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2023: Wike Pledges End To Banditry In Katsina, Others … Slams APC Aspirants Wanting To Consolidate Buhari’s Legacy

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant and Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has disclosed that he has a clear plan to counter activities of marauding bandits in Katsina State and other parts of the country, if elected president of Nigeria.
The presidential aspirant has also promised that he would produce real and rapid improvements in the lives of Nigerians, particularly by aggressively resolving insecurity and creating a conductive environment for economic activities to thrive.
This is even as Wike wondered what good jobs President Muhammadu Buhari has done that presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were promising to consolidate.
Wike gave hint of his clear blueprint to tackle insecurity while addressing Katsina State PDP leaders and delegates at the party’s secretariat in Katsina, the state capital, last Saturday.
The Rivers State governor regretted that President Muhammadu Buhari, who hails from Katsina State has failed to stem the activities of marauding bandits responsible for the wanton destruction of lives and property in the state.
The governor assured the delegates that if elected as president in the 2023 presidential election, he would expeditiously resolve the nagging issue of insecurity and implement economic programmes that would enhance the quality of lives of Nigerians.
“You require somebody who will give you security in Katsina State. You require somebody who will bring projects to Katsina State. You require somebody who will appreciate the people of Katsina State.”
Wike reiterated that the PDP requires a presidential candidate who is courageous, firm and with capacity to defeat the failed All Progressives Congress (APC) government in the 2023 general election.
“APC will not give you power. We will take this power back from APC and give it back to PDP on behalf of Nigeria. I am that person who can withstand APC and win them. I am not going to run election to bear former presidential candidate. I came out because I know I would win the election.”
Wike urged the delegates not to vote for any aspirant on the basis of ethno-religious sentiment.
He asserted that they will be making informed choice by voting for him based on his the track records and commitment to the PDP.
The governor, who described himself as the most prepared aspirant, however, maintained that if someone else emerges as the PDP’s presidential candidate, he would support the person to defeat the APC.
“If I don’t get the ticket, I will still work for anybody who emerges as the candidate of the party, because what we are talking about is how PDP will take back power, how we can solve the problem of insecurity, how we can solve the problem of hunger.
“You cannot go to farm, again, your wives cannot go to farm. When they go to farm they will be kidnapped, they will be raped. Can we continue to live in fear? Can we continue to leave this country with these people that have failed us?”
In his remarks, former Katsina State Governor, Ibrahim Shehu Shema, said that Wike has demonstrated in course of his nationwide campaign that he has the capacity to lead Nigeria and resolve the issues of insecurity, poverty, hunger, illiteracy and unemployment.
“Anybody, who is not willing to take up this challenge, and look at the populace and address what their true and genuine concerns are, will only be interested in power for himself.
“I am glad we share the same vision. We are thinking in the same direction and we hope Nigeria after 2023 will be a better, more prosperous, more focus and more and more leader of Africa and the black world.”
Katsina State PDP Chairman, Salius Yusuf Majigiri, said party faithful are excited to receive Wike and his campaign team and do identify with his aspiration to become the president of Nigeria.
Similarly, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has wondered what good jobs President Muhammadu Buhari has done that presidential aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were promising to consolidate.
Wike, who is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, said Nigerians are under the yoke of APC maladministration with intractable insecurity situation that has crippled the economy and increased hunger.
Speaking in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, last Friday, when he met with Governor Douye Diri at the Government House, Wike said God and Nigerians would forbid such successor to emerge, because the country must be freed from the festering insecurity, hunger, poverty and dwindling economic fortunes of Nigeria and its people.
“It is most unfortunate when I hear people declaring (intention to be president) under APC and saying they want to continue the good job of Mr President: The good job of people dying every day? Or the good job of Naira falling every day?
“I feel so ashamed that we have gotten to the level of sycophancy where people will come and say ‘I want to continue the good job of Buhari’. What is the good job of Buhari? Hunger, poverty, insecurity, economy falling?
“I can’t believe that somebody will come out in today’s Nigeria and say I want to continue where Mr Buhari has stopped. May God never allowed that evil to continue.”
Wike described himself as the most courageous leader who can lead Nigeria out of its presents woes and has, therefore, urged delegates of the PDP in Bayelsa State to support his presidential bid.
The Rivers State governor urged his Bayelsa State counterpart to support his presidential bid because he was contesting on behalf of the two sister states.
Wike said he understands the peculiar problems of the two states, the Niger Delta region and is in a position to sufficiently address them as president of Nigeria.
In his response, Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, noted that PDP constitution provided for the rotation of the position of presidential candidate between the North and South.
He reiterated that it was expedient that it is enforced within the principle of fairness, justice and fair play.
Diri described his Rivers State counterpart as a homegrown politician who understands the contending issues both in the South-South region, and Nigeria as a whole.
“The challenges of the South-South, the challenges of the Niger Delta, the challenges of Rivers and Bayelsa, you have worn the shoe, and it is only those who wear the shoe that knows where it is pinching. And so, there is no other aspirant that understands our challenges and problems other than you.
“You could have as well said this is our state I don’t need to come and campaign in Bayelsa, I don’t even need to come and see the delegates in Bayelsa, my brother governor is there, he will do it for me. And if you had called me on phone, I would have said ‘don’t come, stay back in Port Harcourt, we will do it for you’.”
He noted the need for a courageous leader like Wike to reverse the top-bottom administrative modus operandi of APC that has plunged Nigeria into dire economic situation.
Diri assured his brother governor that the people of Bayelsa State would support him to actualise his presidential ambition.
Wike, who later met with PDP delegates at the party’s secretariat in Yenagoa, reminded them of how he stood firm and never betrayed former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Rivers State governor said he was handing himself over to Bayelsa people to consider him as their son, who is requiring their support so that he could clinch the PDP presidential ticket.
Wike described himself as complete PDP member who has never left the party, and remains the only courageous and fearless person who can confront APC in the 2023 presidential election, and win it.
The Rivers State governor expressed regret that the APC-led Federal Government has been unable to crush activities of bandits in parts of the country.
He, however, stated that bandits would naturally run away when they know that he has emerged as the next president of Nigeria.
Also speaking, the former Gombe State Governor, Dr Hassan Dakwambo, said Wike requires their support to actualise his presidential bid.
According to him, Wike was not only one of their own, but a trusted, tested leader who was psychologically prepared, and has the courage to provide the needed leadership that Nigeria yearns for.
In his remarks, PDP Chairman in Bayelsa State, Mr Solomon Agwana, said the country needs a visionary leader like Wike to put out of the brinks.
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I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
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RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
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Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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