The Obi/Datti Movement, Ebonyi State Chapter has planned a townhall meeting to mobilise supports for the Labour Party, (LP) presidential candidates for 2023 general elections.

The townhall meeting tagged “Charity Begins at Home Connference is to hold on Saturday, September 10, 2022 at Nkwuegu Ugbala Grand Square, Old Enugu Road, Abakaliki.

A statement by the spokesperson of the Thirdforce, Dr Yunusa Tanko said the charity begins at home conference would be attended by the top party officials and leaderships of other support groups from Southeast and beyond.

Dr Tanko said a similar townhall meeting which also involved mass awareness rally had been held in Enugu recently to drum supports for Labour Party.

The Thirdforce spokesman further disclosed that the conference was being independently organised and funded by the Ebonyi State Obi/Datti Movement.

He praised the share sacrifices, commitments and love being shown to the Obi/Datti candidacy stressing that, ” never in our recent history have Nigerians shown this kind of love and magnificent sacrifices to candidates of a political party like we are experiencing in the emergence of Obi/Datti candidacy.

“We only had this kind of kind of selfless committed supporters during the first Republic when the likes of Saduana, the great Azikiwe, Awolowo and the rest were on stage.. It shows that Nigeria is going through a moment of rebirth”.

Dr Tanko stressed that the amazing aspect was the fact that such sacrifices were coming from the ordinary Nigerians and not the so called political elites who had hitherto hijacked and held the country hostage.

The Labour Party, (LP) presidential candidate, His Excellency, Governor Peter Obi did not travel out of the country to solicit for campaign funds as being alleged by the opposition candidate’s supporters.

Giving the clarification on Arise Television life interview on Monday evening, the spokesman for the Thirdforce, Dr Yunusa Tanko disclosed that Mr Peter Obi went to galvanise Nigerians in diaspora for the rebuilding of a country that has been battered by series of bad leaderships.

Dr Yunusa Tanko stressed that the presidential candidate took to the diaspora Nigerians messages of hope and faith in Nigeria assuring them that the situation of Nigeria was not hopeless.

He noted that rather than castigate Peter Obi, he should be praised for rekindling the hope of those millions of Nigerians who left the shores of the country with despair.

“These are skilled Nigerians, doctors, teachers, businessmen and women who left this country not because they wanted to leave but circumstances occasioned by bad leaderships in Nigeria forced them to relocate to other countries and Mr Obi has been able to change their psyche by merely telling them the plans he has to rebuild Nigeria.

“Doesn’t Mr Peter Obi deserve praises for being able to convince these our diaspora brothers and sisters to begin to believe that all hope is not yet lost in their country.

On the issue of the proposed crowdfunding of Obi/Datti campaign by the diaspora Nigerians, Dr Tanko assured that, “as Obidients we will not go against the law. We are determined to strengthen our laws so that they can work for the good of Nigerians when we take over the mantle of leadership come 2023”.

The Thirdforce image maker further emphasised that it was wrong to assume that diaspora funding of the campaign would amount to money laundering stressing that, ” if they, (diaspora Nigerians ) had been remitting funds to their loved ones at home which were not classified as laundered money, l wonder why the campaign fund will be labelled differently”.

The Spokesperson of the Thirdforce, Dr Yunusa Tanko has described the reported rift between Professor Pat Utomi and the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, (LP) His Excellency, Peter Obi over campaign fund as the handwork of the opposition.

Dr Tanko noted that the story was deliberately planted by those who were jittery over the daily rise in the popularity of the Labour Party flag bearer across the country.

According Tanko, “we know it was the handwork of the opposition who are merely looking for ways to break the ranks of the Obidient Movement. As far as l know, no campaign funds account has been opened anywhere.

“If you notice, our opponents don’t talk about what they want to offer to Nigerians, rather what they do is to attack our candidate everyday on social media platforms, electronic and print media.

“They say we are noise makers, we don’t have structures yet they are afraid of the Obidient Movement. But the good news is that the more they attack us the more our supporters grow”.

Thirdforce spokesman stressed that “Obi/Datti Movement is one family united by the patriotic force of determination to take back our country from those who had over the years hijacked the country”.

Dr Tanko further added that the claims that allies of the Presidential Candidate of the Party, Mr. Peter Obi, had sidelined the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barr. Julius Abure, and Professor Pat Utomi, who were earlier listed as signatories to the Labour Party’s campaign donation account, were unfounded.

He disclosed that FUND40MB that was referred to in the said story had existed even before Peter Obi contemplated joining the Labour party and therefore didn’t have anything to do with Obi/Datti campaign funds.

He also stated that “there are several levels of support groups for Peter Obi and they are all eager to donate materials and funds but we are taking time to harmonise the groups before opening campaign funds/donation accounts to ensure transparency”.

The lawmaker representing Nkanu East/West Federal Constituency of Enugu State in the House of Representatives, Honourable Nnolim Nnaji has raised alarm over the spate of kidnapping and general insecurity in his Constituency.

He stated that the situation has grounded businesses in the area adding that even farming activities have also been affected as his constituents could no longer move freely to carry out their routine activities.

Honourable Nnaji called for urgent intervention from the Federal Government and the Heads of Security Agencies to arrest the ugly development from further escalation.

He specifically singled Agbani community as the worst hit by the marauders stating that, ” the danger is that Agbani houses the campuses of the Nigerian Law School and the Enugu State University of Technology, (ESUT) plus the Airforce School”.

The lawmaker who chairs the Aviation Committee in the House of Representatives observed that, ” in the last one week an average of two persons are abducted daily and just yesterday, two Law School students were kidnapped. My fear is that the increasing insecurity in the community might likely lead to the closure of the institutions domiciled in Agbani if the ugly trend persists”.

The kidnapping according to him has continued unchallenged by the security agencies adding, “the lack of responses from the police and any other security agencies have further emboldened the hoodlums and made them more daring “

Honourable Nnaji however called for immediate deployment of combined team of military and police forces to his Constituency to complement what the Governor of Enugu state is doing to restore normalcy and to also avoid imminent collapse of law and order.

Nigeria’s ’s Professor of political Economy, Pat Utomi has declared that the country was going through the most challenging times at the moment.

Professor Utomi stated this in Abuja on Thursday in his Keynote address at the presentation and launch of a book authored by Elder Ejodame Emmanuel.

He noted that the book titled, “A Handbook for Changing the unpleasant narratives of our National Life” reminded him of the popular track in one of the Late Sunny Okosun’s Music, “which way Nigeria”.

Professor Utomi who is the Chairman of the Thirdforce, the group that is solidly collaborating with the Labour Party to ensure the success of Peter Obi Presidential Campaign, stressed that it was baffling to observe the lamentations in the music released about forty years ago manifesting in the country today.

He said that the forthcoming Presidential election of 2023 would provide apple opportunity for a national rebirth, adding that if Nigerians failed to choose the right leaders this time around, the country might not survive as a country.

He regretted that despite adequate pre- warnings about the prevailing security challenges the leaderships did not do anything to checkmate the signals.

Professor Utomi, ” asked how did we get here, how did we take this Path?”. He said “in sixties there was much prosperity in northern Nigeria with rich agricultural produce especially the ground pyramid”.

. He described religious, tribal and ethnic cleavages as the cardinal roots of the nation’s problems stressing that those were weapons being used by the elites to perpetuate their selfish agenda.

He canvassed for a new set of leaderships that would promote strong institutions that would reshape the country.

The gathering was attended by quite a number of personalities like, Dr Yunusa Tanko, the spokesman of the Thirdforce and Peter Obi Campaign Organisation Sarah Jubrin, one time Presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and Barrister Godswill lyohs Iyoke, the book reviewer among others.

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has charged Benue youths to utilize social media as a platform to evolve solutions to problems rather than using it to destroy personalities and institutions.

Governor Ortom gave the charge Wednesday, August 17th, 2022 when he interacted with the National Union of Benue State Students, NUBESS and Benue State Youth Parliament who jointly paid him a courtesy call at the Benue Peoples House, Makurdi.

The Governor told the youth groups that social media is a veritable platform in the 21st century, emphasising that “We can advance it to positively contribute in bringing solutions to some of the challenges confronting the society.”

According to the state statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur made available to Peionews, Governor Ortom also challenged the Benue State Youth Parliament to evolve creative ideas to contribute to governance in the state.

“As you brainstorm in your parliament sessions, bring forth any creative ideas and channel them through the Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development so add value to our governance,” he stated.

The Governor eulogized the resilience, mature and orderly conduct of Benue youths even in the face of challenges they were passing through, pointing out that he was impressed with the manner youths in the state conducted themselves, particularly during the #EndSARS protest across the country.

He stated that it was the culmination of the protest with no single incident of destruction recorded in the State that his administration convened the Benue Youth Summit, stressing that the resolutions from the summit were being implemented to support youth agitations and development in general.

On NUBESS’ appeal to the Governor to intervene in the prolonged national strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Ortom acknowledged that the industrial impasse had become a national embarrassment.

The Governor stated that he plans to soon interface with the Benue State University branch of ASUU on how they could discontinue the sympathy strike to enable students to return to school.

Governor Ortom said he was impressed with the student’s idea to convene the Students Entrepreneurship Summit, stressing that it was a welcome initiative that would positively engage the students.

He encouraged the youths to lead exemplary lives, stressing that they must be of good conduct and shun crime and social vices, which he noted could be inimical to their progress in life.

Earlier, the President, National Union of Benue State Students, NUBESS, Comr. Gaius Injorovkaa and the Speaker, Benue State Youth Parliament, Ms. Rachael Tyona had in their separate speeches passed a vote of confidence on the leadership of Governor Samuel Ortom for his youth development and security initiatives in governing the state.

The NUBESS President particularly acknowledged Governor Ortom’s education-friendly policies, citing the attention the administration has given to the Benue State University, payment of students’ bursary allowances as well as revamping of primary and secondary schools in the State.

Also speaking, the State Youth Parliament Speaker, Ms. Tyona affirmed the premium Governor Ortom has placed on youth development initiatives in the state, stating that it was the reason the parliament deliberated and passed a vote of confidence on the Governor for his youth-friendly initiatives.

The two groups jointly pledged to stand by Governor Ortom in his unrelenting efforts at ensuring the security of lives and property, urging the Governor not to succumb to intimidation and even threats on his life.