Lai Mohammed accuses opposition of instigating victory by subterfuge – ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has accused the opposition of instigating victory by subterfuge, reports ITREALMS.

Speaking in Abuja, he recalled that on Monday, January 21st 2019, they alerted the nation, also via a press conference, to the plot by some opposition elements to scuttle the 2019 general elections by instigating widespread violence across the country.

“Of course we didn't just make this up. It was based on credible intelligence,” he said.

According to him, the desperate opposition is doing everything possible, including instigating widespread violence as well as relentless attacks on key institutions, to discredit the forthcoming election.

“They know they will lose the election, but they want victory by subterfuge,” he alleged.

And to further their plan, Lai Mohammed said, the opposition is dispatching a 10-member delegation to some Western capitals, including London, Brussels and Washington, DC, to sell the idea that the Buhari Administration has perfected the plan to rig the election.

“They have no empirical basis for the idea they are pushing, beyond relying on exploiting the nation's 'fault lines' of religion, ethnicity and regionalism.

“The opposition is approaching the election with an incredible level of desperation. In this regard, they have activated their own version of the infamous Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), under the guise of CUPP, to engage in unrestrained rabble-rousing and frivolous court cases. Of course, the activities of CUPP in recent times are there for all to see, even though the coalition seems to be a very poor imitation of the original ABN.

“The Buhari Administration is committed to a free, fair, credible and peaceful poll. We are glad that local and international observers are already fully mobilised to monitor the election.

“We call on all Nigerians to be vigilant as we begin the final countdown to the election. Eternal vigilance, as the saying goes, is the price of liberty. We must not allow desperate politicians to crash our democracy on the altar of their personal - and sometimes inordinate - ambition!”

Uboshe Uboshe/Editor

*JOIN our alert's group | Share stories with us | Advert placement: WhatsApp | SMS: +2348033592762 *Twitter: @ITREALMS *Email: itrealms.dsa@gmail.com*

Lai Mohammed says 'Opposition using fake news tool against Buhari' - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has accused the opposition of resorting to the use of fake news as a campaign tool against the President Muhammadu Buhari's administration ahead of the 2019 general elections, reports ITRealms.

The Minister made the remarks in Abuja on Monday when he visited the corporate headquarters of the Authority Newspapers to kick-start the media tour in furtherance of the campaign against fake news, which was recently launched by the federal government.

He said because the Buhari Administration is performing well, the political opposition believed that the best way to de-market the administration is by latching on to fake news to create religious and ethnic disharmony and throw the country into turmoil.

“With the Buhari Administration delivering on its promises to fight corruption, build the nation's economy and tackle insecurity, the opposition has realized it will not make any impact if it takes on the Administration on that turf. So, it has decided to take the easy route, which is to use fake news and hate speech to de-market the Administration, pitch Christians against Muslims and one ethnic group against another,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said the opposition has thrown caution to the wind in its futile attempt to divide Nigeria along ethnic and religious lines by using fake news to blame all the killings in a certain part of the country on herdsmen, ignoring the bands of deadly militia groups that are being sponsored by unscrupulous people to kill innocent people and put the nation on edge.

He cited the example of how the opposition is distorting the fact that the clashes between the farmers and herders are being aggravated by climate change - which has heightened the contest for scarce natural resources like water and land - as well as demographic pressure.

The Minister said the morbid fear the opposition harbors that when he is re-elected in 2019, President Buhari will consolidate on the fight against corruption, has thrown the opposition camp into confusion, hence the frenzy with which they fabricate and publish fake news in order to cast the government in bad light.

“Many politicians know that the only way to distract this government is to spread fake news and they are being very selfish and they have amassed so much wealth that they can continue to sponsor fake news at a very dangerous level for as long as they want.

 

“Many of them have this morbid fear of the President being re-elected because they know that in his second term, the war against corruption will start yielding fruits. There are so many cases in court today and they are just praying and doing everything to distract the government so that their cases will be scuttled,” he stated.

Alhaji Mohammed said that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, there is a re distribution of the nation's wealth from a few to the generality of the public

He said the Administration's Social Investment Programme is providing one meal a day for 8.5 million pupils across 23 states; the Conditional Cash Transfer is empowering 400,000 families with N5,000 every month, the Government Enterprises and Empowerment Programme is making available loans to artisans and craftsmen as well as market women while the N-Power Programme has provided employment for over 200,000 unemployed graduates.

The Minister commended the Authority Newspapers for being the first media outlet to write an Editorial in support of the campaign against fake news, saying he chose to kick-start the media tour with the newspaper in appreciation of their efforts.

Ayo Midele/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Trending #AfricaThisWeek Volume 1, No. 2 - ITREALMS

#AfricaThisWeek@ITREALMS:

Highlights:

1. Bank of Zambia upgrades notes with security features
2. Senate President, 3 Governors defect to opposition, PDP
3. Giant multinational SOCFIN battles local communities over palm lands
4. Ramaphosa escorts son for traditional ceremony @Uganda
5. Rural populace returns ZANU PF to Presidency
6. Chinje advocates for CAS, no miniaturization of states

Follow on Twitter: @#AfricaThisWeek. 

Full edition: #AfricaThisWeek Volume 1, No. 2. This edition is also available in French.

*Courtesy Remmy Nweke/ED, Ops

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

BAT: APC successful convention, prayer answered in reverse of opposition - ITREALMS Online

ITREALMS:

The National Leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared that the national convention which concluded at the weekend in Abuja successfully, was a prayer answered in reverse of opposition request, and for the continuation of the Change Agenda they promised Nigerians in 2015, reports ITRealms.

He stated this in his address to the convention on Saturday, entitled “To Continue the workd we started” a copy of which was made available to ITRealms.

He also said the convention has given rest to the doubters who gave APC no chance of existence or of continued survival have gotten their reply in full. “Their envious prayers and complaints have been answered in reverse,” he asserted.

According to him, they (opposition) wanted to see the end of APC and pursuit of good governance for Nigeria.

“You should not forget, as I shall never forget, the strong efforts they made to stop us in the courts.

“There were twelve cases brought trying to stop us from merging, from registering the new party, then attempting to bar our candidate from the election.

“Lacking the courage to face the democratic will of the people, they tried to misuse the courts as a weapon against democracy. We thank the judiciary for following the letter and spirit of the constitution by dismissing this dirty dozen of malicious cases filed against us.

“With their schemes foiled, those who tried to destroy us must bear witness to the destruction of their edifice of corrupt governance and their dreams of unjust domination of our nation.

“While they planned a lifetime of greedy enrichment by looting the people’s resources and the public treasury for 60 years, we moved to reform the economy to bring development and aid to the poor.

“When they called for hate and division, we strove for compassion and unity. When they hoisted the standard of bias, we raised the flag of justice and the chevron of fairness.

“When they sought to make Nigeria a monument to corrupt government, we sought to remake Nigeria into a place of transparency and honest opportunity for all.

“The APC’s formation is the most important political development in our recent history. This is not due to the names of those who founded the party. It is because of the ideals upon which the party was established.

“The APC was not brought into existence to compel the majority to serve the few. For 16 consecutive years, the PDP had already assumed that mean role.

“The APC came into being to reverse this unjust equation.

“Under the PDP, the people were made to let the beast ride them.  The APC came to stop this travesty. By right, it is the people who are to ride the beast not the other way around.

“As we go through today’s deliberations, we must keep in remembrance and put into action the purposes for which this party was formed.

“Yes, human nature is partly composed of personal ambitions. Life would be incomplete without such goals and dreams. Yet, we must be motivated by other things more sublime than our personal benefit.

“As good citizens of Nigeria and members of the party, we must seek to prosper with society more that we seek to prosper from society.

“In the APC, we are many but we are also one. Thus, we must stand together for democratic good governance or stand not at all.

“We have experienced much since our inception. Unexpected events and harsh realities emerged to block our way. Those who detest progress fought severely against us. And they are still fighting.

“Yet, we remain true to our beliefs. In a few short years, we have done more than the other party did in 16 long years,” he said.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Minister showcases PMB achievements, slams opposition

ITREALMS:

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has slammed the country's political opposition for downplaying the unprecedented achievements of the Buhari Administration, saying they are being deliberately and perpetually blind to the achievements, reports ITRealms.

The Minister made the assertion while inaugurating the 22-member newly-elected Governing Council of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), under the chairmanship of Mallam Mukhtar Sirajo, in Abuja on Thursday.

He described the opposition as unserious, very disdainful of the truth, lacks ideas and believes that being in opposition means crying wolf where there is none and spewing out fake information at the speed of light!

''Where is the seriousness in an opposition party throwing out a spurious figure of N10 trillion as the amount of money that has been looted under the present administration? What is Nigeria's annual national budget? How do you react to an opposition that is deliberately and perpetually blind to the monumental achievements of this Administration?'' Alhaji Mohammed queried.

He said while naysayers might pretend not to have seen all these achievements, ''Nigerians who are benefitting directly from them have testified to the reality of the successes.''

 Listing some of the achievements of the Administration, the Minister said it had taken power generation from 2,690MW to 7,000MW, moved Nigeria closer to self-sufficiency in rice than any Administration before it, increased the number of rice farmers from 5 million to an all-time high over 11 million and cut Nigeria's rice import bill of $1.65 billion annually by 90%.

''We are feeding 8.2 million pupils in 45,394 schools in 24 states, employing 87,261 cooks in the process; we are paying conditional cash transfer of N5,000 monthly to 297,973 poorest and most vulnerable households, never before done in Nigeria; we are building roads, rail and power, spending an unprecedented 2.7 trillion Naira on infrastructure alone in just two years; we have raised capital expenditure in the yearly national budget to an unprecedented 30% on the average, our Social Investment Programmes have benefitted 9 million people.

''The school children who are being fed, the unemployed graduate who has now been employed under N-Power; the small business owner who has benefitted from the GEEP loans and the thousands of people who have been rescued from the clutches of Boko Haram know that these achievements are real,'' he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said the economy is also back on the path of growth, after the recession of 2016-17, ''and we have the figures to support this assertion''.

He said the economy grew 1.95 percent in Q1 2018; Inflation has fallen for 15 consecutive months, from 18.7 percent to12.5 percent as of April 2018; External Reserves of $48 billion are the highest in 5 years; Total exports in 2017 were 59.47% higher than for 2016; Agriculture exports grew 180.7% above the value in 2016; Raw material exports grew 154.2% above the value in 2016; Solid minerals exports grew 154.2% above the value in 2016; Exports of manufactured goods grew 26.8% above the value in 2016, And the first quarter of 2018 saw the fourth consecutive quarterly increase in capital importation since Q2 2017.

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!