SENATOR Ben Ayade, the Cross River State governor has been adopted to take over the Senatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the Northern Senatorial District of the state. The party is scheduled to conduct a primary for his formal adoption on Thursday at the Ogoja, headquartres of the district to handover the ticket to the governor. In a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC by the party’s National Chairman Dr Abdulahi Adamu and the National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore , the APC listed three constituencies across the country including Cross River North whose ticket bearers have withdrawn their candidacies to contest the 2023:election on its platform which warrants the conduct of fresh primaries to elect new flag bearers to replace them. The constituencies are: Cross River North Senatorial district, Isa Sabon Bimi Federal Constituency, Sokoto State and Bauchi Federal Constituency, Bauchi State “Consequent upon their voluntary withdrawal, we write to notify the Commission that the party will conduct fresh primaries to nominate new candidates for the listed constituencies on Wednesday, 13 July to Friday, 15 July”. The State party Chairman, Barrister Alphonsus Eba has instructed ward and local government executives along with party leaders to conduct ward congresses in the five local government areas that form the district on Wednesday and elect delegates to vote in the primary on Thursday to formally adopt the governor.

  The Leadership of the Concerned Northern APC Youth Forum has saluted the Presidential candidate of the APC and all party stakeholders for the choice of Sen. Kashim Shettima as the Vice presidential flag bearer of the party, saying they won’t sleep until victory is assured in 2023.   Speaking to journalists , Chairman of the Forum, Hon. Suleiman Liba said ” this choice is the best for the Party and it is the winning formula for the 2023 general election.” Hon. Suleiman Liba further stated that “Shettima is a proven grassroot politician with several antecedents of excellence to his name.” Hon. Liba said that Nigerians, especially members of the opposition should stop heating up the polity by saying a Muslim – Muslim ticket of the APC is not the way to go, as according to him, Nigerians will not vote on the sentiment of religion rather, on competency and track record, which he said both men have as Governors of Lagos and Borno States respectively. Hon. Suleiman Liba said “it is time to get to proper work and ensure that this mandate is successfully delivered come 2023.” In his words, “we have started working already, as we already have posters printed carrying Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Kassim Shettima, to be pasted across all 19 northern states and the FCT.” “We are confident that victory is sure for the APC in the forthcoming presidential election, but again we are not to go to sleep as all hands must be on deck to ensure victory for the APC come 2023.” “Besides the pasting of posters, plans are already in place by the group to stage a mega rally in the entire north to carry out voters registration sensitization campaign even down to interior villages.” “We are proud of this choice and we shall work our head out to ensure it becomes a reality,” Suleiman said

  Ovie Omo-Agege, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta, has appointed Godsday Orubebe, former minister of Niger Delta affairs, as director-general of his campaign council. In a statement on Wednesday, Omo-Agege said Orubebe will lead “critical engagements” that would culminate in the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the polls. Orubebe was a national agent of the PDP in the 2015 general election. He resigned his membership of the party in June. The deputy senate president said bringing the former minister on board strengthens his campaign. “Orubebe shall, side by side with me, lead critical engagements and drive consultations, and by his renowned robustness, up the ante for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,” he said. “Together with the rest of the team, we shall show PDP the way out of Government House come May 29, 2023. “Bringing him on board strengthens the campaign organisation straightaway, and builds a strategic redoubt of crucial stakeholders at the grassroots for the contest ahead. “When news of Elder Godsday Orubebe’s resignation from the PDP filtered in, June, our campaign organisation applauded him for toeing the path of progress and enjoined him to pitch tent with progressives in the APC, and help in the task of taking over Government House come 2023. “I am proud to announce that he heeded that call and joined our party, the APC, in his ward at Burutu Local Government Area. “He will be bringing to our campaign organisation his vast reach at the grassroots, as well as at the state and federal levels, having been a supervisory councillor and chairman of local government, a state party chairman, and a two time minister of the federal republic.”

  Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), has criticised the choice of Kashim Shettima as running mate of Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Tinubu had, on Sunday, announced Shettima, former Borno governor, as his running mate for the 2023 elections. While the development has elicited varied reactions, Lawal kicked against the decision and asked the APC to find a way to compel Tinubu to change his choice. The former SGF, who has been at the forefront of the campaign for Tinubu, in a statement on Tuesday, said the APC presidential candidate’s choice amounted to exclusion, which would not bode well for the party even if it wins the election. “I thought I will be able to avoid commenting on the disastrous error by my very good friend, Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his choice of a running mate. I will be the very last person to stand in the way of my very good friend Tinubu’s path to the presidency. This is because since 2011, my consuming passion has been for him to succeed Buhari as President of Nigeria,” the statement reads. “It will not be true if I say that I did not see it coming. I have often read his body language, picked up snippets from several discussions with his lapdogs (some of whom, sadly are Christians but most of whom are Moslems) and I have conveyed my reservations to them against the pitfalls of a Moslem-Moslem ticket towards which I sensed they were drifting. “As part of my obligation to him, a close friend, I had on many occasions argued the merits and demerits of both ticket permutations to him. I have done so in both verbal and written form and I have likewise, done so with some of his close respectable associates and friends. In all instances, I had left him with the sole responsibility for his final decision, arguing that in the end, the consequences of the outcome of any bad decision will be his to bear. “There might be some collateral damages though. I have also on several occasions passed on to him counsel and messages from some well meaning Nigerians intended to alert him on the possible outcomes of the Presidential ticket permutations. “Tinubu is a very good man. He is a great listener. He has a very humble and friendly disposition to every one. He is very generous in both cash and kind, especially where it could advance his political interests. But I have realised that it is in the nature of power that sycophants and lapdogs have the most influence on leaders with such character traits. They will lie to him, malign and disparage others and generally do anything to curry his favour and to also put well-meaning associates in bad light. “I suspect this is what has happened to my friend. He has been cornered by self-serving, hero-worshiping lapdogs. It never used to be like this. While in his hey-days in Lagos, he surrounded himself with smart, street-wise guys that could tell truth to power. He had Rauf Aregbesola, Yemi Osinbajo, Babatunde Fashola, Dele Alake, Muiz Banire, etc. The Lagos days were the days of think-tanks, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, principles and ideologies. But these people have since grown-up and moved up to establish their own systems leaving my friend stranded. Nature they say abhors vacuum. “Welcome the Abuja equivalent. But the Abuja equivalent are people inflicted with the modern Nigerian diseases – religious bigotry, sycophancy and morbid tribalism. They are mostly political jobbers who are most times not averse to the application of diabolical means. Gone are the days of think-tanks and strategic planning. Gone are the days of principles and ideologies. Try and call a meeting; they will not attend. Try and make a plan; they will sabotage it. Everything is ad-hoc, everything is chaotic because they excel in such environments. “The result is that they have played on his longterm ambition to be President and have built it into a sort of desperation and a crescendo that easily justifies this satanic resort to a Muslim-Muslim ticket. This is the calamity that has befallen my friend.” Lawal, who described Shettima as “an overambitious man who has a Machiavellian bent and has lots of money with which to procure a preferred-candidate status among Tinubu’s lapdogs”, said the choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket will be counter-productive. “Alhaji Kashim Shetima is a Greek gift from the Northern governors to Tinubu. I advise Bola to make sure Kashima’s two hands are always in his plain sight and empty,” he said. “True, based on the advice of his new friends, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made his choice. And I am sure he thinks he is ready for the outcome of that choice. He has chosen to bring religion to the front burner of Nigerian politics. And being a Muslim, he has chosen to take sides with his own religion. For all he cares, Christians can go to blazes with their votes. “But he must also be told that there will consequences for this choice. Some of them are that Christians all over the country will revolt against the APC to put the chances of his election in serious jeopardy. It will also put the election of all Christians standing for elections in Christian dominated areas in jeopardy. This could result in APC being a minority party in both the National and State Houses of Assembly. “Now tell me which Christian will vote for APC with the following contraption: Moslem Presidential Candidate (Lagos), Moslem Vice Presidential Candidate (Borno), Moslem National Chairman (Nasarawa), Moslem Deputy National Chairman (Borno), Moslem President (Katsina); Moslem Senate President (Yobe); Moslem Speaker (Lagos); Moslem Deputy Speaker (Plateau) e.t.c.” The former SGF also said if Tinubu thinks choosing a Muslim running mate will secure victory for him, he may be wrong as northern Muslims may vote for Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) instead. “But, were he

  The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, has lambasted Muslim cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Gunmi, describing his statement on the alleged tone down of Biafra agitation after Mr. Peter Obi’s emergence as the Presidential candidate of Labour Party as hypocritical. MASSOB said that Gumi’s statement against pro Biafra agitation is deceiving and full of falsehood. The group stated that MASSOB and other pro Biafra agitators have been in the self-determination struggle for Biafra actualization and restoration, and have never clamoured for an Igbo man to be Nigeria president. “Our agenda is known, our mission is stated, our position is unshakable and uncompromised and our goal is to actualize an independent state of Biafra through the principals of non violence. We can never be cowed or intimidated by the Chief patron and negotiator of Fulani terrorist movement ravaging the entire Northern region and rest of Nigeria in pursuit of president Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda of islamising Nigeria,” said MASSOB Leader, Comrade Uchenna Madu. Madu in his reply to Gunmi noted that MASSOB and other pro Biafra organizations have nothing against Mr Peter Obi and his intention to save Nigeria from further collapse since he believes in Nigeria, but that MASSOB believe in Biafra. “If Nigerians elect him based on his competency and pedigree as their new president, does it concern MASSOB? It’s not our business. Mr Peter Obi is not the first person to contest presidential election since September 1999 when we started the MASSOB non violent self-determination struggle. Why attaching him to us now? “MASSOB advises Shiekh Gunmi to explain his role and other Fulani cabals in the terrorist attack and breaking of Kuje prisons in Abuja. Don’t use Mr Peter Obi and pro Biafra agitation to divert attentions,” Madu chided Gunmi.