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2023 Elections

2023: Nigerians Not Ready For Igbo President – Orji Kalu

Senate Chief Whip and former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu has said that Nigerians are not ready for an Igbo President.

Kalu stated this while speaking Channels Television’s programme, “The 2023 Verdict” on Wednesday.

According to Kalu, the February 25 presidential election is not the best outing for the Igbo people, because the people of the South-East need the support of five other regions for one of their own to be President.

He said, “It is not the best outing for us (Igbo people) because for you to become the President of Nigeria, you need other regions.”

One of the contestants of Igbo extractions among the 18 presidential candidates for the Saturday election is Labour Party’s Peter Obi.

Kalu, a senatorial candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC for Abia North Senatorial District had dismissed the chances of Obi.

He said, “I’m well-experienced; I ran for President in 2007 and I’m not sure Nigerians are yet ready for a President of Igbo extraction. I’m not sure because I have tried to nose around that. We have five other regions to come up with and I am not sure.”

According to Kalu, the people of the South-East are the best professionals but not the best politicians.

He said, “We do politics with emotions and I want Igbos to stop doing politics with emotions; I want Igbos to do practical politics.”

Kalu expressed confidence that APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will win in Abia State and the South-East zone.

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2023 Elections

PDP To Sanction G-5 Governors After Polls

The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party of the Peoples Democratic Party has decided to deal with the Governor Nyesom Wike-led Integrity Group after the elections for their alleged anti-party activities, according to the Punch.

Wike of Rivers State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo) pulled out of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council last year, insisting that except the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, quits his position, they wouldn’t have anything to do with the campaigns.

Following Ayu’s refusal to go and the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s apparent non-interest in the sacking of the former Senate President, the governors have since pitched their tents with their preferred presidential candidates.

While Makinde and Wike were said to be allegedly working for the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Tinubu, Ortom has openly endorsed the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, even as Ikpeazu and Ugwuanyi are reportedly torn between Atiku and Obi.

Findings, however, revealed that Ayu would wield the big stick after the polls to demonstrate the supremacy of the party in line with the PDP constitution.

A member of the PDP National Executive Committee and former governor of a North-West state disclosed that the action of the aggrieved governors infuriated party stakeholders across the board, warning that failure to call them to order would raise a lot of questions from loyal members of the party.

The NEC member said, “We watched every day how these leaders ridiculed the party. Nobody said they had no reasons to be aggrieved, but we generally agreed that there were other ways to speak on the issues than the way they did.

“When the elders (Board of Trustees) intervened, we all thought the crisis was over, but it only got worse. We expect some sanctions, although the leadership of the party will set in motion what to do with them.

“At the NEC, it was nothing short of a disgrace to wake up to see governors dancing not in solidarity with their party, but with rival parties to cast aspersions on the same PDP that catapulted them to national prominence.

“It’s a good thing that Ayu is focused on the elections, but we would like to see what happens after that.”

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2023 Elections

Presidential Polls: I’m Not Desperate For Power – Atiku

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has said that he is not desperate to be Nigeria’s president.

Atiku said contrary to what some people think, he is contesting for the presidency to make Nigeria a better place.

He spoke in Abuja when the Council of National Students Presidents of Nigeria, endorsed him as their presidential candidate, ahead of Saturday’s election.

Represented by a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, Atiku said: “I’m not desperate for office. I’m running to change things. Under my watch, so many things will change. I’ve made a covenant with the Nigerian people.

“We need to appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari for insisting elections must be free and fair. We need to appreciate that move.”

On the issue of the redesigned Naira, Atiku warned that Nigerians would suffer more if they allow “fraudsters” to takeover power.

Atiku has been vying for the presidency since 1993 when he stepped down for the late MKO Abiola.

In 1999, former President Olusegun Obasanjo picked him as his Vice, and they ruled for eight years.

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2023 Elections

2023 Polls: Support Tinubu Openly, Don’t Go Through The Back Door – Labour Party Slams Wike

Gov Wike

Gov Nyesom Wike

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has been slammed by the Labour Party, LP, over speculations about his support for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the Presidential flagbearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress in the February 25th polls.

National Vice Chairman, South South, Labour Party, Favour Reuben, during a briefing with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, said Wike’s actions and decisions were from a place of selfish interest.

Reuben stated that Governor Wike, who previously described the APC as cancer and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as malaria, should have rather looked for the cure to these deadly diseases, who he said is Peter Obi.

“We are hearing that our Governor (Wike, who few years back declared our state as a Christian State because he was running for election, has made a U-turn overnight and suddenly decided to form an alliance with Muslim – Muslim ticket because of his personal interest.

“The Wike we all know is not a coward that will surreptitiously ask his PDP followers to work for Tinubu of the APC without coming out openly, but if this is true, then we are in trouble and our PVCs should speak for us, being the only tool at our disposal to usher in a Government that will ameliorate our suffering, both at the State and Federal level.

“Secondly, our Governor (Wike) said APC is cancer, while PDP is malaria, so I will be expecting the Governor to look for the cure of these deadly diseases and the only cure is the Labour Party driven by Peter Gregory Obi, who has been tested and trusted in Governance.”

The South-South Vice Chairman of LP also said Governor Wike’s support for a man, whose region in the South has produced a president and is currently the Vice President of the country, questions his principle of equity, fairness and justice.

He challenged Wike to come out openly and tell the people his preferred presidential candidate.

“As a man, we know who Wike is. He should come out and tell Rivers people that the man we are supporting is Tinubu.

“He should not take it through the back door; we want him to come out openly.”

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2023 Elections

2023 Polls: Peter Obi Will Free Nigeria – Adebanjo

Nigerian elder statesmen, Pa Ayo Adebanjo has made an appeal to Nigerians.

He appealed to Nigerians to vote for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, on Saturday.

The leader of apex Yoruba organisation, Afenifere canvassed votes for Obi at a meeting with Atunluse Initiatives.

The elder statesman hosted the leadership of the Yoruba socio-cultural and political group on Tuesday in Lagos, NAN reports.

Adebanjo said the people needed the former Anambra governor to rescue Nigeria from the shackles of poverty and bad governance.

“All citizens have the responsibility to fight for their freedom through this weekend’s presidential election,” he noted.

“We don’t have money to fight them, but we must do everything legitimately to free ourselves,” he said.

Adebanjo maintained there was a gentleman agreement that power at the centre would be shared between the North and the South.

The nonagenarian recalled that the South-West had their time under Olusegun Obasanjo and the North under Umaru Yar’Adua.

“Goodluck Jonathan did his own from South-South and it went back to North. Now coming back to the South, it should be given to the South-East in the name of equity,” he said.

Chairman of Atunluse, Akinsola Akinbobola and his delegation later had a closed door partly with Adebanjo and other Afenifere leaders.

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2023 Elections

It’s Time For Nigerians To Punish APC, Tinubu For Misrule – PDP Campaign

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council has called on Nigerians to punish the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) by voting them out on Saturday.
The party accused the APC of misruling the country for the past eight years and caused untold hardship for Nigerians.
In a statement on Tuesday, the spokesman of the PDP Campaign Council, Kola Ologbondiyan, asked Nigerians to punish the APC and its presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for their maladministration in Saturday’s election.
Ologbondiyan claimed that the APC plundered the national treasury, imposed policies that ruined the value of the Naira, and imposed unjust taxes and tariffs on essential goods and services.
He urged Nigerians to repay the APC with a humiliating defeat by voting en masse for the PDP flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar, who is touted to rescue the county from the clutches of the ruling party.
The statement reads: “Our campaign stresses that Nigerians cannot afford to gloss over the horrible experiences which they have been made to endure in almost eight years of APC, the administration which Tinubu claimed to have unilaterally foisted upon our country.
 
“Nigerians should approach the ballot box with a determination to repay the APC and Tinubu for the devastation they caused our country.”
 
“Nigerians must go to the presidential election with the consciousness of how the arrogant, abusive, insensitive, corrupt and incompetent APC and its Presidential Candidate viciously pillaged our national patrimony, turned our revenues generating agencies into their cash cows, wrecked our once robust economy which was hitherto rated as one of the fastest growing in the world, ruined our productive sectors, took away jobs from our youths and turned our nation into the poverty capital of the world, where over 100 million Nigerians can no longer afford their daily meals and other basic necessities of life.”
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2023 Elections Entertainment News

Naira Marley cancelled on Twitter for performing at APC Lagos rally

Singer, Azeez Fashola, widely known as Naira Marley is getting canceled on Twitter for performing at the ongoing APC Mega rally in Lagos.

The 2023 presidential elections are just days away and emotions are certainly high. While many have their preferred candidate, street singer, Naira Marley is getting knocks for supporting the All Progressive People’s Party, APC.

A viral clip of the street act performing one of his most famous songs at the ongoing APC rally has set tongues wagging.

Tweets seen on the micro-blogging platform capture the reaction of users who have expressed their displeasure over the recent development.

Some Tweets have been seen with Naira Marley’s name and a cancel sign accompanying it.

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2023 Elections

2023 Election: Al-Mustapha Makes Clarification On Allgedly Stepping Down For Atiku

Hamza Al-Mustapha, the presidential candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) party, has addressed reports that he is stepping down,

He has now insisted that he never stepped down nor adopted Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP, in the presidential election on Saturday.

Al-Mustapha stated this while appearing on Human Rights Radio FM, Abuja, on Tuesday.

He said the insinuation that he had stepped down to back Atiku was untrue.

He said the statement credited to the factional chairman of AA, Mr Kenneth Udeze, through whom he emerged as a candidate, was ” a scam.”

He said, “The announcement by someone (Udeze) that Action Alliance is supporting Atiku is a scam.

“Action Alliance hasn’t endorsed anybody. I’m still in the race, and if I’m going to lose, I’ll lose pretty well, and if I’m going to win, I’ll win pretty well.”

Al-Mustapha is the factional presidential candidate of AA recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The AA is currently divided into two factions with two presidential candidates.

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2023 Elections

How to Find Your Polling Unit Before Election Day

Nigerians hoping to vote in the February 25th 2023 presidential election have been told how to find their polling units easily.
Recall also that election will hold on the 11th of March.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission these are the steps to find their polling units:
Step 1: Go to either voters.inecnigeria.org or cvr.inecnigeria.org on the INEC website.
Step 2: Use the online form to find your polling unit and voter status.
Step 3: To find directions to your voting location, click the green link.
Step 4: Use the map or directions on your phone to find your voting location.
Remember that the directions given are approximations. It is advised that you go to your polling unit before election day.
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2023 Elections

Buhari Arrives Lagos For APC Campaign Rally

President Muhammadu Buhari is currently in Lagos to attend the All Progressives Congress presidential campaign rally.
Punch reported that the Leonardo AW139 helicopter conveying Buhari from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport touched down at the National Stadium at 2:35 pm, after which he was conveyed to the 25,000-seater Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere; venue of the rally.
Buhari is in Lagos to support the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, and his running mate, Kashim Shettima.
A former Governor of Lagos from 1999 to 2007, Tinubu emerged as the APC presidential candidate after scoring the highest number of votes among 23 aspirants in the Party’s primary elections in June 2022.
A month later, he revealed his running mate, Kashim Shettima, a former Governor of Borno State, northeast Nigeria.
The Lagos rally becomes Buhari’s 10th appearance since the APC campaign flagged off in Plateau State on November 15, 2022.
So far, he has visited Sokoto, Katsina, Imo, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Bauchi, Yobe, Gombe, Plateau and Lagos states.
Tuesday’s rally comes one day to the deadline approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission for all candidates to conclude their campaigns.
It also comes four days to the Presidential and National Assembly elections holding on Saturday, February 25, 2023.
18 presidential candidates will appear on the ballot for Saturday’s election.
However, the majority of Nigerians recognise only four of those candidates.
They include the APC’s Bola Tinubu, the Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar, the Labour Party’s Peter Obi and a former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, who is contesting on the New Nigeria Peoples Party ticket.
In the past 96 days of campaign, all four candidates have expressed their belief to clinch the Presidency and lead Africa’s most populous state.
Mindful of the issues that have dominated the Nigerian psyche, Tinubu, Atiku, Obi and Kwankwaso have all promised to revive the struggling economy, fight widespread insecurity and uproot endemic corruption.