Some people operating under the guise of civil society, and non-governmental organizations have been recruited by some powerful political interests to accuse the 2023 Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi of playing religious and ethnic politics.
“The aim is to malign Mr Obi’s purely altruistic motives in supporting underprivileged Nigerians of all faiths. The ploy is to erroneously claim that he goes to religious places to carry out political campaigns off-season,” Yunusa Tanko, his spokesman said in the statement.
According to Tanko, “the Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR) wishes to alert the public of a fresh orchestrated design to blackmail the 2023 labour party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, by linking him to frivolous, malicious and unsubstantiated allegations of indulging in religious politics.
“We are aware that some persons operating under the guise of civil society, and non-governmental organizations, but acting at the behest of some powerful political interests, have been deployed to petition and accuse Obi of playing religious politics.
“The aim is to malign Mr Obi’s purely altruistic motives in supporting underprivileged Nigerians of all faiths. The ploy is to erroneously claim that he goes to religious places to carry out political campaigns off-season.
“We should ordinarily ignore such mischievous ploys as they are only intended to distract attention from Mr Obi’s patriotic and compassionate position,” he said.
He noted “for the avoidance of doubt and the protection of the gullible in their midst, it has become imperative to restate the truth and the facts.”
He stressed that Peter Obi understands fully the constitutional dictates of separation of church/mosque and state and that Nigeria is an undisputed secular state and would not allow politics to cause a muddle.
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Troops Discover IED Factory In Borno
Troops of the Nigerian Army have discovered a factory where fighters of the Islamic States of West African Province (ISWAP) manufacture improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Lifestyle Nigeria reports that the IED factory is located in Abulam-BUK, Damboa LGA of Borno state, Southeast Nigeria.
Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency publication, said the troops killed several terrorists during the clearance operation at the factory.
“Steadily advancing in different corridors of the theatre towards identified enclaves, the dogged Special Forces troops in collaboration with HYBRID and Civilian Joint Task Force operating under the shared aspiration of the Operation Desert Sanity III, a subsidiary of Operation HADIN Kai, made gradual but unprecedented incursions into the insurgents’ dens,” the publication said.
“The week-long clearance operation through the troops of Sector 2, Special Forces Brigade of the Nigerian Army, CJTF in coordination with the Nigerian Air Force, was marked by a series of encounters designed to decimate the terrorists from their stronghold in the Timbuktu Triangle, comprising Buk, Talala, Gorgi in the dreaded Sambisa forest.”
The publication said the terrorists, overwhelmed by the superior gun power of the troops, retreated and fled the location.
Makama said most of the enclaves occupied by the terrorists have been destroyed by the troops, forcing top ISWAP commanders to flee.
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Elon Musk Bishop – .
Elon Musk is fighting an order to remove content on his social media site X which captured the stabbing of a bishop in Australia on Monday.
Recall that Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in a suburb of Sydney was allegedly stabbed while he was presiding over Mass on Monday evening. A teenager has been charged with a terrorism offence in connection with the incident. The incident was livestreamed as part of the church’s social media channel which has over 200,000 subscribers and police and politicians fear it could incite further violence.
On Tuesday, Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said social media giants X and Facebook’s parent company Meta, would be issued with a notice of removal. The notice relates to content depicting ‘gratuitous or offensive violence with a high degree of impact or detail.’
However, Elon Musk is disputing the order, claiming the posts don’t violate the site’s rules. In a post on X, on Saturday, he wrote: “The Australian censorship commissar is demanding *global* content bans” and he posted a response from X’s Global Government Affairs Team:
“The recent attacks in Australia are a horrific assault on free society. Our condolences go out to those who have been affected, and we stand with the Australian people in calling for those responsible to be brought to justice. Following these events, the Australian eSafety Commissioner ordered X to remove certain posts in Australia that publicly commented on the recent attack against a Christian Bishop.
These posts did not violate X’s rules on violent speech. X believes that eSafety’s order was not within the scope of Australian law and we complied with the directive pending a legal challenge. X has now received a demand from the eSafety Commissioner that X globally withhold these posts or face a daily fine of $785,000 AUD (about $500,000 USD).
This was a tragic event and we do not allow people to praise it or call for further violence. There is a public conversation happening about the event, on X and across Australia, as is often the case when events of major public concern occur. While X respects the right of a country to enforce its laws within its jurisdiction, the eSafety Commissioner does not have the authority to dictate what content X’s users can see globally. We will robustly challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach in court. Global takedown orders go against the very principles of a free and open internet and threaten free speech everywhere.”
On Friday, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb also called on social media sites to do more to screen their content:
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I Recommended Peter Obi To Atiku As Running Mate In 2019 — Reno Omokri
A former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri says he recommended Peter Obi to be Atiku Abubakar’s running mate during the 2019 elections because he was the best at the time.
Lifestyle Nigeria reports that Omokri said this while speaking in an interview on the “Mic On podcast” hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, a journalist with Channels Television.
Omokri said he consulted former President Jonathan before the recommendation.
“…Peter Obi cannot deny that I was the one who recommended him to Waziri Atiku Abubakar. Waziri Atiku Abubakar asked me to help him to choose a running mate,” Omokri said.
“I called former President Jonathan, I discussed with him. Former President Jonathan said, ‘look, it must be Peter Obi’ and then I told former President Jonathan that I can’t just this man only one name and so we padded the list with some other people’s names and then we put Peter Obi’s name and made it so rosy.
“Then, Waziri Atiku Abubakar chose Peter Obi.”
Omokri said he also advised Obi on how to achieve his presidential ambition ahead of the 2023 elections.