President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday met behind closed doors with two All Progressives Congress (APC) governors.
The governors included Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna) and Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo).
The arrived together to the Presidential Villa around 3.15p.m.
The meeting was still in progress at the time of filing this report.
Details later…
…says kidnap claim laughable
Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, Wednesday called for the arrest and prosecution of Ahmed Gulak over his “ignoble” role in the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship that led to the cancellation of the exercise.
Gulak was the Chairman of the APC Governorship Primary Election Committee for Imo State but absconded after he rescheduled the primary which could not hold on the slated date, only to declare one of the governorship aspirants, Senator Hope Uzodinma as winner.
The Imo Governor in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, said, “We call for the arrest and prosecution of Alhaji Gulak because there is punishment for his anti-democratic action and his false claim of kidnap attempt. We must begin to tell men like Gulak and Senator Hope Uzodinma that it cannot be business as usual”.
According to the statement, “Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, former Political Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan and of course, the Chairman of the disbanded Imo State Governorship Primary Election Committee had told the media on Tuesday, October 2, 2018 that he fled Owerri by 4am because agents of Governor Rochas Okorocha had attempted to kidnap him and three other members of the 12-member Committee. The media had reported what he told them.
“If you ask me, men like Alhaji Gulak can’t build a nation. They not only constitute serious threat to our promising democracy but also danger to this great nation. Giving men like him national assignment like the one he was sent to Imo State to do was just licensing him to
blackmail the nation and put our democracy to ridicule. And there are certain lies or actions a man who had been the Political Adviser to a former President of the nation should have overgrown, no matter the temptation”.
The statement added that, “the childish tale of his attempted kidnap was just an afterthought. He knew he didn’t act well his part and was only trying to see how he could come out from the tight corner he had boxed himself into.
“The man called Alhaji Ahmed Gulak flew into Owerri by 12:45pm on Monday, October 1, 2018, being the day slated for the guber primary. And let him publish his flight documents to prove us right or wrong. They went straight to the Police Headquarters where they deposited all
the materials for the governorship primary.
“After that, the committee members entered into a lengthy meeting with the candidates, stakeholders, and Heads of Security Agencies in the State. The meeting lingered till 6:30pm. At the end of the meeting, he announced that the primary would now hold on Tuesday, October 2, 2018.
And reporters who were at the Police Headquarters waiting for the outcome of the meeting went and reported that the Imo primary would now hold on Tuesday, October 2, 2018. At the end, they went to their hotel to clean up and eat.
“With all these activities, the courtesy call he was to pay on the governor with members of his committee could not take place till. 8:45pm that Monday. The courtesy call lasted for about an hour. All said and done, they left the Government House for their hotel at about 9:55pm.
“They lodged at Rockview Hotel Owerri that shares fence with the Police Headquarters and the other end of the hotel, the Owerri Prison, with Soldiers on guard. The hotel is also close to the Government House Owerri with a team of Mobile Policemen on twenty-four hours duty.
So, the question patriotic Nigerians should ask Alhaji Gulak is that, if you left Government House by 9:55pm and you claimed you fled Owerri by 4am, and considering the location of Rockview Hotel where they lodged, then, when and where did the kidnap attempt take place?
“And why should he be kidnapped when the materials for the primary were kept at Police Headquarters. And of what value would have his kidnap served anybody since he didn’t have any material and the primary hadn’t been conducted.
“It is now left for Nigerians to ask him where he got the results for which he declared Senator Hope Uzodinma winner. In fact, we do not subscribe to people talking about PDP when men like Gulak who left the party just few months ago act funny. It is a personal thing. It has
nothing to do with PDP. Some people live. Some others exist. Those who just exist do not have souls, and for them, anything goes”.
The Governor explained further that, “Ahmed Gulak and Hope Uzodinma had belonged to Alhaji Modu Sheriff’s faction of the PDP. That is the relationship between him and Hope Uzodinma. We also believe that those who sent him didn’t have this information. But even at that, a former
Political Adviser to a Former President should have lived above board.
“Do not also forget that a day before the Primary, Chief Hope Uzodinma who the Court had issued warrant of arrest against him for issuing billions of naira Dud cheque to a business partner had also claimed kidnap attempt against his person also by agents of the State Governor. They must be spirits to be escaping from these imaginary kidnap attempts. In fact, show me your friend, and I tell you who you are.
“Finally, Hope Uzodinma is not a member APC in Imo State. He claimed to have joined the party six months ago. Even at that, he does not have any support in any Local Government in Imo State. We shall be shocked to see him stand in his Local Government, Oru East, and we see
twenty APC members queuing behind him. He does not believe in the ballot box.
“He was one of those who in 2015 labeled Okorocha Alhaji in Government House, Okoro-Hausa and that he was planning with President Muhammadu Buhari to Islamize Igboland, all because of APC.
“And few years after, he has come to cause trouble in the Party and to reap where he didn’t
sow. We do not think it is the right thing. No landlord vacates his house for an unfaithful and unreliable tenant”.
Chairman of the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Clement Ebri on Wednesday endorsed the result of Tuesday’s governorship primary election of the party in Lagos state.
Mr Ebiri thus endorsed Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the winner.
Sanwo-Olu won the primary with 970,851 votes while Governor Akinwunmi Ambode got 72,901 votes.
Prof. Bernard Odoh, an All Progressives Congress ( APC ) governorship aspirant for the 2019 election in Ebonyi, has rejected the outcome of the party’s primary that produced Sen. Sonni Ogbuoji as the candidate.
Odoh who addressed newsmen on Wednesday in Abakaliki, said the election that held between Sunday and Monday, was marred with irregularities.
Odoh, a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), alleged that fake delegate lists from Ikwo and Ezza South Local Government Areas were used for the exercise.
Recall that Sen. Domingo Obande, Ebonyi APC Governorship Primary Election Committee Chairman, had declared Ogbuoji winner, having secured 785 votes to defeat Odoh his closest rival who scored 516 votes and six other aspirants.
He regretted that the delegate lists from the local government areas were only known to one man and tailored to favour a particular aspirant.
He said that the aspirants protested against the use of the lists for the purpose of conducting the primary election.
Odoh called on the leadership of the party to cancel votes from Ikwo and Ezza South Local Government Areas.
“For 30 minutes, we argued and vehemently disagreed with the committee not to use the controversial lists, but they insisted and went ahead with the conduct of the poll,” Odoh said.
He stressed that he rejected the outcome of the governorship primary based on alleged use of forged delegate lists.
He urged his supporters to remain calm and law abiding and assured that he would use every legitimate means to upturn the result.
“I want to say that I reject the result of the just concluded Ebonyi APC governorship primary election based on observed irregularities.
“The delegate lists from Ikwo and Ezza South were forged; the document is inconsistent with the document that the party presented when the committee arrived Abakaliki.
“Therefore, we cannot allow a forged document to be used to choose the party’s flag bearer and again I had no access to the delegate lists used in the election from the two LGAs.
“These delegates were not part of the delegates produced during the May congresses of our great party.
“I am a law abiding person and I respect procedures.
“We have commenced a process of appeal to the appeal panel; if the process is fair and credible, I will accept the outcome, but given what happened, I don’t accept the outcome,” he added.
One of the aspirants for the Kano Central Senatorial district, Senator Basheer Garba Mohammed popularly known as Lado has withdrawn from the Senatorial race and donate his campaign structure to President Muhammadu Buhari and the state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
In a statement made available to The Nation in Abuja, the former lawmaker said he was withdrawing from the race based on the intervention of the state governor and as a mark of respect for the governor.
Former Kano state Governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau who recently returned to the party is believed to be the party’s candidate for the Senatorial ticket and will not slug it out with Hajia Laila Buhari for the ticket.
Mohammed said “I also wish to use this opportunity to announce the donation of my campaign structure, including personnel, 25 vehicles and other facilities for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and other elective offices of our great party, the APC ahead of 2019 general elections.
“I therefore appeal to my teeming supporters who felt aggrieved by my decision to withdraw to take the new development in good faith, strongly believing that it is Allah that gives power to whom He pleases.
“As Muslims, we are fully aware of the fact that respect for elders is akin to respect for Almighty Allah. With this in mind, I owe gratitude and appreciation to our governor who has always regarded me as a son and therefore advised that I should put aside my senatorial aspiration in order to present an undivided front in preparation for the ever sensitive upcoming elections in Kano State.
“I also wish to extend my appreciation to the people of my constituency, Kano Central Senatorial Zone and the state at large for the love and support they have given me; their support is well appreciated.
“I am also indebted to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State under the leadership of Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas for their wise counsel in times of need. My political aspiration is for the sake of our people and the unity in our party is always sacrosanct. Directors and Coordinators of my campaign organization also deserve mention for their untiring support.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has cleared unopposed former Akwa Ibom and Delta State Governors, Senator Godswill Akpabio and Dr, Emmanuel Uduaghan and the Senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani as Senatorial candidates for the forthcoming general elections.
Also cleared unopposed are Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, Senate Minority Whip, Senator Francis Alimikhena, former Nasarawa State Governor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, former Sokoto state Governor, Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako, former Benue state Governor, George Akume and former National, Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Adebayo Adeyeye.
Also, the three senators representing Lagos state, Senators Oluremi Tinubu, Solomon Adeola and Gbenga Ashafa as well as Senator Ajayi Boroface, Yele Onogunwa and Omotoyao Alasoadura from Ondo are flying the party flag unopposed as they emerged the only cleared aspirants from their states.
Senator Ahmed Abubakar, Senator Binta Masi Garba (Adamawa) Senator Yusuf Abubakar (Taraba), Governor Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe), Senator Tijanni Kaura, Ikra Bilbis (Zamfara), Senator Buhari Abdulfatai (Oyo), Senator Andy Uba (Anambra) and Suleiman Abdu Kwari (Kaduna) are also running unopposed.
In the list of cleared aspirants released by the National Working Committee and signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, former Kano state Governor is to battle for the Kano Central Senatorial ticket with Hajia Laila Buhari, while Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun is to struggle for the Ogun Central Senatorial ticket with Senator Adeyemi Tejuosho and Ganiyat Oladunjoye.
Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi is to contest for the Oyo Central Senatorial district ticket with Senator Taslim Folarin and five others, Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura is to slug it out for the Nasarawa south ticket with Senator Salihu Hussein Egye, while Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima is contesting the Borno Central ticket with Ali Bukar Wurge.
Also, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan is contesting the Yobe North Senatorial ticket with Mohammed Lawan Yahuza, while Imo state Governor; Rochas Okorocha is listed as contesting the Imo West ticket with Senator Hope Uzodinma who is also contesting the governorship of the state.
However, two former governors who have been in the senate for a long time, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima of Zamfara State and Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe) were conspicuously missing on the list and it was not clear whether they were screened out of the contest or decided not to return to the Senate.
The National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has said at different fora that it will be ungodly for the party not to reward loyal senators who stood by the party in its trying period, resisting all attempt to lure them away from the APC.
…alleges cash inducement
Candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of the Ngwa extraction have reportedly pulled out of the Abia State gubernatorial primary scheduled to hold across the 17 local government areas of the state Tuesday.
One of the gubernatorial aspirants, Prince Paul Ikonne while addressing journalists on behalf of other agitators of Ngwa extraction staged a walk out from the APC party secretariat in Umuahia; the state capital said that they have lost faith in the committee to organize credible guber primary election in the state.
Ikonne also claimed that the committee has perfected plans to use doctored membership registers to favour one of the governorship aspirants and party members whose names were not in the party register.
Ikonne further alleged that a chieftain of the party has induced the committee with cash gifts running into millions to influence the eventual winner of the exercise.
While acknowledging that the leadership of the party remains supreme to such issues which they have raised, Ikonne however used the medium to call on the national leadership of the party to listen to their complaints and call the committee to order.
Until the time of filing the report, Ngwa guber aspirants; Comrade Chris Akomas, Sir Friday Nwosu, Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike, Prince Paul Ikonne were in a crucial closed door meeting at Damgrete Hotels where it was learnt, they would take consensus decision on what to do.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the committee David Iyola has denied the allegations raised by Ikonne.
Iyola said he wasn’t aware of any walk out by any aspirants or aspirant, stressing that the committee was committed to ensuring a credible primary in the state.
Meanwhile, distribution of materials to different polling units across the state started at about 12:30pm at the party secretariat under the supervision of various security personnel at the APC party secretariat on Azikiwe road.
The Ogun State Deputy Governor, Yetunde Onanuga, has urged delegates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to disregard speculations that the governorship primary elections will not hold as scheduled in the state.
Onanuga made the clarification when she addressed newsmen at the Ijebu-Ode Local Government Secretariat on Tuesday.
The deputy governor, who was in Ijebu-Ode her constituency to exercise her civic duty in the re-scheduled APC governorship primaries, allayed fears that the election would be cancelled again.
“As I speak to you now, members of the National Working Committee (NWC) have left Abeokuta en-route the various voting centres to start the process.
“I can confirm to you that it will hold and we have already dispatched information to the 11 wards in Ijebu-Ode and members are waiting there, the elections will hold,” Onanuga said.
She also assured delegates and citizens that their safety was guaranteed, saying that security for the purpose of the election had been provided.
“No one can harass anybody or disenfranchise them not to carry out their rights. People should come out and vote for the candidates of their choice,” she added.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that at Ward 2, Ereko Area and Ward 9, St. Augustine Area, there was large turnout of delegates, who had been waiting from the early hours of Tuesday.
Confusion trailed the conduct of the governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State Monday as two factions of the party held two separate exercises to produce two governorship candidates.
Although the faction that was recently inaugurated by National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, led by Dr Mathew Achigbe, had resumed office as the state executive council of the party, the other faction led by Mr. Godwin Etim-John had continued to insist they were the authentic one.
So Monday, both factions had overseen the conduct of the two separate primaries. Both had adopted the direct primaries’ method.
From the Etim-John faction, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Usani, emerged as the winner of the primaries scoring 47, 313 votes.
Announcing the result at the collation centre of the party Secretariat of their own faction in Calabar, the Chairman of the gubernatorial election Committee, Emmanuel Annom, said the Minister having scored the highest number of lawful votes in the gubernatorial primaries is declared the winner and Governorship candidate of the party for the 2019 general elections in the state
A breakdown of the result he read indicated other aspirants got as follows; Senator John Owan Enoh, 1, 486 votes; Eyo Etim Nyong, 1, 168 votes; John Upan Odey, 1099 votes; and Edem Duke, 1, 322 votes.
Mr Etim John said the processes the party went through were turbulent and rigorous.
“We thank all the aspirants. We have appeal panel, all those who feel aggrieved should follow the due process of our party constitution and accept the outcome,” he said.
At press time yesterday the other primaries, which was conducted by Ali Magaji led committee, was yet to collate the results from the 196 wards in the 18 local government areas of the state.
The governorship primaries of the Achigbe-led executive council, was shifted to Monday from Sunday by the National Vice-Chairman of the APC, South-South, Chief Hilliard Eta, following the late arrival of electoral materials.
But a top party source cried foul, alleging that materials were not evenly distributed to the wards.
However, when contacted Monday evening, Eta said that the election had been conducted in all the 196 wards, adding that collation would soon commence.
Two governorship aspirants of the party, Chief Edem Duke and Prof. Etim Nyong, had on Sunday raised the alarm that the party structure was being hijacked by Eta to favour a governorship aspirant from the central senatorial district.
Eta had described the allegation as false, saying the process would be free and fair.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State will elect its National Assembly candidates through indirect primaries.
The party’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ade Ajayi, who disclosed this to our reporter on Monday, said the fate of the senatorial and House of Representatives candidates will be determined by delegates.
Ajayi disclosed that Senate primaries will be held on Tuesday, October 2 in the three senatorial districts while House of Representatives primaries will follow on Wednesday, October 3 in the six federal constituencies.
The House of Assembly primaries, according to him, will hold on Friday, October 5 in the twenty six state constituencies.
Senator Ayo Arise, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, Dr. Olusegun Osinkolu and Sir Kayode Otitoju are slugging it out for the senatorial ticket in Ekiti North.
It will be a straight fight between incumbent Senator Fatimat Raji Rasaki and former House of Representatives member, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele in Ekiti Central while Prince Dayo Adeyeye has emerged as consensus candidate in Ekiti South.
Meanwhile, the Ekiti APC has inaugurated the chairmen of its sixteen local government chapters with a charge to ensure victory in all the forthcoming elections.
The state APC Chairman, Mr. Paul Omotoso, who performed the inauguration at the party secretariat in Ado-Ekiti, said the party must maintain its winning streak which started with the governorship poll in the fast approaching general elections.
The APC chair charged them to disciplined, law abiding and obedient to the party constitution in the discharge of their duties as party bosses in the grassroots.
Omotoso also urged them to be committed, dedicated and loyal to the governor-elect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and other leaders of the party.
He stressed the need for the party chairmen in the 16 LGs to embark on aggressive membership drive and mobilisation of members ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Omotoso further advised them to be attending meetings regularly and update their members on happenings in the party.
The inaugurated APC LG chairmen are Clement Ojo (Ekiti East), Idowu Isaac (Ise/Orun), Olabode Oladipo (Ilejemeje), Oluwole Bolarinwa (Emure), Matthew Oni (Ikole), Tokunbo Akinyeye (Gbonyin), Olajide Felix (Ekiti Southwest) and Michael Akinleye (Ado).
The rest are Olu Aladeloye (Ekiti West), Kayode Oyebode (Ikere), Opeyemi Ogundele (Irepodun/Ifelodun), James Awe (Ijero), Oluwafemi Adeyeye (Moba), Adewumi Aina (Ido/Osi) and Olumide Adeyanju (Oye).