The disagreement between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led Abia State administration and the opposition All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has heightened with more verbal war.

In a press statement issued by the chairman, the Rev. Augustine Ehiemere yesterday, APGA said the administration ignored the issues it had raised earlier and went personal.

At a world press conference addressed by the chairman in Umuahia, the state capital, the opposition party had alleged that the state under the PDP had been unlucky in terms of good leadership and governance since 1999.

Citing many areas where he complained that the successive administrations had failed, Ehiemere added that in comparison, the state was lagging far behind Imo, Anambra, Enugu, and Ebonyi, “just to mention but a few.”

He said, “Unarguably, we cannot beat our chest and say the state has achieved any meaningful development, economically and otherwise for the past 22 years now, using some developmental indices and yardstick as compared to the states mentioned.”

Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations, the state commissioner for information and strategy, Barr Eze Chikamnayo at press conference at the Government House, made several allegations against Dr Alex Otti, APGA’s 2015 and 2019 governorship candidate.

In an address entitled “Enough of Otti’s nonsense” Chikamnayo also accused the former banker of being instrumental to the collapse of the N6.8b 4.7 km Faulks Road, Aba, built by the present administration.

Will All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, join the 2023 presidential race as being speculated?

Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, says the answer will come in January when Tinubu is expected to confirm his interest.

Fashola who succeeded Tinubu as Lagos State governor in 2007 spoke on Channels Television programme ‘Hard Copy’ Friday night.

Tinubu himself yesterday met with former governor of Abia State,Dr.Orji Uzor Kalu in Abuja.

”I saw him last week; he didn’t tell me he was running for office and to the best of my knowledge, the last statement he made about it was that people would know in January,” Fashola said. The Minister said he did not ask Tinubu during their meeting.

“I only went to see how well he was doing,” he said, adding: “He has issued a statement that ‘I will speak in January’, so let’s wait for his speech.”

Asked if he was speaking for any presidential aspirant, Fashola responded in the negative,saying: “As far as I am aware, nobody has said, ‘I want to be Nigeria’s President’. There are people speaking for people. Nobody has come out; we are not at that stage yet.

“I can’t venture out and say that I will speak for X or Y. Let the person come out and say, ‘I want to serve Nigeria’.

“It pains me sometimes when we seed that very important job and responsibility to, ‘My people said’. I think the whole sense of it should be that I am able, I have looked at myself, give me your problem, you go to sleep’.”

PRESIDENT of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan has described the 9th Senate as that which in all ways is different from the previous ones, just as he said that in the last 22 years that he has been in the National Assembly, he has never seen a united Upper chamber like the present one.

Lawan who hailed the prevailing atmosphere of unity among his colleagues said that it has made the ninth Senate different from the previous ones, adding that the unity among the Senators of different political persuasions and their focus and determination to work for Nigeria had made the ninth National Assembly record some successes.

Lawan spoke on Friday in Lagos at the 2021 award night of the New Telegraph Newspapers where he was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement in Politics Award.

Also honoured were some State Governors, Ministers and Lawmakers including the Chairman, Senate Services Committee, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, All Progressives Congress, APC, Niger East who received the Most Innovative Senator of the Year 2021 Award.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser, Media, Ola Ola Awoniyi, the President of the Senate who spoke on behalf of the awardees, said: “This ninth Assembly, I’m sure is the major reason why an award was given to me. But I want to take us back to what the chairman of the Board of New Telegraph said in his remarks at the beginning.

“He said accomplishments are lifetime. Today I’m 22 years plus as a member of the National Assembly and therefore if I’m Senate President today by the Grace of God and we are able to achieve some feat in the Ninth Senate, I have to show my gratitude to my colleagues in the House of Representatives where I served for two terms of eight years, 1999 to 2007, and to my colleagues in the Senate where I started my journey in 2007 to date.

“This is a different Senate from the previous one. As far as I can remember, I have never seen a Senate chamber that is so united, that is so determined, that is so focused on achieving a great deal of good things in legislation and representation for Nigeria like this one. I have never seen one and this is my fourth time in the Senate.

“When we came in in 2019 and our colleagues decided to give us the opportunity to serve them, we all decided that this time around, we must work for Nigeria.

“We must work together regardless of our political disposition and so far, Ninth Senate and indeed the ninth National Assembly has recorded a great deal of successes but that is not to say that we don’t have our failures. We have.

“It’s in this Senate that we have been able to pass the budget before Christmas in 2020. We passed the budget before Christmas for 2021 and today by the Grace of God, we are going to pass the budget for 2022 before Christmas.

“That, I’m sure, gives the executive arm of government the opportunity to start the implementation of the budget in the first month of the new year, that is January.

“I want to also add here and I want to thank the chairman of the Board of the New Telegraph that it is this Senate and indeed this National Assembly that broke the jinx of passing the Petroleum Industry Bill that defied passage.

“All previous efforts and I was a player in all those efforts from 2008 when the first PIB was presented to the National Assembly by the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua administration.

“All the efforts failed but in this Senate, we have been able to pass it and Mr President was able to assent to it and this is one very important, historic and in fact a central pillar of legislation for our country.

“I believe that, as politicians at all levels of governance, we should work together, we should complement each other. We should partner and ensure that we deliver services to the people of our country.

“Nigeria faces security challenges but I think there is certainly determination at all levels of government to fight the insecurity that we face.

“In some areas, we have succeeded but in others, we are still working hard to succeed. What is important is for us to continue to remain focused, remain undivided, remain united as a people.

“Crime by anyone is a crime. If someone in an ethnic group commits a crime, he’s a criminal regardless of what he is. It doesn’t matter, the country is supposed to fight against that person.

“Criminals should not enjoy support from any group even if it is from their ethnic group. Once again, I want to take this opportunity to thank the New Telegraph management and leadership for giving us these honours and awards and I want to assure the New Telegraph management and leadership and indeed Nigerians that these awards will spur us to do more.”

Senators in the company of the Senate President at the award night were the Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu(the chief host), Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Senator Barau Jibrin and Senator Tokunbo Abiru.

Vanguard