Professor of political economy, Pat Utomi expressed optimism in the 2023 general elections, saying the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi’s movement will change Nigeria. Utomi made this assertion while speaking on Sunday Today, a Channels TV political show monitored by our correspondent stated that Nigerian politicians are only connected to the deal they can make without any commitment to the people. He said Nigerian politicians are scared of the scream of the young people for a new Nigeria that will work for all Nigerians. The professor noted that the goal of the Labour Party’s sensitization tour is to address what makes democracy work. “Right now, Nigeria’s democracy is not working because of the transaction costs that are involved, the trade offs that have to be made such that eventually when people get to power they find that what is wrong with power is not the purpose. “They forget the purpose because there are so many deals, IOU to win the election and in the end we get the politics of politicians for politicians by politicians and not a democracy that is for the people and by the people,” he added. According to Utomi, this is the reason Nigeria is where it is today, crippled, lying prostrate before the wall, in spite of enormous potential. “Nigerian politicians are so connected to the deals they can make rather than the service of the people,” he said.

  FOLLOWING his opposition and relentless attacks on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, northern leaders, including senators across party lines, are upset with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Vanguard learned yesterday. It was learned that the leaders, who initially thought Wike’s tantrums were just political jibes, are now seeing his growing opposition to the PDP candidate as an attack on the north. Both Atiku and Wike have been engaged in a frosty relationship over the removal of the party’s National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu. The two leaders also set up a reconciliation committee to resolve their differences but there has been no headway. Multiple sources said both All Progressives Congress, APC and PDP senators now see Wike’s actions as not just humiliating to Atiku but also the entire north. But the camp of the Rivers State governor is also not relenting as it is insisting that the promises made by the former vice president must be honoured. Meanwhile, strong indications have emerged that the reconciliation committee is expected to meet this week to look into the requests of both camps to make headway. Similarly, Vanguard was reliably informed that the feud Wike has with Atiku is for relevance and a fight for a position, should the party win the next presidential election. Following Wike’s opposition to Atiku, there is growing consensus to support Atiku, especially the North/South divide they felt Wike has introduced to PDP crisis. A highly placed source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The north is taking note of what Wike is doing to Atiku. I am one of them and I can tell you confidently that they are not happy with Wike. ‘’He lost an election and has turned his opposition to Atiku into the age long North/South divide. The leaders, including senators in both parties, are not happy with Wike. And they have resolved to surprise him at the appropriate time. What does he want? ‘’He is a poor student of history and has forgotten that Atiku is north’s highest representative in the election.” has forgotten that Atiku is north’s highest representative in the election.” Wike’s fight for relevance On why the Rivers State governor is up in arms against the former VP, a source involved in the reconciliation committee said the feud was deliberate. Giving insight to the frosty relationship, the source said: “The real issue between Wike and Atiku is deliberately distorted to fit a narrative and that narrative is that it is a fight by Wike for relevance, it is a fight by Wike for a position, it is a fight by Wike to secure himself. “Legitimately, it could be all of these, Wike, having invested in the party, has a right to insist to be at the top table. “Also, he came second in the party primary; in all democracies, when the winner emerges, the person who comes closest in the race, some grounds will be conceded to him and his followers. “One had expected that immediately after the primary, the first person Atiku will court will be Wike and his group. “All issues that have been narrowed down to Wike are for the governors and members that are sympathetic to him and his cause. “What are the principal issues in this cause. First is that the BoT chairman, party chairman, party candidate, the chairman of the PDP governors’ forum and all major offices within the PDP are held by northerners. “Wike and his allies had insisted from day one that the president must come from the South but some people said it is not like that. ‘’That was why the contest was thrown open but with a proviso that if the presidential candidate comes from the north, then the chairman of the party who was elected at the convention, would step down and the chairman would now come from the South. “This is what I heard and maybe Wike will still commit himself. The first discussion Atiku had with Wike is that Ayu would go as earlier discussed. “Second, Atiku offered to make Wike, at their first meeting, the vice presidential candidate. Wike now told Atiku that he had heard but he would discuss with his team. Atiku offered Wike to be his running mate.” On Wike’s romance with Tinubu and Obi, the source said: “There is a consensus that none of the options on the table will bring stability and progress. “All of the options have k-leg. People believe that the Muslim-Muslim ticket is not an option for Nigeria and that it will continue to haunt us in the future, if allowed. “Tinubu and Obi wanted to meet him. For political reasons, he was invited and there is no crime in that. I know Obi went to meet him. If you were in Wike’s shoes, will you not meet those who want to meet you? ‘’You see, we are being unfair in this whole thing, somebody held this party together and he was the face of opposition then. The sensible thing is to give him what he rightly deserves.” The source disclosed that the peace parley is on course, adding that members of the committee would meet this week for further discussions. The source said: “All I know is that Dr Olusegun Mimiko is one of those facilitating peace in the PDP. If the reconciliation works, which is a possibility, because meetings are still being held and they will still be held this week. ‘’There are meetings going on and the possibility of resolving it is there. “After resolving the crisis, there is the possibility of building a broad-based coalition. The issue of Nigeria now is not about parties, people are working to build a coalition that will give us a semblance and a platform that will help us arrest what we are going through now. The reconciliation effort is going on.”

  A spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign in 2023, Senator Dino Melaye, has noted the PDP has no position to offer former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, in the party’s campaign team. Melaye made this known in a statement on his verified Facebook page Sunday night, describing the former minister as a “political scavenger”. He said, “My attention has just been drawn to a statement issued by Femi Fani-Kayode, which as usual, was an incoherent gibberish produced from his temporary relief from insanity. How can one explain his momentary consciousness to react to an interview long granted, if not that his world of reality is not in sync with the world of sound minds? His comment was at best a mixture of prevarication, lack of comprehension and a voyage in meddlesomeness and idleness. “Truly, an idle hand and heart like that of FFK is the devil’s residence. Ordinarily, his rambling would have been ignored, but in this age of unrestricted access to the media even by unwholesome minds, care must be taken to put issues in the right context and perspective. The roller-coaster FFK is merely seeking to receive attention, having employed all forms of ingratiation to be recruited by the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, but failed.” Melaye noted that Fani-Kayode had contacted Timi Frank in a bid to lobby for a position in the Atiku-Okowa campaign team. “To be sure, he contacted Timi Frank to help lobby for a job in the Campaign Directorate, but where is the record to help his desire? As a serial hustler around food dispensers, FFK’s misadventure into the issue of the leadership of the PDP is nothing but a subtle campaign to be noticed and rewarded by prospective paymasters. “Nigerians cannot forget in a hurry how FFK bootlicked and cajoled Yahaya Bello during his presidential experiment, but later jumped to the presidential train of Senator Ahmed Lawan in the throes of the presidential primary election of the All Progressives Congress in an unabashed and unconscionable manner. Now that campaign structures have been formed by parties and he’s sidelined, having lost face everywhere, he has found the PDP as the access card to his next meal,” he said. Melaye noted that Iyorchia Ayu, was supported by PDP governors and members of the party, and hence, emerged the PDP’s National Working Committee’s Chairman by consensus, due to his reputation and political profile. He added, “Is FFK so obtuse that he can not understand that delegates could not have trekked from everywhere to Abuja without being transported? Has he not recovered well enough from the doses administered during his rehabilitation to understand that governors and other leaders supported delegates from all states to the National Convention? Is he equating the sound mind of Judges with his own reprobate mind that he’s threatening to go to court over a matter that he has neither locus nor a reasonable cause? “Often when the issue of FFK comes up, I easily call to mind the time-standing analysis by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, of his personality, and the assertion that food is FFK’s price. His likes are appropriately described in Philippians 3:19, as belonging to the class of those ‘whose god is their belly, and whose glory is their shame. Sorry, PDP has no food for the lazy. And knowing FFK’s reputation for political scavenging, let me also ask him the unanswered question. FFK, who bankrolled your statement?”.

  The disputed candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, for Yobe North, Yobe state, Bashir Machina, has denied a letter purportedly authored by him indicating his withdrawal from the senatorial contest and subsequent resignation from the APC. Machina had won the senatorial primaries of the APC at a time Senate President Ahmad Lawan had his sights on clinching the presidential ticket of the party. However, having lost out of the presidential race, Lawan, with the support of the APC hierarchy, denounced the candidacy of Machina and, instead, forwarded Lawan’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC as its candidate for Yobe North in next February’s general election. However, on Sunday evening, a letter dated September 4 and addressed to the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, said Machina had withdrawn and resigned from the party. The poorly-written letter was said to have, however, been received on July 1. The letter is reproduced here verbatim: “I write to notify you of my resignation from the All Progressive Congress (APC). I am by this letter also informing you of my withdrawal from the Yobe North Senatorial race. “These decisions was taking due to my personal reasons related to misunderstanding between I and the leadership of the APC in Yobe State. It’s my hope to reconcile the issues in close-door but unfortunately I was not opportune to made it. “It’s my pleasure to use this medium to thank all my supporters for your solidarity and love. “I wish to thank you personally for your graciousness and leadership. I also wish you best of luck in service to the party”. However, reacting to the letter, Machina said it was forged as he never at any time resigned from the party nor withdrew from the race. He said; “It is brought to my notice that some unscrupulous elements have forged my withdrawal letter out of mischief and blackmail. “I want to state unequivocally that the purported letter was forged. I did not at anytime withdraw nor resign from my party. “I was shocked when I discovered that some persons concocted plans to mislead the public, particularly my supporters, into believing that I have withdrawn. “The discrepancies between the two dates expecially between the date of writing the purported letter and the date it was receipt exposed the authors inadequacies and lack of sufficient administrative knowledge. “Although we suspect that this letter may be another fake news and the hand work of enemies of peace, yet the APC’s National secretariat must speak up on it since it is carrying the official stamp of the secretariat. “For the avoidance of doubt, I have not resigned nor withdrawn my candidature, I am in APC and have no intention to move to any party. I will (insha Allah) pursue my senatorial ambition on the platform of the All Progressives Congress. “I have already instructed my lawyers to review the fake letter and take necessary legal actions against the culprit(s)”.