IMO BREAKING NEWS BLOG

BY ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES, ABUJA

According to the publisher of Sahara Reporters and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore; former Nigerian Heads of States, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Olusegun Obasanjo and Abdulsalami Abubakar are not only positively disposed to the Peter Obi/Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed candidacy, but are also actively canvasing support for the Labour Party presidential standard bearers.

Omoyele knows the significance of this alleged understanding among Nigeria's former military leaders, but as one who sees himself as equal competitor with Peter Obi, he is bent on attempts to discredit this highly sought-after endorsement. He is trying to sway Nigerians by reminding them that these past leaders made efforts to derail our democracy, hence, Nigerians should view their support for Obi with suspicion. The truth is that Sowore or any other presidential candidate will pay anything and forfeit anything just to have any of these men speak positively about their aspiration.

The College of Past Presidents or Heads of State is one of the most revered groups anywhere in the world, including, the most developed and liberal democracies. Any politician craves the endorsement of past leaders of his country the same way any show promoter would crave the endorsement of major rock stars for their shows. Beyond the effect of their endorsements, there is also an unquantifiable technical or strategic advantage, the endorsement of such caliber of people confer on the presidential candidate who is fortunate to secure it. If you paid keen attention to Biden's inauguration speech as President, he took special care to announce to Americans the support he has received from all living former American Presidents, including sharing with the world the effort he made to visit the ailing, Jimmy Carter. The significance and power of these past Presidents is not affected by our opinions or reservations about them. While it is unavoidable that an individual who has attained such heights of power and influence must make mistakes, we cannot deny the value of their services and patriotism to our country.

Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar are eminent patriots who have given the most part of their lives to the service of the country. They are also more equipped with information about Nigeria's peculiar challenges and the secrets to the management and preservation of our nationhood, than probably any other group of living Nigerians.

As responsible elder statesmen, they might have also determined that while they might have made some mistakes during their time in power, that at this twilight of their earthly existence, that they owe it to posterity to bequeath to Nigeria, a unifying, progressive and selfless leader, represented in the persons of Mr. Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.

Nigerians of good conscience have nothing but gratitude for these patriotic elder statesmen who have come forward at this critical time in our national history to promote the right idea for the stabilization and progress of our nation.

MAY NIGERIA PREVAIL!

The lawmaker representing Ikeduru Local Government Area in Imo state House of Assembly, Uche Ogbuagu, has emerged the candidate of Labour Party in Ikeduru/Mbaitoli Federal Constituency of the state for the 2023 National Assembly Elections.

Ogbuagu, a former majority leader of the state legislature, emerged on Thursday after the former holder of the ticket announced his discontinuance from the race.

Speaking after his emergence, Ogbuagu said that he would replicate his superlative performance at the State legislature in Abuja if he wins.

According to him, his people had endured poor representation in the green chamber of the national Assembly, promising to rewrite the wrongs if elected.

He said " my emergence is divine. It is the wish of the Mbaike people that we have a responsible and responsive representation in 2023 in Abuja. I have proven my mettle at the state legislature and I will do more if I become the next house of representatives member for our dear Mbaitoli/ Ikeduru Federal Constituency."

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), has responded to a comment by Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in which the latter criticised the LP.

At the APC governorship rally in Osun on Tuesday, Tinubu had described the LP as “a mushroom party”.

“Think about your children and vote accordingly so you can see the future. Come out en masse. Don’t mind PDP and other mushroom parties — parties like Labour; they will labour till they die. God will not make you labourers,” he had said.

Speaking on Wednesday, July 13, at a rally organised by the LP in Osun, Peter Obi said such a comment by the APC presidential candidate comes from a place of hatred, but the LP will respond with love.

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“I listened to our National Chairman when he said that somebody said that they can labour till death. When they they talk like that, when they show you hatred, Labour Party will show them love. There is dignity in labour,” he said.

Peter Obi, who urged the residents of Osun to vote for Yusuf Lasun, the LP’s governorship candidate, said the party’s focus is on ensuring a better welfare for citizens.

“Vote for Labour Party so that your children can have jobs. Vote for people that will work for you,” he said.

“We want to change Nigeria and the only way we can change Nigeria is to remove all these people who have put Nigeria where it is for the past 23 years. This is time for them to go.

“They are owing salaries, pensions; and those that are working hard are not been paid. But this will stop once you vote Labour Party on Saturday.

“Vote for Labour Party. Vote for the future of your children. Also, vote for the candidate that will be committed to better Osun state.

“We are going to introduce you to a governor who will be committed to better Osun state, and that is what we want.”

Chidiebube Okeoma, Owerri

There was controversy on Wednesday after a former commissioner for commerce and Industry in Imo state, Ifeanyi Araraume Junior emerged the senatorial candidate of Labour Party for Imo North Senatorial district.

This was even as the original candidate, Okorondu Nwachukwu, rejected the development.

Nwachukwu told our correspondent in a telephone conversation that he remained the authentic candidate of the party for the senatorial district.

He informed our correspondent that he had filed an action in court to challenge the "illegal emergence" of Araraume.

Nwachukwu accused the state chairman of Labour Party, Amby Onyekwere, of conniving with non members of the party to cause disaffection in the party.

He disowned a letter wherein he allegedly wrote withdrawing his participation in the election.

Nwachukwu said that his signature was forged and vowed to get justice in court.

He said " please don't mind what they called Labour Party primary going on in Isiala Mbano for Imo North Senatorial district. I am the candidate of the Labour Party and I didn't withdraw from the election. I didn't write any letter. I am in Abuja and I am in court."

Araraume, while addressing LP members at Isiala Mbano Local Government Area on Wednesday said that his candidacy would ensure victory for the party.

The candidate in company of state officials of the party, said that the process that produced him was credible.

Araraume whose father, Ifeanyi Araraume senior was in the Senate between 1999 and 2007, had contested and lost Peoples Democratic Party senatorial ticket for the district on May 25 to a businessman, Emma Okewulonu.

The LP chairman of the party in the state, hung up on our correspondent after he introduced himself to him.

He refused to pick subsequent calls put across to his mobile line.

But a lawyer, Emeka Ihejirika, said that Araraume's candidacy would not see the light of the day.

Ihejirika, said that the new electoral act makes it impossible for anybody to "highjack" another person's mandate.

He said that Nwachukwu would regain his mandate in court.

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, has announced popular actress Funke Akindele as his running mate for the 2023 general elections.

Adediran, fondly called Jandor, unveiled the Lagos-born actress on Tuesday as the duo staged a rally alongside supporters across the streets in the Ikorodu area of the state. Jandor, who also announced the choice of Akindele as the PDP deputy governorship candidate in a series of tweets, urged the residents of Lagos to work with them.

Stressing that the actress would add more value to his candidacy, he explained that he took the decision based on the clear understanding of the task ahead and the need to work with a co-visionary with shared passion for the emancipation of the good.

According to the PDP flagbearer, the journey demands focus, resilience, and tenacity, and Akindele is large-hearted with a well-known history of service and advocacy. He also described his running mate as ‘an Ikorodu-born success story’ who has positively transformed the society through several of her projects.

By Collins Opurozor

It is already public knowledge that within the past eighteen months, Hope Uzodinma of Imo state has borrowed nearly N70 billion. The Debt Management Office and Nigeria Bureau of Statistics have both affirmed that the total debt stock of Imo is now slightly above N205 billion, having risen from about N141 billion within these past few months. Yet, a peep into Imo state reveals an entity in disarray, where salaries and pensions are never paid, infrastructural decay widespread, health prospects getting poorer and mass penury becoming endemic.

Also, it is pertinent to add that under Uzodinma, Imo has received about N143 billion as local government allocations from the Federation Account. Today, it is bewildering that there is no project in any local government in Imo which Uzodinma would claim to have done with this gargantuan sum. Not even one!

The sources through which the Omuma-born politician fritters away Imo state resources as well as the humongous loans have remained quite unknown until now, except of course the known issue of the man's obsessive love for private jets and expensive champagnes. Little did Imo people know that diamond wristwatches, each of which costs about 800,000 dollars, have always adorned Uzodinma's wrists. Two of such wristwatches would amount to almost N1 billion. And Uzodinma wears them. Such insane and intolerable waste is part of what gulps public resources in Imo!

What makes this issue deeply provocative and evocative of mass outrage is that all the relevant rating boards in Nigeria have continued to rank Imo highest in all the indices of social misery. For instance, while the state leads the way in youth unemployment in Nigeria with 83%, the Imo also has the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality in the South East.

In prevalence of cancer, Imo similarly comes first in the South East and stands out as the only state without any state-owned