Biodun Olujimi sworn in as senator

Biodun Olujimi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday, took her oath of office to represent Ekiti South in the Senate.

The swearing in was done by the Clerk of the Senate, Nelson Ayewoh, at the start of plenary.

Her swearing in comes about week after the Court of Appeal in Kaduna declared her winner of the Ekiti South senatorial election held on February 23.

She replaced the former Senate spokesperson, Adedayo Adeyeye.

Mrs Olujimi who was the Minority Leader in the eight Senate, had filed a petition at the election tribunal, alleging that there were irregularities in the election after Mr Adeyeye was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

She said she scored the highest number of lawful votes cast during the keenly contested poll. She asked the tribunal to nullify Mr Adeyeye’s victory and declare her winner or order a supplementary election accordingly in the district.

She claimed that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Acts, having been allegedly fraught with all manners of irregularities.

PREMIUM TIMES in September reported the initial sack of Mr Adeyeye by the tribunal in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital. The tribunal declared Mrs Olujimi winner.

At the final computation, Mrs Olujimi polled 54,894 votes to emerge victorious over the Senate committee chairman on media and publicity, who polled 52,243.

Last week, Justice Anyanwu upheld the tribunal ruling and directed INEC to issue a certificate of return to Mrs Olujimi.

Mrs Olujimi’s resumption brings the number of female lawmakers in the Senate to eight.

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APC has no governorship candidate in Bayelsa, court declares

The Federal High Court, Yenagoa, on Thursday declared that the All Progressives Congress (APC) does not have a governorship candidate in the forthcoming election in Bayelsa State.

This development is coming two days to the election.

The court was presided over by Justice Jane Inyang.

The court declaration, on Thursday, was part of its judgement in a case filed by Heineken Lokpobiri, one of the APC governorship aspirants.

Mr Lokpobiri, a former minister of state for agriculture, had approached the court, asking it to declare him, and not David Lyon, the authentic candidate of the APC.

“The court pronounced that the governorship primary conducted by the APC in Bayelsa state was not done in compliance with the guidelines and the constitution of the party, and, therefore, the party has no candidate,” Mr Lokpobiri’s lawyer, Fitzgerald Olorogun, told reporters immediately after the court ruling.

A shocked Mr Olorogun said the court declaration was not part of their prayers. “It’s strange,” he said.

Asked what was the next option for his client, Mr Olorogun said “We’ll do the needful. But for now, the pronouncement of the court is that APC has no candidate.”

There was heavy police presence within and outside the court premises. The main highway way leading to the court was barricaded by the police. Visitors, including journalists, were frisked before they were allowed to enter the court building.

Mr Lokpobiri, before now, has been urging the people of Bayelsa to vote for the APC in the November 16 election, despite his court case against Mr Lyon and the party.

“I’m a very strong member of APC and I came today to formally tell our chairman and to speak to Nigerians, in particular, the electorate in Bayelsa that all of them should vote for APC regardless of what happens in the court case in which judgment is slated for Nov. 14, 2019,” the former minister said in Abuja after a courtesy visit on the national chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole.

“I told my supporters even before I came here that no matter what happened, I will remain in APC having served as a minister under this administration.

“There is no way the outcome of the governorship primaries will make me leave APC. We are working and campaigning at different levels.

“I always advise that anybody that is grieved, the only place to go is the court.

“So, whatever happens in the matter that is pending in court will not be an infraction on any part of our party’s constitution,” he said.

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday had disqualified Mr Lyon’s running mate, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, from participating in the forthcoming election on the grounds that he provided conflicting information on the documents he presented to INEC.

The case against Mr Degi-Eremienyo was filed by the PDP.

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CJN leads Supreme Court panel on Atiku’s appeal

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammadu, is leading the seven-man panel scheduled to hear the appeals in respect of the case instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to challenge the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari at the February 23, 2019 poll.

Justice Muhammad and other six members of the panel filed into the courtroom at about 9.09 a.m. on Wednesday set for the hearing.

Other members of the panel are Justices Bode Rhodes-Vivour, Kayode Ariwoola, John Okoro, Amiru Sanusi, Ejembi Eko and Uwani Abba-Ajji.

The National Chairmen of both the PDP and the All Progressives Congress – Uche Secondus and Adams Oshiomhole, respectively, are also seated in the courtroom with a handful of their party supporters.

Atiku and his party had jointly filed their appeal before the apex court to challenge the September 11, 2019 judgment of the Justice Mohammed Garba-led Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

The tribunal’s judgment which Atiku and his party are dissatisfied with had dismissed their petition challenging the outcome of the February 23, 2019 poll.

Subsequently, the petitioners on September 23, 2019, filed 66 grounds of appeal before the Supreme Court to challenge the judgment of the tribunal.

They prayed the Supreme Court to nullify Buhari’s victory and either order that Atiku be declared as the valid winner of the poll or order the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh presidential election.

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How I rescued my family from poverty – Osimhen

Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has narrated how his emergence as a professional footballer saved his family members from difficulties.

The Nigerian striker, who plays for Lille in Ligue 1, said life was tough for his siblings after his mother’s death and father’s joblessness.

According to him, his father lost his job three months after his mother died.

To survive, Osimhen said his brother hawked sports newspapers, while sister sold oranges in the street.

The 20-year-old player also said he earlier sold bottled water in Lagos traffic to help his family survive.

To also survive, the footballer narrated that he once joined his friends to scavenge for crampons and shoes at the former Olusosun dumpsite in Oregun-Ojota area of Lagos.

But after emerging as a successful footballer, Osimhen said his family members are now living the life they deserved.

Though he didn’t state how large his family members live at present, Osimhen said his father and siblings now have enough to eat.

“It was very difficult, when I lost my mother, it became tougher after my father lost his job and everything was very hard for us.

“We did not have enough to eat, but now I can give my family everything they want, since I became a professional. I’ve been able to quickly break the deadlock and give them the life they deserve,” Osimhen told BeIN Sport.

After helping Nigeria lift the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile, Osimhen sealed a move to Bundesliga side Wolfsburg where he played 14 top-flight games in two seasons.

He struggled to establish himself in the German city and thus, secured a move to Belgium, where he played the entire 2018/19 season and scored 12 goals in 25 league matches.

Subsequently, he was signed by Lille as Nicolas Pepe’s replacement, who had moved to Arsenal in the off-season.

With seven goals in nine Ligue 1 matches so far this season, Osimhen has apparently found his feet in France.

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Abramovich rejects mega offer to sell Chelsea

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has reportedly resisted an opportunity to sell the club and insists the club is not for sale.

A mega-rich Middle East consortium proposed a potential takeover offer but it was shrugged off by the Russian, according to the Telegraph.

There have been rumours that the billionaire businessman was looking to sell since the UK tightened its regulations on visas for wealthy foreign nationals.

He has since barely been seen at Chelsea matches, sparking speculation that he is losing his interest in the club he purchased in 2003.

Abramovich also put plans to develop Stamford Bridge on hold amid spiralling costs of £1bn

But it appears he has no plans to leave his 16-year project any time soon. It is claimed that Abramovich has been approached by a number of potential buyers including Sir Jim Ratcliffe – once Britain’s richest man.

Ratcliffe already owns Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport but sources close to Abramovich insist it is “not for sale.”

But the report also claims that the Russian would consider entertaining offers if he receives a bid in the region of £3bn.

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EFCC tenders Naira Marley’s laptop, iPhone as evidence in court

The trial of musician Naira Marley for alleged credit card fraud opened on Wednesday before the Federal High Court in Lagos, with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission tendering as exhibits an Apple laptop and an iPhone said to have been recovered from him.

Naira Marley, whose real name is Azeez Fashola, released a song with the title, Am I a Yahoo boy?

He is facing 11 counts before Justice Nicholas Oweibo.

He pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in May and was granted bail in the sum of N2m, with two sureties.

At the trial opening on Wednesday, an investigator with the EFCC, Nuru Buhari, said the anti-graft agency retrieved “damning evidence of credit card fraud from Naira Marley’s laptop.

Buhari, who told the court that he works in the EFCC forensic department, said an analysis of Naira Marley’s laptop showed that he frequented the top five most-visited websites which deal in buying and selling stolen credit cards.

Buhari, who was fielding questions from the prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, said, “During analysis, the cache file and history file revealed that the most frequently visited sites by the user of the computer includes arder007.org, Zuni.sa, nationwidecheckbalance.co.uk, ferunshop.net AMD cocoa.co.uk.

“Analysis of the websites revealed that web 1 is where stolen card information is being sold to intending fraudsters, web 2 is for stolen credit cards specifically for the UK, web 3 is an online website designed for UK cardholders to check their balance wherever they are around the world, web 4 is a dark web meaning an underground tunnel in the Internet where stolen credit card information are sold and traded, web 5 is an online shopping mall where members are given discounts for shopping from certain shops.”

The investigator said his team also found a file named, Select BIN 101.txt and .txt., and on opening the file they discovered it contained “stolen credit card information with special status that allows transaction up to $12,000 without a pin or physical card.”

He said, “For the note file, two major files were discovered named .txt, which contained about four credit card information, belonging to four different personalities in the UK, including one Nicole Louise.

“The second file is named selected BIN101.txt containing Bank Identification Number of European, American and Latin American banks.

“When we ran the BIN code search for the first six digits of the cards, it revealed they are Visa cards issued by Barclay’s bank, Sandander UK plc.

“We identified that certain banks in the US, Europe and Asia with certain peculiarities, these are banks that they issue credit cards without pins based on the high level of trust, they allow a transaction of up to $12,000 in a swipe on pos.

“Cards issued by those banks are card not required. All you need to execute a transaction is the card number and the CVV number. ”

Buhari said analysis of installed apps on Naira Marley’s laptop showed that two them, IP VANISH and TOR Browser,  enable the owner of the computer to disguise his identity and location.

Buhari said, “The TOR Browser is sometimes called the Onion. Most of the criminals cover their tracks with various layers just like an onion using this app to make it near impossible for a tracker to track their location.

“The IP VANISH is a virtual private network, which provides that the actual computer and location of usage cannot be identified. It also gives the user the ability to change their location.”

Justice Nicholas Oweibo adjourned till Thursday for continuation of trial.

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Police arrest suspected Imo pastor killer

Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Imo State Police Command, on Wednesday, arrested the suspected killers of a pastor, Austin Megwa.

Until his killing in August, Megwa was a pastor with the Graceland Assembly Church, Okwuemeke, in the Owerri North Local Government Area of the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Orlando Ikeokwu, confirmed the arrest of the suspects.

The police spokesperson said Moses Ijeoma, 39, and Ikenna Etiti, 29, were apprehended in an operation led by the SARS Commander, Godfrey Victor, in the Oguta Local Government Area of the state.

Ikeokwu described the suspects as dreaded kidnappers, who were recently released from the Owerri Correctional Centre for taking part in another kidnap operation.

He stated, “Moses Ijeoma, 39, aka Ogbuefi, and Ikenna Etiti, 29, both from Mgbala Agwa in the Oguta LGA, have been arrested for the kidnap and murder of Pastor Austin Megwa of the Graceland Assembly Church, Okwuemeke in the Owerri North LGA of Imo State.

“On October 16, 2019, these notorious and deadly kidnappers were arrested at Mgbala Agwa in the Oguta LGA of Imo State by the operatives of the Special-Anti Robbery Squad following a tip-off in connection with the kidnap and murder of one Pastor Austin Megwa of the Graceland Assembly Church on August 11, 2019, on Egbu Road, Owerri.

“The suspects, who were recently released from the Owerri Correctional Centre following their previous involvement in kidnapping cases in the state, have made useful statements confessing to the crime and stating the roles they played in the kidnap and murder of the victim.

“During the operation, which led to their arrest, one of the suspects sustained gunshot injury on his right leg and was later rushed to the Police Hospital, where he was treated and discharged. Investigation is ongoing as efforts have been intensified to arrest the fleeing members of the gang.”

The police spokesperson added that the suspects would be prosecuted.

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Governor Fintiri shortlist Atiku's Son among his commissioners

Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State has forwarded a list of 23 commissioner-nominees to the state House of Assembly for screening and confirmation as commissioners.

Prominent among the commissioner designates which is coming five months after Fintiri’s took the oath of office is Adamu Atiku, the first son of Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 general elections.

Aminu Iya-Abbas, Speaker of the Adamawa House of Assembly read out the list during plenary on Wednesday.

Atiku loyalists, Ibrahim Mijinyawa and Umaru Daware, who both defected from the All Progressives Congress to the PDP shortly after they resigned their posts as commissioners under the administration of former Governor Jibrilla  Bindow also made the list as commissioner-nominees for Yola North and Fufore local government areas respectively.

Others are Mohammed Umar (Madagali), Elijah Tumba (Michika), Dr Ishaya Dabari (Michika), Sunday Mathew (Mubi North), Prof. Isa Abdullahi (Mubi South), Hassan Kaigama (Maiha), Dr Umar Garba (Hong), Lami Patrick (Gombi), Usman Diyajo (Girei), Mustapha Jika (Yola South), Sanusi Faruk (Toungo), Bappa Isa (Ganye), Aloysius Babadoke (Jada) and Shuaibu Audu (Mayo Belwa).

Also on the list are Iliya James (Demsa), Dishi Khobe (Numan),  Justina Nkom (Lamurde),  Wilbina Jackson (Guyuk) and Adamu Titus (Shelleng).

Recall that Fintiri had appointed Afraimu Jingi as Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the state because of legal appeals involving the state.

Speaking on the list, the House Committee Chairman on Information, Mr Japhet Kefas, said, “No date had been fixed for screening.”

The house had on Tuesday approved the list of 40 special advisers for the governor.

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Chelsea vs Ajax: The Blues stars face acid test against youth kings

Chelsea’s young guns will test their run of form at one of the homes of youth development on Wednesday as they attempt to stop an Ajax team on course to replicate last season’s thrilling Champions League run.

The Blues are on a five-match winning streak in all competitions after beating Newcastle United 1-0 at the weekend but come up against the Group H leaders in Amsterdam

Ajax are averaging over three goals a game at home and abroad and are hungry for European success after semi-final heartache last season.

Fikayo Tomori, Ross Barkley, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Tammy Abraham all started Saturday’s win at Stamford Bridge, the first time since 2013 five English players made the London club’s starting XI.

They are second on three points in Group H after a wobbly opening two games in the Champions League, with a pair of matches coming up against on-fire Ajax that could decide their European destiny.

“These two games against Ajax are really big because they’re such a strong team … The movement of the team and the way they play football will be a big test for us,” coach Frank Lampard told the Chelsea website on Monday.

Abraham has stolen the headlines with eight goals in nine league appearances and the opener in Chelsea’s 2-1 win in Lille, and Lampard called the 22-year-old a “sponge” for his capacity to learn.

“He wants to listen, to get better, to score more goals, improve his game and help his team-mates. He’s got the beautiful base of that in terms of coaching,” added Lampard.

However four of those Saturday starters are academy products who have flourished under new boss Lampard, who has dealt with the loss of Eden Hazard and a UEFA-imposed transfer ban by pushing the Premier League club’s youth products to centre stage.

Hudson-Odoi, who recently returned from a long-term ankle injury, was a constant menace with his bursts down the flank and it was the 18-year-old who teed up Marcos Alonso for the winning goal from a match in which Chelsea had 16 shots at goal and 72 per cent possession.

It was also just the second time this season that Chelsea kept a clean sheet, and they did it without the injured Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger, with 21-year-old Tomori proving an increasingly solid presence at the back.

Rudiger and Christensen are two of a string of Chelsea absentees which includes midfield lynchpin N’Golo Kante and another academy product Ruben Loftus-Cheek, with Barkley and Cesar Azpilicueta also doubts for Ajax.

Ajax’s remarkable form has led to rumours that coach Erik ten Hag is a potential Bayern Munich target, rumours that the 49-year-old refused to play down on Monday as Nico Kovac comes under fire in Germany.

Despite losing midfield dynamo Frenkie De Jong to Barcelona and defensive rock Matthijs de Ligt to Juventus, they are top of the Eredivisie and unbeaten after scoring 31 times in their opening 10 games, three points ahead of PSV Eindhoven and Vitesse Arnhem.

In fact Erik ten Hag’s side have hardly felt the effects of their departures, as the rising stars of Dutch football struggle to impose themselves in new countries.

They are also top of Group H after beating both Lille and Valencia 3-0 with the same brand of thrilling football that captured Europe’s imaginations last season.

However, although they reemerged as a European force thanks to their academy talent, their star turns this campaign are all outside discoveries, with Hakim Ziyech, David Neres and Dusan Tadic all in fine form and new signing Quincy Promes causing havoc from midfield.

The 26-year-old Ziyech’s incredible strike sent Ajax on their way at the Mestalla in their last Champions League match, while Promes, 27, scored in both Group matches and six times in the league.

Even 36-year-old Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is on fire, with five league goals in as many appearances, as they hunt their first European trophy in 25 years.

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Kogi, Bayelsa elections: APC, PDP trade accusations over violence

The All Progressives Congress says it has uncovered a plot by the Peoples Democratic Party to unleash violence before and during the November 16 governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states.

The party raised the alarm that the PDP was already creating an atmosphere of fear and stage-managed violence while playing the victim.

Recall that the PDP in a statement on Sunday alleged that the APC thugs attacked its Kogi governorship candidate, Musa Wada, and killed a supporter, Yusuf Uhiene.

Wada was attacked while heading to Anyigba in the Dekina Local Government Area of the state on his way to attend the Kogi East PDP stakeholders’ meeting on Saturday.

But the APC National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, in a statement on Monday accused the opposition party of playing the victim.

The statement read, “Already, the PDP is creating an atmosphere of fear and stage-managed violence, while playing the victim so as to scare voters from coming out on election day to exercise their franchise.

“It is instructive to note that violence has been the election winning strategy for the PDP during its inglorious 16 years rule. The strategy started to fail them from 2015 and particularly in the 2019 elections. This strategy will fail again on November 16.”

The APC called on security agencies to take seriously PDP’s recent threats to the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who is the Chairman of the APC Kogi State National Governoship Campaign Council, to “steer clear” of Kogi State during the campaign.

But the PDP on Monday said the APC was rather planning to sponsor violence during the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsas states.

The PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr Diran Odeyemi, said the PDP was a law-abiding party.

He said, “Our party does not believe in violence which was why former President Goodluck Jonathan willingly relinquish power to the APC when President Buhari threatened that baboons would be soaked in blood should he lose the election.

“We are sure of victory in Kogi because the electorates have suffered under the present APC administration. The PDP has a formidable team led by Engineer Seyi Makinde to lead the party to victory.”

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Police arrest Chadian, Nigerien kidnap suspects, recover N10m

The police, on Monday, in Abuja, paraded 81 suspected kidnappers, armed robbers and cyber scammers arrested in Taraba, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara states.

Among the suspects were members of a gang made up of Chadian and Nigerien suspected kidnappers and six ex-convicts, who abducted a Sokoto businessman.

They were apprehended by the Intelligence Response Team and the Special Tactical Squad of the Nigeria Police Force, which also nabbed members of a kidnap gang dressed in military camouflage and Nigerian Air Force uniform.

The Sokoto abductors, who formed their gang while serving terms in the Katsina Correctional Centre, are Rufai Muhammed, 25; Isah Abdullahi, 25; Abdulrasheed Labaran, 26; Abba Zayyanu, 22; Ayuba Awwalu, 35; and Rabiu Ibrahim, 27.

Speaking through an interpreter, Muhammed, who is the gang leader said, “We became friends when we were serving jail terms in the Katsina Correctional Centre. During interaction, we got to know that we were about completing our jail terms. That was when we decided to shift from armed robbery to kidnapping. This is because we knew that we would make more money from it.”

According to him, their first target was a Sokoto-based businessman, whose family parted with millions of naira.

The suspect stated that his gang operated on the Zaria-Kaduna-Kano Expressway 12 times, adding that they collected several millions of naira in ransom from their victims’ families.

The sum of N10.1m was recovered from them as well as rifles and rounds of live ammunition.

Parading the suspects, the force spokesman, DCP Frank Mba, said members of a kidnap gang, which killed four policemen, were also nabbed, while police rifles were recovered from them.

A member of another kidnap gang, who usually dressed in military camouflage, Imuranu Ibrahim, explained that the gang had carried out six robberies on the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said, “I am a farmer and also an armed robber. I have engaged in six robberies before I was arrested.

“We were on a robbery operation on the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway when we saw a car conveying a man, his wife, mother and their two children.

“We pulled out the woman from the vehicle and raped her in the presence of her husband, children and mother-in-law.”

Another member of the gang, Dayabu Saadu, said, “A Fulani man from Jaji provided the military uniform we are wearing.”

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UK donates £22m to tackle malnutrition in North-East

United Kingdom is to tackle malnutrition in troubled North-East of Nigeria with £22 million till March 2022, the United Nations Children Fund has revealed.

Speaking to journalists in Maiduguri on Wednesday, Sanjay Das, Nutrition Manager, UNICEF said the funding followed the success of initial fund of $10 million which was expended on the treatment of 233,000 malnourished children in the North-East between October 2018 to May 2019.

He said the initial fund of $10 million was released by the United Kingdom through her Department for International Development, the department responsible for administering overseas aid. Das said the fund was spent on nutrition complements and drugs to tackle cases of malnutrition in the region.

Sanjay said that the DFID has released £22 million to comprehensively tackle the problem of malnutrition in the region for three years.

He said under the latest intervention, which spans April 2019 to March 2022, 87,000 persons are targeted.

He said not only malnourished children would be covered under the latest intervention, but their mothers and infrastructure would be put in place to put an end to malnutrition in the region.

He, however, lamented that the earlier intervention was faced with some challenges including insecurity which made project areas inaccessible.

He also noted that the medical team were not able to access some areas in Borno State during the rainy season due to flooding and because some parts of the state have a scattered population, thus making it difficult to bring them together to medical facilities.

A visit by our correspondent on Wednesday to one of the IDPs camp, Bakasi, which houses 39,176 persons showed that 105 new cases were attended to in the last one week.

Ibrahim Shaibu, a Community Management of Acute Malnutrition Provider at the camp said they also attended to patients from the host community.

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APC cross-appeals tribunal judgment on Buhari’s election

The All Progressives Congress has filed a cross-appeal against the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal which affirmed the election of its candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari.

Although the eventual judgment of the tribunal was in its favour, the party is by its cross-appeal challenging some aspects of the September 11, 2019, verdict of the tribunal.

In its cross-appeal filed before the Supreme Court, the party specifically prayed that some documents and evidence led by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, be expunged from the records.

The APC asked the apex court to expunge the testimonies of petitioners witnesses 40, 59 and 60.

It asked the apex court to set aside the decision of the tribunal admitting the evidence and documents.

Faulting the decision of tribunal in refusing to expunge the evidence from the tribunal’ records, the APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), said, “The learned justices of the court of appeal erred in law when they failed to consider or properly consider the cross-appellant’s objection to the admissibility of the documents tendered by the petitioners/cross-respondents’ counsel from the bar.”

Atiku and the PDP had on Monday filed 66 grounds notice of appeal before the apex court praying that the judgment of the tribunal which dismissed their petition be set aside.

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2023: PDP BoT banks on Jonathan, Saraki, Wike

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Walid Jibrin, has said the PDP BoT will embark on strategic talks and engagements with former President Goodluck Jonathan; a former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido; and other presidential aspirants of the party to solidify and position the party to recapture power at the federal level in 2023.

The presidential aspirants include a former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki; a former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso; another former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau; Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal;  a former Governor of  Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa; a former Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo; a former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs between 2013 and 2015, Tanimu Turaki; a former member representing the Zaria Federal Constituency in Kaduna State,  Datti Baba-Ahmed; a  former Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang;

 Jibrin also said the BoT would visit and co-opt a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen.  Aliyu  Gusau,  who was also the  National Security Adviser from May 29,  1999 to June 1, 2006; a former PDP Chairman, Ahmed Makarfi; the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, other members of the PDP Governors’ Forum, including their Chairman, Seriake Dickson.

He stated that the party was strategising to defeat the All Progressives Congress and re-launch itself to power as the greatest party in Africa, adding that some members of the BoT had visited the PDP presidential candidate for the February 23, 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, as part of the consultations and synergy to strengthen the party to win the 2023 presidential election.

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