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Airtel to Request for Extension of Time Over NIN Registration |The Source

By
Uche Mbah
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Airtel

By Uche Mbah

Airtel Africa Plc says it will request more time to link the National Identity Number, NIN, with the phone numbers of subscribers.

Nigeria  asked telecom operators to link up their subscribers  national identity number, NIN, with their phone numbers, putting the deadline for February 19.

Airtel Chief Executive Officer, Raghunath Mandava reportedly said the company has collected more than half of its subscribers to beat the deadline for linking, noting that the Nigerian unit “is working” to verify customers’ data.

“This could require a little bit more time and we will not be able to complete the full exercise, in which case, after all, efforts if we don’t manage by Feb. 9 then we will, I am sure discuss with the government and request for some extension,” he said in a regulatory filing with the Nigeria stock exchange Friday.

According to him, Nigeria’s operations’ revenue grew by 21.6% in the three quarters ending December 31, 2020. east Africa grew by 23.4%.

The consumer base of the company rose 11% to 118.9 million in the third quarter of 2020, with a remarkably increased penetration. it added 2.5 million customers in the three months to December 31, 2020.

“Our nine-month performance reflects both the resilience of our business model through the Covid-19 pandemic and, for the last six months, a continued improvement in our execution and performance as lockdown restrictions have eased
across our countries of operation.
“I am particularly pleased with our performance in the latest third quarter, which has demonstrated accelerated growth
in both revenue and underlying EBITDA in constant currency to 22.8 percent and 28.3 percent respectively.

“The opportunities for sustainable profitable growth from our underpenetrated markets for both mobile and mobile money services remain hugely attractive, and we are confident of continuing to deliver on our growth strategy,” Mandava said.

Meanwhile, Airtel Nigeria has designated eight different centers for the National Identity Number registration to augment the registrations at the office of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC.

Aitel has been selected as one of the companies allowed to register for NIN outside the NIMC.

The NIMC has been inundated by Nigerians struggling to beat the deadline for the registration, which has been shifted to February 19. The government has been criticized by Nigerians for putting the lives of Nigerians in danger due to exposure to the COVID19 pandemic. Social distancing and wearing of masks are hardly observed at these stations that witness daily crowds estimated in their thousands.

CAS Reinstate Ahmad As CAF President |The Source

By
Akinwale Kasali
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Ahmad Ahmad

By Akinwale Kasali

The Court of Arbitration for Sport, CAS, has ordered the reinstatement of Ahmad Ahmad as the President of Confederation of African Football, CAF.

Madagascar’s Ahmad was reinstated as CAF President following a ruling by the CAS on Friday 29th January, 2021, in Switzerland.

Ahmad was banned by FIFA, in November, for five years, after football’s world governing body found him in breach of a number of its  code of ethics.

He appealed this decision at CAS, which issued a preliminary ruling on Friday.

Ahmad is still ineligible to contest CAF’s Presidential elections in March, however, since the CAS decision came after both the CAF’s Governance Committee and FIFA ‘s Review Committee met earlier this week to discuss the eligibility of candidates.

CAF says it will hear Ahmad’s appeal in full on March 2, with a decision issued before the CAF presidential elections on 12 March.

“Due to a risk of irreparable harm for Mr Ahmad if the disciplinary sanction is maintained during the period prior to the CAF elections, the CAS panel has upheld the request to temporarily stay the effects of the (FIFA ban),” CAS, sport’s highest legal body, said in a statement.

This effective suspension of the FIFA ruling will be in place ‘until the day that the final CAS award is issued.’

Since he was banned when FIFA met on Tuesday and CAF on Thursday, Ahmad was deemed ineligible to run.

He will now need to overturn the decision ruling him ineligible to run, since his appeal at CAS was not against the decision barring him from contesting the elections but against his FIFA ban.

As of this week, four candidates were cleared to run for the CAF presidential elections on 12 March. They are Jacques Anouma (Ivory Coast), Patrice Motsepe (South Africa), Augustin Senghor (Senegal), Ahmed Yahya (Mauritania).

OPINION: Anger, Anxiety & Incoherence in The Land |The Source

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The Source
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Olu Agunloye

By Olu Agunloye

I have seen the trending video produced by Professor Femi Olufunmilade. Femi, the professor by career and a simple man by nature appeared to be angry or anxious. He called out Yoruba leaders to Orita Gbagede, the public square. He is not alone. Several others have called out leaders and followers. Some even abused them or cursed them.

Incidentally, recent attacks, invasions, atrocities and crimes in the West caused by some Fulani herdsmen, bandits, foreign or local hoodlums have already forced out different shades of Yoruba leaders, scholars and rulers.

In fact, Leaders and great men in Yorubaland are already out in Orita Gbagede. The Obas including HRM Alaafin who was first to speak out and HRM Ooni who went to President Buhari, the serving Governors, former governors & former president, the warriors and retired military Generals including Alani Akinrinade, Kunle Togun, our own Aare Onakankanfo, the courageous Sunday Igboho and others have already taken visible positions. Scholars including Prof Wole Soyinka, Prof Banji Akintoye, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi; learned ones including Afe Babalola and Femi Falana, our fathers & leaders including Chiefs Fashoranti, Ayo Adebanjo, Olu Falae, Dr. Kunle Olajide and our younger leaders like Yinka Odumakin, Kole Omololu, Femi Olufunmilade, Deji Osibogun, Awa Bamiji, Owolabi Oladepo etc are in the public square already and so are our cerebral writers including Dare Babarinsa, Ruben Abati and others.

The list is long. You have seen them. You have heard them. You know them.

But What Next

What is paramount now is for the Yoruba nation to eschew politics, self interests, procrastination and bickering; deploy all resources within the land to galvanise a meticulous Defensive Action Plan complete with strategies, schedules and schemes to be driven by select leaders (including the governors) and subgroups to protect the commonwealth and future of Yorubaland.

We simply have had and heard enough of shakara and passing the bucks. It is time for a well articulated and focused action plan to save the future.

*Dr.  Agunloye, Academic, Politician, was a former Corp Marshal

Nnamdi Kanu To Ban Open Grazing In SE, Gives Governors Ultimatum |The Source

By
The Source
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By Gideon Njoku

Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has given Governors of the South-east, 14 days to ban open grazing in the Zone.

The warning comes amidst strong resistance to open grazing of Cattle in the South West zone.

Outraged over the incessant kidnapping, muder of innocent citizens, and the  destruction of farmlands by rogue Herdsmen of Fulani Origin, Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, banned open grazing in the state, as well as ordered them out of Ondo Forest Reserves. He also said that only registered herders would be allowed to operate in the state.

The Governor’s order was greeted by condemnation from the Presidency but he got a strong backing from Yoruba groups, including Afenifere.

In Oyo State, the new rave in Yoruba land, Sunday Igboho had ordered them out of Ibarapa and Igangan areas within seven days. When they refused to leave, mayhem reigned in the  area, and the Seriki Fulani in the area, whose house and properties were razed, is on the run to Ilorin, Kwara state.

Praising the Governors of the South-west for banning open grazing, Kanu asked their South-east counterparts to do the same within 14 days.

Failing, he warned that the already controversial Eastern Security Network, ESN, a security outfit he and IPOB established, will do so on behalf of the Governors.

Already, not a few people in the Zone are panicking over Kanu’s threat, as they feel it could end in a blood bath.

Just days ago, a clash between the ESN operatives, and soldiers/police in Orlu, Imo State, brought with it deaths and destruction.

Inside PMB’s First Meeting With New Service Chiefs |The Source

By
The Source
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By Femi Adesina

Whenever you see them file in, it is always in this order: Chief of Defence Staff first, followed by Chief of Army Staff, then Chief of Naval Staff, and finally, Chief of Air Staff.

It is an institution that scrupulously respects hierarchy, and that is how the Service Chiefs turn out.

It was not different on Wednesday afternoon when the new leadership of the military visited the State House to have their first meeting with the President/ Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, himself a retired Major General of the Nigerian Army.

Another Comrade-at-Arms was there also. In fact, he led the Service Chiefs in. He is Major General Bashir Magashi (Retd ), Minister of Defence. Call it an all military affair, and you won’t be wrong.

Gen Magashi fired the first shot, addressing the President: “These are officers poised to serve in the overall interest of the country. They will put the security of the country in proper setting. They won’t disappoint you and the nation.”

They were introduced, with each standing ramrod straight, and saluting the Commander-in-Chief. Major General LEO Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff. Major General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff. Rear Admiral AZ Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff, and Air Vice-Marshal IO Amao, Chief of Air Staff.

The President welcomed them, saying the meeting was to congratulate them “for heading your arm of the Service.” He added that there was nothing he could tell them about the military, since they were in it, “and I was in it, too.”

President Buhari assured that whatever he could do as C-in-C would be done, “so that people will appreciate your efforts.”

He then delved into the recent past, saying; “You know the stage we were in 2015, and you know the stage we are now, and the undertakings we made.

“We promised to secure the country, revive the economy, and kill the culture of corruption. None has been easy, but we have certainly made progress. We have done well in the Northeast, and the people themselves can testify. We are working on Northwest, and other challenging parts of the country.

“We encouraged the people to go back to the land, they obeyed, and we have virtually attained food security. If that hadn’t happened, we would have been in great trouble, as there would have been no money to import food, with the crash in oil prices in the international market.”

As a retired, tested Army General, the President then gave the Service Chiefs the benefit of experience, asking them to look into the welfare of their officers and men.

“Ensure they feel professionally and physically secure. In terms of equipment and other logistics, we are doing our best, and will do more. Give officers you can trust command, and support them. Respect seniority and intellectualism, but also use people who can deliver, those who show courage and leadership qualities. I trained in the United Kingdom, India, and United States of America. It was not because my superiors liked my face. They know what they saw in me.

“During the 30 months of our Civil War, I was virtually sentenced to the frontlines. Thank God nothing happened to me, not even a scratch. Competence, loyalty, courage, leadership must be rewarded with promotions.”

President Buhari reminded the new Chiefs that the country was literally in a state of emergency, stressing: “This is the highest you can go in the Service. Be patriotic, serve the country well, because your loyalty is to the country.”

American Presidents would usually end their speeches with prayers for their country, and for the military. “God bless our troops, “ Joe Biden had declared during his inauguration last week.

And President Buhari equality told the new Service Chiefs: “I will be praying for you. I assure you of that.”

Yes, the arm of flesh alone will not do it. It is through God that we do valiantly. Victory comes from the divine powers.

May our military make conquests, till halcyon days return to every part of our country. And for we the citizens, may we remember to pray for them daily. And also make positive invocations: God bless our troops.

Let the Amen roarrrrrrrrrr.

Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity

PDP Plans Conference To Save Nigeria; British Political Counsellor, Visits Party Chair |The Source

By
The Source
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Uche Secondus

Security, economy, electoral reforms and other essentials of national stability are on the front burner as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) intensifies arrangements for its planned conference on how to salvage our nation and return her to the path of peace, national cohesiveness and economic prosperity.

A statement signed by the Party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said the party has already commenced consultations with critical stakeholders across board on ways to rescue  Nigeria from “misrule through institutional reforms ahead of the 2023 general elections.”

National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, disclosed the position of the party while receiving the British High Commission’s Political Counsellor on Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Jonathan Bacon, at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja.

Prince Secondus lamented that Nigeria is in its present sorry situation because all the electoral reforms achieved by the PDP to deepen our democracy prior to 2015 general election have been destroyed by the current All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration.

“For five and half years now that the APC held sway, our democracy has been under severe stress. All critical institutions of democracy have been brutalized. The judiciary, legislature and the media have been under siege while human rights and rule of law; the necessary ingredients of democracy, have all been flagrantly abused.

“Though the APC administration came into power as beneficiary of a transparent and credible election conducted under the PDP, it has not been able to conduct any free and fair election but had rather continued to abuse our electoral process and frustrate the desires and efforts of Nigerians to further amend our Electoral Act to guarantee acceptable elections in our country”, Prince Secondus stated.

The National Chairman, also, bewailed the escalated insecurity in the country under the APC and the lack of commitment on the path of the current administration to decisively tackle the outlaws and end the mindless killings, bloodletting, kidnaping, banditry and other acts of terrorism in our country.

He lamented that the security situation has reached a despondent curve where critical stakeholders, out of frustration, are now calling on the people to defend themselves in the face of government’s failure to defend them.

On the economy, Prince Secondus, noted that the present administration has plunged our nation into the worst economic hardship, which has been exacerbated by the incompetence and lack of clear-cut policy direction, insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians and unprecedented corruption of the APC administration.

“Indeed, this is not the way our nation should be. We must come together to rescue our nation by commencing critical conversations within the ambit of the law and democratic practice to salvage the situation” he said.

The National Chairman however commended the international community and development partners for their support especially in strengthening our electoral system and urged them to show more interest in Nigeria democracy ahead of 2023 general elections.

Bacon had earlier told Prince Secondus that he was in the Wadata Plaza to meet with the leadership of the PDP and discuss the United Kingdom/Nigeria bilateral relations.

Yoruba Group To S-W Govs: No Ranching For Herdsmen; Calls For Arrest Of Seriki Fulani |The Source

By
Akinwale Kasali
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0

By Akinwale Kasali

Pan Yoruba Group, Apapo O’odua Koya, AOKOYA, have warned South West Governors sternly not to establish ranching for Fulani herdsmen in any part of Yoruba land.

Some Fulani leaders in the North asked the South West Governors to establish ranching for Fulani herdsmen as alternative to the ban on open grazing.

AOKOYA, a coalition of several Yoruba groups said it is a shame that while no State in the Fulani territories considers it necessary to establish ranching for the herdsmen, it is surprising that the same Fulani leaders want Yoruba land to be used for ranching of cattle for Fulani herdsmen. The group said such a suggestion does not make any sense.

The group also called for the arrest of Seriki Fulani, Saliu Abdulkadir, for complicity in the kidnapping, rape and murder of no fewer than 50 people in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State.

AOKOYA said the N500million worth of property the Seriki said were destroyed are proceeds of crime.

The Group said hiding in Ilorin is not enough for the Seriki. “Ilorin is Yorubaland. We advise the police to arrest the Seriki and let him face the full weight of the law. Hiding in Ilorin is not enough. That is Yorubaland and we ask him to leave any Yoruba territory in his own interest.”

In a statement signed by Ahmed Akorede on Friday, AOKOYA said the Fulani elders’ request for an alternative land for Fulani herdsmen on Yoruba soil is like asking a property owner who stopped the invasion of his house by criminals to provide alternative goods to be stolen by the same criminals.

Akorede said the statement credited to legal luminary, Femi Falana, that Sunday Igboho has no right to give quit notice to killer herdsmen is shocking

Falana is isolated from the sufferings of his own people and appears rather contended to be seen as a fool by his own people but worshiped as a hero by those who torment his people. Why he condemned Igboho, he remains silent on the kidnap and savage killings of Yoruba people. It’s a shame.

AOKOYA said any of the state Governors of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Kogi and Itsekiri part of Delta State that provides land for Fulani will face the full wrath of the people.

“Let it be known that no inch of Yorubaland will be allocated to Fulani herdsmen to ranch. This was the mistake made by indigenous people in Kaduna and Plateau state. This was the mistake made by Hausa people. Today, armed FULANI are claiming ownership of land that was kindly ceded to them. We do not have enough land. We do not have the comfort to cede our limited land resources to Fulani herdsmen whose main agenda is  conquest by all means possible,” the group said

According to the AOKOYA “We have read reports by some Fulani leaders that the South West should not ban open grazing and that alternatives should be provided for them. This is an insult. It is appalling how insensitive, greedy and self centred the so called Fulani leaders are. The herdsmen invade territories not theirs, rape, kill and destroy farm produce. We ask them to leave, now their godfathers are telling the South West Governors to provide alternatives. This confirms that the carnage and terror unleashed on Yoruba people by the herdsmen are sponsored by Fulani leaders. This will never happen.”

AOKOYA said the Fulani leaders are desperate to have grazing land on Yoruba territories but remain silent on thousands of Yoruba people the armed herdsmen have killed, raped and farms destroyed. They are also silent on the need for disarmament of the Fulani terrorists who hide under pastoralism”

The group said that Bornu State alone has 70,898 square kilometer of land, Niger State has 73,636, Katsina has 24,192 square kilometer, Sokoto has 25, 973. Niger State alone has land some 20 times the land of Ekiti State with 6, 353, while Lagos has 3, 577 square km. This means that one state in the Fulani areas in the North is almost bigger than all the entire South West States put together, yet they want to annex the small Yoruba land for ranching.

The group said the Fulani are not contended with their vast land area but insists that ranching must be given to the Fulani in South West. “This is nothing but brute imperialism”, the group said. AOKOYA said what the Fulani people want is to establish and strengthen armed groups and armed cells across Yorubaland in preparation for the second phase of its 1804 Jihad to conquer and subjugate Yorubaland which is an impossible task.

Breaking: Seven Years Later, More Chibok Girls Escape From Boko Haram – Parents |The Source

By
The Source
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Chibok Girls

By Morgan Winsor & James Bwala

Nearly seven years after Boko Haram militants snatched them from their dormitory beds in the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok, more of the missing schoolgirls are said to be returning home.

Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian human rights lawyer who practices in the United States and has previously worked with some of the freed girls and their families, said a parent told him that his daughter and others have escaped their captors.

“Mr. Ali Maiyanga’s two daughters were part of the few Muslim schoolgirls taken with the majority Christian Chibok girls. Information currently available to us indicates that there are other escapees with the army whom parents are anxiously waiting to identify,” Ogebe said in a statement to ABC News late Thursday. “We spoke and confirmed from Mr. Ali Maiyanga moments ago that he in fact spoke with his daughter today, who informed him that she along with others were rescued. Her sister who escaped four years ago and is on school break was overjoyed at the news of her sibling’s escape.”

Lawal Zannah, secretary of the Chibok Parents Association whose daughter was among those abducted, also relayed the news.

“We heard that some of our girls have escaped from the forest, but we are yet to get the detail about their number,” Zannah told reporters Thursday evening.

Another parent, Malam Madu Mutta, said the Chibok community is anxiously awaiting the girls’ arrival.

“We were told they are currently with the security operatives. We are yet to know the numbers, but we are happy that some of them escaped,” Mutta told reporters Friday. “So many other parents and relatives are coming from Chibok with hopes of meeting their daughters. Again, hope is risen that we can have some of them back again.”

Nigerian authorities have yet to officially confirm the matter. ABC News has reached out to the Nigerian military as well as local government officials.

In April 2014, members of the jihadist group Boko Haram ambushed an all-girls boarding school in Chibok in the middle of the night and kidnapped 276 students before vanishing into the forest. Some of the girls managed to escape on their own, while others were later rescued or freed following negotiations. But the fate of many has remained unknown.

Boko Haram, whose name in the local Hausa language roughly translates to “Western education is forbidden,” has waged a brutal insurgency in northeastern Nigeria since 2009. The group seeks to establish an Islamic state there, though it has spread its terror across the region’s mountainous borders over the years into Niger, Chad and Cameroon, all of which surround the Lake Chad Basin, where millions have been affected by the violence, according to the United Nations.

Boko Haram pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2015. Its leader, Abubakar Shekau, and several commanders split from the group in 2016 over ideological differences and formed their own faction.

Boko Haram’s uprising was fueled largely through the group’s systematic campaign of abducting children and forcing thousands of girls and boys into their ranks, according to a 2017 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The group has been targeting Nigerian schools for a number of years, with the Chibok attack being the most well-known and widely publicized.

The kidnapping in Chibok shocked the world and led to the launch of a social media campaign in which millions of people around the globe, including high-profile political figures and celebrities, called for the girls’ rescue by tweeting the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. However, there has been little political action.

Rattled, Buhari Says Journalists Want To Destroy Him; Nigerians Allege Ploy Against Media |The Source

By
Adesina Soyooye
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President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari

By Adesina Soyooye

In an unprecedented outcry, President Muhammadu Buhari is accusing some Journalists of planning to destroy his reputation.

In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari said some media  blogs and Online Newspapers have been mobilised to start an unprecedented attack against him in form of Editorials and alleged investigative reports. He said the coordinated write-ups would accuse him of bias in the handling of the atrocities committed by rogue herdsmen, and in the running of the country, generally.  He said they would also allege religious bias and much more.

But not a few Nigerians fault the President’s claim.  They insist that the allegations of bias against the President are nothing new. They say they see mischief behind the  Presidency’s statement, and challenge the Presidency to fault any of the allegations, and what makes them new now.

Many say the statement by Adesina is aimed at finding reasons to clampdown on Online publications and blogs, revealing that already, there are strong reasons that the Presidency plans to do so.

For years, and especially, in recent times, there have been allegations of bias against the President especially, when it comes to the handling of issues concerning Herders, religion and appointments.

One of the most recent attacks came from the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, His Lordship, Mathew Kukah. The Bishop had accused the President of nepotism, favouritism and said that there could have been a coup if Buhari was not a Northern Muslim.

Kukah’s opinion attracted wide commendation from most Nigerians, and  condemnation from the Presidency and some Islamic groups.

Adesina’s statement  is seen  as the Presidency’s moves to preempt a pending publication that it says aims to cast the president as indifferent to the activities of killer herdsmen.

Following, the full text of the statement entitled:

UNRELENTING PLOT TO WAGE SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRESIDENT BUHARI

“There is a compelling reason to alert the nation of another orchestrated smear campaign against President Muhammadu Buhari, using some online newspapers and blogs.

“The campaign, scheduled to be launched anytime soon through editorials and purported special investigative stories, is designed to further exacerbate tension in the land, by portraying the President as pandering to ethnic and other primordial tendencies, contrary to his pledge to belong to all Nigerians.

“Impeccable security findings indicate that those behind the plot have procured online blogs and newspapers, which are to launch coordinated publications, alleging subjugation and suppression of a particular religion and ethnic groups.

“A specific medium has so far contacted some opinion leaders, especially those very critical of President Buhari.

“Part of the planned publication is to make unwary readers believe that the President has continually used the powers of his office to shield and protect an ethnic group against crimes of murder, kidnappings, rape and banditry in the southern, middle belt and some northern states.

“The publication will also refer Nigerians to a 58-page document, which chronicles purported atrocities of the ethnic group in the South since 2017, all of which it claims the Presidency has turned blind eyes to.

“Again, the hatchet job will allege that the President has continued to place members of his ethnic nationality in sensitive positions, so as to confer undue advantage on them. This allegation is by no means supported with reasonable facts and figures.

“Just on Thursday, President Buhari, while meeting with the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), led by Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, restated his even-handedness on the issues of ethnicity and religion. Said the President:

“The Federal Government under my leadership does not, and will not, allow religious prejudice or partisanship to influence any of its decisions and policies. It is my solemn decision to be fair and just to all segments of society.”

Those who are bent on stoking ethnic and religious unrest in the country remain deaf to reason, and impervious to reality. They are hell-bent on distorting reality, and Nigerians are urged to be wary of them. It is all about quest for power, and filthy lucre.”

Lamido, Says There Will Be No APC In 2023 |The Source

By
Akinwale Kasali
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0

By Akinwale Kasali

Former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, has come hard on the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. Lamido says the Party will disintegrate, and probably go into extinction before 2023. The ruling APC will be in ruins, he insists.

Lamido, a chieftain of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made the declaration in Kano at a meeting with the newly elected Chairmen of the PDP in the 27 LGAs of Jigawa State.

He said the APC will disintegrate because President Muhammadu Buhari, the main appeal for the party, will no longer have any use for them and will, therefore, no longer be able to serve as the magnetic force for the party.

“He (Buhari) was the magnet, the character and the aura that led to the formation of the party,” he said.

He added that Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu’s former party, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) had the major share in the formation of APC with Buhari a small shareholder with his Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), yet he (Buhari) was made president.

“They used Buhari to be what they are and he also used them to be Nigeria’s president. They mutually used each other and there are no more obligations on any of them. Their agenda is concluded, it is now over,” he declared.

Lamido, however, noted that unlike other parties that have come and gone since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, his party, PDP, remained the only party of reckon in the country. He said it would return to power in 2023 and return Nigeria to the path of growth it started before it was derailed by the APC-led government from 2015.

“What will be the unifying factor in APC in 2023? Unlike PDP which is a household name, which is Nigerian ownership. In 2014 when we were doing campaign, I said if I could kidnap Buhari and Tinubu and hide them somewhere, the party is dead and people were condemning me.

“I said then that APC is not organic, it is an association of interests and it is centred around Buhari, with his personality and Tinubu with his constituency. By 2023, that which joined them together is no longer there,” he added.

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