TIMITALKS

  Wike threw down the gauntlet while he was flagging off a new road in Rivers State. He said: “In 2003 when President Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to run for a second tenure―a whole president wanted to run for a second tenure―he knelt down before his vice and said, ‘my vice, please, allow me to run.’ “You know one of the conditions he gave him? That Tony Anenih must be sacked as the Minister of Works and that Tony Anenih must not be in the presidential campaign council. Obasanjo obliged and sacked Tony Anenih as the Minister of Works and removed him from the presidential campaign council. This is a president,[and] his own vice giving him condition; a retired General knelt down and was given conditions. “We (G5) are not even doing that; we are not saying sack this one; we are only saying that the constitution of our party must be respected based on what the national chairman said and based on what you told me in my house.” The governor then dared the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to ex...

  The President of the Senate,  Ahmed Lawan, on Friday said President Muhammadu Buhari will sign the 2023 appropriation bill on Tuesday, January 3 2023. Lawan stated this after a closed-door meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Lawan, who arrived at the State House few minutes before 3:00pm, said he discussed the President’s recent additional loan request and the 2023 appropriate bill. He rued the signing of the appropriation bill is a bit later than that of the 2022 which was signed on December 31 2021.

  There is anxiety in the camp of Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation, over the deal between Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. Amaechi, who also vied for the APC presidential ticket, came second during the presidential primaries of the APC in June. Though Amaechi was named as the special adviser on infrastructure in the Presidential Campaign Council of Tinubu, Daily Trust reports that he has not been participating in the campaign exercise. The former governor of Rivers State, who was the campaign DG of President Buhari in 2015 and 2019, has been at loggerheads with Wike since 2013. A source close to him in Abuja told this paper that Amaechi was not being treated fairly by Tinubu and the people around him. “It is an understatement to say he (Amaechi) is not happy. When Oshiomhole went to Port Harcourt, he asked the people to only support Tinubu and that for the other positions, ...

  The second term bid of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State is being threatened by the continued insistence of the G-5 governor to work against former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Makinde is the only first-term governor among the quintet – Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Samuel Ortom (Benue). Although Ortom, Ugwuanyi and Ikpeazu are seeking senatorial seats, Makinde’s ambition is the most threatened considering the dynamics of Oyo politics. The state is controlled by many political gladiators that it is difficult for a single politician to be the major determinant in an election. Makinde won the 2019 election on the strength of a coalition of gladiators who wanted to oust the then-ruling APC and stop late Abiola Ajimobi from installing a successor. Despite Makinde’s insistence on not supporting Atiku, some leaders of the PDP in the state, including a former Minister of Mines and Steel Development,...

  former Governor of Kano State and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Sen.  Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has debunked rumours that he is working for another party coming 2023 general election. Mr. Kwankwasko stated this while responding to questions from some of his supporters while featuring on a live radio program in Dutse, Jigawa State. He said since he and his supporters joined the NNPP, some people have been concocting different kinds of lies just for their political reasons. According to him, “I heard that some people are saying Northern elders met me and asked me to step down for a Northern candidate and some are saying I am romancing with APC. “Who can tell us about Arewa? Who knows Arewa better than us? These are candidates that have issues with their qualifications and health.” He explained that the news was baseless and was concocted by miscreants for political reasons to distract Nigerians. “God forbid I work or romance with APC, PDP, I am for ...

  Former Minister of Transportation and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC),   Rotimi Amaechi has denied claims that he will soon dump the party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  ahead of the 2023 general elections. Umar Sani, a former Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Vice President Namadi Sambo had on Twitter programme HardTalk disclosed that the former Rivers State Governor had said as a devout Catholic, he cannot support a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket being paraded by the APC. "I'm glad to tell you that in Rivers state, PDP has gotten Amaechi because he (Amaechi) said he is a Catholic and will not support Muslim-Muslim ticket. He is going to support PDP"  "So if there is somebody who can match Wike madness for madness, boxing for boxing, it's Amaechi" Sani said .  When contacted by DAILY INDEPENDENT, Amaechi denied the claim, saying he never said anything like that. " He is lying. There was never any tim...

  Pele's funeral will take place inside the Santos stadium next week Monday January 2 and Tuesday January 3rd, the Brazilian club said, when fans will be able to pay their final respects to the football legend. The Brazilian legend, whose full name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, died Thursday at the age of 82 after a long battle with cancer, sparking an outpouring of tributes from around the world. His body will go straight from the Albert Einstein Hospital to Estádio Urbano Caldeira in Vila Belmiro at dawn on Monday and the coffin will be placed in the centre of the pitch. The public wake is expected to begin at 10am. The ceremony will continue until 10am on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, when the parade will take place through the streets of Santos. Pele died at the age of 82 following a long battle with colon cancer. He had been in hospital since late last month. Pele had a colon tumour removed in September 2021. Neither his family nor the hospital have said whether it had spread t...