Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Untold Stories From Tinubu’s Meeting With Northern Bishops – Lifestyle Nigeria
More details have emerged on what transpired at a meeting of Arewa Church leaders under the aegis of Pentecostal Bishops Forum of Northern Nigeria with the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu arising from the Muslim-Muslim ticket of his party.
The forum was held last Thursday at the APC Presidential Campaign Headquarters in Abuja.
Most of those in attendance had rejected Tinubu’s decision to pick a fellow Muslim from the North, Senator Kashim Shettima, as running mate.
An insider, who spoke exclusively to Sunday Vanguard said the Pentecostal bishops were meeting for the first time to engage the APC candidate on the rationale for his “divisive” decision as well as his plans for Christians in the North.
The source hinted that the group, led by Archbishop John Praise, grilled Tinubu on three questions considered to be of fundamental concern to Christians in the North, but were not particularly impressed with some explanations given.
But the clerics, Sunday Vanguard gathered, were still reviewing the outcome of the meeting and would take incisive actions afterwards.
The source said: “We were led to the meeting by the Deputy President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Archbishop John Praise, who made it clear from the onset that it was not an endorsement event, but a forum to listen to Asiwaju with a view to understanding why he paid deaf ears to the outcry against his party’s Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“To buttress his point and set the tone for the engagement, he quoted John 7:51 which reads, ‘’Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him find out what he has been doing?’’
“We asked Tinubu three burning questions agitating the minds of Christians in the North. First, we asked him: What are your plans for Christians in the North in light of your insistence on picking a Muslim vice-presidential candidate from our region?
“We also asked him to respond to the remarks by Shettima at the NBA Conference that he will oversee security while Tinubu will direct the economy. Finally, we asked the APC presidential candidate for his views on the incessant attacks on Christian communities in the North.”
Similarly, Sunday Vanguard gathered from multiple insiders that Tinubu extensively spoke of the Muslim-Muslim controversy in a bid to allay the fears of the Northern Christian bishops and community and assuage any negative feelings among his guests.
“For our first poser to him, Asiwaju said much, but to summarise his response, he simply told us he cannot talk about sharing a cake that has not been baked.
“His response to our second question was that the Constitution specified the roles and responsibilities of the President and his vice. So, there is no doubt about who will do what in the office if they win 2023,” one of the sources added.
On the perceived Jihad ongoing in Christian communities in the North, another source told Sunday Vanguard that Tinubu said he would not be part of such an extremist agenda, stating that he has not Islamised his immediate family and wouldn’t do so to over 200 million persons.
The clerics were said to have told him that they would go back and consider his ideas to allow them to take action in Nigeria’s best interest.
Also speaking, another source added: “However, some of us are not satisfied with his reasons for picking Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate. He failed to convincingly justify the fact that in all the eight Northern states dominated by Christians there was no qualified, politically exposed and upright Christian fit for the office of the vice president of Nigeria,” the source present at the Northern bishops meeting with Tinubu over the Muslim-Muslim controversy said.
“We believe that Tinubu himself, like most of us at the meeting, is at a loss on how to convince Christians that he will not sideline the Church.
“How can we work for a presidential candidate who appears to be already sidelining people that are not of his faith?”
Source: Vanguard
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On Thursday, May 2, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) University of Abuja chapter has commenced an indefinite strike.
Dr. Sylvanus Ugoh, Chairman of the Branch, acknowledged the event, saying the resolution was made during a congress meeting held at the institution’s Permanent Site.
Platinumpost reports that members of the UniAbuja chapter of ASUU have been at loggerheads with the outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’allah and the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman over the processes for the appointment of a new VC.
An advertorial that surfaced in a national daily on March 15, 2024, sought a replacement for Na’Allah.
However, ASUU members, in a conference, rejected the ad, declared it “illegal,” and stated that it was not from the governing council.
Ugoh noted that the Universities Miscellaneous Provision Act 1993 as amended; 2003 and 2012 (Section 3, subsections 1 and 2) empowers only the governing council to advertise the VC’s seat when declared vacant.
“You will recall that the university administration placed an advert on the vacancy of the post of a Vice-Chancellor on Friday 15th March 2024,” Ugoh had said.
He argued that no other organ or individual is legally vested with the power to initiate the procedure of appointing a successive VC.
More to follow…
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During the ongoing ministerial press briefing to commemorate the first year in office of the second term of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ope George, revealed that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Lagos State has experienced significant growth under the current administration.
Lifestyle Nigeria reports that the GDP has increased from N27 trillion to N41 trillion within a span of four years.
The development highlights the impressive strides that the state has made in its economic development and positions Lagos as a leading contributor to Nigeria’s overall GDP.
According to George, “Over the last couple of years, Lagos had face numerous challenges particularly when COVID 19 and Endsars struck.
“And so we have had a lot of shocks within our system over the last couple of years and with everything going on around the world.
“We are currently riding the curve and we are coming out on a better side. “You hear sometimes when they say Lagos is one of the largest economies in Africa and truly, it’s not static, we will continue to move based on what’s going on in the world.
“As we speak now, I believe that we are currently ranked 7th in terms of GDP in Africa. “We contributed at least a minimum of over 20 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP and you will find that over a period of review, during the first term of Mr Governor, we are moving in the right direction.
“Our GDP has moved from about N27trn to N41 trillion, everything shows that our indices are climbing in the right direction despite all the shocks and all the problems we have witnessed in the past.”
GDP is the standard measure of the value added created through the production of goods and services in a country during a certain period.
Otherwise, is the monetary value of all finished goods and services made within a country during a specific period.
Meanwhile, World Economics Research, London, showed the official estimate for Nigeria’s GDP was $1.116 trillion at the end of 2023 in Purchasing Power Parity Terms, PPPT.
World Economics has developed a database presenting GDP in PPPT with added estimates for the size of the informal economy and adjustments for out-of-date GDP base year data.
World Economics estimated Nigeria’s GDP to be $2.113 trillion- 89% larger than official estimate.
Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have made a significant breakthrough by apprehending the alleged mastermind behind the violent assault on the Abuja-Kaduna passenger train in March 2022.
The development was disclosed during a press briefing held in Kaduna on Thursday, May 2, 2024, by the Police Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
Identified as Ibrahim Abdullahi, who also goes by the ominous moniker of Mandi, the suspect’s arrest marks a pivotal moment in the investigations into the unfortunate Abuja-Kaduna train attack.
ACP Adejobi revealed that Abdullahi was also involved in the abduction of students from Greenfield University in 2021, shedding light on the extent of his alleged criminal activities.
Source: Politics Nigeria
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