Tag: Politics

The Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, on Thursday, endorsed the presidential ambition of the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

In a statement the governor made during Tinubu’s visit to the state, Bello stated that the national leader of the APC ‘is a candidate to reckon with.’

The governor said, “We saw the foundation you laid in Lagos and we look forward to seeing you replicate it for Nigeria.”

During his visit, Tinubu donated N50m to the victims of bandit attacks in Niger State.

Tinubu further stated that he believed the current security challenges facing the country would be addressed if efforts were intensified.

He said the APC led government has done much to curtail the security challenges but called on citizens to pray for the government to win the war against insurgency and banditry.

“We share in your grief, I am here for the people of Niger State. I have heard and read of the disasters, banditry and cattle rustling every day, just like what happened on Wednesday again,” Tinubu said.

During his visit, Tinubu was accompanied by Senator Abu Fari from Katsina; Hon Ibrahim Abdullahi, House of Representatives, Niger State and Hon James Falake representing Ikeja Federal constituency of Lagos State.

Moreso, Governor Bello seized the opportunity to for the adoption of new technologies in the ongoing war against banditry and terrorism rather than the use of conventional warfare.

“We don’t fight conventional warfare, let’s use technology even though it is expensive, the situation can be addressed that way. The era of sending soldiers to the forest is over when we can deploy drones to monitor the movement of bandits and hit target effortlessly,” he said.

The National Coalition of Women for Osinbajo (NCWO) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to adopt Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo as their consensus presidential candidate.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, Rabi Dauda, NCWO chairperson, said Osinbajo has the intellectual capacity to make the country progress.

Dauda said the caretaker committee should ensure that the election of APC national leaders at the forthcoming convention is free and fair.

“We strongly affirm Nigerian women’s utmost confidence in the candidature of professor Yemi Osinbajo as a people-focused leader with the right intellectual capacity and innate leadership qualities to move Nigeria forward, with an emphatic attention to women’s progress and development,” she said.

“We demand the emergence of truly people-focused leadership at APC’s forthcoming convention and presidential primaries, either through consensus or voting processes as we look forward to the unfettered emergence of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo as APC presidential flag bearer in 2023 elections.

“We strongly appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari, members of the federal executive council (FEC), state governors, party leaders at federal, state, local government levels and all genuine progressives among delegates to the APC presidential convention to ensure the actualization of an Osinbajo presidency in 2023.

“Without any iota of doubt, we believe that the emergence of Prof Yemi Osinbajo as the 2023 presidential flag-bearer of the APC will give Nigeria the opportunity to realize these lofty collective progressive aspirations.”

Dauda said the APC should ensure that women and youths are put in leadership positions in the party.

Osi Olubadan and former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, has described the death of his former deputy and successor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala as a huge loss to him.

In a condolence statement, Ladoja said he was shocked to hear the news of Alao-Akala’s death, recalling that they were together at two separate functions in Ibadan recently, the last being the funeral of the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji.

Ladoja said his personal relationship with the deceased was cordial till his death, though they had occasions of political disagreements which did not injure their personal relationship.

He recalled that the former police officer joined politics through him, reiterating his earlier position that Alao-Akala was not responsible for his impeachment in 2006 and never saw him as a betrayer..

Former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, has said that the All Progressives Congress, APC, will give its presidential ticket for the 2023 general elections to the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.

Speaking on Tuesday at the recently held 2022 annual lecture of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation in Kano State, the former governor while referring to the National Leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, said the party will only be interested in his (Tinubu) money.

According to Aliyu, any “riff-raff or moneybags” will not get to the highest office in the country, even if they bring out money.

“No matter how much money he has, let him bring the money and we will collect it, Mr. Vice President, wherever you go, we will follow,”

He described Osinbajo, who is yet to declare interest in the presidential race as the best candidate for the ruling party saying, “Mr Vice President, do you know you are the best candidate in your party?”

He stressed that Osinbajo has the acceptance of most Nigerians regardless of tribe, religion and political party.

It was reported that since the Asiwaju of Lagos made his intention known after visiting President Muhammadu Buhari, there has been reactions as Nigerians question his source of wealth and the controversy surrounding his real age.

The former Governor of Osun State, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola has declared support for a factional group of APC in Osun State believing to be working against the aspiration of the incumbent Governor, Gboyega Oyetola.

In a statement made in Ilesya yesterday quoted as thus:

“Notwithstanding the efforts of the APC national leadership to resolve the crisis rocking the party at the state level, the crisis in Osun state appears far from over.

Former Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has declared that he is fully with the Rasaq Salinsile-led faction of the All Progressives Congress in the state.

The Minister of Interior, while addressing his supporters at a public gathering in Ilesa, Osun State on Friday, said there was no point hiding the fact Osun APC had been divided into two factions.

Aregbesola who spoke in Yoruba language stated that, “For those in doubt, Osun APC is divided. We have APC, Rauf Aregbesola’s faction which is chaired by Hon Razaq Salinsile and the other.”

“Everybody is doing his or her own, later, we will renegotiate, we will rearrange everything. The caucus that produced our faction is called The Osun Progressives (TOP) chaired by Elder Lowo Adebiyi. Those people who are doubting whether I am part of TOP or not should listen up, I belong to TOP wholeheartedly.”

Recalled that the APC reconciliation committee led by Senator Adamu Abdulahi visited the state last weekend and met with the contending factions, but the minister of Interior, Ogbeni Aregbesola was absent from the meeting.

….It’s a lifelong ambition, I have the capacity

The national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on Monday said that he has informed President Muhammadu Buhari of his ambition to contest for the position of president in 2023.

Asiwaju Tinubu said it was a lifelong ambition and that he has the confidence, the vision and the capacity to build on the vision of President Buhari.

The APC national leader disclosed this to State House correspondents after meeting behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said he was at the State House to see the President on general issues concerning Nigeria including some of the concerns in the APC as well as security issues.

Asked whether he has informed President Buhari of his ambition to contest for the President in 2023, he said, “I have informed the President of my ambition but I have not informed Nigerians yet, I am still consulting.”

On what was the response of President Buhari, Asiwaju Tinubu said that the President as a democrat did not ask him to stop from contesting.