Senators Yahaya Abdullahi and Enyinnaya Abaribe have formally resigned as Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate respectively. Senate President Ahmad Lawan read their respective resignation letters at the resumption of plenary. The two principal officers resigned following their defection from the party platforms on which they were elected as senators. While Abdullahi defected to People Democratic Party (PDP) from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abaribe dumped PDP for All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Lawan said: “Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe decamped from the PDP to APGA. He also has resigned his position as Minority Leader of this chamber.” “Also, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, in his resignation letter, said he left APC due to lack of internal democracy in the party. “Politics is local. I can’t continue to work for the government at the centre while my people are wallowing in abject poverty. “After failing to get justice in APC, I have moved to the PDP,” Senator Abdullahi said. The letter of Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), announcing his defection from APC to PDP was also read on the floor of the Senate.

  A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Dino Melaye, is confident that former President Atiku Abubakar will win the presidential election in 2023. He also declared that Atiku, who is contesting the election on the PDP platform, will beat the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, before 12pm on Election Day. Senator Melaye made the remarks on Monday when he featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today. “Go and write it down and write it clearly in capital letters; by 12 o’clock by the grace of God, election is over,” he said. “For us in the PDP, we have advised Atiku to please put together his acceptance speech because he is the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. While comparing both presidential candidates, the former lawmaker stated that Atiku stands a higher chance of winning than Tinubu. For him, the PDP candidate is better off in terms of political experience, as well as in the areas of physical strength and intellectual capacity.   Baby Weight According to Melaye, both men are not on the same page, even considering that Atiku served as the vice president for eight years. “Bola Tinubu, with his inordinate ambition, is no match in any way (with Atiku),” he stated. “Bola Tinubu is baby weight compared to Atiku Abubakar and in all ramifications — politically, mentally, medically, socially, even religiously. I can also tell you that Bola Tinubu has never won an election. “Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, in terms of political popularity; are not on the same page. In terms of political experience, you cannot put Tinubu and Atiku on the same page. Atiku stepped down for MKO Abiola. Atiku Abubakar, by the virtue of being the vice president of this country at a time, has political edge in terms of experience more than Bola Tinubu.” A photo combination of Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu. The PDP chieftain added, “In terms of connections, in terms of political manpower, in terms of knowing and understanding this country, including the problems; you cannot put them on the same page. “In terms of even vying for that position, a road you have passed through once, twice, thrice; a man who is trying to take that route for the first time cannot begin to drag muscle with you.” Melaye insisted that the APC candidate cannot stand his party’s candidate, stressing that Nigerians cannot afford to have another president who travels for medical trips. He said, “You have to be mentally and physically fit to become the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is a constitutional requirement. It is not possible for you to have an incapacitated president. “Just like this President is visiting London every now and then for medical trips, do you think Nigerians want to go back to that? You want us to go from ‘sai baba’ to ‘sai kaka’? Meanwhile, kaka (in Hausa language) means grandfather, baba means father.”

  The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has warned the presidential flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, against picking the governor of Rivers State, Nyesome Wike, as his running mate. According to MURIC, the Rivers State Governor is allegedly one of the bigoted Christian governors who had been blacklisted by Nigerian Muslims. The Islamic organisation shared this view in a statement signed and circulated by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola. The group said it had come to its knowledge that Wike is among those being considered by the PDP and Atiku as a possible vice presidential candidate and deemed it necessary to warn the party and its flagbearer against such a move. “Wike is an open enemy of Islam, a Muslim-hater primus inter pareil and an unrepentant mosque destroyer,” the statement alleged. “The extremist remarks of Wike are still on record. He declared Rivers State a Christian State contrary to the constitution,” the group’s statement reads in part. The Islamic rights group expressed the fears that the Rivers State Governor may create a worse situation and an unconducive environment for Muslims in Nigeria if he becomes a vice president of the country. According to the MURIC, “Wike should not be allowed to hold any post at the federal level.” The group claimed that “Wike hates the sight of mosques” and is ready to use his office as the number two citizen of the country to destroy all mosques in Nigeria. MURIC said that the Governor “is intolerant, unpredictable and violence-inclined” and does not have the trust of Muslims in Nigeria. The rights group believes that Wike, who came second in the PDP’s presidential primary election, “will definitely be a bad market for Atiku.” MURIC said that Wike does not have electoral value at the national level and for that reason should be overlooked by the main opposition party. “We, therefore, advise Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to avoid Wike by all means,” MURIC said.

  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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement “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.”