Connect with us

Politics

Tinubu Campaign Organisation cautions Obi’s supporters against fake news

Published

on

The Tinubu Campaign Organisation (TCO) has cautioned supporters of the Presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, to stop spreading falsehood capable of misinforming Nigerians.

Director, Media and Communications, TCO, Mr Bayo Onanuga, made the call in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, adding that such falsehood and disinformation would not win elections.

Onanuga, who also asked Obi to caution his supporters urged them to allow the 2023 election circle be about issues that would advance the growth, progress and stability of the country.

Onanuga admonished Obi to get his supporters to desist from spreading lies, malice and denigrating other presidential candidates, especially Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate.

He expressed optimism that Nigeria would be better and the electoral process enriched if the 2023 presidential campaigns are about issues of good governance aimed at lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

He added that the 2023 electioneering campaigns should not be dominated by ‘the ravings of guttersnipes,’ who do not wish the country well.

Onanuga noted that the TCO saw the need to appeal to Obi to caution his supporters after investigating the origin of a recent fake report in circulation.

He said the report had claimed that the Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, wrote a letter to Tinubu, APC presidential candidate, asking him to support Peter Obi and take care of his health.

He said the Ghana President via his official Twitter account had vehemently debunked the fake news as a product of deliberate mischief with the intent to deceive the public.

“I have written no such letter to the APC leader, and it will not occur to me to do so.Ghana and Nigeria boast of decades of cordial, strong and brotherly relations.

“And I am not going to be the one to interfere in the internal affairs and politics of Nigeria,” Onanuga quoted the Ghana president as saying via his Twitter account.

He added that the TCO had found out that the fake letter from Akufo-Addo was first published on June 22 by a rogue platform, whose url is worlsnews.space (sic) and site identity was World of News.

Onanuga said a content analysis of the site clearly showed that it was a Biafra news platform.

According to him, the fake news was reposted on Facebook by Peter Obi Support Group, same day, showing that Biafra campaigners and Peter Obi supporters are the same.

“Both the Facebook account and the website are replete with fake stories about Bola Tinubu, including a fake story credited to former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State.

“Alleging that Tinubu demanded N50 billion monthly payment from him. The spuriousness of the statement is in the evidence that Lagos did not begin to clock N50 billion revenue until after Ambode left office.

“Tinubu could not have demanded N50 billion monthly payment from Ambode when the State Government didn’t make such in a month throughout the tenure of Ambode,” Onanuga said.

He added that the pirate website, which the Facebook account feeds on, also parades malicious fake news and headlines without supporting stories.

“The big surprise in all of these is that all the headlines have no supporting stories, and clicking them may bring virus to your computer.

“We have come to a point where it becomes imperative to tell Obi to show leadership.

“He should disavow his supporters who are employing fake news and disinformation as deliberate tools to deceive and poison the minds of unsuspecting Nigerians,” Onanuga stressed.

Politics

Bayelsa APC accuses Diri of pressuring EFCC to arrest Sylva

Published

on

The Bayelsa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri of allegedly pressuring the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest and prosecute Timipre Sylva over “trumped up charges” from the State Governor, Douye Diri.

The party spokesperson in the state, Doifie Buokoribo, made the allegation in a statement on Monday.

The APC spokesperson in the State, Mr Buokoribo, said Mr Diri was instigating the anti-graft agency to arrest and prosecute Mr Sylva to frustrate the APC candidate from pursuing his case at the election tribunal.

He said Governor Diri and the PDP adopted the strategy because they know they are holding a “stolen mandate.”

Mr Buokoribo said, “We are aware of Senator Diri’s devious activities at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission aimed at sponsoring invented petitions against Sylva, and the pressure he is mounting on officials of the commission to initiate arrest and prosecution against him on trumped-up charges, particularly, bordering on his tour of duty as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.”

Continue Reading

Politics

Benue Assembly suspends four lawmakers

Published

on

The Benue State House of Assembly has suspended four members of the House for allegedly constituting a clog in the smooth running of the House.

The suspension which will last three months was announced during the plenary on Monday.

A motion for the suspension of the members was moved by the majority leader of the House, Mr. Saater Tiseer, and seconded by Mr. Peter Ipusu representing Katsina-Ala West State constituency.

The suspended members were said to belong to the G-22 group of lawmakers most of whom boycotted today’s sitting after earlier reporting for the day’s plenary.

The Speaker said the lawmakers were “suspended for three months for constituting a clog in the way of the smooth running of the legislative business of the House.”

The affected lawmakers were, Mr. Solomon Gyila, representing Gwer West State Constituency, Douglass Akya of Makurdi South, Dyako Ashwa of Konshisha state constituency, and Anthony Agom of Okpokwu state Constituency.

Meanwhile, the House also confirmed Governor Hyacinth Alia’s nominees for the Local Government Caretaker Committee.

The confirmation of the nominees was done through a voice question put by the Speaker, Mr. Aondona Dajoh and the House in a voice vote confirmed 21 of the nominees while two were rejected by the House.

The nominees whose candidacy failed to get the nod of the Assembly were those of Agatu and Oju Local Government Areas, LGAs.

Continue Reading

Politics

One year in Office: Group knocks Adeleke, PDP Govt over failure to improve living conditions of citizens 

Published

on

By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo

The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), Osun State Chapter, has said Governor Ademola Adeleke and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government in the state have no fundamental achievement to show for their first year in office.

The group stated that the Adeleke government has failed to improve the living conditions of the people of the state.

This was contained in a statement jointly signed on Sunday by the State Coordinator and State Secretary, Alfred Adegoke and Kola Ibrahim respectively,

They called on the state government to issue immediate payment of all arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities the government owes all categories of workers and retirees.

Also agitated for immediate increase in salaries of workers and pensions of retirees for due to economic hardship on workers by the effect of fuel subsidy for removal by the federal government.

According to the statement, “Given the support offered by the Adeleke regime by people of the state, there is a lot of expectations on the new administration to improve the living conditions of the people of the state.

“A year into the Adeleke/PDP government, there seems to be no direction for resolving all the various challenges on ground. While the APC government left rot in governance, the PDP government obviously has no solution within the framework of capitalism. While the Adeleke government raised alarm over the looting of the state resources and huge indebtedness by the APC government, it looks like the government only wanted to use it to score political points rather than recovering the looted state funds.

“If the government is serious about recovering the looted funds, it should set up a democratic and open probe committee comprising government officials, representatives of workers, retirees, relevant professional groups, etc., while a task force for recovery will subsequently be established to recover the identified loot. But can the Adeleke government undertake this task, when stalwarts of its party are also salivating for their own ‘juicy’ opportunity.

“The Adeleke government has prided itself as a promoter of workers’ and retirees’ welfare; yet this mere grandstanding. It is not actually a detour from the past. For instance, in the last one year of Adeleke administration, only two (2) months payment, out of 30-month arrears of half-salary and half-pension owed workers and government retirees inherited from the previous government have been paid.

“Also, the majority of government retirees on contributory pensions, especially those who retired from 2017 to 2023, have not received their pensions, including their own contributions; and thus have been subjected to excruciating poverty.

“Also, retirees on government enrolment, who retired between 2012 and 2023, have not received a single tranche of their gratuities under the current administration. Yet, payment of outstanding salaries, pensions and gratuities was a cardinal campaign promise of the Ademola Adeleke/PDP for which it was voted into office. Rather than pay the arrears of salaries and pension, the government was enriching its private consultant under the guise of conducting staff and retiree audits. This put the workers and retirees in unwarranted discomfort.

“The argument of lack of funds is not tenable given that the same government that complained of the fraudulent loans and contracts that put the state in huge indebtedness is still repaying the loans with interest.

“Besides, the allocations to the state governments from the federation accounts have been increased in the last five months following the removal of petrol subsidy and devaluation of naira – two of the anti-poor policies of Tinubu government which have compounded the cost of living crisis for working masses and the poor. The government could have simply demanded a moratorium on the loan repayment on the ground that the government is auditing the loans and contracts for which the loans were procured.

“This would have given the government time and resources to address workers’ welfare and embark on serious projects, while also having time to recover the looted state funds. But the PDP government will hardly go this route because it has the same primitive, capitalist approach to governance just as its APC counterpart.

“However, beyond the workers’ and retirees’ entitlements for which the government has fraudulently scored itself high, there is nothing to show for the one year in office. Social service sectors are in a deplorable state.

“For instance, public primary and secondary schools are still in the terrible conditions the previous administrations of Aregbesola and Oyetola left them, while state-owned tertiary institutions are still underfunded.

“The recent report on the dilapidated state of schools built by the Aregbesola administration tells much about the Adeleke government. Rather than face up to the task of funding the tertiary institutions, the state government is getting enmeshed in leadership tussle in the state owned polytechnic in Iree.

“Public health institutions from primary to tertiary level are still underfunded and in deplorable conditions. Rather than improve on the quality of the facilities and employ adequate numbers of medical and health workers, the government only organised a two-week free health mission!

 ”A significant increase in fund allocations, by at least 100 percent, to public primary and secondary schools, tertiary educational institutions and public hospitals (primary, secondary and tertiary). This should help to expand facilities and employ more hands

“Massive funding of mass public works programmes that is capable of leading to expansion of water supply infrastructures; expansion of intra- and inter-township roads, building of schools, hospitals, etc. These works programmes should be carried out through the Ministry of Works, as an alternative to the contract system through which huge sums are usually siphoned from government covers.

“Democratic monitoring committees on all projects and funds by elected, non-salaried representatives of workers and communities where the projects are being implemented and funds allocated.”

Continue Reading

Trending