Featured

Atiku Charges PDP Members to Reclaim Party Lost Glory

Published

3 years ago

May 12, 2023

Eric

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has called on leaders and stakeholders of the party to reflect on prevailing challenges and come up with strategies that will enable the PDP to take its dominant place once again.

Atiku gave the charge in Abuja on Thursday at a reception organized for returning and newly elected governors on the platform of the party.

“We have a number of challenges. We started as a dominant political party in 1999, but since then, we have been receding. It is time to take stock and find out why we are receding and how we can make sure that our position as the leading political party in the country can be regained.

“This is a very important challenge that requires a whole day seminar so that we can as a party regain our eminent position in the country,” he said.

The former vice president also urged party leaders and members alike to be hopeful of the favourable outcome in the presidential election petition.

“We all know that the PDP did not lose the last election. We should be determined and focus on retrieving our mandate that has been stolen,” Atiku said.

Earlier in his opening address, acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagum, said Nigerians are resolute in seeing justice done to the petition filed by the PDP at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

“The only solution for the common man is to have a just adjudication in the election petition,” he said, stressing that issues affecting the party were being addressed by the National Working Committee.

Also speaking, former Vice President and Chairman of the occasion, Namadi Sambo, called for togetherness, lamenting the Ill treatment being meted out to some PDP members, particularly in his home state of Kaduna.

“What is happening in some states today is very unfortunate. What is happening in Kaduna State today where people are being suspended from the party without due process, is worrisome.

“I want to seize this opportunity to publicly ask the acting National Chairman to look into what is happening in Kaduna State because all the ingredients for trouble and problem in the party are taking place,” he said.

Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, described the event as a moment of joy, “a moment for learning and support”, adding that “the mandate freely given to our party and candidate will be restored by the court”.

Speaking on the theme, “Good governance at the sub-national level: Issues, perspectives, expectations and outcomes”, the keynote speaker, Mudal Lawal, tasked the returning and governors-elect to put emphasis on performance management, fiscal performance indicators, fiscal resilience and devolution of powers.

He also urged the governors to prioritize appointing the right people into offices, stressing that with the right appointees, policies and programmes of government would run with ease.

“Appoint the right people. You must be resilient in your ability to meet operational costs with your Internally Generated Revenue. Equally important is a robust monitoring and evaluation system,” he said.

Lawal further enjoined the governors to be prudent in the management of resources, noting that debt to service ratio is becoming an issue of governance in public administration in the country over the past couple of years.

At the event were newly elected Governors of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, his Plateau and Zamfara States counterparts, Caleb Mutfwang and Dauda Lawal; Taraba State Governor-elect, Agbu Kefas as well as Peter Mbah of Enugu State.

The Rivers State Governor-elect, Simi Fubara was absent at the event.

Meanwhile, PDP G-5 boycotted the reception event organized for new and returning PDP Governors.

The event put together by the PDP Governors Forum was expected to bring together for the first time, Atiku and Governors Nyesom Wike, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu and Seyi Makinde of Rivers, Enugu, Benue, Abia and Oyo States respectively.

The five governors allegedly worked against the PDP in the February 25 presidential election, a development that contributed in part to the defeat suffered by the PDP.

None of the five governors sent a representative to the well-attended event or word explaining their absence.

The Punch

Featured

Tinubu Nominates Oyedele As Minister of State for Finance, Moves Anite-Uzoka to Budget Ministry

Published

12 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, has announced that “President Bola Tinubu has nominated Taiwo Oyedele as the minister of state for finance, replacing Doris Anite-Uzoka.

“Mrs Anite-Uzoka will now move to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, as the Minister of State, her third portfolio in the administration.

“President Tinubu has today conveyed the nomination of Mr Oyedele to the Senate for confirmation in a letter to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

“Until President Tinubu nominated him as a minister, Mr Oyedele from Ikaram, Akoko, Ondo State, was the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, which overhauled Nigeria’s tax system.

“Mr Oyedele, 50, is an economist, accountant and public policy expert.

“He attended Yaba College of Technology, where he obtained a Higher National Diploma (HND) in accountancy and finance. He attended Oxford Brookes University and earned a BSc in applied accounting.

“He also completed executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and the Harvard Kennedy School.

“Mr Oyedele spent 22 years of his working career at PwC, joining in 2001 and rising to become the Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader.

“Mr Oyedele is also a professor at Babcock University in Ogun State and a visiting scholar at the Lagos Business School.”

Featured

Defection: Atiku’s Son, Adamu, Resigns As Adamawa Commissioner

Published

17 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

Adamu Abubakar, the first son of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has resigned as Adamawa State’s commissioner for works and energy development, days after Governor Ahmadu Fintiri defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

Abubakar’s resignation letter, dated 2 March 2026, was addressed to the governor through the Secretary to the State Government. He gave no reason for his departure.

The timing is pointed. Fintiri announced his defection to the APC in a statewide broadcast last Friday, saying his cabinet and the PDP’s state structure had moved with him. Within 24 hours, 22 commissioners and special advisers publicly announced they were following suit. Abubakar, whose father remains one of the PDP’s most prominent national figures, was not among them.

In a statement issued Monday night, Abubakar’s media aide Abdulaziz Jauro said the former commissioner thanked the governor for the opportunity to serve and pledged continued loyalty to the administration’s developmental agenda. He also expressed gratitude to his father “for granting him the moral support and blessing to serve the people of Adamawa State” — a line that, read in context, suggests Atiku was consulted on the decision.

Abubakar said his resignation was not a withdrawal from public life. “This does not mark the end of his commitment to public service,” the statement read, “but rather the beginning of new avenues for developmental collaboration.”

The resignation leaves unresolved the question of whether it reflects a political break with the governor over his defection or a personal decision unconnected to the broader party realignment now reshaping Adamawa’s political landscape.

Featured

DSS Nabs Man over Assassination Attempt on Peter Obi

Published

19 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) has detained a man in connection with the recent attack and alleged assassination threats targeting Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

According to AIT, the shooting incident took place on February 24, 2026, in Benin City, Edo State, during a political gathering attended by Obi and several figures from the African Democratic Congress (ADC). The meeting was hosted by former APC National Chairman, John Oyegun. Gunmen reportedly opened fire at the venue, causing panic and forcing attendees to disperse for safety.

According to security sources, shortly after the attack, an individual identified as Udeme Monday Stephen allegedly took to social media claiming responsibility and issuing additional threats against Obi, warning of further violence.

Intelligence officials reportedly initiated swift investigations, employing digital tracing and forensic tools that led to the arrest of the 26-year-old suspect in Rivers State. He is said to be a teacher at a private secondary school in the Eliozu area of Obio-Akpor Local Government Area.

The suspect remains in DSS custody and is expected to face prosecution. The agency reiterated its commitment to responding to credible threats and safeguarding lives and national interests without bias.