2023 general election
US based physician says, only Atiku can address economy, security challenges
Based on facts and his antecedents of performance, only the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, among other presidential candidates can address the economic and security challenges befalling Nigeria a United States of America based Professor of Medicine in Georgia, Prof. Emeka Umerah, has indicated.
Prof. Umerah said but for the intervention of Atiku, Nigeria would have eventually returned to the era of the dark days of military dictatorship and tyrannical rule.
Delivering a keynote address at the public declaration of support for the presidential candidate of the PDP by the Diamond Ladies in Politics, held Saturday evening in Abuja, Emerah paid glowing tribute to Atiku Abubakar over the role he played in the truncation of the alleged third term agenda of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007.
Reminiscing the successful role played by Atiku to revamp the economy when President Obasanjo held sway, he said it behooves the electorates to elect Atiku Abubakar to address the economic and worsening security challenges in the country.
He thereby enjoined aggrieved stalwarts of the PDP to put their differences aside and work in concert to ensure the defeat of the APC at the presidential poll.
According to him: “It is now audible to the deaf and visible to the blind, the growing spate of insecurity in Nigeria. Our security challenges have now grown beyond the hitherto known activities of dissident Boko Haram terrorists. It is now as a matter of fact, hydra-headed- banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder clashes, livestock rustling, separatist agitations, religious-related killings among others. These have threatened the country’s farming belt and now worsening the food insecurity problem that we have been plagued with since especially the past six years.
“Research has shown the fiscal effects of insecurity on the Nigerian economy. Economic analysts and available research have blamed the escalating level of insecurity for the loss of over N1.4 billion to N1.6 billion in business and commercial assets between 2015 and 2018. Daily oil production which has remained the mainstay of our economy has also declined from 2.2 million to 1.5 million barrels per day in 2018.
“The literal interpretation of all of these is that it has resulted in low government revenue generation. That is why some of the Governors are threatening that they may not pay salaries if the trend continues.
“On the part of the direct masses who always bear the brunt, rising poverty, inequality, and inadequacy of employment opportunities, particularly among the youths are at the centre of Nigeria’s security problem.
“Economic pundits have therefore observed that “increased insecurity in Nigeria has coincided with rising poverty levels, with an estimated 83 million people which is nearly 40% of the total population, living in extreme poverty (less than $2 per day) as at April 2022. This is a whopping 18% increase from 70 million people recorded in 2016.
“At least, Atiku’s charge on the present Nigerian authorities to go beyond issuing threats to arresting the generally dreadful and debilitating security situation in the country. He has publicly raised the alarm that the killings and general insecurity in the country had continued unabated because culprits from previous incidents were left unpunished, and this naturally generated more criminals.
“Atiku believes that those caught in acts of criminality should not be pampered but crushed so as to set worthy examples and also serve as a deterrent. Again, only Atiku, who understands even better, the economic implications of the debilitating security situation in the country right at this worst moment, has the moral courage and mental capacity to fix the security challenges facing the country.
“There is no gainsay the fact that the challenges facing our beloved nation, Nigeria have become multifarious and more hydra-headed than it was even during our historic return to the fourth democratic republic in 1999.
“And while not shying away from the very sincere fact that the now opposition, People’s Democratic Party, PDP failed to at least consolidate on the gains and institutional reforms began by the Obasanjo/Atiku Presidency, we cannot also ignore the more accurate fact that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC has exacerbated the problem in the past over years it has held sway.
“Even when the APC promised to fight corruption, the end results is that corruption has rather become more official under Buhari’s watch. The Boko Haram it vowed to end in 2015 have birthed multiple sister security threats that are now even becoming more dangerous like banditry, ISWAP and large scale kidnappings for ransom.
“As a matter of fact, their leaders who should squarely be prosecuted for crimes against humanity like Atiku has been echoing are now even receiving Chieftaincy coronations. All these have accentuated the call for a new leadership breed that can fix the country and get Nigeria working again.
“This is why pundits remain firm in their analysis that it is either Nigeria braces up to elect a bold, courageous, decisive, formidable and unifying leader- attributes that has been tested and can only be seen in an Atiku Abubakar, it may not make progress.
“We all recall the tenacity and doggedness with which he fought against his boss’ third term agenda, not for anything but more to his firm believe that things must be done right and well even if it means falling out with certain individuals for the collective will of the masses to prevail.
“The Atiku belief in the Nigeria unity is so vehement that friends, allies, associates and even opponents will not fail but always acknowledge it.
“Therefore, the challenges facing Nigeria as a nation at this critical moment, particularly our economic quagmire finds a perfect answer in the Turaki character. Recall that he and his erstwhile boss, Obasanjo had kick-started many of the reforms that their successors have yet to consolidate on.
“One can justifiably counsel that Nigeria be returned therefore to the Atiku factory setting- the man who had one of the finest prognosis to our national issues and questions during his reign as a Vice President.”
For him, Chairman Paschal Oluchukwu Foundation, Ambassador Pascal Oluchchukwu, who was decorated as the Grand Patron of the Diamond Ladies in Politics, urged Nigerians believe in programmes and competence of the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, adding that the Waziri Adamawa mean well for the Nation.
He said Atiku is the only Presidential candidate with experience to end all forms of insecurity in the country.
Among those confered with awards over their roles on the emergence of Atiku as the presidential candidate of the PDP were Senator Dino Melaye, Chairman Paschal Oluchukwu Foundation, Ambassador Pascal Oluchchukwu, Ebonyi PDP governorship candidate, Chief Odii Ifeanyi, Kogi Central Senatorial candidate, Barr. Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan.
Others include the former APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Timi Frank, Hajiya Maryam Atiku, PDP National Youths Leader, Prince Mohammed Kadade Suleiman, Director General, Atiku 100%, Kazeem Tanimu, Director General, PDP Ward 2 Ward, Hon. Ada Frederick Okwori and United States of America based Professor of Medicine, Prof. Emeka Umerah.
2023 general election
2023 polls: Abdulsalami Peace Committee opens up on pressure to ask for cancellation
The National Peace Committee (NPC) has opened up on pressure it faced to intervene in the 2023 Presidential Election results. During a report presentation in Abuja, led by General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the committee disclosed that it received numerous requests to push the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to halt results collation or cancel the election due to alleged violations of the electoral act.
Key issues included concerns about the 25% vote threshold requirement for the Federal Capital Territory, with some advocates calling for a runoff.
The NPC emphasized its role as a moral authority rather than a regulatory body, highlighting its mandate to promote peace and compliance with the law, without the power to arrest or punish violators.
The committee acknowledged a gap in public understanding of its functions and the importance of moral persuasion in fostering electoral integrity and peace.
Before presenting the report to the public, the committee had earlier met with the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and other management staff of the commission where it was briefed on the electoral umpire’s preparation for the forthcoming Governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.
Other members of the committee are Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe (Vice Chairman); Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (Convener); Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III; John Cardinal Onaiyekan; business icons, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola; Vanguard Newspapers Publisher, Sam Amuka Pemu; Ameze Guobadia; Idayat Hassan; Dame Priscilla Kuye; Gen. Martin Luther Agwai; Mahmud Yayale Ahmed; Channels TV owner, John Momoh; Roseline Ukeje; and, Fr. Atta Barkindo, its Head of Secretariat.
Part of the report reads; “As the election day progressed, criticisms and counter criticisms became abundant. The NPC was already being faced with a flurry of phone calls and the need to call INEC to order.
“The Peace Committee was flooded with requests for intervention. Both the Chairman of the Committee, General Abdulsalami A. Abubakar, the Convener, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and the Head of NPC Secretariat, Fr. Atta Barkindo, were inundated with calls, requests, and petitions demanding the intervention of the NPC.
“Some of the requests wanted the NPC to prevail on INEC to stop collating election results because there were gross violations and lack of compliance with the electoral act. Others demanded that the tenets of the Peace Accord signed were not adhered to and therefore the Committee should call for cancellation of the election entirely.
“The most significant call was related to the 25% threshold for Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory. Some of the analysts who reached out to the committee asked that the final election result should not be announced because the resumptive president-elect did not score the required 25% as stated in the electoral act. If anything, there should be a runoff.
2023 general election
EU reports: LP says FG is feebly adopting face saving measures
***EU only hit the nail on the head
The leadership of the Labour Party has countered the Federal Government of Nigeria for discrediting the European Union’s conclusion on the 2023 General Election wherein it faulted the modalities by which the conclusion was reached.
It reiterated what it believed as the accurate testament of the European Union’s conclusion on the 2023 general elections which merely hit the nail on the head.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary Obiora Ifoh said,
“Eropean Union’s Conclusion on the 2023 general elections are nit Jaundiced but accurate Testament of the outcome of the FG and INEC alliance to change the will of the electorate.”
“We see this face-saving measure by the Federal Government which is coming days after the submission of the report as feeble and medicine after death.
“It will interest the government to note that the European Union’s report is only one out of numerous submissions by other international Observers who have described the outcome of the election as a sham and an exercise that did not reflect the will of the majority of Nigerians.
“Labour Party stands by the position of the EU observation mission. We have always said that this election was massively rigged in favour of the APC and their candidate.
“What the FG is saying is just an afterthought and a shameless effort to mask the obvious. Even the blind can see, the deaf can hear and they know this election was manipulated.
“Huge pieces of evidence abound for even the deaf and the blind to hear and feel. We are only hoping that the judiciary will dispense justice without fear or favour in the interest of the nation and posterity.
“Nigerians already know the true winner of the 2023 presidential election and no amount of slandering, denial, or rebuttal can change the fact that the party in power has no mandate of the electorate.
“We must also note that whatever position the INEC has taken is with active connivance with the Federal Government to deny the electorate and it clearly shows that INEC is not in any way independent.
“The Commission’s action is at the whims and caprices of the government and we know it. But Nigerians looking to the Judiciary for justice. That’s where we stand.”
2023 general election
FG tackles EU over report on 2023 general elections
The Federal Government has countered the European Union’s report on the 2023 general elections, describing the conclusions therein as “jaundiced”.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy gave the indication in a statement on Sunday.
“We urge the EU and other foreign interests to be objective in all their assessments of the internal affairs of our country and allow Nigeria to breathe,”
According to him, the February 25, 2023 presidential election was “clearly and fairly” won by Tinubu, the then candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC).
He also advised that the EU allow Nigeria to breathe and not meddle in the affairs of the country.
“We find it preposterous and unconscionable that in this day and age, any foreign organisation of whatever hue can continue to insist on its own yardstick and assessment as the only way to determine the credibility and transparency of our elections,” he said.
He said the presidency was not unaware of the “machinations of the European Union to sustain its, largely, unfounded bias and claims on the election outcomes”.
Alake further stated that there is no substantial evidence provided by the EU or any foreign and local organisation that is viable enough to impeach the integrity of the 2023 election outcomes.
“We would like to know and even ask EU, how it reached the conclusions in the submitted final report with the very limited coverage of the elections by their observers who, without doubt, relied more on rumours, hearsay, cocktails of prejudiced and uninformed social media commentaries and opposition talking heads,” he stated.
“We have many reasons to believe the jaundiced report, based on the views of fewer than 50 observers, was to merely sustain the same premature denunciatory stance contained in EU’s preliminary report released in March.
“We strongly reject, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent.”
The media aide said Nigeria has put the elections behind, and Tinubu is facing the task of nation-building.
“As a country, we have put the elections behind us. President Tinubu is facing the arduous task of nation-building, while those who have reasons to challenge the process continue to do so through the courts.”
On June 27, 2023, the EU presented its report on the 2023 elections in Nigeria to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The EU said the election exposed enduring systemic weaknesses and therefore signaled a need for further legal and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness and accountability.
The EU also identified six areas for improvement in Nigeria’s electoral process moving forward.
Some of the key areas listed by the Mission are ambiguities in the law, the establishment of a publicly accountable process for the selection of the INEC members, ensuring real-time publication of results as well as access to election results.
It also highlighted the need for protection for media practitioners while decrying the discrimination against women in elective and appointed positions as well as impunity regarding electoral offences.
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