The media office of the Obi-Datti 2023 Presidential campaign has debunked speculations that the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has entered into a ‘political deal’ to support the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar. The campaign office in a statement in Abuja, on Saturday, described the speculations as the handiwork of charitable propagandists who indulge in distorting facts in the pursuit of imaginary relevance for their paymasters. The statement read in part, “Rather than strive to contend with the hard sell of their candidates, these mischief makers bandy about misleading accounts of the issue-based messages of our candidates just to score cheap political points and thus distract the discerning public. “While we understand the frustration of dealing in their hard-to-sell, “expired milk” [apologies to BAT] in a competitive market, the FairPlay rule demands that you don’t associate the good with the bad product. We demand honour even among thieves! “We know the intention of the spin-doctors in selling an utterly false story that the highflying Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, met with his PDP counterpart and reached a deal. Nothing can be further from the truth.” It further said, “Obi’s foreign trip, its motive, and where and who to meet are already in the public domain; his meeting in the UK with some Nigerian political leaders is visually seen by all. “But mischievous propagandists prefer to concoct lies in a desperate effort to clean up their candidate. “We understand why the focus is on the Obi-Datti candidacy; they are easily the front runners in this 2023 race and the tag team has irresistible messages that are resonating with the embattled Nigerian public who are anxious more than ever to reclaim and take back their country. “The LP candidates are on a divine mission to rescue and rebuild this country and cannot be distracted by any fabrications intended to mislead. “ If Obi’s mission is to rescue Nigeria from the old order, he ought not be seen working for the changing order.“ The media office noted that stories around the issue expose the writers as having exhausted themselves even before the start of the electioneering campaign and now resort to manufacturing supporters. It argued that the same people who said that Obi is a social media phantom wave without political structure to win an election are today struggling to ‘photoshop’ the same Obi with their candidate. The media office equally said, “Obi’s respect for Atiku or any leader in this country has more to do with his sound upbringing and the fact that his style of politics is devoid of hate and bitterness and should not be misconstrued to be cavorting the spent order represented by the competition. “These propagandists need to know that the movement Obi and Datti-Ahmed are driving is not something in control of one man negotiating it away. “Nigerian people have taken the steering from Obi and are driving him to the Aso Rock Villa; they will not look sideways for distractions. “Obi-Datti media office is privy to intelligence that many distorted stories will be dished to the public to create confusion in their minds of the public and notes that such a mission is dead on arrival because the people’s commitment to the Obidient assignment is total.”

  The camp of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, in the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has proposed the appointment of Taofeek Arapaja as acting national chairman of the party. PREMIUM TIMES reported on Friday that the group, at a meeting it held on Thursday in London with the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, demanded the resignation of the national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, as its condition for sitting down to negotiate with Atiku for the support of the group in the coming presidential election. Members of the group who attended the meeting held over dinner at the Carlton Hotel in Park Lane, London include Governors Samuel Ortom of Benue, Seyi Makinde of Oyo and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia as well as former governors Donald Duke of Cross Rivers, Segun Mimiko of Ondo and Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe. The group gave two main reasons for its demand for Mr Ayu’s resignation. The first is to correct the imbalance in the leadership of the party in which all the top national positions in the PDP are being held by members from the northern zones of the country. It said Mr Ayu himself had foreseen such imbalance before he was elected by consensus last year and had pledged to step down should the party also nominate a northerner as presidential candidate. The second reason the group cited was the alleged divisiveness of Mr Ayu, saying his leadership style has worsened crises in the party. The group believes that Atiku can prevail on Mr Ayu to step down because they are allies and that the national chairman had clandestinely supported Atiku in the party primaries. At the meeting, Atiku had pointed out to the group that Mr Ayu’s resignation would not correct the imbalance in the leadership, as the Deputy National Chairman (North), Umar Damagum, would be required to fill the vacancy such a step would create, in line with the provisions of the the constitution of the party. The constitution of the party prescribes that the deputy national chairman from the home region of the national chairman would act in the absence of the national chairman or take the office if it becomes vacant before the end of their tenure. But the Wike group cited a precedent of 2010 when Haliru Mohammed, who was then the deputy national chairman (North), took over as acting national chairman after Okwesileze Nwodo from Enugu State in the South East zone was forced to step down after Goodluck Jonathan became president, following the death of President Umar Yar’adua. The group proposed that Mr Arapaja should take the office on an interim basis until after the general elections when the party could then decide on a substantive national chairman. Mr Arapaja is a former deputy governor of Oyo State and assistant national chairman of the party for the South West until his election to his current position. He is an ally of Governor Makinde, one of the governors in the Wike camp. It should be noted that the South West zone has never produced the national chairman of the PDP. The PDP crisis began after Mr Wike complained that he was unfairly defeated in the party’s presidential primaries. He was left further enraged after Atiku named Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as running mate. A committee of the party had recommended Mr Wike to Atiku for the appointment. The London meeting of Monday was the third time the two protagonists in the crisis would be sitting at a meeting as the search for their reconciliation continues.

  A political support group, the City Boys Movement, says Nigeria needs the doggedness of the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to move its economy to greatness. The BoT Chairman of National Coalition Group (NCG), Mr Francis Shoga, said this during a courtesy visit to the palaces of Mai Girma, the Sapeyi of Garki, Abuja, Dr Usman Ngakupi; and the Agaba of Jiwa, Alhaji Idris Musa, on Friday. The group, in a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mrs Aminat Aminu-Isah, in Abuja on Friday, quoted Shoga describing TInubu as a dogged man and a detribalised Nigerian. Shoga said that the movement believe in the capacity of Tinubu as the only candidate that could change the fortune of Nigeria. He highlighted some past achievements of Tinubu to include free education, infrastructural development and free medical outreach. “Tinubu is a dogged goal getter. His doggedness is what led to a new Lagos, giving him a chance as Nigeria’s president is equivalent to giving Nigeria a face lift and rays of hope,” Shoga said. The NCG BoT chairman said there was need to support the presidential ambition of Tinubu to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. He described the visit as part of efforts to strengthen and foster the group’s relationship with all relevant stakeholders towards the victory of Tinubu ahead of the 2023 general election in FCT. Shoga said that the visit would cut across other states of the federation to deepen consultations with all necessary stakeholders. He said that they were in Abuja to intimate the traditional rulers on the group’s mandate and to seek support for Tinubu. “Tinubu is a dogged goal getter. His doggedness is what led to a new Lagos, giving him a chance as Nigeria’s president is equivalent to giving Nigeria a face lift and rays of hope,” Shoga declared. Aminu-Isah also quoted NCG’s National Chairman, Dr Bako Abdullahi, while unveiling the agenda of the group to the royal fathers, expressing confidence in Tinubu’s ability to deliver. Abdullahi said that having considered all candidates that emerged from all political parties’ primaries, Tinubu remained the man with the requisite leadership skills and experience. He said that as a former governor of Lagos State, Tinubu set unprecedented blueprint that the successive governors had continued to enjoy. Abdullahi solicited the blessings of the traditional institution for Tinubu’s presidential ambition, describing the APC candidate as the only man who can lift Nigeria to a lofty height. “He has the best credential among other presidential candidates. “His landmark achievements as governor of Lagos State are there for verification. He is the pathfinder of the infrastructural revolution you see in Lagos today. He set the pace and others follow. “With Tinubu as the President in 2023, Nigerians are assured of Economic and Infrastructural development. “What this country needs now is someone who can revolutionise our country and that is what Tinubu is bringing to the table,” Abdullahi said. Responding, Musa urged Nigerians to shun tribalism, religious sentiment and other destructive tendencies. On his part, Ngakupi described Tinubu as a man of the people, known home and abroad with a robust track record and foot print in Lagos state and other parts of the nation. Ngakupi therefore urged Nigerians to continue to pray for TInubu, his running mate and their 2023 ambition. (NAN)“Tinubu is a dogged goal getter. His doggedness is what led to a new Lagos, giving him a chance as Nigeria’s president is equivalent to giving Nigeria a face lift and rays of hope,” Shoga declared. Aminu-Isah also quoted NCG’s National Chairman, Dr Bako Abdullahi, while unveiling the agenda of the group to the royal fathers, expressing confidence in Tinubu’s ability to deliver. Abdullahi said that having considered all candidates that emerged from all political parties’ primaries, Tinubu remained the man with the requisite leadership skills and experience. He said that as a former governor of Lagos State, Tinubu set unprecedented blueprint that the successive governors had continued to enjoy. Abdullahi solicited the blessings of the traditional institution for Tinubu’s presidential ambition, describing the APC candidate as the only man who can lift Nigeria to a lofty height. “He has the best credential among other presidential candidates. “His landmark achievements as governor of Lagos State are there for verification. He is the pathfinder of the infrastructural revolution you see in Lagos today. He set the pace and others follow. “With Tinubu as the President in 2023, Nigerians are assured of Economic and Infrastructural development. “What this country needs now is someone who can revolutionise our country and that is what Tinubu is bringing to the table,” Abdullahi said. Responding, Musa urged Nigerians to shun tribalism, religious sentiment and other destructive tendencies. On his part, Ngakupi described Tinubu as a man of the people, known home and abroad with a robust track record and foot print in Lagos state and other parts of the nation. Ngakupi therefore urged Nigerians to continue to pray for TInubu, his running mate and their 2023 ambition. (NAN)