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Vice Presidential Debate Kicks off with Five Candidates

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The vice-presidential candidates debate for the 2019 general elections kicked off at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, on Friday, with five candidates slugging it out.

Featuring were Ganiyu Galadima of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN); Khadija Abdullahi-Iya of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN); and incumbent Vice President Yemi Osinbajo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The other two are Peter Obi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Umma Getso of the Young Progressives Party (YPP).

In his opening statement, Galadima urged Nigerians to look at the candidates and their manifestos to make informed choices at the polls.

Abdullahi-Iya opened with personal background information, including holding a first and masters degree in Law from the University of Abuja, and founding a non-governmental organisation devoted to women and children.

The ANN vice presidential flag bearer said she believed all Nigerians should be concerned about the plight of children to secure the country’s future.

She stated that her decision to run for the office stemmed from her concern about “everyone of the over 2.1 million children in the North-East and IDP camps scattered across Nigeria’’.

On his part, Osinbajo started by reeling out achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in the areas of infrastructure, employment, agriculture

He said the government had embarked on the largest infrastructure project in the country’s history, including railways between Lagos and Kano, Aladja-Warri, and the Lagos-Calabar road.

The APC candidate said the Buhari administration had a major road project in every state of the federation.

On agriculture, Osinbajo stated that the government had made giant strides, especially by cutting the nation’s rice import by 90 per cent.

He added that the social investment programme of the current administration was possibly the largest in the history of the country, taking N500 billion in every cycle.

“Under the N-Power scheme, we are employing 500,000 graduates, who are in every single local government of the country.

“At the same time, we have the homegrown school feeding programme under which 9.2 million children are fed every single day in 26 states of Nigeria,’’ he said.

On his part, Obi said, “Our country today has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world; our HDI (human development index) has dropped from 152 to 157; our global competitive index has dropped from 124 to 127.

“In terrorism, we have moved from seven to three behind Iran and Afghanistan; our inequality has worsened, our misery index,’’ he said.

Getso said in her opening statement said she was passionate about girl-child education, adding that she “spent the early years of my adulthood in the development of a common Nigeria’’.

The YPP vice presidential hopeful said she was a pioneer member and founder of a women multi-purpose cooperative society in Bauchi State that had impacted the lives of a lot of rural women in the state.

Getso said her presidential candidate, Mr Kingsley Moghalu, was a person with a lot to offer in terms service to the nation.

“If you compare all the choices we have, you can see that Moghalu is among the best because he has experience in all sectors of the economy,’’ she said.

(NAN)

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Breaking: Wike Plans to Attend Thursday’s PDP NEC Meeting

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By Eric Elezuo

The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NECeeting on Thursday is not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party  state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

Political stakeholders have concluded that the outcome of Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan.

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Bribery, Corruption: APC Suspends National Chairman, Ganduje

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The All Progressives Congress ward in Ganduje, Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area, has suspended the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.

The party ward legal adviser, Halliru Gwanzo, announced the suspension while addressing newsmen in Kano State on Monday.

Gwanzo cited allegations of bribery against Ganduje levelled by the Kano State Government as the reason for the suspension.

“We decided to suspend Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje from the party due to the seriousness of the allegations against him,” Gwanzo said.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact the Chief Press Secretary to the APC National Chairman, Mr Edwin Olufo, failed as his mobile phone was unreachable.

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Akpabio Commits to Collaboration with Tinubu, Governor Umo Eno

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The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has stated his commitment to working closely with Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Governor Umo Eno to ensure the delivery of democratic benefits to the people of Akwa Ibom State.

Akpabio stated this in his country home, Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, while briefing his constituents on the journey so far as their representative in the red chamber.

He assured the people of Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District of his commitment to their welfare in appreciation of their total support for him, President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in last year’s election.

The Highpoint of the constituency briefing was the distribution of over 10,000 bags of rice and other essentials for his constituents from the wards, to the local governments.

A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, quoted Akpabio as saying, “I am here once again, to thank you for standing by me, our President and the party, before, during and even after last year’s elections. I have come to say thank you and also bring Renewed Hope to you all.

“As the President is doing his own, the Senate President is also doing his bit and being complemented by the state governor, Akwa Ibom would be the better for it. We have finished elections and politics, we are now into governance. The governor of the state must touch you, because he is the governor of all the people in the state irrespective of political affiliation.

” As I am touching you now from the political angle, I will also touch the state without any political party affiliation. Most of the projects we are putting in place would be used by people resident in the state. Relax, things are getting better.”

The former Governor of the state, assured his constituents that his current position as the Senate President would be used for the development of the state in collaboration with the President and the Akwa Ibom State Governor.

Hear him: This Senate President is not the one that would be fighting the state government. I will collaborate with , I will collaborate with , to make the state better for us all. We cannot be out of government for a long time. You have to go to a government that carries you along”

Akpabio promised to work for his constituents and Nigeria with all his strength, noting that, “as the President of the Senate, I am for the Southern region and the entire country. I may not come here regularly to tell you what I have been doing for you, but you will be feeling the impact on way or the other. Our unemployed youths would be gainfully employed. I will construct a mini stadium in all the local governments in the district, for our youths to develop their sporting potentials. ”

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