Sumner Sambo, journalist at Arise Television, has said the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is not considering being the running mate of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, for the 2027 election.

Sambo disclosed this on Monday while speaking on Arise Television’s ‘The Morning Show’ on the ongoing political speculation that Okonjo is Atiku’s vice-presidential candidate.

Sambo, however, said that Mrs Okonjo-Iweala was not ready to leave a lucrative position at the WTO where she is currently serving a second term which ends in 2029.

It was improbable, he said, that Okonjo would sacrifice a secured international appointment for a political contest in Nigeria, particularly an election still embroiled in legal and political uncertainties.

“Well, from the latest I have heard Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela, though she may be considered and all of that, she is not willing to actually leave a lucrative job as a DG of the World Trade Organisation to actually consider that.

“She has made it known to them, and that is understandable because she just resumed in September last year, and she has a tenure that will run for a second term till 2029.

“So what is she going to be doing, you know, as a vice presidential candidate of a party that’s still in court, facing challenges. I think she’s already got a secure term there and wouldn’t consider the offer.”

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A public affairs analyst, Summer Sambo, says there are indications that Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, will pick his running mate from the South-East.

Sambo said this on Monday while featuring on Arise Television’s ‘Morning Show’.

He was responding to the recent primary elections held in the country ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“Indicators around Atiku’s running mate suggest he will likely pick the South-East. The South-East has long been his political base in the South.

“He picked Peter Obi in 2019 and Okowa in 2023. His coming to the South-East could be to reduce the influence of Peter Obi in the zone,” he said.

Remember he ADC declared Atiku its presidential candidate after he defeated former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.

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Sumner Sambo, the director of news and political editing at Arise News, has outlined the reasons why the African Democratic Congress (ADC) did not win the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) run.

Five of the six area council chairperson posts in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were reportedly won by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Chairmen recently elected are:

In Bwari, Joshua Ishaku (APC) received 18,466 votes to win the chairmanship.

Chris Garki of the APC, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC)

Kasim Mohammed Gwagwalada (PDP)

Kuje: APC’s Samuel Danjuma Shekwolo

Kwali: Daniel Kwali, Nuhu (APC)

Abdullahi Umar Abubakar, or Abaji (APC)

The elections confirmed the APC’s hegemony in the Federal Capital Territory, with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning all save the Gwagwalada Area Council.

Sambo stated on Arise News that the lack of indigenous candidates for the ADC leadership and vice chairmanship may have hurt the party’s chances.

Then it was more of a Christian, Christian ticket, he explained. Therefore, that may have in some way infuriated individuals to cast their votes in the manner that they did,” he continued.

Examine the presidential election results that have been released from the FCT since 2011 critically as well. Not only did Goodluck Jonathan win the FCT election in 2011, but he again did so in 2015. Buhari won nationally in 2019, but he lost. Voters in the FCT will vote for the Labour Party, a third political party, in 2023 instead of the PDP or the APC.

These voters in the FCT chose to support the Labor Party in 2023, similar to their choice in the presidential election, despite the fact that the PDP had won the National Assembly elections in 2011, 2015, and 2019.

This also applies to the seat in the House of Representatives. These two individuals are not native to the area.

This brings us to the reason why the ADC would not have won the AMAC election. Because it is the location of the Presidency, the Abuja Municipal Area Council serves as both the administrative center of the Federal Capital Territory and Nigeria. There are communities that are attached to it because it is a cosmopolitan region.

The ADC now did not campaign in many of these villages. They were unable to get to the approximately 49 villages that are separate from our regions since the ADC was still developing.

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Sumner Sambo, the news director for Arise Television, has called on more opposition figures to participate in the demonstration against the modification to the Electoral Act.

Sambo stated that the demonstration should not be staged in the same way as Peter Obi, the previous presidential candidate of the Labour Party, in an interview that was shown on Monday on “Prime Time.”

In response to the Senate’s denial of e-transmission of election results, Obi participated in the “Occupy National Assembly” rally on Monday.

Sambo responded, saying, “If you look at what they are doing, it’s similar to what actually happened before 2014 and near the end of 2015 when you have people like Buhari, El-Rufai, and all of that on the back of vehicles going around to actually kick against some of the things that the PDP was doing while in power then.”

And President Tinubu would have joined the team if he were now in the opposition, I’m positive of that. To put it another way, whatever they did today was actually expected of them.

“I anticipated the emergence of more opposition leaders.” They shouldn’t solely focus on Peter Obi.

“More opposition figures ought to have appeared; where was Atiku? Do they genuinely care about this, or are they merely lip-reading it because the public wants it?

“However, the opposition ought to wake up and take more action, as I can assure you that this government wouldn’t have been sleeping well by now if these individuals had been in the opposition.”

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All Progressives Congress (APC) membership figures have been criticized by Sumner Sambo, editor for politics at Arise News.

During an interview on Arise Television’s Morning Show, Sambo reportedly recalled that the APC leadership had said in March 2022 that the party had 41 million registered members, a statistic that was provided prior to the general elections in 2023.

Sambo expressed doubts about the party’s prior assertions when he questioned the party’s decision to reduce its membership from 41 million to 10 million.

In addition, he said that President Bola Tinubu received roughly 8.7 million votes in the 2023 presidential election and inquired as to the whereabouts of the 41 million official party members that had been previously declared.

Sambo characterized the party’s use of technology in its current membership registration procedure as a positive move, notwithstanding his criticism.

He added, “Now, let’s talk about the APC, which claims to have 10 million members. This is amusing, actually. In March 2022, the incumbent governor of Yobe and the chairman of the caretaker extraordinary convention committee informed us that the APC had 41 million registered members. This is hilarious.

What time did the 41 million registered members turn into 10 million members? Because we brought out some of these issues prior to the general elections in 2023, the APC was genuinely attempting to manipulate the election’s outcome. What was the outcome of President Tinubu’s actions? About 8.7 million people voted for him. Therefore, where were the 41 million APC members that the party claimed to have in 2022?

“Now, four years after 2022, the APC claims to have roughly 10 million voters on their rolls. Since he stated that the goal of this registration is to have 20 million party members, I believe that the national chairman is acting conservatively. Therefore, the APC should apologize to Nigerians for misleading them about their membership size in 2022, which we now know was false. The positive aspect of this situation is that APC is utilizing technology to register its members.

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Reno Omokri, a staunch supporter of President Bola Tinubu’s administration has claimed that former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai started attacking ex-President Goodluck Jonathan after he picked Nemadi Sambo as his Vice Presidential nominee in 2010.

He was reacting to El-Rufai’s claim that the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi informed him that mercenaries were hired to destroy the LP like they are doing in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

El-Rufai disclosed this while noting that he no longer recognized the APC because the party lacked internal democracy.

The former governor said the APC organs like the National Executive Committee, NEC, and Caucus have not met in the last two years.

Speaking at an event in Abuja, El-Rufai accused APC of deviating from its founding principles.

However, posting on X, Omokri wrote: “Why did Peter Obi choose to make that statement on the same day that those men met? Look, the signs are obvious. Peter Obi knows, as I know, that their intentions for Nigeria are just state capture.

“Because Mr. Obi was part of the Jonathan administration, like myself, and knows that Nasir el-Rufai met President Jonathan at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa on Tuesday, May 11, 2010, and began praising Dr. Jonathan after that meeting and urging the then-acting President to contest the 2011 Presidential election because he thought he would be named vice President by President Jonathan.

“But four days later, on May 15, 2010, when then-President Jonathan named Namadi Sambo the vice presidential nominee instead of him, Nasir el-Rufai began fighting him.

“Now, after having been snubbed by this administration, el-Rufai is up to his old antics.

“I call on Nigerians to remind Nasir el-Rufai of his diabolical history and tell him they would not stand for a military coup because he lost out on becoming a minister.”

El-Rufai started attacking Jonathan after picking Sambo as VP – Omokri

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