The Late 5: Trouble for Uzodinma as Imo APC rejects him as guber candidate; I thought age helps one avoid making reckless utterances – Obi to El-Rufai | Other top stories

Peter Obi

These are the stories that drove the conversation today:

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday arrived in Paris, France to attend the first edition of the Paris Peace Forum, holding between November 11 and 13, 2018.

According to a statement by his media aide, Femi Adesina, President Buhari is expected to join the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres and other world leaders in discussing contributions towards global peace while underscoring the imperative of collective action.

He will also join other world leaders to commemorate the centenary anniversary of the Armistice signed on November 11, 1918, between the Allied Forces and Germany in the forest of Compiegne in France to end the First World War.


The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) late Friday published the name of Senator Hope Uzodinma as the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo for the 2019 governorship election in the state, following a court order he obtained from a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja.

Publicity Secretary of the Imo APC, Jones Onwuasoanya, has however distanced the APC leadership in the state from the name published by INEC, stressing that INEC closes work at 4pm, except on election days when it may continue collation of results till very late in the night and there was no fresh court order compelling INEC to publish any name for Imo APC.

Emphasizing on what he described as against the country’s political culture, he said Uzodimma’s running mate is from the same Federal Constituency with him, adding that “the only authentic governorship candidate of the APC in Imo State is Ugwumba Uche Nwosu and this will be proven with time.” 


The Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi has expressed surprise at the statement credited to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, referring to him as “a tribal bigot,” while alleging that the former Anambra Governor stopped him from moving around the state during the 2010 governorship election in the state.

Obi who spoke to journalists at Nnewi on Saturday, said he was aware that during the said election he referred to, security agents merely restricted his movement because he had no business being in Anambra as he (Obi) would have no business being in Kaduna on an election day, stressing that he believed that as people grow older and are saddled with more responsibilities ,it is expected of them to become circumspect in thinking and avoid recklessness in speeches and utterances.

“How does the circumstance he referred to related to bigotry to warrant such a label?  All I do for people like El-Rufai is to pray for them and encourage them to concentrate on  doing those things that will better the lots of Nigerians rather than engage in hate speeches that will divide and destroy  the country,” he said.


The Independent National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday called for peaceful coexistence amongst Nigerians, explaining that the high cost of conducting elections is due to prevailing insecurity in most parts of the country.

INEC National Commissioner in charge of Benue, Enugu and Anambra, Festus Okoye, who said this on Saturday in Makurdi during an interaction with leaders of political parties, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media, acknowledged that though such huge deployment of security personnel during elections helped in stabilising the electoral process, it was also capital intensive.


The Nigerian Air Force says its Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole on Friday, neutralised several Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) in air strikes conducted at Talala in Borno, assuring that working in concert with surface forces, it would sustain the tempo of operations in order to destroy all remnants of the terrorists in Borno.

NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, who disclosed this in Abuja on Saturday, said the operation was carried out following credible intelligence reports that BHTs appeared to have relocated some of their fighters from the fringes of Lake Chad in Northern Borno to establish new camps along the Talala-Ajigin-Buk axis of the state.

“ATF dispatched two Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha Jet aircraft to attack the Camp in multiple waves, leading to destruction of some of the structures and killing of several BHTs,’’ he said.


And stories from around the stories:

Turkey says it has shared recordings related to the murder of the journalist and writer Jamal Khashoggi with the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia and others. (BBC)


The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is facing its worst Ebola outbreak in the country’s recorded history, health officials have said.

The announcement late on Friday came amid increasing warnings that the situation could deteriorate because of attacks by armed groups and community resistance in the affected areas in eastern DRC. (Al Jazeera)


U.S. President Donald Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron agreed on Saturday on the need for more European defense spending, papering over an earlier Trump tweet that had described Macron’s call for a European army as “very insulting.” (Reuters)


US President Donald Trump came under fire on Saturday after cancelling a visit to an American World War I military cemetery in France because of rainy weather. (AFP)


The leader of the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah insisted that one of its Sunni allies be given a portfolio in a new Lebanese cabinet, and indicated it would be ready to go back to square one in negotiating a government if necessary. (Reuters)

 

 

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