News
Obi: I’m not expecting everybody to love me *I won’t contest again after 2027
Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, has indicated that 2027 would be his final destination in the contest of the presidency of Nigeria, saying given the dynamics of the Nigerian politics it would not be realistic of him to aspire beyond that period.
Obi, who spoke on Thursday at a hangout event at a coffee shop in Abuja, however submitted that even if he failed to make it, he would not relent in supporting Nigerian youths with ideas of how to bring a bout the new Nigeria idea, which had formed the basis of his ambition .
Fielding questions from several youths who participated in the exercise, Obi who used the occasion to brush aside several criticisms coming from some political quarters, said he has accepted them in line with his belief that it would be impossible for everybody to agree with his ideas or love him as a person. “Everybody must not love me. Everybody cannot vote for me. If I come here now and everyone say they love me, I’ll go away. I don’t stay where everyone loves me because it will mean that its fake,” he told the audience.
Speaking about his option for running for the top job, Obi against the backdrop of a grand coalition being put together by political stakeholders to defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election, Obi who said he had not given up the LP, explained that it still remained his main choice, stating that the crisis rocking the party and others like it were induced by the Federal Government.
His words: “I will still continue to run in the Labour Party, because the reality is that I’m a member of the Labour Party. But today, in all the parties, there are problems and these are deliberate problems created by the system. These are the things I want to clean up.
“If I had the opportunity, every party would have been functioning very well, because you can’t have a system to work unless you have a strong opposition. What is happening in the Labour Party today is caused by government deliberately, quote me anywhere. What is happening in Labour Party and the PDP is caused by the government.
“We had a problem in our party before, in the past. Yar’Adua was the President. I went to him then and he told the then INEC Chairman (Prof. Maurice Iwu), I don’t want any problem in any party. And we were forced to fix it.”
Obi, urged the Nigerian people not to lend themselves to manipulations from politicians, saying the onus were on them to reject inducements during election, using the situation in the last election with the LP as an example.
Hear him: “Let me be honest with you. It’s you people. Even if we pay agents, they can decide to defer to another person. But we’re going to do that. We’re going to ensure that all the polling boots are manned. But most importantly, it is the people that will say no, we can’t continue this way and they will stop it.”
Advising the youths not to be discouraged from participation in elections because of the possibility of the votes not counting, Obi said it was always difficult to embrace changes in the society but the situation would get worse without persistence.
“When you bring a change, you have a lot of enemies – all those who live off the old order. They will all combine to be your enemy and those who are not sure to succeed are not going to fight for you. But don’t give up because we require the change.”
Regarding how long he would continue contesting for the top office of President, Obi, who argued that it might even be necessary to have age limit for aspirants, told his audience that such ambition was likely to terminate in 2027 because of the political dynamics of Nigeria, which meant that the office would likely return to the North in 2031.
His words: “I don’t want to say what people would hear and they might even not support me again. But I can tell you, it is my belief that this thing we should even have retirement age for it. I don’t want to be running for office – by 2027, I’ll be 65 years old as at the time of the election. For example they do it North and South. So, if it doesn’t come to me, if I wasn’t that lucky, it will go North in 2031. The next time it’s coming to the South is 2039 and I’ll be about 77 years. I wouldn’t want to be running elections by that time. It’ll make a mess of the whole thing. I don’t want to do that. However, the way I operate today and I don’t hide it, I’ll keep supporting those of you who want to bring a change with whatever resources I have. But it’s not me running again. There must be a time to go away.”
It was another day of misery in Kwara State, when daredevil terrorists reportedly stormed Yashikira Community in Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State, and as has been the case in many of the attacks, abducting scores of residents including women and children.
But, apparently to register their authority, the gunmen, who were said to have operated for hours without challenge from the security operatives, were said to have torched the palace of the Emir.
The attackers, which reportedly occurred late Sunday night were said to have announced their presence through heavy firing and after storming the palace of the monarch during the period, set it on fire before whisking away their victims, but a similar attempt at the police station in the community, was repelled.
While some of the residents, narrated how the spent hours without resistance, leaving behind destruction and fear in the border community, another account said the villagers were caught unawares as the gunmen invaded the town under the cover of darkness.
However operatives made up of the police and military personnel, were said to have launched a manhunt immediately for the immediate rescue of the victims, including throwing a cordon in the area as part of the mission.
“The suspect offered ₦500 million to the SPU commander in an attempt to make the team stand down and allow him to contact his associates to move the consignment elsewhere. The offer was rejected immediately and properly documented for further investigation.”
These were the exact words of Olohundare Jimoh Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), with which he detailed how operatives of the Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) scoffed at a N500million bribe to turn their eyes off the importation of a huge consignment of drugs imported into the country.
This was part of the details of a major breakthrough by the operatives after bursting a major drug trafficking syndicate in Lagos, which led to the seizure of suspected illicit drugs estimated at ₦7.8 billion and arresting several suspects, including the alleged kingpin.
In the operation, reportedly carried out by officers of the Special Protection Unit (SPU) in collaboration with divisional police detectives, the operatives, were said to have stormed a house in Mende, Maryland area of Lagos, following months of surveillance and intelligence gathering coordinated by the Zone 2 Headquarters.
The recovered drugs consisted of hundreds of bags of suspected Canadian Loud, allegedly stored in the residence of the prime suspect, Jimoh, said disclosing that the suspect was apprehended on May 19 after weeks of strategic monitoring by operatives.
Offering further details, he said the operation was executed with technical support and guidance from the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Disu, alongside coordinated efforts between the SPU and divisional police teams.
Jimoh revealed that during the operation, the suspect allegedly attempted to bribe the SPU commander with ₦500 million to compromise the mission and allow the movement of the drug consignment.
The AIG described the development as a reflection of the renewed professionalism and operational discipline being entrenched in the Force under the current policing strategy.
He noted that the success of the operation underscored the importance of deploying specialized police units alongside conventional divisional teams in tackling organized crime.
According to him, the operation demonstrated the effectiveness of rapid containment strategies, intelligence-led policing, and professional conduct among the operatives involved in the raid.
“Rapid containment was achieved as the Special Protection Unit worked with divisional teams to secure the perimeter and prevent escape or interference with evidence.
“The operation was intelligence-driven, following months of surveillance and technical monitoring before the raid was carried out.
“The immediate rejection and documentation of the bribe attempt also reflect the standard expected from redeployed personnel at the divisional level,” Jimoh added.
Reacting to the development, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Disu, commended the operatives for their professionalism, saying the success of the operation validated the ongoing redeployment of personnel to divisions and units across Lagos and Ogun states.
The IGP noted: “Policing must be close to the people, and our specialized units must work side by side with divisional teams on the ground.
“The professionalism shown by the SPU commander in rejecting a ₦500 million bribe and following due procedure is the standard we expect. It shows that when you put your best foot forward at the grassroots, you get results and restore public trust.”
Disu further assured that the Force leadership would continue to reward integrity while holding officers accountable to the highest ethical standards.
Police authorities said exhibits recovered during the operation have been properly documented and will be tendered in court. The suspects are currently in custody while investigations continue to track down other members of the drug trafficking network.
Slavery is a wound on the memory of the Universal Church, Pope Leo XIV, said on Monday, as he issued a fresh apology over the participation of the the Catholic Church in the centuries-long delay in condemning slavery.
The pontiff stressed the position of the church after his predecessors had offered similar apologies, said: “For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”
Writing in a major text that warned about “new forms of slavery” behind the digital economy, the joined John Paul II, who denounced slave trade in 1992 before issuing a sweeping request for forgiveness for historical injustices in 2000 and Pope Francis who also repeatedly denounced contemporary forms of slavery.
In his own vein, Pope Leo, pointed out that the Church owned slaves until the Middle Ages and it also advised European sovereigns on how to justify the enslavement of “infidels.”
He stressed in “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), a document focused primarily on the rise of artificial intelligence, that it was only in the 19th century that “a formal, absolute and universal condemnation of slavery was clearly articulated.”
Hear him: “It is true that past events cannot be judged anachronistically, as though the moral criteria that matured over time had always been available. Yet neither can we deny or diminish the delay with which both society and the Church came to denounce the scourge of slavery. This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one from which we cannot consider ourselves detached.”
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