2023 general election
Tinubu Campaigners berate CNPP Over Comment On NNPCL
For calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to purge the National Nigerian Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) of an alleged corrupt management team, the Tinubu/Shettima Network (TSN), has taken the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) to the cleaners
According to the National Coordinator of the Network, Kailani Muhammad, the CNPP comment on the NNPCL is a ‘Cheap blackmail’.
He said the major issue of fuel scarcity and failure to meet up with OPEC quota advanced by CNPP in a recent press statement were nothing, but a clear attempt to, “give a dog a bad name in order to hang it”.
“We expected CNPP to blame the shortcoming in delivering the OPEC quota on oil thieves and the recent fuel scarcity on marketers rather than NNPCL
“Is it NNPC staff that are stealing oil? It is a cartel and the security agencies and politicians are involved and this has been happening since 1983 in this country?” Muhammad asked.
The group Coordinator applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for setting up a 14-man Steering Committee to find lasting solution to the problem surrounding the supply and distribution chain of petroleum products in the country.
He said, “I don’t think there is any corruption in the newly incorporated NNPCL, because since the repositioning, nobody or leader can deep hands in NNPC’s coffers to steal money, because there are laws guiding the company now unlike before ,when a president can just write and siphon money.
“It beats our imagination for a group to condemn the current management that has been doing a lot, most especially the Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, who works round-the-clock to ensure optimum operations are guaranteed.
In a press statement signed and made available to newsmen, Kailani who was the National Coordinator of Muhammadu Buhari Votes Guard before it metamorphosed into Tinubu Shettima Network stated that, ”These so called comrades of CNPP and their allies have no just reasons to accuse Mele Kyari led management of corruption.
According to him, “It is more disheartening that they don’t even have figures to back up their allegations of corruption against the management.
“We expect members of CNPP to know that under the previous government, NNPC was more of a cash cow for years than National oil company, until President Muhammadu Buhari’s government repositioned it.
“NNPC is now an independent company, which was established by CAMA and the Petroleum Industry Act that was passed by national Assembly and signed by the President.
“As an independent company now, it needs to generate money for Nigeria for proper investment and open up the system for business individuals willing to invest in the Oil sector to do so with ease.
“Today NNPCL can pay taxes and royalty to the government,which it has been doing . If the CNPP and its allies don’t have anything to do, they should shut up and support this government to ensure that dividends of democracy are delivered to the people.”
While claiming that CNPP is being sponsored by PDP to castigate and denigrate Buhari’s government, Kailani expressed strong belief they will fail, just as he called on them to desist from negative insinuations and leave NNPCL alone.
However, he said,” All those enemies,who think Nigeria is their heritage and have failed to leave the political scene for better tomorrow are doomed to fail .
“We know they want the government to fail because, they don’t believe in President Muhammadu Buhari’s government
“There is nothing wrong, when a leader does well, he deserves commendation and where anything wrong is observed rather than unnecessary criticism, suggest ideas objectively.
“I saw CNPP as the group of enemies of this government , who don’t even want Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to win the election.
On the issue of meeting up with OPEC quota , Kailani spoke on measures adopted by Kyari’s led Management team to tackle oil theft cases.
He said, The government in its wisdom allowed the NNPCL to engage Tompolo, when crude Oil production output dropped from 1.8 to 900 and later to even almost 100 barrels per day.
“After the engagement of Tompolo, we are now producing optimally and maybe in the next few months, we can meet up with our OPEC quota, because he has done well to make sure that all the taps on the pipelines are no more and checkmating the thieves in the creeks.
“This is a feat that we need to give kudos to the government and NNPC instead of criticising them.
“NNPCL has been intervening on the issue of bad roads to ensure that our major roads are either rehabilitated or reconstructed.
“It’s doing this to make sure that it supplements the government’s efforts,where the government is yet to do something for the benefits of Nigerians .
“That NNPC has intervened on matters of roads; hospitals and even during COVID-19 is no doubt a good omen that should be commended, especially the president Muhammadu Buhari’s government, which has been doing tremendously well in the areas of infrastructure, security and repositioning the NNPCL”.
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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