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Tag: APC

  • ‘Nigerians entered one chance with APC, PDP will regain Aso Villa in 2019’ – Fayose

    ‘Nigerians entered one chance with APC, PDP will regain Aso Villa in 2019’ – Fayose

    …Unveils 2019 presidential ambition

    Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of PDP Governors Forum, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has said that those who are currently in Aso Rock are one chance people who don’t know what they are doing there.

    Governor Fayose also said that the Peoples Democratic Party has bounced back fully to life and is going straight back to the Aso villa.

    Fayose who officially unveiled his presidential ambition at the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s National Convention currently taking place at the Eagles Square, Abuja also said that Nigerians entered one chance in the All Progressive Congress, APC, party. He, however, said that the APC has done one year and must, therefore, go so that PDP will take over and deliver to Nigerians.

    Governor Fayose who arrived the arena wearing his 2019 presidential campaign shirt and cap equally had his entourage carrying his 2019 presidential campaign posters while the crowd gave him a roaring welcome.

    According to him, “Nigerians have entered one chance in this government. But we can assure you that the APC has entered one term and they have to go,” he said.

    “The PDP is now a religion, a belief that we are going back to our villa. God will be with us. Those people there, at Aso Rock, they don’t know what they are doing.

    “Out of that one chance, we will give you plenty chances. We make mistakes but our ability to correct them is what is important. It is time to arise and shine.

    “Shake the persons next to you and tell him or her congratulations for 2019. I don’t know about you but as for me, I am in Aso Rock already.

    “I want to congratulate our great party and to assure Nigerians that we are going to deliver them from all they are passing through.”

  • Ibori’s appointment into PDP Convention Committee and APC hypocrisy By Lere Olayinka

    By Lere Olayinka

    Let me help the APC goons running their mouths about PDP inclusion of former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori in the National Convention Committee.

    Fact is Ibori was convicted in UK, he has served his punishment, and imprisonment of anyone should be reformatory and not a stigma with which someone’s existence must be terminated.

    Now to the APC;

    The first National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande was jailed in 1984 by a Tribunal duly set up by Buhari’s military regime for using funds belonging to the old Oyo State to fund his political party.

    Interestingly, Baba Bisi Akande was only released from jail and not pardoned by the Ibrahim Babangida government.

    It is also a fact that it was late Chief Sunday Afolabi who prevailed on the Osun State PDP not to go to court to raise the issue of Akande’s conviction vis his qualification to contest election as a governor in 1999.

    Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, the APC Leader in the House of Representatives was convicted for professional misconduct by the Supreme Court of Georgia, United States of America.

    Fact is Hon Gbajabiamila was convicted in the United States for stealing his client’s $25,000 and he is leading the APC in the House of Reps. He was banned from practising law in the USA for 36 months.

    The punishment for Femi Gbaja’s offence would have been debarment for life, however he played dead before a full panel of the Supreme Court of Georgia led by Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, before the court could rule on the petition from his client, he filed a petition for Voluntary Discipline, filed under bar rule 4-227(b) in which he fully admitted to stealing $25,000 from his client.

    In spite of this indictment, Gbajabiamila was even presented to be Speaker of the House of Reps and same APC people are condemning the inclusion of Ibori in the PDP National Convention Committee.

    I have cited just too examples, and I still have more to cite if the APC loudmouth do not desist from throwing stones from the glass house where they live.

    My name is Lere Olayinka, I am in my house, and their DSS can come and arrest me for once again exposing the hypocrisy of the APC.

  • Tension as Bayelsa govt orders APC to vacate secretariat

    The Bayelsa State Government has ordered opposition party in the state, All Progressives Congress, APC, to vacate it present secretariat located along Melford Okilo Expressway, Kpansia in Yenaoga, the state capital.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the vacation order is coming barely a few days after the National Executive Committee of the APC expelled the Bayelsa State Chairman of the party, Chief Tiwei Orunimighe; his deputy, Eddy Julius and the Secretary, Marlin Daniel, from the party.

    Before the expulsion, the state chapter of the APC had been enmeshed in a lingering crisis between factions loyal to the party leader and a former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva and those of Orunimighe.

    Speaking at a news conference in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital on Friday, the Solicitor-General of the state and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justices, Mr. Preye Ageda, said the state government acquired the said property (secretariat) in 2010 from one Chief Ipigansi Izagora.

    Ageda said, “In 2010, the Bayelsa State Government acquired a property belonging to Chief Ipigansi Izagara along Chief Melford Okilo Expressway, Kpansia-Epie, Yenagoa, as a Government Guest House.

    ”The assessment, valuation, and discussions towards the acquisition of the property were handled by the Executive Secretary of the Capital City Development Authority, the then Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Opuala Charles, and a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva.

    “The property was duly paid for and the government took possession of the property as owner and the keys were handed over to the state government by Chief Ipigansi Izagara.

    “Thereafter, the property was rehabilitated by Gefesco Enterprises Nigeria Limited for a total sum of N43m of which the final payment of N23m was made by the current administration after an initial payment of N20m by its predecessor.”

  • Ekiti, Osun 2018: Don’t underrate Fayose, Osoba tells APC

    A former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, has warned the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and members of the party not to underestimate the clouts of Governor Ayodele Fayose in the coming gubernatorial election in both Ekiti and Osun States.

    Osoba noted that the results of the Ekiti and Osun elections in 2018 will determine the outcome of the elections in Ogun and Oyo states in 2019.

    He also warned the party not to underestimate the threat of the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, who had vowed that the Peoples Democratic Party would trounce the APC in the governorship election holding next year.

    He advised them to work in unison to win the elections, even as he declared that the Ogun State chapter of the party had not zoned the governorship slot in 2019 to any senatorial district.

    The APC party leader spoke on Wednesday while addressing party leaders and supporters in his Ibara Government Reservation Area, Abeokuta residence.

    He said no single individual within the party, no matter had highly placed, could determine where the next governor of the state would come from.

    The former governor noted that the APC needed to embrace internal democracy and shun all manner of imposition to strengthen its chances in the coming elections.

    Osoba said some ex-governors that installed ‘anointed candidates’ became sworn enemies with them months after.

    He stressed that Ogun East Senatorial District was equally eligible to contest the governorship seat just as the Yewa-Awori people of Ogun West.

    “Don’t let us underestimate Fayose. You must fight him. We cannot afford to play with Osun either. Those two states are important. If we can do clear primaries in these two states and APC wins, then whatever happen in Ekiti and Osun must happen in Oyo and Ogun when it gets to our turn to deliver.

    “As a party, we have not zoned the governorship seat. There was nothing like zoning of offices in the past. We give opportunity to anyone to aspire, but we have always used maturity to settle it among us. That is unwritten, it is a convention. It is not the rule and nobody will go against the agreement.

    “Now, so many things have divided us. The Ijebu now come together to be claiming the Ijebu agenda. We must leave the field open. We must examine the Yewa and Ijebu agenda,” he said.

    Osoba called for cohesion and unity, warning that it would be counterproductive for anyone to set up structure outside the party.

  • Anambra Guber Poll: APC screens aspirants Thursday, Friday

    Anambra Guber Poll: APC screens aspirants Thursday, Friday

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed Thursday and Friday for screening of aspirants who have collected its forms for the Nov. 18 governorship election in Anambra.

    This was announced in a timetable for the exercise made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja by the party’s Assistant Director of Publicity, Mr Edegbe Odemwingie.

    The statement indicated that screening appeal would hold on Aug. 14 and Aug. 15, while its primary election and primary election appeal were scheduled on Aug. 19 and Aug. 21.

    It stated that no fewer than 15 aspirants purchased the party´s nomination form for the contest, at the cost of N5.5 million each.

    It listed some of the aspirants as Mr George Moghalu, Sen. Andy Uba, Mr Paul Chukwuma, Madu Nonso, Bart Nwibe Bart and Mr Patrick Nwike.

    Others, according to the statement, included Mr Tony Nwoye, Mr Chike Obidigbo, Johnbosco Onunkwo, Adaobi Uchegbu and Uzoh Obinna.

     

     

    NAN

  • APC expels Bayelsa chapter chairman, Tiwe Oruminighe for anti-party activities

    The National Headquarters of the All Progressives Congress (APC), at the weekend, said its Bayelsa State Chairman, Chief Tiwe Oruminighe had been expelled from the party.

    The party also confirmed the suspension of two other members of the State Working Committee (SWC), the Deputy Chairman of the party, Mr. Eddy Julius and the Secretary, Mr. Marlin Daniel.

    The party has dispatched separate letters of Oruminighe’s expulsion and the suspension of only two members of the executive committee loyal to him.

    There was, however, confusion as two separate letters containing conflicting punishments for the deposed chairman emanated from the headquarters.

    While the first letter said Oruminighe had been suspended, the second document said his punishment was outright expulsion.

    In the second letter dated August 4 and titled, “Expulsion from the Party”, APC said the decision against Oruminighe was reached at the 23rd regular meeting of its National Working Committee (NWC).

    The letter signed by the National Secretary of the party, Mr. Mai Buni, said the NWC took the action following the recommendations of the APC South-South Zonal Executive Committee.

    The letter said the committee deliberated on the report of the party’s Disciplinary Committee on Oruminighe’s anti-party activities in the state.

    “On behalf of the National Executive Committee of our party, All Progressives Congress, the National Working Committee at its 23rd regular meeting of Thursday, 3rd August 2017 adopted the recommendations of APC South-South Zonal Executive Committee.

    “The committee deliberated on the report of the Disciplinary Committee that investigated your anti-party activities in Bayelsa State to the effect that you be suspended and ultimately from the party”.

    The letter, however, said the decision of the NWC was subject to the ratification of the party’s NEC.

    “As a consequence, you are to hand over all party property in your possession to the Zonal Vice-Chairman, Bayelsa Central Senatorial District with immediate effect while the National Vice-Chairman, South-South shall coordinate the state chapter of the party”, the letter said.

    Similar separate letters, titled, Suspension from the Party, were also addressed to Julius and Daniel.

    Three of them fell out with the state leader of the party and former Governor of Bayelsa, Chief Timipre Sylva, shortly after the 2015 governorship election in the state.

    The feud led to the the division of the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the APC into two factions with other members of the committee declaring their loyalty to Sylva.

    The police and the Department of State Security (DSS) deployed a detachment to take over the secretariat of the party in the state at the weekend following tension created by the suspension.

    It was, however, gathered that the party in the state had selected Joseph Fafi, serving as a Vice-Chairman, Central Senatorial District, on the State Executive Committee (SEC) to fill the vacuum created by Oruminighe’s suspension.

    Already, most party members were in high spirits and were said to be jubilating over the choice of Fafi as the acting chairman of the party in the state.

    It was learnt that prior to the suspension of Oruminighe and the two executive committee loyal to him, other members of SEC held several meetings declaring confidence in Fafi.

     

  • APC condemns Anambra Church Killings

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) commiserated with the Catholic Church in Nigeria, the government and people of Anambra State over the attack on St. Phillips Catholic Church in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State, which led to the death of scores of worshipers.

    The party in a statement condemned the barbarism displayed by the callous attackers who gunned down defenceless people while they worshiped.

    It called on security agencies to ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous crime are promptly apprehended and brought to justice.

    The Party also called on security agents in Anambra as well as other parts of the country to provide adequate security in places of worship to forestall a repeat of this unfortunate incident.

  • 2019: ‘We are not happy with the state of affairs in APC’ – Saraki

    2019: ‘We are not happy with the state of affairs in APC’ – Saraki

    says…

    ‘I’m in APC ‘body and spirit,’

    party must fix rot to avoid losing appeal

    Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki on Thursday said members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, throughout the nation are not happy with the leadership over the state of affairs of the party.

    Saraki, who spoke at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, said the APC leadership headed by its National Chairman, Chief John Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, lacked focus.

    He said: “My own point is that the executive of the party just needs to wake up and start managing the party.

    “There is no day when I see the party chairman that I don’t tell him, ‘Mr. Chairman, we must put the party in focus’.

    “The rules of the party also give you room by which you can call a meeting, but I think we have not got to that point yet.

    “I think we should do it in a smooth manner, but what I want to assure you is that the foundation is still strong. If there were crisis all over the place, that would have been a different matter,” he said.

    Saraki expressed hope that the party would hold its mini-convention as scheduled as delegates had been elected on Saturday.

    He said he was still a member of APC and remained a party member “body and spirit”, contrary to insinuations.

    Saraki said the speculations on his APC membership were part of the mischievous activities against him and urged the public to discountenance them.

    “You will see that after the mini-convention, all that speculation of body here, spirit there, would go away,” he said

    Saraki said those spreading such information were doing so as propaganda for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    Saraki, however, blamed the development on inactivity in the APC, saying that the party’s leadership had failed to focus it properly.

    He, therefore, urged the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to wake up to its responsibility as it had remained without activities for too long.

    The Senate President said the docility in the party was giving room for unfounded allegations against some of its members.

    According to him, if the party had organised regular NEC meetings and other caucus meetings, there would have been enough activities to determine who the true members are.

    “I think there is no APC member that will tell you he is happy with the state of affairs of the party; there is a lot of work that we need to do.

    “The party that hasn’t met for a long time, it’s beyond comprehension and I think that we should all quickly put that in order and start to get NEC, caucus and others going.

    “We need to start early to get the drive in the party back.

    “Luckily, in spite of the lack of meetings here and there, if you go round the 36 states, it is in just few states, not many states, where you may see internal crisis.

    “It’s not that the party, at the grassroots level, had a lot of crisis here and there; it’s just for the administrative aspect and the national executive to provide leadership.”

    Saraki also said that if there had been meetings of the party, his detractors would have seen how actively involved he was in the party “and will not have any room to spread such lies”.

    On the allegation that his emergence as Senate president was an affront to the party, Saraki said he had kept the wishes of the party, including zoning of Senate president’s position.

    He stated that at the last meeting of the party held over zoning of national offices, the position of president of the Senate was zoned to the North-Central.

  • Osun APC, PDP condole Aregbesola over mother’s death

    The leaders of both the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Osun State have sent condolence messages to Governor Rauf Aregbesola over the demise of his mother, Alhaja Saratu Aregbesola earlier today (Tuesday).

    Although no statement had been issued on the burial arrangement, sources close to the family said the deceased would be buried later in the evening according to Islamic rites.

    The APC Chairman in the state, Mr Gboyega Famodun, said in a condolence message in Osogbo that the deceased lived a fulfilled life.

    “As we mourn this natural event of the octogenarian, we also have cause to be grateful to Allah for the life of this great woman.

    “She had the unique grace of giving birth to a child that has become a jewel not only to the people of Osun and Yoruba land in particular but also Nigeria generally.

    “On behalf of the good people of Osun and the numerous supporters of the APC in the state and beyond, we extend our sympathy to our beloved governor and his family for the loss of Alhaja Saratu,’’ he stated.

    The Peoples Democratic Party in the state, on its part, described the death of the governor’s mother as painful.

    The party, in a condolence message signed by its Chairman, Mr Soji Adagunodo, said the deceased was an industrious, virtuous and religious woman.

    Adagunodo said the demise of “ Mama Olobi’’ was not only a loss to her family but also to the entire state.

    “May Allah grant the deceased eternal rest and the family the strength to bear the loss,’’ it said.

    The Osun House of Assembly also commiserated with the governor over the demise of his mother.

    A statement signed by Mr Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, the House Committee Chairman on Information and Strategy, described Aregbesola’s mother as charitable and benevolent, adding that she would be greatly missed.

    “Mama Olobi was a mother in a million who cared for everyone that came in contact with her.

    “She was a very cool, calm and collected personality and a successful woman in kola nut business

    “The Assembly prays God to grant Alhaja Saratur Al-Janat Firdaus,’’ the statement said.

    The Yoruba Youth Socio-cultural Association described the death as a monumental loss.

    A condolence message by the association’s President, Mr Olalekan Hammed, said the deceased invested in all her wards.

    “Alhaja Aregbesola was a highly religious person and a proud mother who possessed all motherly qualities and invested in her wards.

    “We thank God for her life, ’’ the statement added.

     

     

  • Thugs’ attack: ‘APC already emulating PDP, party may fail in 2019 if…’ – Sanni warns

    Sequel to the crisis bedeviling the Kaduna Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the recent attacks by some thugs on journalists covering a press congress organised by Senators Shehu Sanni (Kaduna Central) and Suleiman Hunkuyi (Kaduna North), one of the affected Senators (Sanni) has warned the national leadership of the party to fix the rot in the party or get kicked out like Nigerians did to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in 2015.

    Sani, who represents Kaduna Central in the Senate in company of some APC members in Kaduna, including Suleiman Hunkuyi (Kaduna North), discussed with the national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun on Monday in an aftermath of the crisis on Saturday.

    He condemned Saturday’s local government elections in the state, saying that it did not hold.

    Sani alleged that the delegates list for the election was doctored and did not follow due process.

    “They sat down in the palace of their gods to write names and send it down here for us to accept; that can never happen,” he said.

    He said that such practice contributed to the problems of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and warned that the APC could go the same way if its leadership failed to address the problem.

    “This was the seed of the destruction of the PDP, where individuals considered themselves as gods and any other person a slave; that will never happen in Kaduna state.

    “We are here to present our case and to appeal to the instrument of leadership of this party to intervene in the Kaduna issue before it becomes too late.

    “We are here to also state it to the party´s national leadership that we are under siege in Kaduna.

    “The use of thugs and violence by agents and close associates of the state government is one thing we cannot tolerate,” Sani said.

    He decried the recent raiding of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat in Kaduna by thugs during a press briefing after the councils’ election, during which journalists were injured.

    He said that such was the trait of the APC, and urged its leadership to set up an investigation panel to bring the perpetrators of the disturbances.

    The lawmaker alleged that the thugs were acting in concert with the police in the state.

    “If we continue on this part, where one person feels he is a god, I think we are simply repeating the very problem that destroyed the party we ejected out of power,” he said.

    He maintained that there was a need for APC to provide the vehicle for real change for the country to change and tasked members to change the manner they played politics.

    Sani stressed that those who resolved to the use of violence or thugs to liquidate perceived political opponent were on the wrong side of history.

    He said that members of his faction of the party in the state were not agents of violence but were loyal and peaceful.

    He insisted that if the APC must win the 2019 election, it must, apart from fulfilling its campaign promises, set an example for discipline, comradeship and a sense of belonging to all members.

    Sani said that what was happening in the party´s leadership in the state was unbecoming and should be addressed before it became late.

    He appealed to those in authority to ´´know that the God that brought the APC to power was still alive and will always listen to the cries of the oppressed and marginalised.

    “We are here in the spirit of that, and we hope that we will get the cooperation of the national party´s leadership to come to the rescue of the party in Kaduna before it is too late,” he said.

     

    (NAN)