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You posed biggest, most destructive threat to APC, Amosun fires back at Oshiomhole

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Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Senator Adams Oshiomhole

You posed biggest, most destructive threat to APC, Amosun fires back at Oshiomhole

Apparently miffed by the verbal barrage targeted at his person, a former Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has descended on a former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Adams Oshiomhole.

Amosun admonished Oshiomhole “to carefully and soberly seat down to take stock of his past so that it will continue to serve as a guide for him in his future public utterances rather than dragging the names of innocent people into a needless controversy because in Africa, age and leadership are associated with wisdom.”

The former Ogun State helmsman and immediate past Senator representing Ogun Central District, was reacting to statements made against him on Tuesday by Senator Oshiomhole at the launch of a book “APC and Transition Politics”, authored by Salihu Lukman, in Abuja.

Oshiomhole had recounted how the author alongside some governors spearheaded the campaign that led to his “illegal” removal from office.

He alleged that the governors deployed all manner of illegal means to remove him following his moves to enshrine party supremacy.

Part of the reaction from Amosun reads: “This apparent struggle was not for want of a proportional response to his deliberate drivel, but because not only was his story fraught with lies, but also because he did not boast the requisite integrity to say the truth.

“Besides, it is not in my character to join issues with people I consider qualified enough to be referred to as both leaders of our party, APC and of this great country, Nigeria, to which I believe Senator Oshiomhole belongs.

“However, given his antecedents and penchant for careless and most times, baseless and unverified public statements, and also considering my duty to the country and the public in particular, it will be uncharitable if I fail to put the records straight.

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“What Senator Oshiomhole was alleged to have said, apart from being far from the truth, is a calculated attempt to present water while drinking wine. The Yoruba adage says “if you let a mad man bury his mum the way it pleases him, he could roast her for a meal.” At that point, the community is to blame for his choice.

“Indeed, listening to him yesterday, his utterances represent some inherent inadequacy, which he vented, not just at inauspicious times, but without basis and predicated only on lies to hoodwink the unsuspecting.

“It is not in doubt that I have participated fully in the formation and sustenance of our party, the APC, and I can boldly say that the party under Adams Oshiomhole conducted one of the worst primaries in the history of Nigeria’s contemporary politics and ended up shopping for his own enemies, leading to his eventual removal as Chairman of our party. Nigerians should not be in a hurry to forget the allegations that preceded the conduct of those primaries and his eventual invitation by the Department of State Service, DSS, to clarify certain grave allegations.

“If anyone was in doubt that Senator Oshiomhole posed the biggest and most destructive threat to the existence of the APC at that time, and the party’s best bet was to dispose of a canon folder that he was and unfortunately still is, his utterances and grandstanding yesterday at an occasion to find solutions to our democratic and party challenges, would have cleared such mindset.

“If he wanted to insult our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, he could have come out boldly to do so. But his subtle attempt to pass snide remarks at him failed the simple test of loyalty because the former president also moved from his own party to merge with other like-minds to form the APC.

“Also, if he is seeking favour from the presidency, why not come out and do so? But to tell barefaced lies that, “You are working for your paymaster in Lagos, paymaster in Bourdillon,” is cheap but typical of an individual, who suddenly found himself where he never dreamt of, despite his obvious limitations – education and exposure.

“If the public will remember, soon after Senator Oshiomhole was sworn in as a Senator, he allegedly said members of the 9th Senate had vandalized their offices before leaving, only for him to eat the humble pie and made to apologise later when it was obvious that the allegations were baseless.

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“My honest advice to him is to carefully and soberly seat down to take stock of his past so that it will continue to serve as a guide for him in his future public utterances rather than dragging the names of innocent people into a needless controversy because in Africa, age and leadership are associated with wisdom.

“This is also why I have consistently brushed aside and intentionally scoffed at his tongue-in-cheek apology, which he had extended to me several times. I am now convinced it was not genuine.

“In the final analysis, BACKGROUND MATTERS!.”

While speaking at the book presentation on Tuesday, Oshiomhole revealed how former Governors of Ekiti and Ogun States, Kayode Fayemi, Ibikunle Amosun, respectively and Salihu Lukman, a former national vice chairman, North-west, of the party, plotted his removal from office as the ruling party’s chair.

Oshiomhole spoke specifically on his battle with the governors elected on the platform of the ruling party.

He alleged that the governors deployed all manner of illegal means to remove him following his moves to enshrine party supremacy.

“Lukman wrote several letters, dismissing my leadership without calling me. When you ride on the back of a tiger, there is only one destination.

“Lukman was appointed undemocratically by the governors’ forum. I was not consulted— I was a governor. We were told this is the new DG of the APC governors’ forum.

“I wrote to the governors for a meeting. The governors said no, I should come to Imo House, not the APC office. He (Lukman) was there (where they were holding the meeting). He did not see anything wrong with that,” Oshiomhole said.

“It felt as though I was in a military barrack,” Oshiomhole said while recalling the atmosphere at the meeting with the governors.

He said following the diatribes from the governors, he responded “None of you can lecture me about the power of a governor because I have been governor twice. Eight years uninterrupted.

“At one point, I told Fayemi, ‘You did a resit. You were elected and by the second term, you lost. That means you failed’. I did not do a resit, and you are lecturing me about power. I can mention some of them.

“The man in Ogun State, he told me if not for the president, he would have left the party. Some of them told me ‘You are working for your paymaster in Lagos. Your paymaster in Bourdillon.’”

You posed biggest, most destructive threat to APC, Amosun fires back at Oshiomhole

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Your assessment misleading, APC tackles Obi over socio-economic situations

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Peter Obi and Felix Morka

Your assessment misleading, APC tackles Obi over socio-economic situations

One-time Anambra State Governor Peter Obi came under a scathing criticism yesterday from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over his assessment of the security and economic situation of the country.

At a news conference, Obi disagreed with the claims of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his New Year Day address which chronicled the feats attained by the APC-led administration.

Obi alleged that the political, economic and security situations in the country have worsened under the incumbent administration.

But the APC, through its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka carpeted Obi, describing his assessment as jaundiced, misleading and an attempt to score cheap political points.

In a statement, Morka put a lie to Obi’s claims.

He noted that Obi’s assessment was at variance with all indicators that showed that the nation’s economy is rebounding in significant measure across all sectors.

Dismissing Obi’s claims, Morka said: “While Nigerians celebrated the New Year with hope for a more glorious 2025, Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, was seemingly stuck in replay of his jangling, gloom-ridden wish-list for our country.

“Obi’s new year message, in which he claimed that the political, economic and security situation of our dear country is worsening daily, is misleading and appears intended to score cheap political points.

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“This claim, at a time when all indicators show that our country is rebounding in significant measure across all sectors, casts Obi, squarely, as Nigeria’s leading doomsayer.”

Morka, who reeled out the achievements of the APC-led administration, said: “In reality, 18 months later, the economy under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, has showed steady record of progress.”

He listed the landmarks as:

The ruling party further argued: “Despite these and other initial beneficial outcomes of ongoing unprecedented reforms, the administration is doubling its effort to ensuring that the reforms deliver their fullest benefits for the sustainable growth and transformation of our country.”

The ruling party said that the Presidential New Year message acknowledged that the “cost of food and essential drugs remained a significant concern for many Nigerian households. And to reverse this trend, Mr. President assured that his administration was committed to lowering food prices by boosting food production and promoting local production of drugs.”

The party also highlighted Tinubu’s resolve to crash the current inflation rate from 34 per cent to 15 per cent in the course of this fiscal year as a move to addressing the threat inflation poses to the country’s economy.

The statement further reads: “With the vigour in the administration’s war on corruption, evidenced by ongoing investigations and trial of  well-heeled Nigerians, Obi’s pontification on the urgent need to tame corruption is a clear case  of carrying coal to Newcastle.”

Faulting Obi, the party said: “It is a thing of irony that Peter Obi, who now arrogates to himself to be omniscient and philosopher’s stone, when it comes to our nation’s challenges, left no record of significant achievement, let alone transformation of any kind, in his eight-year tenure as Governor of Anambra State.

“Like his co-travellers in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Obi’s obsessive pessimism and endless but futile effort to incite public outrage against the administration is borne out of their realisation that President Tinubu is unwittingly cementing their ultimate political irrelevance by his visionary and full-throttle reform and transformation of the fundamental pillars of our national life.”

Appealing for citizens’ support and patience, the APC spokesman assured Nigerians that “under the banner of the Renewed Hope Agenda (RHA), President Tinubu is dutifully turning our nation’s fortunes around.

“He (Tinubu) deserves the support  and patience of Nigerians in order to consolidate on the deep economic foundation he has laid, and deliver a vibrant, prosperous new Nigeria for the good of all.  We urge Nigerians to remain confident of better days ahead.”

Your assessment misleading, APC tackles Obi over socio-economic situations

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Currency in circulation now N4.8tn – CBN report

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Currency in circulation now N4.8tn – CBN report

Currency in circulation has reached an all-time high of N4.8 trillion as of November 2024, recording over seven per cent increase from the previous month.

Also, currency outside banks grew significantly in the same month hitting an all-time high of N4.6 trillion from the N4.2 trillion in the month of October.

These figures were contained in the money and credit supply data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The currency in circulation is the amount of cash–in the form of paper notes or coins–within a country that is physically used to conduct transactions between consumers and businesses.

It represents the money that has been issued by the country’s monetary authority, minus cash that has been removed from the system.

Similarly, currency outside a bank refers to cash held by individuals, businesses and other entities that is not stored in banks.

The currency outside the bank represents about 96 per cent of the currency in circulation.

Nigerians have in recent times been facing acute cash shortage with banks limiting daily withdrawal at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to N20,000 irrespective of the number of accounts held by an account owner.

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According to the latest data, the currency in circulation grew by seven per cent to reach 4,878,125.22 from 4,549,217.51 in October.

Currency in circulation has grown steadily in the outgoing year 2024 with over one trillion naira added to cash in circulation after starting the year with N3.65 trillion in January.

In February, the currency in circulation slightly increased to N3.69 trillion representing an increase of N43 billion or 1.18 per cent from the January figure.

March also saw an appreciable increase to N3.87 trillion while it further increased to N3.92 trillion in the following month of April.

The growth trajectory continued in May with the currency in circulation increasing slightly to N3.97 trillion, an increase of N42 billion or 1.07 per cent while it reached an all-time high of 4.04 trillion, an increase of 2.11 per cent from May.

The July figure also rose marginally with the currency in circulation settling for N4.05 trillion before growing to N4.14 trillion in August and N4.43 trillion in September and N4.5 trillion in October.

In the same vein, currency outside banks grew from N4.2 trillion in October to N4.6 trillion in November, showing increasing preference for other means of storing outside bank deposits.

Economist, Dr. Paul Alaje attributed the development to the expanding money supply, adding, “Money supply is expanding but this may not necessarily be in cash. As it is expanding, it will necessarily induce inflation. But you can’t blame the people. People must look for money. How much was bottled water last year, how much is it today? All of this will induce inflation. If you now ask, what is the cause of inflation? Is it money supply itself or a devaluation policy? It is a devaluation policy. Money supply is an offshoot. So the Central Bank is raising interest rates to actually reduce money supply but the more they try the more money supply expands.”

He stated that the floatation policy of the CBN has created inflation, adding, “It is like chasing one’s tail and I don’t know if you are going to catch it.”

Currency in circulation now N4.8tn – CBN report

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Tinubu not telling Nigerians the truth, says Sule Lamido

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Tinubu not telling Nigerians the truth, says Sule Lamido

President Bola Tinubu has been accused of not being forthright about the true state of Nigeria under his administration.

Former Jigawa State Governor and senior Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member, Sule Lamido, made the accusation while speaking on the BBC Hausa programme Gane Mini Hanya.

Lamido criticized both Tinubu and former President Muhammadu Buhari for what he described as a lack of transparency in governance.

“Buhari’s and Tinubu’s governments are not being transparent with Nigerians unlike during the time when PDP was in power where everything was transparent and open to all Nigerians,” Lamido said.

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He accused the two administrations of relying on propaganda rather than providing citizens with accurate information.

Lamido also expressed concerns over President Tinubu’s recent loan requests, questioning the logic behind them. “If Nigerians are being told the truth then there is nothing wrong with that, but how would you budget N30tn, generate N50tn and then request loan when you have a surplus of N20tn,” he said, referencing last year’s budget.

He described the situation as “reckless” and “selfish,” adding, “This recklessness and clear-cut selfishness is not done anywhere in the world, but yet you find (some) Nigerians supporting it. Visit social media and see how APC is being criticised, being referred to as calamity, yet you find some protecting it.”

Tinubu not telling Nigerians the truth, says Sule Lamido

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