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Finnish Police Confirms Simon Ekpa’s Arrest

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The Source
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By Gideon Njoku

The Finnish Police has confirmed the arrest and detention of “Biafran Terrorist”, Simon Ekpa.

Ekpa, self-proclaimed disciple of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, detained Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, has, for many months, been a thorn in the flesh of the Igbo as well as IPOB. He had, on most occasions, overruled IPOB leadership, and allegedly formed his own very violent group called Autopilot.

Anything IPOB says, he counters, including overruling IPOB on the continous sit-at-home order which has grounded the South-east economy, as well as his insistence, contrary to IPOB’s stand, that there will be no elections in the South-east.

On his orders, violence, tears, sorrow, blood, death, and the fear of tomorrow have been the lot of the people of the South-east.

A couple of weeks ago, the Nigerian Government invited  the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria and complained about Ekpa’s waywardness, threat to Nigeria’s security, and his terrorism activities in his fatherland from Finland where he is, also, a citizen.

But two days to the General Elections, an exercise which he had banned in the South-east and declared a lock down of the Zone within the period, news broke that the Finnish Police  has arrested Ekpa.

He was arrested Thursday morning, February 23, 2023, in his apartment.

Confirming the news of Ekpa’s arrest without mentioning his name, Tommi Reen, a Criminal Investigator from the Central Criminal Police, Finland, told a news outlet, HS News, that the “Keskusrikospoliisi (KRP), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), in Finland had a police operation in a private apartment in the centre of Lahti.”

He said the operation is connected to an ongoing investigation. He gave no further details.

A photograph of Ekpa, in handcuffs, accompanied by the Finnish Police has since surfaced on Whatsaap platforms. He is said to be in custody.

87 Million Nigerians expected To Vote Saturday, Says INEC

By
Uche Mbah
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By Uche Mbah

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared 87,209,007 Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) collected across the country in preparation for the Presidential and National Assembly elections Saturday.

Speaking on Thursday during a Media briefing at the national collation centre in Abuja, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Chairman, Mahmud Yakubu, said there are still many more PVCs to distribute.

He, however, made no mention of thousands of PVCs recovered from a bush in Nnewi, Anambra State, where they were dumped.

December 12 to January 22 were the periods set aside for PVC collection exercise in all LGAs, which was later extended to February 5.

According to Yakubu, the rate of collection is higher than in previous years.

The Commission later distributed some backup data to Journalists.

93,469,008 were the total number of registered voters, of which the 87 million represented 93% of registered voters. The rest, roughly 7%,are yet to be collected.

Lagos has the largest number of collected PVCs with 6,214,970, followed by Kano with 5,594,193, and Kaduna with 4,164, 473.

The States with the highest number of uncollected PVCs include Lagos – 845,225, Oyo – 515,254, and Ogun – 410,281.

IPOB Not Interested In Nigeria’s Elections – Spokesman

By
Ayodele Oni
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By  Ayodele Oni

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB),has maintained that its stand on Saturday’s presidential and national assembly election remains total boycott by members.

IPOB, in a statement by Emma Powerful, spokesman of the organization, said “IPOB under the command and leadership of our great leader Mazi Nnamdi KANU who is illegally detained in DSS solitary confinement once more unequivocally and publicly declare our lack of interest in the Nigeria fraudulent selection process called elections coming up in this month February, 2023.

We have stated for umpteenth time  that we have nothing to do with the Nigeria elections and have neither called for a boycott nor do we have the intention  to call for election boycott during this coming elections.

“More importantly IPOB has not called for any Sit-At-Home during the duration of the election and therefore  distance ourselves from any purported sit-at-home in Biafra land during the election.

Those calling for “No Election” and sit-at-home during the election period are simply Fulani agents whose sole motive is to discredit our Self Determination movement by attempting to paint it as an anti democratic forces.

“Their intension is to create the ground work for the international community to view IPOB as being against democratic process and provide them with an excuse to clamp down on our activities and on IPOB Leadership.

“Nigeria Security Agencies have kept silent on these double agents because they are working for the Nigeria government.

“Let IPOB call for this sit-at-home or No Election, the entire Nigeria Security Agencies would have been ranting and threatening the entire Biafra land.

“Those calling for no election or Sit-at-home during this forthcoming fraudulent elections do not represent IPOB, are not IPOB family members never were IPOB family members and are not working for Mazi Nnamdi KANU.

“We have continued to make this fact public and for reasons best known to the Nigerian Media and some public commentators, they have deliberately continually  attributed the actions of these Nigerian politicians and Nigerian government paid infiltrators to the noble movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB WORLDWIDE.

“IPOB cannot legitimize a process whose foundation is ab initio of your choice. This is one of the reasons we have  distance ourselves from the selection process called Nigeria elections.

“Our position remains that Nigeria is  an irredeemable fraudulent country, and not even your vote can change the fantastically corrupt British enterprise called Nigeria.

“Our focus remains the unconditional release of our leader Mazi Nnamdi KANU as the Court of Appeal has Ordered and Referendum date for Biafrans to determine their political future.

“IPOB and the leadership will make a landmark on radio Biafra by MAZI CHINASA NWORU on Friday 24th night on the issue of elections and to tell Biafrans that we are not stopping anybody from performing his or her civic responsibility by voting person of your choice.

“IPOB did not order sit-at-home IPOB is not against anybody coming out for elections everybody should go out on these days criminals mentioned as sit-at-home. There is no sit-at-home order in Biafraland.”

Saturday’s Election Is Final Burial Rites For APC – Ondo PDP

By
Ayodele Oni
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By Ayodele Oni

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo state has taken a swipe at early morning broadcast by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu saying it would have been unnecessary if the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) has lived up to the expectations of Nigerians.

In the broadcast, Governor Akeredolu had appealed to the people to troop out massively and vote for the presidential candidate of APC, Bola Tinubu, not minding the current hardship occasioned by currency swap.

A statement by the PDP spokesman in the state, Kennedy Peretei, stated that “This morning, Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, delivered an address that fell far below the expectations of Ondo state residents.

“The Governor laid the blames of the present sufferings and agonies of the people, squarely on the feet of his party, All Progressives Congress, (APC).

“How he turned round almost immediately, to plead for the same party that ‘drew a dagger on the heart of the people,’ is the biggest surprise.

“Mr. Akeredolu, a Governor elected on the platform of APC, vilified President Muhammadu Buhari for policies designed to precipitate national crisis, and the failure of their party, and by implication the failure of their presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

“Akeredolu joins the league of APC Governors and Ministers that have openly declared that, the Buhari APC government has achieved nothing in 8years.

“The empty broadcast, full of lamentations failed in his attempt to dissociate APC candidates from the present gloom into which APC has sunk Nigeria.

“From the confessions of APC key players, it is clear that, a vote for any APC candidate in the forthcoming elections is a continuation of the present situation.

“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ondo State Chapter wishes to urge our people to disregard the address as it did not provide the slightest of succour like some other States are doing, but merely added salt to injury.

“The affliction called APC shall not rise again in our land. The final burial rites will be performed in the next two days.”

Enugu: Obi Condemns Senatorial Candidate Chukwu’s Murder

By
Uche Mbah
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Oyibo Chukwu

By Uche Mbah

The Presidential Candidate of the Labor Party, Peter Obi, has condemned the murder  of the Labor Party Senatorial Candidate for Enugu East Senatorial Zone Barrister Oyibo Chukwu.

Chukwu and five other LP faithful were shot to death on Wednesday at Amechi Awknanaw, Enugu on their way home after a political campaign. They were shot  inside the Sienna vehicle they were riding in, and their bodies and the vehicle burnt. Oyibo was contesting against Dr Chimaroke Nnamani, the expelled Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Taking to his twitter handle @PeterObi the Presidential Candidate condemned Chukwu’s murder.

“I received with deep shock and sadness, the news of the painful killing of Barr Oyibo Chukwu, the Senatorial Candidate of the Labour Party, for Enugu East Senatorial Zone”, he tweeted.

“I strongly condemn the killing of Barr. Chukwu in all its entirety. Human lives must remain precious, irrespective of political affiliation.

“The mindless bloodletting that occurs in the nation is beyond depressing. We must not continue to toe this dangerous path.

“Enough of the killings, now is time for healing. I sincerely condole with the bereaved family, the Enugu East Senatorial Zone and our dear Labour Party family, for this painful loss. I call on the law enforcement agents to fish out and bring to book, the perpetrators of this crime, and ensure that Nigerians freely exercise their civic duties without intimidation.”

2023 Election: SDP Declares Last Minute Support For Peter Obi

By
Uche Mbah
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Peter Obi in Gombe

By Uche Mbah

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has, in a move not surprising to many, declared support for the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

This follows last minute horse and honor trading by political parties, with the big fishes scrambling to swallow the small fishes.

There are 18 presidential aspirants, but only three are considered frontrunners-People’s Democratic Party, PDP, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Labour Party. The rest are regarded as “also ran”.

In most polls, the Labour Party, initially regarded as the third force, leads.

In a communiqué issued and co-signed by the Party’s National Chairman, Chief Supo Shonibare and National Secretary, Hon. Saleh Dass at the end of the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting held in Abuja, Wednesday, the 22nd of February, 2023, the party submitted that the NWC “reaffirms its support for Mr. Peter Obi and Dr. Yusuf Baba-Ahmed Datti in their bid for the Presidency and Vice Presidency respectively.”

Accordingly, the NWC “deliberated on the report of the Senator Ebenezer Ikeyina Committee, investigating the allegation that some of our Leaders from Oyo State, issued a statement declaring support for a candidate other than the Labour Party’s Mr. Peter Obi.

“The NWC has accepted and adopted the disciplinary action recommended by the Ikeyina Committee and suspended the Leaders involved. Should they object to this decision, they have the right to appeal to the NWC, through the National Secretary of the Party.

“With the Presidential elections only a couple of days away, the NWC again considered its position on which candidate best demonstrates an ability to engender a stable polity, as well as provide prudent economic management of our nation’s resources.

“Judicious consideration was given to the contending candidates, especially with regard to which best bears testament to the goal of rotation of the office of the President and the need to continue to encourage inclusivity in the polity.

“Giving consideration to both internal and external factors, and our earlier decision to support an opposition party candidate in the Presidential elections, the SDP reaffirms its support for Mr. Peter Obi and Dr. Yusuf Baba-Ahmed Datti in their bid for the Presidency and Vice Presidency respectively.

“The party therefore enjoins its members and all Nigerians desirous of a stable, inclusive and forward-leaning polity to come out en masse to vote for the Labour Party in the Presidential elections scheduled for Saturday, February 25th, 2023,” the communiqué read.

Air Peace Airline Passenger Caught Stealing

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The Source
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Air Peace Airline Passenger

By Gideon Njoku

On the 17th February, 2023, an Air Peace Airline Passenger who identified himself as Kunle Oni, was caught stealing bundles of money from the luggages of other passengers.

But for the vigilance of a couple of people, a number of passengers would have had a heartbreak on arrival to Lagos. For, at the time he was caught, he had already stolen bundles of the scarce new Naira notes and transferred them to his own hand luggage.

Kunle Oni was a passenger on the Airline’s morning flight, P47139, from the domestic wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, to the  Domestic Wing of the  Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

Wearing a navy blue kaftan and a beret, his seat number was 20C.

It is not yet known the circumstances under which Oni stole, or the circumstances under which he was caught, but in a video watched by this medium, he was still seated at the Depature Longue with other passengers.

It was there that he was interrogated by, apparently, an Airport Security officer or an Air Peace staff. The faces of the interrogator and others with him did not show.

Asked where he kept the stolen monies, he calmly unzipped his luggage, and brought them out in bundles,  one in an A4 brown envelope, and the others just tied together in bundles.

Asked for his Boarding Pass, he brought it out from his shirt pocket. And when asked of his ID card, he brought out an obviously fake HB Identity Card which identified him as a “Staff.”

When asked how many times he had stolen on board Aircraft since 2023, his answer was not audible.

The interrogator appealed to passengers to help them with the prosecution of such miscreants. He identified the problem as the indifference attitude of victims when thieves on board are arrested. He said when taken to a Police station, the victims are reluctant to follow up. They simply walk away once they are given their money and other stolen  items back.

Not a few people are shocked that even aboard Aircraft, their money and other valuables are not safe.

OPINION: Nigeria’s Election and The Pollster’s Albatross

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The Source
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Azu Ishiekwene

By Azu Ishiekwene

With all the predictions of Armageddon and doubt about whether Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly polls would hold it does sound a bit silly to contemplate life after. Even those who grudgingly concede a life after fear it might be worse. Optimism is like playing the Ostrich.

Nigeria’s history of electoral violence in the sixties and even in the mid-nineties might justify these concerns. But the last six election cycles in 24 years have proved that in spite of the hysteria about its viability, Africa’s largest democracy defies the odds.

Saturday’s election would, yet again, prove the skeptics wrong. Despite the political fire and rhetorical brimstones, not to mention the bank note misery, there will be a morning after.

That said, the next most frequently expressed concern is who will win? There are two answers – a short and a long one. If you believe the polls (at least four of the major ones), the Labour Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, will likely win.

Less than nine months after switching parties and pitching his tent with the little-known Labour Party, Obi has turned the party into a formidable stage, bestriding it like a rockstar. Once without hope or a chance, he has grown from being a potential run-off maker to a real threat, a likely winner.

That is the short answer if you believe the NAP, NOI, Stears, or Bloomberg polls.

But there’s a long, far more complicated answer. Polls being polls, even the most carefully conducted ones can, and do sometimes go wrong. I had a long and interesting conversation a few days ago with a friend and former Obi-skeptic turned believer who was prepared to swear by the results of the polls, especially the latest ones by Stears and Bloomberg, tipping Obi to win.

That conversation gave me the chance to share the long reasons the polls may be wrong and why Obi may not win.

The polls banked rather too much on voter discontent arising from the ruling All Progressives Congress’ (APC) Muslim-Muslim ticket.

APC’s decision to field Bola Ahmed Tinubu and KashimShettima, both Muslims, in a country with roughly equal Muslim-Christian population was always bound to hurt the party at the polls.

Though they agree that religious conflicts predate President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC government, a number of Christian leaders have expressed the view that the President’s ghastly indifference has enabled the rise in deadly sectarian conflicts in states such as Benue and Plateau in the North Central; Kaduna and Sokoto in the North West; and Taraba in the North East, among others.

APC’s Tinubu-Shettima ticket was like rubbing salt in the wound of Christians in these and a number of other states. A backlash in Saturday’s poll would hardly come as a surprise.

Yet the scale of this surprise appears to have been exaggerated in the polls.

While identity politics, sometimes disguised as religion, continues to play a role in Nigeria’s politics, any polls that do not account for the growing number of agnostics and more liberal voters who increasingly make up significant numbers of the younger voting population may be in for a surprise.

Of course, politicians still play the ethnic card but studies including Francis Fukuyama’s Identity: Contemporary identity politics and the struggle for survival, and Yuval Noah Harari’s epic, 21 lessons for the 21st century, continue to highlight the receding salience of religion in electoral outcomes.

Even Stears acknowledged this. “Nigerians are adamant,” the analysis of its polls said, “that religion does not dictate their vote: just 4% of respondents selected religion as one of the three main factors determining their candidate choice.”

There’s another reason a shorthand answer predicting Obi as likely winner in Saturday’s poll could be off the mark. A number of the polls, particularly the ones by Stears and Bloomberg, indicated a margin of “undecided” voters of about 35 to 43 percent. If the 2016 election in the US thought pollsters anything, it’s to beware of the “undecided”, especially the coyishly silent ones.

They may swing Obi’s way, as Stears predicted, especially in parts of Lagos and Abuja with their cosmopolitan outlook and relatively high number of South-easterners and areas the Christian population are feeling hard done by. But there are three reasons the Tinubu-Shettima and the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Atiku-Okowa tickets may eventually get more “undecided” voters than Labour’s Obi-Datti.

Role of state governors

State governors continue to play a significant role in Nigeria’s politics and in electoral outcomes. We saw this most tellingly in 2015 when the sudden and dramatic exit of five governors decisively tipped the scales in favour of Buhari. Even now, the face-off between five PDP governors and their party continues to hurt the party’s electoral chances. It would be foolish to assume that the 21 of 36 APC governors are all working for the Tinubu-Shettima to win. But with APC controlling governors in at least five of the country’s 10 vote banks where Labour has zero in an election in which money could affect the eventual outcome, pollsters could be in for a surprise.

Bank note backlash

The bank note chaos, a fallout of an attempt by the Central Bank to redesign three of the country’s eight currency notes, is also a reflection of the chaos in the ruling party’s inner circle. But as governors, ranking ministers and finally, the party itself broke ranks with Buhari over the timing and motive of the redesign, the Tinubu-Shettima ticket could benefit from sympathetic voters in what appears to be yet another malicious last attempt to stop Tinubu at all costs.

Biafra-phobia

Obi’s rise and rise has benefited largely from the agitation for Biafra, especially among the youths in the South East. Although Obi himself has not canvassed secession, and has in fact pledged to unify the country, his meteoric political ascension appears to many youths from the South East region to be the best chance in decades to realise the Biafran dream. While non-Easterner sometimes view the Biafran battle-cry as a symbol against systemic injustice, the surge of Biafran flags at Obi campaign rallies have raised concerns about what his Presidency could mean for one Nigeria. The “undecided” who view secession as a bridge too far may recoil at the prospects of voting Obi, however exaggerated their fears may be.

Devil in the details

Finally, the pro-Obi polls tended to exaggerate his strength in areas where historical voting patterns hardly favour him. A few quick examples. In three of the six states where Stears said it obtained its booster samples Lagos, Kwara, Rivers, Benue, Plateau and Kano, for example, only three Lagos, Plateau and Benue are have a historically likely chance of fetching Obi more than 25 percent of the the votes cast. He will be lucky to get an average 10 percent in the remaining three, where APC and PDP run a tight ship. Also, ascribing 48 percent of the votes in the South South to Obi as Stears did, is widely optimistic. Where will votes come from? Rivers? Bayelsa? Delta? Akwa Ibom? Cross Rivers? Or Edo? These are traditional PDP strongholds which have now become battleground states, not for Labour, but between PDP and APC. Elders in the South South are rooting for Obi to right decades of injustices. But expecting these elders to make any difference would be stretching their electoral value a bit too far!

Without a doubt, Obi’s emergence will redraw the 2023 electoral map. It’s already giving the presumptive frontrunners – Tinubu and Atiku – a cause to look over their shoulders, with the latter bearing the brunt in the South-East and South-South, but potentially outperforming the pollster’s forecast in the North-East and North-West.

To leap from the prospects of an exciting race, which Obi’s candidacy offers, to a forecast of a surprise victory on Saturday on the basis of an ambitious polling trend is to go out on a limb. The short of the long story is that the Labour Party candidate would likely be the best third place finisher in decades.

Ishiekwene is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

OPINION: Tinubu’s APC Self-Destructs

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The Source
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Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

By Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

When two brothers fight, a stranger inherits their house. African proverb.

By the time you read this, there will be three days to the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

By Tuesday 27th, the All Progressives Congress would be involved in damage assessment. The result of the ongoing civil war would show in votes, hopes and regrets. It would be the job of Nigerian voters to make the judgement over the party’s performance, but the party leaders, managers, beneficiaries, stalwarts, and persons whose political careers depend entirely on the voter’s verdict would be remembered as people who set the barn on fire on the eve of the feast.

There are few innocents in this unless they are buried deep in the mountains of grievances and high stake manoeuvres. A party that was entitled to assume a fairly good chance of succeeding President Buhari’s administration despite the gaping holes in the inheritance is left to scramble for crumbs from fights over its very foundations.

If the APC wins the Presidential contest, it will almost entirely be the result of the weaknesses and failures of the opposition rather than its credible finish in the campaigns.

Its candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has run the best campaign money can buy. If he does not become President, it will be entirely to the credit of the most damaging unscrambling of a party that had always been built on the ego and whims of one person, Buhari.

Tinubu was the second half of a contraption meant to capture the power and make Buhari president. The moment that goal was achieved his portion of the influence in that contraption shrank to the size of the designs of the other owner. Buhari became APC, now managed by other beneficiaries and opportunists who crowded out Tinubu today and opened a bit of the door for him the next day.

He did pick some of the spoils of the victory of 2015, including a rickety understanding that he would succeed Buhari as President. A deal to treat the leadership of the country like a relay baton, between two people defined and bound only by finely-honed ego and personal ambition waited for time and antics of palace fixers to be tested.

It has been a long race in which many spectators, officials and managers joined at will.

The rules changed many times, except the one that kept Buhari ahead so that other participants in the race could benefit from being left to their devices. It was good enough for an increasingly smaller circle, except for Tinubu who now finds that he has fought for space among many others who have also assumed roles as kingmakers or powerful courtiers.

It got worse for Tinubu when he found out that there was a scramble for his position as anointed successor. He must have remembered the borrowed phrase used by Buhari at his swearing ceremony which warned that he owed no one a debt, and was available to everyone.

Many politicians would have walked away, murmuring treachery and betrayal. Not the old fighter that is Tinubu. Ego and ambition that matched Buhari’s reinforced a strong sense of indignation, and he threw everything into a fight for what he believed was his but was about to be snatched by an assortment of all-comers. It was an expensive and bitter battle, made more difficult by the appearance of hostility at Tinubu’s access to the ticket from Buhari.

If Tinubu felt bitter that he was reduced to grovelling and deal-making with APC governors from the North, many of whom would not have answered his greeting a few months earlier, no one would have blamed him. By then the reality that Buhari was APC, and APC was Buhari must have firmly registered on Tinubu. He then had to fall back on a few northern governors who had learned the art of twisting arms from Buhari.

They made their deal, went in, killed the notion of an anointed northern candidate in Buhari’s grasp and made the ground a little more level for Tinubu. It was a key bend in a long marathon.

The nation watched a party in all its political disarray show the power of a few political fixers and tremendous wealth which bought power.

Tinubu emerged from a bruising selection process and run into a storm over his choice of a Muslim as his running mate. The distinction between political correctness, principled stubbornness and risky foolhardiness was lost in his decision to run with a Muslim in a country that had turned faith into an expensive political commodity.

Tinubu lost many friends and gained only a few over his choice of a Muslim running mate. Large sections of the targeted Muslim voters were not impressed.

The Christian community was divided between seeing his choice as a supreme act of hostility, and others who saw it as a political risk they could live with.

By the time Tinubu’s expensive campaign to succeed Buhari left port, the impression of a party that had no respect for the loyalty or sensitivities of the population was spreading faster than insecurity under Buhari.

It was already burdened by the empty legacy of the party’s administration under Buhari. That means it had to start from below ground zero. To denounce the record of its own sitting president who was at best indifferent to its success at that stage was dangerous. To whitewash it and attempt to sell it to a nation that knew a lot better was to take a very poor risk.

Tinubu had to run on his own steam and manoeuvre between huge obstacles. He was running for the first time for the presidency against an experienced PDP candidate who just beat Buhari’s record by running for the fifth time. The North was not going to be an easy ride with Atiku’s presence there. His own primary constituency in the South West was going to require some work to substantially line up behind him.

Labour’s Parter Obi was going to eat deeply among offended Christian communities in the North, and its barricades in the South East were going to keep him almost entirely out. The South-South is up for grabs to all three, so he could not expect too much there. The appearance of some limitations on his health, real or exaggerated has not helped his campaign around providing a strong leader who will pull the country out of its current mess. The North is at best ambivalent against him.

Still, it would have been wrong to write off Tinubu’s chances if the ongoing civil war in his party, which is compounding the misery of most Nigerians is not eating deeply into the sympathies of Nigerians for his party.

The circumstance and events triggered by the implementation of the Naira redesign policy is a cruel turn of the knife at the back of the Tinubu project. Those who think the final rug has been pulled from under Tinubu’s feet will not be blamed for being conspiracy theorists if the timing, the process and the high stake actions of the president, key appointees and governors cannot be proved as normal coincidence.

It will be difficult for Tinubu’s campaign to avoid being smeared by a president who ignores the Supreme Court, a CBN governor who appears to live in his own world with only Buhari’s photo on the wall, APC governors treating the constitution and the president with disdain, a distressed nation groaning under the additional burden and an election that is imminent.

It appears that Tinubu himself has received the legacy of a party he helped form: a political contrivance around the ambition of only one man. He did inherit Buhari, but it will be a cruel trick if it turns out to be an empty inheritance.

Dr Baba-Ahmed wrote this on February 22, 2023.

My Fellow Nigerians, The Die Is Cast

By
The Source
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Peter Obi

By Peter Obi

Peter Obi Drops Passionate Message To Nigerians Hours To Presidential Poll.

Fellow Nigerians, it’s 3 days to go and in my quiet moments I know that Nigerians are wondering what Peter Obi is thinking. I will share my thoughts here because I have Nigeria on my mind!

We are currently at a crossroads. We need a leader to show us the way forward. We need a prudent president, a principled president who has what it takes to lead.

As we say in Naija: “We need person who sabi road; a person we go follow make this country better.” A new Nigeria is possible. We can make it.

We have national elections coming up next Saturday, on the 25th of February 2023. The presidential election is the most critical because we will be electing the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It is the only chance to elect a leader of our choice. We must choose someone who can solve our problems. This is an essential and existential election. It is a make-or-break moment in our history. Future generations will not forgive us if we make a wrong choice.

The person of your choice must have these four qualities minimally:

Character: A person with a proven record of fairness, honesty, and trust. We need an honest person with a verifiable background: We must know his real name. We must know where he said he schooled.

We must know people who knew him then. We must know where he has been, what he has done, what he has said, and what he has been doing these past months during the campaigns.

Competence: Someone who has the proven capability and the drive to move us forward. The person must have the required skills and must show the physical and mental ability to manage the affairs of Nigeria.

The president we need must present the correct image of Nigeria abroad and stand tall among his peers at the United Nations and other international forums.

Commitment: We need someone who is committed and has the capacity to stop official corruption in this country. We have heard far too many talks about change. Enough of empty promises! We are tired of hearing sorry stories.

We want real changes, not endless pity parties and porous pledges.

Compassion: We want a leader who is concerned about the welfare of Nigerians, not his clique of praise singers. Our fellow citizens are in IDP camps. I spent Christmas and New Year with them.

They should be home. People die daily, kidnapped, killed, and raped. No one in government offers actionable concerns. It must end. We need a leader with the courage to do whatever it takes to bring relief to our citizens in distress.

Let us perfect the federation of our forefathers. Every generation is destined to make the country better. The post-Independence generation has arrived. This is our turn. This is our time. This is our chance to make a difference.

Making the same old choice will yield the same result. We are Nigerians. We are rational citizens. We make rational decisions. Let us keep a date with our destiny. Let us make a new nation for future generations.

The world is watching. We must take our destined position as the giant of Africa. You and I know the right thing to do. The greatest lie one can tell is a lie to one’s soul. If you are still undecided, please talk to yourself. Allow your conscience to guide you.

No one is perfect but, ask yourself, “Should I choose someone I do not wish as a role model for my children?

Be introspective. Ask: Could I live with myself for making the wrong choice just for few new naira notes or because of my region and my religion?

I believe you will make the right choice and vote Labour Party: LP (Mama. Papa, and Pikin): The election is not about Obi and Baba-Ahmed. This election is not about our ethnic groups, African traditional religion, Christianity, or Islam.

It is not about our sacred churches, mosques, and shrines. The election is about the future of this land that God gave to our great generation.

Why Labour? I will tell you.

We want to move our economy from importing and consuming products to producing, consuming less, and exporting more. That is the essence of Consumption to Production.

Datti and I will work hard every day and with everyone. Many things went wrong in the past 24 years. There are enough blames to go round. We will not share blames. We will share hope. No more excuses. In life, what matters more is not what happened to us; it is what we do with what happened to us. Honesty is the best policy. We must be truthful to ourselves. Truth is the essence of life. I pride myself in striving to be an upright citizen.

I endeavour to do the right things. Fairness is the golden rule: do unto others as you wish them to do unto you. When I fail, I learn.

Our revered Chinua Achebe stated that our humanity depends on the humanity of others. We are in this word with great gifts. Our world presents challenges and opportunities. Challenges stimulate our creativity.

We will use the opportunity of vast resources in our God-given earth to meet those challenges confronting humanity. The welfare of one is the welfare of all.

My modesty is not words of mouth: I live it. We can feed off each other’s simplicity. By producing more and consuming less, we can balance our needs, not wants,and make society more equitable. It makes no sense fighting over issues that require rational thinking & good conscience.

I love this country. It is not perfect. Nothing is perfect. Perfection is a continuum. The labours of our heroes past must not be in vain.

Please come out and vote for Labour Party (LP) Please subscribe to success, to the triumph of a tested, trusted, and verified leadership. Do not renew the subscription to suffering, to the sorrow of tomorrow.

A new Nigeria is possible. Let’s make it happen like a TEAM: Together, everyone achieves more.

These past months have been quite a journey. I have met millions of fellow Nigerians from all walks of life: men and women, young and old, rich and poor.

I thank our vice-presidential candidate, my brother, my friend and partner for coming with me on this journey. I thank the Obidients and my core team. History will record this campaign as the best: focused, friendly, mega rallies with no shịshị, respectful, and zero violence.

Salute to all of us!

We all made it happen: organically structured, passionate, united, and verified!

I ask you, my people, to empower me as your president and commander-in-chief. I will be in charge. I have the requirements for correct leadership: character, competence, commitment, compassion, hard work, honesty, humanity, and humility.

I have the courage and the heart with which to deliver the dividends of democracy freely and fairly to our people. Where we fail, hold me responsible; where we succeed, kudos to you. We can change this country. If it takes us making the supreme sacrifice, let us make it for a greater tomorrow.

I am most grateful that you found me worthy to take the torch and lead. I would not have come this far if you did not follow me. You are my strength, the wings that power the historic Obidient movement.

Let us make it for a greater tomorrow.

I am most grateful that you found me worthy to take the torch and lead. I would not have come this far if you did not follow me. You are my strength, the wings that power the historic Obidient movement.

On behalf of all our dedicated team, I promise to deliver on all core values.

These are my thoughts. This coming Saturday, let us promote the Family Value – by voting for the Labour Party—LP: Mama, Papa, and Pikin.

Vote Labour correctly, peacefully, and hopefully. Labour Party: Forward Ever!

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