TheNewsGuru

Tag: All Progressive Congress (APC )

  • APC: Tinubu unveils running mate, Kashim Shettima in Abuja

    APC: Tinubu unveils running mate, Kashim Shettima in Abuja

    The ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC), has finally unveiled former Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima as running mate to its presidential candidate  Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    The unveiling ceremony took place at an event in Abuja on Wednesday, June 20, 2022.

    This development was made known by President Muhammadu Buhari’s former Personal Assistant on New Media, Bashir Ahmad via Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.

    His Tweet reads: “Our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), unveils Senator Kashim Shettima as the running mate of our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he tweeted.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu had picked Shettima as his running mate following his emergence as the party’s presidential candidate.

    Although the Muslim-Muslim ticket has sparked reactions and arguments across the country.

    The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and some prominent Christians have kicked against the decision to fly a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

    The two other major candidates in next year’s election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party picked a Christian and Muslim running mate respectively to fly a Muslim -Christian ticket.

     

     

  • Muslim-Muslim Ticket: 10,000 Northern Christians protest in Abuja

    Muslim-Muslim Ticket: 10,000 Northern Christians protest in Abuja

    Christian Northerners numbering about  10, 000 from across 19 northern States, on Friday, converged on Abuja, to stage a peaceful protest over the Muslim-Muslim ticket the  All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu adopted ahead of the 2023 general elections in the country.

    The protesters, who operate under the umbrella of the All Christians Community of Northern Nigeria, marched to the presidential villa to submit a letter registering their displeasure concerning the Muslim-Muslim ticket adopted by APC.

    According to the leader of the group, Moses Adams said these are indeed not the best times for Christians in the APC and Nigeria in general.

    He said the sensibilities of Christians have been “insulted by the ambition of a select few that have elected to throw caution to the wind.”

    He noted that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state, with Islam and Christianity as the two major religions which have defined the country’s way of life since independence, adding that successive governments have respected the country’s multi-religious nature, especially during elections, to create a balance in the leadership of the nation.

    Mr. Adams said the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to disregard the Christian community in the choice of its vice presidential candidate for the 2023 presidential election was, therefore, “unacceptable and a recipe for creating sharp divides between the Muslims and the Christians in the country.”

    He pointed out that since the return to democracy in 1999 in Nigeria, the tradition has been a Muslim-Christian or Christian-Muslim pairing by all political parties, which had to a large extent, ensured religious harmony in the country.

    While describing the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket as the “height of discrimination against Christians”, he mentioned that other political parties reflected religious balance in the composition of their presidential team.

    The Christian group wondered why the APC elected to toe this path of dishonour that, in its considered opinion, “is deliberate to relegate the Christians in Nigeria into oblivion, which is not in the best interest of the country in this critical period of our existence.”

    It said Northern Christians were displeased and angered by APC’s insensitivity, which goes to show that Christians are not relevant in the scheme of things in the country.

    The group stressed that the move by the APC was intended to cause a crisis of unimaginable proportion along ethno-religious lines.

    It appealed to the President to intervene in reversing the “ignoble move” by the party’s Presidential Candidate.

    “We demand that you invite the Presidential candidate of the party to quickly retrace his steps immediately,” the group stressed.

  • Osun Guber Poll: Aregbesola’s camp reveals preferred candidate

    Osun Guber Poll: Aregbesola’s camp reveals preferred candidate

    A faction of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) loyal to the Minister of Interior Affairs, Rauf Aregbesola, in Osun state, has pledged their allegiance and loyalty to APC despite their principal having unsettled issues with the governor of the state.

    The TOP’s position was made known on Friday in a post shared by a former commissioner in the state, Sikiru Ayedun.

    The group reiterated that it remains a part of the APC despite the alleged maltreatment of its members by Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s administration.

    There were initial speculations that the group may work against the governor in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

     TOP’s statement reads in part, “As the Osun Governorship Election comes up tomorrow, we The Osun Progressives (TOP) have been inundated with calls, questions, and demands for our position by the media and our supporters and enthusiasts.

    “Fundamentally, we are unabashedly democrats of the progressive hue. We live its credo and our entire being is in it.

    “Our association, a caucus within the State of Osun All Progressives Congress (APC), was founded last year when we alarmingly saw the direction our party was going. It was like the falcon could no longer hear the falconer. We were filled with trepidation on the tempest long foretold.

    “We were at this junction before, in the run-off to the 2003 General election. We feared that history might tragically repeat itself except we acted selflessly and forthrightly. Like-minded members and leaders of the party, therefore, came together to form the group.

    “The administration of our leader, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, produced a successor in Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, against all odds, by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. We worked hard on the mantra of continuity, the continuation of the giant development strides of the Aregbesola administration, which endeared the party to the people of the state, producing the victory that brought Governor Oyetola into office.

    “As a caucus within the party, we have consistently made strident efforts at peace and reconciliation within our party. For this, we have only asked for one condition, which is inclusiveness.

    “The State Governor and his henchmen, most regrettably, have turned his office and our party into a zero-sum game. You are either with them or against them. They rejected any idea of inclusiveness. They rebuffed all propositions for peace and reconciliation and not even a Councillorship position was ceded to any other section of the party outside of the Ileri-Oluwa caucus.

    “Any party member that is not publicly demonstrating obscene loyalty to the governor and attacking Ogbeni Aregbesola or anyone remotely or directly associated with him is branded an enemy and marked for alienation from government and party offices. Worse still, the independent-minded party members not praise singing the Governor are subject to insidious and malevolent attacks.

    “The policy of exclusion in OSUN APC is so deep that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who is the immediate past Governor of the state and the current minister from the state was neither consulted, invited nor included in any party matter, the most recent of which is the APC’s Osun Campaign Council for this election. This posturing has riven the party.

    “Nevertheless, we remain unflinching members of our party, the All Progressives Congress, and stand by its ideals, irrespective of our travails or even the outcome of tomorrow’s election. We are long-distance runners and will not abandon the ship of our party, in calm or stormy waters.”
  • Yobe North: Some cabals are trying to forge my withdrawal letter – Machina

    Yobe North: Some cabals are trying to forge my withdrawal letter – Machina

    Bashir Machina Campaign Organisation for Yobe North Senatorial District  (BMCO) has raised an alarm that some cabals are trying to forge the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate’s letter of withdrawal.

    This development was made known via a statement signed and released by the BMCO spokesperson, Mohammed Isah on Tuesday evening.

    In the letter addressed to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Machina stated that some individuals are bent on removing him from the senatorial race.

    The statement reads in Part “some individuals have entered an unholy alliance with some compromised leaders to forge the withdrawal letter of Yobe North APC senatorial candidate, Hon. Bashir Sheriff Machina even after communicating formally to the Party leadership affirming his stand not to step down for anybody.

    “These mischievous elements are hell-bent and determined to carry out their criminal offence, after all the cries and alarms raised by the campaign organisation exposing the sinister plot to subvert the will of the people of Yobe North.

    “It has eventually come to light in this untidy business of forged withdrawal letters, that some compromised leaders have become slaves to corruption and criminality in Nigeria.

    “We want to reiterate that Bashir Machina’s letter dated 13th June, which was sent to the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu still stands and any attempt to forge his withdrawal letter would be treated as a pure criminal offence irrespective of the calibre of the person(s) involved.”

    Recall that INEC had affirmed Machina as the winner of the Yobe North Senatorial primary election.

    However, there have been reports of pressure on Machina to step down for the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who lost in the APC presidential primary.

  • APC 2023: Tinubu hints at dropping Masari as running mate

    The former Lagos governor and flagbearer of the APC is still having  consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari, party governors, the party’s leadership over the choice of a running mate.

    Tinubu hinted that Masari may step down following the ongoing consultations.

    He said Masari may step down in the interest of the party winning the 2023 presidential election.

    Meanwhile, the choice of Masari has sparked reactions from members of the public and some party stalwarts over APC flying a  Muslim-Muslim ticket as both Masari and Tinubu are  core Muslims.

    This revelation was made known by  Tinubu’s  Media Aide, Tunde Rahman, the APC presidential candidate said if he decides, Masari would step down in accordance with the law.

    “There are ongoing consultations involving President Buhari, the party’s governors and the APC leadership with Asíwájú Tinubu and his running mate.

    “If following these consultations, the running mate decides for instance that he wants to stand down in the interest of the party and the country, I think it’s only fair and appropriate to allow him to deal with that.

    “I think it’s within the prerogative of the running mate to take his own decision and to say for instance that he would like to stand down because he feels doing so will serve the candidate and the party better than he remaining on the ticket,” he told Tribune.

    Recall that the APC presidential flag bearer, Tinubu had picked Kabiru Masari as his running mate to meet up with INEC June 17 deadline.

     

     

  • 2023: INEC explains only way Lawan, others can contest senatorial election

    The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has explained the only way Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and others who didn’t contest the primaries could return to the Senate in 2023.

    INEC explained that unless  the individuals who won the primaries  or legally nominated by their parties withdraw from the race.

    Although the INEC’s National Commissioner of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, who appeared on Arise TV on Monday morning, said he has not come across the names of candidates submitted by political parties, viral report has it that the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Yobe North Senatorial District has replaced the name of Bashir Machina with that of Lawan.

    Machina had contested Yobe North senatorial district and won at the time Senate president Ahmad Lawan was slugging it out in the All Progressive Congress (APC ) presidential primary election.

    Okoye said that the Commission monitored and has the reports of all the senatorial and House of Representatives primaries, adding that properly nominated candidates must write to INEC with a sworn affidavit, asking for a fresh primary, which would be conducted within 14 days before a replacement can be made.

    “I completely agree with you that someone who has not contested party’s primary should not be in a position to be nominated as party’s candidate,” Okoye said.

    “But now the Independent National Electoral Commission is not in a position as at now to make a determination in relation to what you’re saying or to make a determination in relation to whose name was submitted by a political party.

    “The Commission monitored the primaries of different political parties. Their senatorial and House of Representatives primaries and we have our reports. So if somebody emerged from the party primary and someone else’s name is submitted, it is the duty of that particular individual to utilise Section 285 of the Constitution, Section 84 and 29 of the Electoral Act to seek redress in a constituted court of law.

    “Moreover, what the law provides is that at the end of this nomination process, if any of the candidates that have been properly and constitutional nominated withdraws in writing and sworn affidavit that the ‘political party that nominated me must and shall conduct fresh primaries within the period of 14 days and then make such replacement.’

    “Then the person must do this through a letter submitted to the political party that nominated him with an affidavit indicating that he or she has voluntarily withdrawn. So that is the state of the law as at today.”