Incumbent Joe Biden Steps Down from US Presidential Race

The 46th and incumbent US President Joe Biden has announced that he will end his candidacy for re-election.

According to the sitting president, "it is in the best interest of my party and the country".

His withdrawal comes four months before Americans go to the polls, upending the race for the White House.


Biden stepping down follows weeks of intense pressure from fellow Democrats after a faltering debate performance against Republican Donald Trump at the end of June.

According to a letter posted to his social media account, president said it had been the greatest honour of his life to serve as president.

And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling the duties as President for the remainder of my term," he wrote in his statement.

Calls for Biden to withdraw from the race began to grow after a disastrous debate performance in late June against Donald Trump.

During the debate he was criticised for often being incoherent and speaking in a weak voice - something which his party claimed as down to a cold.

President Biden thanked his Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she was an "extraordinary partner".

"And let me express my heartfelt appreciation for the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me," his statement added.

"I believe today and always have: that there is nothing America can’t do - when we do it together. We just have to remember we are the United States of America."

He wrote that he would address the nation on the matter next week.

Last week he returned to his home in Delaware after being diagnosed with Covid, but said on Friday he was looking forward to "getting back on the campaign trail next week".

He has previously said only the "Lord Almighty" could make him withdraw, but then later said he would consider withdrawing if he had a health condition.

The Republican candidate Trump who recently escaped assassination remains a favorite to return to white house.

KUNLE AJAYI — ON THE DISTRESSING YEARS OF OCEAN SURGE AT AYETORO, OUR LEGENDARY ILAJE LONDON, TIME TO RESCUE A NATIONAL MONUMENT!

(Press statement of the Kunle Ajayi, African Action Congress (AAC) Gubernatorial Candidate in Ondo2024)

Just about two days after I tweeted on X about the issues of ocean surge and the systemic destruction of Ayetoro in Ilaje due to Oil Explorations and Climate Change, the whole Ayetoro community, in Ilaje local government Area of Ondo state have staged a protest and called on the federal and the state government to save their souls and rescue the community. This protest was yesterday, May 29th. 

 Ayetoro Community protested over the long neglect by both the Federal and State government for the past two decades. This is despite the “6.5billion shoreline project award by NDDC" which is yet executed after 16 years!

Over 700 houses destroyed. Students can no longer go to school, while the enviable Community-owned factories are washed off. There is no shoreline protection neither is there a Marine plan by former Governments.

Many do no understand the significance of Ayetoro as a Communalist Town self-built by the people. It is a special experimented town of how best to build on the ocean. Ayetoro used to be proudly called the London of Ilaje, with it's spectacular Egalitarian self-government. But sadly today, Ayetoro is getting extinct.

What is happening to Ayetoro is a parable to the whole of the Riverine Areas of Ondo state. This is why our party has adapted the great Amsterdam Plans to build a great chain of cities and towns all across Ilaje to Apoi to Arogbo with a well-mapped out rail/road Marine Transport way that will help to pave way for specially built Smart towns and cities that would be climate-fortified. 

Our party's approach to rebuilding Ayetoro and indeed the whole of Ondo Riverside will be proactive and explorative of great foresights over astonishments. Amsterdam is a city on water, yet, is one of the smartest and most artfully built globally with special use of Green Economy. 

To our Ayetoro people, I commend us for taking mass actions, and we must be consistent with this. These rulers will only come out to make fake promises like they have always been doing, just for the press and votes. Sadly, two former Deputy Governors under the Late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu did nothing to help the plights of Ayetoro and the whole Ondo South. Even in electricity, they have been grossly irresponsible. In fact, Agboola Ajayi's hometown, our beloved Kiribo, has never experienced electricity before. And Lucky Aiyedatiwa is a part and parcel of the old Akeredolu/NDDC fruitless promises to save Ayetoro. It's sad that nothing good can come from the Jerusalem of these anti-developmental elements anymore.

But Ayetoro, succour is coming. #IrapadaOndo has promised a concise and emergent action once we win the race to Alagbaka. Before this, we will keep standing in solidarity with not only Ayetoro, but all of the Ondo State people in pains and penuries.

I therefore use this opportunity on the Ondo State government and the Federal Ministry of Environment, Marine Economy and other agencies like NDDC and OSOPADEC to rise to their duties and declare a state of emergency on Ayetoro and other Niger Delta towns and villages currently ravaged by climate change as a result of the indiscriminate oil explorations. We will mobilize our party members, and supporters to join in active solidarity the Protests by the great Ayetoro community, as we urge the whole of the people of Ilaje, Ikale, Arogbo, and Apoi to unite and defend the rights of the Ayetoro people to good and comfortable living. While we are doing this, we are also helping our own collective future!

Signed,

Kunle Ajayi (Wizeman,)

Governorship Candidate,

The African Action Congress (AAC.)

30th, May, 2024.

Democracy, governance and credible elections (1)

 

By

abiodun KOMOLAFE

There is a problem about the institutional framework in which the Nigerian state as presently constituted is based. To have democracy, good governance and credible elections, there must be institutional reforms and great accountability in government. The three are interwoven, only that we tend to think that democracy is all about elections. In any case, the fact that those ingredients are currently missing is an indication that Nigeria still has a long way to go. After all, without democracy and governance, there can’t be credible elections.

To put it politely, Nigeria, even as we speak, has very weak institutions, and without a functional justice system, she can’t be said to have credible elections. For any democracy to stand and be as its definition, the power of credibility cannot be underestimated. However, the achievement or otherwise of this ‘credibility’ is a huge task, because credibility means different things to different actors in democracy, more so as the definition hovers around the same center: the people. Notwithstanding, the issues of credibility in our elections requires a serious conference, taking into consideration the level of litigations that always go with elections in Nigeria. Take, for example, the United Kingdom where only one electoral dispute has ever gone to court over a long period of time. Of course, it is because she has a functional judiciary and nobody would want to waste his resources on frivolous litigations. The lawyer who handles such cases can even be disbarred. So, how come Nigeria remains a semi-democratic country 25 years into the 4th Republic?

In any serious democracy, it is the government that sets the right template for an election to hold. Unlike countries like Spain, France, South Africa, even some other African countries, Nigeria needs a constitutional court so that her political practitioners can originate and conclude constitutional issues in record time. In a constitutional court for instance, the needless imbroglio currently troubling the peace of Rivers State won’t even take more than two to three weeks to resolve, instead of this long-winded abracadabra, which is no doubt affecting the perception of Nigeria as an unserious economy.

What we are saying is that governance and elections are intertwined and that a political economy that is lacking in internal security mechanisms, weaponizes and actually glorifies poverty is not one where credible elections can be held because it is based on state capture. In a country under the subordination of the state to powerful individuals and vested interests, the idea is to make the people very poor so that, on an election day, prospective voters can be induced. Even when there’s no election, the masses are induced with palliatives. The tragic truth is that political entrepreneurship has become the parameter for politicking and the determinant of victory. Otherwise, why should minimum wage even be a debate in Nigeria?

Again, that’s where the late Obafemi Awolowo excelled as a leader! But how come successive leaders have not been seeing the link between the minimum wage, the purchasing power parity and investments? Call it an election gimmick but that’s why Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State deserves a standing ovation. Well, it’s not that N70,000 as minimum wage for workers in the state is fair enough but then, the governor has demonstrated that a worthy credit analyst would prefer Benin City where the purchasing power parity is N50,000.00 to Gusau where the purchasing power parity is N31,000.00. In a way, Obaseki has shown that, for any economy to attain its potentials, it is better to have 15 million people who are on a living wage of N105,000.00 per month than to have 200 million people who are on a minimum wage of N30,000.00 per month.

‘Ojú to dilè ni iroré ń so.’ (Pimples usually infect an idle face. The notorious truth is that we can’t have functional democracy, good governance and credible elections without a sound educational system. Had Nigeria also been blessed with a sensitive political class, Nigerians would have been benefiting from free and compulsory education as far back as 1974 or 1975. Of course, the difference would have been that Nigeria would not have been having all these problems because of a better educated population. Matter-of-factly, the better educated the people are, the better and the saner the choices. A better educated population is a better informed and more productive population. But when politics fails to deliver its goods to the people, waiting for much chemistry to work at the same pace for development to show up becomes the norm. Obviously, that’s what Awolowo got right and that’s why people like Joseph Stiglitz won the Nobel Prize for Economics.

Secondly, compulsory education is the best form of population control. On the day of Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the United Kingdom as the parting colonial power had 7 million more people than Nigeria. Whereas Nigeria’s population grew from 44,928,342 in 1960 to 229,152,217 in 2024, the British population has grown by only 15.34 million since 1960. The implementation of the Education Act of 1947, which made education free and compulsory up to the age of 18 in the UK led to the halving of her population within one generation. Why and how? Educated people “marry later” and have fewer children. What’s more? Educated populace is better skilled, has higher purchasing power parity and many other advantages. That’s why countries like Italy and Japan have declining population growth. They are actually begging and bribing their citizens to have more children. For Nigeria, the story is pathetically different!

Forget the delusion of grandeur, unless some steps are taken in the right direction, Nigeria as a country may be fast sliding into irrelevance. For example, South Africa is currently the biggest economy in Africa, of course with the soundest fundamentals. She is followed by Egypt and Algeria and only God knows the true occupier of the 4th position between Nigeria and Morocco. South Africa has strong institutions of the state. As a matter of fact, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is already terrified of losing the forthcoming elections. Most importantly, she has basic industries like iron and steel and machine tools. So, she manufactures and exports cars to Europe. Unlike Nigeria, South Africa doesn’t assemble cars. As former President Donald Trump once said, “if you don’t have steel, you don’t have a country.” In terms of fundamentals therefore, how to arrest Nigeria’s descent into irrelevance should be the key question.

But how did we get here? When Nigeria decided to throw away the Lyttleton’s, 1960 and 1963 Constitutions, it became obvious that the country was gone. Brazil currently operates the 1988 Constitution, which is the 7th enacted since the country’s independence in 1822, and the 6th since the proclamation of the republic in 1889. Look at today’s Brazil! She’s currently the world’s 9th largest economy. Not only that, 92% of all new cars sold in Brazil are powered, not by petroleum motor spirit, pms, but by the ethanol derived from sugarcane. For greater certainty, Brazil is a huge producer of sugarcane. Impliedly, had Nigeria kept up her existence on the 1960 and 1963 Constitutions, she’d have been powering not less than 92% of her cars by ethanol derived from cassava. After all, dear country is currently the world’s largest producer of cassava with an annual output of over 34 million tonnes of tuberous roots. What this means is that, instead of buying a litre of pms for N700.00, ethanol derived from cassava would not have cost more than N130.00. Besides, that would have been a boost for agriculture and industry would have been competitive because its cost would be lower. Added to these is that the destiny of employment generation in the country would have been given a lift-up.

● To be concluded.  

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Ondo Gov Poll: I have experience in societal building than Aiyedayiwa, Agboola says AAC Gubanatorial candidate Adekunle Ajayi

The Governorship candidate of African Action Congress AAC in Ondo state Adekunle Ajayi Wizeman has said he has experience in societal building and love of the people at heart than the incumbent and sitting Governor Lucky Aiyedayiwa and else while deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi.

In his words: " When you talk of the real experience of societal building, I have same more than both Lucky Aiyedatiwa and Agboola Ajayi. No be mouth! "

"I barely know Lucky in the socio-political space until he was nominated as Deputy Governor. Heard he was an NDDC appointee, but no one can say he made any mark. And since he has been Governor, nothing tangible has changed. He keeps being and accomplice and in the shadows of Akeredolu's anti-people mal-governance."

"As for Agboola Ajayi, I am too familiar with him as one of those reactionaries exposed to decivilize Ondo cherished politics, by Late Uncle Segun Agagu. Agagu had a knack for ruthless politics, and it was under him that many violent conservative agents were infused into the politics, not minding the few signages of thuggery under Late Ade Adefarati. And even when Agboola Ajayi had been LG Chair; House of Representatives Member; and Deputy Governor, his hometown Kiribo is an imagery of the so-called experience he claims to have. When we were so concerned and led struggles to get Electricity back to Ondo South, Agboola was busy using police and military to arrest, and attack us. Till date, all thanks to Agboola Ajayi, Rotimi Akeredolu, and Lucky Aiyedatiwa, there is no electricity in major parts of Ondo South. The experience of personal pocket and impunity, other than of societal growth and development. "

"Our own experience is the dedication to true changing of society, and the indepth understanding of the political economy of collective growth and development. Without being in government, we have impacted society farther than these marauders! "

"We are set Ondo State, it's time..!!

#IrapadaOndo

#RevolutionNow

INEC TO CONDUCT LOCAL GOVT ELECTIONS HENCEFORTH AS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY GRANTS FULL AUTONOMY TO THE 774 LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

"The National Assembly on Tuesday, granted full financial and administrative autonomy to all the 774 local council authorities across Nigeria by amending section 124 of the nation’s constitution.

The section provides a consequential provision for the making of the local councils, a full third tier government without undue interference from the state governments.

The ammendment was one of the 22 others approved by the House of Representatives last week and ratified by the Senate on Tuesday.

Both chambers had through a conference committee harmonised versions of the ammendments into the constitution carried out by each of them last month.

By the development, the National Assembly had ratified all the 23 clauses and sections that had been ammended by both chambers.

The newly ammended document which would be sent to States Houses of Assembly, for approval, also approved the creation of the Office of Auditor General of the Local Government as well as the State Local Government Service Commission.

The section equally deleted the State

Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) from the constitution thereby vesting the powers to conduct council elections on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

It however, retained the immunity clause in the constitution for the President and Governors by adopting the Senate version of the ammendments on the issue and rejected the House of Representatives version which removed the immunity clause.

The National Assembly also made provisions for Independent Candidacy in future elections in Nigeria by amending sections 65 and 106 of the 1999 constitution..."

Ala - Delight Publicity Services

Edo, Ondo Governorship Polls : Elites must set up intervention projects on Voters' Education at assisting electorates to make informed decisions — Bolaji Akinyemi

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Edo and Ondo states are currently in the news in the nation's political firmament. We cornered the renowned Political and Governmental Analyst Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi, an Apostle and Nation Builder, to air his candid analysis of the current situation in the aforementioned states; here's excerpts from the interview:

O. A:

What is your assessment of governance impact in Edo State? If you think the impact falls beyond expectations, what are your personal recommendations?

 *Ans:* The challenge of Governance Impact Assessment is complicated by the benchmark set by relevant international bodies given to it, such as International Association of Impact Assessment and of course the confrontations of our Clime as operating environment for democracy.

Let me take it one after the other. 

The benchmark for measuring Governance Impact Assessment internationally favours developed democracy more than developing democracy. It focuses on freedom, respect of the rights of individuals, the rule of law and adherence to separation of powers.

 If that is the basis to judge Obaseki's last four years, he is internationally, a failure!

 The clampdown on the Legislative Arm of Government for the better part of his administrative life over the state should be of concern to sincere Democrats like myself. 

Local Government Administration and elections into the third tier of government went through torture in his hands, a usual game by our Governors; another unpleasant experience under Obaseki! 

To think that the same person will find the legislative arm useful at concluding his fallout with Shuaibu is unbelievable that all we need is to draw our conclusions from the sad reality of our liliy-livered Legislators who are items to be purchased by the highest bidder in the political market!

 However, in the context of the needs of the people of Edo State, I will rate him above average. You know our politicians are capable of drilling a borehole beside a river! If you know what that means. The people will still travel their usual distances to the river bank to fetch the same water they have always fetched. It may be cleaner in appearance because it has filtered through the soil to flow through pipes but it's still the same water from the river with all its impurities flowing through a tap, which is enough to excite the poor and illiterates among us!

It is important that the Government Impact Assessment (GIA) for Edo and Ondo States be properly conducted. 

 Well, the Executives of PVC Naija, led by President Paula Bellgam would want me to step aside from being part of the GIA Committee for Edo State, given my confrontation with His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over Obaseki. 

Sincerely, in retrospect, I think the President was right about Obaseki being autocratic in disposition which is not good for the development of our democracy!

If the development of Democracy is at the mercy of a virile opposition then, we are at a crossroads on Edo. 

For how do we in all honesty support APC, a party that is already showing the glide towards a one party state at the national level against PDP in Edo because of Obaseki who is on his way out for being Autocratic?

Unfortunately, Labour Party's eyes are not on this ball at all!

The challenge of this autocratic allegation is that Ogie for me is another Obaseki and he is on the PDP Ticket's pair. A burden that Asue Ighodalo doesn't deserve!

 The hallmark of democratic leadership is in keeping your words. Does Ogie keep his word? Of all the many failings of President Tinubu, you can't accuse him for not keeping his word. Well, I will talk at the time most appropriate on Edo election in my capacity as Bolaji O. Akinyemi before the election. Development of our Democracy is stranded presently because the best opposition institution we have ever had in APC is now in power running government with media and propaganda tools which the opposition should be doing. And PDP as the leading opposition are content with the arrogance of "the people can see what we are doing". They are out of the Government but have refused to accept their new status as the leading opposition party. Put little me side by side PDP on opposition of government policy engagement and draw your conclusion of PDP failure as an opposition!

 PDP should be out in partnership with the media, invest in propaganda machinery to set the records straight and educate the public. On these, PDP is dead and we may soon have to bury it! 

Unfortunately, LP is not taking advantage of this, their Ambassador in power is too refined for politics and its games. I hope he won't pay dearly for this in the next election. Politics is more about talking than doing, Otti is all doing and not talking! On this I am sincerely concerned for him and the LP!

 Not even in almighty America is politics different!

Trump is first of all, a mouthy candidate rather than a better candidate compared to Biden. Democracy is the same everywhere, this for me, is the reason the Edo debacle should be pragmatically considered in view of all perspectives before we choose the side to go with.

Otti's acceptance of the leadership role that destiny has bestowed on him can change the game in Edo, Ondo, Anambra or other state for that matter. 

What APC is today can't be divorced from the assessment and perception of Lagos with Tinubu as the Governor!

O.A:

What do you think are the expectations of the people of the state and to what extent has the governor fallen within or below their expectations?

 *Ans:* Expectations today are relative, I know this question is asked with a particular reference to Edo. But it applies to all our states. Expectations are amoebic, changing shape and patterns. The masses are too hungry to care about real development. People are concerned about where their next meal will come from, whoever is used to make this happen will be an influence at swinging the pendulum of power! 

This is what a candidate like Ayedatiwa will be banking on and he is privileged to the treasury to have that done!

 But the Elites in Edo and Ondo must set up intervention projects on Voters' Education at assisting the electorates to make informed decisions at the poll. A wrong decision by the poor masses will bounce back if we don't get involved as Elites in practical terms!

 That is what is bouncing back in Kogi, which is a neighbouring state to both Edo and Ondo. The impunity of our political class and oppressive nature of Governance must concern us. The Elite class, not political, but business and intellectuals have kept more Nigerians going since the last election held in 2023! Why won't they come together to get their state running?

O.A:

The primary election in Ondo State that was held on Saturday, April 20th, is said to be fraught with electoral irregularities. To what extent is this rumour true and what should the INEC do?

 *Ans:* Where was Usman Ododo, Governor of Kogi State and the Chairman of APC Committee on the Primary election in Ondo State? He was possibly more concerned about helping Yahaya Bello escape from the arm of the law than attending to the responsibility of conducting a free and fair primary election. APC should produce a picture of Ododo taken anywhere in Ondo State on the day of the primary. What was witnessed in Ondo was an abduction of democracy and its supervisory institution by the power of incumbency in all the 203 wards of the 18 Local Government Area of the State. What was the party expecting from a man like Ododo? That primary was a charade and further confirmation of "Emilokanology" at determining APC primaries after the pattern that produced Tinubu. Ayedatiwa took it to the gutters! I had made a recommendation to APC Delegates to rally round Prof Dayo Fajuyile in a video I titled my advice to APC Delegates. Dayo Fajuyile, for heaven's sake is a Professor of Forensic medicine. The greatest challenge of Ondo State is the departure of her youth from her once upon a time cherished value on education. There is the need to project the future and mentor the youth through political leadership which is what I expected from all political parties in Ondo to be able to wean Ondo youth from easy milk of Yahoo trade to which the majority of them are sold by example of certificateless leaders without any known means of livelihood before politics. Ondo has lost its rating in WAEC performance, its now almost on the same level with the so-called educationally disadvantaged States of the core North. Dayo would have been a rekindling of value for education. 

But APC had squandered that. We can only hope that PDP will get it right. The biggest selling point any political party could be privileged of, is to have an Aspirant who is the highest single indigenous tax payer asking for the party's ticket. On this alone, I expected PDP to have opted for a consensus in Bosun. But you know what? APC and PDP are head or tail of the same coin. Let's hope PDP will not fall into the snare that APC is right now!

 If Bosun Arebuwa doesn't get PDP ticket and APC refused to address the scam of a primary conducted in Ondo as it did in Edo then the tone of disappointment of the youthful components of our electorates that would have been divided between APC and PDP but rallied to become the force that powered the 3rd horse called the Obedient in the last general election may be the lot of Ondo!

Give me a credible candidate on the platform of the Labour party, backed by Otti and I will deliver Ondo to opposition. What exactly am I saying? Ondo, as a South West State must go to the opposition if we hope to save our democracy from the one party state that recent regular dinner at Bourdillon is aiming it for. PDP is better positioned to make this happen. I hope they do.

O.A:

Do you think Gov. Aiyedatiwa, having served under the late Rotimi Akeredolu and later replaced him as gov has what it takes to emerge as winner of the forthcoming governorship election? 

 *Ans:* A man can't give what he doesn't have. Ayedatiwa needs to prove his personal content. You can simply tell the capacity of a leader by their respect and enthusiasm for ideas and that I have not seen in him. Nevertheless, It will be unfair to conclude on him but sincerely the pragmatism and charisma of Akeredolu is yet to be seen. 

O.A:

Do you think he has what it takes to replicate Akeredolu's legacies if he eventually wins the election?

 *Ans:* An idea of Governance Impact Assessment on Akeredolu was presented to him. Can he count on his fingertips the projects of Akeredolu? He missed the opportunity to take stock of Akeredolu years and reflect on the failures, appreciate the success, quantify the gap and how to fill them. Okitipupa has been in darkness for 15 years, that is the prime city of his political zone. What has he done since becoming a Governor to address that? What is the basis for him to expect that Okitipupa should give him their votes.

O.A:

How would you assess Ondo politics in the context of power sharing and governance impact?

*Ans*: on Governance Impact Assessment, I wouldn't want to let the cat out of the bag. It will be conducted on Akeredolu/Ayedatiwa years and the result will be out to guide the electorate in Ondo. As for the unwritten power sharing formula in the state, it goes to confirm my position that Ondo and Edo are unpredictable. The natural injustice and political oppression that is common across the country has no home in both states. Parties with internal justice stand a greater chance in both states.

O.A:

What roles have your NGOs played in shaping credible election and good governance in both Edo and Ondo states?

*Ans*: Thank you for this question. I am privileged to be the founder of Project Victory Call Initiative, aka PVC-Naija, as the name suggests we operate through projects to fulfill our mandate of political education and advocacy towards equipping the electorate at performing their civic responsibilities dutifully and peacefully. Community Ambassador for Peaceful Election was set up in the states during their last election in 2020. iWalk another awareness walk held in both states before the last general election to say no to Vote buying. Adding our new product; Governance Impact Assessment to that before the election in Ondo and Edo can only better the lots of the electorate at making informed decisions at the polls.

LP SEEKS REVIVAL THROUGH STAKEHOLDERS’ COLLABORATION, TO CONDUCT AN ALL-INCLUSIVE CONGRESS

"COMMUNIQUE' AT THE END OF A STAKEHOLDERS MEETING OF THE LABOUR PARTY LP HELD ON MONDAY, 8TH APRIL 2024 AT THE AGNL EVENTS CENTRE, GUDU DISTRICT, ABUJA FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, FCT.

PREAMBLE 

Owing to the current vacuum in the leadership of the Labour Party LP, the NLC Political Commission consequent on its status in the Constitution of the Labour Party LP as a registered trustee of the Labour Party LP, a status that was further buttressed by a Federal High Court Consent Judgement delivered on March 20, 2018 by Justice Gabriel Kolawole, convened this stakeholders meeting to address the leadership void in the Labour Party LP and to discuss the repositioning of Labour Party LP to deliver it's mandate as the political vehicle for the emancipation of Nigerian workers and people.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE STAKEHOLDERS' MEETING 

1- The STAKEHOLDERS MEETING noted the vacuum in the leadership of the Labour Party LP following the expiration of the supposed tenure of the immediate past National Working Committee, NWC of the Labour Party LP elected on 10th June 2019 in Akwanga Nasarawa State National Convention.

2- The STAKEHOLDERS MEETING following the unanimous adoption of a motion moved to accept the recommendation made in the address by the NLC Political Commission Chairman resolved that in order to reposition the Labour Party LP from a mere platform for contesting elections to a viable political vehicle for the emancipation of Nigerian workers and people, the following steps must be taken immediately:

i- Constitution of a Transition Committee under the leadership of the NLC Political Commission and working with all Stakeholders with a mandate to set up structures at National, States, Local Government Areas and Ward level for the conduct of an All-Inclusive- and expansive national convention of the Labour Party LP.

ii- The STAKEHOLDERS MEETING passed A VOTE OF NO-CONFIDENCE on the purported Labour Party LP National Convention held in Nnewi, Anambra State on 27th March 2024 and regarded it as INCONSEQUENTIAL the leadership that claimed to have emerged the illegal Nnewi Convention.

iii- That the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and all the relevant security organizations in Nigeria are hereby notified and should be officially written immediately to recognize the TRANSITION COMMITTEE AS THE INTERIM LEADERSHIP of the Labour Party LP pending the conduct of an All - Inclusive and Expansive National Convention of the Labour Party LP.

iv- That the Transition Committee once constituted should FULLY TAKE OVER THE SECRETARIAT of the Labour Party LP all over Nigeria.

v- That the Transition Committee shall immediately set up an assets recovery process of all the properties of the Labour Party LP. 

The Transition Committee shall also ensure that ALL THE CASES OF FRAUD, IMPERSONATION AND FORGERY OF GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS PENDING AGAINST A FEW DISCREDITED FORMER OFFICERS of the Labour Party LP are forensically audited and CULPRITS ARE DILIGENTLY PROSECUTED as demanded by the leader of the Labour Party LP - Mr. Peter Obi.

It is unfortunate that the actions of these few dishonourable characters have splashed mud on the white satin of the Labour Party LP.

vi- That the Transition Committee shall within three (3) months of its constitution ensure the conduct of an All - Inclusive And Expansive National Convention of the Labour Party LP starting from WARD CONGRESSES to LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONGRESSES, to STATE CONGRESSES & Culminating in an All-inclusive and Expansive National Convention in Abuja.

vii- Pursuant to the forgoing, the Transition Committee is mandated by the Stakeholders meeting to begin the process of REVALIDATION OF CURRENT MEMBERS of the Labour Party LP and the REGISTRATION of NEW MEMBERS through the issuance of new membership cards and receipt of membership dues for the purposes of the conduct of an All inclusive and expansive national convention of the Labour Party LP.

It is expected that this National Mobilization drive will yield in the first instance a total membership strength of Ten (10) million Labour Party LP card carrying members drawn from across all workplaces,marketplaces, professional groups, ethnic and religious organizations that Nigerian workers and people belongs to.

viii- The STAKEHOLDERS MEETING recognized, affirmed and commended the support of critical stakeholders in the Labour Party LP for their continued support and faith in the Labour Party LP.

We promise that your steadfast solidarity will surely count !

ix- Finally, we reiterate that the Labour Party LP is a party for all Nigerians regardless of ethnic, religious, regional, social and economic orientation or status.

Signed:

1: Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku 

For: Chairman 

NLC Political Commission 

2: Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, Mni

Former President 

Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC 

3: Comrade S.O.Z Ejiofor 

Chairman 

Board of Trustees, BoT 

Labour Party LP 

4: Engr. Gambo Daniel Balarabe

National Coordinator, CSF

5: Dr. Moses Paul (Mo)

Coordinator,

Obedient Movement 

6: Chief Yohana Yilpwan Margif

Labour Party LP Plateau State Governorship Candidate 2023

7: Dr. Kingsley Oghogho Okundaye

Coordinator, LPPMC

8: Hon. Jonathan Awake

Kaduna State Labour Party LP Governorship Candidate 2023

9: Barr. Ihekwoaba Paul

For: Disabled Persons, PWD in Labour Party LP"

Labour Party LP 

Forward Ever !

Backward Never !

Lagos presidential election results manipulated at collation centre (Video )

According to the source of the video: Please, the Labour Party should not agree with the results from Lagos State.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos State asked all INEC Officials in all pooling unit not to transmit the Presidential Results to Abuja ,but that of Senate and House of Representatives were allowed

They went to rewrite all the Presidential Results at the various collation Centre late in the night when all party Agents have gone home.

I left one of the collation center by 12am this morning.

This is a day light robbery because Labour Party won in all pooling units I monitored and other results from all parts of Lagos State, Labour Party had leading results .....

Essentially, it is to say that the video exposes and confirmed that *the primordial and structural basis of electoral voting and rigging in Nigeria is still in force, hence the working people and poor masses shouldn't be deluded with so-called free & fair elections!

PHOTOS: Tinubu absent as 2023 Presidential candidates sign peace pact

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, was absent on Thursday as the presidential candidates of other political parties were physically present for the signing of the now-customary peace pact ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

However, Tinubu’s running mate, Kashim Shettima, was present at the signing.

Credit: Twitter | MrBanksOmishore

Dear Obidients you can March and hold your rally anywhere of your choice in LAGOS, says the Court

 

On Wednesday, the suit against OBIdient's rally in Lagos coming up on the 1st of October, 2022, came up for hearing .

 The court objected to the applicant's application to stop the OBIdient's rally coming up on Saturday, the 1st October 2022. The court ruled that we can hold our procession anywhere in the state, and we can march from Lekki pass through the the Lekki Toll gate and to any destination of our choice. 

It is a resounding victory. Our legal team was ably led by Alex Ejiseme SAN standing at my left. On white native, is Architect Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour the Labour Party's governorship aspirant in Lagos State. 

The matter was adjourned to 4th of November to hear the substantive suit. 

Here is the photograph of our Legal team in court today. 

Dear, OBIdients go out and march, victory is ours!

#peterobi4president2023

YORUBA land for Labour Party as Afenifere Reiterate support for Peter Obi

PRESS CONFERENCE BY CHIEF AYO ADEBANJO, LEADER OF AFENIFERE, ON THE 26TH OF SEPTEMBER, 2022, 11:00AM,

AT WHEATBAKER HOTEL, IKOYI, LAGOS STATE.

 

WHY AFENIFERE SUPPORTS SOUTH EAST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2023 PRESIDENCY.

Before the political parties conducted their primaries, a journalist asked what is my view about the 2023 general election? I answered and said the country should be restructured before the general election, and he followed up by asking if there should be an election, which zone should the Presidency come from? And I unhesitatingly said, of course, the South East

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After the primaries and the candidates emerge with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu from the South West, APC, Atiku Abubakar on the platform of PDP and Peter Obi on the platform of Labour Party and I announced Afenifere’s support for Peter Obi, not a few Yoruba leaders question why I should be supporting Peter Obi a candidate of Igbo extraction against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a Yoruba.

I took my time to explain that the presidency is not a contest between the Yorubas and the Igbos and to a large extent I was able to convince many.  

But ever since social media has been filled with comments tending to ethnicize the campaign instead of making it issue-based.

Afenifere has therefore decided to address you today and through you educate the public on the ideological and equitable principles which have influenced our decision.

Let me state here for the benefit of those who may not know that Afenifere is the Yoruba interpretation of the social welfarist ideology of Action Group, a political party founded by Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his colleagues in 1951 with strong advocacy for federalism as the best form of government to give the federating units the requisite autonomy to thrive and peacefully compete among themselves for the ultimate development of Nigeria.

The system was eventually agreed to by our founding fathers, Sir Ahmad Bello, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and endorsed by the Colonial Secretary, Sir Oliver Littleton in 1954 and embodied in the 1960 independence constitution. 

This is the modest contribution of Afenifere in shaping Nigeria into a federation where no person or ethnic nationality is oppressed.

In the countdown to the 2023 General elections, long before the parties conducted their Conventions to elect their National Executives and candidates, we had insisted and still advocate restructuring before the elections proposing a synthesis of the identical Resolutions of the 2014 National Conference and the APC El Rufai 2018 True Federalism Committee. We did this as Afenifere and on the wider spectrum of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF). We did this, when politicians, in spite of the monumental crises confronting the nation, carried on as if the attainment of power was all that mattered, the SMBLF unanimously proposed that the minimum condition for a peaceful transition from the disastrous 8years of Buhari’s government headed by a President of northern extraction was to have the next President from the South.

This position was also supported by all the southern governors, irrespective of their political parties at a meeting held in Asaba, Delta State.

 Incidentally, this North/South consideration which is at the very root of our amalgamated federation is also the most important testament of all political parties in Nigeria. The principle of federal character enshrined in the constitution dictates that the government of the federation or any part thereof shall not be concentrated in any ethnic group or a combination of such groups.

 It is therefore preposterous to adopt this principle for employment in public service admissions in educational institutions, political appointment, the composition of the executive committee of a political party only to jettison it in the most important question of rulership of the federation.

In this quest for peace, based on equity and inclusiveness, the Yoruba took the first turn at the zoning arrangement in 1999, and that led to the emergence of Chief Obasanjo, the current Vice President is a Yoruba man and equity forbids us for presuming to support another Yoruba person for the presidency in 2023. The current President is a Fulani from the Northwest and by virtue of the zoning arrangement that has governed Nigeria since 1999, power is supposed to return to the south imminently. The southwest as I have pointed out has produced a president and currently sits as VP, the South-South has spent a total of 6years in the Presidency, but the Igbo people of the South-East have never tasted presidency in Nigeria, and now that the power is due back in the South equity demands that it be ceded to the Igbo.

We cannot continue to demand that the Igbo people remain in Nigeria, while we at the same time continue to brutally marginalize and exclude them from the power dynamic. 

Peter Obi is the person of Igbo extraction that Afenifere has decided to support and to back, he is the man we trust to restructure the country back to federalism on the assumption of office. 

We will not compromise this principle of justice, equity and inclusiveness because one of our own Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a frontline candidate. 

It is on this same principle, we condemn the PDP for sponsoring Atiku Abubakar, a Northern Fulani Muslim to succeed General Muhammadu Buhari another Fulani Muslim who will soon complete 8 years of uneventful and disastrous rule. One can imagine such a high degree of political insensitivity.

On our part, we are certainly not alien to sacrificing personal interests in the quest for a National coalition to put Nigeria on the proper pedestal.

In this regard, the starting point is Southern solidarity for which we first enacted a handshake across the Niger, which had dovetailed to the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum. We enjoin the labour movement, students, youth organisations, women associations, and every institution whose foundation is built on fairness and justice to join hands in this task of enthroning a democratic government by supporting Peter Obi. If we are sincere and honest about keeping Nigeria together in peace, the slogan henceforth should be 

‘To keep Nigeria one, everyone should be Obi/Datti compliant.’

In the final analysis, let it be said that we have no apologies but due courage of our conviction that Nigeria can only prosper in righteousness.

For me, in the twilight of my sojourn on earth at 94, it is too late to derail me on the track of true federalism and National inclusiveness on which I have travelled for over 70 years of my life as one of the few surviving initial prophets, I prefer to ascend on a chariot of fire, fueled by justice and equity.

Thank you all                                     

And may the good Lord bless Nigeria

 

Signed

CHIEF AYO ADEBANJO

Leader of Afenifere