Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), a two-time candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, has announced his withdrawal from the forthcoming 2024 governorship election.

Jegede, who was the PDP candidate in the 2016 and 2020 elections, respectively, noted that he was committed to making all necessary sacrifices to provide solutions to the party’s problems rather than compounding them.

Speaking in Akure, the state capital, while addressing his teeming supporters across the state’s 18 local government areas, the PDP chieftain said he was more committed to ensuring the party’s victory at the poll.

His words: “After several intensive and extensive consultations, consolidations, and reconsiderations, it became obvious that we need to reexamine whether to proceed or take a detour that could guarantee an alignment with the preponderance of opinion in terms of the quest for equitable representation, equity, and fair play particularly at the level of governorship.

“Our party constitution is not receptive to zoning, and this has been demonstrated through the election of successive Governors; the elections were not based on zoning but on merit.

“The event of today has become expedient in the face of the upcoming potential activities in our state and the party. A decision has to be taken whether we need to repeat the same process that we passed through in 2016 and 2020.

“We have an array of governorship aspirants who are competent and distinguished in their various callings; we also have those who have shown exceptional qualities, including consistency and unalloyed loyalty to the party.

“I feel it is time to allow these men the opportunity to try their luck in the primary and, by God’s grace, ultimately win the governorship election; all the aspirants would be accorded every support that is available at my disposal.”

Says attack on party HQ act of lawlessness

•Abure, a pathological liar—NLC’s Political Commission

The National Chairman of Labour Party, Comrade Julious Abure, has accused the Joe Ajaero-led Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and those they led to besiege the party’s national secretariat of stealing funds meant for payment of staff salaries, among other valuables during Wednesday’s attack.

Abure, who spoke for the first time since the picketing of the party’s secretariat, described the action of the labour leaders as a shame and act of rascality. In a statement signed on his behalf by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, in Abuja, yesterday, Abure said, “What we saw was a show of shame, a show of rascality, an abuse of office and an abuse of the law of the land.

“I must state today that the leadership of NLC under Joe Ajaero is on the path of destroying the successes we recorded in the 2023 general election.”

Abure, a pathological liar—NLC’s Political Commission

Reacting to Abure’s allegation, Acting Chairman of NLC’s Political Commission, Professor Theophilus Udubuaku, among others , said, “Abure should be reminded, since he is now suffering from selective amnesia that it took the picketing by Ajaero-led NLC to drive Lamidi Apapa away from the LP headquarters before he moved in.

“Talking about lies, it speaks much about who Abure really is when he claims that billions of naira were stolen when the picketing was conducted in the presence of scores of policemen, DSS officers and pressmen. These lies alone define Abure as a man who is grossly irresponsible.”

“We would like the Nigerian media to appreciate the fact that NLC is not interested in a media war with a man who thinks he can successfully transform himself into a sole administrator of LP.

“The press is expected to do its duty and fact-check the comments from Abure and his men and call them out as liars.

The Presidency has assured Nigerians that the Naira will soon appreciate.

President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, urged speculators to quickly dump their dollars to avoid “tears.”

Onanuga who posted on social media while reacting to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosure that it had cleared the $7 billion foreign exchange backlog inherited by Governor Yemi Cardoso, said Naira is set to appreciate further.

He wrote: “With backlog FX settled, Naira is set to appreciate further, faster. Currency speculators should quickly dump their stock of dollars to avoid sorrows and tears.”

The Nation had reported that the CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mrs Hakama Sidi Ali, confirmed the settlement of all valid FX backlog claims.

Ali said the apex bank employed Deloitte Consulting, an independent auditing firm, to meticulously assess the transactions, ensuring that only legitimate claims were honoured.

“Any invalid transactions were referred to the relevant authorities for further investigation,” she stated.

The CBN’s commitment to tackling the FX backlog appears to be paying off, with the external reserves seeing a significant rise, reaching $34.11 billion as of March 7, 2024, the highest level in eight months.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has called on Nigerians to have faith in the administration of President Bola Tinubu as it is making efforts to address the nation’s challenges.

He said the nation’s economy was gradually reviving under Tinubu.

Idris spoke on Wednesday during an Iftar (breaking of fast) with media executives in Kano.

According to him, the present administration under Tinubu is working hard to address the challenges that he said would soon be over.

He said the President had introduced policies and programmes that would uplift the well-being of Nigerians.

“Nigerians should have trust and confidence in the leadership of President Bola Tinubu to ensure successful implementation of the policies and programmes of his administration, ” he said.

He said the Ministry of Information and National Orientation was committed to ensuring a total overhaul of the agencies under the ministry with a view to enhancing the sector.

The minister disclosed that the administration is working hard to revive the nation’s refineries, stressing that the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery would soon be completed for production to commence.

Idris, who expressed dismay at how the Central Bank of Nigeria was mismanaged by the previous leadership of the bank, noted that the administration of Tinubu had restored the lost glory of the apex bank through the adoption of apt policies.

“The Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu has started yielding positive results because the economy of the country is gradually reviving,” he added