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Tag: Osinbajo

  • Taraba APC Chieftain clear ground on Osinbajo-Tinibu relationship

    Taraba APC Chieftain clear ground on Osinbajo-Tinibu relationship

    From Danzumi Ishaku, Jalingo

    A senatorial aspirant under the All Progressives Congress for Taraba North, Ali Sani Kona, has described the contest between supporters of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the APC national leader Bola Ahmed Tinibu as cordial saying the media defined it as a master/servant relationship which is not.

    Ali Sani who was speaking with journalists on Thursday in Jalingo berated politicians for attempting to discredit their opponents in the contest for the position of the President.

    “The issue between Osinbajo and Tinibu is a normal thing in life. Tinubu is our elder brother It is a usual thing that the two leading candidates slug it out. They have a very good relationship but the press has defined the relationship to be a master-servant relationship no is not,” Sani said.

    According to him Tinubu is “the Principal but Osinbajo is the Vice President” and that their was no need to discredit the other in the contest for the President.

    “We are talking about the contest of ruling this country where issues of morality, honesty, commitment would come to play and politicians as usual would want to discredit the other opponent. I am generalising now, PDP, APC.. I am not only talking about Osinbajo/Tinubu relationship,” he stated.

    Sani however described himself as a realist who is ready to give his people good representation.

    “Majority of people know that I am a realist. The difference they would have is that i would be very realistic about my approach to government. Unlike what has been happening, they should be rest assured of honesty, sincerity of purpose and commitment for the cause of the northern zone of Taraba,” he added.

  • Aisha Buhari Invites Presidential Aspirants To Dinner, Tells them to Come without phones

    Aisha Buhari Invites Presidential Aspirants To Dinner, Tells them to Come without phones

    The First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, has invited presidential aspirants to an Iftar dinner at the Presidential Villa on Saturday.

    The invitation, which was extended to all presidential hopefuls across political parties, is expected to have the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and seventeen other aspirants from the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) including Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike; former Vice president, Atiku Abubakar and others in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) grace the occasion.

    The invitation card for the event that was in circulation on Thursday, advised those participating not to come along with their mobile devices, stating that their invitation cards will serve as their entry pass.

    The Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the First Lady, Aliyu Abdullah, clarified that it is standard protocol for guests at events in the President Villa, to be requested not to go in with phones.

  • Osinbajo Receives ICC Prosecutor, Commends Proposed Reforms At International Court

    Osinbajo Receives ICC Prosecutor, Commends Proposed Reforms At International Court

    The move by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to reform its system as part of efforts to mend relations with African countries is a welcome development, and a crucial moment for the continent, the Vice President has said.

    Professor Yemi Osinbajo stated this on Tuesday when he received the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mr Karim Khan, who was on a courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    He said the proposal to reform the international justice system would “reassure African countries that there is room for negotiations and that the ICC is not just out to witch hunt any individual or organisation.”

    The Vice President stressed the need to create a system that builds relationships and credibility among member states, “creating a sense that everyone can be treated fairly.”

    Commending the court for making the bold move, he said, “The steps that you are taking are very crucial.

    “For Nigeria, you will get all the cooperation, and at the end of the day, people must feel that the system is just and fair to all.”

    The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan, and others during a meeting at the State House in Abuja on April 19, 2022.

    The ICC prosecutor, in his remarks, acknowledged Nigeria’s role in Africa and expressed excitement at the visit, saying, “it comes at a critical time in the history of the continent.”

    He explained that the court, through the proposed roadmap for reforms, would assist African countries to achieve justice, applying the principle of complementarity.

    Khan also pledged the commitment of the court to working with local authorities to encourage domestic jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of core international crimes.

    Aside ICC officials on the entourage of the prosecutor, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, and Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Eniola Ajayi, were present at the meeting.

    Meanwhile, the Vice President also received the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Ihab Awad, who came to brief him on the next meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to be hosted in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt later in November.

    In his remarks, he noted that with the meeting to be held in Africa, leaders in the continent should ensure that the conversations on climate change go the way “we want it to go”.

    “Our developmental challenges are as existential as the climate change concern itself,” Professor Osinbajo said.

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  • Osinbajo Visits Obasanjo Days After APC Convention

    Osinbajo Visits Obasanjo Days After APC Convention

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday, met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

    Our Correspondent gathered that Osinbajo had visited Ogun State for a high-level dialogue organised by the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa.

    The dialogue tagged, ‘West Africa: Rising to the Challenge of Consolidating Democratic Governance,’ was planned to be held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, on Monday and Tuesday.

    Osinbajo’s chopper landed within the premises of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library at exactly 10:24am.

    Osinbajo, who was accompanied by the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, and others, was later received by Obasanjo as they proceeded to the venue prepared for the meeting.

  • NAF Personnel Bars Gov Ortom From Welcoming Osinbajo To Benue

    NAF Personnel Bars Gov Ortom From Welcoming Osinbajo To Benue

    A Nigerian Air Force personnel attached to the tactical air command in Makurdi on Saturday prevented Governor Samuel Ortom from welcoming Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to Benue State.

    The Vice President was in transit through Benue to Wukari in Taraba State.

    Addressing journalists at the Government House in Makurdi, Ortorm said organs of government should avoid conflating official duties with politics.

    He said he had been formally invited to welcome the Vice-President.

    The Governor also called for disciplinary actions against the air force personnel in what he described as an embarrassment to his office.

    “I don’t want to be someone who is a busybody,” Mr Ortom said, holding a letter from the State House formally requesting him to receive the Vice President.

    “I have too many things to do. As I talk to you, the entire Gwer-West is under siege. The Fulani have come and are burning down houses. I was supposed to go there but I had to shift everything to receive the Vice President. I feel so pained that politics has been taken beyond what it is supposed to be.

    “There is no permanent enemy in politics, no permanent friend. Tomorrow I can be the best friend of Mr President if they choose to do the right thing. I don’t have any problems with the President and Vice President, and all the things that I say, they are meant to add value to development and get things right. I have never insulted the President or the Vice President or the Federal Government. But there are certain things they are doing which are wrong.”

  • Why you can’t be president in 2023–MURIC tells Osinbajo

    Why you can’t be president in 2023–MURIC tells Osinbajo

    By Joyce Babayeju

    The Muslim Rights Concern has tackled Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on his alleged presidential ambition.

    The Vice President was quoted on Monday as denying that he intended to declare his presidential ambition for 2023.

    However, MURIC has told the VP that it was the turn of Muslims in the South West because three Yoruba Christians have occupied the presidency, whereas no single Yoruba Muslim has been military head of state, president or vice president.

    This factor, according to MURIC, has given Yoruba Christians both political and economic edges and subjected Yoruba Muslims to political marginalisation, social segregation and gross economic disadvantage, leading to abject penury among Muslims in the sub-region.

    This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Director of MURIC, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, on Monday.

    The statement reads: “The Nigerian Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has denied planning to declare his presidential ambition. The Vice President spoke through his spokesman, Laolu Akande on Monday, 7th February, 2022 (https://dailypost.ng/2022/02/07/2023-osinbajo-denies-planning-to-declare-for-presidency-after-apc-convention/).

    “Nonetheless (the denial notwithstanding), we will like the Vice President to know that it is not his turn yet. Neither is it the turn of any other Christian from the South West. This is because three Yoruba Christians (Obasanjo, Shonekan and Osinbajo himself) have occupied the presidency whereas no single Yoruba Muslim has been either military head of state, president or vice president of Nigeria.

    “This factor has given Yoruba Christians both political and economic edges and subjected Yoruba Muslims to political marginalisation, social segregation and gross economic disadvantage leading to abject penury among Muslims in the sub-region.

    “Muslims in the South West will no longer remain onlookers in matters affecting our welfare and our collective destiny. Any Yoruba Christian or Muslim candidate seeking office will have to consult the Muslim community. Nobody will be allowed to take Muslims for a ride and get elected on a platter of gold.

    “All other things being equal, we would not have worried at all and we would not have brought the religious factor to the fore in Nigeria’s march towards 2023. But the brazen effrontery and undisguised persecution of Yoruba Muslims coupled with the criminal silence from those that matter among Christian leaders, civil society and Yoruba socio-cultural groups have made our stand necessary. Our stand is informed by an urgent need to liberate Yoruba Muslims from the shackles of religious persecution.

    “The last time we checked, the Vice President has not deemed it necessary to check the excesses of his fellow Yoruba Christians who are oppressing Yoruba Muslim women in government offices and persecuting female Muslim students in South West schools. Neither has he uttered a single word of condemnation or sympathy on the matter. What then will be the fate of Yoruba Muslims when Osinbajo becomes the president of Nigeria. Christians in the South West will garner more courage. They will out-herod Herod and for Muslims, it will be from the frying pan into the fire.

    “Even Professor Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo cannot claim that he is unaware of the sufferings of Muslim women and female Muslim students in the South West whose conditions can be compared to that of blacks in apartheid South Africa. Perhaps his silence can be due to his position as a pastor of the Redeemed Church whose declared objective is to plant churches within few meters of each other throughout Nigeria. The starting point may be the forced conversion of Muslim students in Yorubaland. This of course will not be a new development in the sub-region. It happened to our parents and grandparents.

    “We urge the Vice President to come out openly and put an end to the state of confusion. For the avoidance of doubts, we have nothing personal against Vice President Osinbajo. In actual fact, we are among his secret admirers and this can be traced to his loyalty to the President Muhammadu Buhari particularly because of the way he stood by the latter in his trying times.

    “But MURIC is on a mission to liberate Nigerian Muslims from exclusion, isolation and discrimination in all their ramifications. We cannot compromise this principled stand and supporting any Christian from the South West for the 2023 presidency no matter his position or relationship with us will jeopardise this noble objective.

    “Another microscopic clarification which is necessary to preempt professional confusionists and merchants of fake news who may want to mischievously misinterpret this message is that MURIC has not said and will never say we do not want a Christian to be president of Nigeria.

    “This is a democracy, not a theocracy and our society is multi-religious. Both religions should therefore be allowed to lead. However, we are being specific about the South West this time around. This means that any political party can pick a Christian as its presidential candidate from any other zone for 2023 so long as it is not from the South West.

    “It would have been a horse of another colour if no Yoruba Muslim has shown any interest in the presidency come 2023. But fortunately the crème de la crème among Yoruba Muslim politicians have indicated interest. Vice President Osinbajo is therefore advised to allow sleeping dogs to lie.”

  • Osinbajo, Sanwo-Olu, Gowon, Jonathan, Others Attend Shonekan’s Funeral

    Osinbajo, Sanwo-Olu, Gowon, Jonathan, Others Attend Shonekan’s Funeral

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former President Goodluck Jonathan, ex-Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and Godwin Obaseki (Edo) and other eminent Nigerians on Friday attended the funeral service of former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan.

    The service held at the Cathedral Church Of Christ, Marina in Lagos and presided over by the Primate and Metropolitan of the Anglican Communion (Church of Nigeria), Most Revd. Henry Ndukuba, was also attended by Ministers of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Trade and Industry, Otunba Niyi Adebayo; Mines and Steel Development, Arc Olamilekan Adegbite; State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora; State for Works and Housing Alhaji Mu’Azu Jaji Sambo, former Ogun State Governors, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Otunba Gbenga Daniel and former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, among others.

    Speaking at the event attended by hundreds of Anglican Bishops and priests, religious leaders, politicians, captains of industry, entrepreneurs, as well as family, friends and associates of the deceased, Vice President Osinbajo said late Shonekan lived an extraordinary life.

    Osinbajo, who described the late Shonekan as a man of destiny just like Nigeria is a nation of destiny, said the former Head of Interim National Government had respect for all and there was a way he carried himself through life.

    The Vice President also praised Shonekan’s contributions to Nigeria, first as a business guru and later as Head of Federal Government, adding that the deceased believed that national development was achievable if there was a deep collaboration between the public and private sector.

    He said: “Chief Shonekan lived an extraordinary life.

    “He is a man of destiny just like Nigeria is a nation of destiny. He believes that national development is achievable if there is a deep collaboration between the public and private sector.”

    In his sermon, former Primate and Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, Anglican Communion (Church of Nigeria), Most. Revd Peter Akinola, said the late Shonekan put his life on the line for the sake of Nigeria by serving as the Head of the Interim National Government during the turbulent time in Nigeria’s political history.

    The clergy said Shonekan had done that which God enabled him to do for himself, his family, the church and Nigeria.

    The Bishop said that many people advised Chief Shonekan not to take up the job of heading the interim government because of the risk of a coup, but Shonekan considered Nigeria to be more important.

    The Bishop who noted that even the church refused to give the late Shonekan the benefit of the doubt while some political opportunists demonised him and called him unprintable names.

    “He put his life on the line for the sake of this country. Perhaps, we would like to know that Chief Shonekan was not completely unaware that the coup would take place.

    “Shonekan not being a typical ambitious Nigerian politician, he refused to do many things to preserve himself in office. A typical Nigerian politician will do everything possible to continue in office, come rain come fire.”

    Governor Sanwo-Olu also paid glowing tributes to the late former Head of Interim National Government, saying generations of Nigerians will remain appreciative of Shonekan’s courage, sacrifice and stabilising influence on the polity.

    He said Chief Shonekan in his calm and unflappable manner, steered the course of the country, during his tenure as Head of the Interim National Government until the military intervention that followed, noting that it was a courageous thing for him to do, at such a turbulent time in Nigeria’s history.

    Speaking on Thursday at the Wake Keep Service and Night of Tributes for Ernest Shonekan held at Victoria Island in Lagos, Governor Sanwo-Olu described the former Chairman and Managing Director of the United Africa Company of Nigeria (UACN) as a foremost and highly respected industrialist and corporate administrator; a first-class boardroom guru with an enviable track record.

    The Governor said whether in the boardroom or in the Council Chamber, the late Shonekan could be counted on as a wise, calm and mature statesman.

    He said Shonekan heading UACN in his early 40s made him a leading source of inspiration and a role model to generations of high-flying Nigerians behind him.

    “Nigeria has lost a truly great man, a true leader and visionary, a man whose immense success in life did not alter his essential humility and goodness.

    “The flood of tributes in the wake of Chief Shonekan’s passing attest to the kind of human being he was. You can also look around at the caliber of persons who have gathered here this evening, in his honour,” he said.

    Governor Sanwo-Olu while speaking on the legacy of the deceased told the widow of the former Head of Interim National Government, Mrs Margaret Shonekan, his children, grandchildren, and the entire family, to know that “his place in our hearts will never be diminished.”

  • 2023 : IBB endorses Osinbajo for Presidency

    2023 : IBB endorses Osinbajo for Presidency

    Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida has endorsed the candidature of Vice President Yemi Osibanjo in the 2023 presidential elections, saying he is a good man to lead Nigeria.

    IBB stated this when the Osibanjo Grassroot Organization visited him in his Uphill Residence in Minna.

    “I know the Vice Pesident very well. He is a good man. A man who has conviction about Nigeria; a man who can communicate with the country and inspire people. Such a man is worthy person to work with. We need good man to lead Nigeria.”

    He described Osibanjo as a man who has passion for the country, adding, “Nigeria is a good country too; the people of Nigeria are good . You must learn to understand people and communicate with them. And constant discussion is key.

    “I want to convey my best wishes to the Vice-president through you. And I want you to tell him to stay on cause. I know it’s not easy but he has the conviction. I wish him the best,” Babangida noted .

    The elder statesman further revealed that he decided to speak to them because of the Vice-President, insisting that he knew Osibanjo has what it takes to be a good leader.

    Speaking, the National Convener of the Organization, Mr. OJo Foluso expressed joy with the endorsement of the former military leader, saying, ” we came to consult the Oracle and the Oracle has spoken. General IBB is an oracle because he understands Nigeria”.

    He also stated that the group would continue to pressure on the VP to pick interest in contesting for the presidency in the 2023 general elections.

    The Team Leader, Chief Emma Ejiofor, in his speech noted that the Osibanjo Grassroot Organization visited was prepared to work with advice of prominent citizens such as Gen. Babangida, especially because of their sound knowledge and understanding of the country.

    “At this moment, Nigeria is in dire need of leaders with conviction and passion for her development and growth,” he added.

  • Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo didn’t open a campaign office, we opened it for him – support group

    Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo didn’t open a campaign office, we opened it for him – support group

    A support group within the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, the Progressive Consolidation Group PCG has dismissed reports that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has opened a campaign office ahead of the 2923 Presidential Election.

    Publicity Secretary of the group, Barr. Emmanuel Pippa who disclosed this in a statement issued Sunday evening in Abuja said it was his group that opened a campaign office for the vice president, with the hope of getting him vie for the top job in the country.

    The statement reads; “Our attention has just been brought to online publications alleging that the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has opened a campaign office in Abuja ahead of the 2023 elections.

    “We wish to clarify that the said office belongs to our coalition of support groups which strongly believes in Professor Osinbajo as the leader Nigeria needs in 2023, and is determined to get him to declare an interest in running for the office of President as early as possible. Solely for this purpose, our recently acquired administrative office is located in the heart of Wuse area of Abuja.

    “Even though Professor Osinbajo is yet to be acquainted with our activities, we intend to operate through a new organ, The Progressive Project TPP to coordinate youth, women and other groups across the federation. Ours is therefore not a campaign office but a venue for coordination, handling of increasing volume of correspondence and meetings in readiness for the time when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo accedes to our request for him to run and consolidate gains made under President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Party chieftains will of course lead the real campaign when that time comes.
    Being a heartbeat away from the number one job, there are countless APC members and even, non-partisan citizens across the federation who are pushing for Professor Yemi Osinbajo to succeed or highly revered President Buhari, solely in the interest of the nation.

    “We are convinced that Osinbajo’s level of familiarity with the vision, achievements and challenges being handled by President Buhari is second to none, and that such insight would enable a new APC administration hit the ground running in 2023.

    “We anticipate that various new and existing pro-Osinbajo platforms will become part of the group to which their focus appears more relevant”.