Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) 2018 Special National Convention Planning Committee, has congratulated former vice president Atiku Abubakar on his emergence as the party’s presidential flagbearer.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Governor Okowa, who extended his goodwill message to the former vice president in a statement issued on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Charles Aniagwu in Asaba, also commended the spirit of good sportmanship shown by aspirants who missed out in the process.
He said Atiku’s victory at the PDP Presidential primary is a victory for the party and Nigerians, adding that he will defeat the ruling APC in 2019 election.
He expressed optimism that having won the party’s ticket, the former Vice President would leverage on his track record as an entrepreneur and great employer of labour to grow the nation’s economy.
Governor Okowa further applauded other aspirants who took part in the keenly-contested primary and urged them to uphold the values and philosophy of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by coming together to support Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the forthcoming general election, in a bid to ensure the PDP emerge victoriously.
The Governor noted that the PDP values internal democracy, describing the success of the primary election as another testament to the PDP’s democratic credentials.
He also assured members of the party and Nigerians that the party would not rest until they return the country to the part of good governance, rule of law as well as security of lives and property.
“Congratulations to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on winning the PDP Presidential ticket to contest the 2019 general elections. I have no doubt that Alhaji Abubakar’s track record as an entrepreneur and great employer of labour will be replicated in growing the nation’s economy which will stand him in good stead in the elections”.
“I would also like to commend all the participants in the keenly-contested Primary. I would like them to uphold the values and philosophy of the PDP by joining hands to support Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the forthcoming elections.
“As a party, the PDP is serious about internal democracy in the party, and the success of the Presidential Primary, with 12 aspirants, further validates our party’s democratic credentials.
“Let me assure our party men and Nigerians that we will continue to work hard to lead Nigeria to the next level of its development journey” he said
He congratulated the National Chairman of the Party, Prince Uche Secondus and members of the National Working Committee as well as all other organs of the party on the success of the PDP National Convention in Port Harcourt.
Governor Okowa also used the opportunity to appreciate members of the 2018 National Convention Planning Committee for their dedication to duty which led to the success of the Convention.
Tag: Presidential Primary
-
Okowa has words for Atiku, commends losers
-
2019: Atiku courts, pays personal tribute to Obasanjo
Following his emergence as the Peoples’ Democratic Partic (PDP) presidential flagbearer in the 2019 general election, former vice president Atiku Abubakar paid personal tribute to his former boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Atiku on Sunday in his acceptance speech shortly after winning the PDP presidential primary, praised Obasanjo for the role he played in his development in politics.
“Today, we are witnessing a landmark event. A landmark event in the sense that since the rebranding of our great party, the PDP, and infact I daresay, since the return of democratic rule of governance in this country, we have witnessed the most credible transparent and fair primaries.
“Let me also commend my fellow competitors for displaying a sense of unity, a sense of purpose and a sense of commitment. This is a very rare event; my fellow compatriots have really shown that the interest of the party and that of the people of this country is paramount and more important than our individual interest.
“I want to pay tribute to each and every one of them assure you that I am ever ready to work with each and every one of them for the realisation of the victory of our party in the forthcoming elections.
“I cannot do it alone, I need your support, your assistance, I need your understanding and I need your participation. It is not a one man’s job, it is a collective responsibility and I am prepared to listen to you, to take your advice, consult with you, work with you and together, we’ll succeed and after we succeed, we shall all be partners in that success.
“Finally, on a personal note, I wouldn’t have been standing where I am standing today if my former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo have not made me his vice-president.
“Under his tutelage, I learnt quite a lot and I believe the experience and care I got is going to definitely impact on how we eventually govern this country, I wish to pay my personal tribute to him,” he said.
Atiku emerged winner of the party’s presidential primary with 1,532 votes while his closest contender, Aminu Tambuwal, polled 693 votes.
-
PDP presidential primary: Wike formally speaks on Atiku’s candidacy
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has made a formal statement after former vice president Atiku Abubakar emerged as the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2019 general election.
Reports emerged that following Atiku’s emergence as the presidential candidate of the PDP, the Rivers State Governor immediately left the Adokie Amasiemeka Stadium in Port Harcourt, the venue of the PDP’s national convention before the convention ended, shortly after congratulating the Atiku.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Wike, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, congratulated the PDP presidential candidate.
“Governor Wike personally extended his congratulations to the Former Vice President after his election was announced by the chairman of the National Convention Planning Committee, Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa,” the statement read.
The Rivers governor was one of the major backers of Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who came second in the presidential primary.
Mr Abubakar polled 1,532 votes in the presidential primary to defeat Mr Tambuwal who scored 693 votes and 10 other candidates.
The Rivers State Governor who was in company of his Akwa Ibom State counterpart, assured that he will continue to work for the success of the PDP.
Governor Wike thanked all PDP delegates and stakeholders for ensuring a successful and peaceful National Convention in Port Harcourt.
He also thanked the people of Rivers State for their support for the transparent process.
“The Former Vice President paid tribute to the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike for his personal commitment to the success of the party,” the statement added.
-
JUST IN: Dankwambo denies relinquishing presidential ambition
Outgoing Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo, has denied relinquishing his presidential ambition to allow Governor Nyesom Wike-favoured Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State have his way in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports SR had in an exclusive report claimed that the Tambuwal group is said to be pushing, and has made considerable progress, for the withdrawal of some key aspirants in the PDP primary billed to hold during the 2018 Elective National Convention of the party on Saturday, October 6.
According to the report, Sule Lamido, former Governor of Jigawa State and former Foreign Affairs Minister; David Mark, former Senate President, Niger State Governor and Communications Minister; were among those said to be considering withdrawal from the race to support the former House of Representatives Speaker.
“False. I’m a 2nd term governor. I have been loyal to the PDP. This does not make any sense. They sold a dummy to you,” Dankwambo said in reaction to the SR publication.
SR quoted, in its publication, a source, very familiar with ongoing 59th-minute-of-the-eleventh hour meetings, as saying “The Tambuwal camp has been able to reach out to some of the aspirants”.
“They have been able to get David Mark, Lamido, Dankwambo to step down for Tambuwal between today and at the convention ground tomorrow. For now that is the plan.
“They are also trying to work with Kwanwaso but he has not given them any positive response for now. They are working on Ahmed Makarfi as well.”
It added, however, according to the source, that the proposed withdrawal of these aspirants is only part of a larger scheme to ensure Tambuwal emerges winner at all costs.
The main scheme, he says, is to tamper with the delegates list.
“There is a process of selecting delegates across the states. For states where they have loyalists, and for states where they have governors who dance to the tune of Wike, they are trying to manufacture some delegates.
“You have statutory delegates, automatic delegates. Automatic delegates are the EXCO members, statutory delegates are former governors, former deputy governors and members of the House of Assembly and so on, while there are also delegates from the local governments. Now, most aspirants don’t know who is who across the states, since they’re coming from the national level.
“So what they did was that they put two, three up to 10 names that are a bit shady on the final delegates list; you cannot trace them as members of the House of Assembly, you cannot trace them as Local Government EXCO. For example, for states where they have 10 members of the House of Assembly that are members of PDP, they tried to make it 15 or 20. And it’s a total of around 700 that, if push comes to shove, they would use for Tambuwal as guaranteed delegates.
“But they are also doing that to justify the shady delegates list they’re preparing. If these guys step down, it will look to the people as though the supporters of these aspirants were the ones who voted for Tambuwal.”
When contacted, Simeon Nwakaudu, Tambuwal’s spokesman, declined to react, according to SR.
-
Presidential primary: PDP mocks Buhari, APC for posting ‘fake’ results
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for posting fictitious figures as votes secured by President Muhammadu Buhari at the APC Presidential primary, “just to hoodwink Nigerians and create an impression of massive support for President Buhari”.
The PDP in a statement signed by Kola Ologbondiyan, its national publicity seccretary said the resort to allocation of fake figures has shown that President Buhari and APC have lost hope of winning genuine votes in the 2019 general election and want to rely on allocation of fake votes to attempt to rig the main election.
“Nigerians will recall that the PDP had, in a statement on September 1, 2018, alerted of intelligence reports that the Presidency forced a direct presidential primary on the APC so as to “eliminate delegates accreditation and pave way for allocation of millions of conjured votes, which they intend to use as basis to authenticate the fictitious votes they intend to declare for President Buhari at the general elections”.
“The PDP had also alerted of how “very senior officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), including a blood relation of the President, who is in charge of the commission’s data centre, masterminded and pushed the plot.
“It is therefore, ludicrous that 29 days after our statement, the Presidency and the APC staged a circus show, in their party’s state secretariats, in the name of Presidential primary and came up with fictitious figures as votes secured by President Buhari,” the opposition party said.
It said Nigerians are amused by the ‘charade’.
“Nigerians were thoroughly amused as they see through the lies in APC’s allocation of fictitious 2.9 million votes in Kano, 1.9 million in Lagos, 802,819 in Katsina, in addition to other conjured figures in other states.“What the APC and the Buhari Presidency failed to note is that Nigerians are already aware that no ballot took place and that such figures cannot be tallied through mere voice vote involving few members of a derelict and disorganised party.
“Nigerians know that what counts in a general election is the participation of registered voters with Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and not fictitious figures from a padded party register or party members, many of who do not exist or hold PVCs. Moreover, the APC do not have the number of members it is posting as having participated in the “circus”.
“We want the APC and INEC to know that our party is already privy to the polling centers in certain states which they are planning to use to allocate fake votes for President Buhari in the 2019 general elections and that we have also devised legitimate strategies of exposing and dismantling such plans ahead of the elections, just as the PDP did in Osun State.
The Buhari Presidency and the APC should know that their game is up and that no amount of machination will save them from imminent defeat in the 2019 general election, since Nigerians have already rejected them,” the PDP said.
-
Presidential primary: Bafarawa pledges loyalty to PDP if he loses ticket
A presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Attahiru Bafarawa, has said he would not leave the party if he loses in the primary election.
Bafarawa, who is a former governor of Sokoto State, stated this in Minna, the Niger State capital on Monday.
He spoke at a meeting with the Niger State delegates of the party ahead of the PDP national convention slated for October 5 and 6.
“I will remain in the PDP even I do not emerge its presidential flag bearer; as a democrat, I allow the people’s will to prevail. In every race, there is always a winner and loser,” he said.
“I am a democrat that believes in playing according to the rules of the game. I am not a desperate politician.
“There are people that joined the party to become state governors or president. That, to me, is selfish.
“The interest of Nigeria and the PDP must come first. My personal ambition is last. Whether I succeed as PDP presidential aspirant or not, I will remain in the party and support the winner to ensure success,” he said.
He called for unity among PDP members, saying that only a united front could defeat the APC and move Nigeria forward.
Mr Bafarawa cautioned Nigerians seeking political offices against seeing such bids as “a matter of life and death”, saying that making Nigeria a better nation should be the principal concern.
The aspirant urged the delegates to vote for him during the national convention, and promised to implement policies that would make Nigeria a great nation.
Responding, Tanko Beji, PDP chairman in the state, said that there were 202 delegates from Niger, and promised to consider aspirants based on their individual merit.
Other PDP members seeking its presidential ticket include former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna and Jigawa governors, Ahmed Makarfi and Sule Lamido, as well as the governors of Gombe and Sokoto States, Ibrahim Dankwambo and Aminu Tambuwal.
-
Alhassan voted Atiku against Buhari during APC presidential primary – El-Rufai
…says we warned Buhari not to appoint her minister
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has accused the embattled Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator Aisha Alhassan of voting former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar against President Muhammadu Buhari in the then All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential primaries held in the build up to the 2015 general elections.
El-Rufai noted further that the leadership of the party warned President Buhari against appointing Alhassan as a minister because she has never hidden her loyalty to the former Vice President.
The governor said this while speaking with State House Correspondents at the Villa on Friday.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that El-Rufai’s comment is coming in a reaction to a viral video where the minister was seen endorsing Atiku for President in the 2019 general elections.
The governor, however, advised Nigerians not to be surprised or shocked at her outburst.
El-Rufai noted that the decision lies on President Muhammadu Buhari to either retain or sack her as a member of his cabinet.
Details later…