobs. | PDP VP Slot, Ifeanyi Okowa, 2023 Presidential Election, PDP NWC, PDP Working Committee | https://bit.ly/3mLGI2f | |
| The Nation Online | Tuesday, 14th June 2022 | Vote without fear, says peace panel | The National Peace Committee (NPC) has urged the people of Ekiti State to ‘step out without fear but with hope to exercise their franchise and vote to deepen the democratic process’ during Saturday’s governorship election. A statement yesterday by the Chairman, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), also said political parties and stakeholders partaking in the election will sign a peace accord tomorrow. The signing will hold at the Amazing Grace Events Hall in Ikokun, Ado-Ekiti. The committee also said the people must choose peace over and above electoral violence in the election, and urged stakeholders to follow due process, conduct themselves with civility and patriotism. | NPC, Ekiti State, Ekit Gubernatorial Election, National Peace Committee, Peace Accord | https://bit.ly/3twWMJ6 | |
| This Day Live | Tuesday, 14th June 2022 | Three Days to Deadline, Parties in Last Minute Consultations for Running Mates | With deadline for the submission of names of presidential candidates and their running mates three days away, the leaderships of some of the main political parties – the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) – are already in some last minute consultations over the choice of their vice-presidential candidates which must be submitted to the electoral body by Friday The parties had recently elected their presidential candidates, weeks apart at different locations and times. PDP elected former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar at its presidential primaries held at the National Stadium some three weeks ago, the APC, last week, elected a former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, at its special convention, held at the Eagles Square; LP elected Obi its candidate in Asaba, Delta State, while Kwakwaso was elected NNPP candidate the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja. However, while the APC is said to be considering a choice presidential running mate from the North East part of the country, being a part of the north yet to produce the nation’s president, the party remains divided on the vexed issue of religion. But party stalwarts concede, it remains the decision of the candidate even though some believe the candidate should depart from that venture. At the same time, the PDP might have narrowed down its choice of candidate to between the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and his counterpart from Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who also contested the PDP presidential primaries and came second. Interestingly, Wike has been lobby for the position, The PDP is expected to name its candidate anytime soon. On their parts, Obi and Kwankwaso were allegedly still consulting, according to insiders, and this is in addition to the suspicion that both men might be considering working together, if things get to a head. This, nonetheless, the National Peace Committee, led by a former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd), who just turned 80 years, has expressed fear that the 2023 general election may not meet the expectations of Nigerians of a free, transparent and credible electoral process. In the APC, multiple sources in the party said, Tinubu has asked for more time to choose his running mate, even though some APC leaders were said to be keen on the party’s position on religion. THISDAY gathered yesterday that the APC governors and other relevant stakeholders agreed that Tinubu’s running mate should come from the North East, but not certain, if it would be a Muslim-Muslim ticket or Muslim-Christian ticket. “The views of the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam el-Rufai for a Muslim Muslim presidential ticket as was the case in Kaduna State is a recipe for crisis in a modern Nigeria. That it happened in the days of Chief MKO Abiola with Babagana Kingibe does not mean that it can happen in the present day Nigeria,” a staunch party source said. The source further explained that the Christian stakeholders of APC from the North East have capable hands in the persons of the Secretary to the Government of Federation, Boss Mustapha, who is from Adamawa State. The source stated that the governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, is from the North Central, where the party’s National Chairman, Senator Adamu Abdullahi, is from and therefore, automatically ruled him out. | Deadline for Submission of Presidential Candidates and Running Mates, National Peace Committee | https://bit.ly/3xtZ9xq | |
| This Day Live | Tuesday, 14th June 2022 | APC Has Collapsed Every Aspect of Nigeria, Atiku Laments, Urges Nigerians to Vote Out Ruling Party | The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has called on Nigerians to, “collapse the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)” in the 2023 general elections by voting the party out, saying the APC has “collapsed the state of our nation.” In series of Tweets yesterday via his official handle, Atiku lamented the collapse of the national grid. The national electricity grid in Nigeria had collapsed on Sunday, even as a handful of power Distribution Companies (Discos) apologised to the customers in their various franchise areas. Owing to this, Atiku, who argued that other sectors in the economy had also collapsed, called on Nigerians to vote out the APC. “The darkness that has enveloped the nation in the last couple of days with the collapse of the national grid is a metaphor for the collapsing state of our nation: collapsing unity, collapsing security, collapsing economy, collapsing education, collapsing well-being and collapsing value of human life and dignity. “My expectation is that Nigerians will collapse the ruling APC in kind via the ballot and enthrone a viable pathway for the New Nigeria of our dreams that will be united and stable, prosperous and awash with opportunities; secured and inclusive. As One, we can get it done.” | PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, 2023 General Elections, Collapse of National Grid | https://bit.ly/3QlxZBf | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Friday. 10th June 2022 | Politicians crowd out private businesses from FX market | The currency market may have defied experts’ prediction that the informal segment would witness a momentary glut of dollars as political party delegates, who reportedly made a killing with hard currencies, would start offloading their foreign exchange holding after the crucial political events. The Guardian gathered that two days after the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) held its presidential primary, illiquidity has worsened in the black market with major Bureau de Change (BDC) operators unable to meet the growing demand. With politicians taking more than necessary from the market, there are concerns that the crowding out effect would hurt the economy severely in months to come and worsen the political risk. Findings suggest that some currency traders cannot single-handedly raise as little as $1,000 as they have run out of liquidity following the massive mop up during the presidential nomination exercises. The protracted currency crisis has taken a dramatic turn in the last three weeks, with reports that delegates of the two major political parties were mobilised majorly in hard currencies. Reports of ‘dollar rain’ began to be widespread a week ago after the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) conducted its presidential primary in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Checks in the market showed that illiquidity has worsened in the past week with the naira selling between N600 and N610 to a dollar. The dollar peaked during PDP’s convention, trading for as much as N610/$ but retraced to about N602/$ last week. As at yesterday, the value of local currency slumped to N607/$ as uncertainties continue. The Guardian learnt that major dealers are still hoarding their assets, believing that the naira is yet to bottom out. A dealer in Lagos said most of his colleagues ran out of supply in the last few weeks. Asked what could have been responsible, he said the greenback was mopped up for use by politicians and after the conclusion of party primaries, the money is yet to get to the retail end of the market. Further investigation suggested that major dealers are holding on to their holdings for possible bargain hunting in the coming days. Speculative activities are in full gear with major traders expecting the dollar to inch close to N700/$, thus creating a wider profit margin. | Dollar, Naira, Forex Market, FX, Presidential Primaries, PDP, APC, BDC | Page 1 & 6 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Friday. 10th June 2022 | Your ambition not worth life of any Nigerian, Jonathan reminds Tinubu, Atiku, others | Former President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated winners of presidential primaries across various political parties, stressing that “no ambition is worth the life” of any citizen. In a message he personally signed and posted on his social media handle, yesterday, he wrote: “I congratulate the winners of the various primaries across the political spectrum, particularly Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who has won the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the flag bearers of other parties that have also concluded their primaries. They include Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Malik Ado-Ibrahim, Young Progressives Party (YPP), Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Dumebi Kachikwu, African Democratic Congress (ADC), as well as Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP.” Jonathan charged them, as they begin campaigns, to prioritise issues confronting the country and proffer credible solutions. He also urged them to conduct their campaigns in a manner devoid of acrimony, divisiveness and treachery, so that at the end of the day, Nigeria would win, democracy would triumph and humanity would be better for it. The statement reads in part: “As I have always said, no ambition is worth the life of another. As candidates, you must eschew violence and acts that will encourage any form of bloodletting or exacerbate the national fault lines. We live in a season of unprecedented violence and all political leaders have a responsibility to de-escalate the tension in the country. The candidates, by conduct and language, must prioritise non-violence and peaceful coexistence. I also salute the sportsmanship displayed by other aspirants who have continued to lend their weight to the democratic process, despite the fact that they did not emerge victorious in their various party primaries.” | Goodluck Jonathan, Congratulatory Message | Page 3 | |
| Daily Trust Online | Friday. 10th June 2022 | INEC Gives Atiku, Tinubu, Others One Week To Present Running Mates | The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the presidential and governorship candidates of the 18 registered political parties to pick and submit the lists of their running mates in the next eight days. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this on Thursday in Abuja at a meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs). This means that the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu; and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and others have about a week more to nominate their vice presidential candidates to the commission. According to him, while the conventions and primaries of candidates by political parties for the 2023 general elections end on Thursday, the nomination of the candidates and their running mates commenced on Friday and ends a week later. “For the next one week from tomorrow, 10th June, all political parties are required to submit their list of candidates for national elections (presidential/vice presidential, senatorial and house of representatives) latest by Friday, 17th June. For state elections (governorship/deputy governorship and state houses of assembly), the list of candidates shall be uploaded from 1st to 15th July as already provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election already released by the Commission,” Yakubu said. He also said that all political parties are required to upload the details of their candidates for each constituency to the INEC Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP). The INEC boss said that to achieve this objective, four officials recommended by each of the 18 political parties were trained in the procedure for uploading the nomination forms to the dedicated web portal. Confidential Access Codes to the portal have already been given to each Political Party to facilitate the uploading of its nominations. “For emphasis, the commission wishes to remind Political Parties that only the names of candidates that emerged from democratic primaries as provided by Sec. 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 shall be submitted to the commission,” he said. He added that the list of all presidential and governorship candidates must be accompanied by the names of their running mates (that is vice presidential and deputy governorship candidates) without which the nomination is invalid, warning that all nominations must be uploaded to the portal on/or before the deadlines. He said, “All nominations must be uploaded to the portal on/or before the deadlines. The portal will automatically shut down at 6.00pm (1800hrs) on Friday, 17th June 2022 for national elections and 6.00pm (1800hrs) on Friday 15th July 2022 for state elections. | INEC, Electoral Act, Deadline for submission of names of running mates, RECs | https://bit.ly/3xnZSQq | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Friday. 10th June 2022 | Court Backtracks, Orders FCT Minister To Swear In New Chairmen, Councillors | Justice Mohammed Ibrahim of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Kubwa has ordered the FCT Administration to swear in the newly elected chairmen and their councillors immediately. It would be recalled that on May 18, 2022, same Justice Mohammed Ibrahim suspended the swearing in of the elected chairmen and their councillors, which generated confusion. Following the earlier judgement, the FCT Minister, Muhammed Bello, suspended the inauguration and ordered the legal team of the FCTA to seek redress of the judgment. Justice Mohammed, while delivering the fresh judgment on Thursday, clarified that everyone was in a learning process and that people were bound to make mistakes and also bound to make corrections. He said it was very clear that some mistakes were made and a judgment was entered which brought a lot of issues concerning the elongation of the tenure of the outgoing chairmen in the six area councils. Justice Mohammed further said that in his wisdom, he had vacated the first judgment that was given by him and thereby directed that the FCT minister should immediately go ahead and swear in the new area council chairmen and their councillors who were recently elected and issue certificates of return. | High Court Judgement, FCT High Court, Chairmen and Councillors, FCT Administration, FCT Minister | Page 16 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Friday. 10th June 2022 | CVR: Igbos Allege Marginalisation, Claim Hoodlums Invaded, Injured Registrants in Lagos | A large number of Igbos in Lagos State, yesterday alleged marginalisation and targeted disenfranchisement as they attempted to register in the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR). The allegation followed viral videos on social media that claimed Igbos at Alaba International, Ojo, were attacked by hoodlums and the machine carted away while attempting to register at the local government office. The leadership of the market had earmarked yesterday as a closed market day to enable all eligible voters go to their respective local government area offices and register to vote or collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC). But there were allegations that hoodlums invaded registration centres at Ojo, Amuwo-Odofin, Ago Palace Way, and some parts of Isolo, while registrants at the Ikotun-Egbe, Ejigbo and Idimu axis alleged that they were given pieces of papers instead of their PVCs because they are Igbos. Particularly in Ojo, attempts by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register those on ground ended in chaos as hoodlums disrupted the process, leaving several injured. In the said video, the registrants took to Twitter to register their displeasure after they were deprived of getting their PVCs. Lending a voice to the clamour, Nigerian artiste and activist, Debo Adebayo popularly known as Mr. Macaroni via his Twitter handle wrote: “I have seen different videos of Igbo traders being attacked in Lagos while trying to register for their PVC. We can’t be shouting get your PVC and some people are attacking others while they are trying to do it! It is wrong and Evil! These are the issues. The government should provide safety measures for the people to register, except you don’t want us to register.” The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, also called on INEC to extend voter registration. He made the call on his Twitter handle, @PeterObi, yesterday, while highlighting that voters’ registration across the country, especially in the south-east had been impeded by bureaucratic bottlenecks. Tweeting from his Twitter handle @PeterObi, he wrote, “Information reaching me indicate that voter registration across Nigeria, more so in the South East, is dogged by inertia & bureaucratic bottlenecks. I respectfully call on @inecnigeria to facilitate speedy registration of Nigerians to enable them exercise their voting rights.-PO.” Reacting to the incident, Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, condemned the reported attack on its people. | CVR, PVC, INEC, Unrest, Alaba International Market, Hoodlums, Lagos State | Page 57 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Friday. 10th June 2022 | Buhari: Tinubu Has Track Record to Lead Our Party to Victory in 2023 | In his first public statement on the presidential primary of his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, declared that the winner, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had the skills and track record to lead the ruling party to victory at the polls next year. Buhari stated this in a letter to the returning officer of the APC presidential primary convention and governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, commending the success of the exercise. The president, who later hosted Tinubu, said the APC presidential primary was one of the most competitive and peaceful in the history of Nigeria’s democracy. Buhari’s comments as came the APC national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, and members of the party’s National Working Committee (APC) visited Tinubu and pledged to work together to deliver him in the 2023 presidential poll. APC governors from the northern geopolitical zones also paid a congratulatory visit to Tinubu, in an apparent signal of the start of intense search for a running mate that would help the party win next year’s election. Buhari, in the letter he personally signed and addressed to Bagudu, who is also the chairman of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), commended the role the Kebbi State governor played in the success of the primary election that produced Tinubu. He asked members of the party to close ranks and work conscientiously for the success of the APC presidential candidate in the February 2023 poll, saying he looks forward to working closely with all the 22 APC governors to ensure Tinubu’s victory. The president stated that the party’s standard-bearer had the capacity, commitment, and particularly enviable track record of leading APC to electoral victory. He said the APC project was far from over “and we need all of you to come together to ensure our progressive journey to peace and prosperity is sustained.” The letter read, “I was pleased to see how you were very professional and efficient in handling the sensitive political position of Chairman Progressives Governors Forum. Your commitment in pursuit of equity and fairness speaks volumes in the cooperation displayed by APC governors. This, indeed, demonstrates the camaraderie that brought us together over eight years ago. The party primaries were peacefully conducted and the delegates have selected the candidate to carry the APC flag in the 2023 presidential election. Our candidate, His Excellency, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is no stranger to you. He is our friend and brother. We know his commitment, his track record, and his capacity to lead our party to success. So, now is the time for all of us to come together and march forward, as we did in 2015, to a convincing APC victory. I look forward to working closely with APC governors to support Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all our APC candidates to success in 2023. | Bola Tinubu, APC Flagbearer, Letter, PMB, PGF, 2023 Presidential Primaries | Page 1 & 5 | |
| The Cable | Friday. 10th June 2022 | ‘It’s in my pocketbook’ — Tinubu speaks on choice for running mate | Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says his choice for a running mate is in his pocketbook. Following his victory in the APC presidential primary election, speculation has been rife about the identity of the vice-presidential candidate of the party. Several APC governors are believed to be in contention for the position, but there has been no official decision yet. Speaking after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the state house on Thursday, Tinubu was asked to divulge where he was leaning towards. In response, he said: “I won’t tell you that. That is my right, it’s in my pocketbook.” Tinubu, who polled 1,271 votes to defeat 13 other contenders, also praised the president for not “tinkering” with the presidential primary. The former Lagos governor said Buhari showed that he is trustworthy by not endorsing any of the presidential hopefuls. He also advised members of the ruling party to celebrate the outcome of the primary with moderation, noting that the real work has just commenced. “All APC party members should celebrate in a limited manner. We’ve just begun the hard work, the work ahead to win the victory for our party is a hard one and we will win,” he said. | Bola Tinubu, APC Flagbearer, Running Mate | https://bit.ly/3O7fgrj | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Thursday, 9th June 2022 | 2023: Tinubu, Atiku Set For Epic Battle | An epic battle is set for the February 25, 2023, presidential election as the two major political parties; the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have come up with their flag bearers. After months of hide-and-seek over zoning, the presidential primary of the APC, which was conducted at the Eagle Square, produced a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the flag bearer. The high point of the primary, which lasted for over 24 hours, was the presentation of the party’s flag to Tinubu at 3.07 pm on Wednesday by President Muhammadu Buhari. Tinubu, who polled 1,271 votes was followed by a former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who got 316 votes; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, 235 (third); Senate President Ahmad Lawan came fourth with 152 votes; Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello polled 47 votes to come fifth and the Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade came sixth with 37 votes. With this development, Tinubu will slug it out at the presidential election with the candidate of the PDP, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and candidates of the 16 other political parties in the country. Both of them are septuagenarians, who have been in the country’s political terrain for over three decades as Atiku is 75 and Tinubu is 70. Asides from the duo of Atiku and Tinubu, analysts said the candidates of the Labour Party and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi and his New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) counterpart, a former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa, are contenders to look at. Obi’s strength lies in the South East geopolitical zone and Kwankwaso’s is in the North West, especially Kano, which is regarded as the votes bank of the ruling APC. | APC Flag Bearer, Bola Tinubu, 2023 General Elections, APC Presidential Primary | Page 5 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Thursday, 9th June 2022 | 2023: Tension Looms Nationwide – Chief Of Army Staff | The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, says the nation’s political landscape is likely to get tenser across the six geo-political zones. He spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt at a three-day second senior command and leadership seminar for commanders of various formations across the country. The COAS warned troops to avoid politicking as the 2023 general elections approach. He said no personnel would be allowed to participate in the elections or support any candidate as stipulated by the extant laws guarding the service. “So, I want to remind all commanders that as the electioneering season approaches the political landscape is likely to become more tense across the geopolitical zones. Engagement of political thugs; use of hate speeches and other inimical activities by desperate politicians and their supporters will likely instigate a more fragile security situation in the coming days. I charge commanders at all levels to ensure that troops under command are adequately enlightened on the need to be apolitical and eschew all political vices. To this end, all army personnel must act within the ambit of the law; the provisions of the extant rule of engagement and code of conduct for the elections in 2023,” he warned. Yahaya said the army would adopt a more superior system of operation to harness the collective potentials of all security stakeholders in the coming days and weeks. | COAS, Security, 2023 General Elections, Political Landscape | Page 6 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Thursday, 9th June 2022 | Yahaya Bello’s campaign kicks, flays ‘highly compromised’ APC presidential primary | The Director (Media and Publicity), Yahaya Bello Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mrs. Yemi Kolapo, yesterday, described the just concluded All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary as “largely peaceful but highly compromised.” Bello, who is also the Kogi State governor, polled 47 votes, a significant distance behind the winner, APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who scored 1,271 votes. In a statement, Kolapo said: “The presidential primary elections have come and gone. The process was largely peaceful but highly compromised. This is, however, not new in a country where democracy is defined as the government of the oppressors by the oppressors and for the oppressors. It is sad to note that those who should know and who many progressives had thought of as leaders with integrity are the ones working against the people they were (s)elected to represent for egocentric reasons. The statement added: “A mode of primaries whereby delegates, who have largely been pocketed by their paymasters and who defer to the highest bidder are made to choose flag bearers of a political party, is as warped as the process itself. We do not have to talk much but pray that God Himself would deliver Nigerians from the hands of enemies of democracy. Poverty is a tool they have used for a long to keep Nigerians poor. At the right time, however, this jinx must break!". | Yahaya Bello, Kogi State, APC Presidential Primary | Page 3 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Thursday, 9th June 2022 | Kwankwaso emerges NNPP presidential candidate unopposed | A former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has emerged as the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) at the party’s presidential primary held yesterday. He was elected unopposed as the only aspirant that bought the presidential form after he was screened. The former Defence Minister in his acceptance remarks appreciated all those who dropped their presidential aspirations for him and the delegates that elected him. Kwankwaso said that he would do whatever mattered to ensure the success of NNPP and its candidates for various elective positions in the 2023 general elections. “Our party is so lucky, to have young men and women with integrity contesting various positions in 2023. While congratulating all of us, I want to urge Nigerians to vote for NNPP.” He said that NNPP stood for peace, unity, stability and development of Nigeria. Kwankwaso urged the delegates and party members not to go back home and sleep but to keep convincing eligible voters across all ethnic groups and religions to vote for NNPP in the 2023 general elections. Also at the venue, the former Governor of Kano State, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, described the convention as a moment of change for Nigeria. “This is a moment of change for our youths and women. Change for our economy and change for the nation. Nigeria is a potentially great nation. What we need is purposeful and committed leadership". | NNPP Presidential Flagbearer, Kwankwaso, 2023 General Elections, Kano State, NNPP | Page 2 | |
| The Cable | Thursday, 9th June 2022 | Dumebi Kachikwu upsets Kingsley Moghalu to win ADC presidential ticket | Dumebi Kachikwu, founder of Roots Television, has won the presidential ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). He floored Kingsley Moghalu, former presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), and Chukwuka Monye to win the ticket. He polled 977 votes and was announced the winner, while Moghalu, his closest challenger, got 589 votes. Monye came third with 339 votes. Before the commencement of voting, Moghalu had said he would defeat Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election. “I am here to offer myself to you not because I am better than anybody here but because I care about the future of our country. I offer myself because God has given me the main recognition to stand side-by-side with Atiku, Tinubu and to send them into retirement,” he had said. The former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) joined the ADC in October 2021. He was the presidential candidate of YPP in the 2019 elections — he resigned his membership of the party in October 2019. | ADC, ADC Presidential Flagbearer, Dumebi Kachikwu, 2023 General Elections, Moghalu | https://bit.ly/3xkx6jM | |
| Daily Post Online | Thursday, 9th June 2022 | 2023: Fresh trouble for Peter Obi as LP faction elects Ezenwafor as presidential candidate | There is trouble brewing within the Labour Party (LP), as Jude Ezenwafor, a former chairman of the party in Anambra State, has been declared the winner of the presidential primary organised by a faction of the party. Ezenwafor’s affirmation took place in Abuja on Wednesday. “I am on a rescue mission to free Nigeria from social, economic and political crises currently bedevilling it. Labour Party will win the general election. Our party is going to take over Nigeria and bring back the glory Nigeria needs. I have been in the corridors of government for the past 20 years. We are here on a rescue mission,” NAN quoted Ezenwafor as saying. The development comes days after a former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, was elected as the LP’s presidential candidate at a primary organised by the Julius Abure-led faction of the party. However, prior to Obi winning the primary, the chairman of another faction of the party, Calistus Okafor, challenged the legality of the Abure-led faction before an Abuja Federal High Court. In a ruling on May 30, the presiding judge, Inyang Ekwo, ordered that the LP and some of its executives be served with a fresh suit challenging the party’s leadership. The matter was then adjourned till June 30 for further mention. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has given all political parties until June 9 to conclude their primaries. | LP, Faction, 2023 General Elections, Court, Fresh Suit, Peter Obi, INEC | https://bit.ly/3H7Ln7R | |
| Punch Online | Thursday, 9th June 2022 | INEC seeks Air Force support on security, logistics | The Independent National Electoral Commission has sought the support of the Nigerian Air Force in deploying personnel and airlifting election materials to remote and insecure areas across the country. The commission also solicited the support of the Air Force to provide security in volatile areas just as it had been doing during the off-cycle elections. The INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this during his visit to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, on Wednesday, in Abuja “On February 25, 2023 and March 11, 2023, the commission will deploy personnel and materials to about 190,000 voting and collation locations nationwide for 1,491 executive and legislative offices across Nigeria,” the INEC boss disclosed. He added, “Beyond logistics support, the Air Force has also deployed its assets to provide security during off-cycle elections, especially in areas of difficult terrain. Election constitutes the most extensive mobilisation and complex logistics operations that could happen in a country in peacetime. These activities must take place simultaneously, stretching over 923,768km2 within a space of six voting hours (8.30am – 2.30pm) involving a projected population of 90 million voters. He also requested the help of the Air Force in handling the delivery of outstanding election materials to Ekiti and Osun governorship elections. Yakubu added, “There is no time to waste. The 2023 general election is only 261 days from today. However, the Ekiti State Governorship election holds in the next 10 days on Saturday, June 18, 2022 while the Osun Governorship election holds in 38 days on Saturday, July 16, 2022. “We will seek the support of the Air Force in handling the delivery of outstanding election materials to the two States while the commission bears responsibility for all subsequent deployment within the states to the Local Government Areas and beyond as has been the practice.” Responding, Amao commended INEC for strengthening electoral processes in the country. He promised to give INEC necessary NAF support and coordinations in airlifting all the election materials, logistics including staff coming up in Nigeria to any parts of remote areas of any state to ensure hitch free, inclusive and fair election. | INEC, 2023 General Elections, Air Force, Ekiti Gubernatorial Election, 0sun Gubernatorial Election, Election Materials, NAF, INEC Chairman | https://bit.ly/3NOchnK | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Wednesday, 8th June 2022 | Consensus fails, 14 aspirants on ballot for APC presidential ticket | The big moment for the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) came last night. President Buhari, who is stepping down after the two terms he is allowed in the Constitution, had spent days leading up to the convention in negotiations with APC leaders seeking unity over a party candidate. “The fate of the party depends on what we do here,” APC party chairman Abdullahi Adamu said, echoing the President’s call for unity in the ranks. We cannot go into the general election next year without putting our house together,” he said. Against expected turn of events were earlier reports that the list of aspirants had been pruned down to five or three, but all 23 hopefuls, except the former Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, took turns to address delegates and the nation why they should be given the chance to be the party’s flag bearer. Frontline aspirant and APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, took the first spot on stage, where he pledged to ensure an indivisible, and united Nigeria. The night was enlivened at 10:06p.m. when the sixth aspirant to speak, immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, announced his withdrawal from the race to step down for Tinubu. This was received by a thunderous roar from the crowd before six other aspirants took turns to announce they were stepping down for the former Lagos State governor. After Akpabio, other aspirants who mounted the podium to announce their withdrawal from the contest to support Tinubu, were former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State; Senator Ajayi Boroffice and the only female in the contest, Uju Ken-Ohanenye. Presidential aspirant, Dr Ogbonaya Onu, decried the marginalisation of the Southeast geopolitical zone as far as the occupant of the exalted seat of the presidency is concerned. Another aspirant and former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, asked delegates to hire him for the job but should also not hesitate to fire him should he fail to fulfill his electioneering pledges. One of the presidential aspirants, Pastor Tunde Bakare, vowed to transform Nigeria if elected. Unlike other candidates who stepped down for co-aspirant, he instead expressed confidence in becoming Nigeria’s next president. Before his speech, the cleric had called for a one-minute silence for victims of the terrorist attack at the St Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State on Sunday. With the contest getting fiercer and despite the stout resolve of the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) that power should return to the South, three aspirants from the North, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Yerima, stood their ground to remain in the race. The Senate President said parliamentarians make the best leaders all over the world. Speaking to delegates, he argued that his 23 years experience as a parliamentarian places him in good stead to administer the country effectively. Kogi governor, in his speech, said he would not chicken out of the race. Bello expressed optimism that he would emerge flag bearer of the party at the end of the presidential primary poll. When Osinbajo took his turn at the podium, he made a soul-stirring appeal to the delegates to consider their future and the future of Nigeria in making the momentous decision as he, against expectations, put his hat into the ring to square up against Tinubu. Speaking before commencement of voting, President Buhari in the early hours of today, urged members of the party to remain united and avoid acrimony, while rallying delegates at the special convention to consider voting the presidential candidate with the best chance of securing victory in the 2023 general elections in the February 25 presidential ballot. | APC Presidential Primary, APC Presidential Aspirants, Delegates, Owo | Page 1, 6 & 41 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Wednesday, 8th June 2022 | Makinde announces Bayo Lawal as running mate for 2023 governorship polls | Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has officially announced the chairman of Oyo State Housing Corporation, Bayo Lawal, as his running mate for 2023 general elections. The announcement came barely 48 hours after the defection of the incumbent Deputy Governor, Rauf Olaniyan, from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). Makinde made the announcement, yesterday, during a stakeholders’ meeting with Oke-Ogun leaders at the Presidential Lodge, Government House, Ibadan, the state capital. Lawal, a former attorney-general of the state, hails from Kisi in Irepo Local Council of Oyo State. In another development, Mr. Olukayode Popoola has emerged the gubernatorial candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in Oyo State. Popoola was picked to fly the party’s flag via consensus after all delegates across the 33 local councils of the state endorsed his candidature through affirmation at the primary held in Ibadan on Monday night. The NNPP candidate in his acceptance speech said insecurity would be one of his priorities if voted as the governor of the state. | Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, 2023 General Elections, NNPP, Gubernatorial Candidate | Page 5 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Wednesday, 8th June 2022 | Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, Dumps APC | Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, the Senate Leader, has defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kebbi State. Abdullahi’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Muhammad Jamil Gulma, confirmed the defection on Tuesday. “Senate Leader Dr Yahaya Abdullahi will on Wednesday by 9 am leave Abuja for Kebbi and proceed to Kamba local government to formally declare for PDP and to possibly indicate his interest to contest his present seat,” Gulma said. Yahaya who participated in the APC’s Kebbi governorship primaries was reported to have scored Zero vote, an outcome which he had since rejected and described as shambolic and a child’s play. | Senate Leader, APC, PDP, Defection, Kebbi State | Page 31 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Wednesday, 8th June 2022 | PDP National Scribe Raises Assassination Alarm | The National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has alleged that there are plans to assassinate him and some of his aides. He said the plot was hatched because the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) acted on the recommendations of a committee set up to probe the May 26 primaries in Ahiazu Mbaise State Constituency. Anyanwu, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Ikenna Onuoha, said some people pained by the cancellation and rescheduling of a fresh primary issued the threat to kill him in a voice note. He alleged that since his emergence as PDP National Secretary, some desperate politicians in the state had used different plots, including blackmail and threats, to run him down. He said the people also threatened to shut down the Imo State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), destroy other notable public structures and hack anyone directly or indirectly linked to his political camp. However, the Police Public Relations Officer in Imo, CSP Michael Abatam, when contacted, said the police were yet to receive a statement or petition to that effect. “I am not aware of it either as a statement or a petition. If it’s a petition, I know it will be routed through the normal process. But right now, I am not aware of any,” he said. | PDP National Secretary, PDP NWC, Imo State, Ahiazu Mbaise State Constituency | Page 6 | |
| The Cable | Wednesday, 8th June 2022 | Uzodimma: South-east should produce next president — but there’s no justice | Hope Uzodimma, governor of Imo, says the south-east was denied the opportunity to produce the next president owing to a lack of equity. Uzodimma spoke on Wednesday when he featured on Sunrise Daily, a Channels TV programme. There has been a clamour for political parties to zone their presidential tickets to the south-east. In May, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) conducted its special convention, but Atiku Abubakar, who is from the north, was elected as the party’s presidential candidate. The presidential primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is currently underway in Abuja, but two hopefuls, Bola Tinubu and Yemi Osinbajo who are from the south-west are leading the race. Speaking on Wednesday, Uzodimma who is the chairman of the APC special convention, said the south-east should produce the next president, but they will not because of injustice. “From the view of political calculation, the sentiment of the people in the south-east is that they deserve to produce the president because the reason why this power is moving from the north to the south is that the current president is from the north having served for daughter years,” he said. “The reason why the south-east is asking for it is that when the power came to the south it went to the south-west and was there for eight years and the next time it came to the south it went to the south-south and it was there for seven years plus. The natural thing to do and the justice of the case is that now that power is coming again to the south and since it is only three geo-political zones that made up the south, it should come to the south-east, having been in the south-west and south-south. In a situation where equity should be the issue we (south-east) don’t need to struggle for it. But here again, you see how it has come. We will continue to hope that one day God will touch the heart of our brothers and sisters to do that which belongs to us.” | Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, South-east, APC Special Convention | https://bit.ly/3tnDpC4 | |
| Punch Online | Wednesday, 8th June 2022 | Rivers PDP gov candidate escapes EFCC arrest | The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State in the 2023 general election, Siminialayi Fubara, on Tuesday night escaped an attempt by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to arrest him on Tuesday night. The drama took place at the Port Harcourt International Airport as the plane ferrying Fubara and other PDP chieftains who had accompanied him to Abuja to receive his Certificate of Return touched down at the airport. It was learnt that as the operatives move to effect the arrest, some youths believed to be his supporters allegedly resisted the officials and attacked them. Though details of the alleged attack were still sketchy as of the time of filing this report, but sources said some of the EFCC operatives sustained injuries. The EFCC had declared Fubara, the immediate past Accountant General of Rivers state, and three other top state government officials wanted over alleged N117 billion fraud. After the drama at the airport, Fubara who won the state PDP governorship primary on May 25 proceeded to the state party secretariat where he addressed party supporters and stakeholders. When contacted, the state Commissioner of Police, Friday Eboka, said he was not aware of the incident, adding that the airport was not under his jurisdiction. | Rivers State, PDP Gubernatorial Candidate, EFCC, Fraud, 2023 General Elections, Accountant General of Rivers State | https://bit.ly/39g5t3p | |
| Vanguard Online | Wednesday, 8th June 2022 | Peter Obi, our Presidential candidate, LP affirms | Labour Party, yesterday, debunked rumour making the round that it conducted parallel Presidential primaries that produced a factional Presidential candidate, in the person of one Samson Uchenna. The party, in a statement issued by the Acting National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi Oluwafemi and made available to newsmen in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, noted that the party never had parallel primaries. Arabambi argued that though Uchenna was a Presidential aspirant on the platform of Labour Party, he withdrew his nominations to support Mr Peter Obi voluntarily. The statement read: “the attention of Labour Party has been drawn to the criminal activities of PDP Vanguard against the Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi by falsely claiming that our former presidential aspirant by the name, Samson Uchenna has emerged as a factional presidential candidate on the platform of Labour Party. “Labour Party here states categorically that this Samson Uchenna is not in anyway our Party’s presidential candidate. He is an aspirant on the platform of Labour Party who withdrew his nominations to support Mr Peter Obi voluntarily. The @PDPVanguard as an agent of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is hereby advised to stay on the path of professionalism and avoid taking sides with faceless people who have no bearing with the legitimate political activities of the Labour Party (LP) on very weight issues as the transparently free, democratically credible, free and fair presidential primaries that brought in Peter Gregory Obi, the former Governor of Anambra State as the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the May 30, 2022 primaries that took place in Asaba, the Delta State capital in South South Nigeria. Labour Party wishes to commend the sportsmanship of Sampson Uchenna Charles who was one of the four Presidential aspirants that voluntarily stepped down thereby paving the way for Peter Obi as the sole aspirant culminating in his emergence as the Labour Party’s sole 2023 presidential candidate”. | Labour Party, LP, Presidential Candidate, 2023 Presidential Election | https://bit.ly/3zoM2Qw | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Tuesday, 7th June 2022 | APC presidential convention: Confusion as party juggles zoning, consensus candidacy | There was pandemonium following the purported endorsement of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, as the presidential flag bearer of the party. This jolted APC stakeholders, who stoutly resisted the position until calm was restored with President Muhammadu Buhari’s denial of joining party chairman, Abdullahi Adamu to endorse any candidate. This was after 13 APC governors from the North stormed the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where they met with President Buhari and insisted on their decision to cede the ticket of the party to the South. Although President Buhari has continued to express reference for a consensus arrangement, there has not been a meeting of minds on such among the 23 aspirants. The meeting with APC governors from the North, yesterday, is the fourth in the series of concerted move by the President to ensure that the party presents a consensus candidate so as to reduce acrimony that may arise at the end of the convention. The governors were Chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum and governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu; chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum and governor of Plateau State, Simeon Lalong; Abubakar Baduru (Jigawa) and Babagana Zulum (Borno). Others were Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Bello Matawale (Zamfara), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Yahaya Inuwa (Gombe), Abubakar Bello (Niger), Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni and Abdullrahman Abdulrazak (Kwara). Governor of Kogi, Yahaya Bello, was absent. Addressing newsmen after, Lalong, who led the group to the parley in the State House, insisted that President Buhari has not anointed any of the contenders as the party’s flag bearer to prosecute the election, as presidential candidate. Explaining Bello’s absence, el-Rufai said the Kogi governor chose to stay away on his own volition because he differed with the group, adding that he (Bello) acted within his democratic right. Dismissing speculations of having anointed a particular candidate, President Buhari, in a statement signed by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said he has “no preferred candidate and has anointed no one and is determined to ensure that there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party.” Speaking at a meeting with the Governors at the State House, President Buhari said the party is important and its members must be respected, and made to feel they are important. The President said he had a clear mind about what he was doing and asked the APC governors to feel the same way: “You were elected as I was. Have a clear mind as I have. God gave us the chance; we have no reason to complain. We must be ready to take pain as we take the joy. Allow the delegates to decide. The party must participate, nobody will appoint anybody.” Reacting to the Lawan’s purported endorsement, a source in the Presidency said the process enunciated by the President on the emergence of consensus candidate is still in force. “It is that aspirants should decide on their own. The party chair compromised and the President was mad at him. Lawan is just Adamu’s doing and it has been knocked down already.” | Senate President, APC, APC Stakeholders, APC Governors, PMB, Consensus Candidate | Page 1 & 6 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Tuesday, 7th June 2022 | You must return our mandate, resign now, PDP tells Oyo dep gov | The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Oyo State chapter, yesterday, asked the state’s deputy governor, Rauf Olaniyan, to resign immediately, having abandoned the party and the votes that produced him on the party’s joint ticket. This statement followed Olaniyan’s defection from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday. The state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Akeem Olatunji, in a statement, noted that the PDP leadership in the state, South-West region and national levels all intervened at different intervals to resolve the situation fuelling the suspected defection plan but to no avail. The PDP, therefore, warned against any attempt by Olaniyan and his new party to steal Oyo people’s mandate through the backdoor after the APC was utterly rejected at the 2019 governorship polls. The PDP, which cautioned against what it called selfish motivation, said it was disappointed by comments credited to the deputy governor after officially announcing his defection from the PDP to the APC that even though he has left PDP, he still remains the deputy governor. It noted that such move amounts to daylight robbery of the people’s mandate. The party said Olaniyan should not pretend not to know what is right to do after leaving the political platform that sponsored him and Makinde on the joint ticket if truly he has any atom of the Yoruba ‘Omoluabi’ toga he always ascribed to himself. | PDP, Oyo State, Defection, Oyo Deputy Governor, Joint Ticket | Page 5 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Tuesday, 7th June 2022 | Consensus Deal Collapses As Delegates Elect APC Candidate | Spirited efforts to come up with a consensus presidential candidate ahead of today’s All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary collapsed last night, Daily Trust reports. Our correspondents report that the presidency, the APC governors and the leadership of the ruling party are not on the same page even though marathon meetings were being held to mend fences so that their differences would not manifest at the Eagle Square. In the event they failed, Daily Trust gathered from reliable sources that all the presidential aspirants would be allowed to slug it out. With the development, the 2,322 delegates selected from across the 774 local government areas of the country would now decide the fate of the 23 presidential aspirants at Eagle Square. Each LGA has three delegates. In the last 72 hours, there have been moves by leaders of the party to come up with a consensus candidate. The president had during his meeting with the aspirants on Saturday urged them to build consensus and come up with a formidable candidate. The South West, South East and other groupings in the party met severally to come forth with a consensus to no avail. While the regional leaders of the party have continued with their meetings, the president on his part, had met with governors and elders of the party with a view to coming up with a consensus candidate. The president had so far held four meetings on the matter. It was gathered that the president during his meeting with the National Advisory Council on Sunday, asked the critical stakeholders to come up with a consensus before the primary. A source said following the president’s request, a 3-man committee comprising the party’s National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha was constituted. “The committee could not do anything, hence the president’s statement that they should go to the poll,” he said. However, another source said when the president gave the mandate to the advisory council, he was told that they could not carry out the assignment. They advised that the governors should be given the responsibility. However, when the report filtered around that the national chairman has announced that Senate President Ahmad Lawan was the consensus candidate, the presidency countered the claim, further making the problem more complicated. Following the collapse of the consensus efforts, President Buhari yesterday said he has “no preferred candidate” and has “anointed no one.” | APC Presidential Primary, Delegates, Consensus Candidate, National Advisory Council, PMB | Page 3 & 4 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Tuesday, 7th June 2022 | Senator Ogba Picks Ebonyi PDP Gov’ship Ticket | The Senator representing Ebonyi Central, Obinna Ogba, has won the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state for the 2023 general elections. Chairman of the electoral committee, Chris Okolo, said Senator Ogba polled 253 votes to defeat other aspirants, including his closest rival, Edwin Anayo, a House of Representatives member, who garnered 110 votes. Speaking after clinching the party’s ticket, Ogba said, “This victory is for all of us, and that is why I am bored to say there is no victor, no vanquished. We shall walk together as one indivisible party to win in the general elections next year.” | Ebonyi Central, PDP, 2023 General Elections, Senator | Page 12 | |
| Vanguard Online | Tuesday, 7th June 2022 | APC Convention: Court of Appeal stops National Assembly from imposing statutory delegates | The Court of Appeal in Abuja has issued an order restraining the National Assembly from imposing statutory delegates at the ongoing convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In a ruling on Monday, Justice Haruna Tsammani also restrained the enforcement of the judgement of a Federal High Court in Kano delivered on June 3 granting the enforcement of amended of Section 84(8) of the Electoral Act, 2022. The ex parte application by the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu was moved by A.A. Popoola and Karma Fagbemi, and had pleaded with the appellate court to stay the execution of the judgment of the high court delivered by Justice A.M. Liman in suit number FHC/KN/CS/137/2022 permitting Senator Mas’ud El-Jibrin Doguwa, Hon. Habila Sani, Hon. Bilyaminu Yusuf Shinkafi, the Senate, the Speaker of House of Representatives and the Independent National Electoral Commission to enforce the amendment. Justice Tsammani further ordered the service of processes of the order by substituted means against the parties in the matter and adjourned hearing of the motion on notice for stay of execution to June 9. The APC chairman had contended that the Section 84(8) of the Electoral Act on statutory delegates participation in the primary, which amendment was still pending Mr President’s assent was not in conflict with Section 223 of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 and Article 20(iv) of the APC Constitution. The APC chairman had futher contended that the suit was filed in Kano on May 24 without joining of the Attorney General of the Federation as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation. The party said its Constitution recognises two categories of statutory delegates, being elected and non-elected delegates. | Court of Appeal, APC, Statutory Delegates, Electoral Act 2022, Restrain | https://bit.ly/38Uydys | |
| This Day Newspaper | Tuesday, 7th June 2022 | Buhari Writes Delegates, Urges Voting Without Inducement | President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, wrote to all delegates taking part in picking a presidential standard-bearer for the All Progressives Congress (APC), and urged them to exercise their franchise in an atmosphere devoid of any form of inducement or manipulation. In a message signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari, while welcoming the delegates, wrote that, “As I said when I met with the Progressives Governors Forum, last week, the outcome of this primary election should prove to the world the positive quality of the APC regarding democratic principles, culture as well as leadership.” He added that the delegates should conduct themselves decently and in order, reiterating that the APC stood for positive change in the way of doing things, “and we must reflect this in all areas of our lives and conduct.” President Buhari saluted all delegates, who had traveled from far and near, describing them as “the true pillars of the party, who have been our strength from formation, to our first electoral victory, the second in 2019, and to the third, by the grace of Almighty Allah, in 2023.” He recalled what he told the National Advisory Council at State House on Sunday night, that, “We are marching towards a third straight victory since 2015, at the Presidential polls.” To this end, he urged the delegates to vote wisely, and pick a person that would fly the banner of the party to a resounding victory next year, even as he wished all delegates a happy stay in the Federal Capital Territory, and safe trip when they travel back to their respective destinations. | PMB, APC, Delegates, APC Presidential Primary | Page 10 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Tuesday, 7th June 2022 | Buhari to Tinubu: No One Individual Can Claim Credit for My 2015 Victory | The presidency has cleared the air about the electoral victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential poll, saying no individual should claim the glory of the president’s victory seven years ago. The presidency’s reaction came on the heels of comments credited to the former governor of Lagos State and All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Mr. Bola Tinubu, last Thursday in Abeokuta, that he almost single-handedly made Buhari win the election in 2015, after three failed attempts by the president. In a statement yesterday by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the presidency said Buhari’s victory in 2015 was a collective interest and not what a single person should claim the glory. The statement added, “It is, perhaps, not surprising that on the eve of the APC primary, there are those running who wish to associate themselves with the president’s rise to elected office seven years ago. There are many people who played parts large and small in his historic election in 2015, making history as the first opposition candidate to defeat a sitting president, with power changing hands peacefully at the ballot box. There are those who advised the president to run again; those who decided to build a political party – the APC – that could finally be the political vehicle capable of delivering victory where all other opposition parties and alliances before it had failed. Those decisions may have been agreed upon by a few. But they were delivered by thousands and voted for by tens of millions. No one can or should claim to have made this possible. Yet as important as that moment was, it is not what should decide the next general election". | 2015 Presidential Poll, PMB's Victory, APC Primary | Page 12 | |
| Daily Trust Online | Monday. 6th June 2022 | Tinubu, Osinbajo Adamant As S/West Elders Intensify Consensus Effort | The moves by the South West elders to come up with a consensus presidential aspirant for the region seem to have hit the rock as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are said to be adamant, Daily Trust gathered from credible sources. Political leaders from the South West geopolitical zone on Sunday continued with their moves to present a common front ahead of the presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) slated for Tuesday. Promoters of the consensus move in the South West including former APC Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, and former Ogun State Governor, Olusegun Osoba, had met with the aspirants at the residence of Chief Osoba. The meeting, which was attended by the aspirants from the South West, governors and elders of the region ended without them reaching a consensus. The duo of Akande and Osoba had last month met with the aspirants in Lagos, where it was agreed that they should conduct their electioneering campaigns devoid of hostility, free of rancour and in an amicable manner. President Muhammadu Buhari had on Saturday urged presidential aspirants of the APC to consult, build consensus and come up with a formidable candidate ahead of the party’s presidential primary. The directive of the president came around the same time when northern governors asked him to source for his successor from the southern part of the country. The President’s consultations continued yesterday with the National Advisory Council of the party. In a statement last night by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, Buhari had appraised the series of consultations held so far towards getting a widely acceptable presidential standard bearer and said they were on the way towards winning their third straight victory since 2015. Daily Trust learnt that the meeting was convened to consider the possibility of coming up with a consensus presidential candidate among the 23 aspirants. Multiple sources told our correspondents that while the meeting was ongoing yesterday, the duo of Osinbajo and Tinubu were not ready to shift grounds as they have continued to intensify their consultations and engagements with delegates. “We expect both Asiwaju and VP to slug it out as efforts to persuade one of them to step down have not yielded results as of now,” a source who does not want to be named, hinted." | APC, Presidential Aspirant, APC Presidential Primaries | https://bit.ly/3NUDjcT | |
| Daily Trust Online | Monday. 6th June 2022 | APC Primary: Posters Of Presidential Aspirants Compete For Attention At Eagle Square | Campaign posters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirants have dotted every nook and cranny of the Eagle Square in Abuja, venue of the APC primary. From the paper size posters to inflated balloons hung in the middle of the road as well as others flying on a predetermined trajectory, all the aspirants seek acceptance to emerge the flag bearer of the party. The towering posters compete for attention of passers-by and their efficacy can be felt as onlookers take a long gaze. The posters include those of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmed Lawan, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello and former Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun. The poster of the national leader of the party and aspirant, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is dramatic, showing him giving a knock-out punch to a smiling Peoples Democratic Party Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. | APC Presidential Aspirant, Posters, APC Presidential Primaries, Eagles Square | https://bit.ly/3xcL0V2 | |
| Daily Post Online | Monday. 6th June 2022 | Imo PDP concludes re-run primary elections in Ahiazu, Orlu, Orsu, Oru East Federal Constituency, winners emerge | The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State has concluded its rescheduled primary elections to select candidates to fly the party’s flag for Orlu, Orsu and Oru East Federal Constituency, Ahiazu Mbaise, and Orlu State Constituency. In the re-run election which was conducted at the party secretariat, Owerri elected two candidates for state assembly and one candidate for House of Representatives. The flag bearers for the House of Assembly seats include Hon. Rex Okoro (Ahiazu Mbaise), Ifeanyi Nwadikwa (Orlu State Constituency), and Hon Onyegbule Kingsley Uchenna for Oru East/Orsu/Orlu Federal Constituency of Imo State. Reacting to his victory, an elated Rex Okoro who emerged as the party candidate for Ahiazu Mbaise for the second time appreciated delegates, party leaders, and elders for trusting him with their mandate and called for unity among the party fateful to win the general election in 2023. In his acceptance speech, Onyegbule Kingsley, the Oru East/Orsu/Orlu Federal Constituency PDP candidate, thanked the party’s leadership and delegates for their support and asked other contenders to join him in the struggle to ensure victory for the party in 2023. | PDP, Imo State, Re-run Primary Elections, 2023 General elections | https://bit.ly/3xkzRmk | |
| Daily Post Online | Monday. 6th June 2022 | APC Primaries: Gov Badaru inaugurates committee, as mass defection looms | The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Jigawa State has inaugurated a 27-member reconciliation committee over the just concluded party’s primary elections. Governor Muhammad Badaru Abubakar approved the inauguration of the committee. The committee is saddled with the responsibility of contacting all aggrieved aspirants and party members over the outcome of the just concluded primary elections. This is coming days after some APC and PDP bigwigs were seen in a meeting hosted by the Jigawa NNPP leader, Malam Aminu Ibrahim Ringim at his private residence in Kano. Among the top politicians are three gubernatorial aspirants: Sen. Sabo Muhammad Nakudu, former Deputy Governor, Ahmad Muhammad and Bashir Adamu Jumbo. Others include former member House of Representatives, Hon. Gausu Boyi Ringim, member State Assembly, Hon. Sule Musa Dutse, former Chairman of Dutse, Bala Yakubu Yargaba, among other top PDP and APC supporters. The reconciliation committee, which is under the leadership of Senator Bello Maitama is to prevent mass defection of aggrieved members ahead of the 2023 general election. | APC, Jigawa State, Reconciliation Committee, PDP, 2023 General Elections | https://bit.ly/3tcEYmj | |
| Vanguard Online | Monday. 6th June 2022 | 2023: Bishop Egbo warns against same religion presidential tickets | Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the General Overseer, United Church of Christ Worldwide, His Lordship Bishop Ezenna Egbo, has warned political parties against attempts to foist presidential tickets with nominees of the same religion on the country. According to Bishop Egbo, presenting a Christian/Christian or Muslim/Muslim ticket will not only be unfair, but also heat up the polity. He said, “One last thing before we pray, Nigeria is principally made up of two great religions – Christianity and Islam. It is, however, disturbing that with the 2023 general election fast approaching, some politicians are desperately seeking to foist a Muslim/Muslim ticket in the country. We stand with the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, and say it will not work. We don’t want Muslim/Muslim ticket or Christian/Christian ticket. It would not be fair to have a same religion presidential ticket. We need to always balance power at the highest levels. As a congregation, we have no preferred political party, but we want God to give us the best as leaders of this country in 2023. So, we encourage our members to go and get their PVCs and vote the candidates of their choice.” | 2023 General Elections, Presidential Ticket | https://bit.ly/3Q3rgM7 | |
| Vanguard Online | Monday. 6th June 2022 | 2023: Collecting Dollars to impose leaders is undemocratic — Anglican Bishop | Bishop, Diocese of Kaduna, Anglican Communion, Timothy Yahaya has said that some cabals decide who becomes our leaders by collecting Dollars to appoint people who cannot lead anywhere. He expressed worry over money politics and the imposition of candidates on Nigerians by political parties ahead of the 2023 general elections, saying it is against the tenets of democracy. Bishop Yahaya called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure free, fair and credible elections and appealed to other key actors in the electoral process not to impose candidates on the people as winning votes belong to the majority. This was contained in his message to the nation during the 2nd session of the 22nd Synod of the Anglican Communion which was held on Sunday at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Kaduna. Bishop Yahaya expressed hope that the socio-economic woes befalling the nation will be over in 2023. ""Today we see Naira and Dollar rain because the election is at the corner. Is it democracy for sale? The money of the people pulled from the people, is used to buy positions in our country. Do you mean the entire intelligent agencies in this country cannot trace where these monies are gotten from, and people are arrested and brought to book?. Are we just going to fold our arms and let it go this way?. “There is only one seat in Aso Rock, there are no ten seats in Aso Rock. We call on INEC to follow every word of the electoral Act, to be seen to be independent, to be free and fair to conduct a credible election where everybody will be happy.” | Diocese of Kaduna, Kaduna State, 2023 General Elections, INEC, Electoral Act | https://bit.ly/3NrJ8yS | |
| The Nation Online | Monday. 6th June 2022 | Ekiti 2022: APC chieftain, Ogunlade defects to ADP | A strong member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ekiti State, Mr Ayo Ogunlade, has defected to the Action Democratic Party (ADP). Ogunlade who announced this on Saturday in Ado-Ekiti while addressing newsmen, said he had defected and also picked a form to contest the seat of the Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1 at the National Assembly on the platform of ADP. He said he joined ADP due to the rare leadership value and skills noticed in the person of Mrs Kemi Elebute-Halle, the party’s Governorship candidate. He promised to mobilize people of his constituency to vote in support of Elebute-Halle. Receiving the defector, ADP executives welcomed Ogunlade and said he would not be treated like a new comer but equal with all members. Also, the ADP governorship candidate, Mrs Elebute-Halle said the presence of Ogunlade in the party is a plus and sign of victory. She urged people to continue to support her ambition with a promise to make the state better. | APC, Ekiti State, #EkitiDecides2022, ADP, Ado-Ekiti | https://bit.ly/39eW0t0 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Friday, 3rd June 2022 | APC presidential primary: Aspirants, stakeholders in last throw of the dice | Three days to the decisive presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), all, including darts, warts and kitchen sink are being thrown in from all contending interests in the party. Despite feeble voices of opposition to President Muhammadu Buhari’s plea to APC governors on Tuesday, indications have emerged that the President’s preferred candidate will emerge as the party’s standard-bearer at Monday’s special convention. President Buhari had, shortly before leaving for a working visit to Spain, pleaded with the governors under the aegis of the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) to join hands with him to throw up an acceptable candidate that would inspire hope and lead the party to victory in next year’s elections. The source confided in The Guardian that Jigawa State governor, Abubakar Badaru’s late entry, as well as Senate President Ahmad Lawan’s spirited campaign to win the party’s ticket are part of the President’s strategy to make Southern aspirants “see reason and conduct themselves in the national interest.” He said: “Make no mistake about this, President Buhari wants to protect his integrity. He knows that the right thing is for the President to shift to the South in 2023, but the way and manner Southern aspirants are going about their ambition has shown him that some people are out to make him look bad in the eyes of Nigerians and history. We from the North honour our words and therefore, the attempt to make the President go back on his promise is being resisted.” The source, a former military officer, disclosed that after a planned presidential dinner with the aspirants this weekend, those who have respect for the President would announce their withdrawal. “The Commander-in-Chief would explain to the aspirants why the stability and unity of this country is paramount and go ahead to give reasons behind his choice of the preferred candidate. Those who oppose the President will go to the field to earn their shame,” he stated. The APC chieftain remarked that the 894 (336 plus 558) delegates from Northeast and Northwest are intact for President Buhari’s candidate, adding that the moment the President makes his choice known, a substantial number of delegates from Southeast and North Central would fall in line. “Before going to the Eagle Square on Monday, South/South and Southwest would have seen the futility of continuing any opposition to the President’s stand.” | APC, PGF, Presidential Aspirants, APC Presidential Primaries, Delegates | Page 1 & 6 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Friday, 3rd June 2022 | Insecurity could worsen ahead of general elections, says report | Struggle for power ahead of the 2023 elections has the potential to heighten conflict, especially given security agencies’ poor response to emergencies and distress calls. This position was reached in a study conducted by development experts at Nextier, a leading policy think-tank. The report was authored by Dr. Iro Aghedo, an Associate Consultant at Nextier SPD and a Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria, as well as Dr. Ndu Nwokolo, a Managing Partner and Chief Executive at Nextier SPD and an Honorary Fellow, School of Government and Society, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. The group asserts that with the elite’s desperation to capture power in the elections, there is widespread apprehension that violent cases, including assassinations, might escalate. Besides, members of state security agencies are too few, not strategically deployed, overstretched, ill-equipped and corrupt to effectively manage ubiquitous terrorism, banditry, secessionist agitations, ritual murders, cultism, kidnapping and other forms of violent insecurity. The report discloses that data from the Nextier Violent Conflict Database shows that between June 2020 and April 2022, at least 8,455 persons were gruesomely murdered. “A yearly breakdown shows that 1,494 were killed in the second half of 2020, 4,379 in 2021, and 2,582 from January to April 2022. Among the 2,582 persons killed between January and April 2022, 2,424 were civilians and 158 security officers. In another report, a significant indicator of atrocious mass violence is the upsurge in cases of abductions, which rose from 2,002in 2020 to 5,663 in 2021. As evident from the rising trends of violence, extant mitigation strategies have not been effective. To address this challenge and ensure prompt security of life and investments, the report recommends the need to embrace Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) mechanisms of providing adequate government presence in vulnerable communities, building trust between communities and security agents, as well as fostering closer collaboration with local actors. | Insecurity, 2023 General Elections, EWER, Security Report, Nextier | Page 3 | |
| The Nation Online | Friday, 3rd June 2022 | Akeredolu: why APC must rotate power to retain power | Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu gave tips yesterday to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on how it can hold on to the Presidency after next year’s general election. In a post on his Facebook page, he said: “APC must work to retain power. We must rotate power to retain power. Rotate to the South. Shikena (a Hausa word for final)”. The governor, who was named the chairman of the party’s Convention Security and Compliance sub-committee, has consistently advocated a power shift. Governors of Southern states at three meetings insisted that power should shift to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure. | APC, Ondo State, Presidential Election | https://bit.ly/3xbx3Ik | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Friday, 3rd June 2022 | Presidential Ticket: 72 Hours To APC Primary, Screening Report Not Ready | Seventy-two hours to the presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the report of the screening committee of the party is not ready, raising tension among aspirants and their supporters, Daily Trust reports. The party’s presidential aspirants screening committee, headed by a former National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, had screened 23 contenders for the APC’s presidential ticket at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja between Monday and Tuesday. Since the completion of the exercise, 72 hours ago, there has been tension among the aspirants and their supporters regarding the outcome of the exercise. Daily Trust reports that the committee received a petition against the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The petition was from one Sagir Mai Iyali, who claimed to be a member of the APC from Kano State. He asked the panel to disqualify the former Lagos State governor over alleged false documents he purportedly presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) previously. Contacted yesterday, the screening committee’s Chairman, Chief John Odigi-Oyegun told Daily Trust that they are still working on their report, assuring that the public would be carried along when it is ready. When asked via phone when the report of the committee would be ready, Oyegun said “I don’t know yet, we haven’t finished it. We are still working on it.” | APC Screening Committee, APC National Chairman, INEC, APC Presidential Aspirant | Page 1 & 4 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Friday, 3rd June 2022 | Without Me, Buhari Won’t Have Become President – Tinubu | One of the frontline presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Thursday, opened up on how he led the political struggle that produced President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. Tinubu also categorically said he nominated Professor Yemi Osinbajo as Buhari’s running mate. He spoke at the Presidential Lodge in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, while addressing APC delegates ahead of the party’s primaries. Tinubu was in company of Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his Kano counterpart, Umar Ganduje and former Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima. He said Buhari had offered him the running mate ticket, but some blocs rose against him, fanning embers of Muslim-Muslim ticket. The former governor also said when he was asked to submit three names for running mate, he pencilled Yemi Kadoso, Wale Edun and Yemi Osinbajo. He added that he later settled for Osinbajo as running mate. “You have not heard this from me before. This is the first place I am saying this,” Tinubu who addressed the delegates in Yoruba said. Also speaking on Buhari’s emergence, he said: “If not for me that stood behind Buhari, he wouldn’t have become the president. “He tried the first time, he failed, the second time, he failed, the third time, he failed, he even wept on national television and vowed never to contest again but I went to meet him in Kaduna and told him he will run again; I will stand by you and you will win, but you must not joke with Yoruba and he agreed. Since he became the president, I have never gotten ministerial slots; I didn’t collect any contract. I have never begged for anything from him, it is the turn of Yoruba, it is my turn.” He maintained that he had enthroned many political leaders and it was his time to become president. “I don’t want to lose in history,” he said. Tinubu also said without God and him, Governor Dapo Abiodun would not have emerged in 2019 election. | APC, Presidential Aspirant, Campaign, Bola Tinubu | Page 10 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Friday, 3rd June 2022 | Ohanaeze, Arewa chieftain warn Buhari, APC leaders over 2023 presidency | Apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to plead with the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership to choose an Igbo man to fly the party’s presidential ticket in the 2023 general elections, insisting Igbo remains the only vaccine that can heal and unify the country. In a statement, Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, noted that the imposition of another northern presidency in 2023 could make the country go up in flames. The statement reads in part: “President Muhammadu Buhari has an opportunity to engender national unity. We implore the President to rise above the immature and primitive calculations of the PDP and support Igbo, either from the southeast or Ikwerre in Rivers State to heal the wounds of the injustice of marginalisation and unify the country. Retention of power in the north in 2023 will be a recipe for political maladies, including migraines and perhaps epilepsy. It’s patently disingenuous, even foolhardy to abandon the principle of rotation of power in a Nigeria that has not outgrown the quota system and federal character. Buhari’s hopeful consideration of a Southern aspirant of Igbo stock as APC presidential candidate will reset Nigeria’s potential and bestow on Mr. President the hero of Nigeria’s Democracy. This was as an elder statesman and Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) chieftain, Anthony Sani, urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to stifle democracy by allowing the APC to pick its presidential candidate via consensus mode. Sani, who was the former Secretary-General of ACF, said although the party adopted the method while picking its national chairman, it should resist the temptation in its choice of a presidential flag bearer. | APC, APC Presidential Ticket, 2023 General Elections, ACF, Southern Aspirant, | Page 3 | |
| Daily Post Online | Friday, 3rd June 2022 | Peter Obi: Social media support for LP candidate unsettles presidential aspirants | Since last week when the news broke on the defection of former Anambra State governor, Mr Peter Obi from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the Labour Party, LP, there has been growing support for the former bank chairman, with a lot of support across social media platforms. Upon the news of Obi’s resignation, what one can describe as mass resignation hit the party, with Mr Valentine Ozigbo, PDP’s governorship candidate in the November 2021 governorship election in Anambra, who is running for Senate, withdrawing from the race, but failing to announce his resignation from the party. Apart from Ozigbo’s withdrawal, Hon Valentine Ayika, Hon Tony Nwoye and Hon George Ozodinobi, all former members of the National Assembly are among those who also withdrew from their aspiration and resigned from the party. As at then, a source within Anambra PDP, however, had told DAILY POST that more prominent politicians in the State will still dump PDP in the coming days. The source said it was in anger that Peter Obi left the party, as Uba and others were working to humiliate him in the State, even as he battled his fellow presidential aspirants. “More people will leave before the end of this week. It is true that PDP in Nigeria has problems, but the problem of Anambra PDP is far more than that of the national. It is still the reason they have not held a primary election for any position, till today. The plot is for all Obi’s line up to move en mass, and join the Labour Party, from where they will give PDP a fight,” the source said. Exactly as predicted, more people are still leaving the PDP for the Labour Party, but the worry is now not only that of the PDP, but has spread to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and all who have interest in the coming election. on all social media platforms in the country, there have been all manner of support for Obi by Nigerians who believe he is the best man for the job. There have been comedy skits, political posts by ordinary Nigerians who have shown support for the former governor. Among them are social media posts, which have stated that even if Peter Obi joins ‘end of the year party’, ‘end of discussion party’, ‘party after party’, they would still vote for him. Such cult followership is enough to send jitters down the spine of any other political party, especially as during the first 48 hours of his defection to LP, the server of the party’s website was reported to have broken down as a result of huge traffic, as people registered to become members of the political party. There have, however, been varying views on the followership Obi is gaining on the internet, as some people have stated that following on social media may not translate to physical votes during the election. | Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, Social Media | https://bit.ly/3mbLgyw | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Thursday, 2nd June 2022 | APC stakeholders, PANDEF slam Buhari on ‘successor’ charge | More flaks trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s notice to All Progressives Congress (APC) governors of his decision to ‘anoint’ a successor ahead of the party’s National Convention on Monday. While the APC governors to whom the instruction was handed down are yet to arrive at their choice of a consensus candidate, high-ranking members of the party and senior citizens have berated the President for his comments, which they said could derail the transition process ahead of 2023 general elections. Speaking yesterday, the National Vice Chairman, Northwest of APC, Dr Salihu Lukman, admonished President Buhari not to fall into the temptation of imposing the presidential candidate of the party. Lukman in an open letter said it behooves party stakeholders to take a cue from the December 10, 2014 APC National Convention, where aspirants jostling for the exalted seat of the presidency were guaranteed level playing field. In similar vein, APC stakeholders have called on the leadership of the party to allow a level-playing field for all aspirants. Speaking under the aegis of APC Rebirth Group, the stakeholders said President Buhari’s desire to reciprocate gestures must not compromise the party’s internal democratic processes. They, however, said that “the choice of the President should not amount to an imposition or foreclose the chances of a free and fair contest where the candidate who reflects all the values and virtues of the party and has the potential to defeat the candidates of other political parties will be democratically elected.” Also, supporters of APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, under the aegis of Northern Young Professionals for Tinubu (NYPT) and Tinubu Support Organisation (TSO), have kicked against consensus for the nomination of the party’s candidate. The groups said Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, has great vision for Nigeria and should be compensated for the role he played for the emergence of President Buhari in 2015. The Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), led by the South-South leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has described as absurd situations where citizens of the country do not determine the flag bearers of their parties ahead of general elections as it called for an immediate review of the entire leadership selection process to involve the participation of citizens, especially members of the political parties. Reacting to President Buhari’s request that governors and APC stakeholders allow him pick his successor, PANDEF condemned in very strong terms situations where the people are not carried along in the process of coming up with candidates, except that the governors and few individuals conclude on who should govern the people. | APC, 2023 General Elections, NYPT, TSO, PANDEF, APC National Convention, APC Governors | Page 1 & 6 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Thursday, 2nd June 2022 | INEC Trains Party Officials On Candidate Nomination Portal | The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced training of political party officials on the use of the redesigned INEC’s Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP) in preparation for the 2023 general elections. The Candidate Nomination Portal is one of the technological innovations introduced by the commission in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce physical interactions and automate its processes. Speaking at the opening of the four-day training workshop yesterday in Abuja, INEC National Commissioner and Chairperson of the Legal Services, Clearance and Complaints Committee (LSC&CC), Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, said the Electoral Act, 2022 makes provision for several technological innovations and gives the commission a general discretion to apply technology as it sees fit. She said the portal was recently redesigned to accommodate the greater demands of a wider, general election nomination process. She said, “This training is of utmost importance to political parties as it will enlighten them on the guidelines for nomination of candidates and the new procedure of the ICNP bearing in mind that political parties will be submitting forms on the portal in respect of candidates they intend to sponsor for the various offices in 1,499 constituencies in Nigeria.” | INEC, ICNP, Electoral Act 2022, Portal, Technological Innovations | Page 14 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Thursday, 2nd June 2022 | We’ll Vote Only Pension-Friendly Candidates In 2023 – Pensioners | The Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) has vowed not to vote any presidential and gubernatorial candidate not committed to the plights of pensioners. NUP President, Godwin Adumisi, at a press conference in Abuja Wednesday, said pensioners had been disregarded for too long in the country. “The pensioners shall pitch their tent with the presidential and gubernatorial candidates who are committed and more disposed to their plights by massively casting their votes for them to secure their tomorrow. We’re still watching the candidates and in due time, we’ll inform the press and our members, those we’re going to vote for. If we perceive that if you come into government, you’ll not pay pensions and gratuity, we’ll openly tell pensioners and relatives not to vote for that particular candidate, ’’he said. | NUP, Vote, Pensioners | Page 5 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Thursday, 2nd June 2022 | Don Etiebet, other APC chiefs raise alarm over fake delegates list to national convention | Ahead of the national convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains of the party from Akwa Ibom and Cross River states have raised the alarm over what they described as fake delegates list. Chief Don Etiebet, who spoke to reporters on behalf of party faithful in Abuja, claimed the party in Cross River State had foisted persons, who did not win any election at any congress monitored by INEC as state executives in Akwa Ibom State. The former petroleum minister warned that the presidential primary runs the risk of not producing a validly nominated candidate in line with the electoral laws, if the issue is not addressed by the leadership of the party. Flanked by the immediate past caretaker secretary of the party, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, and former House of Representatives member, Mrs Iquo Inyang, he also described the conduct of the governorship primary as inconsistent with the provision of Section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act. He appealed to leaders of party to intervene and have the situation redressed by directing the conduct of proper governorship primary in line with Section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act. He warned that the party in Akwa Ibom State may not be in a position to present any validly nominated candidate except the issues were redressed immediately. Also, Cross Rivers stakeholders urged Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee (NWC) to ignore what they termed the ‘fraudulent’ list of delegates sent by the party in the state ahead of the convention. Led by Chief Francis Ekpenyong, the group, in a statement in Abuja, claimed they remained authentic delegates having paid for nomination forms, participated in the process and emerged victorious. Ekpenyong urged the national leaders of the party to act fast and follow the already existing delegates lists sent to the national secretary. | APC, Delegates List, INEC, Electoral Act 2022, Section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, Cross River State, Akwa Ibom State, APC National Convention | Page 28 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Thursday, 2nd June 2022 | Lawan to Delegates: Choose a Leader with Absolutely No Baggage | President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, yesterday, wrote to delegates of the party to canvass for votes at the presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) scheduled for next week in Abuja, and urged them to choose a leader with “absolutely no baggage”. This is as leaders of the APC from the South-east, have called on President Muhammadu Buhari and other party leaders to endorse the Senate President as the presidential standard bearer of the party. In a letter personally signed by him, Lawan, with humility, asked for the delegates’ votes so that he could emerge the APC Presidential standard bearer for the 2023 presidential election. However, the leaders under the auspices of South-east Front, spoke about their endorsement after an emergency meeting held in Abuja, where they said APC was left with no option but to take a cue from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which picked its candidate, Atiku Abubakar from the North-east. In a communique signed by Chief Sam Nkire and 24 other APC chieftains, they noted that it would be fair and just for the APC to settle for Lawan as its standard bearer since he also hails from the same geopolitical zone of the country as Atiku. | APC, 2023 Presidential Election, PDP, Geopolitical Zone, Delegates, APC Presidential Primary, Campaign, North-east | Page 43 | |
| Punch Online | Thursday, 2nd June 2022 | Atiku receives PDP’s Certificate of Return | The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party has presented a Certificate of Return to the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. bubakar won the party’s presidential ticket during a special national convention held in Abuja on May 28 and 29, 2022, after scoring 371 votes to beat 11 other aspirants. Governors, governorship candidates, presidential aspirants, members of the Board of Trustees, members of the National Assembly, and critical stakeholders among others graced the ceremony. The event was held on Wednesday at the PDP National Secretariat, Abuja. Atiku said, “My chairman, my dear friends, while I am excited and happy for this opportunity to bear our party’s flag, let us all remember that what just happened is a contest within a family to decide how to put our best foot forward. The main contest is the one to win the Presidency of our country for our Party. And it requires the entire PDP family and other supporters and sympathizers. We must pull everyone together. Nobody should be excluded. “The callous and dangerous APC misrule over the past seven years is there for everyone to see. However, we should not take their defeat for granted. We must unite and work extremely hard for every single vote in this country"", he said. | PDP Certificate of Return, Atiku Abubakar, NWC, PDP Presidential Candidate | https://bit.ly/38X5VDK | |
| This Day Newspaper | Thursday, 2nd June 2022 | Labour Party Crisis Worsens as Court Okays Factional Leader’s Fresh Suit | The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered that the Labour Party and some of its officials be served with a fresh suit pertaining to its leadership crisis through a substituted means. THISDAY gathered yesterday that the judge, Inyang Ekwo, made the order on Monday, after hearing an ex parte application filed by a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Calistus Okafor. In the court order seen by THISDAY, the judge ordered that the defendants be served through the pasting of the court documents filed by the plaintiff at the Labour Party’s secretariat in Abuja within seven days. Okafor, a factional leader of the party, is challenging the legality of the leadership of Akingbade Oyelakin, whom he alleged, “represents persons wrongfully and unlawfully parading themselves as members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of Labour Party.” He also joined the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a co-defendant. Others sued by Okafor included Julius Abure and Umar Farouq, who emerged as the national chairman and the secretary of the party, respectively, at a national executive committee meeting of the party held in Benin, Edo State, in March 2021. The rest of the defendants sued by the defendants were members of the committee set up by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to take over the affairs of the party. The committee members are Salisu Mohammed, Lawson Osagie, Isa Aremu, Baba Aye, Ikpe Ektokudo, Sylvester Ejiofor, and Lucy Offiong. Sued along with them was one Salamatu Aliyu and the NLC. he court in its order issued on Monday, had ordered a, “substituted service of the originating summons, interlocutory injunction, and all other processes in this suit on the 1st to 3rd, 6th to 12th and 14th defendants by pasting the said processes at their political party’s office, which is the 5th defendant’s office, located at No 2, Oke Agbe Street, Off Ladoke Akintoal Boulevard, Garki 11, Abuja.” The 1st to 3rd defendants are Abure, Farouq and Oyelakin. The 6th to the 12th defendants are the members of the NLC committee and the 14th defendant is Aliyu. The court ordered that the service must be effected “within seven days of this order.” The judge then adjourned the case until June 30, 2022, “for further mention.” Okafor had also told THISDAY that Obi decided to defect to LP without proper information on the fact that the party’s leadership had been a subject of litigation since 2018. Okafor had claimed that he remained the authentic national chairman of the party. He had explained that he got the post by virtue of his position as Deputy National Chairman of the party when the late National Chairman, Abdulsalam, was in office. He added that Abure, who is currently leading a faction of the party, was then Acting National Secretary, when Abdulsalam, died in 2020. | INEC, NLC, NWC, Labour Party, Court | Page 6 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Wednesday, 1st June 2022 | Buhari Woos APC Governors Over Choice Of Successor | President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday dropped a bombshell when he told the governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to allow him to make a choice for his successor. The president met the governors ahead of the presidential primary election fixed for June 6, 7 and 8. Credible sources privy to a meeting held between the president and the governors said the president took most of the governors by surprise considering that they wanted him to allow them to choose one among them as the next president. Some of the sources said the president was also bowing to pressure from some powerful forces around him who want to remain relevant in the next administration. One source privy to details of the meeting however said the president’s silence about who his choice was disappointed those who orchestrated the meeting who had envisaged the president’s clear endorsement. “With his speech, the president took many stakeholders by surprise,” one of the sources said. “Even though the president is keen on leaving behind a legacy of success stories at the end of his tenure in 2023 for the future generation to see, he was not particularly interested in circumventing democratic norms or having a direct influence on who succeeds him in order to cover any wrongdoing. It is some people around him and an entrenched so-called establishment who would like to be direct beneficiaries of anointing someone that are working hard to see that the president raise the hands of someone,” he said. The governors of the APC were led into the meeting by Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, who is the chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF). It was learnt that the governors later met at Adamu’s house at the Three Arms Zone where they continued with deliberations on the way forward in the aftermath of what the president said. Daily Trust reports that this is the first time the president would be seeking the backing of the governors in picking his successor whose identity he refused to disclose despite speaking about the qualities the person must possess. Speaking on the matter, the Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Mr Samson Itodo, said that although President Buhari has a right to identify a worthy successor, but he does not have a right to compel acceptance of his successor. Candidates should be selected through democratic primaries not based on the whims and caprice of one individual,” Itodo, who is also a lawyer, said. On his part, the Executive Director, Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), Dr. Ibrahim Zikirullahi, said that going by the primaries of the political parties, nothing has been done to say that they are engaging in anything democratic. | APC, APC Governors Meeting, Successor, 2023 General Elections, PGF, YIAGA Africa, CHRICED | Page 4 | |
| Daily Trust Newspaper | Wednesday, 1st June 2022 | Tambuwal Moves To Run For Senate After Stepping Down For Atiku | Indications have emerged that Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, will run for the Sokoto South senatorial seat. Tambuwal had stepped down his presidential ambition for a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, few minutes before voting commenced at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention last weekend in Abuja. Tambuwal will complete his second term in office next year. His immediate past Commissioner for Land and Housing, Aminu Bala Bodinga, is PDP’s candidate for the senatorial seat. However, Bodinga was said to be holding the ticket pending the outcome of the presidential primary. Therefore, he may be asked to withdraw from the race to pave way for Tambuwal to get the ticket in a fresh senatorial primary. Bodinga has been among the closest allies of Tambuwal since 2015 when he (Bodinga) was at the state assembly as member representing Bodinga South Constituency and their relationship grew stronger in 2018 when he joined the governor in PDP. The senatorial seat is currently occupied by Senator Ibrahim Danbaba who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he left PDP due to protracted internal crisis. However, a source privy to the development told Daily Trust that Danbaba dumped PDP after it became clear that it was the governor who asked Bodinga to aspire for the ticket. This is not the first time Tambuwal will run for another office after losing the presidential ticket. In 2018, when he lost the PDP presidential primary in Port Harcourt, Tambuwal took over the governorship ticket from his Deputy, Manir Dan’iya, contested election and won. | Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto South, Senate, PDP, 2023 General Elections | Page 18 | |
| PM News Online | Wednesday, 1st June 2022 | 2 sons of CJN Tanko get APC, PDP tickets in Bauchi | Two sons of the Chief Justice of the Federation Justice Ibrahim Tanko are contesting the 2023 elections, to the senate and House of Representatives. But they are contesting on different party platforms. One of the sons, Siraj Ibrahim Tanko, won the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for Bauchi North Senatorial seat. He defeated two other contestants, including the incumbent Senator representing the constituency, Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa. The other son of the CJN, Sani Ibrahim Tanko, won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Primary election in Shira Giafe Federal Constituency of the House of Representatives. Unlike his brother, he was elected unopposed. | Chief Justice of the Federation, 2023 General Elections, APC, PDP, Bauchi State | https://bit.ly/3zb0wDM | |
| This Day Newspaper | Wednesday, 1st June 2022 | PDP to Present Certificate of Return to Atiku, Others Today | The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),yesterday, said it would present certificates of return to its presidential candidate for the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar and other governorship candidates today, Wednesday, at noon. This is as a former Vice-President of the party, Namadi Sambo; former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa; former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido and a former presidential aspirant, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, visited Atiku at his home. In another development, the Bauchi State Chapter of the PDP, has completed arrangements for a fresh governorship primary in the state, a development, which has precipitated the withdrawal of the gubernatorial candidate of the party, Ibrahim Kashim, from the race, citing personal reasons. However, in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, the party has invited all the PDP governors, governorship candidates, presidential aspirants, members of the Board of Trustees, members of the National Assembly, all other candidates of the party and all critical stakeholders to the special ceremony of the presentation of Certificate of Return to Atiku, at the NEC Hall, PDP National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Abuja. But the PDP stalwarts, who visited Atiku had done so following his emergence at Saturday presidential nomination convention. | NWC, PDP, Sokoto State, NEC, 2023 General Elections, Presidential Candidate, Governorship Candidate, Jigawa State | Page 8 | |
| This Day Newspaper | Wednesday, 1st June 2022 | 2022: Your Votes will Count, Yakubu Assures Ekiti Electorate | Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, yesterday, said every vote of the Ekiti electorate would count in the June 18 governorship election in the state. Yakubu stated that the commission would be neutral and stand by the obligatory mission of ensuring that no extraneous interferences were allowed to affect the credibility of the poll. The INEC boss spoke in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday during an interface with the Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers in respect of the June 18 governorship election in the state. Addressing the monarchs, Yakubu said a total of 989,202 voters had been registered in Ekiti by INEC, out of which over 740,000 had procured their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), in readiness for the election. He revealed that the commission would conduct the governorship poll alongside the botched Ekiti State Assembly bye-election in Ekiti East Constituency 1. Yakubu stated, “I want to appeal to all voters in Ekiti that their votes will count. We would still return to interact with other critical stakeholders on how to have peaceful election in Ekiti. The atmosphere now for the conduct of the 2022 election is so calm, unlike what we had in 2018. I asked myself what has changed? I was told the royal fathers had been working hard to ensure that the situation is calm and I could see it is really very calm. In this election, there will be two ballot boxes in Ekiti East constituency 1, because they will elect their assembly representative together with the governor. There will be 16 political parties for the governorship election, but only two for the bye-election in Ekiti East. Yakubu added that the Bimodal Voters Authentication System (BVAS) invention had phased out the use of rigging-prone Incidence Forms and the malfunctioning Smart Card readers, for the conduct of elections. According to him, “The BVAS had been introduced and with this, smart card readers had been fully retired. As far as technology is concerned, there will be seamless and fantastic election in Ekiti. There was a mock election here on Monday across the state and the machine worked 100 per cent. Where the machine is unable to get the fingerprints, we will get the facial appearance of the voter. There won’t be incidence form; we have abolished incidence form as well. INEC is not the political party. We don’t have a candidate and all we want is leaving who leads Ekiti in the hands of the citizens and that we shall achieve". | Ekiti State, Gubernatorial Election, INEC, BVAS, PVC, Bye-election | Page 41 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Wednesday, 1st June 2022 | Fresh hurdles for Atiku as suit seeks disqualification, queries citizenship | A constitutional lawyer, Mr. Johnmary Jideobi, yesterday, approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the eligibility of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to contest the 2023 presidential election. The plaintiff, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/751/2022, maintained that Atiku, who is the flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is not constitutionally qualified to participate in the presidential contest. Consequently, he posed two legal questions for the court to determine, after which he sought seven principal reliefs against Atiku, PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who were cited as 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants in the matter. The Attorney General of the Federation was also joined as 4th defendant. Specifically, the plaintiff, asked the court to determine: “Whether by the combined provisions of sections 1(1) & (2), 25 and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), only a Nigeria citizen by birth can contest the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Whether by the combined interpretation of sections 1(1) & (2), 25(1) & (2) and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and giving the circumstances surrounding the birth of the 1st defendant, he can be cleared by the 2nd and 3rd defendants to contest office of President.” THIS came as a PDP stalwart, Chief Jonathan Sunday Akuns, gave reasons why the party’s presidential ticket could eventually be given to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. In a chat with The Guardian on the recent PDP presidential primary, Akuns, who contested the Plateau State governorship ticket, said the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) made a fundamental mistake by not amending the PDP constitution when it decided to neglect zoning and throw the contest open. He said: “NWC’s decision cannot nullify the party’s constitution on rotation between the north and south. The court will disqualify whoever emerges from the north zone under this arrangement. | 2023 Presidential Election, PDP, NWC, INEC, Presidential Aspirant | Page 3 | |
| The Guardian Newspaper | Wednesday, 1st June 2022 | Talks advance for Ekweremadu to join APC | There are strong indications that former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, may join the All Progressives Congress (APC) as part of efforts to realise his governorship aspiration in Enugu State, as talks are now at an advanced stage for it. The Guardian learnt, yesterday, that Ekweremadu and Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State had, on Monday, met with the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu. The closed-door meeting was said to have lasted for three hours at the party’s secretariat in Abuja. Sources said that although the lawmaker had requested for Enugu governorship ticket of the party, he was, however, told to go join the party, adding that the APC had concluded its guber primary, where Chief Uche Nnaji emerged the governorship candidate. At the end of the meeting, Uzodimma said: “We came to see my friend for a ‘tete –a – tete.’” But many believe that it was probably to make a case for Ekweremadu, who failed to participate in the governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which held last weekend in the state.” Ekweremadu had announced his withdrawal from the race less than 24 hours to the commencement of the primary, apparently because of alleged irregularities in the conduct of the April 30 delegates’ election of the party. Although he had relied on the court to right the alleged wrongs, the court had, however, dismissed the suit he filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja. Last Sunday, state chairman of the APC, Ugochukwu Agballah, told a news conference that he had rejected a plea by Ekweremadu to pick the governorship ticket of the party on the ground that the demand was “repugnant” and antithetical to the Electoral Act. He further warned that the party would not give its ticket to Ekweremadu because Nnaji already won the ticket. Despite the dark clouds over the move, supporters of the former deputy senate president were optimistic, yesterday, that their principal would realise the dream of flying the APC’s governorship flag in the 2023 elections, stressing that there was ample time to do so. | APC, Ike Ekweremadu, APC National Chairman, PDP, Delegates, 2023 General Elections, Electoral Act 2022, Enugu Governorship Ticket | Page 3 | |