AHEAD of the 2019 elections, five serving governors, 20 senators and some members of the House of Representatives are set to join the Social Democratic Party, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alfa Mohammed, has said.

Mohammed, who said this on Sunday in an interview with newsmen in Minna, the Niger State capital, added that 50 Civil Society Organisations had also embraced the party in a coalition movement to unseat the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2019.

 He said, “In the next two to three weeks, the mass movement into the SDP will become more pronounced especially at the national and state Houses of Assembly and I am sure that the party will soon become the majority at the National Assembly.”

According to him, the five governors have indicated interest in joining the party and have been sending representatives to its negotiation meetings, adding that discussions have been on for some months with the governors.

The National Publicity Secretary said that the national secretariat of the party had directed all state offices to commence registration of new members at ward levels as from March 5 (today).

Mohammed, who declined to confirm whether former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar had joined the SDP, said the party was home to the ex-Vice-President.

He said, “I need two to three weeks to confirm the issue of the former Vice-President as it concerns our party. However, it may interest you to know that many prominent politicians from Adamawa State have joined us.”

He assured Nigerians that the party would provide equal opportunities and level playing ground for all members adding that “we will also provide credible and honest leadership to Nigerians in 2019.”

Punch 

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has absolved President Muhammadu Buhari of allegations of nepotism being levelled against him.

He said ministers from the southern part of the country were in charge of more strategic ministries, adding that the Federal Executive Council had more Christian members despite that Buhari is a Muslim.

Osinbajo was said to have stated these while granting interview to some journalists and social media practitioners in Lagos on Friday.

The Vice-President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, made the transcript of the interview available to journalists on Sunday.

Osinbajo said, “Look at the cabinet, for example, from the point of view of religion, it has an equal number – 18 Christians, 18 Muslims; but, we have the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as well as the Head of Service who are Christians.

“So, we have 20 Christians to 18 Muslims; that’s the structure of the cabinet.

“So, if you take that narrative you may argue that perhaps the Christians have the upper hand; that’s a possible narrative.

“Let us look a little deeper into that, so there are those who may argue, for example, that the North has an upper hand or perhaps one section has an upper hand in the cabinet as one narrative.

“The South-East, for example, has five states. Four of the south-eastern states have senior ministers; all of them, except one, who is Minister of State for Education.”

When reminded that the President had no choice since the appointment of ministers was a constitutional requirement, Osinbajo said Buhari had a choice in assigning particular portfolios.

“In the North, seven northern states have no senior minister, including the President’s home state, Katsina. Now, there are those who will say, if you are nepotistic; surely seven northern states have no senior minister. It’s a narrative depending on how you want to run it.

“I give you another example; I’m from the South-West. There are people who will say ‘I am from the South-West, the North has everything.’ The South-West, for the first time in the history of this country, has one minister who is in charge of three ministries: Power, Works and Housing. The ministers of Finance and Communications are also from the South-West.

“These are critical ministries. You can run the narrative in whichever way that you choose. There are those who will say, for instance, look at the number of CEOs of agencies of government; the highest number of CEOs in our nation today comes from Ogun State, the state has the largest number. There are those who will say that’s my state. So you can run the narrative depending on how you want to run it,” he added.

Osinbajo reminded Nigerians that the President had promised to take a second look at areas of allegations of nepotism he found to be true.

He cited the example of appointments into security agencies as one of those Buhari had promised to look into.

“I believe that is the way to go because you can run any narrative that will suit the figures you are showing. And that is where we have legal process.

“There are people who don’t know that the number of CEOs from Anambra State is more than the number of CEOs from Katsina State or anywhere else, except Ogun,” he said.

Osinbajo also said the present administration was prosecuting its anti-corruption war by focusing on what he called “grand corruption.”

Punch 

ABUJA, Nigeria — The calls for him to quit were already loud, coming from two former presidents, a prominent pastor and newspaper editorials. Even Catholic bishops weighed in with criticism.

Now, the president of Nigeria is facing a new crisis: the mass kidnapping of 110 girls from their school late last month, prompting another wave of outrage at the government.

The pressure is mounting on President Muhammadu Buhari to step down after his first term expires next year. A diverse range of Nigerians have joined the chorus, and while the presidential vote is still almost a year away, campaign season in Nigeria is in full swing. Billboards have popped up in parts of the country and election news dominates the headlines.

Nigeria’s Constitution allows Mr. Buhari to seek a second term, but already his opponents and former allies are piling on. Even his wife has emerged as a detractor of sorts, using social media to post video clips of politicians criticizing her husband’s presidency.

The latest tragedy gripping the nation — the 110 girls who went missing in the town of Dapchi after militants attacked their school — has only deepened the skepticism of Mr. Buhari. He has been criticized for being slow to speak out about the attack, especially after he swore that something like this would never happen again after a similar kidnapping in 2014 of nearly 300 schoolgirls from Chibok.

Then on Friday, Mr. Buhari came under more criticism after militants began a major attack on a military installation near a displaced persons camp in the town of Rann, killing at least three aid workers and several others. Three people were missing amid fears they had been kidnapped. The same camp was erroneously struck by Nigeria’s own military jets last year, killing dozens of displaced people and aid workers.

Mr. Buhari has not announced whether he will seek a second term. His aides have indicated that he will, arguing that other aspirants have nothing to offer Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation.

“Buhari has already transformed and changed the image of leadership and that of our leaders in this country, both locally and internationally,” said Boss Mustapha, secretary to the federal government.

Mr. Buhari, a retired military general, transfixed voters in 2015 with his promises to lift the nation’s troubled economy, end decades of corruption and win the war with Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group that has claimed thousands of lives and uprooted millions from their homes in the north of the country.

All those problems are still festering.

“This goodwill is being fast depleted by some glaring failures of government,” said Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, until recently the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, which said living conditions have worsened under Mr. Buhari.

Critics also cite Mr. Buhari’s health as a concern. He spent weeks at a time last year in London receiving treatment for an illness whose nature he has yet to disclose.

In his time in office, a secessionist movement championed by a group called the Indigenous People of Biafra has gained steam in the southeast of the country, 50 years after a civil war over the same issue left one million people dead. Under Mr. Buhari, military operations have led to dozens of arrests and deaths, and the disappearance of the movement’s leader.

Beyond that, conflicts between farmers and pastoralists looking for places for their cattle to graze have escalated, with recent bouts of violence killing dozens.

Critics complain that Mr. Buhari has failed to resolve these tensions. But even his opponents concede that he has tried to work on the promises that helped him win the presidency.

Almost as soon as he began his term, Mr. Buhari began an assault against Boko Haram, with the military taking back territory and capturing and killing scores of militants. His government negotiated the release of several dozen of the students taken in 2014 from the village of Chibok. Two other groups of high-profile hostages — women police officers and university professors — were released this year.

But those successes have been marred by the new kidnappings at the Dapchi school. Officials didn’t initially label the episode a kidnapping, despite numerous witnesses reports of militants hauling away the girls. The president’s aides would say only that the girls are missing.

The war with Boko Haram still rages, with suicide bombers pulling off regular attacks and militants conducting increasingly complex operations. About 100 students from Chibok are still held hostage.

Yet Mr. Buhari has baffled the nation by repeatedly saying Boko Haram has been defeated.

His government has worked to crack down on corruption, uncovering millions of dollars’ worth of cash and making high-profile arrests.

But critics say corruption is still widespread. They were outraged that Mr. Buhari hired a former director of the nation’s pension fund to a new post in his government after the previous administration had fired the man on grounds he had pilfered billions.

Mr. Buhari also hired a national health insurance executive who was being investigated by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency on suspicion of approving shady contracts and engaging in nepotism. When Transparency International recently announced that Nigerians think that corruption has worsened during Mr. Buhari’s tenure, he rejected the report as misleading.

On the economic front, Nigeria officially pulled out of a recession late last year. That achievement has been overshadowed by soaring unemployment and the fact that the country — one of the world’s leading producers of oil — faces a fuel scarcity in some areas, with motorists stuck in miles-long lines for hours in blistering heat.

Fed up, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who served from 1999 to 2007, released an 18-page letter recently calling for Mr. Buhari’s “dignified and honorable dismount from the horse.”

In a lengthy response, Lai Mohammed, Mr. Buhari’s information minister, detailed the president’s achievements: a near doubling of foreign reserves, lower inflation, plans for a new rail line, an increase in agriculture exports and production, and other gains.

But the list of people calling on Mr. Buhari to step aside keeps growing. It now includes Ibrahim Babangida, a former military ruler of Nigeria; prominent human rights lawyers; and a coalition of young voters.

The Punch, a popular Nigerian newspaper, said in a recent editorial that Mr. Buhari was “unfamiliar with the nuances of modern governance and insular to the point of self-entrapment in primitive provincialism.”

In Nigeria, informal agreements call for the presidency to alternate every two terms between someone from the predominantly Muslim north — where Mr. Buhari is from — and a person from the Christian south. If Mr. Buhari does not seek a second term, many Nigerians will expect the presidency to go to a fellow northerner.

Mr. Buhari maintains a significant base in northern states, but he will need to build more support in other regions to win another term. Analysts are buzzing about suitable replacements.

Potential contenders include Atiku Abubakar, who served as vice president from 1999 to 2007. He is a co-owner of one of Nigeria’s largest oil and gas logistics companies and the founder of the American University of Nigeria, a private institution. Another possible candidate is Sule Lamido, a former foreign minister. Both men are members of the opposition People’s Democratic Party.

Bola Tinubu, the national leader of Mr. Buhari’s party, the All People’s Congress, was recently appointed by Mr. Buhari to lead reconciliation and confidence-building efforts among party members. Many analysts believed the move was intended to assuage feelings that Mr. Tinubu had been sidelined during Mr. Buhari’s administration. Some speculate Mr. Tinubu could make a bid for the presidency himself.

Tunde Bakare, a well-known pastor who was once Mr. Buhari’s running mate, has also become a vocal opponent.

“This administration anchored its policy outlook on three main thrusts, including security, job creation through diversification, and anti-corruption,” Mr. Bakare said in what he called his own state of the nation speech. “Yet all around us are signs of retrogression.”

New York Times 

About 20 persons have been reported killed and 300 cows stolen following a fresh outbreak of ethnic violence on the Mambilla Plateau in Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State, local officials and residents told PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday.

A fleeing resident, Saadu Mogoggo, who said his house was attacked at Leme suburb of Gembu, said two of his brothers were killed Saturday evening and their cattle rustled by a group he identified as the Mambilla Militia.

“As I am talking to you, we are yet to bury their corpses,” he said to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday.

‘’The ethnic militias attacked our residence in Leme where they killed our father last month. During this attack, the Mambillas took away our over 100 cows.

‘’My two younger brothers reported the matter to a nearby military base and a soldier was attached as escort to retrieve the stolen cows. Unfortunately, in the process, my younger brothers were both killed while the soldier fled with injury,’’ he said.

Abdu Gagarau, another resident of the area who said he was speaking from hiding, said, “The burning and killing of the Fulani continued till early this morning. As I am talking to you now, from last Thursday they have been attacking our settlements and over 20 people killed. Some were buried and over 300 cattle stolen by the militias.

“The Mambila ethnic group are known for attacking other tribes. They attacked the Pansos in 1982, The Fulanis in 2002 and in 2017, when eventually we retaliate then the normal shouts of herdsmen will start. Let government be proactive and come to our rescue,’’ he said.

A Fulani community leader in the area, Ahmadu Nguroje , called for government and security intervention.

‘’At least 20 people are feared killed, looting of houses, shops and burning down to ashes by the Mambilla militias along Tapare and Yerimaru axis have been recorded here in Sardauna LGA of Taraba State,” he said.

‘’About 12 others were also wounded and are on admission at a hospital in Gembu,’’ Mr. Nguroje said.

The lawmaker representing Nguroje and Gembu constituency in the state House of Assembly, Bashir Muhammad, confirmed the latest disturbances.

“There have been silent and systematic killings of Fulani nomadic herdsmen in the remote areas in Mambilla Plateau,” Mr. Muhammad said.

‘’It is unfortunate that while efforts are being made to restore peace, the killings continued unabated and many people feared killed between Thursday to Sunday, just as dozens of livestock were killed or injured. I was even told that over 200 cows were rustled.

“Security is grossly in adequate because some of the affected villages are remote and in hinterlands that can take one or two hours to be reached. We want presence of more security, particularly soldiers to ensure peace,’’ the lawmaker pleaded.

Governor speaks

Reacting to the report of the attacks, the state governor, Darius Ishaku, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Emmanuel Bello, called for an end to the violence.

‘’Anyone who takes any life, irrespective of religion or tribe, is a criminal, whether it is on the summits of Mambilla or the plains of southern Taraba and anywhere in this state. And we shall deal with them as criminals.”

Mr. Bello said the governor, ‘’was committed to an amicable resolution of the crisis in the state and peaceful co-existence of all ethnic nationalities,” attributing the renewed crisis to “disagreement between two ethnic groups.”

The police spokesperson in the state, David Misal, told our reporter that four people were confirmed killed from both sides of the ethnic groups in the conflict. He added that security officials had been dispatched to the area to restore peace, but that no arrest had been made.

Investigations revealed that the crisis started on Thursday over a land dispute between nomadic Fulani and Mambilla in Yerimaru village and later snowballed into neighbouring villages.

PT

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that it loses N774 million daily on under-recovery due to the increase in petrol consumption in the country.

The corporation has refused to use the term subsidy in reference to how much it spends in keeping the official price of petrol at N145 at filling stations, although it is sold for much higher in many states across Nigeria. It has however been criticised for expending such amount on subsidising the product without National Assembly legislation.

The NNPC noted that the daily expenditure was triggered by a heightened petrol consumption rate of 50 million litres per day, occasioned by the proliferation of fuel stations in border communities across the country.

Under-recovery refers to the difference between the landing cost of petroleum products and the retail price the commodity is sold at the filling stations to consumers. The NNPC typically recovers this amount from the revenue it should remit to the Federation Account.

A statement by Ndu Ughamadu, NNPC’s spokesperson said the corporation’s GMD, Maikanti Baru, made this known recently.

Mr. Baru said there is proliferation of fuel stations in communities with international land and coastal borders across the country, insisting that the development has energized unprecedented cross-border smuggling of petrol to neighbouring countries.

This, he said, makes it difficult to sanitize the fuel supply and distribution matrix in the country.

Leading a top management team of the corporation on a visit to the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali, Mr. Baru revealed that detailed study conducted by NNPC indicated strong correlation between the presence of the frontier stations and the activities of fuel smuggling syndicates.

He said that the activities of the smugglers had led to recent observed abnormal surge in the evacuation of petrol from less than 35 million litres per day to more than 60 million litres per day which is in sharp contrast with established national consumption pattern.

Providing a detailed presentation of the findings, the NNPC GMD informed that 16 states, having amongst them 61 local government areas with border communities, account for 2,201 registered fuel stations.

The fuel tank, he noted, had a combined capacity of 144,998,700 (one hundred and forty four million, nine hundred and ninety eight thousand and seven hundred) litres of petrol.

In the same vein, eight states with coastal border communities spread across 24 LGAs account for 866 registered fuel outlets with combined petrol tank capacity of 73, 443, 086 (seventy three million, four hundred and forty three thousand and eighty six) litres.

The NNPC boss said a breakdown of the finding shows that among the states with land border, three LGAs in Ogun State account for 633 fuel stations with combined petrol tankage of 40, 485,000 (Forty Million and Four Hundred and Eight Five thousand) litres while nine LGAs in Borno State have 337 fuel outlets with combined petrol storage capacity of 21, 114, 480 (twenty one million, one hundred and fourteen thousand four hundred and eighty) litres.

Lagos with one local government as border community has 235 registered fuel stations with total petrol storage facility of 19,916, 600 (Nineteen Million, Nine Hundred and Sixteen Thousand, Six Hundred) litres, he said.

On the coastal front, Lagos with six local governments leads with 487 registered fuel stations with combined in-built storage capacity of 50, 239,560 (Fifty Million, Two Hundred and Thirty Nine Thousand, Five Hundred and Sixty) litres. Akwa Ibom with five local governments has 134 registered retail outlets with capacity to store 8, 322, 986 (eight million, three hundred and twenty two thousand and nine hundred and eighty six) litres, while Ondo State with two local governments has 110 fuel stations with capacity to store 3,871,320 (three million eight hundred and seventy one thousand, three hundred & twenty) litres.

Mr. Baru explained that because of the obvious differential in petrol price between Nigeria and other neighbouring countries, it had become lucrative for the smugglers to use the frontier stations as a veritable conduit for the smuggling of products across the border, saying this had resulted in a thriving market for Nigerian petrol in all the neighbouring countries of Niger Republic, Benin Republic, Cameroun, Chad and Togo and even Ghana which has no direct borders with Nigeria.

“’NNPC is concerned that continued cross-border smuggling of petrol will deny Nigerians the benefit of the Federal Government’s benevolence of keeping a fix retail price of N145 per litre despite the increase in PMS open market price above N171 per litre,’’ he said.

He noted that based on the heightened petrol consumption rate of 50 million litre per day, the corporation was incurring an under-recovery of N774 million every day.

Mr. Ali on his part said the Customs Service would work with the corporation to stem the tide of cross-border smuggling of petroleum products, noting that all hands must be on deck to ensure the economic survival of the country.

He called on the authorities to tackle the issue of price differentials which is the underlying motivation for smuggling activities across borders.

PT

President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated former Technical Adviser of the Super Eagles, Adegboye Onigbinde, on his 80th birthday, slated for March 5.

The Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha, on Sunday asserted that God and 24 out of the 27 Local Government Areas in the state have approved the ambition of his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, to take over from him as governor in 2019.

He stated this while debunking the allegation that his son-in-law, who also doubles as his Chief of Staff, supervised or ordered an assault on Owerri Catholic Archbishop, Most Rev. AJV Obinna, during a burial service in Owerri North Local Government Area of the state on Saturday.

Okorocha, who spoke in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo in Owerri, said the news that his son-in-law supervised the assault on the archbishop by members of All Progressives Congress was a “blackmail being orchestrated by the opposition”.

He pointed out that the opposition had seen his son-in-law as the aspirant to beat in the race to the State House, and now uses the church against the “project.”

Okorocha boasted that his son-in-law’s governorship aspiration has been endorsed by God and 24 out of the 27 LGAs in the state.

The statement reads, “We say this for posterity sake. Imo people, including youths, students, men and women have thrown their unalloyed support behind the youthful Chief of Staff, Uche Nwosu, for the 2019 governorship in the state.

“He has become the subject matter as long as that issue is concerned, with APC officials and leaders from 24 out of the 27 local governments in the state having already endorsed him for the 2019 Imo guber.

“Now, seeing Uche Nwosu as the guy to beat in the 2019 election, they now think that there is no other way to stop him than through unwarranted blackmail.

“That is the reason such a quintessential gentleman and an embodiment of decency should be associated with whatever that transpired at the event in question.”

DailyPost 

The late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s first son, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Jnr.) has revealed that the Biafran war veteran, Col. Joe Achuzie, was the one who commenced the process of negotiating peace between Biafra and the Nigerian side before Maj. Philip Effiong came to meet the Nigerian side.

The junior Ojukwu, who described now late Achuzia as a gallant soldier and a great Nigerian, said he was the first Biafran senior officer to make contact with the Nigerian side.

Recalls that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide had described the death of Achuzie as a great loss to Ndigbo and Nigeria, stressing that the history of the Biafra/Nigeria war would not be complete without mentioning Achuzie, a veteran who fought gallantly in the war.

However, in a statement in Awka at the weekend, Ojukwu (Jnr.) said, “He was the first Biafran senior officer to make contact with the Nigerian side and led them on to Maj. Gen. Phillip Effiong. That contact followed a visit to him by the Biafran Director of Propaganda, Uche Chukwumerije.

“He was part of the final discussions that led to Philip Effiong’s declaration of the end of the war, at which point he was interrogated and sent to detention. He didn’t think he would come out alive and based on these experiences, he later published his war memoirs – Requiem Biafra.”

Noting that Achuzie worked closely with his late father, during the battle for the emancipation of Ndigbo, Ojukwu said he was indeed a dependable officer during the Nigerian civil war.

According to him: “It is with a heavy heart that I write to mark the passing of an Iroko, a champion of the Igbos and a great Nigerian.”

“As a civilian before the war, he was based in Port Harcourt from where he ran a large engineering firm which specialized in making explosives and training on its handling. He was the President General of the Ika Igbo at that time. He was nominated to represent the Ika Igbo at the Eastern Region Constituent Assembly which preceded the declaration of the Republic of Biafra. He was never in the Nigerian Military. However, he fought in the Korean wars from where he gained his Military and Guerrilla experience.”

“He was tasked with putting together a Biafran Militia. Based on performance, the militia was drafted into the Biafran Army and he became a Commissioned Biafran Officer. His zeal, his passion and his unconventional approach distinguished him in the battle field, though he was criticized precisely by some as being over-zealous. During the war, he was favoured by my father because of his uncanny capacity to produce results. He had a direct reporting line to him and he was involved on several fronts. The two remained quite close to the twilight of their years.”

Speaking further on Achuzie, Ojukwu said he was vocal against Igbo marginalization. “He was involved with Ohanaeze, he was at some point, the Secretary General, while Joe Irukwu was the President General. He was involved in the Oputa Panel. He remained very vocal about Igbo marginalization and supported the agitations for a new Biafra. While not calling out for secession, he believed strongly in self determination.

“Col J.O.G. Achuzie’s life was a life re-defined by the Biafran war as was the case with that entire generation and by extension the Igbo race. For one side, he was a villain and for the other side he was, and will always remain, a war hero.” he added.

“As a citizen of Nigeria, he was a man who chose not to sit on the sidelines as a spectator to history. Rather, he took his destiny in both hands and left an indelible mark in the history of our nation,” Ojukwu Jnr asserted.

DailyPost 

China does not want a trade war with the United States but will defend its interests, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Sunday, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan to put tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

Trump struck a defiant tone on Friday, saying trade wars were good and easy to win, a day after he said he intended to put duties of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminium products.

Trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies have risen since Trump took office in 2017, and although China only accounts for a small fraction of U.S. steel imports, its massive industry expansion has helped produce a global glut of steel that has driven down prices.

“China does not want to fight a trade war with the United States, but we absolutely will not sit by and watch as China’s interests are damaged,” Zhang, who is a spokesman for parliament and was formerly an ambassador to the United States, said.

“If policies are made on the basis of mistaken judgements or assumptions, it will damage bilateral relations and bring about consequences that neither country wants to see,” he said.

Trump believes the tariffs will safeguard American jobs, but many economists say the impact of price increases for users of steel and aluminium, such as the auto and oil industries, will destroy more jobs than curbs on imports create.

Nonetheless, there is growing bipartisan consensus in Washington, and support within the U.S. business community, for the U.S. government to counter what are seen as Beijing’s predatory industrial policies and market restrictions on foreign firms.

Trump has long sought a way to a more balanced trade relationship with China and is also considering potential trade sanctions against Beijing under a“Section 301” investigation into China’s intellectual property practices and pressure on foreign companies for technology transfers.

Diplomatic and U.S. business sources say the United States has all but frozen a formal mechanism for talks on commercial disputes with China because it is not satisfied Beijing has met its promises to ease market restrictions.

Reuters

Members of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) have voted in favour of entering a coalition with Angela Merkel's conservatives.

The decision clears the way for a re-run of the "grand coalition" which has governed Germany since 2013 and hands the Chancellor a fourth term in office..

It also puts an end to five months of political uncertainty in Europe's largest economy - the longest the country has been without a government in its post-war history.

The centre-left SPD had furiously debated whether to extend the "grand coalition" for another four years after suffering a slump in last year's election.

In the end, 66 per cent of the party's 464,000 members approved a coalition deal. 

Parliament is expected to meet next week to elect Ms Merkel as chancellor, confirming her position as one of Europe's dominant politicians. 

Speaking at the SDP's headquarters iN Berlin, its acting leader Olaf Scholz said: "The vast majority of SPD members followed the party leadership's suggestion."

"We now have clarity: the SPD will join the next German government," he added.

On Saturday, Mr Scholz had said turn-out in the poll had been "very, very high" after an intense internal campaign that pitted the party's pro-coalition leadership against its more radical youth wing, which campaigned for "No".

Ms ​Merkel could be sworn in as Chancellor by mid-March.

Independent