Former President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, has extended his warm congratulations to Keir Starmer and the UK Labour Party following their landslide victory in the recent British elections.
In a social media post, Mr. Mahama expressed his delight at the outcome of the elections, emphasizing the democratic process that led to Labour’s success.
“The people have spoken,” Mahama stated, reflecting on the electoral mandate received by the Labour Party.
Looking ahead, Mahama expressed optimism for a strengthened partnership between Ghana and the UK, highlighting the importance of robust international relations.
“I look forward to a strong partnership between our two countries,” Mahama affirmed, underscoring the mutual benefits of diplomatic cooperation.
Drawing parallels between the political landscapes of the UK and Ghana, Mahama noted that Ghana is also gearing up for its own elections soon. Expressing hope for a positive outcome for his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mahama conveyed his aspirations for the future of Ghana’s political landscape.
“Like the UK, Ghana will also have elections soon, and I hope for a positive outcome for my party,” Mahama stated.
In addition to congratulating Keir Starmer and the Labour Party, Mahama expressed his desire for continued good relations between the NDC and Labour.
“Congratulations to @Keir_Starmer and @UKLabour on their landslide victory in the British elections. The people have spoken, and I look forward to a strong partnership between our two countries. Like the UK, Ghana will also have elections soon, and I hope for a positive outcome for my party and our continued good relations with Labour. #ElectionResults #GhanaUKrelations,” Mahama concluded in his message.
The Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, says he is aware of certain terrible plans against himself and his followers in the coming months.
The former Anambra State governor disclosed this in a statement released on his verified Twitter handle on Monday, May 29, 2023.
The release of the statement coincided with the inauguration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Nigeria’s President at the Eagle Square in Abuja.
I am aware of some evil designs being hatched against me and my supporters in the coming months. Efforts will be made to taint my image. Campaigns of calumny are being perfected to defame my character and diminish my hard-earned integrity.
For all Nigerians, this is a time for deep reflection. It is also a time to re-examine our assumptions, even as we reaffirm our hopes. Let us calmly review our aspirations, in order to recalibrate our expectations and pin down the causes of our missed opportunities and disappointments.
We stand at that critical moment in time when, as a people, we must collectively come to grips with the reality of our injured destiny as well as the reasons for that injury. It is for us to reassess our plight as a young democracy and identify clear pathways to a better and greater future for us all. As we await the verdict of the election tribunal, I urge all Nigerians to use this opportunity to renew their commitment to the Nigerian ideal. That ideal remains noble and worth every sacrifice we can make.
Nigeria remains our only patrimony and it is a patrimony we must protect, rather than violate. We have no other nation but this, so let us remain committed to rescuing and rebuilding it.
The judiciary is part of the democratic enterprise and a critical governance tool for determining the propriety of the decisions and actions of every citizen and every institution of state. To that extent, and for that reason, I urge everyone to treat it with the respect and dignity it deserves.
We expect that the Nigerian judiciary will use the election cases now before it to reaffirm its independence and integrity. It has to do so, for all our sakes and for itself.
Nigerians must, therefore, remain peaceful and law abiding. No matter the depth of anyone’s reservations about what is going on in the polity today, no matter the real and imagined provocations, and no matter the disagreement out there, we should remember that this will not last forever.
I remain committed, and untiring, in my determination to work with like-minded fellow Nigerians to end the curse of missed opportunities and squandered hope that has become our lot here.
I will never shrink from that original commitment, because I firmly believe that we must change from the present politics of criminality, and corruption, in order to make a new Nigeria possible.
I call on fellow Nigerians, especially the youths to remain steadfast, calm, patient, and peaceful. Our journey may be long and difficult but it is worth it in every way. Victory is assured.
We have to work together to move our beautiful country from corruption and criminality to a center of productivity rather than aimless consumption.
I am aware of some evil designs being hatched against me and my supporters in the coming months. Efforts will be made to taint my image. Campaigns of calumny are being perfected to defame my character and diminish my hard-earned integrity.
These schemes will aim at degrading our support base and confusing the public. But, no evil campaign will alter the substance of my character; nor diminish my patriotic commitment to a better Nigeria. It is about the future of our youths. it is about ending the Years of Locust.
In all of this, I thank Nigerians, our great party (LP) and the media. The latter, as the Fourth Estate of the realm, has remained a trusted ally.
This Estate must continue to guide our people on the immense promise of a future in a new Nigeria.
God bless Nigeria and protect the troops keeping us safe in this season of vaulting insecurity.
According to former president John Dramani Mahama, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) God has told him the party would prevail in the 2024 general elections.
Speaking to delegates of the NDC in Okere in the Eastern Region on Tuesday, April 11, he said “By God’s grace we have the experience, we didn’t buy it in the store, we didn’t learn it in school, it is God who gave us the opportunity to gather that experience.”
He added “Don’t worry about what some people are saying, it is God’s will, I attend church and when I pray God speaks to me and God has said this is the time for NDC, he has given us power. If God decides no one can change it. Let us continue to pray and trust that what has been arranged will come to pass.”
He further told all Parliamentary candidate hopefuls of the NDC to engage in a decent campaign.
“Let us not resort to insult because we are one family, this is one party, we are looking for one thing, power.
“Let us support whoever will be elected parliamentary candidate and when your time comes you will also be supported.
“It is not only the MP that we have, if we come to power we have board chairmen, we have Ambassadors, DECs, and a lot of appointments and so if you don’t become an MP you will get an appointment.
“So let us keep the campaign decent and when one person has emerged let us all support that person and let the party come to power,” he said.
Presidential candidate for the Labour Party, Peter Obi, could not hold back his emotions as he engaged the media following the declaration of the 2023 presidential elections.
Mr Obi, who fells cheated and has pledged to head to court broke down into tears. This was not directly as a result of claims of being cheated. He was recounting an unforgettable moment with a Nigerian lady he believed should be studying.
According to him, the lady decided to enter the baking business since she could not continue her education, but that even became impossible as she could not afford N75,000 to buy an oven
This got Peter Obi emotional and shed a few tears.
“Labour party won the election and I will prove it. I have had several phone calls where I asked people to remain calm and peaceful, that has nothing to do with what I am challenging, I am challenging the process.
“If a process is faulty, it is faulty, in fact, you can’t build peace on a faulty foundation, it cannot happen anywhere in the world.”
At the end of the election held on February 25, 2023, APC presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged as the winner.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, indicated that Tinubu polled a total of 8,794,726 to defeat his closest rivals and candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar and Obi of the Labour Party, LP who scored 6,984, 520 and 6,101,533 respectively.
Nigeria’s Labour Party has condemned the country’s presidential elections on Wednesday, stating they had not been “transparent, free and fair”.
Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, a vice-presidential candidate for the Labour Party, described incidents of violence and intimidation of voters during a briefing on Wednesday. He claimed that the election was conducted “in clear violation of agreed and promised INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) rules and guidelines.”
“It is our position that the purported results did not meet the minimum criteria of a transparent, free and fair election. In addition to the most condemnable attacks, violence, voter intimidation and suppression, the election was conducted in clear violation of agreed and promised INEC ( Independent National Electoral Commission) rules and guidelines.”Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed explained.
The tightly contested election has redrawn Nigeria’s electoral geography and produced results that are significantly different from those of past polls, with this being the first time that a president takes office with less than 50% of the vote and where four candidates won over a million votes, say analysts.
Labour Party leader Peter Obi intends to contest the elections results.
“Please be assured of our determination to fight the injustice that have been perpetrated on Nigerians through all legal and peaceful means. While painful, we implore you all to please remain peaceful and calm as our fight and determination for a new Nigeria is just beginning.” added Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.
Civil Society Organisations and members of the Labour Party held a demonstration condemning the work of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
They held up placards reading “Cancel the 2023 General Elections Now” and “Save Our Democracy.”
The parties now have three weeks to appeal results, but an election can be invalidated only if it’s proven the national electoral body largely didn’t follow the law and acted in ways that could have changed the result.
Peter has a bright future if he and his Party go back to the drawing board and heal the fractures in the party and put correct processes in place because he was able to poll 6,101,533 against the President-8,794,726. elect’s
30% of the more than 80 million eligible voters actually cast ballots, which is the lowest turnout since 1999.
For being able to advance in a hot state like Lagos and even defeat Tinubu, who served as governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, Peter must be applauded from the rear.
The benefits of this is that, you get people(House and Senate Candidates and his Team) on grounds to campaign for you in your absence. These same people will help resolve issues so that party faithful will be happy in campaigning.
Secondly, these are the people (Candidates for House and Senate) you will be working with should you win the election, so it will be good to get more of your people in the House and in the Senate to help you succeed.
The Labour Party failed here because out of 109 seats in the Senate, Peter Obi’s Labour Party had only 80 candidates contesting which gives a deficit of 29 seats here.
Again, out of 360 in the House of Representatives, his party had only 208 candidates contesting. Again a deficit of 152 seats which is unacceptable.
So even if Peter Obi had won the Presidential election, he would not have had the numbers from both the Senate and the House of Representatives to run his Government.
The bottom line is Peter wasn’t well cooked to win.
To add to these analysis, there were pockets of misunderstanding among the Labour Party in the North and the National Executives including the Presidenial Candidate, Mr Obi.
The chairmen in the North felt marginalised in everything the Party does to the extent of claiming that they never received any funds when the Party is disbursing funds to Executives and alleged that disbursement was done based on tribe.
This was said barely 48 hours to voting during a press conference led by Sani Abdulsalam, the Gombe state Labour Party chairman and co-ordinating chairman for the 36 states.
“As of tonight, no alert has been received by any state chairmen and information reaching us confirmed that money was paid based on ethnic and religious consideration because only persons of a particular ethnic group currently run the campaign of Mr. Peter Obi in cohort with the national chairman, Mr. Julius Abure, has polluted the party.”
Accompanied by Mohammed Alkali, the national vice chairman, northeast, Ibrahim Bukar, the Yobe state chairman, amongst others, the leader of LP states chairmen alleged that money meant for the mobilisation of polling agents was withheld by the national chairman, Julius Abure.
“I speak on behalf of 36 state chairmen of our party in my capacity as the coordinating chairman. We have never been respected by the party leadership and also our presidential candidate has no respect for our party executives at state levels because Peter Obi deliberately mismanaged our good will with the imposition of his members and other support groups that decamped with him in May 2022 to our party”.
“To our surprise, the national chairman Julius Abure said the presidential candidate Peter Obi has no confidence in all the 36 state chapters’ leadership but would rather choose to work with their cronies and support group that came with him”.
As members of the Labour Party National Executive and National Working Committee (NWC), it is our considered opinion and informed conclusion that Peter Obi cannot win this election since all party executives have been sidelined. He is not ready and is grossly ill-prepared for the Presidential race.”
Why should it be so when you have a running mate who is from the North? This running mate was supposed to pull his region along no matter what the grievancesaid are. He should be a unifier and not just to occupy space.
This clearly means Mr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed failed his Boss Peter and his Party in this regard.
PeterObi
Peter Obi, a business man, a Banker and a politician. He was the governor of the Anambera State and became the running mate to Atiku Abubakar in the 2019 election but broke away. He is now the leader of Labour Party. He seems to have galvanized enough support from the youth and alot of entertainers. He has always maintained that it’s time for Nigerians to take their Country back. The youth believed he is the one to break the APC and PDP jinx and bring in new style of governance which will be people centered. Many people say he is a Nollywood president and will remain so.
We believe that, Mr Peter Obi stands a better chance in the next Election if he puts his house in order.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
Due to claimed extensive irregularities, three opposition parties have demanded that Nigeria’s election be annulled and held again.
At a news conference in the nation’s capital, Abuja, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party, and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) made the statement.
“I demand that this sham of an election be cancelled and we call on Inec to conduct fresh elections within the window period provided by the electoral act,” Julius Abure, chairman of the Labour Party said.
The PDP chairman at the recent press conference in the capital, Abuja, where his party along with two other opposition parties called for the cancellation of the election, called for calm.
“We don’t want Nigerians to erupt,” Iyorchia Ayu said.
Earlier, the police chief warned candidates and their parties against inciting violence.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has confirmed there have been major technical hitches, which has made it difficult to upload results on to its server.
At the opposition press conference in Abuja, the PDP’s agent, Dino Melaye, said the problems with servers should have been corrected before any results were announced.
Meanwhile, a group of angry protesters have gathered outside the national collation centre in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
They are carrying placards denouncing the Independent National Electoral Commission, alleging votes have been stolen.
“Everything happening there is all lies, all lies, lies… they are cooking up results,” one man told the BBC as he pointed to the Inec collation centre.
Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Sylvia Agu, as well as the Imo State EOs and SPOs, have been demanded to resign immediately by the Imo State Labour Party leadership.
The party’s state chairman in Imo State, Dr. Ambrose Onyekwere, stated at a press conference held on Monday at the party’s headquarters that the widespread irregularities committed during the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections in Imo State were the reason for the call for their removal.
The state party chairman also declared the rejection in advance of all the results for the House of Assembly elections scheduled for 11th March 2023 if conducted by the current REC Prof. Sylvia Agu.
He said: ” the actions of INEC in the Saturday election as a deliberate and systematic disenfranchisement if citizens of Imo State”.
The state chairman used the forum to raise certain complaints bordering on late arrival of voting materials at the polling units, non-conduct of election at many polling units as well as absence of INEC staff at polling units.
The party equally condemned what it described as deliberate subversion of the electoral process by INEC staff.
According to them in many of the units where voting took place, the INEC staff bluntly refused to transmit results with the excuses ranging from “No Code”, to BVAS machine has no since.
The party observed with dismayed that INEC staffs arrived at the polling units with insufficient materials including not more than 25 ballot paper for each of the three positions being contested for.
The state party chairman pointed out the manipulation and tampering of BVas mechines, non compliance with INEC directives to conduct elections on Sunday 26th February, 2023 at the polling units where election did not take place in previous day.
A section of Nigerians living in Ghana have expressed massive support for theLabour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to become president at the end of the 2023 election.
During an interaction with The Independent Africa, on Friday February 2023, all the Nigerians reached out to said they are not expecting anyone to win apart from Peter Obi.
Expressing the reason for their choice, some said they are positive he will make the “New Nigeria” mantra a reality, while the others said it is about time an Ibo man is given the opportunity to make Nigeria a reformed country.
” I expect that my brother, the Ibo man, Peter Obi will win because he is 90/60. No Ibo man has for once ruled Nigeria. So this time is our time and everyone knows that it is the time for the Ibo people to rule Nigeria.” Anyone apart from him will bring war” One Emeka expressed.
The jeans trouser vendor asserted that there will be civil unrest in Nigeria if Peter Obi does not emerge President.
Chenedu also said that he hopes for a free and fair election despite the possibility that the process will turn bloody and hectic. However “we already know who is going to be on the seat. Peter Obi, I wish him good luck.”
Mr Chika, also expressed his stance and said “my expectation is nothing much because we have taken the decision. We want Peter Obi to win. If he not going to do well we will change our mind because want a government that will deliver. If you could see they came with broom. The other one came with umbrella, but when you see Peter Obi’s logo its about family and during his campaign he was able to go round uniting the people and that what am expecting for the “New Nigeria.”
Okechukwu, not his real name, mentioned that Nigerians have been denied the privilege of enjoying good roads, electricity and water for a long time because the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All People’s Congress (APC) have done nothing about the situation.
Thus he is optimistic that Peter Obi will change their misfortune into great fortunes.
“PDP and APC have ruled us for a long time but there is nothing good coming about them. Now I am in Ghana enjoying good roads, water and electricity but we don’t have all these in Nigeria and that is why we need a better government. I beleive God will do it for someone like Peter Obi.”
Nigeria, the most populous country in West Africa, and currently the seventh most populous in the world is a federal republic comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located.
The country has a history that keeps recurring on violence, chaos, fighting, killings, kidnappings among others during elections.
It does not come as a surprise that some of the Nigerians here in Ghana are predicting civil unrest if the election results are rigged and Peter Obi does not become President.
Enugu State Governor’s campaign to represent the Enugu North Senatorial District in the National Assembly has been unsuccessful.
At the election held on Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Okechukwu Ezea of the Labour Party defeated Ugwuanyi.
Ugwuanyi received 46,948 votes, placing second to Ezea, who received 104,948 votes to win.
Ugwuanyi, who is serving his second term as governor of Enugu State, ran for election to the red chamber as a representative of the Enugu North District. Before being chosen governor in 2015, he was a representative in the House of Representatives.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INECmethod )’s compiling of results of the Presidential and National Assembly Elections held on Saturday has been criticized by the Labour Party (LP), which has threatened to challenge the results in court.
The LP said that although it was more discerning in its strongholds, the majority of its members were systematically denied their rights across the nation.
In a statement released by the party’s national secretary, Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim, on Sunday, the party claimed that while it had gained ground in most of Northern Nigeria with high vote totals, LP members had been purposefully barred from voting, violently driven from polling places, or had ballot papers and boxes destroyed and set ablaze in other areas.
He cited Lagos, Rivers, Bayelsa, Kano, Yobe and Edo states among places where such acts were rampantly perpetrated in violation of the electoral act 2022 as amended.
Umar said in some places, INEC staff and electoral materials were not deployed to areas that are known to be strongholds of Labour Party, or deployed late to frustrate the party supporters who, psychologically got tired of waiting and had to leave the polling units for the fear of the unknown.
“The delay by INEC to upload and announce results, especially where Labour Party, is already known to have taken lead, is also worrisome and we feel it is deliberate to anger our party and our supporters” he said.
Umar also alleged that intelligence from the fields revealed that across the Northern states, electorates identified as Labour Party supporters were tactically denied access to their polling units by some officials who connived with others to confuse the electorates by insisting their polling units are different and sending them to the wrongs ones. He said this frustrated the electorates, and reduced the votes polled by Labour Party, which would have more than doubled if the right things were done.
LP called on INEC to checkmate and call its polling staff to order and also ensure punitive measures in line with the electoral Act 2022 as amended.
The Labour Party National Secretary assured that the party would definitely challenge the outcome and final result in court.
As the results of the presidential and National Assembly elections started to trickle into the public domain and the collation centers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nationwide last night, confidence and excitement began to bubble in the camp of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Early results from polling places in Lagos, Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo, six South West states, showed that the APC presidential candidate was leading the pack while Peter Obi of the Labour Party dominated in the South East.
The Nation claims that Obi also made some progress in the PDP’s erstwhile strongholds of Delta and Edo as well as Lagos State.
At the Aso Rock Presidential Mansion in Abuja, nine out of the 13 voting units had been won by the Labour Party’s presidential candidate as of yesterday’s press time.
But, his performance in the North, where the APC and the PDP were sharing the popular vote across the region’s three geopolitical zones, was appalling. At the time of publication, the APC was doing well in Yobe and Sokoto State.
The Deputy Governor declared that this was the quickest voting process he had ever seen in the history of the general elections in Nigeria. He cast his ballot at Ketso polling unit number 010, which is located at the Junior Secondary School Ketso in the state’s Mokwa local government area.
Having completed his voting and accreditation in less than a minute, he claimed it was the first time he had seen an election this quick in Nigeria and praised INEC for the innovative technology used.
“I want to appreciate the Independent National Electoral Commission( INEC) for this new innovation that added value to the credibility of the elections and by so doing it will give us the required result at the end of the day,” he said.
He observed that the 2023 general elections were historic because it was an election that will usher in a new government, adding that it was a milestone that will further solidify the corporate existence and unity of Nigeria as a nation.
Ketso who is equally the State Coordinator of Tinubu-Shettima Grassroots Independent Campaign Council (ICC) said we all owe the country a lot by participating in the election and choosing those that will lead us, urging Nigerians and particularly Nigerlites to exercise their civic right by going out to vote just as he did and devoid of any crisis.
The Presiding Officer (PO) of the polling unit, Garba Suleiman said the process was smooth and hitch-free and that they have no any challenge, not even with the new technology, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
The House of Representatives for Esan Central/Esan West/Igueben Federal Constituency in the Edo State election has been put on hold, following the omission of the Labour Party (LP) logo from the ballot paper.
The situation has however led to tension as some angry voters openly denounce the move as an attempt to manipulate the election.
Though accreditation and voting have commenced in some polling units in Esan Central, Esan West and Igueben Local Government Areas, the absence of the Labour Party logo on the ballot paper.
There are also reports of non-arrival of electoral materials in ward 7 unit 5 and all the polling units at Emuhi in Esan West Local Government Area.
Attempts to reach the Electoral Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Esan West Local Government Area proved abortive as he’s said to be on the field monitoring the distribution of electoral materials.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has explained that the G-5 governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have withdrawn from talking regularly in public to embark on strategic actions in silence in order to achieve set goals…
It appears that Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, trekked from his house in Onitsha to cast his vote.
It is believed that he spent about an hour before getting to the Agulu area of the Aniocha Local Government Area of Anambra State in Nigeria’s South-East geopolitical zone to vote.
He cast his ballot in polling unit 19 in the Agulu neighborhood. He spent approximately 30 minutes, before he and his wife were able to vote at 11:45am on Saturday morning.
After casting his ballot, Mr Obi told reporters that the process was “seamless”.
Per reports, Mr Obi would use the same means he used in getting to the polling station back home.
Moment Peter Obi treks from his house to Golden Tulip, Agulu… (one hour trek) and he will still trek back. pic.twitter.com/qvNF2NCEKN
The local media has received a report that the the Labour Party chairman who coordinated pre-election activities of the party till late Friday night and was said to have been eagerly awaiting the commencement of voting on Saturday.
His body has now been deposited in Asokoro Hospital mutuary in the nation’s capital.
Stalwarts of the Labour Party in Ondo State has raised concern about the omission of its logo on the ballot papers sent to the area.
This was noticed 24 hours before the scheduled Saturday presidential and National Assembly elections.
The party’s state secretary, Mr. Agbaje Abiodun, stated at a news conference in Akure, the state’s capital, on Friday that the Independent National Electoral Commission had not included the party’s emblem on the ballots for the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) elections.
“There is an omission of our party logo on the ballots brought by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) elections.”
In the event that INEC carries out the poll as planned without amendments, Abiodun promises to sue to overturn the organization’s decision.
A Nigerian senatorial candidate was on Wednesday shot dead and his body burned by attackers while on his way from a campaign rally in the southern state of Enugu.
Three days prior to Saturday’s general elections, which are being hailed as the most competitive in 24 years, Labour Party member Oyibo Chukwu passed away.
Local media reports that his aides were also shot dead before their car was set on fire with their bodies inside.
“Our party members are being targeted for assassination by political parties that feel threatened by the rise of the Labour Party in the state and are afraid they may lose Saturday’s election,” said Chijioke Edeoga, a candidate for the governor’s seat in the state.
The Labour Party has not commented on the attack, but its presidential candidate,Peter Obi, has been urging supporters to vote “correctly, peacefully, and hopefully.”
Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, is at the center of a political uproar after supporting Peter Obi, an opposition candidate for president, ahead of the general election scheduled for next month.
Mr. Obasanjo described Mr. Obi of the Labour Party in his endorsement as a “mentee” with an “edge over other candidates.”
He added that the nation of West Africa had “moved from [the] frying pan into [the] fire and from the mountain top to the valley” in regards to its current situation.
Mr Obasanjo governed Nigeria between 1999 and 2007 as the flag bearer for the now-main opposition PDP party. But he has since distanced himself from the party.
In an angry response, President Muhammadu Buhari’s office said the former leader was “being jealous” and represented the “dark days of Nigeria’s democracy.”
The former president thinks “he is the best ever to lead Nigeria and there will never be another one better than him,” a statement from a presidential aide said.
MORALLY SQUALID OBASANJO ATTACKS LEADERS OUT OF FRUSTRATION
Peter Obi is seen as one of the three main contenders. The others are Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the governng APC and Abubakar Atiku of the opposition PDP.
Local outlets quote Mr Tinubu’s campaign as saying that their candidate “will not lose sleep” over Mr Obasanjo’s endorsement, while Mr Atiku’s camp said the “endorsement of an individual no matter how highly placed does not translate to victory at the polls”.
According to figures obtained by Labour through Freedom of Information requests to NHS trusts across the country, the most expensive shift was £5,234, which covered agency fees, money spent at the doctor, and other costs.
Hospitals in England have paid up to £5,200 for a single shift by an agency doctor, as the NHS is under increasing strain.
According to figures obtained by Labour through Freedom of Information requests to NHS trusts across the country, the most expensive shift cost £5,234.
The party asserted that it was paid for by a trust in the north of England.
Labour contended that its investigation demonstrates the extent of the staffing crisis in English hospitals.
It shared figures showing that the NHS has been forced to spend billions of pounds ondoctors and nurses, provided by agencies, due to workforce shortages.
One in three NHS trusts paid an agency more than £3,000 for a single doctor’s shift last year, while three quarters paid more than £2,000, the party said.
It said “desperate hospitals” had no other choice and blamed the Conservatives, saying they had failed to train enough doctors and nurses.
Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “Desperate hospitals are forced to pay rip-off fees to agencies, because the Conservatives have failed to train enough doctors and nurses over the past 12 years.
“It is infuriating that, while taxpayers are paying over the odds on agency doctors, the government has cut medical school places, turning away thousands of straight-A students in England.”
The party has pledged to tackle NHS staff shortages by doubling the number of medical school places to train 15,000 doctors a year and training 10,000 new nurses and midwives every year, with plans also to double the number of qualifying district nurses.
Earlier this year,MPs warned of “the greatest workforce crisis” in the history of the NHSwas putting patients and staff at “serious risk”.
Put together by MPs from the cross-party Health and Social Care Committee, the report pulled no punches when addressing the government over the growing crisis.
They said there was a shortage of 12,000 hospital doctors, and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives – and that the government had “no credible plan” for making the situation any better.
Projections have suggested an extra 475,000 jobs will be needed in health and an extra 490,000 jobs in social care by the early part of the next decade in order to ease the strain.
A Conservative source told Sky News: “We have recruited record numbers of doctors and nurses to support our NHS – with almost 4,000 more doctors and over 9,000 more nurses compared to September 2021.
“Labour cannot be trusted to support our NHS – they have no plan to grip inflation,resolve strikes or boost the workforce. Instead, they waste time playing political games and defending their union paymasters.”
If elected in 2023, Nigeria‘s Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi and vice presidential candidate Yusuf Baba-Ahmed promised to end doctor and ASUU strikes.
Speaking to a large crowd of supporters in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, Obi promised that he and Baba-Ahmed would work to restore power to the people, particularly to youth and women.
Furthermore, he stated that the prime concern will be to prioritise exports, invest in agriculture, and create jobs.
Issues like the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, deterioration in the health sector, and corruption will be a thing of the past for the LP presidential contender.
One of the front-runners for the general election in 2023 is Peter Obi. This is Obi’s first significant campaign event in Imo, and as the election year of 2023 approaches, the party in the state announced additional initiatives to lure voters.
This is coming after the Presidential candidate finally released his campaign manifesto.
The 72-page manifesto titled, ‘It’s POssible: Our Pact with Nigerians’, was released after a long wait, speculations and disagreements among members of the LP, opposition parties and other vested interests.
Announcing the release of the manifesto on his verified Twitter page Sunday morning,Obi wrote, “I have the honour to present our 72-page Manifesto, titled, ‘It’s Pssible: Our Pact with Nigerians.’ This Manifesto, its overarching and visionary policy planks, lays out our mission focus and mandate for securing, uniting and making Nigeria productive.
Sir Keir Starmerhas dropped the gloves in his latest remarks about the new Prime Minister, after previously congratulating Rishi Sunak.
Mr Sunak has only ever fought one leadership election battle, which he was “thrashed” by Liz Truss, the Labour leader told his shadow cabinet.
“Rishi Sunak stabbed Boris Johnson in the back when he thought he could get his job. And in the same way, he will now try and disown the Tory record of recent years and recent months and pretend that he is a new broom,” Sir Keir said, according to a readout of the meeting.
“But he was also the chancellor who left Britain facing the lowest growth of any developed country, the highest inflation, and millions of people worried about their bills. And now he plans to make working people pay the price for the Tories crashing the economy.”
He said Mr Sunak is a “weak prime minister who will have to put his party first and the country second”.
Acknowledging the Tories could expect a “bounce” in the opinion polls, he said he knew Labour’s hugelead in recent surveys was no more than an “enjoyable story”
Sir Keir Starmerhas said that a Labour government would not issue further gas and oil licences.
It comes after his party helped clinch Liz Truss’s doom last week with a vote to outlaw fracking. Tory whips transformed it into a confidence vote in the government, and while Ms Truss survived the vote, the pandemonium that followed – with reports of MPs being abused – meant she was gone within 24 hours.
Speaking to LBC this morning, Sir Keir said: “We accept there’s got to be a transition, so where there is oil and gas already being yielded that needs to continue as part of the transition, but no new sites, no new fields to be opened.
“We need to transition to renewables. We can do it … we can double our onshore wind, we can triple our solar energy and we can quadruple our offshore wind – and the sooner we do that, the better.
“I do think that new nuclear, as well, and hydrogen is part of the equation.”
He said, “it was a straight no” when asked if the UK would rejoin the EU if Labour took power.
And he said the only way to get people a “sustainable pay rise” is to grow the economy.
Sir Keir said to do this institutions like the OBR and Bank of England need to be respected.
He also said that there was “not a great deal” between Labour and the Conservatives on immigration – although he did say he would scrap the Rwanda scheme.
Sir Keir said: “Now we don’t have free movement anymore, then you either have a pure numbers game or you have a points-based system that says ‘well, for certain types of jobs, certain types of roles here, you would get a number of points. I think that makes sense.
“So, in that sense, not a great deal between the major parties on immigration.
“We would have a slightly different approach and I would particularly want to welcome really good students.”
18 candidates have so far been cleared by Nigeria’s electoral commission to contest the presidential election scheduled for February next year.
In a list published on Tuesday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) noted that 18 parties had fielded presidential candidates and their running mates.
The list include the names of the 75-year-old veteran presidential contestant and former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party, and former Lagos governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
It also includes the 60-year-old former governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi of Labour Party, who is seen as a third force.
Election campaigns officially begin next week on Wednesday.
Rampant insecurity, chronic unemployment and a worsening economic outlook are among issues the candidates are expected to address.
Nigeria has a population of more than 200 million people, out of which more than 95 million voters have registered to participate in the coming election.
