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Kingsley Moghalu Declares 2023 Presidential Ambition With 4-Point Agenda

Former Presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections in Nigeria, Professor Kingsley Moghalu has formally announced his intentions to run for the country’s top job in the 2023 Presidential elections.

Moghalu, who ran for president under the umbrella of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) in 2019, was a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) before he got into politics.

He mentioned in January 2021 that he would run for the office of president again in 2023 because he believes that Nigeria deserves a capable leader to take to the next phase in its journey to self-actualization.

While making the announcement on Twitter, he came short of announcing the party platform thru which he will pursue his ambition. He left the YPP after the 2019 general elections where he scored a miserly 22,000 votes.

His announcement was captioned:

2023: I WILL RUN BECAUSE WE THE PEOPLE MATTER

1. What is the value of a Nigerian life?

2. We live daily today under the shadow of terrorists. Our economy is collapsing. Many families cannot afford the price of food. Millions of young men and women have no jobs and have no hope

3. Our university students know more about ASUU strikes and long school closures than any skills they need to be competitive in the world of the 21st century.

4. Only the rich and powerful can access quality healthcare in our country or abroad as medical tourists, because our health system, like most other systems, is broken. I lost my father, Isaac Moghalu, in December 1998 because he had a stroke but the doctors were on strike, and therefore we could not get him adequate healthcare on time.

5. Soon after we found a private clinic and moved him there, he went into a coma and passed on shortly afterward. I was heartbroken. Today, 23 years later, not much has changed. Like many, I have suffered the effects of bad governance in our country.

6. With life in it increasingly nasty, brutish and short, the very idea of Nigeria is now almost meaningless to many Nigerians. Cries for self-determination fill the air in response to fundamental injustice.

7. Meanwhile, politics in Nigeria does not bring change, and its benefits go to only one group – the political elite. Their message is loud and clear: we the people —you and I – DO NOT matter.

8. The bodies of Nigerians are buried in cold corners of foreign cemeteries, strewn across the Sahara desert, and float in the Mediterranean Sea, as a consequence of a non-existent leadership. Our country can no longer speak confidently in the gathering of nations.

9. Life as ordained by our Creator, that we may experience His Goodness in this land of the living, has eluded us as a people.

10. Only the emergence of visionary, competent, and inclusive national leadership, on the one hand, and a fundamental restructuring of Nigeria based on a new people’s constitution, on the other, can arrest Nigeria’s ongoing disorderly and violent degeneration into a completely failed state. We were not born to be miserable and to die miserable. Enough is Enough!

11. It is now more than ever necessary that we elect in 2023 a leader who is TRULY committed and has the capacity to initiate the constitutional restructuring of Nigeria. A leader who is competent to secure our lives and property, successfully manage our diversity, save our economy, and restore our international respect.

12. For the sake of the youth of our country — including my four children — whose future is being drowned in reckless foreign borrowing, and for the sake of all Nigerians suffering and seeking a clear alternative to the status quo, I intend — with all humility — to present myself— again — as a candidate for the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the 2023 general elections.

13. If elected, I will run a government with a dream team of highly competent Nigerians from all parts of our country. Along with strengthened, independent institutions, we will deliver results on a 4-point agenda in four years (4 by 4):

  • Security for all Nigerians and Nigeria’s territory;
  • War against poverty: skills, jobs for our youth, and an innovation economy;
  • Accelerated education and healthcare reform;
  • Good governance: inclusive, transparent, effective, and accountable.

14. This is my SWAG Agenda for a 21st century Nigeria. I seek the support of all compatriots — of everyone who is tired of our present national situation. We also need the energy and support of our youth, the middle class, entrepreneurs, and our compatriots in the diaspora. These important segments of our population have in the past been reluctant to engage actively in our electoral process, ostensibly because of the flaws in that process.

15. The National Assembly @nassnigeria must now pass into law, without further delay, necessary electoral reforms that will make democracy yield real dividends for Nigerians. Our votes must count, and be counted transparently. The amendments should include a provision for Diaspora Nigerians to be able to register and vote in all elections in Nigeria from abroad.

16. I am only one face of a movement. A movement of silent and suffering Nigerians fed up with the insecurity, poverty, and a seemingly hopeless future for our country. A movement that has decided that Enough is Enough.

17. That movement, soon to be present in our numbers in every voting ward in Nigeria, will announce within the next few months the political party we will join en masse and seek its platform for the presidential, legislative, and gubernatorial roles in governance.

18. We can do this. We can change Nigeria.

19. Together, let us walk this road to a Nigeria that, within 30 years of successive administrations, will have achieved the kind of economic and technological advancement attained by countries such as Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates within similar timeframes. It is possible. We only need to participate actively in the democratic process and vote right when the time comes.

20. We the Nigerian people matter. We the Nigerian people deserve better. Let’s do this. Because we can and we must.

[Signed]

Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, Ph.D. OON FCIB

Ifekaego Nnewi

June 1, 2021

moghalu4nigeria.org

kingsleymoghalu.com

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I’ll back only candidates who support Tinubu in FCT Polls – Wike

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, says he will support only candidates who support President Bola Tinubu’s vision, irrespective of political party, in the FCT area councils’ election scheduled for February 21.

Wike made the statement in Abuja on Saturday night during Senator Sandy Onor’s 60th birthday, a celebration of six decades of scholarship, leadership, service, and meaningful impact.

The Minister, who said he owed no one an apology for supporting Tinubu, promised to back any candidate aligned with the President.

“We have the FCT Area Council election coming up on February 21, and I have a duty to support any candidate who supports President Tinubu to win.

“It is also my duty to ensure that any candidate who is not supporting Tinubu does not win in the election, and I owe no apology on my stand,”* Wike said.

Speaking about the celebrant, Wike described Onor as a “credible ally, a trustworthy friend, and good brother.”

According to him, Onor is not only a friend but a reliable one, even in times of trouble: “I will continue to be with you and work with you, because I know even if I am not alive today, you will not abandon my family.”

Reading the citation for the celebrant, Prof. Anthony Eyang said Onor, born on Feb. 14, 1966, in Ikom, Cross River, was raised in an environment rooted in community values, discipline, and faith.

Eyang noted that Onor’s journey, from the lecture halls of the University of Calabar to the Nigerian Senate and onward to Cross River politics, “reflects a life devoted to learning, leadership, and the advancement of society.”

Earlier, Chairman of the planning committee, Senator Philip Aduda, said the event was a thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness in Onor’s life, both as an academic and a politician.

Former Governor of Benue, Mr Samuel Otom, who stood in for the Chairman of the Occasion, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, former Governor of Abia State and Ambassador-designate, described Onor as an “icon,” a great Nigerian, and a man prepared and fit for leadership. He also called Onor a “good man.”

Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kalu Agabi (SAN), described the celebrant as courageous and intelligent. “I love Sen. Sandy Onor because he is not one of those who stigmatise the constitution as a product of the military,” he said.

Head of Department of History and International Studies, University of Calabar, Prof. Dave Imbua, presented a Festschrift—a book written by scholars in honour of the celebrant, stating that Onor has remained a notable historian among academics.

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US sanctions 8 Nigerians over links to Boko Haram, And Other Crimes

us embassy

The United States has frozen the assets and properties of eight Nigerians accused of having links to the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

This was contained in a 3,000-page document dated February 10, released by the United States Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and sighted by the correspondent on Monday.

The document also identified individuals sanctioned for cybercrime-related offences and other security threats. The pronouncement comes on the heels of recent recommendations by the US Congress for visa bans and asset freezes on persons and groups accused of violations of religious freedom and persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

The former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso; the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria; and Miyetti Allah Kautal were recommended by United States lawmakers for visa bans and asset freezes.

The OFAC document, titled “Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List,” detailed individuals of other nationalities and entities whose assets had been frozen, serving as a reference tool. It also provided notice of actions taken against Specially Designated Nationals, whose property and interests were blocked as part of counter-terrorism efforts.

According to OFAC, the move forms part of its broader efforts to block the property and interests of Specially Designated Nationals and prevent financial dealings with them.

“This publication of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is designed as a reference tool providing actual notice of actions by OFAC with respect to Specially Designated Nationals and other persons (which term includes both individuals and entities) whose property is blocked, to assist the public in complying with the various sanctions programmes administered by OFAC,” the agency said.

Among those listed is Salih Yusuf Adamu, also known as Salihu Yusuf, born on August 23, 1990, in Nigeria. Yusuf was identified as having ties to Boko Haram and was reported to hold a Nigerian passport.

Yusuf was among six Nigerians convicted in 2022 for setting up a Boko Haram cell in the United Arab Emirates to raise funds for insurgents in Nigeria. The six men were convicted in the UAE for attempting to send $782,000 from Dubai to Nigeria.

Another individual, Babestan Oluwole Ademulero, born on March 4, 1953, in Nigeria, was designated under SDNTK sanctions. He appeared under several aliases, including Wole A. Babestan and Olatunde Irewole Shofeso.

Also designated was Abu Abdullah ibn Umar Al-Barnawi, also known as Ba Idrisa. He was reportedly born between 1989 and 1994 in Maiduguri, Borno State, and was flagged under terrorism-related sanctions.

Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, also referred to as Habib Yusuf, was listed with varying birth years between 1990 and 1995. He was identified as a Boko Haram leader and sanctioned under terrorism provisions.

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Even with 10 million votes, Obi still wouldn’t have won the 2023 Elections — Lai Mohammed

Lekki Toll Gate

Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has insisted that Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi would not have won the 2023 presidential election even if he had secured 10 million votes.

Mohammed explained this while appearing on Edmund Obilo’s State Affairs Podcast, that Obi still could not get “one-quarter of votes cast in 25 states,” a constitutional requirement for winning the presidency.

“Even if Obi had got 10million votes, he wouldn’t have won. This is because he still could not get one-quarter of the votes cast in 25 states. It is even on record that he could not provide agents at about 40,000 polling units,” the ex-minister said.

Speaking on factors that shaped the 2023 election, especially in Lagos state, Mohammed said, “For the first time in the history of politics in Nigeria, ethnicity and religion played a very frontal role.”

He added that the #EndSARS protests had an impact, particularly in Lagos, where many youths “wanted a pound of flesh,” which did not help the APC or Bola Tinubu.

Mohammed further emphasized the difference between presidential elections and governorship or National Assembly contests.

“I am of the belief that the presidential elections are not as personal as the governorships or national assemblies. In presidential elections, a man might not be affiliated with any of the candidates. But when it comes to governorships, it is particular and peculiar because the candidate lives in the state,” he said.

On Tinubu’s leadership, Mohammed stated that the president does not withdraw support from allies after electoral defeats.

“Asiwaju is not the kind of person who will drop his support for you because you have lost the election. No, he will still encourage you,” he said, adding that Tinubu has often been underestimated due to his warm and charismatic personality.

“He is strategic and really understands Nigerian politics better than anybody you might think of,” Mohammed said.

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