This week, two eminent personalities shared their perspectives with us on the possible outcome of the 2019 general elections with special focus on the stewardship of President Muhammadu Buhari. First is Professor Tunde Adeniran, a chieftain of the fast-spreading Social Democratic Party (SDP) who says President Muhammadu Buhari does not deserve a second term in office, citing his “poor” handling of the senseless killings in the land as reason for the need to have a new man at the helm.

In this interview with Ben Agande the Kaduna state commissioner of Police, Austin Iwar explains how the new strategy he has brought into policing the state is yielding results as seen in the decline of kidnapping and other crimes. He also speaks on the security challenges in the state and other issues.

ALL Progressives Congress, APC, governorship aspirant in Delta State, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, who hails from the Ika-speaking area of Anioma (Delta north senatorial district) as the governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has sworn that he would never collaborate with   him because the latter is a conservative   and ‘a leopard who can never change its spot.’

Mrs. Rebecca Apedzan was a former member of the House of Representatives, and for eight years she was a Commissioner in Benue state as well as a former State Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. She is currently the Chairperson, Benue Women’s Forum, BWF. In this interview she spoke on the killings in Benue state and why both the ruling APC and the Peoples Democratic Party should not be allowed to rule Nigeria again.
Excerpts

In this interview, the Ijebu Ode-born lawyer recently led some group of youth volunteers on a tour of the eight Local Government Areas in Ogun East Senatorial District of Ogun State to sensitise the people on the need to register to vote and collect their Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs, ahead of the 2019 general elections. He says red-tape is largely responsible for the low rate of PVC collection in the South-West states compared to states in the north.

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State following his resumption after his annual vacation spoke on issues on various issues including the institution of criminal proceedings against the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who he said are sponsors of the ongoing killings in the state pledging that he was determined to get justice for the Benue people.

Engr. Izuchukwu Joshua Onwughara, a corporate member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, registered with COREN, is the Project Coordinator of Abia State Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, NEWMAP, a World Bank-assisted, state-led project in erosion control.

Imagine having a father and mother, who were Professors in addition to a grandfather, who was a minister in the First Republic. Only but a few would have this type of ancestry and still end up a nobody in the society. Chief Stephen Nwoga, a real estate attorney, businessman and philanthropist considered such background an asset early enough.

We wrote to the President. Fortunately, we got his sympathy. He directed the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Budget and Planning to sit down with the NDDC, do a reconciliation, agree on the exact amount that the shortfall has become cumulatively over the years and then agree on an acceptable payment plan so that the money can be paid to us. Unfortunately, I will say we are not getting the kind of support we expected

The relationship between PR agencies and the media should be a symbiotic one, a sort of partnership. But increasingly we find media practitioners who, in addition to their jobs also try to double as PR consultants.

Our votes must count and if our votes must count, bad leaders will be voted out by the electorate through the power of their voter’s card

We lack firmness in the Oyegun leadership; he comes from the South-South zone, but he never put on ground any machinery in the zone that will protect him

GODWIN Izomor, an engineer, is Managing Director of MG Vowgas, an EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) company based in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State. Recently, the International Standards Organization awarded MG Vowgas the ISO 901-2015 Quality certification, a development Izomor says will further boost his company’s presence in the marketplace. In the conversation below, Izomor speaks on the oil and gas industry, his operations, and industrialization in Nigeria generally. Excerpts:

 National Publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kola Ologbondiyan has tasked Nigerians of Igbo extraction not to be deceived by the narrative that the shortest route to the South-East Presidency is to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s quest for a second term in office in next year’s general elections. The Publicity scribe in this brief but exclusive interview with Saturday Vanguard urged the ruling party to dust up the 2014 confab report if indeed, it is desirous of Igbo Presidency.

DELTA State Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Vincent Uduaghan, in this interview, explains how the state government is responding to critical needs of the people. He also spoke on other issues.