News
LP to Soludo: Go and borrow sense *Obi will win 2023 presidency
If only Chukwuma Soludo is not blinded by jealousy to allow himself to be bought over to work against an emerging Nigeria full of promises, he would have seen how Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) candidate in next year’s presidential election, would not only emerge victorious, but lead that historic process.
This was the position of Doyin Okupe, Director General of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Council (POPCC), as the party weighed in on Monday’s diatribe released by the Anambra governor, in which he gave his last but one predecessor a zero chance of ever smelling victory.
Soludo, in his article entitled: ‘History Beckons and I Will Not Be Silent (Part 1)’, said Obi might not even come third in the polls, in which he had been favoured by almost all the polls by different agencies.
Joining in the groundswell of reactions, which the governor’s comments has generated across the country and beyond, Okupe, said the analysis lacked “common sense,” adding that Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was simply doing a hatchet job for some vested interests.
Accusing the governor of angling for the presidency himself, which he believed Obi would scuttle if he succeeded in 2023, Okupe, who appeared as a guest on Politics Today, a popular current affairs programme on Channels Television, maintained that Soludo, must have been delusional.
Hear him: “Ordinarily, I won’t join issue with Soludo, but so that people will not get disinformed by his very unsound judgment of the political status of Labour Party in the Nigerian context, that is the only reason why I will say one or two words. He must be living in another planet. I don’t know what is blinding him for him to say that there are only two people in this race — APC and PDP. Even a blind person and a young child of nine years old know that this is absolute fallacy.
“Professor Soludo must be indulging in self-political delusion. Today, 90 per cent of polls done say Peter Obi is well ahead of the other contestants. It is no longer news that it is a three-cornered race. Even in the three-cornered race, we are no longer the third force. We have now taken over and bypassed the two establishments and these two are now contesting for second and third positions. Professor Soludo’s pronouncement has nothing to do with reality or common sense.
“It’s ludicrous for Soludo to say Obi will get 25 per cent of the total votes cast in four states of the federation. I’m happy that he conceded that Peter Obi will win Anambra state. That is good news. Where he messed it up completely, and it makes the whole thing looks ludicrous, was when he said Peter Obi will get 25 percent in maybe four states of the federation. That is a joke.
“Professor Soludo is a professor of economics, not a soothsayer or prophet. Definitely, he is not too grounded politically. The five states in the South East, come rain and sunshine, the five states in the South East, come rain, come sunshine, nobody can take it. What makes a reasonable man, an educated man, an intelligent man say such a blatant lie must be something very deep.
“The gentleman seems so consumed with whatever negative or evil passion that is on his mind, that has totally befuddled and confused him.”
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday, announced the approval of the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats and ordered the immediate release of ₦10 billion as emergency intervention funding.
Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesman, who conveyed the development to the public, said the fund would strengthen the operational preparedness of the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and support critical national public health emergency response activities.
To be chaired by Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff (CoS) to the President, the committee with membership drawn from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and state representatives is also expected to get briefings on their plans to contain the disease.
Onanuga, stated that Tinubu also specifically directed all states hosting international airports and international border corridors, as well as relevant MDAs, to submit their plans, funding requirements and intervention needs for consideration and coordinated implementation.
Stating that the President’s move followed a stakeholder meeting convened under the CoS to review Nigeria’s preparedness and develop strategies against the possible importation of Ebola into the country., the statement informed that the Task Force would also intensify passenger screening at all international airports through enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control protocols.
Other measures would also include enhanced monitoring of passengers arriving through high-risk airline routes, including Air Uganda, Rwanda Air, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines; and the immediate activation of referral and isolation centres at the Lagos and Abuja international airports, with other airports to follow.
Other measures include the mandatory activation of QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for passengers originating from or transiting through designated high-risk countries, as well as the disinfection of departure halls, cargoes, baggage areas and airport facilities as precautionary environmental measures.
The President also directed the advisory group to consult with security, diplomatic and aviation bodies on regulating flights from affected and designated high-risk countries and mandated the task force to designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights to enable controlled screening and isolation procedures, and to consider adjusting flight schedules to minimise interaction between high-risk passengers and other travellers.
Justice Akintoye Aluko of the Federal High Court, Lagos on Tuesday ordered the remand of Paul Jibrin Oweleke in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) over alleged cybercrime offences linked to social media broadcasts that allegedly called for overthrow of President Bola Tinubu.
Specifically, Oweleke, in a two-count charge was accused of publishing posts on his online platform known as “Oweleke TV”, urging the Nigerian military to remove the President from office in a manner similar to takeovers in some West African countries, an act the agency said bordered on incitement and the use of a computer system to disseminate content considered prejudicial to national security and constitutional governance.
Oweleke’s broadcasts, the agency stressed, were capable of inciting public disorder and promoting disaffection against the government, which will undermine the country’s democracy.
Legal argument had ensued immediately after Oweleke, pleaded not guilty to the charges, with his lawyer kicking vehemently against the prayer of the agency that the court should order his remand pending the commencement of trial, on the ground that a bail application had already been filed and served on the prosecution.
But Aluko, who was persuaded to grant the prayer, went with the DSS, while adjourning the matter to June 16 for the hearing of the bail application, stating that Oweleke, would remain in the facility of the agency pending the outcome.
By June 29 all medical doctors in public hospitals in Nigeria will drop their stethoscopes and other instruments of healthcare, unless the Federal Government settles all unpaid allowances, salary arrears, delayed training funds, and worsening welfare concerns of its members across the country’s health sector.
This was the notice served to the government on Monday, through The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), the umbrella under which the doctors operate, after rising from Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) held in Kano.
In the 21-day ultimatum to the government, the doctors warned that it would not be able to guarantee industrial harmony if the issues remain unresolved within the 21-day period.
In the resolution conveying their position, signed by Mohammad Suleiman, President, Shuaibu Ibrahim, Secretary-General, and Abdulmajid Yahya Ibrahim, Publicity and Social Secretary, on Friday, the body regretted that government had failed to fulfil several commitments to doctors despite repeated assurances and engagements.
“The association hereby declares an industrial dispute with the federal government of Nigeria on the outlined matters above and cannot guarantee industrial harmony after the 21-day window period given to address all the demands,” the communique reads.
The association said it is giving the federal government the 21-day window to commence concrete actions towards the development and implementation of a national healthcare workers assault prevention and response protocol
and the initiation of the necessary legislative process to address the menace.
NARD also demanded the release and payment of the 2026 medical residency training fund (MRTF) to all eligible resident doctors nationwide within the next 21 days.
The association questioned the unpaid salary and promotion arrears in several federal and state health institutions, as well as discrepancies in professional allowances reflected in members’ May 2026 salaries.
It highlighted the welfare issues affecting house officers, including salary delays, unpaid arrears, and difficulties with internship placement and onboarding processes that remain unresolved.
It also accused Motunrayo Omidiran, executive chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), of delaying the issuance of letters of compliance to federal health institutions, noting that the delay has hampered recruitment efforts, manpower shortages, and brain drain in the sector.
NARD expressed worries about the increasing assaults, harassment, intimidation, and violent attacks against doctors while on duty, demanding the arrests, investigation, and prosecution of perpetrators.
It called for the establishment of a national healthcare workers’ assault prevention and response protocol within 21 days by the federal government and security agencies.
-
News4 weeks agoTinubu to African leaders: Copy Nigeria, produce your way out of poverty
-
News3 weeks agoBREAKING: US-Nigeria troops slaughter 175 ISWAP fighters
-
Columns3 weeks agoDear General Gowon: That apology you’re running from is your nemesis
-
News1 week agoBREAKING: Terrorists strike Ibadan again! Abduct ex-Minister’s sister, twin children
-
News4 weeks agoWhy we pegged presidential ticket forms at N60million – NDC
-
News4 weeks agoGowon on civil war: My book is to put records straight, remove falsehood
-
News3 weeks agoBREAKING: Wait over! Arsenal are CHAMPIONS! Win EPL after 22 years hiatus
-
Columns2 weeks agoSee Tinubu’s terrible damage on Option A4 and its precious memories