The Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalists, NGIJ, has lost one of its members, Peremobewei Tobi Tukuwei Jnr, to a tragic Boat Mishap in Nembe Local Government Area of the Bayelsa State. He died on Wednesday, 25th October, 2023.
The Bayelsa State born Tukuwei was a Staff of DAAR Communications and also Director, Media and Publicity of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Campaign Council in Bayelsa State.
Tukuwei was declared missing after the tragic incident occurred while he and two other journalists were travelling from Nembe Town to Okoroba Community in Nembe for the party’s governorship campaign.
According to eyewitness accounts, the driver of the speedboat in which they were travelling lost control as a result of turbulence. The boat capsized at about 1.00pm along the Nembe Creek.
In a Statement NGIJ President, Ayoyemi Mojoyinola, said that his death is a great loss to the Nigeria Media, Bayelsa State and NGIJ as a body.
He said his selfless service, determination and charisma, stood him out of the crowd and among his contemporaries.
His loss he said is so painful, but stressed that God Almighty does what pleases him.
“Death is a companion of the living which we will all embrace one day, we are just pained by his sudden demise.
“We pray that God in his infinite mercy will give his family the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss”.
Tukuwei, who hailed from Toru-Ndoro community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the State, was appointed Director, Media and Publicity of the APC Campaign Council in Bayelsa Date early October.
He was a media and communications expert, and an alumnus of the School of Politics, Policy and Governance.
He was also a BBC-trained journalist who won the Best on Air Personality, Best Television Presenter in the Niger Delta as well as Bayelsa’s Best Journalist of the Year five years in a row from 2015-2020.
He was also a one-time Acting Head of Programmes Raypower FM Yenagoa before he was elevated to the National Network in Abuja becoming a co-anchor of one of AIT’s breakfast programme, ‘Kaakaki’.
Ondo State House of Assembly is divided over the impeachment of the Deputy Governor of the State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa. 11 Lawmakers have kicked against the Speaker for singlehandedly acting on the matter.
The 11 members dissociated themselves from the decision of the Speaker to write the State Chief Judge to set up a Panel to investigate allegations against the Deputy Governor.
According to them, there was no time the House convened to take such decision as all members are still bound by the decision reached with the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the impeachment.
A letter signed by 11 of the Legislators stated that “As members of the 10th Assembly of Ondo State House of Assembly, we wish to inform the public and the good people of Ondo State that the letter purported to have been written by members of the 10th Assembly signed by Rt. Hon. Oladiji Olamide Adesanmi, speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly, dated 23rd October, 2023, transmitted to the Chief Judge of Ondo State, requesting him to constitute a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct against the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, came to us as a rude shock.
“The said letter did not emanate from any of the sittings of members of Ondo State House of Assembly.
“We wish to state further that the decision to transmit such letter by the speaker. Rt. Hon Oladiji Olamide Adesanmi, to the Chief Judge of Ondo State, in our view, is in the least unwarranted and uncalled for, in the light of the following reasons;
“The order of interim injunction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Division, of 21st day of September, 2023, which has restrained the speaker and Ondo State House of Assembly, as 4th and 6th respondents respectively, is still subsisting, since it has neither be vacated nor set aside. For us to act in contravention of the subsisting order of Court will certainly be contemptuous.
“The National Leaders of the All Progressive Congress, on 17th October, 2023, invited all the members of the Party, of Ondo State House of Assembly to the National Secretariat of the Party and pleaded for amicable and political solution to the issue of impeachment process, initiated by the House against the Deputy Governor of Ondo State.
“Without hesitation, the request was acceded to, in the interest of the party and peace of Ondo State, by the State chairman of APC, Engr.
Ade Adetimehin and Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Oladiji Olamide Adesanmi, who consequently addressed press immediately after the meeting. It will be untidy in our view to get back to Ondo State and act otherwise.
“The decision to transmit the purported letter of Ondo State House of Assembly dated 23rd October, 2023, signed by Rt. Hon Oladiji Olamide Adesanmi, was taken without a formal sitting of the House and our knowledge as members of the 10th Assembly.
“It is our considered view that we should be honourable indeed by standing with our acceptance at the Abuja meeting to suspend the impeachment process and allow for amicable and political solution to the issue for the benefits of governance and peace of Ondo State.
“However, we reiterate our unalloyed respect and support to our amiable Governor, His Excellency Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN. CON, a man of peace and leader per excellence, who strongly believed in peace and progress of Ondo State.
“We equally call on His Excellency, the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Ayedatiwa, to earnestly tow the path of the agreement for amicable and political solution to the impeachment saga, as brokered by the National Working Committee of All Progressive Congress.
“In the light of the foregoing, we the undersigned members of Ondo State House of Assembly, wish to dissociate ourselves from the letter titled: Request to Constitute a Seven-man panel, to investigate the Allegation of Gross Misconduct Against the Deputy Governor of Ondo State.”
Lawmakers that signed the letter are Japheth Oluwatoyin, Jide Oguntodu, Tiamiyu Fatai Atere, Gbegudu Ololade, Allen Oluwatoyin, and Abitogun Stephen.
Agric Summit Africa, ASA, known for its significant contributions to the agriculture sector, proudly announces the forthcoming 5th edition of its annual event. This year’s event, themed “Empowering Innovations: A Confluence of Capital, Vision, and Agribusiness Enterprise,” is set to take place on November 8, 2023 in Lagos, Nigeria.
The bank’s Group Head of Agric and Solid Minerals, Dr Shola Obikanye, said since its maiden edition in 2019, ASA has played a pivotal role in addressing critical issues within Nigeria’s agriculture sector. It has consistently brought together influential figures from various sectors to discuss and explore innovative solutions for the industry’s challenges.
The initiative has rightly earned its place as a cornerstone event for the agriculture sector in sub-Saharan Africa.
He declared that to commemorate its fifth anniversary, ASA has chosen to lead with the kind of innovation and change it has advocated for over the years.
“This year the organisers of the ASA will feature an incubator-style investors’ deal room, which, in addition to its insightful discussions, will offer the opportunity for agribusiness entrepreneurs to promote their innovative ideas and receive the necessary funding and business support they need to scale”.
This unique addition provides a platform for promising agro-innovators to present their transformative business solutions to a panel of industry experts, with a chance to secure grants of up to N50 million and financing options totalling up to N1 billion.
The driving force behind ASA AgroPitch 2023 is rooted in ASA’s commitment to financing Nigeria’s agriculture sector and fostering the change needed for advancement. By injecting substantial capital at the SME level, ASA is championing the movement to shape a sustainable agricultural future for Nigeria.
This initiative warmly invites all promising agropreneurs to join this noble endeavour and establish themselves as pioneers of agricultural innovation.
To participate in ASA AgroPitch 2023, interested agribusiness owners can submit their applications through the ASA website at www.agricsummit.org. Follow the two-step application process for an opportunity to grow your agribusiness exponentially.
The United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), donated over 60,000 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) – valued at $3.5 million – to the governors of Bauchi, Kebbi, and Sokoto states in Nigeria. The handover is part of USAID’s bid to expand access to treatment for severe acute malnutrition.
In Nigeria, severe acute malnutrition remains a significant public health concern, affecting 3.6 million children. With challenges of food insecurity, limited access to quality healthcare, and inadequate nutrition interventions, multisectoral collaboration and innovation is needed. Expanding sustainable local access to affordable, life-saving nutrition commodities is essential to address severe malnutrition in Nigerian children.
U.S. Mission Nigeria has risen to the challenge. By providing RUTF to growers, manufacturers, distributors, and shippers, USAID has helped make therapeutic food more affordable and accessible. The approach collaborates with the Government of Nigeria, the private sector, and donor community to: 1) strengthen local RUTF manufacturing; 2) incorporate RUTF into state health systems such as drug revolving funds, and health budgets; 3) improve the quality of groundnut inputs for manufacturing RUTF; 4) strengthen the quality of nutrition health services; and 5) integrate humanitarian nutrition services more sustainably.
Speaking at the October 26 handover ceremony, USAID Mission Director Melissa Jones remarked, “reducing malnutrition is a critical component of improving health, education, and inclusive economic development. We commend Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health for including RUTF and other nutrition commodities in the list of essential medicines. Doing so allows this life-saving essential food to be procured and made available at all health facilities.”
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, 60, is a medical doctor and retired army captain. But he has not had a job after retirement 37 years ago. His day job since has been bandits’ advocacy. He has become so used to getting away with saying what he likes when he likes and how he likes it, he hardly knows when he needs help to extract his foot from his mouth.
He could use such help. Not only for his own good, but perhaps for the good of those taking him seriously as well.
In a rambling no-holds-barred sermon last week, Gumi lashed out at the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, for planning to make Abuja “an extension of Tel Aviv,” where anyone with a long beard would be treated like Osama bin Laden and murdered. He criticised Muslims for supporting a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the last election, forgetting that others, including Christians, also voted for that ticket.
“Satan” at work
His most deadly venom, however, was not for Wike. It was for Tinubu, the enabler of the “Satan” called Wike, and the hundreds of smaller Southern devils of all faiths roaming the woods of the country in a murderous rampage since 1966 but who have resurged with Tinubu’s election, holding the trigger. Their poor, dispossessed Northern compatriots are left to occupy empty shells as offices. This translation is a mild version of what Gumi said.
He spoke for himself and not for millions of Muslims across the country who recognise that after an election whoever emerges president has an obligation not just to one religious group but to all citizens, whether they are believers or agnostics.
He spoke for himself and not for exceptional clerics and Muslim leaders like the Sultan of Sokoto Sa’ad Abubakar who have spent their lives building bridges across faiths. Gumi spoke for himself, and certainly not for voters in Abuja who, for the first time ever, elected a non-indigenous woman, Ireti Kingibe, and member of the Labour Party, instead of traditional candidates of the two dominant parties, to represent them in the Senate. Gumi was speaking for himself.
Life in Abuja
Of course, he has a fanbase – a remnant of die-hards who follow him in the mistaken notion that he would not inherit some of the incendiary rhetoric of his father, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi. Perhaps there are also a few closet admirers among temporarily displaced politicians who are happy with his bitter words. But what is Gumi complaining about, really?
That Wike is suspectedly talking to the Israelis for Abuja’s security? It doesn’t matter to me. And Gumi may not understand why. Living in Abuja, as Chinua Achebe once said about Lagos, has become like living at the warfront.
But Gumi will not understand since he goes about with police escorts, which is strange because you would expect that the exploits from his bandits’ advocacy should have set him free from all security concerns by now.
Unfortunately, life in Abuja, especially in recent times, has been dangerous with frequent reports of deadly attacks on commuters by so-called “one-chance” drivers. If talking to Mossad or Hamas or Hezbollah will keep Abuja safe, it really doesn’t matter to me. And Gumi, a retired army captain, ought to know better.
Red herring
The US, “a country of infidels”, has some of the largest military bases in the world in Muslim countries in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, where Gumi earned his PhD in Islamic jurisprudence, has five of such bases apart from a military defence pact with America. The UAE hosts 5,000 US military personnel at the Al Dhafra Air Base, just outside Abu Dhabi. President Donald Trump had planned to double it.
Wike talking with Mossad – which I suspect was just a Gumi red herring – does not make Abuja any more vulnerable than did military president General Ibrahim Babangida awarding Julius Berger, a German firm, the contract to build Aso Rock, where the Nigerian president resides.
But of course, that was not Gumi’s main grouse. He is offended by the “otherness” of Wike’s appointment. How can someone who is not like him, an intruder if you like, be appointed minister of the Federal Capital Territory?
There are many things for which you can criticise Wike, not least of which is his politics, sometimes. His decisions to shuffle the FCT administration, demand overdue ground rent, and revoke hundreds of plots of undeveloped land that have in many cases become speculators’ lottery, have ruffled feathers. Yet, they can hardly be described as self-serving.
To be fair, Gumi did not mention any of these complaints in his sermon. Even if he did, it would have been perfectly within his right to do so because public officers must be held to account. But that was not the point of his displeasure; it was not about requesting accountability, offering suggestions about a better way, if he thought there was one, or challenging the competence of the minister.
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi
Whose sacred ground?
His attack came from a much deeper place: resentment that Tinubu who emerged president by the grace of the North had the effrontery to bring an “intruder” into a “sacred ground,” without the approval of the Landlord. This brazen sense of entitlement dressed up as a “religious wrong,” offends decency. It’s unacceptable.
Abuja does not need to be saved from Wike. It is against people like Gumi that the capital and the country must now defend itself. The original builders of this place did not conceive of it as the Boys Quarters of one tribe, religion or ethnic group. It was precisely because of this sort of complication which Lagos presented, apart from it becoming a concrete jungle, that Abuja was conceived of as the new frontier of national unity.
The original majority Gwari indigenes have complained, perhaps justifiably, of being marginalised; agitators from the creeks of the Niger Delta have complained, perhaps justifiably, that Abuja was built off the back of oil wealth from that polluted and forsaken region.
What injury has Wike’s appointment caused Gumi? In Joseph Ona & another V. Diga Romani Atenda (2000), 5 NWLR (Pt. 656) 244, the Court of Appeal put to rest any special claim to Abuja by anyone or group. Abuja has no special status and therefore cannot be claimed as anyone’s special ground.
Changing demographics
If Gumi was looking, he would have seen, from the results of the last general elections that the city’s demographics, especially in the municipal areas, are changing. For the first time in its 47-year history as federal capital, neither the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of which he is an undisguised sympathiser; nor the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), had the majority. Appointments must reflect competence and the changing demographics.
In spite of Gumi, it’s a small step forward for unity and diversity that an APC president appointed a PDP minister in a federal capital where a woman and a non-indigene, represents Abuja in the Senate.
Gumi was right about one thing, though. That he didn’t particularly see eye-to-eye with former President Muhammadu Buhari. But it’s surprising that for eight years he didn’t see anything wrong with Abuja under former FCT minister Mohammed Bello.
A man full of religious fervour, Bello was well on his way to pre-eminence in mullah-hood when Buhari diverted him with a ministerial appointment, which became his undoing. He lost his way and his catastrophic tenure has been largely responsible for Abuja’s current mess.
Bello’s failure had nothing to do with religion or the fact that all seven ministers of the city in the last 24 years have all been Muslims. After all, Nasir El-Rufai, one of the two exceptional ministers in nearly 50 years, is a Muslim.
Gumi’s followers won’t hear him say that. But the next time they listen to his hate sermon, they should ask him what matters more to him: result or religion? His extremism shames decency. He should find a job.
At a time National Assembly Members plan to spend hundreds of Billions of Naira to import exotic SUVs for their official use, a former Senator, Entrepreneur and Media Personality, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, has appealed to Nigerians to save Nigeria’s economy and the Naira by patronizing made in Nigeria goods and products.
In a post with a hashtag: #BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira, Murray-Bruce appealed: “Even if you do not like me, do it because you like yourself.”
He explained why. He said because the immediate past Muhammadu Buhari Government took the funds from the sale of oil in advance, Nigeria is not getting money from its current oil sales. The result he said, is that “the Naira will not rise even if Nigeria sells more crude oil.” But more revealing: Murray-Bruce disclosed that far from what everyone thinks, Nigeria is not an oil rich country.
Murray-Bruce: “We are talking about 1.7 million barrels of oil per day to a population of over 200 million people.
He posited that Nigeria should stop looking at oil as its savior. His damning conclusion: “If we don’t persist in buying made in Nigeria goods and services, we will perish economically.”
The full text of his post reads:
“The Naira will not rise even if Nigeria sells more crude oil. Not only are we not getting money from present sales since the Buhari government took the funds in advance, but we are, also, not an oil-rich nation.
“We are talking about 1.7 million barrels of oil per day to a population of over 200 million people.
“Angola has just 15% of our population and produces more oil than we do. Stop looking at oil for our salvation. If we don’t persist in buying made in Nigeria goods and services, we will perish economically.
“#BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira.Even if you do not like me, do it because you like yourself.
“The days of subsidised Naira are gone forever.
“There is no $1.5 billion to waste defending the Naira anymore. If you and I want a stronger Naira, we must defend it by changing our consumption habits.”
Apparently, Nigeria’s Federal Lawmakers think otherwise. Instead of patronizing local vehicle manufacturers, they insist on importing their official cars from outside Nigeria, at a cost that would worsen Nigeria’s already distressed economy.
On Thursday, October 26, the exchange rate of a Dollar to one Naira, stood at N1, 300.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, on Thursday, said that the Nigerian State does not belong to any person or a particular group.
The Minister spoke days after a Muslim fundamentalist, Sheik Ahmed Gumi, pointedly urged that Wike should not only be removed as the FCT Minister, because he is a Christian and a Southerner,, but also because, allegedly, the Minister plans to use Isreali Security Operatives in Abuja.
In a pronouncement which was meant to provoke Southerners and Christians, as well as incite the Muslim North against the South and Christians, Gumi said Southerners and Christians should never be trusted with power.
Gumi came under strong attacks by Nigerians and Organizations – North, South, Muslim, Christians- including the Middle Belt Forum, and a former Niger Delta Militant who is, also, a Presidential friend and Tinubu loyalists, Asari Dokubo. Dokubo reminded Gumi that Abuja was built and developed with money from the Niger Delta and Igboland.
On Thursday, Wike, who spoke when he hosted, in Abuja, an APC delegation from Rivers State, in a veiled response to Gumi said:
“We are all members of the Nigerian State, and therefore, it is important for all of us to, also, understand that the Nigerian State does not belong to a particular person or group.
“So, I am not going to discriminate against anyone. I am here for all Nigerians. I am here for those who are members of political parties and those who are not members of any political party.”
There have been calls for the arrest and interrogation of Gumi since his infamous statement, but mum has been the word from Security Agencies.
In a sharp deviation from the norm, a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governor, has congratulated President Bola Tinubu on his victory at the Supreme Court.
By so doing, Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, became the first opposition party Governor to congratulate President Tinubu on his foretold victory at the Supreme Court.
Tinubu had, on Thursday, October 26, 2023, at the Supreme Court, defeated the Candidate of Governor Adeleke’s party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar. Atiku and the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, had appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the declaration of Tinubu as President by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the February 25, 2023, Presidential election, and as affirmed by the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC.
According to INEC, Tinubu, Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, beat Atiku and Obi to the second and third positions respectively, a result rejected by both men.
However, their challenge against Tinubu’s victory ended Thursday when the Seven-man Panel of Supreme Court Justices, led by Justice John Okoro, dismissed the cases against Tinubu by Atiku and Obi, as without merit.
Adeleke, who spoke at Ede, Osun State, during the funeral of the father of one of his Commissioners, in reaction to Tinubu’s victory, congratulated the President and said that the final resolution of all issues which surrounded the Presidential election, will make way for a focus on the many challenges in Nigeria.
Adeleke, also, commended Atiku, for deepening democracy by challenging the President to a logical conclusion of the thorny issues that concerned his victory at the polls.
A statement by the Governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, quoted Adeleke as saying: “On behalf of the good people of Osun State, I congratulate President Tinubu on his judicial victory at the apex Court.
“I hope that your Presidency will bring progress, unity and prosperity to our nation, and I want to restate my commitment to partner with you in offering good governance for our people.”
In 2019, to the anger of his Party, the PDP, then Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, was the first to congratulate then President Muhammadu Buhari, APC, on his victory over his Party’s Candidate, Atiku Abubakar. In 2023, Wike upped the ante and worked for APC Candidate, Tinubu, against same Atiku.
The Emperor of Rivers State politics, Nyesom Wike, has said that President Bola Tinubu will rule Nigeria for eight years. The President who has served only five months out of his first four-year term as President, has been promised a landslide victory in Rivers State in 2027 by Wike. President Tinubu’s first term will end on May 28, 2027. But according to Wike, his second term starts immediately, thereafter – May 29, 2027.
Wike, PDP, is the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, but while still clinging tightly to his PDP membership, he is serving under the APC Government as the Minister for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
In the 2019 Presidential Election, Wike publicly worked for President Bola Tinubu’s victory against the candidate of his own Party, Atiku Abubakar. The bone of contention was that not only did Atiku defeat Wike in the PDP Presidential Primaries, he refused to pick him as his running mate, in preference to the then Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa. And, Wike is not relenting in his fight against the PDP. Come 2027, the Minister has made it clear that he would still work for President Tinubu against the PDP.
Wike, who, without any shadow of doubt, is the leader of both the APC and PDP in Rivers State, spoke Thursday, October 26, 2023, in Abuja when he hosted a delegation of the Rivers State APC in his office. The APC team was led by the National Vice Chairman, South-south, Victor Giadom. Recall that Giadom, a Rivers man, was put into office by the now politically irrelevant former Rivers State Governor, and immediate past Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who founded the APC in the State.
Wike told the delegation that he had no regrets that he worked for the electoral success of President Tinubu in 2019, and owed nobody any apologies for that. He said he did so because he was out to ensure justice and equity. He expressed excitement at the victory of the President at the Supreme Court on Thursday, and boasted that come 2027, those who scored 2,000 votes in Rivers State, are not likely to score 50 votes as all the votes will go to Tinubu.
Wike: “Let me say clearly, and to the hearing of everyone, we owe a duty to continue to support Mr President, irrespective of the political party we belong to. My position is not hidden. I owe nobody no apologies that I stand firm with President Tinubu. I stand for equity, fairness and justice.
“I thank God that the battle has ended to the glory of God. We are all members of the Nigerian State, and therefore, it is important for all of us to also understand that the Nigerian State does not belong to a particular person or group.
“A country of this nature, if A takes, the next opportunity should go to B. So, I am not going to discriminate against
anyone. I am here for all Nigerians. I am here for those who are members of political parties and those who are not members of any political party.
“Mr President, having emerged is not the President of APC. He is the President of Nigeria. Of course, while he is governing Nigeria, he must also take care of his Political Party. No one can argue that. It is natural. But when it comes to governance, Nigerians must benefit.
“The interest of Rivers State is key. What will benefit our State is what we must always project. I am not a member of the APC, but I believe that the support for Asiwaju was necessary.
“Looking at all the candidates from the South, I knew that nobody would defeat Asiwaju. The capacity and political will to take action, he has it.
“Most of you worked for Asiwaju. Those who didn’t work for Asiwaju, we know. It was not hidden. It was clear.
“I am not a politician for self. I am a politician for all. Not ‘me, me, me’. Nobody does that. Anybody who does that does not want to survive, because at the end of the day, you need people. But be assured that all of us are working together for President Tinubu.
I am sure that in the next election, those who scored 2,000 would not get 50 votes again because we have no vote to give anybody again. Our votes will go to President Bola Tinubu.”
By this declaration of full support for Tinubu in 2027, Wike has debunked the widely held notion in some circles that he would contest against Tinubu in 2027. What is not clear, however, is, if Wike will still be a PDP member in 2027. Not a few people think he is APC – bound.
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barr. Julius Abure has cried out that he and the LP flag bearer, Peter Obi, have been marked by the ruling class for suppression aimed at decimating the party and the Obidient Movement.
Abure revealed this at a press conference on Thursday where he disagreed with the ruling of the Supreme Court on the February 25_ 2023 Presidential poll. He said that the vilification agenda of the authority is to destroy the mission of the party of rescuing Nigeria from the hands of criminal gangs.
“It is also pertinent to put on record that we have it on very good authority that the government may have marked some Labour Party’s key leaders self especially** and *our Leader and Presidential candidate Mr Peter Obi in particular* for vilification, in order to*suppress the party, suffocate our team, and our goal of a New Nigeria*.
According to the National Chairman, “The planned persecution, intimidation, suppression and harassment of our leaders using security agencies and all other government institutions will be defended”
He called on members of the party at all levels and the Obidient family to be vigilant and brace up for the challenges ahead.
“The struggle for a New Nigeria will certainly be tortuous and hard.
“We are also calling on the International community to rise to the occasion to defend democracy in Nigeria.
“Your voices were loud and clear in condemnation of the outcome of the presidential election. As we approach the next stage of our democratic journey, we call on you to stand by the millions of Nigerians who are already pushed beyond their limits into unnecessary hardship and penury.
Abure said at the conference that the struggle by our founding fathers to build a nation where truth and justice shall reign and enthrone democracy has been destroyed describing today as another sad day for democracy in Nigeria.
Following, the full text of the Press Conference.
“The leadership of Labour Party watched as the sacred fabric of justice and good conscience was shredded today at the Supreme Court as it delivered its verdict in the case between our party the Presidential candidate and the APC Presidential candidate. We are indeed very shocked and surprised that even the apex Court will toe the line of an early judgment despite all the flaws associated with the judgment delivered by the Presidential Election Appeal Tribunal.
“Having conclusively exercised our fundamental rights as gifted to us by the laws of the land, we have no other choice but to move on. We may be disappointed and dismayed by the outcome of the exercise but we have chosen to trudge on and to remain optimistic of what the future holds for the nation.
“We weep for our Institutions that cannot rise to the occasion and courageously defend democracy and the voices of our people.
“However, there are great lessons to learn. What transpired in Nigeria since the February 25 presidential election is a clear testament that our institutions are not working and that we may be sliding towards dictatorship. It is very clear that the executive has hijacked both the judiciary and the legislature. This is so unfortunate for our democracy and it is even more for the people of Nigeria.
“All that our forebearers taught us has been destroyed within a short space of time *UNBRIDLED AMBITION OF FEW. The founding fathers fought with their lives to achieve independence for the country. People lost their lives in the struggle to keep our democracy and all these years people have been struggling to achieve electoral and constitutional reforms. Regrettably, all of these efforts and struggles have been destroyed **TODAY*.
“It is also pertinent to put on record that we have it on very good authority that the government may have marked some Labour Party’s key leaders, *myself especially* and *our Leader and Presidential candidate Mr Peter Obi in particular* for vilification to *suppress the party, suffocate our team, and our goal of a new Nigeria*. The planned persecution, intimidation, suppression and harassment of our leaders using security agencies and all other government institutions will be definitely defended.
“We are therefore calling on all our members, and the Obidient family to be vigilant and brace up for the challenges ahead. The struggle for a New Nigeria will certainly be tortuous and hard.
“We are also calling on the International community to rise to the occasion to defend democracy in Nigeria. Your voices were loud and clear in condemnation of the outcome of the presidential election. As we approach the next stage of our democratic journey, we call on you to stand by the millions of Nigerians who are already pushed beyond their limits into unnecessary hardship and penury.
“Finally, we urge Nigerians not to lose hope in our *Country * Though we are paying a huge price to achieve a Nigeria of our desire. We are hopeful that we will get to our destination someday because where there is a will, certainly, there will be a way. A new Nigeria is still possible.”
