The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Adedoja

  • Adedoja takes over as 23rd Peacekeeping Center Commandant

    Adedoja takes over as 23rd Peacekeeping Center Commandant

    Former 31 Brigade Commander, Major General Ademola Taiwo Adedoja, has taken over command as 23rd Commandant of the Martin Luther Agwai International Leadership and Peacekeeping Centre, Jaji, in Kaduna State.

    Major General Adedoja took over command of the centre from Major General Obinna Onubogu, who has been appointed as the new General Officer Commanding 2 Division Nigerian Army, Ibadan.

    Located in Jaji Military Cantonment, Kaduna State, Martin Luther Agwai International Leadership and Peacekeeping Centre is a military training center for international peace keeping mission.

    While taking over, the new Commandant, Maj-General Adedoja, promised to improve on the legacies of the immediate past Commandant.

    He also promised to operate an open-door leadership in his efforts to move the centre forward.

    Read Also: General Adedoja takes over as 23rd Peacekeeping Center Commandant

    Earlier, the outgoing Commandant, Maj-General Onubogu, said the centre had over the years produced well trained officers and soldiers who had upheld the flag of Nigeria at several international peacekeeping missions.

    He assured the new Commandant that, the centre has eight highly qualified and professional Facilitators as well as disciplined Instructors, all of who are instrumental to the success of the courses run at the Centre.

    General Onubogu, however, asked the entire staff of the Centre to give all the support and cooperation extended to him during his tenure to the new Commandant.

    Highlight of the event was handing and taking of notes and flags of command and well as quarter guard inspection.

  • PDP leaders mount pressure on Adedoja to withdraw case

    PDP leaders mount pressure on Adedoja to withdraw case

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders are mounting pressure on one of its national chairmanship aspirant, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, to withdraw his case against the party and its new chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.

    The former university don is praying the Federal High Court in Abuja to nullify the party’s recent convention, which threw up Secondus as the new helmsman, saying that it violated the PDP constitution and his fundamental right.

    Adedoja, a former Minister of Sports and Special Duties, contested for the chairman along with Secondus, Chief Raymond Dokpesi and Professor Tunde Adeniran during the national convention held at Eagle Square, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The convention chaired by former National Caretaker Committee (NCC) chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, was organised by the PDP National Convention Planning Committee, led by Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

    While aspirants from the Southwest, including Chief Bode George, Mr. Jimi Agbade, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and Otunba Gbenga Daniel, withdrew from the race, Adedoja and Adeniran insisted on their right to contest. According to the poll result, Adedoja scored zero.

    However, few days after the national congress, the former minister headed for the court to challenge its outcome, claiming that he was wrongfully excluded from the exercise.

    Adedoja alleged that his name was omitted from the ballot paper during the exercise, thereby denying himself and his supporters their constitutional rights to vote for him. He therefore, urged the court to declare the outcome of the convention null and void.

    A party source said Secondus and the Chairman of the PDP National Reconciliation Committee, Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, were worried by the suit by Adedoja after the party was just recovering from the protracted litigation foisted on the party by the rift between PDP governors and embattled National Chairman Senator Modu Sheriff.

    To prevent fresh legal crisis, efforts were being made by the new National Executive Committee and Dickson Panel to prevent its escalation by reaching out to the plaintiff for amicable settlement of the case, the source added.

    According to the source, the PDP national leadership is trying to reach out to Adedoja on four fronts to reconsider his position in the interest of the party.

    “We are not folding our arms. Adedoja is claiming that he was wrongfully excluded from the chairmanship race at the convention. I cannot say whether he is right or wrong. But, the party does not need any litigation at this time. In the last two years, were have been in and out of court.

    “That is why Secondus is reaching out to all aggrieved, including the former minister. Apart from efforts being made by the PDP NEC, the Reconciliation Committee is also planning to resolve the matter as a family affair. Dickson is planning to get in touch with Prof. Adedoja. Also, Southwest elders and the zonal leader, Dr. Eddy Olafeso, and his executive are not aloof. They are also appealing to him to withdraw the case. I also know that the governors are following the events with ken interest. They will favour the option of dialogue.

    “Also, the leaders of the party from Oyo State are mounting pressure on the former minister to have a rethink. I know Senator Rashidi Ladoja, former governor and party leader in that axis, is also making frantic efforts to pacify the professor so that he can see the withdrawal of the case as a special sacrifice. I must say that there are also dissenting voices who believe that, instead of going to court, Adedoja should have followed the laid down procedures for the ventilation of grievances and resolution of conflicts in the party.”

    Olafeso, the PDP National Vice Chairman (Southwest), who spoke with our correspondent on phone, said the party will reach out to the aggrieved aspirant and other chieftains, adding that the priority of the party is to ensure unity and cohesion.

    He added: “Our primary focus after the convention is reconciliation. The party is reaching out to the aggrieved. We can peace in the PDP and we will always pursue the agenda of peace.”

     

  • Dickson to visit Adedoja next week

    Dickson to visit Adedoja next week

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Reconciliation Committee chair Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson will take his peace overture to aggrieved national chairmanship aspirant Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, next week.

    It will be the beginning of the second round of reconciliation talks to stabilise the opposition party after its convention.

    His visit to Adedoja, a former Special Duties minister, will herald the visit of the national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus to the former university don, in continuation of his reconciliatory moves.

    Adedoja is challenging Secondus’ victory at the December 9 national convention held in Abuja, at a high court. He is claiming “unlawful exclusion” because of the misspelling of his name on the ballot.

    His name was spelt as Taoheed Oladoja (instead of Adedoja). He said his protest to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the convention committee chairman was brushed aside.

    Adedoja scored zero in the ballot won by Secondus.

    A source close to Dickson said Adedoja is also aggrieved that before he headed for the court, the new party leadership did not reach out to him for ventilation of grievances and reconciliation.

    According to the source, the former minister instituted the suit to draw home the point that every member of the party is important in the post-convention period.

    He said: “It is painful that, after the convention, a prominent member of the party and a national chairmanship aspirant decided to go to the court. Thus, the scope of assignment of the committee headed by Governor Dickson widened.

    “Prof. Adedoja did not believe that the race was a do-or-die affair. But, we had that he went to court because after he complained that his name was omitted on the ballot, no effort was made to reach out to him to pacify him after the convention.”

    On why the Reconciliation Committee had not visited him, the source added: “The committee has been working after the convention. Governor Dickson and his team have visited many people, including Chief Bode George and Chief Jimi Agbaje in Lagos. There was no media coverage because the committee thought that you can only report the success of the reconciliation and not the visits.

    “But, next week, the reconciliation committee will visit Prof. Adedoja. Governor Dickson holds him and every chieftain in high esteem. The committee would have visited him, but it had to have a break because of the Christmas and new year activities.”

  • Adedoja asks court to nullify Secondus’ election

    Adedoja asks court to nullify Secondus’ election

    ONE of the candidates that contested for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, has approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking the nullification of the election of Prince Uche Secondus.

    In the suit filed on his behalf by Rickey Tarfa & Co., Adedoja prayed the court to declare ?the election of Secondus as national chairman of PDP null and void

    The complainant also prayed the court to declare as null and void any documents submitted by the leadership of the PDP to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognising Secondus as the party’s national chairman.

    Adedoja also asked the court for the cancellation of the national chairmanship election held on Saturday December 09, 2017 at Eagle Square, Abuja, where Seconsus emerged as chairman.

    He prayed the court to order the conduct of another elective national convention for the election of national chairman within 30 days ?of nullification of the December 9 convention.

    Through his lawyers, Adedoja similarly asked the court to restrain the INEC from recognising Uche Secondus as national chairman of the PDP.

    Adedoja said his name was unlawfully excluded from the ballot paper as one of the candidates vying for the position of chairman.

    He averred that excluding his name from the ballot paper was a flagrant violation of the Electoral Act, the constitution of the PDP, the guidelines for the conduct of PDP national convention and the Constitution.

    According to him, the organisers of the convention had substituted his name with “Prof Taoheed Oladoja” on the ballot paper, whereas all his nomination documents submitted to the leadership of the PDP bore the name of Prof. Taoheed Adedoja.

    Adedoja also averred that he drew the attention of the chairman of the convention planning committee, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, to the error.

    But, according to him, his complaint was ignored by Okowa and other organisers of the convention, a situation which, he said, caused his loss at the election because those that wanted to vote for him could not find his name on the ballot paper.

    Addressing reporters in Abuja yesterday, Adedoja said: “I have suffered psychological trauma as a result of the public ridicule the election result has caused me, my family members, friends and associates.

    “My lawyers are demanding for appropriate compensation for damages, ridicule, embarrassment and disrepute brought to my name as a result of my willful exclusion from participating in the election resulting in zero score credited to my name, which is now in public domain.”

    Listed as defendants in the suit are Okowa, Secondus, INEC and the PDP. No date has been fixed for the hearing.

     

  • PDP chair: George, Adeniran, Adedoja intensify lobbying

    PDP chair: George, Adeniran, Adedoja intensify lobbying

    •Reps PDP Caucus to meet aspirants 

    Aspirants seeking the position of national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have intensified lobbying by taking their campaign to the doorsteps of prominent chieftains of the party for endorsement.

    The aspirants have also made inroads into the various delegate blocs across the six geopolitical zones with the view to gaining advantage over one another.

    Leading the vote-chasing shuttles are Prof Tunde Adeniran, Chief Olabode George and Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, who have visited the homes of a good number of party elders in the past few days.

    Receiving Adeniran in his Abuja residence at the weekend, one of the founding fathers of the PDP, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, described the former Education minister as a man that can be trusted with the job.

    Ciroma said he could safely judge Adeniran by his pedigree, track-record of discipline, integrity and loyalty to the course of the party and the country at large.

    The elder statesman said he had followed the politician’s career with keen interest, since his days as a lecturer at the University of Ibadan.

    He observed that Adeniran distinguished himself when he served as Secretary of the Mass Mobilisation for Self-Reliance, Social Justice and Economic Recovery (MAMSER) in the 1990s.

    Those that accompanied Adeniran on the visit to Ciroma included Prof. Jerry Gana, Ibrahim Mantu, Zainab Maina, Tom Aguiyi-Ironsi among others.

    On the other hand, George also met with a number of chairmen of state chapters of the PDP at the Druz Resort and Events Centre in Abuja at the weekend.

    Describing the meeting as part of his nationwide consultations with party stakeholders, George informed the gathering of his desire to create a special platform for the purpose of mentoring the youths for leadership positions.

    According to him, it has become imperative for the older generation to initiate a credible leadership succession line for the younger generation of leaders to step in.

    On his part, Prof Adedoja visited former President Ibrahim Babangida, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and many others as part of his consultations.

    Adedoja, at the weekend, met with key party stakeholders from the Northcentral geopolitical zone and held discussions with interest groups from the Northeast and the Northwest.

    As part of his campaign strategy to sell his candidacy to delegates of Northern extraction, Adedoja has resorted to communicating with his targets in Hausa language.

    The House of Representatives’ PDP Caucus is set to meet the last batch of the party’s chairmanship aspirants tomorrow.

    The caucus, which met with the first batch on Wednesday, is to meet with former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel, former Oyo State Governor Rasheed Ladoja, former Minister of Sports and Youth Development Prof. Taoheed Adedoja and former PDP Lagos State governorship candidate Jimi Agbaje.

  • Adedoja joins race for PDP chair

    Adedoja joins race for PDP chair

    Former Sports and Special Duties Minister Prof. Taoheed Adedoja yesterday joined the race for the national chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He protested the zoning of the slot to the North, warning that it may create disaffection, disunity and rancour.

    Adedoja said he is qualified to play the role as a professor, faculty dean, former head of a tertiary institution, former governorship candidate, minister and  party loyalist.

    The politician said: “I am a bridge builder. The unifying factor that will bring about the required confidence of the founding fathers, who laid the solid foundation for a party built on principle, justice and equity.

    “The party needs a chairman who has never been a factional leader; the party needs a chairman who will be acceptable in all parts of the country; a chairman who is well grounded in human relations.”

    Adedoja, who spoke with reporters in Lagos, shortly after the meeting of the Southwest PDP elders, led by Chief Bode George, said equity, justice and fairness demanded that the position should be zoned to the Southwest.

    The former minister vowed to contest for the position, whether or not it is zoned to the Southwest, adding that Yoruba were tired of playing second fiddle in the party.

    Justifying the agitation, he said: “We have over 300 chieftains who are eminently qualified for the position. Eighty per cent of Northerners want the PDP chairman to come from the Southwest. Only 20 per cent oppose because of the interest of an individual in the North.

    “If the position is not zoned to the Southwest, it does not stop our ambition. We should change the zoning arrangement.”

    The former minister decried the alleged marginalisation of the Oyo State chapter, urging the national leadership to take appropriate action to reverse the trend.

    He said only three members were appointed into committees, including the convention, finance, reconciliation and zoning committees.