The Labour Party has announced the postponement of its rally in Ekiti and Ondo States after an embarrassing turnout in Kogi State strengthened doubts over the party’s preparedness to prosecute the election and mount a serious challenge to the more popular, and better-grounded, two major political parties. Obi’s party had initially scheduled a rally for the 15th and 16th of the month in the two southwestern states before announcing a postponement via tweet in the later hours of Wednesday. There are indications that the sudden postponement was a result of the mockery and backlash that trailed the party’s unsuccessful rally…
Author: Albus Dauda
Days after an embarrassing row over an alleged N20m fraud led to the dissolution of the leadership of its Ogun state chapter, Peter Obi’s Labour Party continues to be dogged by financial scandal with news that the chairman of its Taraba State chapter, Esther Gulum, has been suspended from office for allegedly diverting N21m campaign funds. Ms Gulum’s suspension was announced by the party’s Organising Secretary, Peter Philip, who also accused her of running the party’s affairs through a closed circle of friends and family members. His charges of nepotism and non-transparency against the chairman reechoed a criticism that has…
Those who follow Peter Obi should take heed. In both televised words and in his just-released manifesto he has promised to rain disaster on the Nigerian people regarding the two most important issues facing the nation: Security and the Economy. If sincere in his promises, he will devastate the nation. If not sincere in these his most fundamental promises, he then lacks sufficient credibility to be our Commander-in-Chief. This is the Obi Conundrum. Consider security. It took Obi much too long to produce his manifesto yet publish one of such imprecision. Given its contents, he should not have bothered. Instead…
ARISE TV’s unconventional journalistic methods, including a blatant display of bias and subjectivity by journalists on its roster, have raised questions on the integrity of its operations, including the antecedents of its owner, Nduka Obaigbena, who in 2013 faced allegations of receiving one million dollars in state funds from then Governor Goodluck Jonathan of Bayelsa State. Documents revealed to the public in multiple reports showed that Goodluck Jonathan, whilst serving as Bayelsa State governor before his elevation to the presidency, paid Nduka Obaigbena one million dollars in 2006 from funds meant to tackle poverty in the state for a controversial…
Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress who enjoys a frontline position in the 2023 race, will return to Nigeria tomorrow, Saturday, after a successful trip to London, United Kingdom, which saw him deliver a convincing explanation of his governance agenda at Chatham House, an influential think-tank in the UK. PODIUM REPORTERS learned this exclusively from a reliable source in the candidate’s team who hinted his travel plans. Tinubu will make a triumphant return following his widely-praised performance at Chatham House where, in addition to a speech highlighting the key plans and vision of his ‘Renewed Hope’…
The 2023 presidential election campaign continues to take shape as each of the contestants reveal more and more of their plans. The Labour Party, for instance, appears to have adopted a strategy of presenting its candidate, Peter Obi, as some sort of latter day saint, patron of the Christian youth and the antithesis of a system of corruption which has been theorised to have run Nigeria aground. For their part, the People’s Democratic Party know they have an unmarketable candidate, so they have resorted to the classic politics of casting aspersions on every other candidate hoping through this sullying of…
Peter Obi’s Labour Party has been roiled by another damaging financial scandal after public complaints revealed the alleged theft of N22M by four support groups in Edo State. The building scandal, which ostensibly followed a similar pattern of raising and siphoning public donations under the misleading notion of coordinating campaign activities for the Labour Party, gained attention after members of the public, some of whom donated the fund, became frustrated with the incessant postponements of the activities for which the donation was made and the subsequent disappearance of the organizers. Esan Youth for Peter Obi, Edo North Obi Support Group,…
The recent admittance of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, that he received his political training from Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, a controversial figure who is widely perceived as corrupt and mendacious, has increased doubts about the sincerity of the self-proclaimed ‘anti-establishment’ to continue the onslaught against corruption in the country. Obi made the confession at the North East stakeholders interactive session where he declared that “Atiku has [trained and] settled me and I am doing the same trade with him.” The Labour Party candidate described his relationship with Atiku using the Igbo apprenticeship system in…
Presidential candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is set to make an appearance on the BBC World Service, likely to continue engagements on his ambition to lead Nigeria and his governance agenda as documented in a manifesto titled ‘Renewed Hope’. Peter Okwoche of the BBC confirmed the interview on Monday in a tweet where he dispelled the notion of the candidate’s rumoured reluctance to engage the press. “They say Tinubu doesn’t talk to pres, well guess what? Everyone speaks to me! Interview coming up on @BBCWorld #FocusOnAfrica,” he tweeted. The interview comes on the back of the candidate’s impressive…
Still reeling from the damaging loss of five governors who constitute the G-5 rebellion, the PDP is facing yet another internal storm after members, including senior figures of the party’s campaign council, traded blame on Monday over the cause of the party’s poorly-attended presidential rally in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital crucial to the victory chances of any presidential hopeful. Sources revealed to PODIUM REPORTERS that the candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, was disappointed at the level of turn-out witnessed at the rally despite the considerable sum devoted to ‘crowd mobilization’ and the importance of posting a good show in…