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Spokesman speaks on report United States denied Tinubu visa

Alhaji Tunde Rahman, the spokesman of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the 2023 elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has denied that his principal was denied a visa of the United States of America.

Alhaji Rahman spoke in reaction to a story by nigerianconcord.com.ng that the US did not renew the visa of Tinubu.

He said: “Oga, it’s an original fake news.

“HE Asíwájú was not and has never been denied US visa.

“He has a two-year valid visa that was renewed last November.

“Two years is the maximum any Nigerian can get.

“It’s a ridiculous post by a non-existent news online.

“You know one can’t really be taking issues with a non-existent platform.

“The fake story was attributed to Nigerian Concord newspaper.

“The Concord as you know closed shop many years ago!”

“We don’t have time for a rabble-rouser seeking to drive traffic to a fabricated and unknown website.”

The Eagle Online recalls that the nigerianconcord.com.ng had after initial story on the issue, followed up with another, where it insisted on its authenticity.

In fact, the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the online publication, Abiodun Oluwarotimi, challenged Tinubu to prove he was not denied US visa.

However, details of Tinubu’s existing valid visa had emerged.

The APC presidential candidate renewed his US visa in November 2021.

As is the practice, the former two-term Governor of Lagos State was issued a two-year visa, the maximum period of validity any Nigerian can get.

According to Western Post, the current visa was issued on November 18, 2021 and will expire November 15, 2023.

From the US visa bromide available to Western Post, Tinubu’s type B1/B2 visa carries control number: 20213207840001.

It also reported that perhaps miffed by the fake and groundless report, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, last week visited Tinubu at the APC Presidential Campaign Office in Abuja, where she cracked a joke with the APC standard-bearer, saying: “So the two-year visa you received last November has suddenly expired.”

Ambassador Leonard was accompanied on the visit by the …

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You can’t judge Tinubu with Buhari’s performance — Oshiomole

A former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomole, has told Nigerians not to judge the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with the performance of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The former two-term Governor of Edo State said this in reaction to a statement when he appeared on Arise TV.

Oshiomhole said during the interview on Wednesday: “It is a fact that Asiwaju himself said he co-founded the APC.

“I was a co-founding governor of the APC along with (Babatunde Raji) Fashola (former Governor of Lagos State) and other governors, but he never participated in governance, never held or carried out any contract on behalf of the government and so crediting him is totally wrong.

“This is just being fair and it is not the Vice President who announced that he has been given the responsibility by the President to chair the economic team and so you cannot ask him to account for some economic policies.

“You cannot say that someone who never in any way participated in the government should be credited with the outcome of government policies or blamed either way.”

On the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC for the presidential election, Oshiomhole said: “Tinubu is a Muslim who married a Christian and did not force his wife to adopt his own religion, which some practices has shown over time.

“Many governors upon leaving office book a seat at the senate.

“Asiwaju, upon leaving office, did not do that, but he encouraged his wife to go to the Senate.

“He did not go to the Senate himself.

“It turned out his wife has been one of the most active senators.

“So, I think the outcry from the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria as well as the Christian Association of Nigeria is just all blackmail.

“I also think our challenge is beyond religion.

“Rather, we should be talking about evaluating these candidates and what they would do to transform the economy.

“CAN or PFN is not speaking for Northern Christians.”…

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Wole Soyinka speaks on APC’s Muslim/Muslim ticket

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has reacted to the Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress for the 2023 elections.

Prof. Soyinka made the remarks on Tuesday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, at a lecture which he moderated.

The lecture, themed: “Good Governance or Miss-governance: The Contract called Democracy,” was organized by Abeokuta Club to mark its 50th anniversary.

Soyinka said: “This gathering here could not have been more timely.

In fact, I am hoping that a series of this kind of encounter will take place all over the nation between now and the long awaited day next year.

“I think it will help many people clarify a number of things in minds before that day and maybe move a little bit away towards pulling us out of the morass in which we find ourselves, if we want to be very honest about this.

“I think we’ve all come here with a lot of negative image hanging on our necks.

“And also some measure of hope, some modicum of illumination.

“There is one other thing going on in my mind.

“And I think we have the experts here who will talk about it.

“There are some school children over there.

“And one wonderful thing about them for me is that they are in uniform.

“In other words I cannot tell which one is a Christian, which one is a Muslim, which one is an Orisa worshipper, which one is a Zoroastrian, which one is a Buddhist.

“They are school children.

“They are equal and they are being encouraged to see one another as human beings, not as separate creatures.

“And I want to be informed if it is against democracy that schools insist that uniforms be worn by children so that they are not distinguished in a very dramatic way so that they do not look at one another as different.

“So now I’m talking to religionists.

“I’m saying why do you want to create such marked differentiation at that age, that impressionable age, when we need to …

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TeeMac makes U-turn, says Tinubu is competent to lead Nigeria

TeeMac had earlier warned Nigerians not to vote for Tinubu in the presidential election. In a new statement released by the Delta State-born flutist, TeeMac said the competence of Tinubu to lead Nigeria is not in doubt.

“My attention has been drawn to a post that has gone viral on Social Media regarding a private banter with a Facebook acquaintance on the eligibility of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” part of the statement read.

“Whilst it is regrettable that such a private conversation went viral video from a Facebook Account, let me state that the conversation was taken out of context. In the first instance, I have high regards for the person of the APC Presidential candidate; a two (2)-Term Governor of Lagos State, and a revered leader of the APC. I have lived in Lagos since I relocated from Switzerland, and I can attest to his transformational impact in the State.”

“More significantly is his ability to identify and engage exceptionally and committed technocrats in governance with tangible results over time, and maintaining relationships with them, and others across board. This, I believe will be replicated if he is given the opportunity at the Federal level.”

“His all-inclusive style of governance has seen people from other states, ethnicities and faith take up appointments in Lagos, serving meritoriously too! Consequently, his competence is not in doubt. I only expressed my fear for the rigors of the office.”

“My personal view is that anyone can choose any candidate, but must ask themselves if they have chosen rightly. This is a pertinent question for everyone. I simply admonished a friend to vote by his convictions. My only grouse, which I still stand by is that it was Tinubu who sold Buhari to the nation in 2015, which candidate, contrary to all expectations, underperformed.”

“The above notwithstanding, I neither have a personal grudge with Asiwaju, nor would pursue a path of acrimony with my cousin, Remi Tinubu, whom everyone adjudged pleasant and

…
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APC submits name of Tinubu’s running mate to INEC

The All Progressives Congress has submitted the name of the running mate of its presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

This was confirmed by a source in the Tinubu Campaign Organization to The Eagle Online in the early hours of Thursday.

The name submitted to the electoral umpire was Alhaji Kabir Ibrahim Masari, who is said to be from Katsina State and a kinsman of the State Governor, Rt. Hon. Aminu Masari.

 

But The Eagle Online was also told that the submission of Masari’s name was an interim measure in order to meet the deadline of INEC for the submission of names of candidates for national elections. The INEC had given the deadline as July 17, 2022 (today).

The source described Masari as a “place-holder” as the search for a vice presidential candidate for Tinubu continues.

As reported by The Eagle Online earlier on, the search for a running mate for Tinubu has been zoned to the North, with the likelihood of a Muslim from among serving or past governors clinching it.

This has largely given an inkling of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

This is as those said to be in contention are all Muslims.

Among them are the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje; Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai; Jigawa State Governor, Abubakar Bagudu; Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum; and former Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima.

The Peoples Democratic Party had on Thursday unveiled Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as the running mate of Atiku Abubakar for the 2023 elections.…

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2023: Atiku, PDP Governors, others meet after Tinubu’s emergence

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, on Wednesday met with governors elected on the platform of the party to strategize on securing victory for it.

The meeting was held just as the the presidential flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress emerged in Abuja.

A former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, won the presidential ticket.

Tinubu is an ally of Abubakar. The Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, told newsmen after the meeting on Wednesday in Abuja that it was more of a consultative meeting.

Tambuwal said: “On behalf of my colleagues, the governors, let me commend the leadership of the party and members of our party for a very successful national convention.

“The National Chairman along with the candidate came to thank the governors for their roles at the convention.

“We talked about cooperation and collaboration in prosecuting a very successful electioneering campaign that will result into victories for the PDP at various elections from the state House of Assembly, national election, governorship and the presidential election come February 2023.

“It is more of a consultative meeting on matters concerning the way forward.”

On the running mate to the party’s presidential candidate, Tambuwal said: “It is part of the consultation.

“It is ongoing and governors are also being consulted on that.” At the meeting were the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu; Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi and and Seyi Makinde of Oyo States.…

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Congratulations, Asiwaju Tinubu, the presumed winner of APC primaries – Osinbajo campaign spokesman

As the counting of the All Progressives Congress presidential primary election is winding up in Abuja, spokesman for the Yemi Osinbajo Campaign Organization,  Richard Akinnola, has congratulated the former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, clearly in the lead, as the presumed winner.

Akinnola, in a post on his Facebook page, Wednesday midday, stated, “Congratulations, Asiwaju Tinubu, the presumed winner of the primaries.

“In any contest, there must be a winner. However, I’m very proud of my choice of support in the person of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

“I have no iota of regret over my support for him. It was a privilege to play a pivotal role for him during the process. I would gladly do it over and over again. It’s a matter of conviction. “And for all our supporters and other volunteers who worked assiduously, day and night on the PYO project, God bless you all. I’m so proud of all of you.

“As l often say, God rules in the affairs of men and He has a purpose for what just happened.

Understandably, many of you are dispirited and downcast but do not let your heart be troubled. There must be a reason God allowed this. It may not be manifest to us now but later as He is all knowing.

“I’m unfazed, unbowed and proud of PYO. Our supporters, abeg, make una shake it off. No be say person die, Life goes on. No yawa,” he wrote.…

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I’ll step down if APC says so — Pastor Bakare at screening venue

A presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said he will step down from the 2023 race if his party so demands.

Bakare spoke on Monday with newsmen in Abuja at the venue of the screening of presidential aspirants of the APC.

On Monday, the screening committee, headed by former National Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, screened former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; former Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi; Jigawa State Governor, Abubakar Badaru; and former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba. Others also screened were Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi; Felix Nicholas; Senator Ajayi Borroffice; former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; Uju Ken-Ohaneye; and former Governor of Zamfara State, Sani Yerima. Bakare told newsmen: “The party supremacy is the utmost essence.

“You cannot force your way through a party’s structure.

“The party has the final say.

“And when we get to that bridge, we will know how to cross it.

“The screening exercise is to check who is guilty and who is not.

“And it depends on the people, who are doing the screening.

“By God’s grace, we have complied with everything demanded for.

“We have supplied every information.

“And every information given is accurate and there is no miscommunication anywhere.

“Therefore, we will listen to what they have to say to us.

“And we trust God for accurate answers and deserving answers to all questions.”

On her part, the only female aspirant, Ken-Ohaneye, also said she would step down if the party asked her to do so, provided the party would be willing to carry on with her economic blueprints.

She said: “I want you to know that we are a family politically, and if I am asked by the party to step down, I will not challenge the party, because, like they say, charity begins at home.

“I will never see it as a problem to my party, because I am going to …