Weekly Catch Up On Naija Political Drama: January 30: Power Failure Disrupts APC’s Campaign; Tinubu Complains Of New Naira; Adeleke’s Osun State Victory Revoked; Others

APC’s Campaign Cut Short After Power Failure

The All Progressives Congress, APC, unexpectedly called an end to its presidential campaign rally on Monday in Bauchi State at the Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium after the podium’s microphone stopped working.

The microphone malfunctioned just as Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the Party’s National Chairman, was about to introduce President Muhammadu Buhari and the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to the podium.

After the engineers in charge of the event’s electrical setup failed to fix the problem, it was reported that President Buhari just walked up to the podium and handed the party’s flag to Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar (rtd), the APC candidate for governor of the State.

Following the presentation of the flag, the President was immediately escorted out of the stadium by security.

Similarly, when the incident produced a ruckus at the venue, Tinubu, the presidential candidate, and Kashim Shettima, his running mate, left the area without saying a word to the crowd of party members and supporters.

Kwankwaso Is Not Qualified To Lead Nigeria – NNPP’s Chieftain

Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s bid to win the presidency of Nigeria in the upcoming general elections on the platform of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, was disturbed on Sunday when Dr Babayo Liman, the party’s zonal secretary for the North East, withdrew from the party and gave his support to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Liman explained his reasons for leaving the NNPP to reporters, claiming that there is “no single structure on ground that would warrant it winning an election at the national level.”

Additionally, he declared that the party’s presidential candidate lacks the ability “to triumph in the forthcoming general elections.”

Liman, who claimed to have permanently left the party, stated: “I resigned my appointment as the North East zonal secretary of the NNPP and join PDP to support Atiku Abubakar and the PDP guber candidate for Taraba State.”

Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP was once linked with former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, in a deal that could have seen their two parties merge to form an alliance in the 2023 elections.

However, it was said Kwankwaso’s camp where not interested in the idea, resulting in a collapse of the plan.

Tinubu Complains, Says Fuel Scarcity And Naira Redesign Is Aimed At Him

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress, claimed on Wednesday that the change of currency and fuel scarcity was done in an effort to undermine the February elections.

Tinubu pointed to the ongoing fuel issue and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s redesign of the currency as moves to obstruct his predicted victory.

The former Lagos governor, speaking in yoruba during his presidential campaign, said: “They don’t want this election to hold. They want to scuttle it.

“They have started coming up with the issue of ‘no fuel’. Don’t worry, if there is no fuel, we will trek to cast the vote.

“If you like, increase the price of fuel, hide the fuel or change the ink on the naira notes, we will win the election. We will use our PVCs (permanent voter cards) to take over the government from them; if they like, let them say there is no fuel, and we will trek there (polling booths).”

“Redesign Of Naira Aimed At Politicians; Not The People” – Buhari

Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), the president, stated on Saturday that the government’s currency reset is not intended to target innocent citizens but rather corrupt individuals and terror financiers holding illegal funds.

He also promised Nigerians that the government would make sure that any disruptions to the whole supply chain brought on by the currency swap would not have an adverse effect on them or their businesses.

Buhari said this in a statement titled “Government will eliminate squeeze, chaos in currency swap, President Buhari assures”, released on Saturday and signed by Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the president for media and publicity.

The president was responding to reports of huge lines of people waiting for hours to exchange their old notes for new ones.

The CBN has stated that all old notes must be turned in to commercial banks before January 31, 2023.

The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, informed journalists at the State House on November 23, 2022, when the new Naira notes were unveiled, that the January deadline remained solid and would not be changed for any reason.

Nigerians are getting closer to the deadline, but the amount of new notes in circulation has been grossly insufficient.

The majority of commercial banks still give their customers old notes through their automated teller machines.

Buhari reaffirmed that the currency changes were targeted at people hoarding illicit funds and not the average person in response to reports of long lines of people waiting for hours for their turn to deposit old notes and get new ones. This infuriated the public and drew criticism from the opposition.

He stated that the measures had become necessary in order to stop fraud, corruption, and the funding of terrorism as well as to stabilize and improve the economy.

The statement read in part, “While taking note that the poorest section of society is facing hardship as they often keep hard cash at home for various expenses, President Buhari gave strong assurances that the government will not leave them to their own fate.

“He reiterated that a number of initiatives by the Central Bank and all commercial banks are underway to speed up distribution of the new notes and do all that is necessary to forestall cash squeeze and chaos.”

Ademola Adeleke’s Osun State Governorship Victory Overturned By Tribunal

The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, situated in Osogbo, has thrown out the victory results of Governor Ademola Adeleke’s election on July 16, 2022.

The win of Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was challenged by Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the basis of overvoting and certificate fraud.

All documents submitted by the petitioner (Oyetola) were found to be genuine and lawful by the tribunal, which was presided over by Justice Tertsea Kume, and Adeleke’s plea to have them rejected was denied.

Additionally, it was decided that Governor Ademola Adeleke meets the academic requirements to run for governor of Osun.

The tribunal concluded that there was evidence of overvoting in the July 16 guber election although noting that the APC’s claim of overvoting was insufficient.

“After deducting invalid votes due to overvoting, Adegboyega Oyetola scored 314, 931 while Governor Ademola Adeleke scored 290, 666,” the Tribunal held.

As a result, the tribunal decided that Ademola Adeleke’s election as governor was invalid.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must revoke Adeleke’s certificate of return in order to comply with the court decision.