News
LP convention: How Abure disobeyed Obi *Search for peace continues – Tanko
Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), did his best to resolve the crisis in the party, but his suggestions for lasting peace was ignored by the National Chairman, Julius Abure.
This much was revealed by Yinusa Tanko, Chief Spokesman for the Obi-Datti Campaign Organisation, who made the revelation, said that the current crisis rocking the party, could have been prevented if the leadership had taken the advice of the former Governor of Anambra State.
A guest on The Morning Brief, a breakfast programme on Channels television, on Monday, the former campaign spokesman, said: “His Excellency, Peter Obi, has made a concerted effort in trying to intervene at any point we have this particular issue and trying to improve.
“When the issue of the national convention came up, he (Obi) suggested to the national chairman that because we are bigger now, we need to have a wider consultation: meet with responsible and interested people such as the TUC and NLC, stakeholders, the Obidient group – young generation people who are interested in seeing Nigeria work – meet with leaders who have different ideas that can midwife us into a greater height.
“All of these were the suggestions that he (Obi) made, and not only did he make those suggestions, he practicalised them because he met with the members of the National Assembly. He (Obi) met with the leadership of the party recently in Asaba trying to give them ideas on how he thinks certain things could be done and you could improve our situation but of course, you know how politics is, sometimes, people may be trying to encourage people, but they do something different.
“You can only take a horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink water. So that’s exactly what Peter Obi has done. He has done so greatly to see if we can find a solution to some of the problems we find ourselves.”
Tanko, who argued that Abure had the right to contest the national chairmanship position again, it was only proper that the right things are done by opening the door for more people to be part of the process, noted however that the party boss went outside an initial agreement to have an all-inclusive national convention which ought to start from the ward, local government and state levels before the national level.
He said that the convention held in Nnewi Anambra State that returned Abure as the party’s leader did not conform with that agreement and therefore was not acceptable to everyone within the party.
Asked if the crisis in the party could be a problem for Obi in the next election, Tanko said Obi is a brand of his own and that he and other people would always move with him wherever he went to.
At the convention of the Labour Party held on March 27 in Nnewi, Abure was re-elected as the National Chairman for a second term by a unanimous affirmation of delegates despite strong opposition by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had also said none of its officials monitored the convention while the party’s Board of Trustees insisted that Abure’s tenure had expired.
Before the controversial convention, the NLC called for Abure’s resignation as party chairman and the immediate constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organise a legitimate and all-inclusive national convention for the party.
Afrobeat music giant, Ayodeji Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, on Monday, set microblogging site, X.com, on fire when he took swipes at Davido and Mavin Records boss, Michael Ajereh, popularly known as Don Jazzy.
As a result of the controversial tweet, Wizkid is now trending on X. He is number 4 on Nigeria’s X trends.
During exchanges with his followers, Wizkid dismissed the very successful music producer and label owner, Don Jazzy, as an ‘influencer’, and mocked Davido for his recently leaked viral video where he was seen on his knees crying and begging someone believed to be a female associate.
The Jaiye Jaiye crooner who hardly tweets but has a penchant for posting controversial tweets set X on fire when he tweeted, “Every day I get things to say but my mouth no good”, at exactly 4:28 am on Monday, to which a fan who tweets as @demigadd responded, “Sha release song”, prompting Wizkid to respond with “Na by force.”
This singular tweet set the pace for an avalanche of conversations, resulting in Wizkid eventually taking a sarcastic swipe at Davido and Don Jazzy.
It was like the ‘On Top Your Matter’ hitmaker’s fans had been anticipating his tweet, the comment section came alive with a barrage of comments, retweets, likes and views.
As of the time of this report, his first tweet (Every day I get things to say but my mouth no good), had garnered a whopping 3.5k comments, 8.8k retweets, 36k likes and 1.3m views, and also generated a series of conversations.
At 4:42 am, a fan who tweets as @iretomiwa03 asked if Wizkid could revert to when he used to be very active and interactive on X. The fan wrote, “Can you just go back to old Twitter wiz”, to which the ‘Holla at your Boy’ singer responded by saying “That’s a bully! Let’s leave him for now.”
When another fan who tweets as @patdafenet also pleaded with him to release a new song, Wizkid responded with a viral video of Davido on his knees begging an unseen person, with the caption “Beg me like this. Send video.”
Recall that on April 15, 2024, a leaked video of the ‘Unavailable’ crooner went viral on social media. In the video, he was seen on his knees crying and begging someone.
While speculations went viral that he was probably begging his wife, Chioma, for an offence he might have committed, some Netizens speculated that he might have been begging American model, Bonita Maria for an undisclosed offence.
“With Afrobeats to the world, he simply stopped talking and interacting, leading everyone to ascribe maturity to a mischievous machine on hiatus. The moment he’s started talking again, it’s back to familiar ways. “Una Papa.” “I go do giveaway.” “I make Bollywood.” “…signed to an influencer.” Just like he never left. Same old Wizkid. Same old troll.”
Culled from The PUNCH
Nothing outside the immediate sack of Mele Kolo Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), would assuage the anger of the Tinubu/Shettima Mandate Actualisation Group (TSMAG), as they are holding him fully responsible for the current fuel scarcity.
The group, which argued that the scarcity of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at a time Nigerians were still struggling to adjust to the removal of the fuel subsidy, was a plan to set the citizens against the President, said in a statement on Monday, that the NNPCL ought to have preempted the current situation and stocked a large volume of fuel that will sustain Nigerians throughout this dark period.
The statement, jointly signed by the President and Secretary of the group; Abiodun Abdulrazaq and Aliyu Muhammad respectively, said that, the Kyari led-NNPCL was fully notified of the ongoing turnaround maintenance of the refineries in Europe, which it said is responsible for the scarcity currently experienced.
Part of the statement, read: “The Tinubu/Shettima Mandate Actualisation Group has noted with grave concern the unjustifiable fuel scarcity that is biting hard in most parts of Nigeria, which has continued to generate anti-Tinubu and APC commentaries, thereby putting our party in an extremely bad light.
“The ongoing Scarcity is attributed to the ongoing turnaround maintenance of refineries across Europe. This didn’t come without notice. A serious regulator or business ought to have stocked a large volume of products that will sustain Nigerians throughout this dark period. This, like other incidents, has proven the administrative weakness of Mr Kyari-led NNPCL.
“We need to remind President Tinubu that Naira confiscation wasn’t the only strategy deployed by his adversaries in the last administration to frustrate his ambition, fuel scarcity was also a veritable tool deployed. For the significant part of 2022 through early 2023, Nigerians lived with the scourge of Scarcity, yet, we were convinced to mobilize our people to vote for you.
“While Emefiele is facing the music of his actions and evil against Nigerians, we are sad that Mr President decided to reward Mele Kyari with an extended appointment. How can one man cause your ambassadors, your compatriots who love, trust and respect you to want to go against you?
“Given these circumstances, one is compelled to ask if Mr President believes Nigerians are second fiddle to Mele Kyari. It is on the strength of the above that we wish to call on Mr President to urgently sack and investigate the activities of Mr Kyari-led NNPCL to build Nigeria’s trust in government.
“If this problem is not resolved in 7 days, we will have no option but to call Nigerians out to peacefully occupy our streets until normalcy and enduring solutions are preferred in the oil and gas sector and continue to call for sack, arrest and investigation of Kyari for subjecting millions of Nigerians to undeserving sufferings.”
The Board of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Monday settled for Finidi George, former Nigerian international as the new Head Coach for the Super Eagles, replacing José Santos Peseiro the Portuguese who left the job after leading Nigeria to the silver medal in the just concluded African Nations Cup (AFCON) in Cote D’Ivoire.
The choice of the former Super Eagles’ ace winger, who helped Ajax Amsterdam to win its first Champions League trophy, during the 1994-1995 season, was announced in a statement on Monday, following what the NFF Board said was the approval of the recommendation of its Technical and Development Committee.
Finidi, 52, who also played for Real Betis, had taken full charge after of the Super Eagles after the voluntary exit of Peseiro with whom he spent 20 months as an assistant before the voluntary exit of the Portuguese, during which he took the team to the two friendly matches in Morocco last month, where he beat Ghana 2-1 in the first match, ending an 18-year winless streak against the Black Stars, but lost 0-2 to Mali in the second game.
George, a member of the so-styled ‘Golden Generation’ that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia and emerged the second most entertaining team in Nigeria’s debut at the FIFA World Cup finals in USA the same year, won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals. He also won gold, silver and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2002 AFCON tournaments.
The 52-year-old former Ajax Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Real Betis (Spain) forward, who made a scoring debut for fatherland in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Burkina Faso at the National Stadium, Lagos on 27th July 1991, also featured for Calabar Rovers and Sharks FC in the domestic scene before heading to Europe. He assisted Rashidi Yekini (of blessed memory) to score Nigeria’s first-ever FIFA World Cup goal against Bulgaria in Dallas, USA on 19th June 1994.
George had actually scored the goal that took Nigeria to that FIFA World Cup debut, when he put Nigeria ahead against hosts Algeria in a crucial qualifier in Algiers on 8th October 1993. The match eventually ended 1-1 and earned Nigeria a ticket to the finals in America.
George’s immediate task will be to guide the Super Eagles to victory in two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and Benin Republic in Uyo and Abidjan respectively, in a little over five weeks. The matches are must-win encounters, with the Super Eagles lagging behind in third place in Group C of the African campaign behind Rwanda and South Africa.
Before the football house announced the choice, there had been high speculations that Emmanuel Amuneke, Barcelona FC winger and Finidi’s team-mate was highly speculated as replacement for the Portuguese.
Wizkid slams Don Jazzy, mocks Davido for kneeling down to beg woman
Fuel scarcity: Sack Kyari now! *Group insists NNPCL boss setting up Tinubu
BREAKING: Finidi is S’Eagles new manager! *NFF snubs Amuneke
BREAKING: Supreme Court on fire! Judges’ offices razed days after Atiku, Obi’s appeal!
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