AHEAD of the 2023 campaigns, a political pressure group, Like Minds 4A New Nigeria, has donated a building to the Presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi at Issele-Azagba, Aniocha North Local Government Area, Delta State. Speaking shortly after the donation, Mr Kingsley Odum, explained that he was donating his personal building on behalf of the group to Labour Party in support of the Presidential aspiration of Mr Peter Obi. Odum declared total support of the group for Mr Peter Obi in the 2023 elections, explaining that; “our support is based on a common belief that Peter Obi is the most capable candidate that can bring about a positive change in the country based on his track record. “Like Minds 4A New Nigeria, is a frontline support group of Peter Obi with membership across the six geopolitical zones of the country, Africa and the diaspora. The group is formed in pursuit of positive change, good governance and sustainable development. “I have donated my building to serve as a secretariat for Labour Party, to show my support and demonstration of my confidence in Mr Peter Obi’s capacity and competence to entrench good governance in Nigeria”. Also, another Co-founder of the group, Mr Gabriel Nzewi, said they have started mobilising Nigerians across all the electoral wards in the six geopolitical zones in the country to get their PVC ready, vote and defend their votes during the election. Nzewi said; “I urge Nigerians to strongly support and vote for Peter Obi in the forthcoming presidential election. Peter Obi is a consumate businessman and a trusted political administrator, is the change the country has long been yearning for”. He urged those who have not registered to take advantage of the ongoing Continuous Voters’ Registration exercise to register to enable them change the narrative of bad governance in the country through their votes. A member of the group, Zainab Darlington, who also spoke during the ceremony, said; “an Obi’s presidency will not only heal the wounds of bad governance, but will lay the foundation for a New Nigeria. “We have all complained about the failure of the Nigerian government to deliver good governance to its people, we need to go beyond complaining to taking action in the direction of our hopes.” In his remark, Delta State Chairman of Labour Party, Chief Tony Ezeagwu, commended the group for the donation and urged them to remain committed to the project and enjoined them to help strengthen the party in their various localities. Ezeagwu expressed optimism that the Labour Party’s presidential candidate would become the next President of Nigeria, adding that; “Peter Obi is the only one among the four leading presidential candidates that is best suited to bring Nigeria out of her numerous challenges.”

  Nine Governors of the All Progressives Congress, on Monday, held a one-hour closed-door meeting with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in his Daura private residence at the end of which they declared their support for Senator Kashim Shettima as the running mate to the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 general election. The Governors also said they had confidence in the combination of Tinubu and Shettima to ensure victory for the party at the presidential election. The Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Abubakar Bagudu, told journalists at the end of the closed-door meeting: “We were pleasantly surprised when Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu announced in Daura on Sunday that Senator Kashim Ibrahim Shettima was the Vice Presidential candidate. “We were happy that it is no less a person than Senator Shettima who was announced the Vice Presidential candidate. No doubt, Senator Shettima would complement the good qualities of Asiwaju Tinubu. We are very very happy at the choice. The two will complement each other and will surely consolidate on the achievements of the President in the past seven years .” Bagudu added that their visit to Daura was to felicitate the President over Sallah. Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, also chipped in that Shettima’s choice as the vice presidential candidate was a collective decision by all the Progressives Governors, adding that all the governors would work hard to ensure victory for the APC in the 2023 elections. He said, “The choice of Senator Shettima as the vice presidential candidate is a collective decision. We shall work hard to ensure victory in all our states.” Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, also said while the choice of the vice presidential candidate was the prerogative of the presidential candidate, all the APC governors would work to ensure the party’s victory at the 2023 general election. He declared, “A presidential candidate has the prerogative of picking his Vice. But ours is to ensure the party’s victory in the presidential election.” The nine governors: Aminu Masari (Katsina); Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi); Abubakar Bello (Niger); Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa); Hope Uzodimma (Imo); Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); Simon Lalong (Plateau); and Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), had earlier held the closed-door meeting with the President. They were led by the Chairman, Progressives Governors’ Forum, Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State. All of them except El-Rufai had travelled by road from Katsina where Governor Aminu Masari led them as chief host. They drove into Daura’s private residence of the President few minutes after one in the afternoon, shortly after which the meeting started. The Kaduna State Governor later joined them at the meeting. The meeting lasted almost one hour after which they and the President retired for a lunch. The President later saw them off at 3:05pm after publicly exchanging banters with them.

  The senator representing Adamawa North, Ishaku Abbo, popularly known as sex-toy senator, has resigned his membership from the campaign group of the All Progressives Congress flagbearer, Bola Tinubu. This was as he called Tinubu irresponsible for picking the former governor of Borno State, Kashhim Shettima, a Muslim, as APC vice presidential candidate. Abbo had earlier tweeted about his stance but shared details of his decision with journalists on Monday in Abuja. Abbo added that he met with a support group in Abuja in search of a running mate for Tinubu. The group concluded that Tinubu should not pick a Muslim as his running mate for the 2023 presidential election. Abbo said Tinubu has refused to learn from his predecessor, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) Who opted for a Christian running mate in 2015. He said, “For Tinubu now to be given the ticket and turn around to do what he couldn’t achieve in 2015 despite opposition from Catholics and other Christian leaders is extremely irresponsible. “Buhari fought a civil war and understands the consequences of a divided nation. When Tinubu wanted to be VP in 2015, Buhari said no because he understood the importance of unity. “We sat down in Abuja and strategised and we concluded that he should not take a Muslim as running mate. He (Tinubu) threw away the report. “My conscience will not allow me to campaign for Tinubu. I am a member of CAN; I cannot deny CAN. I remain in APC. But I will take the survival of my country first over political considerations.” He added, “We cannot work for such a man. I will oppose Christian-Christian ticket because I am interested in the stability of this country. A Christian-Christian ticket will be insensitive to Muslims of this country. “The country is evenly divided among Muslims and Christians. So any government that is Muslim-Muslim will be illegitimate and will never gain the respect of Christians.”

  Legal practitioner and politician, Daniel Bwala, has dumped the All Progressives Congress after the party unveiled a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the 2023 presidential election. In a tweet announcing the decision, Bwala said it was “based on principles and conviction that I hold so dear. “At this time of our national existence, our efforts and energy should gravitate towards uniting our people.”   Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, Bwala argued that Bola Tinubu’s announcement of former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate, was not “good news for the APC.” Both Mr Tinubu and Mr Shettima are Muslims. Bwala argued that the APC has chosen “politics over unity” and ignored the values of “inclusivity, tolerance, common prosperity and diversity.” He also noted that Northern Muslims would have voted for a vice-president candidate who is a Northern Christian.

  A support group for the actualisation of the Labour Party presidency, Peter Volunteer Council, has assured Nigerians that with the quality candidates of Mr Peter Obi and Senator Yusuf Baba-Ahmed, Nigerians will no longer labour in vain. The group also said the era of clueless leadership in the country was coming to an end. The National Coordinator of the PVC, Mr Chris Arinze, stated this on Monday in Onitsha, Anambra State. Arinze commended the Nigerian youths for the emergence of Baba-Ahmed as the vice presidential candidate of the party, saying that the choice was the first step to the party’s victory in the forthcoming presidential election. Arinze urged Nigerians to take advantage of the extended ongoing voter registration exercise to get their Permanent Voter Cards to end the era of Nigeria’s clueless leadership. He reminded the youths that the collective efforts they make today would guarantee the future of their children, adding that power to choose their leaders in 2023 was in their hands, and it was time to change the narrative in Nigeria’s political sphere. The group said, “We want to also use this medium to call on all Labour Party supporters, Nigerians and Nigerian youths to take advantage of the extended ongoing voter registration exercise to make further sacrifice on the day of choice and go to any of the INEC offices in all the 774 local government areas to register to get their Permanent Voter Cards and also endeavour to go back to collect it when it is ready to end the era of Nigeria’s clueless leadership. “The PVC is assuring all Nigerians that with quality candidates such as Peter Obi and Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed flying the flag of the Labour Party, Nigerians will no longer labour in vain. As an ‘Obidient’ group, and with collective efforts we all make today, we will guarantee the future of our children. “We believe that the power to choose our leaders in 2023 is in our hands, it is, therefore, time to change the narrative in our political sphere. The Labour Party has Nigerians as unparalleled political structure to win the Presidential and National Assembly elections in 2023 with our permanent voter cards handy.”

  The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Kaduna State Chapter has described the Muslim-Muslim ticket as a monster against the unity of Nigeria, capable of breaching the Nigerian Federal Character constitutional principle. In a statement on Monday issued by Rev. John Joseph Hayab, Chairman of CAN, Kaduna State Chapter, the religious body alleged that the decision was not in line with what the Constitution expected. “To remove bias in government against any specific tribe, at least in form, the Nigerian Federal Character Framework was authoritatively captured in Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution with this description: “…the government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies,” CAN said. “This statement is to ensure the principle that all public service institutions fairly reflect the linguistic, religious, ethnic, and geographic diversity of the country. the government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies.” “Today there are a lot of concerns from Nigerians over a particular party’s consideration of a Muslim-Muslim ticket, last week we stated our position in clear terms to establish that the ill decision of a particular political party is not for us a thing of concern, where we clearly illustrated, that when I wish to eat rice and beans and a particular restaurant choses to cook only white rice that has not given me any reason to worry because simply what I will need to do is to move to the other restaurants that have prepared what I desire to eat.” “However, just to state the obvious on the matter at hand, though the electorates have no reason to raise eyebrows over wrong decision by any political party. But that we have no reason to be worried about it does not also suggest that such a decision is not condemnable.” “The implication of such a decision is that such a candidate has no respect for the unity, peace and progress of Nigeria, it also suggests that the candidate is just a candidate that priorities selfishness, greed and personal unhealthy interest over the good of the nation. The Federal character principle that we talked of above was the product of Gen Yakubu Gowon Administration when after the Civil War it was believed that a particular group occupied major ministries in the nation. But clearly we all know, many have just course to argue that leadership in Nigeria in the most recent past is with high ethnic nepotism, well one can rightly say this is another phase of it in religious shade.” “It is sad that the constitution clearly states that “The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution”. And that “The of Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice”, with the very divisive challenges of poor security, hunger, a dying economy to mention but these. At a time when Nigeria needs a unifying and productive leader, a good candidate cannot consider a one sided, divisive selection of a running mate despite all genuine agitations against such.” “This shows that should these persons be elected they will not be listening leaders, it shows that these candidates are insensitive to the concerns of the people and do not care heating the system for selfish gains as they appear disinterested in the unity of the country but their selfish ambition. The refusal to listen to wise counsel on this is a confirmation of the anxiety of the people.” “Well as earlier stated, this is not a problem to us as an association serving as the voice of the xhurch. We have performed our role as the voice of the church in the political and social arena, that is our simple role as far as this and the 2023 elections is concern. But every candidate should know that he is just one option among others in the 18 approved political parties for the over 84,004,084 of Nigerian voters in the 176,846 polling units to choose from. As leaders we will want every political party to know that we will educate, sensitize, and mobilize our ever faithful followers to vote against anything that we judge as a danger against the unity, peace, progress and development of Nigeria. We will reiterate that the political party has her right of will to make decisions that she judge best for her, but they should know too that their decisions only end as an option to the electorate among many other options. Thankfully 2023 is never going to be as usual.”