Ahead of the forthcoming 2023 presidential election, the Labour Party, LP, candidate, Peter Obi, has finally released his long-awaited 62-page campaign manifesto.
The manifesto titled, “Our Pact with Nigerians: Creating a New Nigeria“, unveiled Obi’s proposed plans to lead Nigeria if elected as president.
This was made public on Saturday from Labour Party Secretariat in Abuja, Nigeria
Page 18 of the document itemized his economic plan founded on a shift from consumption to production by running a production-centred economy that is driven by an agrarian revolution and export-oriented industrialization.
Here’s a modest proposal to Ahmed Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC): quit.
My suggestion is bound to strike some as quixotic, perhaps even as sheer political theater. But be assured I’m in deadly earnest. In the long run – and perhaps in the short run as well – it serves Tinubu (and Nigeria) to exit the stage.
To be clear, I’m not saying that the man is incapable of pulling off a victory in next February’s election. Going by some permutations, his prospects look as good as any other candidate’s. My proposal does not rest on his electoral odds. Even if he’s assured of coasting to victory – indeed, especially then – bowing out now would still be the best political favour he did himself. And – it goes without saying – the best outcome for Nigeria.
From the outset, Tinubu’s presidential ambition was based on an egoistic consideration. This is not necessarily a grave flaw. After all, a certain inflatedness of ego is often second nature to men and women who seek to run the lives of millions. In his case, however, this single-minded pursuit of the presidency has been marked by a shocking absence of awareness of his diminished physical and mental capacities.
On the stump, Tinubu has exhibited this diminishment to a scandalous degree. In speech after speech, he lapses into gibberish and gobbledygook. He’s racked up quite a collection of campaign videos where his lips produce sounds that are unintelligible in English or Yoruba. Were he a member of one of Nigeria’s myriad Pentecostal churches, he or his handlers could make the case that he had a facility for speaking in tongues.
Instead, Nigerians can see plainly what’s in view: a candidate so physically and mentally deteriorated that he utters nonsense. It’s not only that he’s become a factory of esoteric speech – what one might call Tinubu-isms. Just as frequently, he can’t remember the name of his political party.
Why does Tinubu’s verbal diarrhea matter? Why should we (and he) be concerned about his undeniable cognitive decline? The short and best answer is that Tinubu is doing himself incalculable harm and Nigerians an egregious disservice.
Tinubu has committed no moral offense in being ill. In fact, to ail is human. But a sick man’s first order of business is to mind his health. The running of a country, any country, is not for the faint of health. Should Tinubu win, he would be a burden on Nigeria – a tired, feeble chief executive. He would spend an inordinate amount of time gasping for breath and haunting hospital wards abroad. He would be utterly incapable of paying attention even to the most basic of his tasks as president.
He is visibly sick, a shell of himself from, say, ten years ago. Yet, Nigeria is sicker by far than he. And Nigerians deserve to be spared the rather familiar, unenviable experience of falling in the hands of indisposed men: chronic hospital patients playing at being leaders.
The country’s social memory is menaced by the litany of such broken men. There was the despotic Sani Abacha, a taciturn, hard-drinking, bespectacled playboy. There was Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, whose disappearance during his presidential campaign sparked rumors of death and produced one of the rhetorical classics of Nigerian politics when former President Olusegun Obasanjo placed him on speaker at a rally and asked, “Umaru, are you dead?” Then there’s the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari. When all is said and done, Buhari may have spent a quarter of his presidency visiting checking in and out of foreign hospitals.
It’s altogether possible that a physically fit and mentally alert Buhari would have ended up a presidential calamity. But it’s hard not to consider his incessant health woes as a factor in his disastrous presidency.
Nigeria’s line-up of infirm leaders has left a deleterious mark on the country’s morale and development. Even if he has path to victory – again, especially then – a clearly sick Tinubu should not wish himself on Nigerians.
Last week, Tinubu’s camp declared that their candidate would not debate fellow aspirants in a televised forum. Part of their argument was that both Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, were too busy campaigning to participate in jousts with their opponents. Given Tinubu’s mounting flair for glossolalia and malapropisms, that position is understandable. A man with slipping possession of his speech would want to minimize occasions for public embarrassment. Understandable, provided that the man doesn’t attempt to pass off his deficiency and cowardice as a demonstration of virtue and wisdom.
Tinubu’s problems go beyond verbal miscues. He’s dogged by questions about his past, including an apparent drug-related criminal entanglement in the United States. In a sense, Nigeria has hardly ever encountered a more mystifying political aspirant. His very name remains a puzzle. Was he born with his given name, or did he “borrow” the name from another person? How old is he? Where did he attend elementary and secondary schools?
Nigerians are not going to stop asking these questions. A President Tinubu can count on being fodder for mocking profiles in the international media. In addition, he’s likely to become the butt of slashing jokes from domestic and foreign comedians. If he’s unable, or unwilling, to offer truthful answers to them, it behooves him to skedaddle out of the presidential race.
In the end, the best case for removing himself from the field is that – pretend as he may – Tinubu cannot be anything more than an absentee president, a leader in name only. He may well make his peace with that reality, his ego flattered by achieving what he’s imagined as his right: to take his turn as Nigeria’s president and commander-in-chief. But he stands to pay an exacting price, his ego smashed to pieces, if – by hook or crook – he becomes a mere presidential sinecure, unable to lift a finger as Nigeria nosedives into the precipice.
Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State said his administration is working with private providers to guaranty 24 hours electricity in major cities in the state over the next 30 months.
Soludo said this on Friday during a ceremony to present appointment letters to the newly recruited five thousand teachers for primary and secondary schools in the State.
While reeling out some of his achievement is office so far, the governor said, “In barely eight months in office, we have been vigorously and simultaneously implementing the five pillars of our peoples manifesto. We are fighting criminals and touts head on and they are on the run, security law and order are getting better by the day.
“Anambra is now a construction site with 230 kilometres of quality and strategic road constructions ongoing together with bridges and flyovers; we have launched regenerative agricultural revolution as well as reinventing the palm oil and coconut economy.
“Four industrial parks are being prepared, designed. We are working in partnership with private providers to guaranty 24 hours electricity in our major cities over the next 30 months. Street lights powered by solar are now replacing old technologies.”
Soludo said with the recruitment of new 5000 teachers for the primary and secondary schools, the era of schools without quality teachers is gone.
He added that with additional 2,500 teachers each in primary and secondary schools, the state will henceforth continue to meet best possible teacher student ratios.
The Governor assured the teachers that as a fellow teacher, the government will prioritise teachers and ensure they are motivated and empowered, adding that all the tools they need to work with will be provided.
The 500 new teachers are employed under the Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board and the Post Primary School Service Commission.
Residents of Ozzala Awada Obosi community, Idemili North local government area, Anambra state, Thursday, expressed fear of possible epidemic sequel to the stench emanating from mountains of refuse scattered all over the community for months now.
Consequently, some of the residents have started leaving the community in droves as no hope of evacuation of the refuse is in sight.
Mostly affected are streets/roads within Oganiru zone, prompting motorists plying the zone to look for alternative zones as Oganiru has become nightmare to motorists.
A landlord who pleaded anonymity told this paper that since the inception of the present administration of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, they have not seen any tipper or other government vehicles evacuating refuse in the area.
“We only heard about refuse evacuation on radio and newspapers, we have never seen them in any of the streets around here. Sometimes, you may hear that a tipper passed at major roads without entering any street,” he stated.
Also reacting, another resident who identified himself as Okom Ajama, said that since the present administration took over the management of waste, they have been seeing hell.
“We started seeing hell since the present administration came on board, nobody cares about refuse evacuation in our area,” he stated.
Efforts made to contact the President General of the community, Chief Emeka Ezeodu, to comment on the matter proved abortive as he was not on seat as of the time of filing this report.
A member of the executive, who did not want his name in print, said that the leadership of the community was not in charge of evacuation of the refuse and as such could not render any assistance towards the evacuation.
He however, urged the State and Idemili North local government to come to their rescue now to avoid the incidence of death caused by epidemic.
In his own contribution, Mr. Sunday Igwe, accused the leadership of the community of being silent and not putting up any effort towards its evacuation because it is not its responsibility to evacuate the refuse.
He called on those in charge of refuse evacuation in the state to immediately come to the rescue of the residents.
Armed AMF soldiers pose for a photo during a patrol of the jungle in Southwest Cameroon on Feb. 11.
The United States has indicted three Cameroonian-Americans over their sponsoring which included raising funds to buy weapons and laundering funds for Cameroon’s self-determination group, Ambazonia.
A federal grand jury in Kansas City, Missouri charged the trio of Claude N Chi, Francis Chenyi and Lah Nestor Langmi on a four-count indictment bordering on offering material support for the group.
This was made known in a press release by the US Department of Justice on Monday, adding that the defendants held senior level positions in the organisation and they risk a 38-year jail term if convicted.
It partly read, “Three defendants were arrested today and made their initial court appearances in connection with an indictment, unsealed today, charging them for their roles in a conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a conspiracy to kidnap persons and use weapons of mass destruction in a foreign country.
“Claude N. Chi, 40, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri; Francis Chenyi, 49, of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Lah Nestor Langmi, 46, of Buffalo, New York, all of whom are U.S. citizens of Cameroonian origin, are charged in a four-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 18, 2022. The indictment was unsealed and made public today following their arrests and initial court appearances.
“The federal indictment alleges that Chi, Chenyi and Langmi have supported and raised funds for separatist fighters in Cameroon since January 1, 2018.
“As alleged, they each held senior level positions within an organization that supported and directed the militant separatist group known as the Ambazonian Restoration Forces and other separatist fighters in Cameroon’s Northwest Region.”
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) Chapter, Awka, Anambra State, on Thursday, barricaded the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, protesting the part payment of their October salaries, backlogs of 8-month salaries and other working conditions of its members, which they said are still under the Federal Government promising note.
Our Reporter gathered that the protest, kick-started at the Union Secretariat down to the University gate by the Enugu-Onitsha highway, where the road was barricaded by the protesters for some minutes as one of their ways to inform the public about their working conditions.
Speaking to Journalists, shortly after the protest, Comrade Stephen Ufoaroh, the chairman of ASUU-Unizik, said that the aim of the protest was also to remind the Federal Government to implement the agreement it entered with ASUU after the Union suspended her 2020 industrial action.
He demanded that the Federal Government should consider the re-negotiated document of the 2009 condition of services of its members, a payment platform for Universities workers to all public Universities in Nigeria, improvement of funds to the education sector especially, for public Universities, the white paper publication of the Judicial panel report to various Universities to enable us to know what the reports are all about and the Federal Government should enact a law to control the proliferation of State Universities by the State Government without proper funding.
He said “As I speak to you, the intervention of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, has not yielded for any positive resort. We are yet to see the outcome of his intervention.
“What the Federal Government has been saying all this while is still under promising note.
“We suspended the strike because of individuals intervention and the Court of Appeal Judgement.
We are using this protest to ask the masses to appeal to the government to do the needful now, to avert a further crisis in the nation’s universities, Ufoaroh concluded.
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Charles Esimone, in his solidarity message, said his heart is currently bleeding because of the deplorable condition the Lecturers are working under in Nigeria’s education system.
According to the VC, “Nigerian professors’ salary is currently less than 500 dollars. That is terrible. The government knows that in terms of knowledge and human capacity, Nigerian lecturers can not be compared to other places in the World. So why should they be subjected to this kind of deplorable condition they found themselves?” he asked.
While declaring 100 per cent support for the ASUU course, Prof. Esimone, assured the lecturers that the University Management under his leadership will not take their welfare for granted.
He also assured the lecturers that he will minute their demands to the varsity’s governing council, which in turn the governing council, will make a strong statement to the Federal Government for urgent consideration.
The protesting members were with placards with different inscriptions such as; Nigerian professors’ salaries are less than 500 dollars, no to commercialisation of Nigerian public Universities, and stop casualisation of Nigerian academics, among others.
Management of College of Nursing Sciences, Iyienu Mission Hospital (CONSIMH) Ogidi, Anambra State has decried the rate of ‘brain drain’ among Nigeria nurses, revealing that over 7000 nurses have relocated from the county in search of greener pastures.
The concerns were raised during the 42nd matriculation/capping ceremony of 152 students comprising of the 2021 set of students nurses and 2022 set of students midwives at College of Nursing Sciences, Iyienu Mission Hospital,Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra State.
Presenting a paper titled, ‘brain drain amongst Nigerian nurses and its implications,’ the guest speaker, Dr. Chikaodili Ihediebube-Splendor, a senior lecturer, Department of Nursing Sciences, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, said brain drain was a threat to the sustainability of the healthcare industry in Nigeria.
She described brain drain as the movement of relatively well educated persons/professionals from developing countries to developed countries, saying that in the healthcare sector, nurses inclusive, have been migrating in search of greener pastures.
“Constant migration of trained healthcare professionals erodes the healthcare delivery, leaving the healthcare of the citizens of the developing countries, Nigeria inclusive in jeopardy. Hence, getting adequate specialists care from trained healthcare personnel becomes a mirage.
During the national nurse leaders’ summit held between September 27 and 30, at Lagos, the secretary general/registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, Dr Faruk Abubakar, reported that over 7000 nurses have relocated from Nigeria in search of greener pastures.
“A newspaper of October 4 reported that there are only 35,000 doctors practicing in Nigeria out of 80,000 doctors registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria as at 2021.
“Within a space of 100 days- June 10 and September 20, it was reported that at least 353 Nigerian-trained doctors were registered with Britain’s General Medical Council as medical practitioners in the United Kingdom,” cited Dr Ihediebube-Splendor.
According to the provost, CONSIMH, Ogidi, Mrs Ngozi Nduka, the major cause of brain drain for healthcare workers, bankers and other professionals include unstable political and economic environment, understaffing, devaluation of naira, supremacy in healthcare sector.
“Poor working conditions, poor salaries coupled with the hyperinflation experienced in Nigeria. Today a dollar is equivalent to almost N1000 unlike in the 1970s when a dollar is equivalent to one naira or less. Then, nobody was thinking of leaving the country for greener pastures,” Mrs Nduka said.
Mrs Nduka advised Nigerian government to strengthen the economy to be at par with the economy of UK or America, urging authorities of both the private and public health facilities to increase the salaries of nurses up to international standards.
Mrs Nduka congratulated the 152 matriculating students and their parents/guardians for successfully pulling through the Preliminary Training Session (PTS) examination.
She enjoined the tutors, academic and non-academic staff, to continue giving the students unabated and steady coaching, monitoring and mentoring, saying that anything on the contrary may mean a disservice to the nursing profession.
“This College has maintained a lead in the results of the final professional qualifying examinations of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, making a 100 percent pass in the last results released in May,” said Mrs Nduka.
However, the provost, Iyienu Mission Hospital and the hospital administrator, Rev Canon Okwuchukwu Tochukwu and secretary, Nonso Anene eulogized the Anglican Bishop on the Niger, Rt. Rev. Owen Nwokolo and his wife Dr. Elsie for ensuring that Vision 2030 would be achieved in their health institutions.
“Our Lord Bishop’s Vision 2030 for education and healthcare services is that IMH will metamorphose into a teaching hospital and the schools or college therein which now offer Higher National Diploma programmes will become degree awarding programmes probably affiliated to University on the Niger.”
The chairman of the occasion, Mr Chukwuagozie Eze, advised their wards to be focused in their studies and shun any form of vices during their academic pursuit.
Some of the matriculating student nurses, Precious Eze, Stephanie Nwachukwu, Favor Evuka and Peace Agbo all pledged to be law abiding and were thankful to their parents/guardians for supporting their dream courses promising to study hard to make them proud by graduating in flying colours.
Vice-Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, has said candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are fighting for the second and third position in the 2023 elections.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Senator Baba-Ahmed also called on the Vice Presidential candidate of the APC, Kassim Shettima to tone down his attacks on individuals and their lifestyles.
According to Baba-Ahmed in the “squabble for second and third positions, some erstwhile major political parties appear to have crossed the boundaries of decency to transgress our peaceful activities and our focus on political schedules.
An eminent group of statesmen under the aegis of the National Peace Committee, brought together all the Presidential Candidates to sign a Peace Accord, which represents an agreed code of conduct for the 2023 Presidential Elections.
“It is unfortunate that despite the noble objectives of this initiative, disinformation and misinformation about the Labour Party and its candidates have become fashionable in this election season.”
He also debunked as false narrative insinuation that Mr Peter Obi is against the production of oil in the north, saying “nothing could be farther from the truth.”
According to him, the APC strategy against Peter Obi now appears very clearly centered on promoting falsehood, in addition to empty and derogatory personal attacks, and of course this is because they can find no contentious points of negativity to push.
“Regular insults which have now become his (Shettima) trademark, have not spared the current Vice President whom he directed to go and sell ice cream, nor the former Vice President whom he described as a pure water seller, a noble venture which serves the populace better than a certain white substance.
“We congratulate Mr. Shettima on having improved his dressing, but equally remind him that he needs to improve on his public composure and discipline in communication.”
The LP vice presidential candidate also asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address the Nation on what it intends to do with ungoverned spaces that elections were supposed to be conducted in next year.
Another history has been made in Anambra State, as five thousand newly recruited Teachers receive appointment papers to assume work in the State Schools System.
Sequel to dearth of Teachers in schools as inherited by the present administration on assumption of office, Mr. Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo immediately approved the recruitment of the five thousand Teachers, following a process which Observers have described as most credible and transparent in recent times.
Out of the 40,120 candidates who responded to the initial advertisement, 13,500 scaled through the first Computer Based Test which had 60 as the cut off mark.
Later, in search of Core Subjects, a supplementary list took the cutoff down to 55, thereby adding additional 2000 candidates to the number scheduled for the last CBT. The last CBT was scheduled in 6 centres. The cutoff point was 55. The successful candidates (8120)were scheduled for Oral and Written Interview.
Success was determined by adding the last CBT scores and the Oral/Written interview scores and dividing by simple average. The cutoff was set at 60.
The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh said that Mr. Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo will on Friday, 2nd December 2022, address the newly recruited Teachers in a ceremony designed by the Ministry of Education, to get the new Teachers in tune with what Gov. Soludo’s administration expects of them, in the drive to provide quality and value based Education for Anambra children.
The event is scheduled to take place at the International Conference Center Awka. The invitees are expected to be seated before 9am.
Meanwhile, the people of Anambra State have continued to eulogize Governor Chukwuma Soludo, Commissioner Ngozi Chuma-Udeh and the Education team, for bringing transparency and credibility to bear in teachers’ recruitment process.
