Aishatu Adamu Abdullahi, a well-known humanitarian worker and House of Representative candidate in the coming 2023 general election, is leaving no stone unturned in her quest to represent her people at the National Assembly.
Mrs. Abdullahi is the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate for the House of Representatives seeking to occupy the Chibok, Damboa Gwoza federal constituency of Borno state.
The philanthropist and humanitarian worker is the daughter of the late Audu Sankara of Izge and the granddaughter of Lawan Hamadina of Gwoza.
Mrs. Aishatu Abdullahi is the only female politician from the opposition that has come out with a total commitment to challenge the candidate of the ruling APC.
Dissatisfied with the way elected officials in Borno state “are handling the affairs of the people living in displacement,” the young politician, who has seen it all while working in the humanitarian sector, said she jas to join the race to rescue her people from the years of sufferings.
She is the second female politician in Borno state, after Rep Zainab Gimba of the APC, that will appear on the ballot as a candidate for the Federal House of Reps.
Unperturbed by the fact that she would be slugging it out with a strong candidate for the APC, Aisha said she hoped to emerge victorious as she earns the people’s love to win.
She hopes to champion the cause of women and children even when voted for.
“As a person coming from the front-line state of Borno, my core interest shall be legislating laws that will give special consideration for women and children affected by armed conflict,” she said.
The school teacher turned humanitarian worker and now politician, Aisha, said she would commit her time at the lower house of the National Assembly to strengthening extant laws that guarantee free and compulsory education for women and children.
“I’ve told my people that I will do everything to see that I bring support to them in the area of agriculture and animal breeding because that is the mainstay,” she said.
“I come from a humble background, and I hope to use my private time to ensure that our people are lifted out of extreme poverty and illiteracy. Those too old to return to school shall undergo skills acquisition training to enable them to start their chosen business. This promise cannot be difficult to fulfill because I have spent most of my adult life providing care and support for the vulnerable group through my non-profit community-based organization.”
She said she chose SDP as her political party because “it is the only party left in Nigeria that is genuinely democratic and progressive.
*You are reading this story at no cost, but you can only support us continue this good work if you LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE this report by clicking the handdles below👇
Governor of Borno state has recently taken his campaign trail to the southern local governments of the state where he commissioned several capital projects executed by his administration in the past three years.
Top among the projects that have further endeared him more to the electorates is the mega water which has the capacity to store and distribute 1,250,000 litres of water at Mboa village in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State.
Mboa, a village is located 5km from Chibok town, The newly commissioned water project is expected to serve over 40,000 residents of not just Mboa village but also of Chibok town and neighboring communities.
Officials said the water facility has a storage capacity of a 750,000-litre surface tank and a 500,000-litre overhead tank with water sources from 20 motorised boreholes.
“Access to portable water has been one of the major challenges of Chibok town,” Zulum said.
Zulum commissioning projects
“During our electioneering campaign, we promised you that if elected we shall address the water problems you face. This night we are here to commission a multi-million naira project which was executed to provide Chibok and its environs with water.”
Commissioner of Water Resources, Tijjani Alkali, explained that the water project is powered by 36,000 watts of solar and a 100 kva generating set.
New Schools for Damboans, Askiras
Governor Zulum’s working campaign tour moved to Gumsuri, a ward in Damboa LGA, to commission a senior secondary school on the same Monday night.
The governor commissioned a new junior secondary school in Askira town with classroom to contain about 1,000 students.
Each student of the new schools was handed art of uniforms, reading and writing materials as well as bicycles to ease transportation especially for those coming from distant places.
*You are reading this story at no cost, but you can only support us continue this good work if you LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE this report by clicking the handdles below👇
Whoever wins the February 2023 presidential election in Nigeria would have done so chiefly because of, or, in spite of, Mamman Daura, the 83-year-old senescent nephew of President Mohammadu Buhari. This might seem an ostentatious claim or an inflationary attribution of power to a man whose only claim to it, in the present circumstances, is that the president is his younger nephew. Yet, this is an open secret among those with a deep knowledge of the current struggle for the presidency and the nature of power under the Muhammadu Buhari administration. But most people are not eager to discuss the matter directly in public, either because of discretion and/or fear of the ‘almighty’ Daura.
However, between the candidate of the ruling party, Governor Bola Tinubu, and the candidate of the main opposition party, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, there is a clear recognition of the central role that Daura is playing and would play regarding who becomes the next president of Nigeria. For the former Lagos Governor, this could not have come as a surprise. He recognizes that the presidency, which has been, for the most part of the last eight years, effectively under the control of Daura, is being mobilized one way or the other against him. Perhaps more than any other person, it is Daura who has ensured that Tinubu would not reap, as ‘designed,’ the full benefits of his total investment in making Buhari president.
When Buhari declared upon acceding to power that he “belonged to nobody,” it was in part a ventriloquist shot from his nephew in the direction of the man who had assumed that he would be the power behind the throne. At the centre of the process that eventuated in the much analyzed “outburst” of the Jagaban at Abeokuta, when he let it be known to the world that “emi lo kan” (“it is my turn”; or “I am next”) was Daura’s machinations to ensure that Tinubu would not be the presidential candidate of the ruling party, let alone succeed Buhari.
Those who thought that the outburst sealed Tinubu’s fate were to realize later that the man has not governed Nigeria’s most important state either directly or by proxy for 22 years for nothing. By taking the battle to Buhari and his handlers, the Abeokuta wager turned out to be a courageous venture that helped to stop Daura and his constituents in their tracks – and thus, made a mockery of their desperate bid to hand over the party’s ticket to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan. If Tinubu’s spirited survival of the President Olusegun Obasanjo-led “tsunami” that swept all the other AD governors out of power in 2003 did not convince most people about the man’s political genius, how he retrieved every single South-western states in installments from the opposition and ended up installing Buhari as president in concert with other forces, should have confirmed his unusual political potency. No doubt, that potency was at its most vulnerable when he formally joined the bid to win the APC ticket – and remains so now that he goes for the ultimate prize. Yet, it was also the point at which all of his accumulated political assets had to be mobilized in the service of his life-long ambition.
However, it must be noted that it was not until Tinubu encountered Daura that he experienced his first major sustained checkmate in the politics of the Fourth Republic. The man who has since become the most valuable player in Yoruba politics was dealing with an unusual adversary in Daura. None of those that Tinubu had had to wrestle with since 1998 – that is, when he started his campaign to be the governor of Lagos State – possessed the strategic advantage of a combination of stealth, reticence and unaccountable power as Daura does.
Cerebral, generous but taciturn, Mamman Daura, the fascinating power-monger par excellence, and the former newspaper editor and manager seems resolved to terminate Tinubu’s political ambition on the eve of the latter’s ultimate home run.
As the only surviving member of the triumvirate that can lay claim to almost unbridled influence over Muhammadu Buhari, Daura is well-placed to either hinder or advance the ambition of the two leading presidential contenders, Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar in the February 2023 presidential election. And he is not shy to use his leverage in tipping the scale against the former Lagos governor.
With the passing of the two other closest people to Buhari, that is, the late Emir of Borgu, Haliru Dantoro Kitoro III, who died in October 2015, barely five months after Buhari came to office, and Liman Ciroma, Nigeria’s first qualified archaeologist (who the Guardian of London described in an obituary in 2014 as a “a fine public servant” who was ‘courteous, considerate and generous”), the Daura-born presidential nephew has had no counter weight since 2015. Had he lived well past 2015, the late Emir, who was singularly responsible for brokering the rapprochement that made the “political marriage” of Buhari (CPC) and Tinubu (ACN) possible, would not have allowed the deliberate distancing between the two that followed Buhari’s ascendancy to power.
The first lady, Aisha Halilu Buhari, could not replace the late Borgu monarch. Her intrepid effort to stand up to Daura ended in semi-exile in Dubai, as her husband declared that her place was in the “other room.” But the resolute woman is back with vengeance. Now, as we move towards February 25, she wants to ensure that Daura’s reign would end with that of his kin.
It was as if fate was conspiring against Tinubu and Nigeria in the passing of the Emir of Borgu and Ciroma. Not a few around Buhari believe that his administration would not have come to this sorry pass if the two had lived longer. At least, Daura would not have had a debilitating unchecked leverage over Buhari in the last eight years, which most people believe to be a tragedy for Nigeria. These two late gentlemen, not having to be around the Villa like Daura, would have provided some other avenues of reaching Buhari in moderating the excesses of those who have determined the terrible trajectory of his headship of the Nigerian state. But those who know Daura well still wonder how such an otherwise fine mind and quiet soul had turned into one of the most consequential and hindering power mongers in Nigeria’s history.
Those in this category even insist that Daura’s influence on Buhari and his leverage in this government have been overstated. They would add that if the country were to have been differently organized, the suave, lettered and cultivated man would have been the president and his not similarly lettered uncle would have been his aide.
But the reality of Daura’s influence and imprint on the most devastating actions and inaction of this administration are too glaring. Take the way he has preserved and protected the tragedy that answers to the tag of the Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele – even encouraging, as many believed, the latter to run for the presidency, and keeping Emefiele in office after that abortive ambition. How could such a man who clearly had a conflict of interest be allowed to not only continue in office, but claim to be changing the colour of the currency in order to affect the outcome of the presidential election? Imagine the untold suffering of the poor masses of the country that this ill-considered measure has caused.
Whatever you think of the leading contenders for the presidency, his adversaries would insist, there are fewer stronger examples of Daura’s gamble with the fate of the nation and of democracy than the recent moves by edgy fifth columnists of all stripes.
For those still wondering what happened to the candidness of ‘Candido,’ the famed masked newspaper columnist of the defunct New Nigerian: it is power. This is what power does to human beings, especially when they assume that they have Power with a capital “P” – though all that any of us can have, even in the best of circumstances, is only power with a small “p.” No one can have Power. It eludes even the most deranged among us throughout human history. Yet, that does not stop some people from attempt to play God.
Will Daura’s role as the “unseen god of the Aso Rock Villa” in the last eight years be confirmed or repudiated in the next presidential election? We have only a few weeks to find out. But whatever happens, Daura would no doubt have done his best to determine who would (not) be our next president.
*Adebanwi, author of Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria, is the Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Popular Sokoto female journalist and advocate of girl child education, Aisha Maina, has died in a stampede.
Until her death, Mrs Maina was the Special Adviser to Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state on female education. She was his media aide before her last appointment.
She died in a stampede that occurred during Presidential rally of the People Democratic Party (PDP) which took place in Sokoto state on Tuesday, January 31.
Sources familiar with the sad news said Mrs Maina “was caught ina stampede that occurred at the exit gate of Giginya Stadium, the venue of the rally.”
An online news platform quoted the Chairman of Forum of Special Advisers, Ibrahim Magaji Gusau, confirming Maina’s death.
Mr. Gusau said the deceased was was rushed to the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto for treatment after the stampede where she eventually passed away.
Details of the nature of injury that led to her death has not been made public.
Magaji described his colleague as “hardworking and energetic; we were together a night before the rally and we were putting finishing touches to some of the items for the event.”
The deceased politician was the former chairperson of the National Woman Journalists Association of Nigeria (NAWOJ), Sokoto state chapter.
She was also the former Special Adviser to Governor Aminu Tambuwal on New Media before being moved to Female Education Board.
She is survived by three children and aged parents.
How she died
A motorcyclist fell down from his bike at the exit way of the stadium and that caused a serious stampede, with people falling upon one another and she happened to be there.
“She died few minutes after her admission. Even during the rally, we were together, not knowing that would be our last meeting,” Mr Gusau said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended the Jan. 31 deadline for exchanging old naira notes by extra ten days.
This CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said a new deadline of February 10, 2023, was approved on Sunday by President Muhammadu Buhari, who was in Daura, Katsina State.
Mr. Buhari made the decision shortly after a closed doors meeting with the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, who visited him in Daura on Saturday.
Mr Tinubu had on Wednesday during a campaign rally in Southwest Nigeria that the issues of naira change and fuel scarcity in the country could be a policy targeted against his chances of winning the February 25 Presidential election. A statement his media team said was mistaken as an affront on the administration of Buhari.
Emefiele was summoned to Daura on Sunday morning to a closed-door meeting with the Buhari from where he received the approval to extend by ten days.
The CBN Governor said the ten days window provides opportunity for Nigerians who are yet to change their old Naira notes to new ones to “now do so”.
“This in an opportunity that people must utilise, because the deadline will not be extended again,” he said.
Nigeria government had I’m November 2022 unveiled the redesigned notes of N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations and said the existing ones cease to be legal tender by January, 31,2023.
Weeks to the end of the deadline, tension mounted across the country as citizens panicked while traders began to reject the old notes in fear of rumours that banks have no adequate new notes for everyone.
The National Assembly had to sit in a joint session to call for many months’ extension, especially as Nigerians lament that most Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across the country were still handing out the old Naira notes. Many fuel stations had to stop operation to avert the situation of collecting old naira notes, thereby causing artificial petrol scarcity.
*You are reading this story at no cost, but you can only support us continue this good work if you LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE this report by clicking the handdles below👇
An election petition tribunal sitting in Osogbo, Osun state, has nullified the election of Ademola Adeleke, as the governor of the state.
Should he fail to overturn the tribunal’s verdict at the superior courts, Mr Adeleke might go down in history as the governor with the shortest tenure to have ruled the state.
His sack came exactly two months after he was sworn in as Governor of Osun state.
Mr Adeleke was sworn in on Sunday November, 27, 2022 after he was declared as winner of the July 2022 gubernatorial election.
He took over from former governor Adegboyega Oyetola who was declared to have lost his bid to return for a second term.
The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Adeleke, a candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) claimed 403,371 votes, while the incumbent Oyetola of the/All Progressives Congress (APC), polled 375,027 votes.
Mr. Adeleke, according to the faulted result of the INEC, defeated Mr Oyetola, by a margin of about 44,426 votes.
Mr. Oyetola disagreed with the decision of INEC on that election; hence he approached the Tribunal with evidence of malpractice and alleged disobedience to the Electoral Act; his most prominent challenger was the overvoting at the locations where Governor Adeleke was said to have a landslide. But the courts later observed that the error of overvoting was shared between the parties in court.
Justice Tetsea Kume of the Osun Election Petition Tribunal, while delivering a majority decision on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023, declared that the INEC did not comply substantially with the constitution and the provisions of the Electoral Act.
The Judge, therefore, deducted the over-voting observed from the votes scored by the candidates and declared that Oyetola won the election, having polled 314, 921, while Adeleke’s score came down to 290, 266.
He directed INEC to withdraw Adeleke’s certificate of return and issue another one to Oyetola who won most of the lawful votes.
But this reverberating ruling by the Judges was not shared. One of the three judges had a dissenting voice; as such, he delivered a minority ruling in favor of Mr. Adeleke.
*You are reading this story at no cost, but you can only support us continue this good work if you LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE this report by clicking the handdles below👇
Kule Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN) has commended members of the National Assembly for their strong can on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to shift forward the Jan. 31 deadline for withdrawal of old currency notes.
On Tuesday, Jan 24, the two chambers of the NASS had a joint session during which they unanimously urged the CBN Governor to “as a matter of utmost importance, save Nigeria’s economy from avoidable collapse” by extending the withdrawal period of the old currency notes to June 2023
KACRAN said the 9th Assembly “deserves the highest commendation from all well-meaning Nigerians.
“At this crucial time, they proved to Nigerians and the entire world that they are good representatives who are there to defend the interest of the people and the nation’s economy,” KACRAN National leader Khalil Mohammed Bello said in a statement shared with The Humanitarian Times.
KACRAN appealed to the NASS members to “remain resolute in their firm legislative stand to defend/safeguard the interest of their fatherland and that of our vulnerable and the downtrodden masses.”
What we are humbly advising them to do is, since (he) CBN governor is saying there is no going back on the request for the withdrawal of old currency notes, they should therefore use their legislative power to make him do the needful that will satisfy the generality of Nigerians. Most Nigerians are calling for a period extension for withdrawing the old currency notes to December 2023.
KACRAN happily views the actions of the National Assembly as an act in solid defense of the Nigerian masses.
The group, thereby, called on the president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to sack the Central Bank Governor due to his unacceptable stand to ignore the call/appeal of well-meaning Nigerians to extend the deadline for the withdrawal of the old currency notes.
They further urged the NASS Members to “continue with their good work” by making sure the deadline fixed by the Central Bank Governor is extended to a meaningful time, whereby nobody will incur any loss of their hard earnings.
“We also want to use this medium to highly commend Yobe State Governor, Hon Mai Mala Buni, who was the only Governor out of the 36 Governors in Nigeria who, through his Director General Media, Malam Mamman Mohammed, spoke in BBC Hausa on Monday 23rd January 2023 vehemently called on Central Bank Governor to extend the deadline for the withdrawal of old currency.”
The DG press to Governor Buni was quoted to have said that “it is only three or four Local Governments out of the seventeen Local governments in Yobe state have banks,” and this makes it impossible for his people who are known nationwide to engage in commercial activities/farming and Cattle rearing to meet up the deadline.”
“In conclusion, we want to call on all Nigerians to join hands to appeal to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, to save his people from the extreme difficulties, hunger, and uncertainties of the highest order which most Nigerians are going through.
*You are reading this story at no cost, but you can only support us continue this good work if you LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE this report by clicking the handdles below👇
The Chairman of the Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State, Chris Ohizu, who was abducted recently, has been beheaded.
Mr Ohizu and two others were kidnapped on Friday, Jan. 20, 2022, in his country home, Imoko community in the Arondizuogu area by yet-to-be-identified shooters who also burnt down his building.
His abductors later decapitated him on Sunday, Jan. 22, after allegedly collecting of N6m ransom.
The abduction and subsequent killing of the Imo LG chairman seemed more of political assassination than kidnap for ransom.
Sources said a video had trended earlier online where the abducted chairman was seen kneeling while his abductors were heard warning the Governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodimma that “a similar fate awaits him.”
The abductors went ahead to behead the politician and then posted the video with his phone on his social media handle.
The spokesman of Imo Police Command, ASP Henry Okoye, confirmed the incident. He said the police had commenced investigation into the unfortunate incident.
The opposition New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Borno state has called on the state governor, Babagana Zulum to order the supporters of his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), to stop destroying the opposition campaign billboards in the state.
The opposition party alleged that about 16 of its billboards displaying the impression of their Presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and that of a senatorial candidate for Borno Central, Attom Magira-Tom, have been destroyed or pulled down by supporters of the ruling APC in the state.
This allegation was contained in a signed statement sent to the newsroom of Bay-6 News Online by officials of the party.
The APC has however denied involvement in the alleged hostility towards rival parties in the state, while insisting that the claims were “concucted.”
But acording to state chairman of NNPP, Barrister Mohammed Mustapha, his party has the cause to replace several billboards that were destroyed by the supporters of the ruling party two weeks ago, but only to be destroyed again on the same night.
The opposition party chairman said they were informed by credible sources that their party campaign infrastructure were targeted for attack at the behest of the state governor, Professor Babagana Zulum.
The NNPP chairman said “the APC thugs” were not only destroying their billboards but also replacing same with their own (APC) Posters even though they had paid the Borno urban development board all the fees to secure the locations for the placements.
The opposition party chairman who had also shared photographs of the destroyed campaign billboard expressed disappointment at the ruling partys level of political intolerance so far demonstrated by the Governor and his ruling party.
The party, thereby, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies to deploy relevant sections of the Electoral Act to check the excesses of the APC and its government.
“We, therefore, call on the APC-led government under Professor Babagana Zulum to call his party members to order, as there is a limit to indiscretion. We will continue to call our members to maintain orderliness; but will not tolerate further onslaught on our party campaign structures,” Barrister Mohammed warned.
A billboard of NNPP allegedly destroyed by the APC thugs
Read the full text of the statement:
“The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) Borno state chapter finds it highly imperative to draw the attention of the good people of Borno to the dangerous political trends capable of plunging our dear state into wanton violence and disruption of the emergent fragile peace that we have collectively fought for.
It is alarming to note that no other group is leading this mundane and archaic politics of bitterness other than the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its government under Professor Babagana Umara Zulum. A man who has been promoted as the people’s governor.
It may interest the general public to note on Friday, January 20th, 2023, a second peace accord was signed by all the political parties, their leadership and candidates to demonstrate our readiness to support the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct peaceful, hitch-free and violence-free 2023 general election.
That singular action, as organised by the National Peace Committee headed by the Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, gave all well-meaning Nigerians the confidence of having yet another democratic progress that will reflect the overwhelming wishes and aspirations of Nigerians.
It is disheartening to say that we, the people of Borno state, having crept out of one of the ugliest insurgencies in recent times across the globe, may not benefit from the dividends of the Peace Accord signed by our leaders and elder statesmen of high repute. This is mainly due to the actions and negative body language of the ruling APC and its government in Borno state.
The likes of political sages, like the Late Waziri Ibrahim of blessed memory, who was the proponent of “Politics Without Bitterness”, will be turning their grave in the face of the cruel politics being perpetrated in the state that once prides itself as the Home of Peace.
We, the members of the NNPP, have been on the front burner of the victims of the political violence of the APC and its hired political thugs in recent times.
On Friday, January 20, 2023, the campaign billboards of our Presidential candidate, His Excellency Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and that of the Borno Central Senatorial candidate, His Excellency Attom Magira Tom, were violently attacked and destroyed in strategic locations across the Maiduguri Metropolis and other major communities within the constituency.
This attack on our campaign structures was coming barely two weeks after similar destruction was carried out on the same number of billboards. As law-abiding members of a party whose principles have resonated with the electorates, we did not call for counter-violence. Instead, we urged our teaming supporters to remain calm and law-abiding while the leadership of NNPP reported the matter to concerned security agencies.
The Friday incident of an attack on our billboard was carried out in a coordinated fashion on the night of the very day we replaced our duly authorised billboards.
It is even more saddening to note that the APC and its thugs did not only destroy our billboards, but they also went ahead to replace the banners on them with those of some of their own APC candidates even though we have paid the Borno state government all the required fees for the advertisement permit.
For the avoidance of doubts, we want the public to fact-check our claims by visiting the West-End Roundabout, the Dandal Police station Roundabout, the Post Office Roundabout, Opposite Metro Police Division, the Adjacent Government College Maiduguri, Adjacent FGC Monguno, Adjacent Umaru Shehu General Hospital, Airport Roundabout, LM Bakery Junction at GidanMadara, Bulunkutu Yan-Nono, Bama Road/Lagos Street Junction, Adjacent UBA along Sir Kashim Road, and host of many other places to verify our claims.
We want to kindly remind the general public that this attitude of violence by the APC and its government did not start today.
It was on record that on August 25, 2022, the Borno state Secretariat of our great party NNPP was, in the most shameful manner, sealed by the Borno state Urban Development Board on the directives of the state governor. That incident happened about three days to the day the National leader and presidential candidate of the NNPP, His Excellency Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, was expected to visit the state and commission the Secretariat.
On the same day, our Senatorial Candidate, and party leader in Borno state, His Excellency Attom Magira Tom, was unlawfully arrested and detained by the Nigeria police for many hours simply because he showed up at the Secretariat to find out what was going on.
Similarly, on August 28, 2022, when our Presidential candidate visited Maiduguri to launch our party, NNPP, his convoy was brutally attacked on the way to the airport, and not less than ten of our vehicles were vandalised.
All these unfortunate happenings are going on in our state at a time when the state is governed by a University Professor and member of the National Institute, who is supposed to be an intellectual and above board.
In light of these ugly trends, coming weeks of the conduct of the general election, we call on the INEC to take disciplinary measures against the violation of the Electoral Act by the APC and its government.
We are also worried that most of the destruction perpetrated on our billboards by the APC was done at locations where the offices of the security agencies are located, and nothing was done to prevent its continuous recurrence.
We, therefore, call on the APC-led government under Professor Babagana Zulum to call his party members to order, as there is a limit to indiscretion. We will continue to call our members to order but will not tolerate further onslaught on our party campaign structures. ”
Chairman of the APC, Hon Dalori insisted that, “the NNPP is crying foul on the crushing victory by the APC-led government under the leadership of governor Babagana Zulum who in the last three and half years, was able to put smile on the faces of Borno people through dividends of democracy and inclusiveness.”
Meanwhile, a mainstream newspaper has quoted the APC chairman, Ali Bukar Dalori, denying the allegation and stressing that “the NNPP is concocting lies against the ruling APC.”
“The APC and its teaming supporters are peace-loving individuals who are poised to ensure Borno sustains its developmental strides under the good leadership qualities of Governor Zulum,” the reported quoted the APC chairman who this newsroom has not been able to reach at the moment.
*You are reading this story at no cost, but you can only support us continue this good work if you LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE this report by clicking the handdles below👇
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has described as irresponsible the attempt by the campaign of the Labour Party’s Presidential candidate Peter Obi to drag him into the murky water of the 2023 election.
The foremost Islamic religious leader was quoted in a doctored document saying he should be held responsible if Peter Obi didn’t perform well as President of Nigeria. A statement which ostensibly infers that he has endorsed Mr Obi’s presidential ambition.
The purported message went wild in circulation even though many Nigerians who knew the Islamic leader and statesman discountenanced it.
The issue is just a confirmation of the volume of fake news that has shrouded the information space from where Nigerians are supposed to make informed decisions on their right candidate.
Reacting to the sad development, the media team stated to absolve the monarch even as they did not hide their anger toward the Obidients for falsely attributing such uncanny information to His Royal Majesty, the Sultan.
The response reads:
IGNORE IRRESPONSIBLE ATTEMPT TO DRAG SULTAN INTO POLITICS of 2023 BY PETER OBI CAMPAIGNERS
The attention of Media Team of Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, has been drawn to a statement circulating on social media titled, “BREAKING: SULTAN OF SOKOTO WRITES” with an opening credited to Sultan purportedly saying, “Hold me responsible if Peter Obi didn’t perform well, the problem of the North is from the north, not Peter Obi or an Igbo man, it will be worst and more deadly for the North if Tinubu wins, if they tell you an Igbo man is the problem of Nigeria, tell them Igbo man never rule Nigeria before and north is world poverty capital”.
Ordinarily the statement should not be dignified with a pinch of reaction but because of the need to put the record straight for the sake of truth seeking Nigerians. Recall that this is not the first time such misleading statement would be circulated in effort to climb on the influential personality and name of the Sultan to score political goals. Unfortunately for the these pitiable political campaigners, Sultan of Sokoto is – strictly speaking – a traditional ruler and leader of Muslims of Africa’s most populous country. Moreso, as a retired Army General, his discipline, commitment and unalloyed to Nigeria is non-nogotiable.
For the avoidance of doubt, the statement is fake because such an irresponsible write-up, credited to him, could not have emanated from anywhere near or around His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).
Between Wednesday and Thursday, the Sultan played host to several figures including the outgoing and new General Officers Commanding (GOCs), Eighth Division Nigerian Army, Sokoto, Major Generals O. Bassey and Godwin Mutkut, respectively, Vice Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Kashim Shettima, among others.
It would interest Nigerians to know that Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Dr. Peter Obi, was not one of those that paid visit to the palace, be it on Wednesday or Thursday. So, how some agents of discord whose stock-in-trade is to thrive on cooking falsehoods and peddling of Fame news think that they can get through with this remains unknown to common sense.
The simple challenge is to ask them to publish a copy of the letter purportedly written by the Sultan or a video or audio clip where he endorsed Peter Obi and denied APC Presidential Candidate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as contained in their peddled fakeness. If they cannot, and of a surety they cannot, they should desist from this indefensible claim and unpardonable lie using the good bane of his His Eminence because it will backfire.
It should, however, be made clear to the good people of Nigeria that this , like many others in the past by the Peter Obi campaigners, would not stop the Sultan from continuing to play his role as a multifaceted leader and father of all and so, his doors will remain open to all aspirants across all parties and other meaningful people from across the country.
More important to Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar at this time and always are security, peace and unity of Nigeria, especially as the nation is fast moving into its long planned and heavily invested general elections. He will continue to support all efforts that will lead to success of the election process. So, let any incoherent claims of naysayers be ignored. Sultan is not a politician.
PRINCE BASHIR ADEFAKA, For: Media Team of the Sultan of Sokoto
Bay States News 