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Tag: APC

  • Politricks of Buhari versus Tinubu and the end of APC – Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    On November 28, 2017, Ahmed Bola Tinubu; former governor of Lagos State and the presumed National Leader of the All Progressive Congress [APC] travelled with President Mohammadu Buhari to Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire for EU/AU submit. The journey, which included two governors; Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State and Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State, was highly publicized by the Media.

    The high profile publicity given to that event, including pictures of Buhari and Tinubu sitting opposite each other with smiles from both politicians inside the presidential aircraft, spoke more of a “new-found love or friendship” between Buhari and Tinubu. The President was to pure uncommon encomium on Bola Tinubu on arriving Abidjan, saying that “he [Tinubu] is an astute Nigerian political leader that deserves respect”, before revealing that “the national leader gave me a very good information which I will read and work with when l get back to Nigeria”.

    This was before he [President Buhari] gave him [Bola Tinubu] an assignment of reconciling the many battles amongst many undignified warlords in the APC. And surely before the wife of the National Leader, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, lamented heavily of how her husband was used by the APC and “dumped”. She painted a gloomy story of a strong scaffold used by builders in completing and bringing out the beauty of a high-rise edifice but was later discarded. According to Senator Remi Tinubu, the husband was that “strong scaffold” – used and discarded or dumped.

    The memorable accolade of the President on Tinubu during that trip to Cote d’Ivoire and his subsequent appointment to reconcile the APC’s warring factions looked like a way of bringing the dead back to life from the grave; a type of miracle that only Jesus Christ performed when Lazarus, having been dead and buried for four days, was raised back to life, according to the Bible book of John 11:1-45. We should not forget in hurry that Bola Tinubu, having helped in putting the Party [APC] together and chasing both President Goodluck Jonathan and the People Democratic Party [PDP] from power in 2015, was consigned to “political grave”, so to say, by those he made.

    How did it happen that a man of Bola Tinubu’s political prowess and understanding could easily be jettisoned and railroad into such political oblivion by a Political Party that came into existence through his political wizardry/acumen and the people he hand-picked for
    political offices’ occupation in the same Party? Answer to this question maybe a needed factor in helping to decode the political game-play that is presently going on in the APC, understanding diversified role-function of individual personae dramatis within the Party as regards the crisis created/sustained by these individuals, the future of Ahmed Bola Tinubu in the Party and the likely future of the APC as a major determinant Political Party in the Nigerian political terrain.

    The political downward slope graphic of Bola Tinubu had been on the drawing board many nights [decision about peoples’ lives are taken at dangerous hours of the night by Principalities and Powers – and there are few Nigerian politicians that belong to this class of Principalities and powers] before the dawn of June 9, 2015, the day the 8th National Assembly was inaugurated.
    As the day [June 9, 2015] broke, the “downward slope graphic” of the National Leader; Bola Tinubu, written and sealed a few nights back was made known to Nigerians in a dramatic and most bizarre manner. It remains yet the greatest civilian coup d tat planned and executed in the annals of our history. The planning and execution had hands of a few but highly placed collaborators as the events of that day and subsequent happening would later prove. Let us see what happened that day.

    While most Senators-elect [as they were then] of the ruling political party {APC] gathered at the International Conference Centre in Abuja for a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, slated for 10am [according to the text message that summoned the meeting] the inauguration of the National Assembly was taking place at the same time of 10am. By the time, the APC Senators-elect knew what was happening while waiting at the International Conference Centre, two things had happened.

    One, while these APC Senetors-elect were waiting, the inauguration of the National Assembly, with particular regards to the Senate, had taken place and Dr Bukola Saraki had emerged as President of the 8th Senate and already sworn-in. Two, the wait for President Buhari by these Senators-elect for “a special meeting” proved to be exercise in futility as the President did not meet with them.
    That was how Bukola Saraki, in connivance with his loyalists’ APC Senators-elect [those that did not “honour” the Presidential summons to the International Conference Centre] in agreement with all Senators-elect of the dethroned Political Party [PDP] became the Senate President – placing him as Number 3 most powerful Man in Nigeria, at least for now. His emergence as President of the Senate ran against the dynamic of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s game play as the National Leader had slated that position for Ahmed Lawal from Yobe State, North/East Nigerian.

    Before that date of inaugurating the National Assembly, Bola Tinubu did not only allocate the position of the Senate presidency to the North/East by nominating Ahmed Lawal for that lucrative office but had also anointed one of his favourites from the South/West in the person of Femi Gbajabiamila as Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives. He [Bola Tinubu] consolidated on his “absolute power of sharing” over the Party [APC] by ensuring that those he anointed for offices became the Party’s official candidates for those positions as a letter signed by the National Chairman of the Party; John Odigie Oyegun, to the National Assembly so directed.
    However, at the House of Representative where the drama of electing the Honourable Speaker wore a seeming garment of democracy, as votes were cast and counted, the result returned Yakubu Dogara as the Speaker, against Bola Tinubu’s anointed – Femi Gbajabiamila. This was the very day that Bola Tinubu’s authority and influence over APC noose-dived to the very bottom – it was a major crash from the top-roof of the building.

    It naturally followed from that day that the power to nominate and crown candidates to major political offices, including gubernatorial candidates, in the APC, has left Bola Tinubu as the case of Ondo State later proved. In that case, which featured Rotimi Akeredolu; a contestant who dared Bola Tinubu in running against the latter’s preferred candidate, events showed that it is not only power that had left the Asiwaju but the Party’s National Chairman [a man anointed and crowned to be Chairman by Bola Tinubu] had equally departed from him.

    With this further fall of the Asiwaju in the Ondo State governorship matter there was no more hiding of facts that some political Principalities and Powers have moved against this man who was once the Boss of bosses in king-making affairs of the APC. The question that needs serious attention at this point of this exercise is this: Who are those that demystified Bola Tinubu and reduced his influence and powers in the APC? Why did they move against him at the time they did? What impact would the “political downfall” of Bola Tinubu have in the APC politics? How far will the APC go within the Nigerian political terrain with Bola Tinubu on the sideline?

    In answering these questions, we shall attempt looking at the larger role-play of some individuals in this unfolding scenario because what is at stake for now is not limited to the APC but the Nigerian Enterprise. If the APC; as the ruling Political Party, within its political interplay, does well, Nigeria will be better off for it. If, in the other hand, the Party; through its manipulative interplay of things, fails woefully, the Nigerian State and its people will remain the colossal casualties or will bear the vicarious liability of its misrule for years to come.

    Ipso facto, this exercise is not about “Bola Tinubu and them” per se, but it is all about wither blows the wind of “these people’s misadventures” in Nigeria. Nigeria has not known peace in any form of human’s endeavor since the APC has taken over reins of government from PDP in 2015. This is the major reason why we should be concerned with the politics and politricks of the APC.
    Next week, we shall delve into the role-function of the Presidency, Bola Tinubu, Bukola Saraki, the Aso Rock Cabal, the Fulani Elite Agenda, the Sokoto Caliphate, the Kanuri Empire and the Kaduna Mafia, in shaping the destiny of Nigeria through the making and marring of the APC.

    Then this: Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State may just be as wicked against the people of Amuwo Odofin Local Government as wickedness can be defined. The link bridge connecting Festac Town [a major urban area in Amuwo Odofin Local Government] to Apo junction and into Lagos proper has been partly closed down by the Executive Governor since December last year, ostensibly for a minor repair because of fire incident on the foot of the bridge.

    This Governor has withdrawn workers from the place since January, thereby leaving millions in that community in daily terrifying traffic-jam. It takes sometimes two to three hours to cross from Festac to Apo Junction. Why will a governor wants to be this wicked to his own people? The answer, according to the grapevine, is that Amuwo Odofin people did not vote for APC during the 2015 General Elections, otherwise one Emma Oghene-Egoh wouldn’t have become a honourable member of the House of Representative under the banner of PDP.

    Will that be enough reason to punish everyone in that area, including the teaming members of APC that would always be willing to do everything for the Party? Mr Governor, allow your human conscience judge you in this matter, knowing fully that you are coming back to this same people in a few months’ time for their votes in 2019.
    Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.
    *234-8139114368 [SMS only please].

  • Tinubu absent as Buhari, Saraki, others attend APC caucus meeting [Photos]

    The national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was on Monday absent as President Muhammadu Buhari led other top government officials elected to a meeting of the party’s national caucus.

    The meeting was held at the new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Other top government officials who attended the meeting included Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and state governors.

    The national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, led other national officers of the party to the meeting.

    The caucus meeting was however held ahead of a meeting of the party’s National Executive Council holding on Tuesday.

    The issue of the tenure elongation for members of the National Working Committee is believed to be an agenda before the party chiefs. The national caucus meeting was still ongoing as of the time of filing this report.

  • Cairo Ojougboh reveals why he joined APC

    Dr Cairo Ojougboh said that he defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to protect the interest of the people of Delta, knowing that they had worked very hard for the party.

    Ojougboh, who said this in a statement on Monday in Abuja, noted that he saw the APC as a solid foundation to build Delta.

    Ojougboh was the Deputy National Chairman of the Sen. Ali Modu-Sherif faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and a former South-South chairman of the party.

    “When I joined the APC, I saw that you people have worked very hard, and I saw a solid foundation,’’ he said.

    He expressed optimism that an APC government would be enthroned in Delta come 2019, because of its popularity and the commitment of its members in the state.

    Ojougboh, while saying that the APC was a united party, advised that its members must be respectful and loyal to its structures and hierarchy to ensure its electoral victory come in the 2019 general elections.

    According to him, I have embarked on consultation tour of the state`s senatorial districts and I am pleased by the number of party chieftains that received me during such visits.

    “I must confess that I was intimidated by the crowd of APC members and the caliber of party chieftains I saw in places I visited.

    “And I said to myself, with this caliber of people, there is no fear in winning election in Delta,’’ Ojougboh said.

     

  • Wike commends T. Y. Danjuma, says Nigeria now completely directionless

    Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, while commending former Minister of Defense, General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, for his recent comments on the state of the nation, has declared that Nigeria is now completely directionless.

    TheNewsGuru reports the former Minister of Defense, while speaking at the maiden convocation of Taraba State University in Jalingo, had accused the Nigerian military of collaborating with armed herdsmen to kill innocent Nigerians.

    While swearing-in four Judges of the Rivers State High Court and Customary Court of Appeal at the Government House Port Harcourt on Monday, Governor Wike said the elder statesman has said the obvious truth about the security architecture of the country.

    He said the country is permanently on a dangerous downward slide and that the politicization of governance has further entrenched despair across the country.

    He alludes that Rivers State security has been deliberately compromised by security agencies who work with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to undermine security of lives and property.

    According to him, the recent deliberate crisis and threat to violence by the APC on the setting up of the Neighbourhood Safety Corps in Rivers underscores the devilish schemes to promote insecurity in the State.

    “Nigeria has gotten to a point that we don’t know where we are heading. I don’t use to fast, but I will fast for God to keep General Danjuma. General Theophilus Danjuma has said the obvious truth. It is happening daily in Rivers State.

    “We are setting up our Neighbourhood Safety Corps, but they are generating crisis. We only replicated what is in existence in Lagos State, but nobody queries that of Lagos State. Only recently, Nasarawa State launched her outfit, without being challenged”, Governor Wike said.

    He berated the APC Federal Government for abandoning the solemn duty of protection of lives and property in pursuit of 2019 re-election.

    On the swearing-in of the Judges, Governor Wike charged them to uphold the rule of law and be fearless in the dispensation of justice.

    He urged the judges not to allow themselves to be intimidated by agents of the political class, adding that if they fail in their responsibilities, they will be called to account by God.

    Governor Wike told the judges that they now have the opportunity to make the state a better place by enthroning justice.

    The Judges sworn-in by the Rivers State Governor include: Justice Godwin Ollor and Justice Uche K-Chuku of the Rivers State High Court and Justice Legor Senewo and Justice Frank Onyiri of the Rivers State Customary Court of Appeal.

     

  • Ekiti 2018: Oyegun’s sermon to APC members

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

    When concerned members were wondering if the All Progressives Congress was absolutely ready for the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti, the party National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, visited the state last Monday, to allay their fears.

    Those worries stemmed from the apparent lukewarm to electoral contest by the chapter of the APC, which consecutively boycotted council elections in 2015 and 2017, citing likelihood of bias by the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC).

    With those boycotts, the APC has ignorantly allowed the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti to fortify its stronghold at the grassroots critical to mobilizing for elections into state and national positions.

    What’s more! The state PDP has logged in years of campaigning in readiness for the July poll. Practically on daily basis, Governor Ayodele Fayose and his “anointed candidate” and Deputy Governor, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, would mobilize well-choreographed crowds of party members to any events – public or private, and turned them into campaign activities.

    But what about the APC, its aspirants and followers? They are almost nowhere to be found in the field, with only occasional one-off “launching ceremonies” by the aspirants at the party headquarters in Ado-Ekiti. Other jostlings are simply media photo-ups at their “country-homes.” And this is happening barely weeks to the pivotal governorship election!

    It’s amid this despondency that Odigie-Oyegun “suddenly” showed up in Ado-Ekiti, to kick-off a nationwide membership drive, which is indicative of the existence of a lacuna requiring urgent and decisive action(s) to ameliorate in the party.

    Accompanied by some members of the National and State Working Committees (NWCs), and the Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Odigie-Oyegun had audience at the party secretariat and Eagle Hall in the capital city, where the governorship aspirants “mobilized thousands of members to receive the team.”

    He told the expectant members that his visit was not happenstance, but to show the readiness of the APC to win the governorship poll in the state. “Ekiti is facing an important election that will happen in this nation,” he said. “God has put it in our hand; God has put it on your laps and God has chosen Ekiti to be a major factor in the politics of this country in July 2018.

    “We, in the National Executive, have decided that the coming election in Ekiti is one we will work as hard as possible to win. No stone will be left unturned: it is a must-win election… We are going to mobilise the entire country, the entire APC structure, to ensure that you are not alone and that all the resources you need for the election are made available to you. At the end of July, Ekiti will be APC.”

    This solidarity message would gladden the hearts of the APC members and sympathizers in Ekiti. But the more reassuring, especially to the governorship aspirants, was Odigie-Oyegun’s promise that the party would allow a level-playing ground at the primaries.

    The pledge came in the wake of “rumours” that the hierarchy of the APC had “anointed” a candidate, like what obtains in the PDP, which has set other aspirants against Governor Fayose for unilaterally choosing his deputy as the party’s candidate for the poll.

    Odigie-Oyegun said: “I want to assure that in Ekiti State, we will have free, fair and credible primary. We will provide security at the primary. It will be an open event and will be covered and recorded on television from the beginning to the end. There will be proper identification of delegates to prevent impersonation.

    “At the voting point, party chairmen of the local government (chapters) and wards will stand at a distance away, but they will ensure that those who will vote are bona fide delegates. Anybody found impersonating will be handed over to the police. A formidable group of (APC) governors will be mobilized to superintend, guide and ensure that the election is totally free and fair.”

    These declarative statements, beyond the realm of a gentleman’s agreement, are like a jolt to rouse the Ekiti APC, and which, hopefully, the national headquarters of the party would implement to the letter, to stem a possible downside at the election.

    Yet, realizing the need to regain lost ground, due to APC’s boycott of the Ekiti council elections twice, Chief Odigie-Oyegun issued a “code of conduct” that mandates: Aspirants to sign an undertaking to maintain decorum; not to campaign as if there is no tomorrow, or with enmity, to avoid discord in the party; not to behave as bad losers; to collapse their structures into the person that is chosen at the primary; and to eschew division and factionalisation in the party.

    Even so, the APC chair reminded members that President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowal to offer voters a level-playing field, and not compromise free and fair election, “means (that) whether we are in power at the federal level or not, we must all work hard to deserve the victory that belongs to us.”

    What else do the Ekiti APC want, especially the aspirants: Chief Segun Oni, Dr. Wole Oluyede, Mr. Kola Alabi, Mr. Victor Kolade, Dr. Bayo Orire, Senator Gbenga Aluko, Captain Sunday Adebomi, Dr. Mojisola Kolade, Chief Diran Adesua, Mr. Bimbo Daramola, Senator Ayo Arise, Dr. Wole Oluleye and Dr. Makanjuola Owolabi, who were present at the membership drive flag-off in Ado-Ekiti?

    Will the losers at the primaries take their defeat in stride and good faith, and work with the winner for the good of the APC? Surely, the July 14, 2018 governorship ball is in their court to play to score, or flunk and remain in the political wilderness till 2022!

     

    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • Compromised election: Buhari’s Govt. reacts to Cambridge Analytica revelations

    After TheNewsGuru reported the President Muhammadu Buhari administration silence to Cambridge Analytica revelations is alarming, the government has stood up to the occasion requesting the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to address allegations it actually hired the data analytics firm or not.

    TheNewsGuru reports data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica and its parent company, SCL Elections, confirmed playing a role in Nigeria’s 2015 general elections, but denied it had accessed Buhari’s financial and medical records, and denied hacking into his private emails.

    “We can confirm that SCL Elections was hired in December 2014 to provide advertising and marketing services in support of the Goodluck Jonathan campaign,” SCL stated, adding: “During an election campaign, it is normal for SCL Elections to meet with vendors seeking to provide services as a subcontractor. SCL Elections did not take possession of or use any personal information from such individuals for any purposes. SCL Elections does not use ‘hacked’ or ‘stolen’ data”.

    However, several confessional statements made by employees of the firm, seven of them, with close knowledge of the campaign, showed that Cambridge Analytica did more than just providing advertising and marketing services in support of Jonathan.

    The employees, who have described how Cambridge Analytica worked with people they believed were Israeli computer hackers, who offered Cambridge Analytica the access to Buhari’s financial and medical records, confessed a Nigerian billionaire paid Cambridge Analytica about N1 billion to actually work to sway the 2015 general election votes in favour of Jonathan.

    Reacting to the development, Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in Abuja said such unfair practice undermined the country’s democracy.

    “Nothing undermines a country’s democracy as such unfair practices. The Cambridge Analytica hacking scandal committed against candidate Buhari by the PDP in 2015 in which billions of Naira was paid out to the Israelis and other hackers have shown that the former ruling party lacks both the integrity and credibility to talk about election rigging. Instead of explaining their role in the scandal, the nation is greeted by stunning silence,” Shehu said.

    “Do they think this will simply blow away?” he further queried, adding: “Rigging is PDP’s main area of core competence and its party leaders are drowning men who won’t mind clutching at any straw for political survival”.

    Shehu also advised the leadership of the PDP to stop raising false alarms in order to gain public sympathy and divert attention from its “abysmal past record and failures”.

    “They should, instead, address the concerns raised about their role in the mass data harvesting at the heart of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal, following the revelation that they hacked into Candidate Muhammadu Buhari’s personal data in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.

    “That is why President Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment when they hacked into the opposition, Democratic Party records, and this is why a Special Counsel is investigating the alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election, and if President Donald Trump’s campaign is complicit in the attempted subversion of democracy in that country,” said the presidential aide.

    He also lambasted the leading opposition party for its decision to drag the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the United Nations (UN) over alleged plan or plot to rig the 2019 general elections, describing the PDP move as “not only laughable and puerile”, but that it “also demonstrate the level of desperation that is haunting the opposition leaders”.

    Shehu said President Buhari was passionately committed to free and fair elections in the country, noting: “and for a man who joined forces with local and international observers to ensure a free and fair election which brought him to power in 2015, the President would under no circumstances tolerate any attempt to derail constitutional democracy.

    “The outcome of the gubernatorial elections in Edo, Ondo and Anambra States stand as clear examples of President Buhari’s commitment to free and fair elections in the country, and Nigerians should indeed be wary of PDP’s desperate propaganda.

    “For the PDP to be preaching free and fair elections is like a street-walker preaching about chastity.

    “We must recall that the PDP postponed the 2015 general elections in the guise of national security challenges because defeat was staring it starkly in the face. However, despite the delay tactics, it was resoundingly defeated when the polls finally held.

    “The PDP has lost every moral ground and it is mortally afraid of facing the 2019 general elections because Nigerians will always remember their past and punish them one more time for economically plundering the country.”

    According to Shehu, “by dragging the United Nations into its political propaganda, the PDP is indirectly suggesting that it is afraid to face the voters in 2019.

    “Rather than hiding behind allegations of a plot to rig the elections, the opposition party should work harder to win back the trust of voters instead of spreading the false alarm to gain international sympathy.

    “It is unfortunate that the PDP is desperately trying all dirty tricks, including the exploitation of tragedy, for political advantage.”

    However, Shehu, and the presidency is yet to address the part of the revelations that alludes Buhari and his team hired AKPD, the firm of former Barack Obama strategist David Axelrod, to push slick-social-media-heavy, Obama-esque message of hope in favour of Buhari.

     

  • 2019: APC campaign director defects to PDP, says “Only witches carry brooms as symbol”

    A former director general of the 2015 governorship campaign of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Akwa Ibom State, Soni Udom, on Friday along with his supporters defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

    Udom announced his defection on Friday in Abak during a ceremony organised by people from five local government areas – Abak, Ukanafun, Uruk Anam, Etim Ekpo, and Ika – to endorse Governor Udom Emmanuel’s second term bid.

    Several other APC members, including ward chairmen and youth leaders, also defected to the PDP.

    Top PDP leaders in the state, including Governor Emmanuel, the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, and the state chairman of the party, Paul Ekpo, received Udom and others into the party.

    Before assuming the director general role, Udom had initially served as chairman of a local government area and had also been a former member of the House of Representatives.

    Prior to 2015, he was a stalwart of the PDP before he left the party to join the APC in support of the governorship aspiration of a former Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government, Umana Umana.

    He is from Oruk Anam Local Government Area, where the state chairman of the APC, Amadu Attai, is from. The governor’s wife, Martha Emmanuel, is also from that local government area.

    “We heard about change, but the change turned out to be from frying pan to fire. At least, let us come back to the frying pan,” Mr. Udom said while announcing his defection.

    His remark elicited laughter from Governor Emmanuel, Akpabio, other politicians and the crowd.

    The PDP national legal adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem, who was standing next to Mr. Udom on the podium, corrected the defector, saying he was coming back to stay under the umbrella (the symbol of the party), and not inside any frying pan.

    Enoidem quickly brought out an umbrella and symbolically put it above Udom’s head.

    “I am back to the umbrella,” Udom adjusted. “The umbrella is a very good symbol.”

    He continued: “For those who know geography, you know that there is something called ozone layer, which the umbrella can cover; but we discover that the way they use the broom, first of all not to sweep the floor but to clear the ozone layer, such that the sun that has come on us now is so unbearable.

    “Apart from that, we discover what many people did not know the broom is what witches carry,” he said.

    Mr. Udom then turned and addressed the governor: “Recently, you outlawed cultism in the state. I expected you to outlaw witchcraft, but it is like you spared the witches because their party is in control at the centre. But we wish that when you come back in the second term, you will do the needful.”

    Mr. Udom, in addition, said the APC does not have a governorship candidate for the 2019 election and that the party was going through internal crisis because, according to him, they had abandoned those who worked for it.

    “They have forgotten Udoedehe, they have forgotten many people including me. That is why today, we are coming back here,” he said.

    He said people whose interest was on how to get contracts were the only ones “following” the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Nsima Ekere.

    Mr. Ekere, a former deputy governor of the state, is seen as a possible candidate of the APC in the 2019 governorship election in the state, although he has not declared his interest to contest it.

    The APC said it was not surprised about Mr. Udom’s defection.

    “We know that in politics anything can happen,” the party spokesperson, Edet Eyo, said while reacting to the defection.

    Eyo said the APC was “reliably informed” that Udom, being an architect, was owed money for some professional jobs he did for the state government during the administration of Godswill Akpabio and that the government used it to “coerce” him to return to the PDP.

    “If between 2011 to date, a business, that is Soni Udom & Associates, is being owed N300 million, I wonder how you expect that kind of business to survive.

    “If you are a family man, there’s an extent to which you can endure. When you can’t put food on your table, you can’t pay your children’s school fees, they will call you a useless husband. Soni Udom can no longer hold his own. The extent of his elasticity has gone beyond his control, and he succumbed to pressure.

    “They promised to pay him. I guess they have even paid him part of the money and he is happy for it.

    “What I want to caution is this: They say he who rides on the back of a tiger would somehow find himself in the belly of the tiger. Don’t forget it is this same Soni Udom that their gang of terrorists attempted to assassinate in 2014. But God was on his side, he escaped by the whiskers.

    “We bear no grudge against Soni Udom, he has the right to join whichever party he wishes to,” the APC spokesperson said.

     

  • APC vows to take over South-East in 2019

    The All Progressives Congress (APC),says the party will take over the three states in the South-East zone controlled by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections.

    It said as a result of the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari since assumption of office, especially the key projects he was executing in the South-East, the job of convincing the people of the area had been made easier.

    The states are Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu.

    Party chieftains spoke on Saturday in Abakaliki, at a ceremony to mark the 5th anniversary of APC Youth League (APCYL)

    National President of APCYL, Mr Solomon Faeren, who spoke, said that the party would fulfilled its mission of winning the entire zone in 2019 to enable it consolidate on its programmes for the region.

    Also speaking, an APC chieftain in Ebonyi, Mr Christian Chukwu, said that the party was determined to dislodge the PDP in the region.

    Chukwu who delivered a keynote lecture titled: “The Role of Nigerian Youths in Nation Building,” urged youths to get involved in partisan politics.

    He said that this would enable them to develop and build leadership capacity.

    Chukwu noted that the future of the country belonged to the youths hence the need to strive to participate in the political process.

    “Youths are agents of progressive change and the future of any country belongs to the youths.

    “The greatness of any nation is directly tied to the vibrancy and resilience of its youths, hence the need to develop and build your capacity to take up leadership roles, ” Chukwu said.

    He alleged that the ruling party was intimidating and harassing APC members, but stressed that no amount of intimidation could deter them from achieving their mission.

    “Our members were being harassed and intimidated but they have not succumbed. The youths of Ebonyi are not going to succumb.

    “When you watch the way they are not succumbing, it is a clear sign that they want to take what belongs to them,” he added.

    APCYL Ebonyi Coordinator, Mr Emmanuel Nweke, said that the league was committed to promoting good governance by mobilising youths to participate in the political process.

    He said that the organisation which has been in existence for five years had engaged youths in active participation in partisan political activities.

    “Our business and concern is to champion, project and promote collective interest of our party, we are not inclined to promoting any particular interest of individual members.

    “All we ask is that every party member should come together as one and form a formidable force to defeat the ruling PDP in the state.

    “The more united we are, the better and easier for us to bring the desired progressive change we clamour for in the state, ” Nweke said.

    The South-East Coordinator of APCYL, Mr Okenwa Uka, said that youths were ready and determined to bring positive change in the political leadership of the country.

    He said that PDP led government in Ebonyi has failed to provide needed political leadership that would lift the people from poverty and under-development.

    “The youths are driving the progressive change being clamoured for in the state, and we are only asking our elders and leaders to support us to achieve our mission.

    “We are committed to positive leadership transformation to redeem the lost glory of our state and we are unstoppable in this resolve,” Uka said.

    Chief Austine Edeze, APC Board of Trustees member, Chief Christopher Omo-Isu, former House of Representatives member, in their separate speeches, charged APCYL to mobilise youths to register in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration.

    The high point of the event was the presentation of awards of excellence to deserving members of the party.

    Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu; former Governor of the state, Chief Martin Elechi; Nigeria’s ambassador to Peru, Chile, and Paraguay, Chief Jonah Mkpuruka, and 22 others received the awards.

     

  • 2019: PDP’s decision to drag APC, INEC to UN over alleged rigging plots laughable, puerile – Presidency

    The Presidency on Saturday said the decision by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to drag the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the United Nations (UN) over alleged plans to rig it (the PDP) out of the 2019 general elections was laughable and silly.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement made available to journalists on Saturday.

    Shehu said the opposition party’s decision demonstrated the level of desperation that party leaders now found themselves.

    Rather than raising false alarms, the presidential spokesman challenged the PDP leaders to address the concerns raised about their role in the mass data harvesting at the heart of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal.

    The statement read, “The Presidency has advised the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party to stop raising false alarms in order to gain public sympathy and divert attention from its abysmal past record and failures.

    “They should, instead, address the concerns raised about their role in the mass data harvesting at the heart of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal, following the revelation that they hacked into Candidate Muhammadu Buhari’s personal data in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.

    “Nothing undermines a country’s democracy as such unfair practices.

    That is why President Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment when they hacked into the opposition, Democratic Party records, and this is why a Special Counsel is investigating the alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election, and if President Donald Trump’s campaign is complicit in the attempted subversion of democracy in that country.

    “The PDP’s decision to drag the All Progressives Congress and INEC to the United Nations over alleged plan or plot to rig the 2019 general elections are not only laughable and puerile, but they also demonstrate the level of desperation that is haunting the opposition leaders.”

    “President Muhammadu Buhari is passionately committed to free and fair elections in the country and for a man who joined forces with local and international observers to ensure a free and fair election which brought him to power in 2015, the President would under no circumstances tolerate any attempt to derail constitutional democracy.”

  • 2018 Budget delay: NASS not responsible – APC lawmaker

    2018 Budget delay: NASS not responsible – APC lawmaker

    A member of House of Representatives, Mr Nicholas Ossai (Delta-APC), on Wednesday urged Nigerians to hold the Executive accountable for the delay in the passage of 2018 Appropriation Bill.

    He told News Agency of Nigeria Abuja that apart the Bill being late November, 2017, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) had refused to go before relevant committees of the legislature to defend their budgets.

    Ossai, therefore, said that it was unfair for the Executive to blame the lawmakers for delay in passing the budget, insisting that it could not be approved without MDAs defending their needs as contained in it.

    According to him, the National Assembly cannot address issues regarding the Appropriation Bill in a hasty manner, particularly when the Executive that made the inputs in the budget are reluctant to come and defend them.

    On the intended January – December fiscal year, the lawmaker said “I don’t really agree with the executive’s assertion, whether budget year or not budget year.

    “The most critical issue is that the budget was brought late November, and so there was no way the National Assembly could have addressed the matters in the Bill in one month.

    “January to December is not supposed to be an issue but bringing the private sector to bear when budgeting is the issue.

    “This is because the economy is run not only from the public sector but also the private sector.

    “The executive ought to bring the budget in the first week of October to give three months for the legislature to address the issues critically, looking at the books and performance of preceding budget.’’

    “Sometimes you blame the executive because you invite them to come and expatiate on the budget items and they find it very difficult. I don’t know what they are hiding from the legislature.

    “The Constitution has given us power to be able to look at the Bill; we are representatives of the people and the executive is to implement what the people have prescribed.

    “I think to some extent, the National Assembly has been dutiful enough to its job by creating value for money because without scrutinizing, you won’t be able to see value for money,” Ossai added.

    According to him, if certain amount is budgeted, it is also necessary to know how it is utilised based on the prescription of the national assembly.

    “If you are the executive and have budgeted a sub-head of N10, you should be able to feed us that the N10 we gave you last time, you used it and to what extent.

    “If you can defend that very effectively, then there is no reason why the National Assembly cannot prescribe further N10 or even give more depending on what you have presented.

    “But, in a situation where the executive budget performance is eight per cent or sometimes, 20 per cent and you are bringing a higher figure in a new budget, the National Assembly will ask questions.

    “Those are the reasons why our constituencies want to know why most of the budgets are not well implemented, especially when revenue generating agencies have met their target according to approval.

    “So, these are the issues we want to know and critically examine so Nigerians can get value for money,” he said.

    Ossai said that though implementation of 2017 budget was quite low at the end of the year, it had gone up to about 50 per cent due to queries by the legislature.

    “Today, I can tell you that over 50 per cent of the 2017 budget has been implemented.

    “This is because of the critical assertion by the House of Representatives in particular; the executive had to rush and hasten implementation of the budget.

    “You can see that the representation of the people counts a lot in a democracy; without being critical about the last year’s budget, there was no way the executive would have implemented it.

    “So, Nigerians should be patient with the National Assembly; we are trying to create value for money,” he said.