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Alhaji Lai Mohammed

The major opposition party in Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress, has described as sickening and outlandish the claim by the Presidential Campaign Organisation of the Peoples Democratic Party that its chieftain, Bola Tinubu, plans to become vice president through the back door.

The APC said the claim was designed to divert attention from the runaway success of its presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), at the Chatham House in London last Thursday.

The PDP-PCO Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, had said on Friday that skeletal information available to the PDP suggested that the Vice Presidential candidate of the APC, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, was picked by Tinubu and forced to take an oath to resign his appointment six months into the new cabinet should the APC win the elections.

The PDP-PCO further alleged that the party would field Tinubu as Osinbajos replacement after the alleged resignation.

In a statement issued in London on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the APC said the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan administration still do not have any answer to what has now become an epochal moment that has separated the wheat from the chaff.

Mohammed said the claim was the latest in a series of desperate moves by the PDP and Jonathan since the emergence of Buhari as a presidential candidate.

He alleged that the ruling party had thrown everything imaginable at Gen. Buhari.

They said he was not qualified, that he was too old, and then they fabricated a medical report of an illness of their own choice, sponsored death wish adverts against him and instituted a myriad of court cases to stop him. After they failed to stop him, they went after the election itself, using the Permanent Voter Cards as a tool to launch a campaign for postponement and, when they realised that would not work, came up with the bogey of insecurity in the North-East to force a postponement of the election, hoping they can buy enough time to revive their electoral misfortune.

With everything working against them, they engaged in a show of shame at The Chatham House that backfired badly, on the heels of their bare-faced lies that Gen. Buhari was hospitalised in London. The preposterous claim of a secret oath reminiscent of what they do in their own party by the apparently ailing spokesman of the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, is their latest desperate act, Mohammed said.

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Osinbajo didnt sign pact with Tinubu APC

Greek rebels took a remarkable stand against status-quo capitalism.

In their bid for power, Greece's new leaders showed clarity, fortitude and sheer nerve. Photo by Arvnick via Shutterstock.

You can't watch what is unfolding in Greece and not marvel at the clarity, fortitude and nerve of the new government there. In fact, we're pretty sure that many progressives across North America are saying to themselves, even if just quietly, "We'd sure like to dothat."

And who wouldn't? Syriza is standing up to the powers-that-be in European capitalism in a way that seems almost impossible to imagine in places like Canada and the United States. Greece is not these places, of course, but let's not let ourselves off the hook that easily.

Syriza is a heterogeneous party, made up of diverse strands of the Greek left, but united by the view that the country's ruling parties were too compromised to deliver a departure from the crushing economic conditions imposed on it. Although it didn't initiate them, Syriza opened itself to the social movements that emerged to challenge austerity and has become their authentic political voice. Now it has taken power peacefully and formed the first European government of the radical left since the Second World War. It did what parties are supposed to do. We think it's appropriate to be inspired.

Syriza has also been level-headed -- and so must we. There are at least four preconditions for Syriza's January electoral breakthrough that don't exist in the U.S.: proportional representation in elections; an economic crisis of immense, social fabric-destroying proportion; a history of subjugation by foreign powers; and disciplined, determined activists raised in the radical movement. Still, there are significant lessons to learn from what is happening in the Mediterranean in America, where our organization is based, and elsewhere.

Lesson 1: Clearly identify the enemy.

Syriza had a story to tell that rang true, and they didn't shy away from telling it.It went like this: foreign creditors teamed up with a discredited domestic political system in order to benefit the tax-avoiding oligarchs, and together they pushed brutal, livelihood-destroying austerity measures.The story rang true to Greeks -- because it was true.

There isn't a perfect analogy to the U.S. context, but we have our own Syriza-style tight loop of a story: Wall Street, oil companies and Walmart buy political power in both major parties, which deregulate, subsidize, and under-tax so that corporate profits and executive compensation reach astronomical heights while wages stagnate, climate change goes unchecked and risks of another financial collapse pile up.

It's a story we have to tell, too.

Read more here:
Eight Lessons for Progressives Inspired by Syriza (in Opinion)

Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd)

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has said Governor Ayodele Fayoses alleged blackmail of its candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) cannot stop him from winning the presidential election.

It said the governors criticism of Buhari, was driven by self-preservation over the governors past misdeeds and not in the national interest.

According to the party, the governor is fighting the battle of his life that runs contrary to the general mood of the nation.

It advised him to concentrate his energy on how to ensure victory for PDPs candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, instead of lecturing APC on why it should not field General Buhari as its candidate for the March 28 presidential election.

A statement by the state APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said Nigerians had made up their minds to have Buhari as their President, adding that, No amount of blackmail and rhetoric fuelled by selfishness will change the course of change sweeping across the country.

Reminding Fayose that APC was not the same thing as PDP, Olatubosun said, PDP has an agenda to kill all institutions of government as it is currently doing and make corruption a creed. Never in the history of this country have we recorded cases of frauds and scandals as we have today in Nigeria. These are the legacies that PDP can flaunt. Unfortunately, Fayose is equating PDP with Nigeria.

Fayose has turned APC to a PDP affair. He said former President Olusegun Obasanjo imposed a sick man, the late Umaru YarAdua, on PDP in 2007 and President YarAdua died after two years in office. The question is; is Buhari in PDP and is he now being imposed by Obasanjo again? How does Buharis old age threaten PDPs bid to rule for 60 years?

Again, Fayose said he had a vision that Buhari will never be president. If he is sure of his vision, why is he breathless about Buharis candidacy?

Olatubosun noted that the governor was being hypocritical in his criticism of Buhari and the allegations he was raising over his health status, saying that his actions pointed to the fact that Buhari was the favoured candidate among a vast majority of Nigerians.

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Fayoses blackmail cant stop Buhari APC

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has said Governor Ayodele Fayoses blackmail of its candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), cannot stop him from winning the Presidential election.

It said the governors criticism ofBuhari, was driven by self-preservation over the governors past misdeeds and not in the national interest.

According to the party, the governor is fighting the battle of his life that runs contrary to the general mood of the nation.

It advised him to concentrate his energy on how to ensure victory for PDPs candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, instead of lecturing APC on why it should not field General Buhari as its candidate for theMarch 28presidential election.

A statement by the state APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun,said Nigerians had made up their minds to have Buhari as their President, adding that, No amount of blackmail and rhetoric fueled by selfishness will change the course of change sweeping across the country.

Reminding Fayose that APC was not the same thing as PDP, Olatubosun noted,PDP has an agenda to kill all institutions of government as it is currently doing and make corruption a creed. Never in the history of this country have we recorded cases of frauds and scandals as we have today in Nigeria. These are the legacies that PDP can flaunt. Unfortunately, Fayose is equating PDP to Nigeria.

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Your blackmail cant stop Buhari, APC tells Fayose

With the party election looming, tensions are running high between the progressives and the spiritual conservatives in the Islamist party.

PETALING JAYA: In another Pakatan-led hudud saga twist, Kota Baru PAS Division Youth chief, Rosli Allani Abdul Kadir in defending DAPs Gobind Singh Deo, accused PAS assistant secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan of being arrogant and emotional when the latter demanded DAP leave Pakatan.

According to The Star Online, Rosli said, We are surprised with Datuk Takiyuddins remarks. It was immature and does not represent the overall views of the Kota Baru PAS area or Kelantan PAS.

Datuk Takiyuddin should adopt a moderate approach to reconcile both parties rather than add fuel to fire and he must remember the words of the late Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat that PAS was a brother to DAP and PKR in Pakatan and PAS must play a role to advise its coalition partners rather than run them down.

Rationalising that Gobinds hard hitting statement may have been his personal views, Rosli said Takiyuddins response was therefore inappropriate, adding that he should have used appropriate party channels to address the issue instead.

Gobind, who is DAP Legal Bureau chief, told PAS on Tuesday that it would no longer be seen as part of the opposition alliance if it went ahead with its hudud plan.

Takiyuddin responded just as harshly demanding DAP stay out of PAS affairs.

Meanwhile, Johor PAS deputy commissioner Dzulkefly Ahmad yesterday pointed out that PAS presidency was not exclusively for the ulama faction in the party and professionals could compete for the top post as well.

At a press conference, Dzulkelfly said, The presidents post is an administrative one and choosing someone from the professional group does not mean we are turning our backs on the ulama.

He reminded everyone that former presidents from the professional group included Abbas Alias, Burhanuddin Al-Helmy and Mohd Asri Muda.

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Progressives and conservatives in PAS clash