Television Nigerian

Eddy Olafeso, a member of the PDP’s reconciliation committee, has emphasized the significance of interacting with Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, and leaders of other opposition parties in order to build a coalition that will defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 elections.
Prior to the 2022 primaries, Obi, who had previously run for the PDP nomination, switched to the Labour Party. With 6,101,533 votes, he came in third place behind Tinubu, who won with 8,794,726 votes, and PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar, who received 6,984,520 votes.
In an appearance on Wednesday’s Politics Today show on Channels Television, Olafeso was questioned if the struggling PDP should get in touch with Obi in order to improve their prospects of defeating the APC in 2027.

In response, he said that it is crucial to interact with Peter Obi as well as any other powerful people in the nation who could be able to cast votes.

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The PDP leader emphasized the huge obstacles a single political party would encounter in trying to overthrow the ruling party and reaffirmed the need for a strong coalition to oppose the APC in 2027.

“You have people cooperating to win an election; it’s not just here that you have partnerships.

“It happened in Ghana not too long ago, and it is precisely what we should all do right now. Don’t fool yourself; no one party can defeat the APC by itself. To fight, we must all unite,” Olafeso continued.

He blamed the PDP leadership for the party’s disintegration prior to the 2023 election, a development that contributed to the party’s electoral defeat.

Olafeso bemoaned the PDP leadership’s inability to bring the party together prior to the 2023 election, pointing out that Tinubu would have finished far behind if the votes of Atiku and Obi had been added together.

According to reports, the PDP is still in upheaval since Atiku and Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, have not yet reconciled after their disagreement during the party’s 2022 primary.

Olafeso, however, insisted that the gap between the two leaders could be healed and expressed hope that the party will overcome this obstacle and bring everyone back together.

Abubakar Hassan Fulata, the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on University Education, has refuted claims that members sought bribes of ₦480 million in order to approve the 2025 budget’s allocation for some federal universities and other postsecondary educational establishments.
He claimed that individuals disseminating these stories are merely attempting to sabotage the MPs’ work.
Fulata defended the members by stating that there was no executive session or private meeting during the budget defense, which was held in the House temporary chamber and was accessible to the public and media.
According to a revelation by an online news outlet, several National Assembly MPs organized a bribery scheme that targeted federal colleges and other higher education establishments around the nation.

The study claims that in order to convince university presidents to approve their allocations in the 2025 budget, lawmakers are threatening and intimidating them into paying ₦8 million apiece.

Members of the House of Representatives and senators are allegedly involved in the extortion scam.

According to reports, the MPs, acting through the House Committee on University Education and the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFund, sought funding from universities in order to approve their budgets.

Fulata, however, rejected all of the allegations.

He maintained that by offering suggestions on how colleges should behave, lawmakers have been at the forefront of making life easier for them.

“With the exception of Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State, whose vice-chancellor denied the lawmakers access to the school and failed to provide documents regarding the budget performance of previous years (2022 to 2024) and 2025 budget proposal,” he continued, “lawmakers in the Green Chamber conducted oversight visits to all federal universities under his committee’s supervision.”

He claimed that President Bola Tinubu agreed to remove universities and other tertiary institutions from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) because of the legislators’ opposition to its inclusion, arguing that it is “anti-intellectual, anti-academics, and retrogressive.”

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He claims that the lack of university and other tertiary institution councils almost a year after the current government took office prompted the House of Representatives to consider and approve a motion asking the president to form the councils, which the president did almost immediately.

According to him, the House Committee on University Education conducted an oversight visit to all federal universities under its purview in 2024, with the exception of Federal University Gusau in Zamfara State, whose vice chancellor not only denied lawmakers access to the institution but also neglected to produce documentation pertaining to the budget performance of the previous years (2022–2024) and the budget proposal for 2025. According to him, the purpose of the oversight visit was to obtain a better understanding of the universities’ issues and progress.

He claims that the administrations of practically every university he visited lodged strong complaints about the increase in electricity rates.

We believed that our tertiary institutions could not benefit from some of the universities paying roughly N100 million in monthly electricity tariffs. On this matter, I proposed a motion, and the House passed a resolution calling for either a reduction in the power tariff or the expulsion of these institutions from the Band A group of electricity tariffs.

“Mr. President once more heard our plea and granted a 50% electricity tariff subsidy for colleges of education, universities, polytechnics, all tertiary institutions, and hospitals,” Fulata stated.

He added that on January 15, 2025, just after the Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration, the National Universities Commission and university vice chancellors had an open meeting to discuss the committee’s budget defense.

According to Joe Igbokwe, the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the ruling party cannot afford to lose Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State.
At a recent gathering in Abuja, El-Rufai reportedly stated that he no longer recognizes the ruling party, claiming that the APC no longer engages in internal democracy.

The APC responded by calling the former governor a desperate politician who is solely interested in maintaining political relevance ahead of the general elections in 2027.

In response, Igbokwe said on Wednesday on his Facebook page that El-Rufai is bolder, sharper, and more shrewd than all of President Bola Tinubu’s ministers.
He said that Tinubu’s success in 2023 was due to powerful individuals like El-rufai, and that it was regrettable that certain government cabals opposed his nomination when he was nominated as a minister.

“All things considered, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, is essential to APC Nigeria,” he said. He put in a great deal of effort on behalf of the APC in the 2023 presidential and gubernatorial elections.

“I saw firsthand how Governor El Rufai, former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, and another Governor went to thwart the criminal Emefiele’s questionable money policy, which was directed at PBAT and almost ended the PBAT win. I also recall the agonizing work he did to keep Kaduna for the APC.

For unknown reasons, we permitted pranksters and dishonorable individuals to enter the Senate’s sacred chambers to thwart HE El-Rufai’s nomination as a minister. He was expected to bow and simply leave if truth was to win out.

“APC gave the intruders permission to leave with their sadistic inclinations. Let me ask you this now: What kind of meat do they eat? Who of the Federal Cabinet’s ministers is superior to Mallam El Rufai in terms of intelligence, courage, skill, and depth?

It is inexplicable and completely wrong to disregard and disregard our own academic in the greatest tradition. May this stormy petrel with a ton of capacity and capability never be forgotten. Oh, Malam El Rufai na guy.

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“APC Nigeria must not disregard this outstanding individual, regardless of the circumstances. We can’t risk losing him to the other party. We cannot afford to lose him at this moment because he is one of the strong characters. The case rested.