In what appeared to be a formal flag-off of the campaign against their party’s candidate, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, and other G5 governors yesterday launched a political offensive against the presidential flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Wike, his Abia, Oyo, Enugu and Benue counterparts, Okezie Ikpeazu, Seyi Makinde, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Samuel Ortom, declared that the efforts to break their ranks were failing because they are bonded to save Nigeria.
They spoke on Sunday night during a dinner organised in honour of the G-5 by Governor Ortom at the new banquet hall of Government House, Makurdi.
High point of the dinner, which many consider as a kick-off of the campaign against their own party and candidate, was the bestowing of Honorary Citizen’s Status on his colleagues by the host, Ortom.
Speaking at the event, Wike said nobody can break the ranks of the five PDP governors (G5) who have continued to insist on the resignation of the party’s national chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.
He noted that because the five governors had remained dogged on their demand, people have made several efforts to break their ranks but cannot succeed.
The governor said, “And if you look at us here, the way we are, people have tried to see how they can break us, you cannot. We are bonded to save Nigeria.
“That is why when you see all of us, we are impenetrable. Nobody can divide us. They have tried everything in this world to divide us, but no way.
“The way we operate, I will talk; we have people who don’t talk. You may be underrating them. By the time they will shock you, you will think it is Wike. It is not the Wike you are seeing.”
Wike said Nigerians are expecting the PDP to rescue the country, but it appears the leadership of the party is not showing serious commitment to that course.
Noting that inclusivity remains a precursor for peace and unity, he said, “Agreement is agreement. Respect agreement, so that there will be peace, there will be unity. What we are asking for is inclusivity; include everybody.
“We are not talking about presidential candidates. We have finished that one. We have a presidential candidate, we have a vice presidential candidate.
“But that one that will go to the other people, give them so that everybody will move forward. That is what we are saying, nothing more.”
On the 25 buses donated to Benue State PDP for their campaigns, Wike corrected and gave a clearer perspective to it.
The governor explained that the buses were part of the bulk of vehicles his team acquired for his presidential campaigns if he had won the primary.
He stated that since that ambition did not materialise, the team decided that the vehicles should be shared among those who supported the course.
The governor said the G-5 comprises people who have shown leadership in their various states, and on issues of national concern, taken the risk to speak the truth, maintain integrity and are consistent.
On his part, Benue State governor, Ortom, warned against supporting a Fulani man for the 2023 presidential election, even as he asked the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku, who is a Fulani, to go to hell.
He warned that any Benue person who supports a Fulani would automatically be regarded as the enemy of the State.
He said the long silence by members of the PDP from the State in the National Assembly as a clear indication of complicity in the invasion and killings of Benue citizens.
He said, “I am very angry with all members of the National Assembly who are from Benue State for leaving me alone in the fight against this invasion. Your long silence over the killing of our people by the marauding herdsmen who have vowed to take over our ancestral land, I am not happy with you, especially the senators. Keeping quiet for this pogrom on our people means you are dining and wining with the FG at the detriment of the people that elect you.
“I will never again support any Fulani man in the 2023 elections to continue with the killing of my people and collection of their ancestral land.
“To hell with the PDP presidential candidate; I can’t support a Fulani man for any election so that they will continue with the killing of our people. At 62, I am not afraid of death. Even if I die defending my people, I will be grateful to God because I will be fulfilled.”
The Governor described Wike as a true friend of Benue who has taken it upon himself to support the humanitarian crises the State is going through, adding that the state has already received the sum of over N700 million from him for the welfare of the displaced persons
He also clarified that the Rivers State governor was not against Ayu as a person, but is standing for what is true, fair, equity and justice in the PDP.
Ortom noted that the G5 have all agreed to work together for the good of Nigeria and to deliver it from the basement bad leadership has plunged it.
Also, Abia State governor, Ikpeazu, alled on the People of Benue State to choose life over death by voting wisely during the 2023 general election.
Governor Ikpeazu who made the call in Makurdi the Benue State capital during the flag off of the PDP gubernatorial and senatorial campaigns said whoever comes to kill farmers, destroy their farms to take over the ancestral land of the people who depend on agriculture as their livelihood has taken life out of the people.
“The issue at stake today is about us in Benue state choosing life over death and we have seen the efforts Governor Ortom has made to cry about our plight here in Benue State.
“Anybody who takes us away from our farms, takes our lives away. Therefore, I want to urge the people of Benue state to follow Governor Ortom; ‘follow him wey know road; no follow somebody wey no know road. I believe that Ortom is the Moses of PDP that will take Benue to Canaan land. My prayer is that Benue people will be wise once again so that they will follow Uba and all our candidates in PDP.”
Suspected Thugs Attack Ex-VP’s Supporters In Rivers
Meanwhile, suspected thugs on Sunday evening attacked supporters of Atiku in Omuma local government area of Rivers State.
A source in the area told LEADERSHIP that the PDP members, numbering about three, were pasting Atiku’s campaign posters when they were attacked with machetes.
The source identified one of the victims as Nwankwoala Udo, from Umuobuo village in the local government area.
Insisting that the attackers were also PDP members from the area, he said the three victims were later taken to an undisclosed hospital for medical attention.
Efforts to get the PDP publicity secretary in the state, Tambari Sydney Gbara, to react to the development proved abortive.
However, a member of the party in the state, who spoke to LEADERSHIP on the condition of anonymity, said there was no way the party would have sent thugs to attack its own members.
Presidential Candidates Trade Words Over Absence At Debates, Town Hall Meetings
Meanwhile, as the campaign for the 2023 polls reaches its peak, presidential candidates of major political parties in the country are at loggerheads over what they described as the record of avoiding debates, town hall meetings and public interrogations.
The flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, dropped the first bombshell yesterday when he accused his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, of running away from national debates for fear of facing probing questions from Nigerians.
On his part, the Labour Party (LP) standard bearer, Peter Obi, dragged both Atiku and Tinubu, saying presidential candidates who do not make themselves available for debate are emperors.
But firing back at his PDP and LP counterparts, Tinubu said the two political parties and their candidates are confused and, in their confusion, are now using his “name with the hope that their floundering campaign will gain some traction.”
Noting that the 2023 campaign is not a literary and debate society, the former Lagos State governor noted that Nigerians would certainly “not vote for candidates and political parties that cannot maintain decorum and basic decency on national television.”
This is coming on the heels of a mild drama that ensued on Sunday at the presidential town hall meeting where angry supporters of the Labour Party candidate, Obi, almost disrupted the programme in protest against allowing the vice presidential candidate of the PDP, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, to participate at the gathering on behalf of Atiku.
The disagreement led to a rowdy session just before the commencement of the town hall meeting organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development and Arise News.
The Obi supporters protested the representation of other presidential candidates by their running mates, insisting that the town hall meeting would not be held in the absence of some presidential candidates.
Despite attempts to bring the situation under control, the venue of the meeting was turned into a theatre of protests and chants by supporters of Obi.
Specifically taking on the APC standard bearer who had informed the organisers of the programme early enough that he would not attend, Atiku said Tinubu was afraid of facing Nigerians.
Speaking through spokesman of the Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign organisation, Kola Ologbondiyan, Atiku said Tinubu has a record of avoiding debates and public interrogations following a mortal fear that Nigerians will put him to task on his alleged stinking corruption record, reported proxy treasury looting, obvious incompetence, ethnic bigotry as well as his alleged masterminding of APC’s anti-people policies that wrecked our nation in the last seven and half years.
Ologbondiyan said the APC presidential candidate and his running mate cannot face debates for fears of having Tinubu’s claims of building Lagos State publicly exposed as a hoax, as he cannot point to any legacy development project he achieved in the State as Governor.
In a statement he issued yesterday, Ologbondiyan stated that Tinubu is also aware that he cannot face the public to answer questions bordering on his past, particularly the question on his ancestry, the Alpha-Beta tax saga; as well as his alleged stranglehold on the business, politics and lives of Lagosians from 1999 till date.
He stated: “He (Tinubu) is afraid of being exposed of fleecing Lagos State for eight years through multiple and harsh tax regimes with nothing to show other than rulership by brawl, breeding of touts and raising criminal street gangs, only to turn around now to attempt to claim the achievements of succeeding governors as his.
“Nigerians will recall that the APC Presidential Candidate did not attend the signing of the National Peace Accord in Abuja; he failed to turn up at Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries, he avoided the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Conference and shunned the televised debate organized by credible media houses and Civil Society groups in Abuja on Sunday to attend a marriage bash in the same nation’s capital.
“Is it not strange that Tinubu, who claims to be a progressive, is dodging debate, a hallmark of progressivism?
“Asiwaju Tinubu and Kashim Shettima have turned themselves into a butt of public joke over their reported inability to even defend the scripts that were written for them with spurious claims and litany of fake promises which Nigerians have appropriately tagged as ‘Renewed Hopelessness’.
“Moreover, it is apparent that the APC Presidential Candidate could not detail his running mate to represent him at the Abuja debate ostensibly because of Sen. Shettima’s abysmal performance at the last Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries outing.
“Also, under his watch as Governor, there are unanswered questions over series of deadly terrorism attacks in Borno State.
“Is Sen. Shettima afraid of explaining to Nigerians why his government did not heed to the alleged security warning and directive by the Federal Government to relocate the schoolgirls to a safer location which would have averted the abduction?
“In shunning public debates, both Tinubu and Shettima have shown that they have nothing to offer and that they are in the Presidential race just for personal aggrandisement and not to serve Nigerians.”
Similarly, Obi, through the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, said presidential candidates who do not make themselves available for debate are emperors who think they are doing the electorate a favour if they appear in debates.
He urged Nigerians to vote out such people.
Speaking after the Town Hall meeting organised by Arise TV, the director general (DG) of the Obi/Datti campaign council, Dr Doyin Okupe, said some candidates have assumed the position of emperors.
Okupe noted: “The Labour Party Presidential Candidate His Excellency Mr Peter Obi, and the Presidential Campaign Organisation totally condemns this disregard for the electorate and the people, by these absentee Presidential Candidates.
“The decision to present oneself as a Presidential candidate does not start and end with the purchase, submission of forms and certification as a candidate by INEC.
“It also forebodes on the candidate a high degree of responsibility to present himself for open discussions and explanations on his policies, visions and plans for the people to enable a better understanding and engender an appropriate choice by the electorate in the coming elections.
“It is our firm conviction that anything short of the simple, transparent and honest adherence to this basic contract of responsibility, falls short of the standards of fair contest and engagement and can only be interpreted as mischievous evasion of the desired interface with the people.
“These candidates who have assumed the position of emperors and rulers, and not responsible politicians, who are willing to serve and listen to the people, place their position of trust in critical jeopardy by their high horse of arrogance and non-accountability.”
But hitting back at the PDP and LP candidates, Tinubu said he will not be railroaded into media appearances and debates.
Speaking through the director, Media & Publicity of the Tinubu/Shetimma presidential campaign council, Bayo Onanuga, the APC candidate said it was ridiculous that Atiku and Obi were premising their stance on “the poorly organized Town Hall debate session by Arise TV”.
Onanuga said, “The more absurd of the two positions was the one canvassed by the spokesperson of Atiku/Okowa campaign. The PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar also didn’t attend Arise News Town Hall Meeting.
“Yet his spokesman, out of joblessness and lack of productive venture, attacked our candidate, perhaps in pursuit of a media mileage that their campaign badly needs to divert attention from their failing presidential bid.
“We believe that even a palace jester should have a moment of self-introspection. If this had been done, the statement would have been unnecessary.
“Instead of PDP to tell Nigerians why its presidential candidate has not returned to Nigeria after their purposeless visit to United States where he and his other 15 peripatetic adults were given a cold shoulder by US senior officials, the spokesperson is busy chasing shadows.”
Onanuga added that Tinubu prefers engaging Nigerians directly than sitting down to talk in a debate organised by a media house.
“We believe that we need to face our people more. What we went to do in Minna today (yesterday) is more important than the debate or town hall meeting.
“The issue we went there to discuss is at the heart of the problems of our country, especially ensuring food security. The idea is to meet with stakeholders and mapping out strategies about how we can achieve this,” he added.
Agricultural Sector Must Lead In Reform Of Nigeria’s Economy -Tinubu
Meanwhile, presidential candidate of APC, Tinubu, said yesterday that the Agricultural sector will take the lead under him as president.
He said the North must continue to march at the forefront if the sector is to significantly advance at all.
Tinubu spoke at a town hall meeting with northern Agro commodity group in Minna, the Niger State capital.
He posited that farming will receive its pride of place because he will undertake reforms within the farming, fishing and livestock sector that will make the industry competitive.
In his presentation titled “Path the Agricultural Self-Sufficiency”, he recalled the role agriculture played in the country’s economy before the discovery of oil and why it is important for the revival of the nation’s economy.
The presidential flag bearer of APC maintained that all the states in the country have the ability to offer one or two things to ensure that the nation fully produces what it eats but acknowledged the vast arable land in the north that gave the region the advantage to lead in agricultural development in the country.
Consequently, he promised to make the agricultural sector the bedrock of Nigeria’s new economy when he becomes president.
The groups that met him tacitly endorsed the APC candidate at the town hall meeting.
They include the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Maize Association of Nigeria, Miyetti Allah Keutal Hore, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria and Federation of Agricultural Commodity Association of Nigeria.
Tinubu, who adopted the presentation by the Chairman Progressive Governors’ Forum and Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu, appointed him to head a committee to fashion a blueprint that will help position the Agric sector so that it can occupy its deserved pride of place.
Tinubu and his team in Minna also held a closed-door meeting with former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, at his hilltop mansion in Minna.
