Politics

ATM comment: Delta not Lagos, Okowa’s aide tackles Tinubu

Published

2 years ago

November 20, 2022

The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Saturday, knocked the Peoples Democratic Party for failing to develop Delta State despite the huge federal allocation to the state.

Tinubu also warned that Delta was not an Automated Teller Machine for migratory politicians from the state.

A statement issued by his media officer, Tunde Rahman, said the APC candidate said this during a campaign rally at the Warri Township Stadium.

Addressing the rally, Tinubu accused the opposition party of abandoning infrastructural development in the state and leaving Delta to rot away.

He said, “Delta is among Nigeria’s largest oil and gas producing states. Revenue from oil and gas has historically been the backbone of government revenue and foreign exchange earnings.

“As such, your state and other oil producers have made a one-of-a-kind financial contribution to the building of modern Nigeria. The nation is thankful to you.

“Delta has all it takes to be great and help lead the nation forward. Yet, for the past 23 years, those governing your state have taken you for a hard and long ride by selling you short. They have not done the things they should have and could have done for you.

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“The infrastructure in the state was better 30 years ago than it is now. The state has recorded historic debts run up by the incumbent, yet the infrastructure and other things still remain lacking because of under investment and neglect.

“The money is much, but it does not have legs. Where did it go? Not to your welfare. Perhaps, it has found a home with a certain presidential candidate, who loves Dubai more than Nigeria.

“But Delta State is not an ATM for migratory politicians. It is a place where good and hardworking people reside and work to create decent and peaceful lives for themselves and their families.”

On his plans for the state, the former Lagos governor promised to re-activate the gas revolution industrial park, while also seeing to clean up the entire Niger Delta region to ensure that the host communities would not suffer for building the nation’s economy through their oil.

Tinubu added, “Our government will further re-activate the multi-billion dollar gas revolution industrial park project. President Buhari’s administration has made great strides in revisiting this project. We will complete it.

“Gas will become a national priority. I envision fertiliser and petrochemical plants, aluminium smelters and methanol plants, all creating jobs for the unemployed, while producing goods that bolster farming, construction and other industries.

“We will step up and clean up the operations of the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Ministry of the Niger Delta.

“The NDDC will be improved. Greater cooperation with communities, which have suffered environmental degradation, will be my policy.

“I am saddened by the environmental cost, which the oil and gas industry has exacted. Our moral and economic duty calls us to clean the Niger Delta and to create new opportunities for young Deltans to build better lives for themselves.”

On Delta’s infrastructure development, which he affirmed had been in a sorry state, Tinubu said, “We will help develop the infrastructure of your state. The deep seaport project and the Omadino-Escravos Road project will be revisited. We will rehabilitate Warri, Koko, Sapele and Burutu ports, creating yet more jobs in the state.

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“My government will deploy new technologies to protect the safety and security of law-abiding Deltans as well as the critical national infrastructure situated in this state. We will also introduce greater funding and reform policies to bring the Nigerian police closer to the communities they serve.”

In attendance were Senate President, Ahmed Lawan; APC Deputy National Chairman, South, Emma Enekwu, who represented National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu; Tinubu’s running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, and his wife, Nana; and Senator Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the presidential candidate and daughter of Itsekiriland.

Also present at the rally were Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinnma; Governor of Plateau State and Director-General of the campaign council, Simon Lalong; Deputy Senate President and Delta State governorship candidate of the party, Ovie Omo-Agege; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Wase; members of the APC National Working Committee; Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare; spokesman for the PCC, Festus Keyamo; and former governor of Edo State and Edo North Senatorial candidate, Adams Oshiomhole.

When Oluremi Tinubu addressed her people in her native Itsekiri dialect, there was a standing ovation in the stadium.

She urged the people of Delta to vote for the APC to have one of their kiths and kins in the corridors of power.

Okowa also came under criticism from Oshiomhole, who accused him of under-developing, the state.

In his response to Tinubu’s comment, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, said the people of Delta State appreciated the state’s infrastructural development and that Delta was “not like Lagos that Bola Tinubu put in his pocket.”

Aniagwu, who is also a spokesperson for the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, told Sunday PUNCH in an interview, “We don’t have time to respond to somebody whose identity is still unknown. Let him first of all go and clear himself; when and where he was born, the schools he attended and other records about him so we can know who we are talking to.

“Somebody whose records are still in doubt cannot be the one talking. Our state cannot be in his pocket the way he did Lagos. Delta is not Lagos and our people cannot be deceived by such a person.

“With the kind of wonderful defeat and disgrace he, the APC and Adams Oshiomhole suffered in the last Edo State governorship election, we thought he would have learnt some lessons. That 2020 defeat in Edo will be a child’s play compared to what they will suffer in Delta State in 2023.

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“Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has been prudent in managing the state economy. We have a lot of infrastructure on ground for all the money that accrued to the state, ranging from roads to bridges, schools and human capital development. Their (APC) governorship candidate did not tell him that the road from the airport to the stadium is a federal road the APC-led Federal Government failed to fix.”

Oyetola on Tinubu

Osun State Governor, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, on Saturday, said voting for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, next year would renew the hope of Nigerians in the country.

Oyetola stated this in Osogbo at the inauguration of the Directorate of Grassroots Mobilisation, Engagement and Orientation of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima Presidential Campaign.

According to him, Tinubu has the experience required to further transform the nation and take it to the next level, and expressed optimism in the ability of the group to spread the message and mobilise voters for the candidate.

The state APC Chairman, Mr Gboyega Famodun, said Tinubu had the capacity and good health to be the next president.

Zamfara APC campaign

Similarly, Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has inaugurated the Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council and his governorship campaign council.

Punch

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Politics

Wike: My fallout with Secondus was his opposition to Fubara

Published

1 day ago

December 28, 2024

Trends Admin

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike

Wike: My fallout with Secondus was his opposition to Fubara

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has shed light on his role in the removal of Uche Secondus as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Speaking at a PDP gathering in Rivers State, Wike explained that his decision was fueled by Secondus’ opposition to Siminalayi Fubara’s governorship ambition in 2023.

According to Wike, Secondus had pushed for his cousin, Tele Ikuru, to secure the PDP ticket for the governorship position, a move Wike said he could not support. This, he revealed, was the primary reason he championed Secondus’ ouster from the party’s leadership.

Politics

APC reacts to Kwankwaso’s statement to reduce party’s votes in 2027

Published

2 days ago

December 27, 2024

Trends Admin

APC reacts to Kwankwaso’s statement to reduce party’s votes in 2027

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano state has dismissed claims by former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso that the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) will significantly reduce APC’s votes in Kano State during the 2027 elections.

Reacting in a statement on Thursday, Abdullahi Abass, chairman of the state chapter of the party said Kwankwaso’s assertion is laughable and nothing but a mere daydream. Abass called on Kwankwaso to focus on reclaiming his membership in the NNPP rather than making unfounded claims.

The APC described Kwankwaso as a political refugee clinging to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf in a futile attempt to regain relevance. They warned Kwankwaso that the APC would not allow a repeat of the alleged vote manipulation and allocation that created the impression of NNPP’s influence in Kano State during the 2023 general election.

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“Our teeming supporters in the APC have no cause to worry about Kwankwaso, who has been booted out of the NNPP due to his cluelessness and self-centredness. We expect Kwankwaso to keep wondering why he has become a wanderer in the political terrain,” the party chair said.

“He ran away from APC because he couldn’t fit into our progressive ideals. His overbloated ego and domineering posture forced him to abandon the PDP, and he has now become a political refugee because the NNPP refused to accommodate him.”

Kwankwaso had on Wednesday received some political decampees at his residence. During the event, he claimed that the NNPP was now formidable enough to diminish APC’s influence in the state.

“If the PDP could struggle to receive 15, 000 votes in the 2023 Presidential elections in Kano, APC would not only receive below expectations but would receive the most embarrassing votes in the 2027 elections in Kano,” he stated

“NNPP achieved tremendous success in the presidential and governorship elections despite being a new political platform with a late start to its campaign. APC will be diminished in Kano in 2027,” he added.

APC reacts to Kwankwaso’s statement to reduce party’s votes in 2027

Politics

Kwankwaso: APC will struggle to get 15,000 votes in Kano

Published

2 days ago

December 27, 2024

Trends Admin

Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso

Kwankwaso: APC will struggle to get 15,000 votes in Kano

Ahead of the 2027 general election, the 2023 Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso said his party would work tirelessly to ensure that the ruling party, All Progressive Congress, APC, struggle to secure less than 15,000 votes in Kano State.

The APC, has, meanwhile, asked Kwankwaso to channel his energies towards reclaiming his membership in the NNPP not day dreaming over claims to relegate the APC in the state.

Kwankwaso while receiving delegates of the NNPP from the Kano North senatorial district at his Miller Road Mansion in Kano, acknowledged the hard work of the party during the 2023 elections, which resulted in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, struggling to secure only 15,000 votes in Kano.

He said: “Now, it’s turn to diminish APC’s influence. We will work tirelessly to ensure their votes are reduced to less than 15,000 in Kano by 2027.”

He encouraged his supporters to remain focused on delivering results that would secure the party’s success in future elections.

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The leader of the delegates, Abdul Bichi, told journalists that the visit was to renew their loyalty to the national leader of the NNPP, Kwankwaso and to distance themselves from former Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Dr. Abdullahi Bichi.

Abdul said they had parted ways with Bichi since his removal from office.

“It is true we are supporters of the former SSG, and we are from the same constituency as Dr. Bichi, but we have decided to distance ourselves from him since he is no longer with the government.

“We have come here to see our national leader and founder of Kwankwaso in solidarity and to renew our total loyalty to him. We have come to say we are not leaving our party. We are not going with the SSG,” Abdul said.