20 minute read
Politics
By Musa Baba Adamu
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has explained why the Senate decided to shift the passage of the 2023 Appropriation Bill to next Wednesday.
Advertisement
Lawan gave the explanation at the commencement of the plenary on Thursday against the backdrop of an earlier announcement that the Bill would be passed before the chamber adjourned for Christmas recess on Thursday.
He told his colleagues during the session: “Today was scheduled for us to receive and consider the report of our committee on Appropriation for the 2023 Appropriation Bill.
“However, due to some challenges, we are not able to receive the report of the committee, and the main reason is that the Appropriation Bill came to the National Assembly with some problems and when our committees on appropriation in the senate and the House of Representatives started to reconcile the figures of what we have done and what was presented, the problems became very obvious and they were not easy to deal with, and therefore our committees had to start a process of cleaning up the Bill first.
“That process, of course, also engaged the executive arm because the problems came from there. It was concluded only yesterday, and our committee secretariats are not able to finish processing the budget for us to take today nor tomorrow, nor Saturday nor Sunday because this are periods that are for festivities, Christmas period. Monday, Tuesday are public holidays.
“Consequently, we can only receive the report and consider it on Wednesday, the 28th December, 2022. That is the earliest, that’s
Why NASS shifted passage of 2023 budget to next week - Lawan
next week.
“So far, this ninth National Assembly has done so much to pass the previous appropriation Bills since 2019, before the end of the year to date and I’m sure that this would remain one of the cherished legacies of the ninth National Assembly.
“So by the Grace of God, on the 28th of this month, the senate and indeed the House of Representatives will all come back to receive and consider the budget report from our committees.
“Secondly, our committee on Finance is this morning holding a public hearing on the Finance Bill 2022, and of course the finance Bill is the basis on which the Appropriation Bill 2023 is built.
“We had arranged yesterday that the finance committee will present a report of the Finance Bill Hearing at 2pm today. That of course would not be possible. This is the reason: We also receive two communications yesterday - Supplementary Budget 2022 and of course, Ways and Means. So our committees on Appropriation, Finance, Water Resources, Agriculture and Works and Housing will be processing the Bills for today.
Senator Ahmad Lawan
Nigeria has failed, but I’ll turn it around - Peter Obi
By Christiana Ekpa
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has said that Nigeria is a failed state today but he and his running mate are in the race for the Presidency to rescue and turn it around.
Obi told a large crowd of supporters in Port Harcourt, Rivers state that he used transforming and turning around failed businesses and if elected by February 25, 2023 he and Yusuf Datti Ahmad will turn Nigeria around.
“Datti Ahmed and I are not in this business for anything, we are committed to building, a new Nigeria that is possible. Hold us responsible, we are prepared for the job.”
In a response to a question from an Obidient, he said, “Somebody asked me today, with all these monies they have stolen how would you transform Nigeria, and I said, I have turned around failed businesses; Nigeria is a failed country , give it to us we will turn it around. We want Nigerians to hold us responsible for turning around this country.
“I am not looking for anything. I have been a governor for 8 years. I didn’t owe salary or gratuity or pension, but I left 150 million dollars and 30 billion naira. Go to Anambra State, if you see one piece of land allocated to Peter Obi, the wife or anybody close to me, I will stop running”
Obi reiterated his earlier position that next year’s election would not be on my turn, tribe or religion but to be based on the character we can trust, who has capacity, and competence.
The LP candidate told the jubilant crowd that his desire is, “to build a society where people will be secured, where a child of nobody will be able to be president of this country.
According to the former Anambra state Governor, time is now to change this country, “We must vote for someone with competence, someone with capacity and capability. This job is a job for people with physical and mental energy, not retirement home”
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Bar Julius Abure who also addressed the rally said that 2023 Presidential election offers Nigerians the opportunity and time “to recover our country from those who have put us in poverty, in hunger and unemployment. Therefore, the choice we must make in 2023 is Labour Party and Peter Obi.
He reminded Nigerians that why the country has failed and why Nigerians have been suffering is because, “we have been voting for the wrong people. It is now time for us to vote the right people who will recover this country again”
PDP a degenerate alarmist, afflicted by its infamy - APC
By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
All Progressive Congress (APC) has said opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has continued to outdo its own record of disgraceful display of despicable desperation and despondency in the conduct of its public affairs.
In a statement issued yesterday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the party said utterly discombobulated by prospects of impending annihilation at the polls, the PDP has dived deeper into its murky cesspool of confusion, calumny and unmitigated irrationality.
“Barely Sixty-Five days to the 2023 Presidential Election, the PDP remains preoccupied with spewing gibberish and falsehoods as choice electoral strategy at a time when serious political parties are digging deep, canvassing votes and building viable electoral networks. Afflicted by its infamy, the PDP’s latest incoherent press conference built entirely on malicious lies and unimaginative conjecture only certifies the party’s irredeemable descent into the dark abyss of inglorious political history.
“At a recent press conference, the PDP, alleged that our great party was plotting to scuttle the 2023 general election by sponsoring attacks on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC’s) facilities, allegedly, to prevent new registrants from collecting their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs); destroy PVCs to forestall collection by potential voters; destroy INEC’s equipment and cripple it’s capacity to conduct elections; and create tension across the country to “validate a narrative that elections cannot hold, then orchestrate a constitutional crisis with a view to justifying a shift of the elections and perpetuate certain APC elements in office beyond May 29, 2023.” And the only basis for these dumb allegations is what decrepit PDP calls “intelligence available to our Party”.
“As a responsible ruling Party that we are, the All Progressives Congress (APC) abhors all forms of violence and electoral malpractices. We stand united with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in its effort to conduct a free, transparent and fair election next year. We have and continue to, unequivocally, condemn attacks on INEC’s facilities and staff, and urge our security agencies to protect these important facilities, and to bring perpetrators of these acts to justice.
“Violent attacks against INEC facilities and staff are very serious matters of national concern and security and has potential to destabilize our set electoral program on which the viability and sustainability of our nascent democracy depends. It is not a flimsy matter that anyone or political party should appropriate as material for a morbid comedy skit as the PDP chooses to do and has done quite consistently during this electoral season.
“A responsible political actor or party that has any credible and actionable intelligence on matters as serious as plots to destabilize our national elections would turn that information or “intelligence” over to our many law enforcement agencies for full and thorough investigation and possible arrest and prosecution of perpetrators.”
POLITICS
Collect their money, vote for me – Obi urges supporters ahead 2023
By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi has urged his supporters to collect the money offered to them by opposition political parties and still vote for him.
The Labour Party candidate made the call on Thursday at the Labour Party presidential rally in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to Obi, the money belongs to Nigeria but was “stolen” by those in government.
He said “Let me tell you, that money they are giving you is your money, collect it, eat it and vote
2023 election: I’ll tell Nigerians my presidential candidate in January - Wike
By Musa Baba Adamu
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said he will make his preferred presidential candidate known in January 2023.
Wike stated this while speaking during the commissioning of the Rumukurishi flyover in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
The governor also said he would campaign for his adopted candidate across Nigeria.
He said, “From January next year, I’ll campaign to my people who they’ll vote for.
He added, “I’ll move from state to state [for campaigns], and why they should vote for the person, nothing will happen.” for me.
Obi also expressed his intention to unite Nigeria and move it from consumption to production.
He urged Nigerians to hold him accountable, while promising to revive the country, the same way he had “revived dead companies” in the past.
Court quashes suit seeking removal of Kola Abiola as PRP presidential candidate
The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, dismissed a suit filed by an aspirant, Madam Patience Key to challenge the emergence of Kola Abiola as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party, PRP.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a judgment, held that the suit was statute-barred, hence, the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain it.
Justice Mohammed, who said the suit was a pre-election matter, said it ought to have been instituted within 14 days from the date of the occurrence of the cause of action in compliance with Section 285(9) of the 1999 Constitution.
The judge agreed with the defendants that though the PRP presidential election was conducted on June 5, the plaintiff filed the suit on June 28, when the case ought to have been instituted no later than June 19.
Mohammed held that though Madam Key raised weighty allegations against the conduct of the poll, which she alleged was marred by irregularities, vote buying, non-compliance with Section 84 of the Electoral Act and gross violations of the party’s guidelines for the conduct of primaries, he said these could not take preeminence over failure to file the case within the time prescribed by law.
The judge consequently dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction to hear it, having been statute barred.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the plaintiff, Key, had, on June 28, sued PRP, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Mr Latifu Abiola as 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants respectively.
Key, in her earlier originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/ CS/1001/2022, had challenged the emergence of Mr Abiola as the party’s presidential candidate, among others.
She had prayed to the court to nullify the poll that produced Abiola as the PRP’s presidential candidate, among others.
But in an amended originating summons granted by the court dated Aug. 31 and filed on Sept. 2, the plaintiff sought a consequential order setting aside the submission of Abiola’s name by PRP to INEC on June 15 as the flag,-bearer and presidential candidate for 2023 election on account of gross violations of the party’s guidelines for the conduct of primaries and the provisions of the Electoral Act.
She said the party was in breach of Section 84 (5)(b){i) and (ii) of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Political Party Primaries, Article 5 (13(a)(i-ix) of the Constitution of the PRP’s Guidelines for the Nomination of Candidates for the 2023 General Election,” among others.
She argued that the presidential primary was conducted across the 36 states and FCT, against the provision of the Electoral Act which stipulates that the primary should be conducted in one venue.
Besides, Key averred that INEC did not monitor the June 5 presidential primary in breach of the law, citing the previous case of Uche Nwosu Vs. APP, to back her argument. (NAN)
If you don’t want poverty in Warri, vote APC out – Gov Okowa to Deltans
By Christiana Ekpa
Delta State Governor and Vice Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ifeanyi Okowa has urged the people of Warri South Local Government Area of the State to vote out the government of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governor Okowa spoke at a PDP rally held at the Warri township stadium.
He noted that the APC had accused his administration of wasting the State’s resources on appointments, explaining that he appointed so many people to provide food on the table of Nigerians.
Governor Okowa who insisted that it is time for the APC government to leave pointed out that the party brought hunger to Nigeria.
According to Governor Okowa, “We don’t want poverty to continue. 8 months ago, students were at home. Not going to school because they couldn’t pay. In Delta, people were going to school. We were able to pay salaries. We don’t want that party that’s spoiling things for us. Vote them out.”
Governor Okowa also said there’s no hope for the Labour Party, “it is only in PDP you can find a road. Let’s vote for PDP.”
He expressed the belief that the PDP in Delta State will win the forthcoming elections landslide.
Governor Okowa however, begged the people of Warri to begin a “door-to-door campaign” and vote en mass for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar and other candidates of the party in the forthcoming election to save the country from the dungeon which, he claimed the APC government has plunged it into.
Gov Okowa
2023: PDP safest platform for Plateau, Nigeria – Guber candidate, Mutfwang
By Musa Baba Adamu
The gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang has adjudged the Party the most credible platform for the state ahead of the 2023 elections.
He said the plot orchestrated by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to take the PDP out of the ballot in 2023 has failed; urging citizens to shun the APC and vote for PDP in the coming polls.
Mutfwang disclosed this on Thursday while appreciating Plateau people for coming out en mass to receive the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar during the recent presidential campaign rally in Jos, the State Capital.
He described PDP as a probable wife who was rejected and after marrying another one which is the APC, the people turned out disappointed and reverted to the first wife which is the PDP.
Mutfwang apologized to Plateau people for the shortcomings of the PDP in the past and assured that the mistakes of the past would not be repeated going forward.
He acknowledged that he does not have all the solutions to the challenges currently confronting Plateau but assured that everybody would be brought on board to galvanize valuable initiatives and ideas to move the state forward.
“There are people who have lost hope in the 2023 elections, we have people who are drowning, we have our opponents who have lost hope and they already know that they are defeated at the polls and the only thing they can do is to try to raise fears in the minds of loyal voters to the PDP, but I wish to tell you that there is no such thing.
“I can tell you that there are some attempts sponsored by the APC government to take the PDP out of the ballot, but sadly, they failed.
As long as I’m alive, I’ll keep contesting for president – Atiku tells Wike, others
By Musa Baba Adamu
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has told Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike and others expecting him to retire from politics if he fails to win in next year’s general election, that presidency is a life-long ambition, vowing to keep pushing until he succeeds in becoming Nigeria’s president.
Speaking with Financial Times, the PDP presidential candidate said he would keep pursuing his ambition as long as he is alive and healthy.
“It is a life-long ambition and as long as I’m alive and strong and healthy, I will continue pursuing it,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President is one of the top candidates vying for the 2023 presidential election.
It’s widely believed that the Waziri of Adamawa has been vying for the presidency since 1992 when he stepped down for MKO Abiola.
During the last presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari defeated him to retain power.
However, mixed feelings have continued to trail Atiku’s 2023 presidential pursuit, as some believe that he has no chance while others feel he is better positioned to win.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
Buhari kicks as Atiku vows to reopen all borders if elected President in 2023
By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
The Federal Government has slammed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for saying he would reopen all Nigerian borders if elected as President of Nigeria in 2023.
Atiku had, during his campaign stop in Katsina on Tuesday, said that he would reopen all borders if elected President.
But during the 15th edition of the ‘PMB Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023)’ on Thursday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the former Vice President had informed Nigerians that he would reverse all the efforts made by Buhari to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of many staples, especially rice.
According to Mohammed, by that statement, Atiku has informed the country’s millions of rice farmers that they will soon lose their jobs when imported rice floods the country.
He also said that Atiku has just informed Nigerians Atiku told hundreds of “Nigerians working in the various rice mills that have sprung up under this Administration that their jobs are over.”
He also said that Atiku would be shutting down most, “if not all, of our new fertilizer blending companies, with thousands of jobs going down the drain. And by his declaration, the former Vice President has told Nigerians that he will worsen security in the country by allowing arms and ammunition to flow unhindered into the country.
“Atiku Abubakar has simply announced that he intends to return Nigeria to the number one importer of Thai rice in 2023!
“Out of desperation, he is ready to worsen the security situation in Nigeria by throwing open all the borders and allowing a massive inflow of small arms and light weapons into the country,” he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Court affirms expulsion of Kenneth Udeze from Action Alliance
By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has affirmed the expulsion of Kenneth Udeze, a factional chairman of the Action Alliance, AA, from the party.
Giving the judgment at the Federal High Court 4 Abuja, Justice Zainab Abubakar, also struck out a suit brought before the court by the said Kenneth Udeze to stop INEC to set aside the court order directing INEC to release the upload code to the party, saying that the case lacks merit.
According to the judge: “The court viewed that Kenneth is not a member of Action Alliance, hence his lack of statutes to institute any matter at all on behalf of the party.”
Recalled that the party’s National Think Thank committee, which is the highest ruling organ of the party had since 2019 suspended and subsequently expelled Kenneth Udeze from the party.
Similarly, an Abuja Court of Appeal, in a judgment dated 11th November 2022, affirmed the expulsion and suspension of Barrister Kenneth Udeze from the party, Action Alliance.
In his reaction, the National Chairman of AA, Dr Adekunle Rufai Omo-Aje, described the judgement as a welcome development and called on INEC to immediately release the code and pin to the party to upload its candidates to INEC.
Don’t sell your destiny for bags of rice – SDP’s candidate, Adebayo tells Nigerians
By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo has urged Nigerians to vote right in 2013.
He also said that Nigerians must think of their destiny and not allow money or bags of rice influence their choices during the election.
Prince Adebayo stated this on Tuesday, 20th December 2022, during a solidarity rally organized by the party’s candidate for Oyo North Senatorial District, Hon. Mulikat Adeola, in Ogbomosho, Oyo State.
He said, “Look at your life and ask yourself, is this the life God created me to come and live? Is this the life my children will live? Will I serve these people and my children will come and serve them too?
“Use your vote to fix your destiny, do not look at bag of rice or N2 000, so you will use your hands to repair your destiny”.
Prince Adebayo further noted that with SDP in power, hunger, poverty, unemployment and homelessness will be a thing of the past.
He urged Nigerians to punish the politicians who have stolen money meant for the people and buried it in their houses by voting them out.
Delta Boat Mishap: APC chieftain, Onowakpor condoles bereaved families
By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Candidate for Delta South Senatorial District for the 2023 general elections, Joel-Onowakpo Thomas has condoled the families of those who lost their lives in the unfortunate boat mishap on their way back from a campaign in Ugborodo and Okerenkoko, Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.
Joel-Onowakpo, in a condolence message signed by himself and made available to newsmen in Warri, Delta State, expressed deep sympathy with those directly affected and the APC family, urging them to take solace in the Lord.
While describing the incident as tragic and unfortunate, he said that the only thing one can do in these circumstances is to pray to God to give the families the fortitude to bear the irreparable losses.
According to the message, “I want to sincerely express my heartfelt condolences to the families that lost their loved ones in a boat mishap on December 20th, 2022, after the governorship campaigns at Ugborodo/Okerenkoko in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.”
Two persons were confirmed dead, three still missing, and seven others in hospital following the boat mishap involving loyal party members and supporters of the All Progressives Congress.
The incident which took place in the night was said to have happened when a commercial boat travelling in the opposite direction rammed into the boat carrying the party’s supporters, as they were returning from a rally in Okerenkoko, Warri South West Local Government Area, 20th December 2022.
