Today's Headlines: Atiku, Obi’s Position On FCT Pedestrian – APC; N8,000 Palliative: FG Robbing Poor To Pay The Rich – NLC
Atiku, Obi’s Position On FCT Pedestrian–APC
Photo Credit:The Sun papers
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the contention by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) that President Bola Tinubu ought not to have been declared winner of the February 25 election on account not polling at least 25 per cent of valid votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Abuja, is pedestrian and preposterous.
The position of the ruling party is contained in its final written addresses filed in response to the petitions by Atiku and Obi before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), dated July 14, 2023.
Lead counsel to the APC legal team, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) argued that Abuja voters have no veto power to singularly hang the outcome of the presidential election that is otherwise conclusive, simply because a candidate did not secure at least one-quarter of the votes cast in the FCT.
Fagbemi argued that “Nigeria is a federation comprising 36 constituent units with a Federal Capital Territory carved out of the territory of the federation. FCT is therefore not part of the constituent units; it is not a state, but it is inhabited by all Nigerians aggregating equal rights to vote outside the FCT.
N8,000 Palliative: FG Robbing Poor To Pay The Rich – NLC
Photo Credit:Vanguard papers
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s administration over the proposed N8,000 monthly cash palliative of N8,000 for 12 million Nigerian families in the space of six months, saying it was a ploy in robbing the poor to pay the rich.
Recall that Tinubu, last week, wrote a letter to the National Assembly seeking approval of an $800 million loan to be disbursed to 12 million households in the portion of N8,000 each, designed to cushion the effect of removal of fuel subsidy.
Reacting to this palliative, NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, in a press release, on Tuesday, said the Federal Government is already using dictatorship style to impoverish Nigerians.
Ajaero further said the FG did not consider the plight of the Nigerian workers before making the decision on the palliative, as it said, “We have restrained ourselves from making further comments publicly on the vexatious issues around the recent but unfortunate unilateral hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the guise of the so-called subsidy withdrawal which has unleashed predictably as we had earlier warned unimaginable and unprecedented hardship, sorrow, anguish and suffering upon Nigerian workers and masses.
“Our resolve is anchored on our strong and abiding faith in the outcomes of the processes of social dialogue and its mechanisms, especially within a democratic setting which fortunately all the major stakeholders in the nation’s socioeconomic framework pleads to at this particular point in time though some have demonstrably shown that it does not go deeper than the rhetoric.
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Tinubu Has Lost Control Of Good Governance – Garba
Photo Credit:The Sun papers
A Kaduna based Public Relations expert and public commentator on national issues, Malam Muhammad Garba has frowned at another round of increase in fuel pump price by federal government, saying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has lost control of good governance he promised Nigerians.
Tinubu had on May 29 during his inaugural speech as the newly sworn in President announced the removal of fuel subsidy, saying, “Subsidy is gone”, which resulted to increase of pump price to between N540 to N560 per litre.
Surprisingly Nigerians received the news early Tuesday to embrace another round of increase in fuel pump price, skyrocketing to as much as between N650 to N700 per litre.
Reacting to the fresh increase of the fuel price, Malam Garba, who is a former lecturer with Kaduna Polytechnic said, “Further increase in fuel pump price shows that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has lost control right from day one. It appears that increment in fuel is defiling his government, the government be claims he is in control of.
“It is clear because when he removed the subsidy, be did tell Nigerians what the price was going to be. But two days later he gave us price that was harsh to the economic reality. It means that he has lost control.
Ganduje Opens Up On N10bn CCTV Camera Loan Project
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Immediate past governor of Kano state, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has opened up on the controversy surrounding the allegation of his obtaining N10 billion loan for installation of Close Circuit Camara Television(CCTV) project in the metropolitan area of the state, describing it as misleading and untrue.
Ganduje, in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by former Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs in his administration, Malam Muhammad Garba, rebutted the story credited to a non-existence Civil Society Organisation (CSO).
He claimed that the said Coalition of Political Analysis Forum and Governance was hired to discredit the former government by ignorantly calling for an investigation on why the money was not spent on the project.
According to the statement from Malam Garba: “To further confirm that they are fake, the so called organisation knew nothing about the project and the hastiness with which their pay masters want them to be in the media exposes the clearly their intent. We, therefore, challenge them to provide evidence for the N10 billion Naira loan.”
Making clarifications on the loan, he said: “For record purposes, when the last administration conceived the project, the State Executive Council and the Assembly formally granted approval bearing in mind the importance of the project in enhancing security in the state.
“Unfortunately a Federal High Court in Kano, on July 1, 2022 granted an injunction restrained the government from obtaining the loan,” he opened up in the statement.
YAHAYA (
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