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Tag: APC

  • JUST IN: PDP organizes mega rally to receive deflecting APC members [PHOTOS]

    The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday organized a mega rally to receive members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who deflected the party recently.

    Felix Obuah, the state PDP chairman, who addressed the mammoth crowd present at the rally, was on ground to welcome the APC deflectors to the PDP fold.

    The rally, which held at Emohua, was well attended by the Special Adviser on Political Matters and Strategy to Governor Nyesome Wike, Barrister Emeh Glory Emeh, as well as Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Emeka Woke, amongst others.

     

  • APC sponsoring Fulani herdsmen to kill innocent Nigerians – Secondus

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, on Monday, accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of sponsoring Fulani herdsmen to murder innocent Nigerians.

    Secondus while speaking at the headquarters of the party in Umuahia, Abia State, also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure free, fair and credible election in 2019.

    He warned that Nigerians would resist any attempt by INEC to rig the elections in favour of the APC.

    Secondus, who was on a three-day working visit to the state, said the “PDP is on a mission to recover the land from the APC.”

    He said: “APC government has collapsed. They must be held responsible for the killings in various parts of the country. APC government has empowered the Fulani’s with the power to kill.

    “They (APC) must be blamed for the mismanagement of the country’s economy. There is hunger in the land. They (APC) are broken bottle and should brace up and get ready to leave because Nigerians are tired of playing politics with the killing of innocent Nigerians and hunger which they inflicted on Nigerians.

    “The APC government has run down the economy of the country. They can no longer protect the lives and property of Nigerians. They have run down the National Assembly that is why Nigerians are yearning for PDP to come and take over power from the APC.

    We are moving gradually, but working to rescue the nation from the mess that APC has thrown it into. We are not going to allow the APC to rig election in 2019. That is why we are saying that the best gift Buhari will give Nigerians is to conduct a free, fair and credible election, after which Buhari will retire to his house honourably because we know that Nigerians have seen that the APC has failed abysmally”.

  • KANSIEC declares APC candidates winners of LG polls in Kano

    The Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) has declared the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidates as winners of the Saturday’s Local Government polls in all the 44 councils in the state.

    The KANSIEC Chairman, Prof. Garba Sheka, announced the election results while briefing newsmen in Kano on Sunday.

    Sheka said APC also won all the 484 councillorship positions with a wide gap in an election participated by 25 political parties.

    He added that the election which was conducted in a peaceful manner, had recorded success due to the large turnout of the electorate and the deployment of security personnel.

    “The security agencies include Police, Customs, Immigration, NDLEA, Vigilanty groups, NSCDC and other secret security personnel.

    “I am proud that the election which was participated by 25 political parties was conducted peacefully without any violence, disruption by any person and no report of arrest,’’ he said.

    The KANSIEC Chairman attributed the late commencement of the election to the late arrival of some of the voting materials which were brought from China.

    “The commission had earlier received three consignments of the materials, but last arrived Kano at about 12:45 a.m on the election day despite all efforts to ensure it arrived earlier.

    “Immediately after we received the materials, we started the distribution about 4 a.m. By 11am we have completed the distribution of all the voting materials.

    “Therefore, we acknowledge our mistakes, apologise for the inconveniences caused and we are going to make necessary corrections to avoid reoccurrence of such delay in the next elections,’’ he said.

     

  • Osun 2018: Tinubu pressures Aregbesola to anoint own cousin, Oyetola as APC flag bearer

    …as party chieftains disagree with choice of national leader

    There is commotion under the tent of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, as interests of the party leaders continue to clash over who represents it in the forthcoming governorship election scheduled to hold in the state on September 22.

    Most visible among the several candidates put forward by chieftains in Osun State is that of the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who reportedly pressures the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola to anoint Gboyega Oyetola, [Tinubu’s cousin] as APC’s flag bearer for the Osun governorship election.

    To win the APC guber ticket, Oyetola, who is the current Chief of Staff to Governor Aregbesola will be slugging it out with other contenders like; Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, the state Commissioner for Finance;Mr. Bola Oyebamiji, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly; Hon. Najeem Salam, the lawmaker, representing Ejigbo/Iwo/Ola-Oluwa federal constituency in the House of Representatives; Hon. Mojeed Alabi, the deputy speaker in the House of Representatives; Hon. Lasun Yusuf, representing the Orolu/Irepodun/Osogbo/Oroluunda Federal Constituency.

    Others are the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice; Dr. Ajibola Basiru, a Lagos-based legal practitioner; Rasheed Adegoke,Founder of Tiwa n Tiwa L’Osun, a socio-political group

    According to a close source who spoke anonymously to TheNewsGurung.com, the alleged plot by Tinubu to influence the outcome of Osun APC’s primaries in favour of Oyetola has put the party excos at loggerheads.

    According to the source: “Aregbesola and some of his trusted aides including the likes of Biyi Odunlade for Ife Zone, Gbenga Ogunkanmi for Ayedire and Rasak Salinsile for Iwo Zone, Kolapo Alimi and Bashiru Ajibola for Osogbo/Irepodun, and Victor Fatoki have been alleged to be the brains working relentlessly to realise the Tinubu’s task .”

    Fatoki, it would be recalled, is the Personal Assistant to the State Chairman of the party, Prince Gboyega Famoodun, was given three council areas to work on, while Idowu Korede, the State Commissioner for Sanitation, has been given the task of dealing with list of members from Ijesa axis of the state.

    The source further hinted that to achieve this objective prominent members of the party have been invited in recent times on several occasions to Osogbo, the state capital, with juicy offers including appointments as Senior Special Advisers to the Governor among others.

    According to the source, at one of the meetings, attendees were handed lists of exco members in their respective areas to work on.

    Specific orders were said to have been dished out to remove names of deceased members, as well as those that had crossed to other political parties.

    Those invited to meetings were specifically instructed to ensure that names of members that are favourably disposed to a particular governorship aspirant be instantly removed.

    “The next stage, it was further scooped, is to place all the approved exco members on special salaries and other allowances to ensure the emergence of the governor’s anointed candidate during the forthcoming party governorship primaries,” the source added.

    Party leaders in the state have also expressed concern that the likely anointed candidate, Oyetola if victorious at the polls will serve as a compliant governor who will easily help in covering Aregbesola’s track during his eight year reign as governor.

    However, when TheNewsGuru.com contacted one of the top aides of Aregbesola, who demanded to speak on grounds of anonymity, he said he was unaware of such undercover plans to anoint Oyetola, saying the governor is rather focusing on completing some of the key projects he promised the people of Osun State.

     

    Contentions

     

    As the governorship election approaches, there are several contentious issues that may play out on who finally picks the governorship ticket of the party. While some have wished these away as trivial, others are lobbying and pushing hard to establish some of these issues and it appears they are beginning to gain grounds.

     

    Some of these are;

    ‘Home based’ or ‘Lagos/Foreign based politician’

    Before now, the APC have been enmeshed in the struggle between members advocating for choice of an “home-based” candidate instead of the “Lagos/foreign” candidate.

    Recall that the incumbent governor was an established politician in Lagos State who served under the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration as Commissioner for Works and Special Duties.

    Having spent two terms as governor and given all the support he enjoys, some factions within the ruling party in the state believe that Governor Aregbesola should naturally transmit power to a popular and dependable ‘home based ’politician.

    The clamour has already been established with many believing in the advocacy. However, the party has been very silent on the issue and some members also consider the matter to be a non issue.

    For example, the Director of Publicity and Strategy for the party in the state, Barr. Kunle Oyatomi, in an interview with a national daily [Not TheNewsGur.com] defines someone as ‘Lagos/Foreign politician’ and another a home-based.

    In his words: “As long as you are a citizen of the state and you meet other constitutional requirements you are qualified to run for the election. What should be important is how capable and prepared for the job are the aspirants so that the state would not suffer a retrogression as a result of bad governance. The incumbent governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, no doubt has laid a foundation for continued and future development which need a consolidation by the right choice of candidate to succeed him and further increase the fortunes of the state.”

    Zoning

    The clamour among the members is for the governorship seat to be zoned to the Osun West senatorial districts which comprises; Ede North, Ede South, Egbedore, Ejigbo, Ayedade, Irewole, Isokan, Iwo, Ayedire and Ola-Oluwa council areas, because the zone only ruled for barely two years when late Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke was first civilian governor from 1992 to 1993 since creation of the state since 1991.

    However, the Osun Central and Osun East senatorial districts has ruled for 11 and 8 years respectively out of 26 years since the state was created. Both from Central, Chief Adebisi Akande was in the saddle from 1999 to 2003 and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola from 2003 to 2010 until he was sacked by the Court of Appeal in Ibadan and installed the incumbent governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, who has been on the seat from 2010; and will remain there, all things being equal, till his second term tenure expires later in the year.

    Many other APC members who believe in continuity are insisting that the search for a credible candidate that can do the job must not be limited to a particular zone if the future of the state will not be jeopardized.

     

     

     

  • APC to sanction Cross River chapter crisis suspects

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) said it would investigate and prosecute suspected perpetrators of recent undisciplined acts and illegality in its Cross River chapter.

    The party made this known in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Bolaji Abudullahi, on Wednesday in Abuja.

    It said that the development had caused undue disaffection among party faithful in the state.

    “We condemn in totality the recent activities in which some party members allegedly broke in, vandalised and occupied the state secretariat and allegedly claimed that there is a change in leadership of the State Executive Committee.

    “All perpetrators of this illegality and acts of gross indiscipline causing undue disaffection among party faithful shall be investigated and prosecuted in line with the party`s constitution.

    “It is imperative to state that our great party has laid down procedures of resolving any internal dispute,’’ the statement said.

    It maintained that the Mr John Ochalla-led executive of the party in Cross River was the only one duly recognised by its national leadership.

    The statement, however, appealed to party members in the state to be calm, law-abiding and to remain loyal to the Ochalla-led executive committee.

    It assured that the party’s leadership was poised to resolve all contending issues in Cross Rivers and any of its other chapters across the federation.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday, appointed Alhaji Bola Tinubu, one of APC`s founding fathers, to lead its consultation, reconciliation and confidence-building team to resolve all crises within the party.

    The measure was to improve cohesion within the party ahead of 2019 general elections.

    Tinubu’s assignment would involve resolving disagreements among party members and leadership across the federation.

    It would also involve reconciling political office holders in some APC states and addressing the crises in its chapters in Kano, Kogi and Bauchi States.

     

  • Former APC chieftain reacts to Buhari designation of Tinubu to bring peace to party

    Former APC chieftain reacts to Buhari designation of Tinubu to bring peace to party

    A former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Nigeria’s former Minister of Culture and former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari designation of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to bring peace to the party.

    TheNewsGuru reports as part of on-going efforts to improve cohesion within the APC, President Buhari had designated Tinubu to lead the consultation, reconciliation and confidence building efforts in the party.

    The Presidency today in series of tweets revealed the Tinubu’s APC peace mission, which Fani-Kayode has said is a “mission impossible” and an attempt to bring the name and image of the Asiwaju of Lagos State and the Jagaban of the Borgu Kingdom in Niger State to disrepute.

    “When a king wants to destroy his top general he sends him on a mission that is impossible to achieve or to a battle that can’t be won,” the Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to former President Olusegun Obasanjo stated.

    Fani-Kayode was a member of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) until he moved to the APC, and then later cross-carpeted to the PDP in June 2014.

    “Sending BAT [Bola Ahmed Tinubu] to settle differences between APC members is mission impossible. And the objective is to destroy him and blame him for its failure,” he stated.

    https://twitter.com/realFFK/status/960836117984694272

    The Presidency had stated that the assignment of Tinubu involves resolving disagreements among party members, party leadership and political office holders in some states of the Federation.

     

  • JUST IN: Buhari designates Tinubu to bring peace to APC

    JUST IN: Buhari designates Tinubu to bring peace to APC

    As part of on-going efforts to improve cohesion within the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari has designated Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lead the consultation, reconciliation and confidence building efforts.

    The Presidency in a series of tweets made this known today.

    “The assignment will involve resolving disagreements among party members, party leadership and political office holders in some states of the Federation,” the Presidency stated.

    Reacting to the development, Koko Udom on Twitter said, “Why is this tweeted from the account of @NGRPresident? This is an APC news, the tweet should be from an APC account”.

    “People are dying in this country. We want the Nigerian President engaged on that not on some infighting within the APC. You are made with our tax money, not APC,” he added.

     

  • Let’s embrace APC’s restructuring for good of country, By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

     

    We learn in the Holy Books (John 1:45-46) that when Philip, one of the newly-recruited disciples of Jesus, met Nathanael, he told him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” And Nathanael asked, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip answered, “Come and see.”

    The above biblical reference illuminates the background to the August 2017 empaneling of the “Committee on True Federalism” by the All Progressives Congress, which hitherto demonstrated a lukewarm attitude to or simulated ignorance about the importance of and necessity for restructuring of the country.

    Mid 2017, the APC and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party tangled over the matter. Buffeted from all sides, the APC Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, reportedly asked: “What’s restructuring? I don’t know the meaning of restructuring.”

    While Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State vociferously dismissed the issue as being purveyed by “those who are out of power,” and President Muhammadu Buhari would rather canvass “attitudinal change and reorientation,” it appeared restructuring and its adjuncts were never mooted and/or promised by the APC pre-2015 elections.

    Thus, the PDP stepped on the throttle, accusing the APC of abandoning the core elements of its Manifesto, and pledging that if voted into power in 2019, it (PDP) would restructure the country. Sensing it was about to lose the debate, the APC retorted it was for “true federalism and devolution of power” – interestingly, two items central to the “forbidden” word: restructuring.

    Subsequently, the party set up the Governor el-Rufai-headed committee, with many watchers of the polity alleging it was a smokescreen by the APC to buy time, while others cast doubts on its ability to do a feasible job owing to its headship by an “anti-restructuring crusader.”

    But to connect that biblical passage, not only did something good come out of the APC committee, but it also trod where angels feared to walk, by suggesting the control of all mineral resources, including oil and gas, by states where the minerals are located.

    However, instead of saluting the report and the wisdom that informed it, critics forgot so soon, and deliberately picked and chose, and induced selective amnesia about the restructuring committee: why and how it came about, and its terms of reference.

    Three classes of critics emerged, with one declaring that the APC hurriedly put a committee together to cobble the report aftermath of the explosive and damning letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The second group said the report was self-serving, aimed at garnering supports for the APC ahead of the 2019 elections; and the third class of critics alleged that the report was nothing but a seriatim of the 2014 National Conference outcome.

    The first arm of the critics’ argument: that the committee and its report were goaded by the Obasanjo letter is preposterous as it’s absurd. How could a committee of that magnitude and mandate be put together, and in a few days went round the country, engaged over 8,000 persons in the process of its research, and collated and wrote a report in four volumes just because of an Obasanjo letter?

    Secondly, weren’t those soliciting restructuring used it as bait for the 2019 general elections: that the people should vote for only the candidate(s) and party that preaches, and “is very serious” about restructuring of the country? So, what is wrong if the APC hitches a ride in the wagon, to enhance its electoral chances in 2019?

    And thirdly, why won’t the proponents of the adoption of the 2014 National Conference report rejoice that “about 80 per cent of the recommendations of the APC committee” was lifted from that report? After all, that was the source of their beef with the APC-led Buhari government: its alleged refusal to adopt and send the report to the National Assembly for consideration and implementation.

    It’s about time we put aside our differences and embrace the APC restructuring proposals that more or less cover the most contentious matters, which have plagued the polity even before Nigeria’s Independence in 1960.

    As enjoined by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, elder statesmen, Tanko Yakassai (previously opposed) and Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, and other persons and groups, let’s see the APC recommendations as pan-Nigerian. Picking holes in and holding out on the report will not serve the decades-old yearnings of Nigerians.

    Why concern ourselves with how much of the 2014 National Conference recommendations was included in the APC committee report, rather than how to put the party, the Presidency and the National Assembly’s feet to the fire, for a quick and thorough implementation of the propositions, so they would not be kept in abeyance, like those of 2014, till after the 2019 polls.

    As advocated by those that have set politics aside and endorsed the approvals, and for the love of country, and solutions to the myriad of problems facing Nigeria, we should obligate the Buhari administration to execute the report before the 2019 elections.

    Assuredly, Chief Odigie-Oyegun, the APC chair, perhaps realizing the party has been thrown a lifeline by the committee’s report, has pledged all-inclusive inputs and expeditious completion. We should escort the APC to the finish line.

     

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

  • 2019 elections: PDP candidates will benefit from APC monumental failure

    2019 elections: PDP candidates will benefit from APC monumental failure

    National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus has said the All Progressive Congress (APC) failure to provide good governance is a yardstick for Nigerians to vote for candidates of the PDP in the 2019 general elections.

    Prince Secondus who was addressing leaders of the PDP in Asaba today shortly before the commencement of a consultative meeting between the national working committee of the PDP and Governors who won their elections on the platform of the PDP, expressed confidence that Nigerians will speak with one voice through their voters’ cards by voting for the PDP in the 2019 general elections.

    According to him, “the weakest point in the history of the PDP is that we lost in the 2015 elections but, we should take advantage of the monumental failure of the APC, they came with a government of vengeance, we must emphasise that our people must have voters’ cards because Nigerians want us to come together and rescue the country in 2019.”

    “The NWC is here (Asaba) to consult with our Governors and we are presenting our road map to victory to them; on Tuesday, we will consult with members of the National Assembly,” Prince Secondus who was at the event with the entire members of the NWC of the PDP said.

    He disclosed that the PDP will wrestle power from the APC through aggressive awareness campaign for members of the party at the local government and ward levels to have their voters’ cards, assuring that the PDP has been repositioned with strong emphasis on the power of the people, the electorates who will always be given the chance to make their choice in a free, and fair manner without fear.

    The Chairman, lauded the programmes of Governor Okowa’s administration especially in the areas of job and wealth creation, compulsory health insurance scheme, provision of infrastructure, among others, asserting, “Governor Okowa is a performing Governor, there is no way you will count 1, 2, 3 Governor who are working without counting Okowa, he is brilliant, an achiever; of a truth, you (Governor Okowa) are doing very well and we will ask our Governors to key into your programmes because, they are well thought-out and targeted at the people at the grassroots as the beneficiaries.”

    Governor of Rivers State, Barr. Nyesom Wike said the desire of Nigerians is for the PDP to take over power at the center in 2019, noting that based on performance, there is no fear about the party losing any of the states where they won the governorship position.

    Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa commended the NWC for choosing Delta State for its meeting and used the occasion to reel out some of the achievements of his administration in the health, and education sectors.

    He also, scored his administration high in peace building, job and wealth creation, ensuring the implementation of the compulsory health insurance scheme, among others, disclosing that based on the love the people of the state have for the PDP, they voted massively for the party in the January 6, 2018 local government elections.

    Others who spoke at the meeting were the Governors of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu and that of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo.

    As at the time of filing this report, almost all the Governors of the PDP have arrived Asaba for the meeting.

     

  • Several injured, properties destroyed as thugs invade APC gathering in Cross River

    Several injured, properties destroyed as thugs invade APC gathering in Cross River

    There was Pandemonium on Friday as thugs allegedly sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) invaded and attacked a gathering of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Obudu, Cross River State.

    A stalwart of the party, Venatius Ikem, was said to be making preparations to announce his intention to run for the governorship of the state in 2019 when the thugs struck.

    Mr. Ikem is from Obudu, where the Governor of the state, Ben Ayade also comes from.

    The thugs vandalised the APC secretariat, which was the venue of the gathering.

    They destroyed the party’s billboards, canopies, chairs, and public address system.

    The APC supporters were chased out of the venue.

    The incident was said to have happened around 12 pm Friday.

    Mr. Ikem told newsmen that the thugs came back a second time when the APC leaders and the party’s supporters went back to continue with the event.

    “Immediately we got there again and entered the secretariat and started chanting the party slogan so that we could start the programme, they came back. Apparently, they were monitoring us. They started attacking us again,” said Mr. Ikem.

    “They broke all the glasses and everything they could see in the party secretariat. They beat up people. Several people were taken to hospital.”

    Mr. Ikem said the police initially refused to grant their request for security, but that the police came and parked their vehicle across the road when the thugs invaded the APC office a second time.

    He said the police clashed with the thugs.

    Mr. Ikem said he eventually retreated to a private residence around the area to declare his governorship ambition.

    “We can identify those who led the attack,” Mr. Ikem said.

    “They were not masked, they are our town’s boys. Many of them are appointees of the governor. We have their names. In fact, we have a video of what happened.”

    The Chairman of APC in Obudu, Ugbelishor Mathias, corroborated Mr. Ikem’s claims. He said he had advised the party supporters not to attack back in order to avoid the escalation of violence.

    The Chairman of APC in Abi Local Government Area, Romanus Egbonyi, was among those wounded in the attack.

    Mr. Egbonyi condemned the attack as being unfair to the APC which he said has been law-abiding in the state.

    “I want to say that this will not deter us at all. We all came here to witness the formal declaration of Barr Venatius Ikem and got attacked as you all have witnessed.

    “If the powers that be in the state are confident of themselves, why do they have to descend so low to attack us in our own premises?” he said.