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Hon. Ikenga and Fake G-60 Reps Coalition Chickens Out After Authentic PDP Briefs Media

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By Gloria Ikibah

Ikenga and his G60 Peoples Democratic Party Caucus in the House of Representatives has suddenly back pedalled on their initial announcement to brief the media on the outcome of their meeting which was scheduled to hold today at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.

Naijablitznews.com reports that the G60 is a group of imaginary 60 lawmakers under the auspices of Opposition lawmakers coalition, who had last week, threatened to quit the party if the doctored list of Caretaker Committees in Rivers and 10 other states which was filled with members and loyalist of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is not nullified.

The imaginary 60 members of the group according to our source is not true as only five members claimed to be 60

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The PDP caucus had today slated a meeting for 11am at the National Assembly Complex and thereafter the group was to brief the House of Representatives Press Corps by 1pm, but the briefing could not hold while the Caucus briefed the media on the state of security in Nigeria.

The meeting convened by the
Leader of the Caucus and House Minority Leader, Hon. Kingsley Chinda was held on Tuesday at House Committee Room 413, National Assembly Complex Abuja ahead of Thursday’s National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.

But Spokesperson of G60 Rep. Ikenga Ugochinyere, lawmaker representing Ideato Federal constituency of Imo state, said the briefing would no longer hold and has been cancelled.

No genuine reason was given for the cancellation as the authentic PDP Caucus had briefed the press and no more fabricated story could fly.

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News making the rounds has it that the press secretary of one of the alleged G60 alleged that the meeting with the Minority Leader ended in commotion as lawmakers were sharply divided along the lines of pro and anti-Umar Damgun, the party’s acting National Chairman.

He alleged that the outcome of the meeting said the move to pass vote of confidence on Damagun failed.

He further said: “We are glad that the plan of the pro- Wike group supporting Damagun fall like a pack of cards as we refused all entreaties to perpetuate illegality and stoking of crisis in the party. Our position remains that Damagun must go for someone from North-central to take over and complete Ayu’s tenure.

“Our Party needs total overhaul and reformation. We currently have in the PDP a national leadership that is in bed with the APC and is working extremely hard to hand over the party to the APC. This is quite shameful disheartening. But we won’t fold our hands and let gat happen.

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But a very reliable source within the PDP disclosed that the meeting of the caucus went smoothly as they were all on same page.

Also while addressing journalists after the meeting, the Minority Leader, Rep. Chinda said the PDP caucus was united, indivisible committed and out to perform its duty as the watchdog on behalf of the Nigerians.

Rep. Chinda said: “We have just concluded the third meeting of the People’s Democratic Party caucus in the 10th Assembly and have resolved to tell all of us and the world that we are United and we are one and remained United, indivisible, committed and out to perform her duty as the watchdog on behalf of the Nigerian people.

“In the same vein, we x-rayed the security situation in the country and resolved that we can no longer accept the situation where Nigeria is today tagged one life, one minute silence. The government is therefore called upon to immediately take steps to ensure that the security situation in the country is normalised and the caucus has also given a three month ultimatum for government to normalise the security situation in our country.

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“After three months, the caucus will take further steps to sensitise and mobilise Nigerians to perhaps take their security in their hands.
The House caucus also agreed to call on all party caucuses, the Board of Trustees, National Executive Committee and the National Working Committee of the party to embark on reconciliation measures with a view to resolving all litigation that are pending and has hindered the party in any way whatsoever from having a substantive national Chairman.

“We call on our leaders in the PDP to continue to demonstrate unconditional loyalty to the party and ensure that the party reclaim her pride of place where she enjoyes the position of the largest party in Africa and to take back the Aso Villa which actually supposed to be our birth right.

“For us, we are going back as we resume the session to commence a strong, virile and purpose driven opposition to give the people a voice in the parliament.

We also call on the Senate Leadership to please take steps to recall our colleague and senior brother, a veteran politician, a parliamentarian per excellence, Abdul Ningi.”

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Though members of the G60 were seen during the meeting and briefing seated calming without any agitations or even commotion, one would wonder how true their claim was and why the G60 backed down on the scheduled press conference.

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Politics

“I will not leave my party now or later” -Peter Obi

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Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has denied claims that he is planning to leave the party.

He addressed the matter during the ongoing National Executive Council meeting in Abuja, where he made it clear that he has not held any talks with anyone about leaving the party.

Obi explained that any decisions about his political future or the party’s direction would involve discussions with those working with him in the party.

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He said this to clarify recent speculation surrounding his political stance, which had triggered concerns among his supporters.

Obi, who served as the governor of Anambra State, spoke directly to members of the party to clear the air.

He also stressed that he remains committed to the Labour Party and has not given any indication of moving to another platform.

His response came as members gathered in Abuja to discuss party matters and the way forward.

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This comes at a time when the Labour Party is trying to stay united after a busy political season and court battles, including a recent Supreme Court decision that supported the party’s caretaker committee.

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Ezenwafor Emerges PDP Guber Candidate For 2025 Anambra Poll

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Abuja-based real estate developer, Chief Jude Ezenwafor, has emerged the flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the upcoming November 8, 2025 Anambra State governorship election.

Leader of the PDP national committee mandated to conduct the party’s governorship primary election in the State, Col. Chijioke Onwubuya (rtd), declared Ezenwafor winner in the governorship primary election held on Tuesday at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka.

Ezenwafor contested for the PDP governorship ticket unopposed as he was the only aspirant who purchased the party’s nomination forms for the ticket.

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A total of 853 delegates made up 839 elected from the 21 local government areas of the State and 14 national delegates were accredited to take part in the primary election.

Though Ezenwafor was the lone contestant, each delegate was issued a ballot paper to write the name of the candidate he or she preferred. The delegates cast their votes of affirmation local government area by local government area while the national delegates were the first to cast their ballots.

With the latest emergence of the PDP flag-bearer, a total of four political parties have so far nominated candidates for the Anambra State gubernatorial election.

Recall that the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) had earlier affirmed the incumbent governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, as its candidate for the contest; All Progressives Congress (APC) chose Prince Nicolas Ukachukwu; Labour Party (LP) nominated the former managing director of the Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Chief George Muoghalu, while the African Action Congress (AAC) has the only female candidate so far in the race, Miss Chioma Ifemuludike, as its flag-bearer.

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Some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were present at venue of the governorship primaries of each of the political parties

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Tinubu Gives Fani Kayode, Others New Appointments (See Full List)

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The President Bola Tinubu is vetting potential candidates to fill diplomatic roles in its 109 missions, 76 embassies, 22 high commissions, and 11 global consulates.

Impeccable sources familiar with the developments revealed that a former Minister of Aviation under the Obasanjo administration, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, and a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Femi Pedro, are among the nominees.

It was also gathered that the vetting is not conducted centrally, as nominees are being asked to report to the DSS offices nearest to them.

Presidency officials confirmed to our correspondent that several candidates had been contacted to provide personal education and work history.

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“They’re already doing security checks with DSS. When they have cleared security checks, we will release the list.
“Only those who have been cleared are announced. The process is ongoing. I know that we should have a list before the end of this month (April),” one official revealed, preferring to remain anonymous as he was not authorised to speak to the press.

A second source said, “The vetting is not done centrally. It is based on the location of the nominees. Nominees have been reached to provide personal history and information such as where they attended school, what appointments they have held, and the like. So, it is by location.”

That month, he concluded a sector-wide reassessment of Nigeria’s foreign policy, which saw over 83 career and non-career ambassadors recalled from their stations.

Last December, reliable sources close to the President confirmed that Tinubu spent part of his holiday reviewing the names of nominees with plans to transmit a consolidated list to the National Assembly before the end of the month.

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However, updates in January revealed that the President changed his mind.

It was gathered that the process suffered delays due to the paucity of funds—to the tune of $1bn —required to pay arrears of foreign service officials, settle a backlog of overheads, replace ageing vehicles and renovate embassy buildings.

One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “You see, the major issue is money. Not money to pay them [ambassadors], because how much is their salaries and benefits? The main money is CAPEX [Capital Expenditure]. By the time they put the cost together to fix the issues, it is running to almost $1bn.

“Most of those embassies, almost 90 per cent, are rundown. Either the residence is not good, the embassy does not have a functional office, or their rent has expired. The embassies that are buoyant may not be up to 10 as we speak.

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“I understand that some of them don’t have serviceable vehicles. The last vehicles they bought were from 10 years ago. Some of them are broken down, and ambassadors cannot use such vehicles because they carry the image of the country. Some of them don’t even have power and running water. So, if you post ambassadors there today, you’re sending them to trouble.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, also attributed the delay to financial constraints.
“It is a money problem,” Tuggar said during a ministerial briefing in Abuja last May.

He argued that appointing ambassadors without the financial resources to support their travel and the effective running of missions abroad was pointless.

“We met a situation where foreign affairs was not being funded like it should be. Some loopholes are exploited by the likes of Binance. It is a money problem.

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“There is no point sending out ambassadors if you do not have the funds for them to even travel to their designated countries and to run the missions effectively, one needs funding. Mr President is working on it, and it will be done in due course,” Tuggar said.

A foreign service official explained that though provisions had been made in the 2025 budget to cover some of that cost, the funds were hardly enough.

Nominees on the list
Senior Presidency and foreign service officers say although the complete list of nominees is highly classified, some prominent and controversial figures are being screened.

One official said, “They’re going to announce the appointments soon. They are being screened as we speak. The names of the nominees are highly classified for now because not every one of the names listed will eventually make it through.

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“FFK [Femi Fani-Kayode] is on the list. These are some of the controversial names that have been put forward as well. Then there is Fola Adeola [founder of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc] and Femi Pedro too. They’re moving on with the process more quickly this time.”

Giving reasons for the slow process, another official explained that the vetting was necessary to avoid complications that might hurt the country’s standing on the global scene.

“The nominees are being vetted, and background checks are being conducted on them. It is usually done so that the nominees will not have any security issues and their deployment will not have a negative impact on the country,” the official said.

There was also a claim that Reno Omokri, a former aide of former President Goodluck Jonathan, was on the list.

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But a credible source in the Presidency denied it.

“Reno is not on the list. But FFK is there,” the source said.

The President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, who earlier spoke about the delays, said nominations for ambassadorial roles must be thorough before a final list is transmitted to the National Assembly.

“Don’t forget that the ambassadorial list has two components. There are career ambassadors and political ambassadors. The foreign affairs list and the consolidated list will still go through certain processes before they are released,” he explained.

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Two of the nominees, when contacted declined comment.

They also did not confirm or deny the report.

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