Going By His Policies, Buhari Never Wanted Tinubu To Win Presidential Election – Coalition Of Northern Groups
Photo credit: Sahara Reporters
The Coalition of Northern Groups has disagreed with a claim by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, that his principal (Buhari) wanted Bola Tinubu to emerge as Nigerian president and therefore, slowed down on the announcement of the fuel subsidy removal.
The CNG on Saturday noted that Buhari and his cabinet going by all his last-minute policies did not want Tinubu to win Nigerian presidency, and his (Buhari’s) to announce the fuel subsidy removal was rather out of “indecisions” rather than the Tinubu factor.
SaharaReporters had during the week reported that Buhari’s Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, stated that Buhari “helped” Tinubu to win the presidential election by not announcing the fuel subsidy removal.
Shehu had said, “Finally, we must be politically honest with ourselves. The Buhari administration in its last days could not have gone the whole way because the APC had an election to win. And that would have been the case with any political party that was seeking election for another term with a new principal at its head.”
According to Vanguard, the spokesperson of the Coalition of Northern Groups, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, while reacting said, “The confession by the former President Buhari did not come as a surprise to us at the CNG. If anything, it is a confirmation of what we have been pointing out throughout the eight years of that citadel of poor governance, indifference, insensitivity and unprecedented plunder that was the Buhari presidency.
“We however disagree slightly with Buhari because everyone is aware by now that he never wanted Tinubu to win, and never worked for his victory. Instead, he supported policy directions and encouraged actions that clearly aimed to subvert it. The failure of the Buhari administration to announce the removal of the fuel subsidy was merely one out of the several indecisions, lack of courage and political will to tackle national issues around security, the economy and reintegration that characterized an administration wrapped in the crude cover of crass political opportunism and breathtaking ineptitude.
“It is part of the burdens of the shared legacy of the Buhari administration in the bombs and bullets of insurgents, bandits, and the deteriorating standards of living as politicians and top government officials fleeced the poor of resources to develop, officials whose personal greed and ambitions remained tied to the continuation of decay and destruction of a nation and a people.
Biden to host Swedish PM for talks
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US President Joe Biden will host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson next week to talk about transatlantic security cooperation and the war in Ukraine, the White House said Saturday.
The two leaders “will review our growing security cooperation and reaffirm their view that Sweden should join NATO as soon as possible,” the White House said in a statement about the Wednesday meeting.
Sweden asked to join NATO in May 2022, three months after Russia invaded Ukraine, but its membership bid, which must be ratified by all 31 member states, has been blocked by Turkey and Hungary.
Western officials had hoped to formally welcome Sweden into the bloc by the time a NATO summit is held in Lithuania on July 11-12.
But earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Sweden for allowing a protest during which a man burned pages from the Koran, further clouding the Nordic nation’s chances of quickly joining the military alliance.
“I am delighted that President Biden is inviting us to a meeting next week, before the NATO summit in Vilnius the following week,” Kristersson said in a statement. “The focus of the visit will be on Sweden’s NATO accession.”
The White House said Biden and Kristersson will also “discuss our shared commitment to supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s brutal war of aggression.”
They will additionally talk about transatlantic coordination on China, climate change and emerging technologies.
Akume Plots PDP’s G-5 Defection, Meets Ortom
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The five aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party leaders under the aegis of the G-5 may dump the party ahead of the 2027 general election, Sunday PUNCH has learnt. This has been tied to ongoing moves by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to woo one of them into the governing All Progressives Congress.
The G-5 is made up of Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde and former governors Nyesom Wike, Okezie Ikpeazu, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Samuel Ortom of Rivers, Abia, Enugu and Benue states respectively.
The PDP chieftains opposed the continued stay of Senator Iyorchia Ayu as the PDP national chairman following the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the PDP presidential candidate for the 2023 election. They also moved against Atiku, who lost the contest to APC’s Bola Tinubu, who is now the President.
It was gathered that the five PDP leaders have been in touch with Tinubu even as their party, the PDP, is challenging the outcome of the February 25 election at the Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja.
Why I lost Oyo gov election — Folarin
Photo credits: Punch papers
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the March 28 election in Oyo State, Teslim Folarin, revealed on Saturday why he lost the election to the sitting Governor, Seyi Makinde.
The PUNCH had reported that Makinde polled 563,756 votes to defeat Folarin, who scored 256,685 votes.
He made this known at Idigbaro, Ologuneru, in the Ido Local Government Area of the state, during a reception and victory party held in honour of a member, representing Ibarapa/Ido Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Remi Oseni.
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