I knew he won’t win – Wike says Obi’s supporters don’t know politics
The immediate past Governor of Rivers and now minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has claimed that the supporters of Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, don’t know politics.
The former Rivers helmsman said this on Thursday during an interview on Channels TV, a day after the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal upheld Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 2023 presidential election.
Wike, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, publicly declared support for the All Progressives Congress, APC’s candidate, Tinubu and worked for his victory in Rivers State.
The former Governor has now been rewarded with an appointment as minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
“I know that he [Obi] won’t win the election. Let me tell you the truth, I am a realist. For me, the way the election went, it was a tough election. I give it to INEC,” he said.
Oyebanji, Fasoranti, Buhari’s ex-aide hail Tinubu’s tribunal victory.
The Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, has congratulated President Bola Tinubu on his victory at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, which on Wednesday upheld his February 25 election.
Oyebanji described the judgment as “solid and detailed” and “a judicial sustenance of the mandate given to the clear winner of the presidential poll.”
The governor, in a Thursday statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Yinka Oyebode, hailed the judiciary for upholding the truth, stressing that “the judicial affirmation of President Tinubu’s election has confirmed the choice of the majority of Nigerians who elected the All Progressives Congress’s presidential candidate as president of the country.
Oyebanji said, “I congratulate our President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and indeed all Nigerians for this judgment. It is not a victory for the APC alone; it is a victory for democracy, the rule of law, and the Nigerian masses. It is also a vote of confidence in the process that led to the election of Mr President.
“The judgment is solid and well-detailed. There is nothing to add. I congratulate Nigerians and the President, His Excellency, Bola Tinubu. We have a President who is committed to the development of this country, and he needs all hands on deck to ensure that we get to the Promised Land.”
Church member kills pastor in Sapele
A Pentecostal pastor, Pastor Greg Sagie, has been killed in his home by a suspected church member, who attacked him with a machete in Sapele, Delta State, yesterday.
The pastor, who was in his 60s, was resting in his bedroom at the pipeline area of MTN Road, around noon., when the assailant barged into his flat and threatened his two children, ages eight and 11, who were in the sitting room. The terrified children ran out of the house and raised an alarm for help.
A source, who claimed to be part of those who took Pastor Sagie remains to the mortuary and his neighbour told Vanguard that the area was isolated and had few houses.
He said they heard the children screaming that someone was inside, attacking their father with a machete.
“We ran out and saw the attacker. He was a young man in his 20s. He threatened us that if we dared to climb the storey building to meet him, he would kill us. He then jumped from the storey building and fled,” the source who simply called her name as Nneka said.
The source added that the children identified the attacker as a member of their church.
“The children told us he was a member of their church and that they recognize him. They even described where he lived,” the source said.
Wike flays contract variation from N50b to N200b
Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has condemned the abuse of contract variation in the territory, pointing out that the case of Ushafa-Bwari Road contract, which was varied from N50 billion to N200 billion is unacceptable.
The minister, who threatened to overhaul the engineering services in the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), noted that FCTA’s little revenue must be judiciously utilised.
“I have never seen a thing like this before in my life. What you see in the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) is shocking. Contract variation from N10 billion to N120 billion, from N50 billion to N200 billion. It is alarming and I am not going to accept it.
“Even the engineering service, we are going to overhaul the entire system; it was unfortunate that while we went to the Ushafa-Bwari Road, it was very embarrassing, and this is not what we are going to take. The job was awarded in 2017 at the cost of N20 billion, in 2020 they revised the contract sum to N50 billion. As I speak to you, we have paid almost N50 billion, what is outstanding from what the man in charge has said is N900 million, and now N900 million will not be enough to complete the job that they have done about 90 per cent, and we move to another variation,” he fumed.
According to him, the IGR will be tied to specific projects, to reduce project abandonment in the FCT.
“On Monday, we are flagging off the resurfacing of most of the roads in Garki and Maitama because the roads are terribly bad. I will make sure that the contractors are also paid.” To check the menace of abandoned projects in the territory, Wike said his administration plans to fund 10 priority projects.
