Former Presidential aspirants on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as part of efforts to galvanize support for the party’s 2023 candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will meet in Abuja, next week.

The meeting is coming barely three months after some of them went head-to-head at the primary for the presidential ticket of APC that eventually produced Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as party’s flagbearer.

Those expected to be in attendance include the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; former Science and Technology Minister, Ogbonnaya Onu; former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba and former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.

Also five serving governors expected to attend are Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Ben Ayade (Cross River) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti).

A statement on Thursday in Abuja by the media office of the APC youngest presidential aspirant, Dr. Nicolas Felix, also listed Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; former Ogun state governor and serving senator, Ibikunle Amosun; a serving senator, Ajayi Boroffice; former Zamfara governor, Ahmad Sani; former Imo State governor and serving senator, Rochas Okorocha; a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; fiery cleric, Tunde Bakare; Pastor and Businessman, Dr. Nicolas Felix; former Information Minister, Ikeobasi Mokelu; Businessman, Tein Jack-Rich and the only female among them, Uju Ken-Ohanenye.

“The special invitation to the strategic meeting of all 2023 APC Presidential Aspirants, which will be held at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, on Wednesday, August 31st, 2022 by 2pm is to brainstorm on adopting winning campaign strategies that will carry every Nigerian along and address the challenges bedeviling our country,” the statement reads in part.

Labour Party Presidential Candidate – Mr Peter Obi is scheduled to hold an interactive session with Nigerians in Germany after which he will move to USA.The meeting will hold tomorrow,26th August,2022.

According to the message posted on his Facebook page, the message reads  ”I hold Nigerians in Diaspora in very high esteem; they represent the core of our human development capital and contribute immensely to nation building via remittances and technical knowledge transfer.

My present outing will take me to Germany, Italy, Canada & the U.S.A. I look forward to the very constructive engagements” the message concluded

Details later

Ayo Adebanjo says the leadership of the Southern and Middle Belt Forum (SMBLF) told Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to prioritise restructuring if he wants to get their support.

The leader of the pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, said this in a telephone interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, hours after top leaders of SMBLF including Adebanjo, Edwin Clark of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, Dru Bitrus of the Middle Belt Forum, and George Obiozor of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide met with Obi.

Adebanjo, who described the former governor of Anambra State as a partner in progress, said the Labour Party presidential candidate is “fighting for the oppressed”.

“He (Obi) came to meet Southern and Middlebelt leaders in my house. It was an exchange of views; we believe in the same cause,” he said, adding that they won’t back any candidate that does not support restructuring.

“We are all partners in progress. The fight he is fighting is a fight for the oppressed.”

Giving further details about the meeting, Adebanjo said, “Restructuring was at the front burner; we should have a country first before we have any development plan. That is the pillar on which the Southern and Middlebelt leaders stand.

“Constitutional review, community policing, devolution of power and others are all embedded in restructuring. Where we have a constitution where everybody is dissatisfied, you won’t have peace and without peace, there will be no stability. These are fundamental.”

Continuing, he said, “There is nothing new about restructuring; we are only saying let us go back to where we started before the military came. Where did we start? The constitution was made in 1964, endorsed by Awolowo, Azikwe and Sardauna, and was what we had until the military came in 1966 and imposed this constitution.

“This constitution is a fraudulent one and the government has never refuted it. They set aside the constitution before 1966, imposed this one and included all the things that were excluded that are causing confusion till today. We must go back to that constitution.”

Before Wednesday’s comment, Adebanjo has been unequivocal about his support for a South-East presidency and may back the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections.

In March, the elder statesman had protested that the South-East zone made up of Imo, Enugu, Anambra, Abia and Ebonyi has been denied presidency since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.

“How can you say rotation in the North and South, and when it comes to the South, it would be South-West and South-South every time? Is the South-East not part of the South? What is the moral we are talking about?

“Is it not the South-West that has served Obasanjo for eight years, Osinbajo for another eight years as Vice President? South-South has served its own. Is the South-East not part of the South? That is the question we should answer,” he said during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

Source : Channel tv

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that the electronic transmission of results cannot be manipulated due to the nature of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

Prof. Mohammad Kuna, the Special Adviser to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this on Tuesday in Abuja, during a panel discussion at a two-day workshop organised by the National Peace Committee (NPC) headed by a former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd) and The Kukah Centre.

The event held on Tuesday in Abuja, has the theme, ‘The role and impact of Digital Technologies in facilitating Peaceful Elections in Nigeria’.

BVAS is an electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters.

“With the nature of BVAS, the uploaded polling units (PUs) results cannot be manipulated. The machine was designed to edit the photographic results uploaded and sent to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV); and once sent cannot be recalled,” Kuna said.

Information reaching us has it that the Majority Leader of Anambra State House Of Assembly and Member representing Awka South Constituency 1, Hon. Nnamdi Okafor (Akajiugo Awka) collapsed in the early hours of today in a Hotel at Sandton City Johannesburg, South Africa and was confirmed dead hours later.

Cause of his death is yet to be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.

May His Gentle Soul Rest In Peace, Amen

Anambra Current News