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Tag: ACN

  • ACN chieftain urges support for candidate

    ACN chieftain urges support for candidate

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Campaign Director for Ose/Owo Federal Constituency, Mr. Oshati Olatunji Maxima, has urged ward chairmen and the two local government chairmen in the constituency to ensure that the party wins with over 80 per cent votes in the October 20 election.

    Oshati spoke at a meeting with the chairmen, where he explained the party’s position and its preparedness for the poll.He said the party’s standard bearer, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), hails from the constituency, adding that the onus is on them to work harder for his victory.

    The ACN House of Assembly candidate for Ose Constituency in last year’s election promised that the chairmen would always be carried along in the directorate’s decisions.
    The party director hailed Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other leaders of the party for their wisdom and for believing in Akeredolu.

    He also thanked other senatorial zones for conceding the ticket to Owo/Ose since 1979, when the late Adekunle Ajasin led the state.
    The politician urged Owo/Ose residents, irrespective of their political affiliation, to vote en mass for Akeredolu to reap the benefit of Southwest integration.
    Also in attendance were: the State Constituency Supervisor for Owo 1 and 2, Mr Tosin Ogunbodede and Mr Tenuche Fatai; Mr Ogundinbola and F.O. Osedimibola, the chairman of Ose and Owo councils.

  • Court orders release of Ondo ACN members

    Court orders release of Ondo ACN members

    AN Akure High Court, presided over by Justice B. F. Adeyeye, has ordered the release of two arrested Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) members. They were arrested in the convoy of the party’s governorship candidate, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), and arraigned for alleged robbery and unlawful possession of firearms.

    The ACN legal team, led by Titiloye Charles and Victor Olatoyegun, approached the court to bail the accused after the Chief Magistrate Court in Akure declined jurisdiction on the matter.

    It ordered that the accused, Folagbade Dapo and Oluwasola Sunday, be remanded in Olokuta Prison. Akeredolu’s convoy was attacked by suspected Labour Party (LP) thugs on July 28. Rather than arrest the thugs, the police arrested the ACN members.

    The police anti-robbery unit, however, washed its hands off the matter, saying it was not properly investigated and that it should be withdrawn.
    The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Eyitayo Jegede, took over the matter.

    He averred that the accused have a case to answer. The Justice Commissioner issued a legal advice, which directed the trial of the accused for alleged robbery.

  • ACN chieftains allege threats to their lives

    ACN chieftains allege threats to their lives

    Iwo Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leaders in Akoko, Ondo North Senatorial District, Olugbenga Omole and Barry Obamehinti (aka (Beri-Bonje), at the weekend alleged that some notable leaders of the ruling Labour Party (LP) were threatening to intimidate them for working against their party.

    It was learnt that Omole, who is a regular discussant on a radio current affairs programme: Ondo State in Focus, alleged that the LP leaders were not comfortable with the facts he presents on the programme.

    Addressing reporters in Akure, the state capital, Omole said: “The height of the threat came when I featured in a private television station in Lagos. Immediately I stepped out of the studio, a strange number came in and it happened to be one of the top shots of LP, who pleaded with me to come and join them or else I would have myself to blame.

    “I am calling on security agents to be aware of this because I have already lodged a complaint with the police and I have instructed my lawyer to petition the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alhaji Mohammed Abubakir.”

    Obamehinti, who was Head of the Security Unit of Omoluabi Platform, a group sponsored by Dr Olu Agunloye before he defected to the LP, was regarded as the engine room of the Agunloye political base.
    He said: “Agunloye is not happy that I didn’t follow him to the LP. I told him that he met me in ACN and should not think I would follow him to the LP.”

    “Agunloye knows that all his followers in Akoko and Owo are with me and I am working on the few ones that are with him now because they have been disappointed by Mimiko who promised to develop the state and its citizenry but failed totally.

    The two ACN Chieftains urged the Police to investigate the case in a bid to save their lives from the attackers. Police spokesman Adeniran Aremu, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), could not be reached for comments, but a source at the command hinted that the report has not been officially reported.

    Another ACN leader in Ose Local Government Area, Timehin Adelegbe raised the alarm over a clandestine move by a council chairman and some other LP stalwarts to eliminate him because of working for ACN particularly in Oke-luse community.

    Through his lawyer, Adelegbe petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to investigate the matter and rescue him from assaination threats by his political opponents.

  • Strengthening grassroots development through LG creation: The constitutional and legal challenges

     

     

    The topic which I have been asked to examine is at the core of the struggle for true federalism which has been championed in a new way recently by the national leader of our political party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. As the Governor of Lagos State, Tinubu, assisted by the likes of Aregbesola – who was then one of his commissioners – fought a gallant battle against the Federal Government led by President Olusegun Obasanjo, over some critical issues over how to properly organise a federal state such as Nigeria and the rights and powers of the constituents units vis-a-vis the government of the centre. That battle, interesting enough, was centred on the power of a state to create local governments within its jurisdiction.

    That battle which was largely won by the Lagos State Government under Asiwaju Tinubu was an important point in the age-long battle to ensure that Nigeria is not a federal state only in name. The Supreme Court affirmed without any contradiction the power of the state to create local governments. However, the Supreme Court also recognised its own limitation as an instrument of the interpretation of the law and not as a law-making institution. The apex court was constrained by the 1999 Constitution, imposed on the country by the military without consultation with the people of Nigeria. The fatal errors inscribed into that constitution has become part of the central challenges of the Fourth Republic, and indeed, the future of Nigeria.

    As a public-affairs journalist, my own exertions were also directed towards ensuring the correction of some of the fundamental errors of that constitution, a cardinal part of which concerns the creation, funding and operation of local governments in Nigeria. I am here today to speak to the constitutional and legal challenges that we face in Nigeria which continue to limit grassroots development in Nigeria.

    Let me say up front that I intend to ruffle some feathers in my proposals for a new order in the context of ensuring grassroots development through local governance in Nigeria. This is because we cannot continue to deceive ourselves by concentrating only on our rights to create and live under the political structures that we desire, without engaging with the duties and responsibilities that such rights impose on us.

    Democracy, decentralisation and the rationale of local governance

    The concept and basis of the creation of a local government are basically about ensuring self-governance at the local level. Local government is the closest thing to the Athenian origins of democracy, where all the qualified citizens met at the agora, which was at the centre of the political life of the Greek city-state…

    A local government is constituted and functions to ensure the ideas of local governance: that is, to ensure that the local people participate in locally important matters, that they are the key decision-makers in determining their own fate and concerns, and that they are the ones who manage and learn from their local experiences of self-rule. It is important to also add that this implies that such a local system of collective action and collective rule would also translate to local accountability to the people of the locality.

    In this context, experts in the democracy, development experts and democratic activists have, in different ways, emphasised the linkages between local governance, democracy and development. They have emphasised the fact that “enhanced participation, greater control over programs by beneficiaries, and increased resource mobilization for development projects” at the local level serve as “foundation for democracy, and as tool to achieve better governance.”

    However, for local government to live up to the ideals of local governance, that is, confront and effectively and efficiently solve the problem of the concerned locality, there are certain requirements that must be met. A local government must be able to (i) identify the problems of the locality, (ii) set priorities, (iii) mobilize resources, (iv) implement programmes, (v) evaluate results, (vi) learn from those results, (vii) and maintain popular legitimacy through their performance and accountability…

    From 299 local governments at their creation in 1976, to 593 in 1991, Nigeria now has 774 local government areas (LGAs). However, because of the nature of their evolution, Nigeria’s structural crisis and the challenges of our political culture, the process of the creation, the powers of the local government councils, and the capacity of the councils to deliver the goods to the people have been embroiled in controversy.

    In its modern history in Nigeria, the creation of local governments was part of the process of return to democratic rule. There were three fundamental elements of the 1976 local government reforms. One was to make the local government one of democratically elected local councils with its own resources, personnel, responsibilities, and autonomous legal existence. Two was to distinguish it from the state and the national governments. Three – and this included the subsequent legal contexts in the 1989, 1995 and 1999 constitutions – was to empower local governments legally and transform them into a third tier of government in the federation.

    The fundamental elements of the 1976 reforms seemed to have worked well until 1979 when the Second Republic started. And let me say, with all sense of responsibility, that this was understandable. In deciding on the local government reforms, the military regime largely consulted itself and its chosen experts. The most critical structural problem of the 1976 reforms and subsequently laws establishing and governing local government in Nigeria was the fact of treating the local government as a federating unit. This was an aberrant innovation in the practices of federalism. In a federal state, there are only two fundamental, constitutional levels, the central government and the federating units (regions or states). Any other lower level of government must be the creation of each of the federating units. The centre is only first among equals. Any other level of government created by the constituent unit, such as local government or mayoralty, is not, and cannot be, a federating unit within the constitution. The attempt by the military-imposed constitutions since 1979 to subvert a fundamental principle of federalism by turning local governments into creations of the central government has brought all sorts of problems not only for local governance in Nigeria, but even for the relationship between the centre and the federating units, that is, the states.

    The truth is that the people of Nigeria did not accept the strange principle of treating local governments as if they were federating units. There was no referendum in which the military-imposed constitutions and this particular provision were accepted.

    This is what produced the subversion which was experienced in the Second Republic and has been experienced in the Third, and is being experienced in the Fourth Republic. This is no argument for the non-democratization of local governments that we have experienced in many parts of the federation. But we must accept the fundamental fact that, while the local government remains a critical development and democratic point in federal governance, it cannot be accorded the right of a federating unit in a proper federation. Therefore, the idea of a third tier of government recognized by the federal constitution in their names and whose creation must be sanctioned by the National Assembly or some other central institution is a direct and violent slap on the face of federalism…

    I am not making an argument against increasing the capacity of local governments so as to strengthen grassroots development. In fact, on the contrary, as will become evident as I conclude this lecture, I am making an argument for increasing the capacity of local governments to deliver the goods. However, my departure point is that the way it has been done in violation of federalist principles by the military-imposed constitutions – which we have failed to thoroughly and fundamentally revise – does not augur well for the development of local governance in Nigeria.

    While I must admit that many of the states from the Second to Fourth Republics have abused the autonomy of local governments and subverted the capacity of that tier of government to perform its duties, I will argue that correcting this trend should not involve the subversion of federalist principles. After all, the federal government in Nigeria’s history has failed us repeatedly, yet its powers have been expanded over the last 50 years, rather than being reduced. Why is it that the federating units must be the ones forced by an external authority – external in the context of local issues – to give up on their powers of supervision and control over the local governments that ought to be, originally, their own creations? How can the centre that is so far away from the people assume the wisdom for the number, size, and locations and even capitals of local governments over and above the states that are closer to the realities?

    Strengthening grassroots development through LG creation: What should be done.

    Let me say with all emphasis at my disposal that the first step that must be taken in the quest to strengthen grassroots development in Nigeria is to expunge the names of local government areas from the constitution. This is the core constitutional challenge. It is the biggest constitutional challenge faced in the efforts to strengthen grassroots development. And it is one of the core issues that must be addressed in a truly democratic, serious-minded constitutional review process…

    Expunging the list of local governments from the Constitution is in many ways linked to the critical efforts aimed to making the Constitution and subsequently, the country, truly federal. In this context, let me quickly add that, as it is the practice in all truly federal systems, the all the states in Nigeria must and should have their own constitutions, just as the regions in the First Republic, had their own constitutions. It is one of the critical instruments of the assertion of the autonomy of the states in a federation. I call on the State of Osun to lead this process. Anyone who in uncomfortable with this important principle of federalism should go to court. I have no doubt in my mind that the Supreme Court will rule in favour of state constitutions.

    There are many legal and other problems that this will resolve. One is the problem of injustice, inequity and lopsided allocation of resources. For instance, among the many reasons which necessitated the gallant and commendable action of the Governor Bola Tinubu-led administration in creating more local governments in Lagos State is the glaring injustice and appalling inequity that ensured that Lagos State had only 20 local government areas while Kano State, even when it was split into two states, Kano and Jigawa States, continued to expand its number of LGAs – such that Kano state now has 46 LGAs and Jigawa, which was taken out of the old Kano State, has 26 LGAs. That adds up to 72 LGAs for the old Kano State against Lagos State’s 20 LGAs. The flagrant disregard for justice and equity and the economic and development challenges peculiar to both old Kano and Lagos state is evident here. There would have been no problem and there probably would have been no such geometric increase in the number of old and new Kano and Jigawa States’ LGAs but for the politics of oil revenue. The allocation of revenue on the basis of the number of LGAs is certainly the fundamental reason for the injustice in the number of LGAs across the federation. This is also why the military, in their lack of a sense of fairness and justice, created these LGAs at the centre and enshrined them in the constitution.

    Conclusion

    What I am arguing for is that, if we desire the full democratisation of the processes of the creation of LGAs in Nigeria, we must also be ready to embrace the challenges that this will bring and not just the opportunities that come with it…

    It is only in a people’s Constitution and a truly federal one that we can have the guarantees of creating viable, effective and efficient local government areas that will genuinely lead to grassroots development in the State of Osun, as well as the rest of Nigeria.

    Being excerpts from a speech delivered by Senator Ojodu at the 21st anniversary of the creation of Osun State, on Monday, 17th August, 2012.

  • ACN urges Jonathan to caution Lamido

    ACN urges Jonathan to caution Lamido

    THE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to prevail on the Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido to stop persecuting the leader of the ACN in the state, Alhaji Abubakar Hassan Falata.

    ACN accused Lamido of conducting himself in a manner contrary to the constitutional norms by subjecting Falata to indecent and repressive treatment because he challenged his victory in the last governorship election.

    In a statement in Osogbo and signed by the party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy in the State of Osun, Kunle Oyatomi, ACN accused the Sule Lamido administration of political persecution of an opponent whose only crime was that he challenged the result of the last governorship poll in court.

    Oyatomi alleged that since June last year when the case was heard in court, the ACN leader in Jigawa State has been assaulted by PDP thugs. He added that he has also been arrested and detained by the police for over a week without charge, and his wife who works with the state government has been evicted from her official home by Governor Lamido.

    “ACN cautions Lamido that whatever he is doing now as a governor will determine how Nigerians will react to his bid for a higher political office in future.

    “A governor that persecutes an innocent woman because of her husband’s political ‘sin’ will be unfit for Nigeria’s presidency,” Oyatomi said, adding, “already that is one step to dictatorship. Thank God, Lamido is showing his true colour and Nigerians should stop him on his tracks.”

     

  • ACN candidate ‘didn’t incite varsity, poly workers against LP’

    The Akeredolu Campaign Organisation (ACO) of the Ondo State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday debunked the allegation by the ruling Labour Party (LP) that opposition parties were instigating the workers of Adekunle Ajasin University (AAU) in Akungba Akoko and the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic in Owo (RUGIPOLY) against the government.

    In a statement by its spokesman, Mr Idowu Ajanaku, ACO said: “To us, this is a panic measure on the part of the unpopular government in the state. If an opposition party has such a capacity to influence government workers against the so-called grassroots administration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko, then they are on their way out.”

    The organisation said Ondo State residents should ask the ruling Labour Party (LP) if it was the opposition that has refused to pay the allowances of workers of Adekunle Ajasin University (AAU) in the last 28 months.
    It also asked if it was the opposition that has refused to pay the 27 per cent allowances to teachers in the state.

    The statement added: “In fact, it should interest the people why it took Mimiko over two years to show interest in the widows and children of the Labour unions’ representatives who died in a motor accident on their way from Akure after a meeting with Mimiko to negotiate for the welfare of workers.

    “Till now, the agreement reached has not been implemented. The entire campus wears a mourning look as claims that subvention has not be released is all over the air.

    “Is this also the work of the opposition? Is it an opposition party that has neglected the welfare of the workers in both institutions? Is it the opposition party that has been victimising the workers of these institutions? Is it the opposition that has been forcing civil servants to Mimiko’s rallies across the state against their wish?”

    ACO noted that the latest series of protests against the Mimiko administration is an indication that it has lost the confidence of the Ondo State residents.

    It expressed confidence that Mimiko and his LP would be rooted out by the people on October 20.

  • Lagos ACN slams debasement of national honours

    The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has slammed the federal government for awarding national honours to Nigerians with questionable integrity.

    The party said that the latest list of awardees shows that the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration is not listening to Nigerians on how to redeem a process that has been allegedly abused.

    In a statement in Lagos, the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said that the names released for national honours shows that it is a pot pouri of businessmen who have no scruples, friends and associates of those in government, discredited contractors and acolytes of those in power, especially at the federal level and mainly Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members who have done absolutely nothing than live off the state.

    It regrets that what was instituted as a badge of honour has been bastardized such that Nigerians see it as badge of dishonour.

    The statement reads: “Going through the names of the newest awardees of various categories of national honours, one notices that those that compiled the names see the honour as reward for their friends, associates, business fronts, party men and nothing more.

    We see the awards still as a whimsical ritual that further erodes the entire concept when Nigerians desire an enrichment of the nation’s moral codes.

    It is regrettable that the government did not take into consideration recent expressions of disappointment of Nigerians with the award and make necessary amends in the current list.

    “Rather, what we see is a mix of names of people whom Nigerians cannot place in the events that have shaped this country for good.

    We are shocked that the same tardy way and manner this regime has been known to handle critical issues was on display in this latest list as there is no binding code of honour that unites these latest lists of awardees, as it should be.

    We only see a combination of people, most of whom have played negative roles in the evolution of Nigeria till the present where we have a wrecked country in our hands.

    “We would have expected that the massive public outcry against the list of awardees last year would have forced this regime to ensure the adoption of strict guidelines in arriving at subsequent lists of awardees, but our hope for improvement has been dashed again by the current list.

    We do not feel that we should continue this way as such honours stand to be consigned to the dustbin in the very nearest future if nothing is done to sanitize them.

    “We feel that this nation is making itself a laughing stock in the comity of nations when we continue to reward thousands of people every year with national honours when the country is regressing badly.

    We feel there is nothing wrong in suspending the awards for some years while the country grapples with the enormous problems starring it in the face.”

  • Why Agunloye lost ACN ticket – Idowu Ajanaku

    How would you react to the claim by Dr. Olu Agunloye that he left the ACN because he was betrayed by the party’s leadership?

    That statement is not a surprise because it is coming from a politician like Agunloye.

    You know very well that Agunloye’s stock in trade is to betray and seek political office for political gain.

    You will recall that Agunloye, when the late Adebayo Adefarati was about to be picked as the governorship candidate for Ondo State by the Alliance for Democracy in 1999, despite the fact that everybody agreed that Adefarati should be picked because of the role he played in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) to free the Yoruba nation from the stranglehold of the late General Sani Abacha, Agunloye, who was not known, who did not participate in the exercise, came out to challenge Adefarati, but he was defeated.

    He did not stop at that, he went ahead to collude with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to make sure that they stopped the late Adefarati who is from Akoko like him. He joined hands with former Governor Olusegun Agagu to get him out in 2003.

    The romance between him and Agagu did not last long before he manifested his stock in trade with Mimiko.

    Perhaps that was because he was a longstanding friend of Dr. Agagu…

    He started planting all manner of stories in the newspapers to discredit Agagu’s government and, eventually, Mimiko came into power.

    Besides, his romance with Mimiko did not last long because Mimiko and Agunloye have certain things in common, which is betrayal.

    Mimiko decided to scheme him out from the senatorial ticket of the party and Prof Ajayi Boroffice was picked as the senatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) from the Ondo North Senatorial District for the 2011 general election.

    This was what angered Agunloye because he believed that he had lost out again.

    Following this, Agunloye crawled back to the national leadership of ACN, particularly Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom he met in Lagos and with sympathy because we have several aspirants for that ticket then, but they were begged to withdraw from the race and the ticket was given to Agunloye.

    That election was funded by the party but he performed woefully.

    He did not only lose his ward to Boroffice, but also lost his ward to Senator Bode Olajumoke of PDP, who is not from Akoko but from Imeri in Ose Local Government Area of the state.

    That shows that Agunloye is not on ground even in his home town.

    But he was still regarded as a progressive.

    Agunloye betrayed the progressive leaders by joining President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government.

    Agunloye was the Personal Assistant to late Bola Ige when he was shot and murdered in Ibadan; it was one of the greatest tragedies that befell this nation then.

    Some suspects were arrested but were later released.

    Incidentally, Agunloye refused to listen to the voice of the late Ige’s family and the leadership of the Yoruba; he joined the PDP government.

    You will recall that the late Bola Ige, before he was killed, had written to President Olusegun Obasanjo that he wanted to leave his government to come home and rebuild the Alliance for Democracy ahead of the 2007 governorship elections in the Southwest.

    But Agunloye joined that government and he was appointed as the Minister of State for Navy and later became the Minister of Power and Steel.

    The question we should ask Agunloye is that with such positions, what development has he brought to the state, particularly, his community?

    Did he bring a PHCN power station to the area? Did he bring a naval base to Ondo State even as minister of state for navy?

    Just like the way Dr. Bode Olajumoke now has brought a Navy School to his home town in Imeri.

    He did not do any of those things, but he crawled back, that he wanted to use the ACN as a ladder to become the governor of Ondo State.

    I want to ask Agunloye if he knows how ACN was formed.

    What was his contribution to the formation of ACN? How many people did he bring when he joined ACN?

    He came to ACN like a General without troops.

    I want to also ask Agunloye why he did not complain of lack of internal democracy in ACN in 2011 when he was given the ticket?

    So, why really did he lose the ticket?

    One main reason why Agunloye lost the ticket was because Chief Bisi Akande, the National Chairman of the party, knew from day one that he was a mole planted in ACN by Mimiko and others to destroy the party.

    He pretended as if he was one of us by rolling his campaign in line with that of Omoluabi of Aregbesola in Osun in order to use it to deceive us, but ACN is the master of political strategy when it comes to the politics and procedure of choosing candidates.

    Go and check it from all the governors produced by the party, the quality of leadership is always in them.

    Starting from Governor Babatunde Fashola, who has now become an iconic governor for progressive ideas, who is transforming Lagos, building the Lagos-Badagry Expressways of 10 lanes, the first of its kind in sub-Sahara West Africa, like the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo brought the first television station to Africa, building the first sky scrapper in the Cocoa House and many other things.

    We have Dr. Kayode Fayemi, an iconic political activist of international repute, transforming Ekiti State.

    As I am talking to you now, there are about 56 km road dualisation projects in Ekiti and this is regarded as one of the best in the Southwest.

    Talking about Rauf Aregbesola, who is turning Osun around, you can see Osogbo that used to be very dirty but today has been transformed to a glittering city, ditto, Oyo, Ogun and we also have Adams Oshiomhole, an iconic labour activist who is now regarded as one of the best governors in the country.

    Are you suggesting that the ACN has its way of handling its choice of candidates and that it has paid off?

    Exactly. You can see that we always give our ticket to the best ones and if you look at these things, you will know that Akeredolu is another sound person with a sound mind that will come back to Ondo to replicate what we are doing in the South West.

    Agunloye and Akeredolu are not in the same category.

    Akeredolu was the former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), the first Nigerian to hold that position twice in the history of this country.

    Akeredolu was also a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of this state, Agunloye has never held any position in this state before. So Akeredolu is a legal icon, man of note, a man who has fought against injustice and deserves the ticket.

    Agunloye alleged that Justice Ayo Isa Salami influenced the candidature of Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN); is it true?

    It is not only untrue but pure fallacy by Agunloye.

    Justice Salami has always stood on the side of the people, on the side of justice.

    I hope he is aware that Justice Nabaruma nullified the election of Ondo State because Mike Tyson, late Ayo Babalola and others all came to vote during the election in 2007.

    Was it Ayo Salami who asked the PDP to rig in Osun, Ekiti and Edo?

    And another question for Agunloye is, was it Salami who won the election for ACN in Ogun and Oyo where the incumbent governors were still in power?

    ACN defeated Alao Akala, who had Federal Government might behind him.

    Was it Ayo Salami who influenced the results that defeated the candidates of Gbenga Daniel, Mr Gboyega Isiaka, and others?

    The answer is that ACN won the elections legitimately in the South West.

    As I am talking to you now, nobody has ever made any allegation that is tangible to knock out Justice Salami.

    So, Agunloye is just lying, finding faults where there is none.

    If he had been given the ticket of ACN, would he be shouting?

    In ACN, we choose our candidates based on merit, integrity and ideas.

    For these reasons, Akeredolu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is fit for the position.

     

  • ACN chair challenges tribunal’s verdict at Appeal Court

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Chairman in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, Prince Saheed Popoola, has challenged the nullification of his verdict by the local government election petition tribunal at the Appeal Court.

    The tribunal last month nullified the result of the local government by-election conducted in January last year in Offa. It ordered a fresh poll in the council within 120 days.

    Dissatisfied, the chairmanship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, Abdulwaheed S. Olanipekun, approached the tribunal for rectification.

    In his appeal, Prince Popoola, through his counsel, H.O. Buhari, prayed the appellate court to set aside the decision of the lower tribunal.

    He also urged the court to “dismiss the petition of the petitioners or in the alternative order a retrial of the petition before another local government election tribunal.”

    The appellants argued that “the tribunal erred in law when it held that; ‘in view of the fact that Section 20 of the Electoral Law is inconsistent with Section 30 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), Section 20 of the electoral law is null and void and we so declare.’”

    His words: “The petitioner never made conflict between the Kwara State Electoral Law and the Electoral Act on issue before the tribunal; the parties never joined issues on what constitutes a valid length of notice. The tribunal raised the issue of conflict between the state local government electoral law and the Electoral Act in its judgment.

    “The tribunal did not invite counsel to address on it. The tribunal erred in law when it held ‘inconsequence, that the rerun election into Offa Local Government held on January 12 last year is invalid, unconstitutional, null and void and the election is accordingly nullified.’

    “The tribunal based its judgment on an already repealed law. Section 20 of the Kwara State Local Government Electoral Act, 2004 has since been repealed and amended by the state local government electoral (amendment) law 2010.

    “The tribunal erred in law, when it held that; ‘the 14 days notice provided by Section 20 of the Electoral law by virtue of which the rerun election of January 12 was conducted is grossly inadequate as against the 90 days provided by the Electoral Act, 2010. The election of January 12 was a by-election and not a fresh election.

    “The phrase ‘rerun’ is unknown to the local government electoral law of Kwara State.”