A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has described as futile the candidacy of the Labour Party’s flagbearer, and his running mate in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed, respectively. Adegboruwa, in a statement on Tuesday, titled, “The Futility of Obi/Baba-Ahmed Ticket,” said the duo lacked a legitimate party or structure but leveraged on their financial prowess to buy the platform meant for genuine working-class representatives. Adegboruwa also said that there was no major difference among the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Congress, and the Labour Party; Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, and Obi respectively. The PUNCH reports that Obi, who was a presidential aspirant under the PDP, had decamped from the PDP to the Labour Party, where he finally secured the ticket to contest Presidency in the 2023 elections. Adegboruwa wrote, “They are usurpers with no legitimate party or structure, leveraging on their financial prowess to corner a ticket meant for genuine representatives of the working class. “They revel in parading dubious statistics, gathering mob support without ideology or principle other than raw anger against the status quo, which their idols were part and parcel of. “The supposed anger of bourgeois renegades against their fellow capitalists can never result in any benefit for the masses that they have all wickedly trampled upon with glee. Ad Adegboriwa stated that Obi represented nothing more than ethnic and religious colourations in today’s Nigeria, adding that the same representations produced the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd,)’s regime. “What does Peter Obi offer or represent in present-day Nigeria other than ethnic and religious sentiments? Were those not the same factors that produced the error of the Buhari regime? “Are we not to rate aspirants in line with their track records? Or what exactly can we find for inspiration in Obi’s eight-year adventure in Anambra State?” He asked. He noted that “Hajia Harira Jibril was gruesomely murdered in cold blood in Anambra State, yet the “peoples’ President” neither visited the family nor issue a single statement in condemnation.” “Do we now hand over Nigeria to opportunists or inventors of commercial degrees?” The renowned lawyer also said Obi would have never emerged as a presidential candidate if he had remained in the PDP, saying, “had the stained and leaking umbrella of the PDP shaded Obi, would he have ever emerged as the disgruntled representative of the disorganised “new movement?” Adegboruwa further stated that the Nigeria Labour Congress, promoters of Obi’s new-found Labour Party, had become a “toothless entity, incapable of prosecuting any meaningful struggle since the advent of the APC administration, which has perfected the egregious style of persecuting or compromising all opposition strongholds.” “The price for crass opportunism is a principled rejection of all its apostles and beneficiaries. “I cannot see the benefit for Nigeria in the Obi/Baba-Ahmed stillborn ticket, neither do I discern any marked difference among Atiku, Obi, and Tinubu. In fact, a decamped or frustrated member of the oligarchy is worse than his masters,” he concluded. Efforts to reach the spokesperson for Peter Obi, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, proved abortive as his known line was not reachable as of the time of filing this report.

FORMER Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South leader, Chief Edwin Clark, on Tuesday, gave an insight into why former President Goodluck Jonathan stopped attending meetings of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. According to Clark, former President Jonathan is angry with his party because of what party members, led by the former National Chairman and past Governor of Bauchi State, Adamu Muazu, did to him when he wanted to be re-elected in 2015. Clark noted that PDP leaders from the North worked against Jonathan because, according to them, it was the turn of the North to produce the President. He stressed that many of the PDP governors from the North mobilised funds for the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, against their own flag bearer. The elder statesman and leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, noted that Jonathan had learnt his lesson, which explained why he stopped attending meetings of PDP especially the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party. He spoke at his Asokoro residence in Abuja, when he played host to the Delta Central APC Leaders of Thought, DECALT, led by its National Leader, Chief Ominimini Obiuwevbi. The leader of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF, lamented that the same northern governors in the PDP, who had rejected zoning, were now talking about competence and integrity in 2022. He accused the party of what he described as manipulation leading to the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate for the 2023 election. Clark said: “Now coming home politically, Jonathan was the President for some time as the result of the death of President Yar’Adua. Jonathan ruled for about five years, he is a Christian and the northerners said it was their turn. “From 2011, they have been worrying Jonathan. Even in 2015, the northern PDP leaders ganged up with APC, Tinubu and removed Jonathan from office. They did not campaign, Jonathan was on his own. “So, when people say why Jonathan is not in PDP, not attending PDP meetings, I can safely say that he’s learning his lesson that the people he trusted did not trust him. “They squandered the party’s money and left. “So, when people say why is Jonathan not in PDP, he knows how they betrayed him: how the northern PDP governors contributed money towards Buhari’s success, how members of government betrayed him. “The national Chairman of PDP at the time was Governor (Adamu) Mu’azu. He did not go to his hometown to campaign, he was only following Jonathan about. “He knew what he was doing. Everyone of them wanted Buhari to win. So, Buhari won. He has ruled for eight years. “Now, the same northerners are now saying competence, no zoning, integrity. “It fell for the prey, they maneuvered PDP with Alhaji Abubakar who has been wanting to be president of Nigeria over the years, championing the cause of division. So, the PDP, a party we love, PDP a party of southern Nigeria, disappointed us. “In 2019, 11 million people voted for Atiku Abubakar (PDP). Five million from the North, five million from the South. Now he doesn’t think that we ever did anything for him. “So, Nigeria has change. If anyone tells you that all is well in Nigeria that person living in a fool’s paradise. “I’m happy to note that you are members of the ruling party that is APC and I will give you a message to Mr. President, who is the leader of your party. “But we are in the minority, but in every society the minority and the majority must live together. We have never seen a community where you have only the majority. If that’s the case amongst them some will become minority. “We are the largest ethnic nationality in Delta State, but within you some people are dominating. Because we are alive, we don’t need this society where people are not equal. “That’s what Mandela fought for that everybody is equal. People should live in a country where you grow up to do anything God created you do.” Clark recalled that when governors of the southern states insisted on zoning the presidency to the South, the SMBLF immediately keyed into it. However, he regretted, despite agreement for southerners not to accept the running mate position to any Northern presidential candidate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has been picked as the vice presidential candidate by the PDP even though he hosted one of the governors meeting in Asaba. According to the South-South leader, the APC he thought the people of the South-South should have no business with, became the party that listened to the yearnings of the region over zoning and the need for the South to produce the next President come 2023. Clark who noted that he would have voted for the ruling APC, but for his age and its decision to fly a Muslim-Muslim Presidential ticket, He said: “Several times we met here and before the PDP had their primary, we met here again and repeated the same thing. “We didn’t know that our own Governor, who initiated this meeting, if you agreed for a meeting to be held in your house and you backed out thereafter; you have betrayed your colleagues. Isn’t it? “So, that’s why one of my cousins called Okowa miscreant.”

  A coalition of Christians of Northern Extraction in the All Progressive Congress has warned that the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the party for the 2023 general election will have serious and grave consequences. The organisation, which comprised Christian politicians in the 19 northern states within the APC, said they would not go against their conscience and faith, and go to their various constituencies to campaign for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. The organisation made its position known in a communique issued on Tuesday in Abuja after its meeting, which discussed the issues of the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket and the implications to the nation, signed by its Chairman, Prof. Doknan Sheni, and Secretary-General, Ishaya Bauka. The presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had on Sunday announced Kashim Shettima as his running mate. While describing the development as unacceptable, the coalition said Nigeria remained a multi-religious and constitutional democracy and not a theocracy, adding that the current political atmosphere of the nation was different from what occurred in 1993. The communique read, “The selection of a Muslim vice presidential candidate portrayed insensitivity to the Christians in the nation. “The fear of the Christians in the North and the nation, in general, is that the APC will be viewed as an Islamic party and the Muslim -Muslim ticket was not possible in 2015, why should it be possible in 2023? “More so, that we are apprehensive that the person picked might have had a hand in the Chibok girls Saga and other terror activities, Muslim-Muslim ticket would undermine the election chances of Christian candidates in the APC in the various states in the North. The Christians in the North and the whole nation are highly aggravated “Considering that the Chairman of the party is a Muslim, Deputy Chairman – North, is a Muslim, the President of the Senate is a Muslim, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are Muslims, and now both the presidential and vice-presidential candidates are Muslims and apart from this violating the constitution, section 14 subsection 3, if this was to be reversed that all these were Christians, can any Muslim in the North be able to sell the APC presidential ticket to any Muslim ummah?” They warned of serious and grave consequences if the selection of a Muslim vice-presidential candidate was not changed, maintaining that “at this moment of national peril, what should be paramount in Nigeria is unity and not infrastructure or economy.” “For without unity, we cannot build. Any party or candidate that elevates the greed of a few above the needs of the many has no business running the affairs of Nigeria,” the coalition said.

  Adamu Garba, politician, has rejoined the All Progressives Congress (APC) after defecting to the Young Progressives Party (YPP). Garba left the ruling party to contest for the YPP presidential ticket, but lost to Malik Ado-Ibrahim. When he obtained YPP’s presidential expression of interest and nomination form in May, Garba said the youth have no future in the APC and in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). “I was a strong member of the PDP in 1999, in 2003 we moved to ANPP and in 2007 we came to PDP and stayed till 2014 when APC founded and we moved,” he said. But in a tweet on Tuesday, the politician said he is back in the ruling party, and that it would do harm to the country if he did not support Bola Tinubu, APC presidential candidate, and Kashim Shettima, his running mate. “Yes, I am fully back to APC. I could do more harm to my country, Nigeria if I did not support a combination of a great strategist and a great tactician on a single ticket,” he tweeted. “It is BAT/Hashim that should take over all polling units in Nigeria come 2023. RE-DECAMPED!”   Yes, I am fully back to APC. I could do more harm to my country, Nigeria if I did not support a combination of a great strategist and a great tactician on a single ticket. It is BAT/Hashim that should take over all polling units in Nigeria come 2023. RE-DECAMPED! pic.twitter.com/sGOIg3ccS8 — Adamu Garba II (@adamugarba) July 12, 2022

  Professor Pat Utomi, Tuesday said that the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, would win the forthcoming 2023 presidential election. Pat Utomi who is a former presidential candidate and founder of Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL) disclosed this on Politics Today, on ChannelsTv. He said that Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state, would defeat the presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, respectively. Former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is the PDP flag bearer while former Lagos state governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu is for the APC. Both political parties are ready to win the forthcoming election. However, giving reasons Atiku and Tinubu would lose the election, Utomi opined that Nigerians are tired of the two political parties for their non-performance, noting that time has come to save the country. His words: “Nigeria is at dead end. Nigeria is bankrupt technically. Nigeria cannot pay its debt. Nigerians need a change and that change is Peter Obi”.

  Pa Ayo Adebanjo, leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has expressed full support for the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi. Adebanjo said the South East should be trusted with power, adding that the geopolitical zone deserves to lead the country. Dati Baba-Ahmed: Why I accepted to be Peter Obi’s running mate While speaking on Yoruba Gbode, an online radio programme, the elder statesman said Obi has the ability to rule independently. Adebanjo said he has lost confidence in Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer, and Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He said, “It is only Peter Obi that can rule independently without the influence of these criminals in the government. Tinubu will only give continuity to Buhari’s incompetence. “We know Peter Obi very well , that’s why we endorsed him. He will not disappoint Nigerians, let’s put tribal differences apart and vote the right leader in. “Tinubu sold Buhari to over 200 million Nigerians for his own selfish interest of wanting to rule after Buhari. None of them loves Nigeria. “Easterners are also Nigerians , they deserve to rule.”

  Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 election, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, attended a rally in Osogbo on Tuesday to campaign for Governor Adegboyega Oyetola. Oyetola is seeking a second term of four years in Saturday’s governorship election in Osun state. Mr Tinubu attended the rally alongside Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and several APC Governors, including campaign lead, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State. Other Governors present at the rally include Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, Babagana Zulum of Borno State and Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State. National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu and the party’s Vice Presidential candidate, Kassim Shettima, were also present.

  Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has taken a dig at opposition parties participating in the forthcoming Osun governorship election. The Osun election is scheduled to hold on July 16. Gboyega Oyetola, the incumbent governor, is the flagbearer of the APC, while Ademola Adeleke is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Other candidates are Lasun Yusuf of Labour Party (LP), Akin Ogunbiyi of Accord, and Goke Omigbodun of Social Democratic Party (SDP). The former governor of Lagos, who spoke at the Osun APC mega rally on Tuesday, described the PDP and LP as “mushroom parties”. “I ask you to please do the same thing you did in Ekiti. Come out with your PVCs and vote massively for APC,” he said. “The voting is now in your hand. Be very vigilant. Be watchful. You will not do it in vain. “Think about your children and vote accordingly so you can see the future. Come out en masse. Don’t mind PDP and other mushroom parties — parties like Labour; they will labour till they die. God will not make you labourers. “You’re next. We will be here till tomorrow. We will come back here for victory dance. Look at the trajectory of our lives. We make promises and fulfil them. We are the ones upholding the party, the Buhari party. Don’t answer the naysayers.”