Soyinka knocks Datti, 'Obidients', recalls advising Tinubu, Atiku not to contest – Newstrends
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Soyinka knocks Datti, ‘Obidients’, recalls advising Tinubu, Atiku not to contest

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Soyinka knocks Datti, ‘Obidients’, recalls advising Tinubu, Atiku not to contest

 

The Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka, said he warned the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on the excesses of the his supporters, the ‘Obidients’, ahead of the election.

He condemned the recent utterance of the LP vice presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, as unguarded and an affront on the judiciary.

He also said he advised the presidential candidates of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Atiku Abubakar and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, respectively, to leave the stage for young brilliant people.

Soyinka stated this in a statement titled, “Media responsibility” on Tuesday.

The elder statesman said his recent interview with Channels Television was misrepresented, with his remarks rendered unrecognisable.

The TV station aired on Monday the one and a half-hour interview with Soyinka, which it conducted a week ago.

Soyinka said on three occasions, he was able to send a message to Obi that if he lost the election, it would be his followers who lost it for him.

He recalled advising both Tinubu and Atiku against contesting the presidential election on account old age.

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He said, “I told Atiku when he was contesting and came to see me in my Ikeja office few years ago; he came with Gbenga Daniel, my former governor (of Ogun State).

“I said to him, ‘Listen, it’s about time you people left the stage, why don’t you just go away. We need an infusion of fresh blood into the system’.

“But, for some people, maybe they read it as bloodletting. No I said infusion of fresh blood. I said so I can not support you. I think your generation should quit.

“But, he wasn’t the only one. I then sought out the current President-elect, Tinubu and I gave him exactly the same message.

“I said, ‘Whatever you people are planning, I’m convinced that we need the young generation, new thinking, new sensibilities, new energies’.

“So, why don’t you just leave the stage, let’s look for somebody, a really brilliant individual then use your entire influence to catapult that person to power, and this country will see a massive transformation.

“We spoke for about an hour and a half, and then Bola Tinubu said, ‘No’. He said there were still things he felt he could still contribute,” Soyinka said.

He stated, “What I have read – at least, thus far – this morning, extracted from a one-and-a-half long interview, conducted a week ago with Channels Television, brings once more to the fore, the critical responsibility of the media in transmitting the spoken, even recorded – word to the public.

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“This is especially crucial in a time of civic uncertainty. When remarks are taken out of context, spliced into a new one, provided a sensational headline, distortions become stamped on public receptivity, and the central intent of one’s remarks becomes completely unrecognisable.

“I denounced the menacing utterances of a vice-presidential aspirant as unbecoming. It was a gladiatorial challenge directed at the judiciary and, by implication, the rest of the democratic polity.

“But what on earth has happened to my even more urgent condemnation of the physical violence inflicted on those designated ‘strangers’ in Lagos in the lead up to, and during governorship elections? This prejudicial selectivity is a betrayal of trust, and I find it contemptuous of public deserving. My critique of incipient fascism in the movement remains grounded in indisputable evidence.”

Soyinka stated that throughout the interview, he continued to stress that the final word had yet to be pronounced on the elections – “that omission renders the full message tendentious!”

“My rejection of fascism is nothing new. It was depressing to watch his lieutenant, a crucially positioned voice of a movement that has ‘broken the mould’, threaten the totality of social existence.

“Whatever our ideological leaning, is Donald Trump the ideal template for a burgeoning democracy in the nation?”

He said he was concerned about the alleged complaint by him of people not following “instructions”.

“If words are garbled in recording, the speaker can be reached for clarification – else, simply leave out the unclear section completely to avoid misrepresentation.

“After all, piecemeal transmission is legitimate proceeding, as long as a part is not presented as the whole.

“I am not a member of the Labour Party, so how can giving ‘instructions’ become my role?

“Like a number of others, I have admittedly contributed to the making of this moment – going back several years – and it is painful to have the followers of such a movement send it slithering backwards and down the fascistic slope,” Soyinka said.

Soyinka knocks Datti, ‘Obidients’, recalls advising Tinubu, Atiku not to contest

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Damagun writes INEC to conduct by-election for 27 vacant Rivers assembly seats

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IIiya Umar Damagum

Damagun writes INEC to conduct by-election for 27 vacant Rivers assembly seats

Few days after governors on the platform of the Peoples Democracy Party (PDP) handed down an ultimatum for things to change in the party, the Acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagun has moved against the FCT Minister and his loyal lawmakers, the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Damagun in a letter addressed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) dated 13th November 2024 and released on Sunday by the spokesperson of the Opposition Lawmakers Coalition, Ikenga Ugochinyere urged the electoral umpire to conduct a bye-election to fill up the 27 seats, they vacated to join the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Wike has been accused of being behind the crisis in the PDP over his disagreement with the Rivers State governor, Sim Fubara, his successor.

The crisis which started over control of resources divided the party in the state with 27 lawmakers in the state assembly siding Wike and defected to the APC following Wike’s acceptance to serve in the government of the APC.

He has also been accused of working in cahoots with Damagun to damage the PDP by not organising the National Executive Committee which would lead to the acting Chairman’s ouster.

After a series of agitation, the latest being from the PDP Governors’ Forum over the weekend, Damagun has demanded that INEC conduct elections as soon as possible, apparently moving against the FCT minister.

He argued in letter titled, ‘DEMAND FOR IMMEDIATE CONDUCT OF FRESH ELECTION IN 27 STATE CONSTITUENCIES OF RIVERS STATE WHICH HAVE BECOME VACANT PURSUANT TO SECTION 109(1)(g) OF THE CONSTITUTION’ that it’s “unlawful” for the 27 members to defect.

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The members defected to the APC on December 11, 2023.

Damagun said, going by provisions of the Constitution, the lawmakers are no longer members of the Assembly.

The PDP acting chairman therefore urged the Commission to perform its constitutional duties and begin the process of conducting fresh elections to fill the vacancies created in the 27 state constituencies by the unlawful act of the former Assembly members.

Parts of the letter read, “The Leadership of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wishes to draw the attention of the Commission to the gross violation of Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) by 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly following their unlawful defection from our Party, the PDP who sponsored their elections to the All Progressive Congress (APC) on Monday, December 11, 2023.

“The Commission may recall that our Party, the PDP nominated all our 32 State House of Assembly candidates in Rivers State for the 2023 General Election on the 7th of July 2022 via your electronic candidate election nomination portal (See attached acknowledgement).

“The Commission may also recall that following the nomination, the Commission conducted election into the Rivers State House of Assembly on the 18th of March, 2023 and our Party won 32 seats in the state Assembly. The elected State House of Assembly members were inaugurated and sworn-in on June, 2023.

“However, on Monday, 11 December, 2023 a period of just six (6) months after inauguration, 27 out of the 32 members publicly announced their defection from our Party to the All Progressive Congress (APC). This defection is a gross violation of Section 109(1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As amended).

“The only two grounds of division and merger provided for in the Constitution that permit such defection are completely non-existent in our political Party. It therefore means that the defections of the 27 members are without lawful excuse and these members have vacated their seats in the Rivers State House of Assembly by the operations of Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution.

“In view of the foregoing, we hereby demand that the Commission performs its constitutional duties and begin the process of conducting a Fresh Election to fill the vacancies created in the 27 State Constituencies by the unlawful act of the Assembly members. Find attached the list of the 27 State Assembly Members and their Constituencies.

“While thanking the Commission for its commitment to deepening democracy in our country, please accept the assurances of our highest regards.”

Damagun writes INEC to conduct by-election for 27 vacant Rivers assembly seats

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Nigeria would have been better under Peter Obi, too much nepotism under Tinubu – Senator Abaribe

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Nigeria would have been better under Peter Obi, too much nepotism under Tinubu – Senator Abaribe

 

Nigeria would have been better than what it is currently if Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), had won the 2023 elections, the senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has said.

Abaribe, who spoke on ‘Politics Today,’ a Channels Television programme, on Monday, said Obi would not have been as nepotistic as the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

“Number one, he would not be as nepotistic as this government; he won’t; it’s not in him. That is just who we are; we feel for the other people.”

The lawmaker called attention to Tinubu’s appointment of four ministers from Ogun alone, noting that many other states have just one.

“I say it, and I don’t think so. We are seeing it everyday. I just gave you one example. How can Ogun state have four ministers? Why does he favour Ogun state? Oyo state has only one minister,” Abaribe said.

”The nepotism of Buhari, which nobody followed, has now deepened under President Tinubu because Buhari did it, and nobody said much. I was the only person shouting.”

He said that rather than waiting for presidents to be fair to the people of the south-east, it is high time people of the zone went back to revamp it, make it more livable, better, and more cohesive.

“It’s obvious that if we continue to look at whoever becomes president, they will look at us and do us right. Apart from Obasanjo and maybe Jonathan, I do not think that we have seen that same type of fairness,” he said.

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Lagos 2027: Seyi Tinubu campaign team releases his life documentary

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Seyi Tinubu

Lagos 2027: Seyi Tinubu campaign team releases his life documentary

Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu, has been tipped for the seat of Lagos governor in the 2027 governorship election.

This was according to a video making the rounds on various social media platforms, which Peoples Gazette saw on Sunday.

The video highlights the president’s son’s biography, focusing on his education, career, and humanitarian activities as a Nigerian. It also documents his involvement in youth development in the country.

This biopic comes on the heels of some groups’ endorsements of Mr Tinubu’s son as a potential successor to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2027.

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On Tuesday, the Coalition of Nigerian Youth Leaders issued an endorsement in Owerri, Imo, suggesting that the younger Tinubu would be welcomed to contest the governorship seat in Osun or Imo.

He was also endorsed by Friends of Seyi, a group emphasising his vision and intellectual wherewithal to govern the country’s commercial nerve.

APC chieftain Joe Igbokwe, however, described the gale of endorsements as a ploy to undermine the president in a Facebook post.

“Who are these faceless people pushing Seyi Tinubu for Lagos governor? This is a needless distraction,” said Mr Igbokwe. “To pull PBAT down is their target. Ruling Lagos is not the job of boys.”

Lagos 2027: Seyi Tinubu campaign team releases his life documentary

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