At a meeting with the Forum of Former Presiding Officers of the National Assembly, led by former Senate President Ken Nnamani, the president emphasised that he was not in office for personal gain but to serve the country.

”I didn’t come to look for money and exploit the situation; I came to work. I asked for the votes, and Nigerians gave them to me,” the president, who was a senator, told the meeting after a session of banters and handshakes with former parliamentary colleagues.

The meeting was attended by 16 former presiding officers, including former senate presidents, former speakers of the House of Representatives, former deputy senate presidents, and former deputy speakers of the House of Representatives.

The president acknowledged the support and encouragement from the Forum members, irrespective of party affiliations, and implored them to continue fostering unity and camaraderie to achieve national development goals.

Reflecting on the complex nature of legislative activities, constitutional reviews, and nation-building processes, the president expressed confidence that Nigeria could progress through collaboration and inclusiveness.

”Regardless of party differences of the past and difficulty of the present, you still believe in me and what we all plan for this country.

READ ALSO: NNPC Ltd moves to revive Brass, OK LNG projects

”I thank you very much; no one will do it better than us. I have travelled the world and seen how developed countries have done it for themselves through collaboration, inclusiveness and financial structure.

”Yes, there is hardship, but how did we get here? What did we do when we had very high crude production?

“We neglected our communities; we neglected the goose that lays the golden eggs; we forgot even to give them a good standard of living.

”We forgot to educate our children. Go round and look at the dilapidated schools. The education environment must be decent enough for pupils to want to learn.

”We can complain from now till eternity that the school enrolment is low. But did we do anything to encourage the enrolment process? We must ask ourselves because it is a matter of conscience,” he said.

The president outlined his administration’s focus on addressing these challenges, including improving infrastructure, ensuring compliance with financial regulations, exploring alternative energy sources and providing energy security.

”We have come a long way, and I promise we must do our best,” he said.

He urged the former presiding officers to continue sharing their wealth of experience in nation-building and governance, noting that they were uniquely positioned to provide “clear interpretations of where we are” to Nigerians.

Senator Nnamani, who spoke on behalf of the delegation, expressed full support for President Tinubu’s administration and its efforts to address Nigeria’s pressing challenges.

He noted that the meeting was the president’s first official engagement with the group since his assumption of office. Nnamani congratulated the president.

”Mr President, history has never been the burden of one man alone, but some are called to meet a special share of its challenges.

”Though not of your creation, it has fallen onto you to end the pervasive insecurity across the nation, the economic downturn that has resulted in hunger and anger, infrastructural decay due to years of neglect and myriads of other national challenges.

”As difficult as these problems are, we believe that with your experience, you can face the difficulties and surmount them.

“What gives us more hope is the courage with which you handled the issue of local government autonomy, which has won you open admiration from friends and foes alike.

”We are convinced that you will dig in deeper again to eradicate these problems and restore Nigerians pride of place among the comity of nations,” the former Senate president said.

He added that the group had seen what elite complacency had caused nations and had resolved to unite across all divides to render whatever assistance it might be called upon to contribute to nation-building and ensuring enduring prosperity for our citizens.

”It is in this light and in the national interest that we wish to pledge our support as you work to restore national security, build an economy that works for all and strengthen the bond of unity amongst our disparate peoples,” he said.

Nnamani also commended the president for his trust in appointing some of their members to critical national positions, recognising their vital role in nation-building.

The post Tinubu: I didn’t come to look for money, I came to work appeared first on Frontpageng.

Digital Realty Nigeria, formally known as Medallion Data Centres Limited is a Lagos-based number 1 peering point for the region.

Confirming this, the Lead Consulting Strategist, DigitalSENSE Africa, a project of ITREALMS Media group, Sir Remmy Nweke, said that Engr. Nnamani, the immediate past National President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, will be the guest speaker at the 2024 NDSF on the theme “IG4D: Innovative Digital Economy & Safer Civic Space in Nigeria.”

Nnamani, who was also member of the Executive Board cum Treasurer of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association, NIRA, will join the Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda, and chairman of 2024 NDSF on Internet Governance for Development, Mr. Edetaen Ojo.

READ ALSO: Five people injured in Lagos multiple accident –LASEMA

Pointing out that the 2024 NDSF on Internet Governance for Development had been confirmed to hold at the prestigious Welcome Center Hotels, International Airport Road, Lagos by 10 a.m.

Nweke recalled that for over 16 years, Engr. Nnamani had led the Digital Realty datacenter in Lagos, which boosts all submarine cables in the region, long distance providers, metro fiber providers, mobile services providers, fixed services providers, Over-The-Top, OTT, providers, Internet Exchange, Value Added Service, VAS, providers, and global Tier1 service providers, among others.

He pointed out that over 68 per cent of all internet traffic exchanged at the Nigeria Internet Exchange takes place at Digital Realty’s datacenter in Lagos, Nigeria, just as the company recently completed its ultra-modern 1MW IT Load state-of-the-art datacenter called LOS2 in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.

Also, Engr. Nnamani is reputed for promoting the establishment of telecom infrastructure in several African countries including Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, and Angola to name a few.

The post NDSF’24: Nnamani to speak at Internet Governance for Devt appeared first on Frontpageng.

Nnamani gave the advise in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, urging Obi and his supporters to accept the reality of the fact that Tinubu had emerged as the President-elect of Nigeria.

“Obi knows he has neither spread nor national appeal to win the presidential election, what Obi is doing with the petition is trying to demarket Tinubu.

“His petition is dead on arrival, he does not have the spread or national appeal, his appeal to non-electoral matters is to demarket the President-elect and damage his reputation.

“He does not have near spread and national appeal, the petition is ego driven and a joke carried too far.

“His attempt to highlight on non-electoral issues is trying to embarrass the President elect,” he said.

Nnamani said Obi needed to come down from his high horse to allow negotiation on behalf of the Igbo nation and South-East for a stake in the national and share of the accruals of the commonwealth.

“We must join the main stream and participate in the making of a new Nigeria.

“We are not going anywhere, and ready to bargain for our own share. It is a common knowledge that others are doing the same.

“Igbo has to confront reality now or be confined to the backwoods of history. Time to align is now,” he said.

Source: NAN

The post Withdraw your petition against Tinubu, Nnamani urges Obi appeared first on Frontpageng.

Nnamani, a former governor of Enugu State who announced his exit from the PDP in a statement in Abuja on Monday, expressed appreciation to his constituents for the unalloyed support over the years.

According to Nnamani, he had consulted with his associates and constituents and had decided to quit the PDP on account of irreconcilable differences with the national leadership of the party.

He said that he had moved on and hoped that his modest contributions to the development of his constituency would be the building blocks on which his successors could build on.

Nnamani thanked Nigerians, especially the ‘Ebeano’ political family and urged them to remain steadfast in the years ahead.

The former governor reaffirmed his acquaintance with the President-elect Sen. Bola Tinubu and promised to continue to partner with him.

He expressed optimism that a Tinubu-led administration would promote good governance, rule of law and human rights for the interest of all Nigerians.

Nnamani had in the build up to the 2023 general elections, insisted that he would not rescind his decision to support the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Tinubu, now President-elect.

According to Nnamani, he decided to align with Tinubu because the PDP had breached its constitution by subverting the principle of power rotation.

Nnamani lost his reelection bid to the Senate to Labour Party, LP, candidate, Kelvin Chukwu.

The LP candidate polled 69,136 to beat Nnamani of the PDP, who scored 48, 701 votes.

Source: NAN

The post Nnamani quits PDP, promises to continue partnership with Tinubu appeared first on Frontpageng.

The LP candidate polled 69,136 to beat Nnamani of the PDP, who scored 48, 701 votes.

Prof. Joachim Omeje, the Returning Officer for the election, declared Chukwu the winner after he won the valid votes collated in the senatorial district on Sunday.

The former governor also accepted his defeat and sent a congratulatory message to his rival, Chukwu, over his victory in the Saturday’s Senatorial election.

Nnamani has lost his bid to return to the Senate as the Labour Party candidate, Mr Kelvin Chukwu, was declared winner.

Chukwu replaced his late brother, Oyibo Chukwu, who was murdered three days to the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.

Nnamani, in the congratulatory message, said the outcome of the election reflected the wishes of the majority of constituents  saying “the people have spoken.”

“The result of the election is in tandem with the rave of the moment in the South East zone who have identified with Labour Party.

“A contrary result would have negated the trend.

“I wish the Enugu East Senator-Elect a successful tenure in the upper legislative chamber.”

He also told his supporters to remain calm and accept the outcome of the election in good faith.

Source: NAN

The post Nnamani loses re-election, congratulates LP Senator-elect appeared first on Frontpageng.

The Returning Officer for Abia South National Assembly election, Prof. Georgina Ugwuanyi, announced this before party agents at the collation centre in Aba.

Ugwuanyi said that she had to return to declared results for the election because she was asked by INEC office in Abuja to announce winners in the election.

Earlier, Ugwuanyi had told party agents that a substantial number of polling units totalling about 108 had irregularities requiring a reschedule of the Abia South election.

She said that Abaribe, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, candidate, got the highest number of votes in the election, having scored 49, 903 votes.

She further announced that LP’s Chinedu Onyeizu scored 43,903, while Governor Okezie Ikpeazu scored 28,422 votes to come third.

The returning officer also announced the results of the Aba South and North Federal Constituency results, where the LP’s Emeka Nnamani polled 35,502 to clinch the seat.

She said that Alex Ikwecheghi of APGA polled 22,465 votes, while the incumbent Representative, Chimaobi Ebisike of the PDP scored 13,388 votes.

Ugwuanyi, therefore, declared Nnamani winner of the House of Representatives election.

Source: NAN

The post INEC reverses self, declares Abaribe winner of Abia South appeared first on Frontpageng.

Nnamani gave this advice in Enugu on Thursday January 26, 2023, when he spoke on the current situation of things in the South East APC.

The former Senate President blamed what he described as the orchestrated “meddlesomeness” of governor Hope Uzodimma in the party especially in his political domain, Enugu State.

He said that it was not unexpected, as according to him, the governor had attempted same in some South East states, including Anambra, but unfortunately failed in such mission.

Nnamani maintains, however, that Uzodimma would soon realise that the case of Enugu was different from his state, Imo.

Nnamani, in few words, advised the Imo State governor thus:

“It will be a grievous error on my part if l dare dignify Governor Hope Uzodimma’s inordinate ambition to build a political colony in the South East. His meddlesomeness in Enugu politics is not unexpected. He tried such in Anambra and elsewhere and all ended in abysmal failure. It will not be long before he finds out that Enugu is not Imo”.

The post Nnamani to Uzodimma: Stop colonising South East APC appeared first on Frontpageng.

Debo Ologunagba, PDP National Publicity Secretary, said this in a statement in Abuja.

Ologunagba said that the party had also suspended Chief Chris Ogbu of its Imo chapter and seven other officials from Ekiti State for the same offence.

He said that the suspension was approved after an extensive review and consideration of the affairs of the party in the country.

Ologunagba said that the suspension which took effect from Friday, January 20 was in pursuant to the provisions of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017).

He listed other suspended members from Ekiti State to include Ayeni Funso (Ekiti North); Ajijola Lateef Oladimeji (Ekiti Central) and Olayinka James Olalere (Ekiti Central).

Others were Emiola Adenike Jennifer (Ekiti South II); Ajayi Babatunde Samuel (Ekiti North II); Akerele Oluyinka (Ekiti North I) and Fayose John (Ekiti Central I).

“PDP urges all leaders, critical stakeholders and teeming members of the party across the country to remain united and focused on the mission of our party to rescue, rebuild and redirect our nation from misrule,” he said.

Source: NAN

The post PDP suspends Nnamani, eight others for anti-party activities appeared first on Frontpageng.

The president made the declaration at a meeting held Sunday night at State House, Abuja, with members of the National Advisory Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC), when he appraised the series of consultations held so far towards getting a widely acceptable presidential standard bearer.

Saying the meeting was convened to provide leadership and direction during the transition period, the president added that the motive was “to strengthen our unity and to focus on building upon our electoral fortunes.”

He added: “I am optimistic that the outcome of this consultation with the National Advisory Council will in addition to sharpening our focus, help to fortify the positive democratic principles, practices and culture that already exists within the party system.

“In the course of these consultative processes, I have already met separately with the Progressive Governors and with all our eminent members who are aspiring to become the presidential flag bearer for our party during the 2023 elections.

“I am pleased to inform you that those meetings have been fruitful and indicative of a party that is prepared and marching towards a third straight victory since 2015, at the presidential polls.”

President Buhari recalled that at the meeting with the governors and the aspirants, “I underscored the important roles consensus building and consultation have played in the survival of successful political parties around the world, adding that our party should not be an exception.

“Recognizing the foregoing, therefore, I also emphasized the need to strengthen our unity, stabilize our internal cohesion and system as well as present a formidable presidential candidate who has the ability to build a unified nation and the capacity to deal with our challenges.

“The party machinery has also screened all our aspirants to the office of the president and found that they consist of eminent personalities, rich in experience, capacity, commitment to service and accomplishment in life. This gives us a lot of confidence but it also comes with its challenges.”

He said that in the circumstances, in order to prevent any post-convention acrimonies and also reduce noticeable anxiety among members on the possible outcome of the process, the party leadership has recommended the intensification of consultation and consensus building to reduce the number of aspirants as it approaches the convention, which commences Monday , June 6, 2022.

The president said in order to further support the efforts of the party, he has admonished the aspirants to consult among themselves and with the party, so that the objective of the recommendation by the leadership would be actualized.

And as members of the National Advisory Council of the APC, the president said he recognized the fact that they all have diverse interests, spheres of influence and expectations.

“You similarly possess the collective ability to ensure our victory at the 2023 polls by strengthening the stability and unity of the party.

“My charge and appeal to all of you, therefore, is to reach out to your various spheres of influence to actively promote the spirit of consultation and consensus building so that a formidable candidate for the 2023 Presidential elections would emerge from the convention. Our citizens do not expect less from us.”

Buhari assured, as he did to the governors and the aspirants, that in the interest of the nation and the party, he would lead the transition processes and on-going consultations, “till we successfully choose our candidate for the 2023 presidential elections and record our third straight victory, thereafter, by God’s grace.”

Responding on behalf of the National Advisory Council (hitherto known as Board of Trustees) members, former Internal Affairs Minister and Senator, Major General Mohammed Magodo (retd), former Osun State Governor and first Interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, and former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, thanked the president for the consultative meetings, and commended him for the great service he had rendered to the country, particularly in the areas of agriculture and infrastructure.

They were unanimous that with hard work and a united front, the APC would win the presidential election billed for February next year, as well as National Assembly, governorship, and State Assembly polls.

The post APC set for third straight victory since 2015, says Buhari appeared first on Frontpageng.

The events are being put together by ITREALMS Media group in Lagos.

Disclosing this, the Lead Consulting Strategist at DigitalSENSE Africa and Group Executive Editor of ITREALMS Media group, Mr. Remmy Nweke, said Engr. Nnamani had been confirmed to chair the dual events slated for the prestigious Welcome Centre Hotels, International Airport Road, Lagos next month.

As said by him, the 2022 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance for Development is the annual digital rights forum by ITREALMS with this year’s theme being: ‘5G: Enthroning Internet Governance for Digital Economy’ while the public presentation of the book: Sagacity of a digital revolution, comes as a sideline event meant to enrich the knowledge base of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) industry and is authored by Remmy Nweke, a multiple-award winning journalists.

Engr. Nnamani who also is the President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, Nweke said, is known as very active in promoting forward-looking industry policies for the growth of the telecom industry across Africa working with both regulators as well as operators to achieve this goal.

He is currently the President and Chief Executive of the premier telecom body in Nigeria – the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, with over 100 member companies, cutting across all sectors of the telecom and ICT industry in Nigeria including Telephone Operators (PNL/Fixed Line Operators, MNOs/IDAs Operators), Infrastructure Providers (Interconnect, Data Centre Operators, Towers/Base Stations Providers); Internet Services Providers (ISP) (Wholesale Segment, Retail Segment), Value Added Services Providers (VAS), Over The Top (OTT) Players, FINTECH/e-Commerce Operators, Telecom/ICT Equipment Manufacturers, Telecom/ICT Consulting firms, and Telecom/ICT Equipment Dealers.

Equally, Nnamani recently served as an Executive Board member of Nigerian Internet Registration Association, the organisation responsible for managing Nigeria’s Country Code Top Level Domain (.ngTLD).

Under his leadership at Medallion’s datacenter in Lagos, which is rated the most interconnected facility in the West African sub-region being the number 1 peering point for the region and boosting all submarine cables in the region, long distance providers, metro fiber providers, mobile services providers, fixed services providers, OTT providers, Internet Exchange, VAS providers, and global Tier1 service providers, amongst others.

He has also promoted the establishment of telecom infrastructure in several African countries including Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, and Angola amongst others.

Noteworthy is that Engr. Nnamani has won several national and international awards for his contributions to the growth of telecoms and ICT industry in the global information technology space, just as he was recently awarded the 2021 Outstanding Promoter of ICT for National Development Award at the Titans of Tech Hall of Fame Awards.

In 2020, he was inducted into the Nigeria@60 ICT Hall of Fame by TechTV and named the 2020 ICT Personality of the Year by Communications Week, as well as awarded the ICT Entrepreneur of the Decade by Nigerian NewsDirect.

He was named the 2019 NANS Man of the Year, 2019 Beacon of ICT Hall of Fame Award Recipient, 2019 Nigeria Telecom Industry CEO of the Year, and 2019 ICT Industry Entrepreneur of the Year.

Additionally, he was named the 2018 ICT Entrepreneur of the Year at the Beacon of ICT Award and the 2018 Africa Digital Award winner.

Engr. Nnamani graced the cover of the 2018 Top 20 CEOs edition of ICT Watch magazine; and was listed in the Top 100 ICT Contributors in 15 years; the 2018 Telecom and ICT personality of the year and was the 2018 Enterprise Award by the Transformation Institute in Toronto, Canada, clinching alongside the 2017 E-Payment Man of the Year.

Engr. Nnamani holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee State University, Nashville, United States of America (USA).

Meanwhile the chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) Engr. Gbenga Adebayo is warming up as the reviewer of the latest book in the industry, entitled ‘Sagacity of a digital revolution’ whereas the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, would give the keynote at NDSF 2022 on the main theme.

The post Nnamani to chair NDSF’22, launch of ‘Sagacity of a digital revolution’ appeared first on Frontpageng.