The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Imo State, Athan Achonu, has distanced himself from the report making the rounds that he had visited and congratulated the winner of the election, Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress.
Achonu in a statement released through his spokesperson, Chibuikem Diala, described himself as the true winner of the election.
According to Achonu, visiting Uzodinma and congratulating him was a “wishful thinking that can never happen.”
The statement described the rumour “as a script from the pit of hell and could only be the handwork of evil minds, which this government is well known for.
“After foisting the worst electoral heist on Imo State, the governor and his bootlickers are spreading fake news purporting that his opponents in last Saturday’s election had paid him a congratulatory visit.”
He described the congratulatory story as “childish and very poorly written.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Senator Achonu had since categorically rejected the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and called for its review and cancellation.
“He had also held a joint press briefing with Samuel Anyanwu (SamDaddy), the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, and insisted that the result of the governorship election must be reviewed or cancelled, warning that unless the INEC did so, the people might revolt.”
The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia has said the reason it cancelled the visas of 264 Nigerians upon entry into the country.
Recall that the Saudi Arabian government had cancelled the visa of all the 264 passengers airlifted by Nigeria’s major carrier, Air Peace, on arrival at the country from Kano, insisting that they be returned to Nigeria.
The flight took off from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, via the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport on Sunday night and landed at King Abdul-Aziz International Airport, Jeddah.
It was gathered when the Nigerian embassy waded into the situation, the Saudi authorities reduced the number of passengers that would be returned to 177 from 264.
However, in a statement released on Wednesday, the Saudi Embassy said the Nigerians who were deported didn’t fulfil the entry conditions and requirements by the applicable rules and regulations of the Kingdom.
The statement added the deportation of the passengers was not targeting Nigerians.
The statement reads: “The passengers who were denied entry and subsequently deported to their initial destinations didn’t fulfil the entry conditions and requirements in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of the Kingdom, as they submitted incorrect information to obtain a category of visa that doesn’t apply to them, which was discovered upon their arrival.
“This procedure was not limited to Nigerian citizens only, but rather to citizens of other countries.”
The Royal Saudi Embassy also issued cautionary measures for applicants wishing to visit the Arabian Peninsula.
It added: “The Royal Embassy would like to stress the importance of following the procedures and laws enacted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for all visitors.
“Furthermore, all passengers should review all the documents to determine their conformity with the conditions before departing from their countries to the Kingdom.”
The details of the Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government and Organised Labour meeting over the ongoing nationwide strike have emerged.
Naija News earlier reported that the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, and other government officials had met with labour leaders to address the national industrial action.
The meeting comes after Ribadu had said the attackers of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, have been arrested and appealed to labour unions to call off the strike.
Speaking at the end of the meeting with reporters, the President of TUC, Festus Osifo, who led other labour leaders to the meeting, said they had a robust conversation with the government officials.
He added that a lot of assurances were given in furtherance to the statement by the NSA that some people had been apprehended and that he would coordinate the investigation.
The TUC president added that the promises made by the government officials would be taken to their respective organs, and they would communicate accordingly.
He said: “We just came here for a meeting. NSA invited us for a meeting, and as you can see, two ministers from the Ministry of Labour and Employment also participated.
“We had a lot of robust conversations where a lot of assurances were given in furtherance to the release that the NSA issued this morning, that some people had been apprehended, and that he would coordinate the investigation.
“We also told him our part of the story. At the end of the day, they made several appeals to us and several promises on what and what they are going to do and the ones they have done currently.
“We then said, let’s go back; we will re-appraise the conversations that we’ve had, and we will communicate accordingly. The strike was caused by something. The strike is a symptom of problems, so it is the problems we came here for, to have conversations on.
“With all the assurances they have given us, with the office of the NSA promising to coordinate everything, every discussion we’ve had here, we need to take it back to our organs.”
Osifo was flanked by the NLC Secretary-General, Emmanuel Ugboaja; TUC Secretary-General, Nuhu Toro; and other labour leaders.
Also addressing journalists, Lalong said the meeting was held at the office of the NSA because of the security considerations associated with the strike and its genesis.
He said the two sides had frank, fruitful and genuine discussions on steps that the government has taken to address the concerns of labour over the incident in Imo State.
Lalong said the government officials were okay with labour leaders’ stance that they would take the outcome of the meeting back to their members and consider the plea of the government to call off the strike in the interest of the nation.
He was flanked by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyeajeocha; Acting Permanent Secretary of the Labour Ministry, Emmanuel Igbinosa, and the Director of Trade Union Services.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have suspended the nationwide strike they embarked on Tuesday.
The suspension of the strike came after leaders of the two unions met with representatives of the federal government in a meeting on Wednesday at the office of the national security adviser (NSA).
At the end of the meeting, the labour unions agreed to consult with their members on the next step concerning the nationwide strike.
The federal government was represented at the meeting by Simon Lalong, minister of labour and employment; Nkeiruka Onyeajeocha, minister of state for labour and employment, and Nuhu Ribadu, the NSA.
The unions were represented by Festus Usifo, president of TUC; Emmanuel Ugboaja, general secretary of NLC and other labour leaders.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the sitdown, the TUC president said they had a robust discussion with the federal government’s team.
The labour leaders said they received a commitment from the Ribadu-led meeting that those arrested for the physical assault on Ajaero would be prosecuted.
The nationwide strike is a protest against the alleged brutality of Joe Ajaero, president of NLC, in Imo state.
Ajaero was reportedly picked up from the Imo council secretariat of the congress in Owerri by heavily armed police officers.
However, the Imo police command said Ajaero was not arrested but was taken into protective custody to avoid being lynched by a mob.
On November 5, the national industrial court in Owerri, the capital of Imo, issued an order restraining labour unions from embarking on a strike in the state.
Also, the federal government secured an order restraining the unions and their affiliates from embarking on the strike.
Despite the court orders, the labour unions stood their ground and proceeded with the strike.
Nuhu Ribadu, the NSA, had begged the unions to call off the strike, adding that the attackers of Ajaero, have been arrested.
‘Join Our March To Greater Lagos’ — Sanwo-Olu Tells Jandor, Rhodes-Vivour As Appeal Court Upholds His Election
AdminLagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has called on the 2023 candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor and the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, to join him to make Lagos greater.
The governor, who made the call on Wednesday, was reacting to the ruling of the Appeal Court sitting in Lagos, which affirmed his election.
A three-man panel comprising of Justice Yargata Nimpa, Justice Samuel Bola, and Justice Paul Bassey, on Wednesday, unanimously dismissed the appeal of the PDP and Adediran, for lack of merit.
The court also dismissed the appeal filed by LP and its candidate, Rhodes-Vivour, thereby affirming the re-election of Sanwo-Olu and his deputy Obafemi Hamzat.
“We urge our opponents to embrace the olive branch and join our sure march to the Greater Lagos that keeps rising by the day,” Sanwo-Olu said in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER.
He said that his victory at the Appeal Court has further strengthened his commitment to impact the lives of Lagosians positively.
“With sense of humility, I welcome the decision of the Court of Appeal, which ruled today in our favour, thereby validating the position of Lagosians who freely cast their ballots to return my deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat and I as Governor and Deputy Governor of our dear State. We do not take it for granted.
“Today’s judicial pronouncements, like those of the Lagos State Elections Petition Tribunal, have buoyed my confidence in our country’s judicial system. The Court examined all the issues and did justice to them, without leaving anyone in doubt as to who is the rightful winner of the election.
“Our party, the All Progressives Congress(APC) will continue to maintain its firm belief in the judicial process.
“My deputy and I have satisfied all the constitutional requirements and are now more focused on delivering the democratic dividends to our people.
“With deep gratitude to the Almighty God, I humbly accept today’s Appeal Court verdict, with a sense of responsibility and a desire to continue with the giant strides of our administration so as to leave a great legacy for our people.
“The judicial victory has further strengthened my resolve to impact the lives of Lagos residents positively, regardless of their political persuasion, in line with our THEMES+ development agenda,” the governor added.
Sanwo-Olu was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after polling 762,134 votes to defeat his closest rivals, Rhodes-Vivour who gathered 312,329 votes, and Adediran who came a distant third with 62,449 votes.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has replied to the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, over allegations of dictatorship and a one-party state advising him to concentrate on repairing his damaged political psyche.
The APC argued that the party is strengthening democracy and welcomed Atiku and the PDP to play the role of opposition.
Atiku while meeting with the National Executive Committee of the Inter-Party Advisory Council Nigeria (IPAC), emphasised the importance of protecting democracy.
He expressed concern over the APC’s actions, which he said was “leading Nigeria towards a one-party dictatorship.”
But the APC through its spokesman, Felix Morka, on Wednesday said, “Exasperated by the drooping fortunes” of the PDP, Atiku “opined that Nigeria was sliding into a one-party state.”
Morka said, “It is pitiful that a statesman of Atiku’s standing would so easily conflate the wide acceptance of our great party among Nigerians with his irrational fear of one-party dictatorship.
“Perhaps, the Turakin Adamawa needs to be reminded that Nigerians are highly percipient and can differentiate between political deviance of PDP and demonstrable commitment of APC to deepening democracy and fostering our common good.
“Before its epic defeat in 2015, the PDP proclaimed and flaunted its plan to rule Nigeria for a minimum of 60 years. At that time, Atiku was willfully blind to fear of a PDP one-party dictatorship but now appears to be under the influence of a distorted vision inflicted by the debilitating serial trouncing of his party at the polls.
“The PDP’s brigandage, impunity and profligacy of 16 years remain unforgettable,” Mroka said.
He pointed out that, “In its brief period at the helm, APC has implemented far reaching reform of the Electoral Act and introduced technological innovations, including the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) all aimed at improving electoral transparency and deepening our democracy.
“Remarkably, Atiku and his PDP have not only consistently failed at the polls, they have proved incapable of offering a credible alternative political vision as expected of an opposition party.
“Instead, the PDP has sustained its free fall into the abyss of quicksand by its intractable internal contradictions and impoverished leadership.
“The PDP’s flagrant disregard for due process, another of its bane, is the reason the party fielded its National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyawu, as governorship candidate in Imo State in the just-concluded off-season gubernatorial election.
“As a candidate, Sen. Anyanwu failed to resign his position as National Secretary as required by law. Is it any wonder that the Imo electorate rejected Anyanwu, who clearly did not have confidence in his own candidacy to quit his position as a party officer?
“Anyanwu’s greedy disposition has reportedly sparked a fresh round of leadership imbroglio at the ‘Wadata House of Commotion’.”
The APC urged Atiku to “concentrate on repairing his damaged political psyche and attempt to revive his comatose PDP and leave APC out of their combined predicament.
“However, we welcome the former Vice President’s charge to opposition political parties to rally together to engage in opposition politics.
“On our part, President Bola Tinubu will continue, undisturbed, to justify his electoral promises in the Renewed Hope Agenda as he builds a safer, stronger and economically vibrant country for the benefit of all.
“That’s what Nigerians care about, that’s what they deserve.”
Nigeria’s inflation rate has risen to a record 27.33 per cent in October, principally driven by the high cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.
The Bureau disclosed this on Wednesday in its Consumer Price Index Report for October 2023 obtained by THE WHISTLER.
In September 2023, inflation was estimated by the Bureau to be at 26.72 per cent.
Year-on-year-basis, inflation rose 6.24 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022, which was 21.09 per cent.
During the review period, the NBS said on divisional level, food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 14.16 per cent to inflation, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel contributed 4.57 per cent while clothing and footwear accounted for 2.09 per cent, among others.
The food inflation rate in October 2023 was 31.52 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 7.80 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022 at 23.72 per cent.
The NBS attributed the rise in food inflation to the increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and milk, cheese and eggs.
Compared to September, food inflation was measured at 30.64 per cent by the NBS.
The case was not different in the urban areas where the inflation rate rose to 29.29 per cent which was 7.66 per cent points higher compared to the 21.63 per cent recorded in October 2022.
Rural inflation rate in October 2023 was 25.58 per cent on a year-on-year basis. This was 5.01 per cent higher compared to the 20.57 per cent recorded in October
The Organised Labour has said the former Governor of Edo State, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, is ignorant of the reason for the ongoing nationwide strike.
The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, stated this on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television.
Recall that the former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had in an interview with journalists at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday said the ongoing strike is politically motivated.
The senator representing Edo North Senatorial District in the National Assembly asked organised labour to prioritise the rights of workers rather than engage in politics.
In response to Oshiomhole’s comments, Osifo said the former NLC President does not have enough information on the ongoing strike called by organised labour
The TUC President stated that Oshiomhole only commented on the strike based on information passed by the Presidency to him during the meeting at the State House.
Osifo said Oshiomhole is busy with national politics, adding that he should have reached out to union leaders to get the real information before reacting.
The TUC president also denied claims that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, did not travel to Imo state on November 1 to entertain political issues.
He said: “Our senior comrade, Adams Oshiomhole, is giving an opinion based on the information he has.
“Today, he is a senator who is busy with national politics. I think he does not have sufficient information, maybe later we will give him as much information as possible, once he reaches out.
“He went to the villa to meet with them. That is the information that was given to him in the villa. Has he spoken to Joe Ajaero and senior labour leaders in the country to have their opinion?
“Maybe the information he (Oshiomhole) got from the villa was that he (Ajaero) went there to play politics.
“But I will tell him clearly that was not the case.”
The management of the Bayero University Kano (BUK) has suspended all ongoing school activities, including its ongoing First Semester Undergraduate examinations.
Naija News reports that the announcement was contained in a statement signed and issued by the university’s Acting Registrar, Amina Abdullahi, stating that all other academic activities for the 2022/2023 academic session are temporarily on hold due to the nationwide strike embarked upon by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC).
The University Management has directed all students to remain calm and await further directives.
“It should be noted that the ongoing examinations are halfway through, and as soon as the strike is over, the examinations will continue,” the statement added.
ASUU Joins NLC Nationwide Strike
Earlier, some affiliates of Organised Labour have indicated their intention to join the nationwide strike starting Monday midnight.
In a circular to its zonal coordinators and chairpersons, signed by its President, Emmanuel Osodeke, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) directed its members to join the nationwide strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria.
ASUU stated that it decided to join the strike to protect the interest of Nigerian workers and the union’s leadership.
The circular reads, “As an affiliate of NLC, all members of our union are hereby directed to join this action of NLC to protect the interest of Nigerian workers and the leadership of the union.
“Zonal coordinators and branch chairpersons should immediately mobilise our members to participate in the action.”
The finance minister has said that CNG costs are half of petrol costs in Nigeria. He said this during the November 14 launch of the Nigerian Banking Sector report by Afrinvest in Lagos.
The country’s Finance Minister, Wale Edun, was represented by Dr. Armstrong Takang, the Managing Director of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MoFI).
According to him, increasing the adoption of CNG in Nigeria will reduce the cost of production for businesses and households, while noting that the country needs a ramp-up in investments to aid the full implementation of the CNG plan.
He said:
- “I do not know if any of you have been watching the campaign on the substitution of premium motor spirit (PMS) for CNG. It is an early step that we are taking. When you look at the price of CNG versus PMS, it ranges from half of it and sometimes it comes down to a quarter of what it costs to run on PMS.
- “We believe that given that we are a gas nation and gas is cleaner than PMS, if we aggressively move in that direction, it can have a significant impact on the cost of not only fueling our vehicles, but mass transit, as well as factories that run on fuel and diesel.
- “We are taking steps in that direction. You will be seeing some announcements in due course in terms of steps that are being taken to trigger a demand in that value chain. There is a lot of investment that has to be done in terms of conversion kits, refuelling stations, and in terms of midstream in terms of transportation of infrastructure and upstream.
- “A lot of investment needs to go into that. We believe that it provides an opportunity for the private sector to partner.”
The Tinubu-led administration is focused on the adoption of compressed natural gas (CNG) as a cheaper alternative (N213 per standard cubic meter as of August 2023) to the use of PMS (petrol) in the country due to the removal of subsidies which have impacted petrol pump prices (now at N640 per liter in Abuja and over N685 in Kano, Sokoto states).
In August 2023, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited went into an agreement with Nipco Gas Limited to develop mother-daughter stations across the country from 2024 to provide CNG to Nigerians at a cheaper rate than petrol.
However, before such a plan can be implemented, there needs to be mass conversion of vehicles and other large equipment to run on CNG.
According to the NNPCL, under the strategic partnership with Nipco, 35 state-of-the-art CNG stations will be constructed nationwide, including three (3) Mother stations.
Once fully operational, the stations can service over 200,000 vehicles daily, thereby significantly reducing the cost of automobile fuel for Nigerians and the cost of transportation.
The project will be rolled out in phases. The first phase, comprising 21 CNG stations, will support intra-city transportation and be ready by the first quarter of 2024; while the second phase, comprising 35 CNG stations, will support inter-city transformation and will be ready by late 2024.
This will be further complemented by an additional 56 stations to be deployed by NNPC Retail across the country.
[Nairametrics]
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Former All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Senator Adams Oshiomhole has said that the performance of the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma led to his re-election in the November 11 off-cycle election.
Oshiomhole argued that Uzodinma’s performance endeared him to the hearts of the electorate.
He stated this yesterday in Abuja while speaking to State House reporters after a meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima.
The senator insisted that sponsored commentary on television and blogs failed to influence the mindset of the electorates because they saw the good works of Uzodinma.
According to him, “The people chose based on the performance of the governor in the last four years.
“There have been a lot of forces working to undermine security in the state, and they’ve resorted to measures that are adding tension in Imo and some people even want to plunge the state into darkness, believing that when it is dark, the people cannot vote.
“But, my take away from the Imo election is that these forgotten majority of people who are voiceless, who can’t even have access to you, have the power of the ballot.
“That it is not what sponsored commentators say on television or sponsored writers write in newspapers that will inform their judgment, their judgments will be formed by what they have seen the governor doing, and those aspect of what the governor is doing that touch them.
“For example, when the governor constructs a road to the village, a village that was not accessible before and you tell those villagers that the governor is bad. They’ll say ‘he may be bad for you o, but he’s good for me’.
“When I saw the governor commissioning a very modern hospital in a remote area and you go on television to say ‘that Governor Hope is a bad man,’they’ll say ‘he’s bad to you, but he gave us hospital. We are going to give him our votes.
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“For me, that is the beauty of democracy and it also put on notice, commentators that they shouldn’t sit in the comfort of state capitals and comment almost with managerial confidence about the goings on in the state when they have never even visited that state.“
[NaijaNews]
Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in San Francisco, U.S., to attend a Summit with President Joe Biden.
The Summit is also the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting that started on November 14 and will end on November 17.
In a statement on Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., Xie Feng, said that Xi arrived on Tuesday afternoon local time.
The statement said: “Xi was warmly greeted by many overseas Chinese, including Chinese students studying abroad, who waved both Chinese and American flags along routes from the airport to welcome the Chinese President.
“Cai Qi, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, arrived San Francisco in the same flight.
“At San Francisco International Airport, Xi received warm reception from senior U.S. officials, including U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen and California Governor Gavin Newsom.”
The highly-anticipated meeting between Xi and Biden, who are the leaders of the world’s two largest economies, is centered on calls for joint efforts from both sides to bring bilateral relations back on track.
The statement further said that China was expected to elaborate on its initiatives for regional peace and efforts for a sound China-U.S. relationship amid mounting global instability and uncertainty.
(NAN)
National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, on Wednesday, said that some suspected political thugs that brutalized the National president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Joe Ajaero have been arrested.
DAILY POST recalls that the NLC president was attacked in Owerri, Imo State capital on November 1 when workers in the state staged a protest over unpaid salary.
The NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, had declared nationwide strike, demanding the arrest of the suspected thugs and their sponsors.
Following the commencement of the strike, which has relatively crippled economic activities in some parts of the country, Ribadu, in a statement signed by the Head of Strategic Communications in the Office of the National Security Adviser, Zakari U Mijinyawa, urged the organized labour to halt the ongoing nationwide strike.
He confirmed that some arrests had been made regarding the brutalization of the NLC president, pledging that the outcome of the investigation would be made known to the general public.
The statement reads partly, “The NSA is particularly worried about the implications of the strike action on the livelihood of ordinary Nigerians and its potential impact on economic security and other strategic national interests.
“The NSA regrets the incident and condemns it in its entirety as it was against the rule of law and the principles of freedom of association and expression subscribed to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his administration.
“The Federal Government will never condone such an act.
“As a fallout of the incident, relevant authorities were directed to conduct thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the assault and bring to book the culprits.
“Available update indicates that some arrests have already been made in this regard. The outcome of the investigation will be made public as soon as it is concluded.”
[DailyPost]
The Organised Labour has disclosed that it was not served a court order, stopping its members from embarking on an indefinite nationwide strike.
Recall that the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) issued an interim injunction last Friday to stop members of organised labour and their affiliates from proceeding with the nationwide strike scheduled to commence on November 14.
The President of the court, Justice Benedict Kanyip, issued the order on Friday while ruling on an ex-parte application.
The application was brought before the court by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) on behalf of the Federal Government and argued by Tijani Gazali (SAN), Acting Director (Civil Appeals), Federal Ministry of Justice.
Justice Kanyip said the order shall subsist until the determination of a motion on notice for interlocutory injunctions equally filed by the AGF.
Despite the court order, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) on Monday directed its members to commence mobilisation for a nationwide strike over the assault on the NLC President, Joe Ajaero.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday, the TUC President, Festus Osifo, denied receiving any court order stopping the industrial action.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) President added that the federal government went to “shop” for a court injunction on the eve of the strike instead of addressing their greivances.