FORMER Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said the Peoples Democratic Party is now prepared and ready to reclaim its mandate from the All Progrssives Congress come 2023.
Saraki said this at the Kwara State Congress of PDP held at the Atlantic Event centre, Ilorin, on Saturday. He told party members to go and prepare to win the 2023 elections.
He said, “As soon as you leave this venue work should begin. The peaceful conduct of this Congress has confirmed to me that we are indeed ready to take back power in Kwara.”
Members of the new state party executive were elected via consensus. At the end of the exercise, a former Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Alhaji Babatunde Mohammed, emerged as the chairman.
In his acceptance speech, the new chairman said, “We will start work from the grassroots and work our walk our way up. We will use the next local government to tell Kwara people that we are back.”
A coalition of northern youths in Kano, has launched a campaign to galvanise support for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, ahead of the 2023 presidential elections.
The group has unveiled a platform to mobilize 20 million youths across the 19 northern states and the Federal capital Territory (FCT), while stating that Osinbajo is the one man who can continue with President Buhari’s transformation agenda.
“We are launching the awareness campaign across the northern states to mobilize support for Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo towards making him our next president,” says National Coordinator of the group, Mubarak Haruna.
“None of us has ever met him in person but from all we know, we are convinced that the vice president is the only tested and trusted candidate that can continue the good works started by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It is obvious that Professor Osinbajo is a visionary leader, a patriotic citizen whose loyalty to one indivisible Nigeria is never in doubt; he is a detribalised Nigerian who is widely accepted, irrespective of religion and tribe across the country. We will support him to make sure he wins,” Haruna adds.
The group also acknowledges that Osinbajo hasn’t yet expressed a desire to throw his hat in the ring ahead of the presidential contest.
Haruna however adds that it will be in the APC’s best interest to cede its presidency ticket to the southern geopolitical region, from where Osinbajo hails.
Other such groups have been vociferous in their desire for an Osinbajo presidency in recent times.
The vice president has remained coy on his political ambitions ahead of the vote, with his team repeatedly stating that he remains primarily focused on helping President Buhari deliver on his electoral promises to Nigerians.
The national leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has suspended the ongoing State Congress in Oyo State.
The order was given by the Governor of Yobe State and Chairman, Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Mai Mala Buni.
It was gathered that the suspension was due to the forging of documents meant for the exercise and other irregularities.
This was made known in a statement signed by the party’s National Secretary, Sen John James Akpanudoedehe, on Saturday.
According to the APC leadership, the suspension became necessary to ensure credibility of the process leading to the emergence of new leaders in Oyo State.
“It has become necessary to suspend the ongoing State Congress exercise in Oyo State due to information regarding the forging of documents meant to conduct this exercise.
“The national chairman has however ordered the Oyo State Congress Committee to return to the National Secretariat for further briefing,” the statement said.
The APC leadership maintained that the ruling party will ensure a level playing ground and justice at all times.
APC is carrying out its State Congresses in 34 states across the nation, today, Saturday 16, 2021.
Afenifere Tackles Adesina For Comparing Buhari To Awolowo, Azikiwe
The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere has faulted the President’s special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina for comparing his principal, Muhammadu Buhari, to Nigeria’s Independence heroes, Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Adesina was reported as saying,
“I have seen the great Obafemi Awolowo. The charismatic Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik of Africa). Shehu Shagari. Amino Kano. M.K.O Abiola. Bashir Tofa, and many others in action.
“But I have not seen anyone with the kind of attraction, magnetic pull, that Muhammadu Buhari has. And that is round the country, north, and south. People swarm round him as bees do to honey.”
In a statement on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, Afenifere described the comparison as “mischievous and mistaken”, pointing out that people are only attracted to Buhari because he is the President.
According to Ajayi, “For sure – and for various reasons – a person occupying a leadership position is always an attraction anywhere in the world.
“To use the instances cited by the spokesman to gauge the popularity of the President, we can say that those who met him at the airport on his arrival from a medical trip could be in three or more categories.
“Those who genuinely wished him well and were happy to see him back. Those who were there to be really sure that the rumour of his death they heard was not true. And those who always go to any place that people gather – especially when or where a leading figure is or will be present.
“To use the crowd that gathered where President Buhari is not only as a measure of his popularity is erroneous. Admittedly, crowd-pulling can be an indicator of popularity.
“But this is not likely now given the level of mistrust that people have in governments. The mistrust that governments created over the years through its various policies of alienation and disempowerment.
“From the foregoing, it can be stated without equivocation that the majority of the crowd the spokesman talked about would be those curious to see whether their presence and prayers could make Mr President to see that they are suffering and in need of benign policies from the government.
“Comparing President Buhari to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe therefore is not only mistaken, it is mischievous, to say the least.”
The founder of Citadel Global Community Church (formerly Latter Rain Assembly), Pastor Tunde Bakare, is currently meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja.
Bakare, who was the running mate of the Buhari under the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011, was scheduled for a 12noon meeting with the president in his office.
Despite his previous close political affiliation with President Buhari, the fiery pastor has recently been criticizing the running of his administration.
You Can’t Win 2023 Presidency With A Northern Candidate – Momodu Tells PDP
The founder of Ovation Media Group, Dele Momodu, says the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has a better chance of winning the 2023 presidency if it picks its presidential candidate from the South.
In a recent interview, Momodu noted that the opposition party cannot reclaim the Presidency if it fields a Northerner as its presidential candidate in 2023.
Momodu stated that the North will never get anybody who is as popular as President Muhammadu Buhari that can conveniently win elections in a long time to come.
The former presidential candidate also appealed to former vice president Atiku Abubakar not to contest in the 2023 general elections due to his age.
He said: “By 2023, Atiku would have been contesting for 30 years. I love him. He is a businessman; among all of them, he has been able to run his business successfully. But are we going to leave Buhari who is almost 80 and go to someone who is almost 80? The reason I think PDP has a better chance is that anyone who can pick a candidate from the South will definitely win.
“Contrary to the boastfulness of the northern politicians, they will never get anybody from the North who is as popular as Buhari in a long time to come. Buhari contested three times and twice he was defeated by southerners: first by Obasanjo and later by Jonathan. This is because the North’s catchment area is between North-West and North-East.
“If they say that power will not leave the North, it means that they have edged out Tinubu, they have edged out Osinbajo, they have edged out all those who rushed from their parties because they were hoping that the mantle might fall on them. You have the governor from Ebonyi, you have the governor from Cross River who jumped ship and joined the APC recently.
“My thinking is that if there will be elections, I have told my friends (Kingsley Moghalu, Omoyele Sowore) that it would take a miracle for a third force to win election in a country that is as complex and complicated as Nigeria.
“We are left with only one option. If APC is so bad that you don’t want to touch it, the only other option, for now, will be PDP, unless the party breaks up and you have a new re-alliance as it happened with the APC. Anything other than that, the two formidable parties at the national level will be APC and PDP.”
He stated that the ruling APC should be punished for mismanaging the country and creating division among the regions that make up Nigeria since taking over power in 2015.
The media mogul asked Nigerians not to vote for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) nor any of its candidates in the forthcoming elections.
Momodu blamed President Buhari and the ruling party for the current security challenges facing the country and the economic hardship experienced by the citizens.
He said: “APC should be punished for the mismanagement of Nigeria in the last six and half years. If you fail an exam, you do not get promoted. If you fail, sometimes you can get rusticated if your results are so bad and the school gives up on you. The way Nigeria is today, we are just on the brink of collapse. Buhari has led us to the Golgotha.
“The greatest party in Nigeria is neither the APC nor the PDP. They are just formidable because they are the ones who practice politicking.
“What is needed now is someone who can bring the floaters party on board. Those are the youths. Many people don’t vote. This is because the people do not find anybody whose message resonates with them, whose face is familiar to them.“
BREAKING: Former Senate President Emerges PDP Consensus National Chairman Candidate
Former Senate President, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has emerged the consensus candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
This is coming ahead of the main opposition party’s October 31 national elective convention holding at the Eagles square, Abuja.
The former Senate President emerged the consensus candidate after hours of continuous meetings by PDP stakeholders of Northern extraction in Abuja.
Naija News had earlier reported that three candidates emerged from those contesting to become the next National Chairman of the PDP.
A candidate emerged each from the North Central, North West, and North-East geo-political zones.
A former Katsina State Governor, Ibrahim Shema defeated other aspirants to emerge from the North West, Senator Suleiman Nazif from Bauchi State, who is the current PDP Deputy National Chairman (North), emerged as the sole candidate from the North East and the North Central chose former Senate President, Iyorchia Ayu from Benue State.
To emerge, Shema got votes from 6 out of 7 states from his zone, leaving his closest challenger, former Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Makarfi with votes just from Kaduna his home state.
Nazif on his part had no challenger and emerged the sole candidate from his region.
While the North Central zone of the PDP agreed to the choice of Benue-born former Senate President, Iyorchia Ayu as their candidate for the position of national chairman of the party.
PDP chairmanship: Stalemate as consensus arrangement suffers setback
The search for a consensus national chairmanship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, suffered setback Wednesday night.
A meeting of the party’s stakeholders where a consensus candidate would have been picked could not hold as some party leaders were absent.
The botched meeting was billed to hold at the Bauchi Governor’s lodge in Abuja.
However, Governors Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Samuel Ortom of Benue and Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State were present.
Others present include former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, former Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Tanimu Turaki, Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin.
However, The Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri, who doubles as the Chairman, PDP National Convention Organising Committee, said the meeting had been adjourned till Thursday.
He said the meeting could not hold on Wednesday night due to “communications gap“.
“Unfortunately, we could not meet because of communication gap, some of our leaders could not make it to the venue.
“We have adjourned the meeting till tomorrow (Thursday) when we will take a definite position on the chairmanship position that has been zoned to the north.
“At the moment, all the three zones in the North are interested in the position,” Fintiri disclosed.
However, the North Central PDP stakeholders on Wednesday adopted a former Senate President, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, as their consensus candidate.
It was also gathered that various interest camps in the North-West are soliciting support for the duo of Ahmed Makarfi and Ibrahim Shema, ex-governors of Kaduna and Katsina states respectively.
BREAKING: Obaseki meets with Buhari Amidst PDP Crisis in Edo
Governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki was received by President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso-rock on Wednesday afternoon.
The meeting was announced by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina who shared photos from the meeting on social media.
“President Buhari receives Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State in State House on 13th Oct 2021,” Adesina captioned photos.
POLITICS NIGERIA recalls that Obaseki is facing a lot of pressure from members of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP over his sluggish approach towards appointments and rewards promised to party members who worked assiduously to ensure he won a second term as governor of the state.
2023: Atiku Meets Mark Over PDP Chairmanship Position, See Details
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections, Atiku Abubakar, has met with a former Senate President, David Mark.
Naija News reports that both PDP chieftains met on Monday night to discuss the chairmanship position of the party zoned to the North by its NEC.
A source in Atiku’s camp told The Nation that the former vice president met Mark to deliberate on the unity and progress of the party ahead of the national convention.
He added that Atiku also informed Mark about the chairmanship aspiration of his former Director-General of his campaign, former Senate President, Dr Iyorchia Ayu.
He, however, claimed that Atiku does not want to take sides, considering the fact that the two aspirants are his friends.
The source said: “The two leaders met for the sake of unity and progress of the party. The ex-Vice President does not want to take sides. I think he is looking at the larger picture of 2023.
“We are all concerned about the politics of the national chairman, we do not want the party destabilized under any guise.
“Maybe the ex-VP is trying to see how the party can manage the micro-zoning in the North to keep the zone intact for the next elections.”
Also reacting, a member of the National Working Committee of the PDP said Atiku’s visit to Mark was a tactical endorsement of the former Senate President.
He said: “We have heard of the talks between Atiku and Mark. I see Atiku’s visit to Mark as a tactical endorsement of the former President of the Senate.
“I think we are beginning to have a direction of where the chairmanship ticket will go.”
This news medium reports that Ayu and Mark are from Benue State and are both former Presidents of the Senate.
Other PDP stalwarts contesting for the chairmanship position include former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, former Governors Ibrahim Dankwambo, Ahmed Makarfi, Ibrahim Shema, and Babangida Aliyu.
