PRESS RELEASE
SANWO-OLU FLAGS OFF REDEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA’S OLDEST COURTHOUSE RAZED BY HOODLUMS
Out of the rubble of ruins, construction of a modern complex for Lagos State High Court in Igbosere has begun.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Monday, performed the sod turning for the redevelopment of the oldest courthouse in the country, two years after the iconic colonial vestige was razed by rampaging hoodlums in an unrest that trailed a protest in October 2020.
The courthouse is being reconstructed by Rebuild Lagos Trust Fund (RLTF) set up by Governor Sanwo-Olu in November 2020 through the Executive Order EO/BOS/2020.
The Fund is saddled with the responsibility of rebuilding and restoring all State’s assets torched in the unrest.
The Igbosere Court, one of the torched assets, dates back to the period when Lagos became the British Protectorate. It was formerly known as the Supreme Court until the relocation of Federal Capital Territory to Abuja when the court reverted to a State High Court.
Sanwo-Olu described the rebuilding effort as a “significant moment” in the administration of the justice system, noting the full restoration of the oldest judicial institution would help the State put the history of the courthouse in proper perspective.
The Governor said the Igbosere Court remained a symbolic heritage deeply ensconced in the sociology of Lagos. He assured that the courthouse would not only be restored with modernised facade to exhibit full traits of its architecture, its facilities would also be upgraded to strengthen administration of justice system.
He said: “This is a simple but significant event in the judiciary. I am humble to be performing the groundbreaking for the redevelopment of the Lagos High Court, Igbosere. We are on a journey to restore this architectural legacy, which has been part of Lagos heritage. We have put together a well-thought-out team comprising private sector professionals and Government officials to efficiently manage the Rebuild Lagos Trust Fund charged with the task to build back assets of the State destroyed by hoodlums.
“The team is to come together to advise and work with us while we continue this rebuild journey. This project is one of the several others that the Fund will be handling together. In the first phase, we will be replicating the design of the Igbosere Court and every feature of the building to recreate the facade of the old building. We are rebuilding a bigger edifice for Lady Justice. The courthouse will be brought back to life to ensure we have smooth dispensation of justice for our citizens.”
Sanwo-Olu maintained that Lagos had no hand in the event that led to the razing of the courthouse and other State assets, stressing that the State had put the emotions behind the dark event and looked ahead to build a city where wheels of justice would not be placed out of the reach of all citizens.
The new courthouse, the Governor said, would give judges and judicial officers ample space to work, while maintaining the independence of the judiciary.
He said: “We are here to let people know that we have put the emotions behind us. We are forward-looking people. This event further confirms the strong spirit of Lagos and the resilience of the city, which explain our ability to withstand shocks and build back better.
“We will never allow the forces that razed the building to win the battle. That is why we are publicising the reconstruction of the Igbosere Court to let the whole world know and show our resilience. We will be turning this bad situation to positive development.”
The Fund’s Board of Directors chairman, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, said the Igbosere Court was the significant institution among the six pioneer projects identified by the Fund, given its historical significance to Lagos and the country.
The Fund, he said, remains dedicated to its restoration and upgrade.
“In the first phase, we will rebuild the old court structure, upgrade it to a state-of-the-art facility, and restore the artefacts that are signatures of its history. The second phase of this project will be a multi-story and multi-purpose structure to resolve space constraints and will feature additional office spaces, courtrooms, parking spaces, as well as giving room to future expansion,” Cardoso said.
Lagos Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, said October 2020 would remain a sad day in the history of the Judiciary, noting that the torching of the court was a “fatal breach” in the temple of justice.
He said dispensing justice was not about brick and mortar, but an idea which could not be killed by destruction and desecration of the temple.
“This redevelopment will raise from the ashes a more beautiful court complex than the one destroyed. With this event, light has overcome darkness,” Onigbanjo said.
Chief Judge of Lagos, Hon. Justice Kazeem Alogba, recalled the last judicial activity in the courthouse before it was razed, noting that the Governor had a plan for massive renovation of the High Court before the incident.
Despite the large scale destruction wreaked on the structure, Alogba said the statue of the Lady Justice conspicuously placed at the entrance of the High Court was not torched and also the statues of lions.
The Chief Judge said the redevelopment effort was a manifestation of the beginning of nature’s plan for the oldest court building in the country.
In the redevelopment, there will be an expansion of the number of courtrooms from 22 to 38 in response to the deficiency in the number of courtrooms in the State.
To eliminate car-parking challenges around the court, a multilevel park would be built in the new complex and a 700-seater auditorium.
SIGNED
GBOYEGA AKOSILE
CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY
12 DECEMBER 2022
PRESS RELEASE
SANWO-OLU PICKS PVC, CHARGES LAGOSIANS TO GET VOTERS CARDS
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has appealed to the residents of the State, who are of voting age to pick up their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), from the various Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) offices in their localities.
He made the appeal on Monday when he stopped by at INEC office in the Sura area of Lagos Island Local Government Area to pick up his reprinted PVC alongside the Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, and some of his cabinet members.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a few months ago redesignated his location and updated his details, having moved his polling unit from Ikoyi to Lagos Island, ahead of next year’s governorship election.
The Governor reminded the people that it is only when they collect their PVCs that they would be able to exercise their franchise during next year’s general elections.
He said: “Today, INEC officially started the collection of PVCs and because I did a redesignation of my address of where I was and where I am now, I had to move my polling unit.
“I am here to demonstrate to all our citizens that I have complied. I have come to pick up my reprinted Voter’s Card and I want to enjoin everyone to use this opportunity to go out and pick their PVCs.
“I have collected mine and you can see that I am at the INEC office here, and it is peaceful. Within two minutes they sorted it out and I signed to collect my own. So my advice is for all of us that still have our PVCs uncollected to please come out and do the rightful thing.
“It is only with this that you can participate in next year’s election. I wish all of us the very best and as we go into this exercise, I hope that it is something that is worth it very seriously as another civic responsibility.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu expressed confidence that Lagosians will do the right thing by re-electing him during the governorship poll based on his administration’s performance during the first term.
“We will win because we believe Lagosians will do the right thing. And it is also because we believe that we have earned it; we have worked very hard and will continue to do that.
“We will continue to do our very best to ensure that we earn the trust and the commitment of our people,” he said.
SIGNED
GBOYEGA AKOSILE
CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY
12 DECEMBER 2022
PRESS STATEMENT
NDUKA OBAIGBENA AND HIS THISDAY/ARISE NEWS’ HYPOCRITICAL GRANDSTANDING ON PUBLIC MORALITY
It is laughably tragic that the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY and Arise News Television, Mr.Nduka Obaigbena, has the temerity to pretend to be a guardian of public morality in contemporary Nigerian media practice.
The fact that this character is an unscrupulous hustler and blackmailer who has done tremendous damage to the journalism profession in the country, is well known within and beyond the profession.
Hiding under his media houses so-called Board of Editors, Obaigbena, who is one of the most irresponsible media owners in the country, with scant regard for corporate good governance and ethics, issued a statement Monday accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, and Adviser, Media and Communication, Mr. Dele Alake of attempting to silence independent media and bully the press ahead of next year’s general election.
This allegation is baseless.
The statement published on the front page of THISDAY is illustrative of the penchant of the two media houses under Obaigbena’s corrupting influence to peddle falsehood and engage in brazen political partisanship, contrary to the ethics of journalism practice.
It is instructive that Obaigbena’s media group is isolated in making this frivolous allegation against the duo. Not only does THISDAY newspaper publish unfounded rumours masquerading as truth, many of its columnists substitute vile and vulgar abuse for sound logic and informed analyses while its television anchors heckle and harass their guests, particularly those of the APC in their jaundiced, flagrantly unprofessional programmes.
We recall that both THISDAY and ARISE Television sought to bully and compel the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, into attending its Town Hall meetings with presidential candidates, despite the media team’s explanation that it would not attend such programmes organised in a haphazard and uncoordinated manner by individual media houses.
Each candidate’s campaign team has the right to adopt its own strategies for reaching out to and interacting with Nigerians. As we have repeatedly said, the Tinubu campaign will not succumb to the blackmail, intimidation and harassment of Obaigbena and his media group.
THISDAY’s attempt in the said statement to justify its false news report on the purported death of one Mueez Adegboyega Akande and the attempt to insinuate mischievously that he died in suspicious circumstances failed abysmally. Rather than apologise for this professional lapse, it resorts to tendentious rationalisations. Its futile attempt to link Asiwaju Tinubu to a drug case in the United States, even when as far back as 2003, the United States government had categorically stated that the candidate has no criminal records in that country, shows the depths of mischief the newspaper is willing to descend in its bid to bring down the APC candidate at all costs. This campaign of calumny is doomed to fail as it always has.
Our candidate is focused and will not be distracted by this diversionary tactics to throw mud at him simply because he is the obvious front runner in this race and some believe that the only way to stop him is to peddle falsehood against him.
While pretending to be a public trust, THISDAY and ARISE descend into the political arena by publishing lies in a way that does such a great disservice to journalism. Last month the paper was sanctioned by NBC over a fake report that INEC had ordered a probe of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over the platforms’ equally fake narrative about our candidate.
Nduka Obaigbena tries to cast aspersion on the professional and personal integrity of Mr. Alake and Mr. Onanuga. They stand on a higher moral and professional pedestal than he can ever aspire to. It is astonishing that a man like Obaigbena can even pretend to be protecting public morality and the public interest. How does this media owner run his media outfits? He is notorious for not paying the salaries of his staff or fulfilling his pensions’ obligations, forcing most of the journalists in his stable to resort to the most unethical practices to survive. This model of media practice, which he exported to South Africa in 2003-2004, failed spectacularly as he had to flee that country as a result of his unethical business practices. His short-lived THISDAY left unpaid debts to staff and the printers and the South African tax office.
He exported the same irresponsible business practice to the UK where he operated his Arise TV as a registered company since 2012. In 2021, judge Raquel Agnello disqualified Obaigbena from serving as a company director in the UK for seven years; in a case brought by the official receiver of the Insolvency Office in the country.
The application for disqualification was made under Section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 and arose from the compulsory liquidation of Arise Networks Ltd of which Obaigbena was the sole director since its incorporation.
According to the judgment, the company by 2016 had garnered a total debt of £25,671,167, which included debt to trade creditors and staff, estimated at £5,850,730. Judge Agnello found Obaigbena’s conduct as sole director of Arise TV to be unfit and that the company had continued to trade despite “complete uncertainty” about its funding.
In Nigeria, Obaigbena is notorious for owing his staff their salaries. He is also notorious for owning newsprint suppliers for years without payment. This sharp practice led to the ill-health of one of his suppliers, Afilaka, who suffered massive stroke.
While Alake and Onanuga, were known to have endangered their lives in the struggle against military dictatorship and the enthronement of the democracy we enjoy today, Obaigbena was known to have collected substantial sums of money from the military junta to campaign against the June 12, 1993 elections, widely acknowledged as the freest and fairest polls in the country’s history. He even featured on the CNN to justify the annulment of the election and the continuation of military dictatorship. Yet, this man dares to preach on public morality and the national interest. He even claims that Alake and Onanuga are envious of him! How preposterous!! What is there to be envious from a man whose business practices and personal lifestyle offend every known decency. Mr. Alake and Onanuga can never be jealous of a man who uses extortion, subterfuge, and cheap blackmail as his working capital. Here is a publisher who deployed his media group in aid of the immoral and illegal presidential ambition of a sitting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) even when this flagrantly violated and threatened the integrity of that critical institution.
It is absurd when Obaigbena uses his media outfits to push the false narrative of Tinubu’s link with narcotics in the US, when a member of his Board of Editors and Arise TV anchor, Dr. Reuben Abati, was a running mate in 2019 to the governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun State, the late Senator Buruji Kashamu; a man who had been indicted for narcotics trafficking in the US and was a fugitive from the laws of that country until his death. The same Abati remains a card carrying member of the PDP and yet, shamelessly pontificates and postures on ARISE TV as a dispassionate analyst.
Lest it be forgotten, Abati was Media Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan and was detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2015 for reportedly collecting N500 million from ex – National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki purportedly on behalf of the media.
Obaigbena himself was detained for weeks and made to refund N600 million by the EFCC, which was part of the diverted funds for arms purchase for the Nigerian military under Jonathan. Obaigbena as president of NPAN also collected millions of Naira meant as compensation for the media owners whose papers were seized by overzealous security agents during the Jonathan presidency. Many newspapers reported that they did not get the money.
It is a sad commentary on the state of the Nigerian media that a man with no moral scruples whatsoever like Obaigbena will boldly pose as a publisher who can preach morality to others.
Here is a man who has done such grave damage to media practice in Nigeria, posturing as defender of free speech.
Unless media practitioners begin to treat him like the plague and cancer he constitutes to the industry, the future of the industry will be endangered.
It is well known that many private sector corporate executives pay him huge sums of money as retainership to avoid being blackmailed by him. It is also a pity that many of the journalists who work as his employees pose as self-righteous saints who criticise others and keep mum on the unhidden moral deficits and shenanigans of their boss
Issued by DELE ALAKE and BAYO ONANUGA on behalf of the APC Media and Communication Directorates, December 12, 2022
UDUAGHAN HOSTS BURUTU PDP
His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, CON, the Immediate Past Governor of Delta and Chieftain of the party earlier today hosted leaders and party faithful from Burutu LGA at his GRA Warri residence as part of his peace move to reconcile aggrieved members of the PDP ahead of the 2023 general elections.
While addressing the gathering Dr. Uduaghan used his humble political journey as an illustration that God can pick anybody despite our preferences to fill in any position. He agreed that qualification can give an advantage but it is not the only determinant because all power belongs to God.
Admittedly, the former Governor said it is always painful when one loses a contest but the reality is that there are always winners and losers in every contest. He maintained that the attitude of the winners can make all the differences – either preventing people from leaving a party or further causing polarization as is evident in the many fallouts from the party primaries. But he assured that before the elections, the big PDP family will be united because there has been progress in the peace moves across the state.
He tasked all those who clinched party tickets across all levels to reach out to their opponents, admonishing that a simple phone call or visit will calm aggrieved hearts because everyone spent money.
The leader of Delta South also used the opportunity to appeal to all those aggrieved not to leave or work against the party assuring that the position might reach them in the next contest because politics is a very slippery venture.
- Monoyo Edon,
Media Assistant to His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, CON
9TH DECEMBER, 2022
DELTA PDP TAKES CAMPAIGNS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, AFTER SUCCESSFUL WARD-TO-WARD TOURS
The Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Delta State, is set to commence its Local Government Campaign tour, after completing our comprehensive and resoundingly successful Ward-to-Ward Campaign tours, which took our teams to all the 270 Federal electoral Wards across the 25 LGAs of the State. This is being complemented with our Ongoing Unit-to-Unit Campaigns.
The focus of our decision to embark on the robust and aggressive ward-to-ward Campaigns, is in line with our established tradition at every election season, to bring the party and our programmes directly to the people, and we have accomplished this objective excellently.
Our Local Government Campaign tours will commence on Wednesday, 21st December, 2022 at Patani and Bomadi LGAs and will be concluded on Monday, 6th February, 2023 in Ika South and Ika North East Local Government Areas of Delta State.
As usual, all our Campaign activities will be conducted within the stipulated schedule of the election timetable and in accordance with the rules and guidelines in the Electoral law.
We appeal to all Deltans to turn out en masse for all our Campaign rallies in all the LGAs as we march towards consolidating our #StrongerDelta agenda, in order to achieve landslide victory across board, in the 2023 elections and to do #MORE for our beloved Deltans.
PDP! Power to the People!!
Dr. Ifeanyi M. Osuoza.
Deputy Director, Media/Publicity Committee,
Delta PDP Campaign Council and
State Publicity Secretary,
PDP, Delta State.
10TH DECEMBER, 2022
Delta APC: Life Cycle Of Lies, Illusion And Delusion
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State has dismissed as cant, the story by the camp of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) that claims falsely in its headline that “Crisis in Delta PDP, as party excos, unit leaders, canvassers, dumps (sic) party.”
While treating the online publication with disdain, PDP in a Press Release signed by the Deputy Director, Media and Publicity Committee, PDP Campaign Council, Dr. Ifeanyi Osuoza said that the claim that Delta State PDP is in crisis confirms the persistent disinformation embarked on by the clueless APC even in the face of strong contradictory evidence, proves the opposition party and those behind the propaganda as possessing symptom of a psychiatric condition.
It’s inconceivable that anyone, will against all caution imposed by the ambiance of peace and calm that pervades the PDP across Delta State prefer to live in delusion by claiming and wanting the good and right-thinking people of the State to believe the deception that “Peoples Democratic Party in Delta State has been thrown into further crisis as party executives, unit leaders, party canvassers.”
Urging Deltans to ignore the APC lies and figment of its imagination, PDP said there’s no iota of truth in the APC story, but propaganda with the intention to trick the unwary to believe something that does not correspond with the known and observable fact.
The observable fact is that PDP in Delta State is united; it is in peace and working hard collectively across the State to ensure that all its candidates across board win the 2023 elections with massive votes. The party that has just concluded the arduous runs when its campaign trains cruised through all the Wards in the State, selling its candidates and evangelizing for the people’s votes in an atmosphere that was devoid of rancour cannot be the same party that APC wants people to believe is a party in crisis.
Indeed, all the party leaders, chieftains, followers, and supporters received the campaign train with fanfare, turning the Ward campaigns into carnivals even as the candidates were introduced to the people on each occasion. Besides, many former members of the APC dumped the party, made bonfires of the broom, the party’s symbol, and were received into the PDP.
At the PDP Ward campaigns, APC was exposed and likened to the ‘expired bad drug” that Nigerians must avoid like the leper. It has even been said severally that those who will vote for APC will define the number of mad people in Nigeria. Is it the party with this type of profile and perception that Deltans want to go with?
It is no news, therefore, that APC is Nigeria’s Achilles heel, and has been rejected. In Delta State, our Governorship candidate, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori is riding high, and with his M.O.R.E. agenda, he is set to deliver to Deltans a State where love, peace, prosperity for all is the principal focus.
PDP therefore, calls on Deltans to ignore the APC cycle of lies, illusion, and delusion.
PDP All-The-Way!
PDP! Power to the people!!
Dr. Ifeanyi M. Osuoza.
Deputy Director,
Media/Publicity Committee,
Delta PDP Campaign Council and
State Publicity Secretary,
PDP, Delta State.
12TH DECEMBER, 2022.
DELTA PDP SALUTES HIS EXCELLENCY, DR. EMMANUEL UDUAGHAN, DESCRIBES HIM AS A RARE STATESMAN WITH A HEART OF GOLD
The Delta State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Council has expressed its deep and profound gratitude to His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, the immediate past Governor of Delta State, describing him as a rare statesman, with a heart of gold and a generational leader, whose contributions to the development of Delta State and contributions towards the strengthening and deepening of our democracy, will remain indelible in the annals of our State and National chronicles.
This commendation was contained in a Press Release by Dr. Ifeanyi Osuoza, Deputy Director,
Media and Publicity Committee,
Delta State PDP Campaign Council, in recognition and appreciation of the decision of the former Governor, not only in graciously hosting the Delta South PDP, Stakeholders Meeting at his residence, but in his unequivocal pledge and promise to throw his considerable political weight, and immense personal support, behind the ambitions of all PDP Candidates in the forthcoming 2023 elections, especially Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who is the Vice-Presidential Candidate of the PDP.
The statement reads: “Your Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan (Asamaigor), the Delta State PDP family is deeply, profoundly, and eternally grateful to you for the sterling leadership and inspiring statesmanship you displayed, when you hosted the Delta South PDP leaders and stakeholders at your residence, to kickstart our Ward-to-Ward campaigns in the Senatorial zone, on Monday, November 14, 2022.
“We were pleasantly surprised to witness once again, your great candour, symbolic charisma, and that natural aura of commanding presence and authority which comes so effortlessly to you, as you rolled back the years and held your party members spellbound, with that admirable interaction which contributed greatly in building and consolidating the image and reputation of the PDP into the formidable force we achieved, with you as the leader of our party.
“Your legendary generousity was again showcased magnificently, as you not only graciously hosted the Delta South PDP family at your residence and even offered the facility to the Party to utilize for its subsequent activities whenever the need arises, you equally calmed our nerves and uncertainties with the unequivocal and reassuring assurances that you have thrown your considerable political weight and pledged your “full chest” support to all our candidates, especially His Excellency, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, who is your successor and now the Vice-Presidential candidate of the PDP, in the forthcoming 2023 elections.
“As though these powerful statements and actions were not loud enough, you graciously embraced our Governorship candidate Rt. Hon. Sheriff Francis Oborevwori at the meeting of the Federal Government College, Warri Old Students Association (FEGOCOWOSA) in Effurun, and in your legendary peaceful disposition and display of politics without bitterness, you followed up that ‘neutral ground’ meeting in Effurun by going to visit Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori at his residence in Osubi, accompanied by key stakeholders and candidates from Delta South and Central Senatorial zones, in your entourage.
“In addition, you recently hosted party leaders and stakeholders from Burutu Local Government Area at your residence in Warri, and your very central involvement and robust participation during our Ward-to-Ward Campaigns in the Delta South Senatorial zone, coupled with your consistent charge and admonition for all party members and indeed Deltans, to embrace His Excellency, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, the Vice-Presidential candidate of the PDP as a collective Delta project because he is one of our own, have all been much more than we could ever have asked for, demanded and even hoped for from you.
“No pledge could be greater, no assurance sweeter and no support more motivational than the immense and inspiring import of your comments and commitment, in your rightful, incontestable status as one of the great leaders of our party, and with the formidable team of candidates we have assembled for the State and National Assemblies, complemented by our own Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, “Ekwueme”, poised for the Vice-Presidency and surely heading to Aso Rock, the cause of achieving overwhelming landslide victories for the PDP at all levels, in the 2023 elections is already in the bag; a “fait accompli”.
“There are absolutely no doubts, from now henceforth, that your support and commitment will serve as a tremendous boost of encouragement and fillip to all our teeming party members, both loyalists, and contestants, to embrace the remaining campaigns with greater zeal and vigour in the knowledge that, with our leaders like you championing the party, our victory is fully guaranteed.
“We thank you most sincerely for this unparalleled vote of confidence, which has reinforced our trust and faith in the party to deliver and we are truly blessed to have a rare statesman and leader like you with a beautiful heart of gold, the genuine spirit of forgiveness and the unwavering conviction of a true peacemaker, in your concerted quest to ensure that peace and harmony reigns in the PDP.
“Thank you, Your Excellency, for being the great leader you are and will always be. By hosting and bringing the PDP family in Delta South together, you have shocked our detractors into confused speechlessness, truncated their temporary, unfounded glee over a non-existent disenchantment within our party, and proven with a resounding master stroke, that PDP is Delta and Delta is still and will continue to be PDP. It can only get better and brighter from now on.
“We salute you, the one and only Asamaigor! Agberendiden!!”
PDP! Power to the People.
Dr. Ifeanyi M. Osuoza.
Deputy Director,
Media/Publicity Committee,
Delta PDP Campaign Council and
State Publicity Secretary,
PDP, Delta State.
PRESS STATEMENT
RECOVER WETIN? LET NIGERIANS BE WARY OF ATIKU ABUBAKAR’S SUGAR-COATED PROMISES, HE DOES NOT MEAN WELL
We need to warn Nigerians to be wary of the sugar-coated promises of former vice president, Atiku Abubakar and his Peoples Democratic Party as they embark on their inordinate and desperate campaign to gain power at all cost.
A party that should be eternally shameful about its appalling record in governance between 1999-2015 is now busy rewriting history, embellishing the locust years as if it was a golden era in our history.
Of course, this is fake history at its worst. We are not fooled. Nigerians should also not be fooled about the boldfaced lies, being articulated by the candidate and his party.
What is more shocking is Atiku’s audacity in standing up to ask for our votes despite what his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote about him in his book, ‘My Watch’. Obasanjo wrote that it would have been an unpardonable mistake “and sin against God to foist him on Nigeria”. Obasanjo still believes so till tomorrow.
Obasanjo still rues till today making Atiku his vice president in 1999, only to discover later,
“his shadowy parentage, his propensity to corruption, his tendency to disloyalty, his inability to say and stick to the truth all the time, a propensity for poor judgment, his belief and reliance on marabouts, his lack of transparency, his trust in money to buy his way out on all issues and his readiness to sacrifice morality, integrity, propriety, truth and national interest for self and selfish interest.”
We are, however, not totally surprised about Atiku’s latest desperation.
Aware that this is his last shot at the elusive presidency, Atiku, while on the hustings, has been spewing series of lies, making empty promises and presenting a false narrative about our present reality and the legacy of the 16-year ignoble era of the PDP administration, of which he was a principal actor.
He claimed at his rally in Abuja on Saturday that the country is not secure for trading and farming, a false narrative that he has been pushing around for some time, since he relocated to Nigeria from his base in Dubai, principally to contest the election.
We believe in his private moment that Atiku will concede that his view about insecurity is exaggerated. Our country is certainly better secure than in 2015 when the PDP allowed insurgents to seize 17 local councils in Borno and some four councils in Atiku’s home state of Adamawa State, when Abuja was under constant bomb attacks and people slept with eyes wide open. What further proof of progress made by the APC does Atiku need than the fact that he was able, recently, to carry his party men and women to Maiduguri to hold a rally, without any attacks by insurgents and bandits. Atiku can also drive smoothly from Yola, his state capital to Jada, his home town on a reconstructed road by the Buhari-led APC administration. The road was impassable for 8 years Atiku was Vice President and got progressively bad and totally cut off from civilisation until the Buhari government reconstructed it.
Atiku claimed that our country has the highest number of out-of school children in the world, without telling his audience that the problem, which was exacerbated by banditry in North West and insurgency in North East, took its root from the stewardship of his party when the population of out-of-school children phenomenally rose from 10.5 million in 2010 to 13.2 million in 2015.
The most grotesque of Atiku’s promise is that he will ensure that the ASUU stopped going on strike so that universities “reopen forever and ever.” Mr Atiku forgot to tell his audience that a PDP government in 2009 signed an agreement with ASUU, which it never implemented for six years, leaving the mess of the agreement for APC to deal with.
Meanwhile, as Nigerian universities were left to rot under the PDP’s watch , Atiku and his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo opted to set up their own universities, ABTI-American University and Bell University, meant for the children of the rich.
A pointer that this former vice-president has not changed in his character as portrayed by Obasanjo was his promise to sell the newly commercialised NNPC Ltd and all its assets and subsidiaries for just $10 billion. Even before inviting bids, he had already undervalued the oil conglomerate, the way he undervalued Nigerian companies he was asked to sell, under the abused privatisation programme of the Obasanjo administration. Nigerians will remember that he made a similar promise in 2019, saying he would sell the NNPC to his friends and cronies. Surely, he retains the same mindset, though he has changed the terminology to ‘privatisation’.
In his campaign. Atiku’s refrain has been to tell the less discerning Nigerians that he is on a recovery and restoration mission in presenting himself to be elected.
The question every Nigerian must ask him in pidgin is: Recover Wetin?
Can the PDP ever be a recovery vehicle for our country, judging by its old record of service, when it spent $16 billion on power that only resulted in worsening darkness?
Can the party ever be a recovery vehicle when it also midwifed the privatisation of power distribution to cronies, also leading to more darkness.
Now the nation’s hope for uninterrupted electricity lies on the $2.5 billion Nigeria-Siemens deal, initiated by the Buhari administration.
We need to further ask whether the PDP is hoping to be a recovery vehicle for our armed forces, when during its stewardship, it diverted billions of dollars allocated for arms, into private pockets and marabouts. Our ill-equipped soldiers, were left to die as they faced guerrillas with superior weapons.
Today, the APC government of President Buhari has changed the misfortune of our armed forces and boosted morale with modern weapons, fighter jets, warships and others.
We ask again, can a party that cannot recover itself due to its internal implosion and crisis recover and rescue Nigeria? Let PDP rescue and recover itself and its abandoned national secretariat first. After raising over N20billion to build a national party office, PDP and its leaders plundered the money the same way they plundered our country.
Our advice to Nigerians is to ignore anything Atiku Abubakar says. He is a bloody liar and a desperate politician who should never be trusted.
Atiku is not coming to recover Nigeria from anything, he is only coming to restore it back into his pocket and those of his cronies.
Bayo Onanuga
Director of Media & Publicity,
APC Presidential Campaign Council
December, 11, 2022
RETAINING PRESIDENCY IN THE NORTH IS BAD AS MUSLIM -MUSLIM TICKET – WIKE
*We won’t allow any unscrupulous politician unleash violence in Rivers
Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has told those who say that Nigeria is not ripe for muslim-muslim ticket not to also justify and embrace the efforts at retaining the presidency in the North.
Governor Wike spoke on Sunday at the special dedication service for the Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2023 General Election Campaigns Rallies, which held at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Port Harcourt.
Governor Wike maintained that those involved in such double-speak and trying to hoodwink some gullible few, know that they are insulting the sensibility of well meaning Nigerians who want a united country that advances national cohesion.
“You play on people’s intelligence; you say Nigeria is not ripe for muslim-muslim ticket, I agree. But Nigeria is ripe for presidency to remain in one zone? I mean, just look at the insult. You blow hot and cold.”
Governor Wike urged those people who delightfully condemn the muslim-muslim ticket as wrong, should also know that Nigerians are also saying it is wrong to retain the presidency in the North after President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Most of you just sit there, you don’t ask yourselves questions. Somebody continues to sell this kind of cheap ideas. You don’t ask the person, I agree with what you are saying but look at what we are saying here.”
He further added, “Your party wants the presidency to go to the same zone where president Muhammadu Buhari is coming from. Who is cheating who?”
The Rivers State governor also spoke reminding the church of the need for it to participate in the voting process. However, he said, it should not get involved to the extent of serving as cannon fodder against any political party or political actor.
Governor Wike pleaded with the church to be careful and resist those politicians who come to mobilise them as if there is a religious war to wage.
“It is not now that politics have come, you want to come and tell the church a different story for your own personal interest. We have to be careful so that the church is not destroyed. Because, all of us, for example, we are Anglicans, I will not allow anybody, for his selfish interest to destroy the church of Nigeria. I will not allow that.”
Meanwhile, governor Wike has warned that his administration will not allow those who in the past instigated wanton destruction of lives and property in the State under the guise of politics to repeat same.
Governor Wike appealed to members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the State to resist deliberate attempt by some disgruntled and inconsequential politicians to provoke them ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He described as ludicrous and cheap blackmail the allegation by Dr. Abiye Sekibo and some of his associates that the State government recently resent thugs to attack them.
“Some people are saying we sent thugs to attack them. You see, when people see failure, they will begin to plan excuses. These are people all of us know our background and how we have won election in our various local government. I remember one of them during the last election could not even go to his local government. He ran down to Port Harcourt and stayed with me. Instead of you to tell your principal, this will be difficult for me, you are giving excuses.”
The governor who emphatically declared that he has never engaged in any acts of political violence in all his political career, warn those who might be planning to plunge the State into chaos to have a rethink.
“Anybody who knows me know, that I have never been violent. If I am violent, I won’t go to court. But we know those who planted killings in this State when they were Secretary to government. We know them, but that killing will not happen again in the State. We will not give you the opportunity to try it again.”
Governor Wike explained that the reason why Dr Sekibo and his associates are begrudging him is simply because he did not support their ambition to emerge to get the PDP governorship ticket.
On the issue of Executive Order 21 and 22, the governor advised politicians in the State to approach the court rather than take the laws into their hands. He insisted that until the court declares otherwise, the government will ensure full implementation of the orders.
“The Federal Government has come up with so many Executive Orders, we didn’t kill anybody, but we went to court to challenge such others. The Federal Government has done a lot of things that Rivers state had challenged in court, and by the grace of God, we won.
“If there is anything any government has done which you feel you are not comfortable with, you have to go to court and challenge it, and not just to come out to shout they don’t want you to campaign. Why will anybody not like you to campaign.”
Governor Wike declared that there was nothing wrong with the PDP dragging other political parties to court over their failure to comply with Independent National Electoral Commission electoral guidelines. According to him, sure litigations are part of Nigeria’s electoral process.
“When I know you have made mistake not to run an election, I should leave you? All we are saying is INEC comply with the law. You made us to comply with the law. Why are these people not complying with the law. Why should you allow us to pass through the process we passed through and you did not allow these other people to pass through that process. We said look, this is what the law says. INEC is like you are being partial . It is like you are applying this law differently to different persons.”
In his sermon, the cathedral archdeacon of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Venerable Obinna Ochulor spoke on the topic; “God our refuge” and exhorted the congregation to acknowledge the infallibility of God always.
He pointed to how people often rush to the altar of God to make vows when they are either experiencing critical situation but would refuse to return to fulfil them when they have triumphed.
While vows are important to be fulfilled, he admonished the congregation and particularly the PDP family to trust in God as their defence and shield so that they can enjoy his protection against all shades of evil.
December 11, 2022.
PRESS RELEASE
2023: WE’LL SUPPORT YOUR RE-ELECTION, AYANGBUREN, IKORODU LEADERS ASSURE SANWO-OLU
Traditional rulers and leaders in Ikorodu division of Lagos State, as well as leaders and members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ikorodu-based social club, Oriwu Club, have thrown their weight behind Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for second term in office.
They said they are satisfied with the performance of Governor Sanwo-Olu in the last three and half years of his first term in office and therefore they will work tirelessly to ensure that he is re-elected in 2023.
Speaking during an official investiture ceremony of Governor Sanwo-Olu as the Grand Patron of Oriwu Club in Ikorodu on Sunday, the Ayangburen of Ikorodu, His Royal Majesty, Oba Kabiru Sotobi; a member of the Senate representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Senator Tokunbo Abiru, President, Oriwu Club Ikorodu, Otunba Adekunle Oduborisa and his vice, Hon. Ola Animasahun, said the people of Ikorodu and Lagos State in general have benefitted a lot from the incumbent administration and therefore the governor deserved to be re-elected.
APC leaders in Ikorodu during a meeting with Governor Sanwo-Olu after his investiture also promised to deliver Ikorodu to the governor and other APC candidates in next year general elections by scoring 300 votes in each of the polling units in Ikorodu Local Government Area.
Governor Sanwo-Olu was decorated as the Grand Patron of Oriwu Club Ikorodu in recognition of his leadership and good governance in Lagos.
Speaking at the event, Oba Sotobi commended Governor Sanwo-Olu for the visible development in Ikorodu division, especially the establishment of the Lagos State University of Science and Technology and the ongoing rehabilitation of the Ikorodu roundabout to Sabo to reduce traffic gridlock on that corridor, with a call for the upgrade of Baales to first class traditional rulers.
In his remark, Senator Abiru said Governor Sanwo-Olu has exhibited courage in the midst of turbulence in Lagos State, noting that the governor deserved to be re-elected based on his performance in the first term.
He said Governor Sanwo-Olu has delivered dividends of democracy through infrastructural development for the people of Ikorodu and Lagos State at large.
The President of the Oriwu Club, Oduborisa, said the investiture of Governor Sanwo-Olu as the Grand Patron of the club was to celebrate the resilience and diligence of the Governor in the last three and half years.
Noting that a social club is not for socialising alone, but also giving back to the society, Oduborisa promised that Oriwu club which has done many Corporate Social Responsibilities in Ikorodu Division, will also renovate the Agbala Paediatric Centre, the first General Hospital in Ikorodu.
While reeling out some of his achievements and ongoing projects in the Ikorodu Division and other parts of Lagos State, Governor Sanwo-olu promised to support the social club to actualise the hospital project, which will impact on children and parents and also pledged to build a new General Hospital in Ikorodu within the next three years
“We will make life better for the people. I want to assure you that this government is committed and by the grace of God if you give us your support and we come back again, we will double our effort and commit ourselves again because the only reward for good work is for us to do more work. And it is only when we do that, that we can make our own town, city and state a place of choice,” he said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu while addressing APC leaders and members after the investiture ceremony, urged them to work for his re-election as well as the victory of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other party’s candidates in next year’s general elections.
Speaking at the event, members of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC), the apex leadership body in Lagos APC, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye and Ashipa Kaoli Olusanya, assured that Governor Sanwo-Olu and other APC candidates will score 300 votes per polling unit in next year’s elections.
They said their plan is to deliver 205,000 votes out of the targeted four million votes for Governor Sanwo-Olu to be re-elected.
SIGNED
GBOYEGA AKOSILE
CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY
12 DECEMBER 2022
2022 LONG SERVICE AWARDS: JULIUS BERGER HONOURS 647 WORKERS FOR PRODUCTIVE AND BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE
The Executive Director Administration of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Alhaji Zubairu Ibrahim Bayi, fniob, has described the company’s human capital as the reliable bedrock, which has continued to define the company’s strong performance in the industry and market. Bayi made the remark at the 2022 Long Service Awards Ceremony of the Company, which held in Abuja FCT. Bayi said, ‘‘…as worthy staff of our great company, your continuing hard work, loyalty, commitment, resilience, experience and cooperation, as well as the meticulous planning and continuous investments in both human capital and technology by the Company have all helped greatly in the laudable stability we have achieved as a corporate entity.”
According to Bayi, the award ceremony is an annual event to recognize Julius Berger’s long-serving staff and to show appreciation to the workers for their contribution towards the continued success and progress of the Company. “It is our annual tradition in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc to appreciate and reward well-deserving staff.” He said 647 serving staff were honoured at the 2022 event. Bayi, on behalf of the executive management, acknowledged the workers as the bedrock of the Company. “Your loyal commitment, excellent professionalism, tenacity and can-do spirit have kept the Company on a steady path of progress through the years. This long service award event is in recognition of your good work, and also the reciprocal commitment of the Company towards our highly valued workforce.”,” said Bayi.
The Executive Director also said that in the outgoing year, Julius Berger put into place structures for optimization of productivity across the entire spectrum of the Company’s operations in order to keep the Company competitive and further support sustainable performance in the Company’s business for the years to come.
Bayi celebrated the leadership of the company, saying, “…under the strategic guidance of our diverse and extensively experienced Board of Directors, and the able operational dynamism of the Executive Management, regional teams and different heads of departments, Julius Berger has remained dynamic, successful and steadily primed for even greater success in the near future.” Bayi further added that, “the collegiate experience of the members of the Board of Directors and Executive Management, coupled with their collective determination to continue taking this company to the next level, has made Julius Berger the enviable and desirable destination for every serious investor in the market, today. To keep afloat as a going business concern, the Board of Directors and Executive Management, he said, developed three strategic pillars for Julius Berger’s operations, namely, the company’s core construction business, its well-integrated subsidiaries; and its transformative diversification policy. The operation of the above three pillars, Bayi said, has resulted in a positive client mix for the company from both the public and private sectors, adding, “good results are emerging.”
To a round of appreciative applause from the teeming workers and guests present at the event, the Director of Administration stated that, “…it is a testimony to the very focused work of the Board and Management that Julius Berger has received several recognition awards, amongst which is the most recent 2022 Pearl award as the Highest Dividend Growth Company in the Nigerian Stock Market.” Bayi called the Pearl award “…a bold and credible evidence of the company’s robust productivity and progressive success.”
Speaking on industrial harmony within Julius Berger’s operations, the director of administration said that due to the constant, mutual consultation between the junior workers’ Union and the senior staff Association, and the Management on all pertinent issues, the company has continued to enjoy industrial peace nationwide. “I make bold to say that, as evidence of the well-nurtured, closely guarded and continuing industrial harmony between Management and our teeming workers, we are again this year rewarding a total number of 647 workers for their unbroken record of productive service and brilliant performance to the company over the years,” Bayi said. The understanding and cooperation between the company’s workforce, the workers’ industrial Union and Association on the one hand, and the Management on the other hand, Bayi highlighted, has remained helpfully peaceful and productive. This, he said, will be mutually sustained for the progressive growth of the company.
With regard to staff development policy and initiatives by the company, Bayi informed the workers that, “…Management attaches high priority to planned enhanced value of our workers…. During the year, thousands of our workers were trained and retrained; cutting across professional courses with relevant professional bodies, Health Safety and Environment, as well as local training for artisans at the strategic Julius Berger Plant and Equipment Academy, which only recently graduated its first set of trainees.” Management, Bayi stated, envisioned the Academy to be “a leader institution in technical training, the company’s funnel for dynamic, highly trained and resourceful technicians to fill the needs of the company and the industry in general.”
The 2022 long service awardees have worked without break of service for periods ranging from 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and, believe it, to 45 years of service. Their categories and numbers are as follows:10 years (195 Awardees);15 years (307 Awardees); 20 years (62 Awardees); 25 years (41 Awardees); 30 years (20 Awardees); 35 years (17 Awardees); 40 years (4 Awardees); and 45 years (1 Awardee)
Bayi identified a synergy between the large number of the 2022 long service awardees, the commensurate huge volume of man-hours they put into their jobs during the year, and the company’s proud HSE legacy. He said, “…with regard to the Company’s Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) achievements, Julius Berger has a proud and in fact unmatched industry record of Lost Time-Frequency Rate of 0.19, which is less than one Lost Time Injury for every five million man-hours worked.” These operational HSE policies, Bayi added, are now imbibed and observed in the way Julius Berger personnel conduct themselves in and out of the workplace.
On the company’s responsibility towards its host communities, Bayi said Julius Berger has also been proactive with its initiatives that rest on four pillars, namely Health, Education, Sports, and Emergency Response Assistance. He added also that the company’s most recent donation of food to flood victims across its operational areas, its continuing donations to hospitals and orphanages, its educational assistance and book donation initiatives to schools, are all targeted at supporting community-based initiatives in order to promote social and economic inclusivity.
Speaking on the future of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Alhaji Bayi drew the attention of the workers to the words of the Managing Director, Engr. Dr. Lars Richter, during the company’s recent Investor Relations Forum, where the MD confidently stated, “Julius Berger, today, is endowed with the largest market share, limited competition of similar scale, quality and financial capacity. We have a strong brand equity, a seasoned management, an experienced and diverse Board of Directors, and a well-defined Diversification Strategy; all projecting for a strongly-rooted and positive business outlook…” The Managing Director, Bayi further highlighted, had emphasized that the company, “is synonymous with the best quality infrastructure in Nigeria, and the company is assigned… a Stable Outlook with a National Scale rating of A.” At this juncture, looking straight at the attentive workers, Bayi then fully aligned with Engr. Dr. Richter and said: “Ladies and gentlemen, on this occasion of the year 2022 Long Service Awards, I say to you, Julius Berger’s business future remains only progressively good and beneficial to both its shareholders and workforce.”
Bayi also thanked the spouses of the long service award recipients saying, “…whether as wives or husbands, let me also congratulate and thank all the spouses of the awardees for their support, encouragement and perseverance through the years. Without your co-operation, these recipients would not have had the zeal to perform their enviable duties over the years for which they are now honoured. We are therefore grateful for all you have done to make this day possible.”
As the company appreciated the long service awardees, Bayi enjoined the workers to let the occasion to serve as a tonic to propel them to greater heights, as the company shall continually recognise and reward deserving staff. The Director of Administration also craved the understanding of the workers to understand and accept the administrative and structural changes being implemented across the company, emphasizing that the ongoing changes are designed for the further development of the company to achieve its identified goals.
Finally, Bayi used the occasion to thank the members of the Press who were present for what he referred to as their very kind and positive cooperation and work with the company since the year began. “As society’s chief opinion moulders, by your deeply rational understanding and objective reportage of our numerous projects and endeavours across the country, you have continued to sustain our critically necessary and hard-earned good image with the Nigerian public. We appreciate your partnership for peaceful progress in our business operations. On behalf of the Board, Management and entire staff of Julius Berger, I say to the media that we remain partners in progress. Thank you very much,” Bayi said.
Alhaji Bayi congratulated the awardees and wished them, their families and their guests a happy yuletide season and safe travels, even as they continued their well-deserved celebration. The Julius Berger Long service award for 2022 held in all of the company’s operational regions as well
Julius Berger Nigeria Plc is the country’s leading construction company offering holistic services covering the planning, design, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance of buildings, infrastructure and industry projects in Nigeria.
Since its pioneer project in 1965, Julius Berger has played a pivotal role in the development of Nigeria’s industrial and civil infrastructure. The company specialises in executing complex works requiring the highest level of technical expertise and Nigeria-specific knowhow. The company deploys state-of-the-art methods and precision technologies to ensure that quality and innovation are prioritised for the benefit of clients. Subsidiaries and additional facilities make it possible for the company to realise multifaceted projects at the highest level of performance. This structure allows Julius Berger Nigeria Plc to effectively manage and fulfil construction projects, starting from the initial idea, through to planning, design, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance.
The Group is guided by a value system that defines and differentiates it. Adherence to internationally specified standards and a focus on efficient and value-driven delivery of services further solidifies its competitive edge. With unwavering reliability, unmatched quality, leading governance and a true focus on sustainability, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and its subsidiaries continue to set a benchmark for success.
