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Tag: All Progressives Congress

  • Buhari moves to prevent National Assembly hijack

    All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders yesterday moved to prevent the “hijack” of the new National Assembly leadership. They met with would-be lawmakers.

    President Muhammadu Buhari dined with serving APC senators and senators-elect at the New Banquet Hall of the  State House.

    The meeting came on the heels of a similar parley between APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole and House of Representatives members-elect at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.

    At the President’s meeting with the lawmakers were APC leaders, including Lagos, Plateau, Kogi, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara and Osun governors.

    Oshiomhole and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, were also present.

    Although, details of the meeting were unknown,  it is believed to be connected with zoning and selection of the leadership of the Ninth National Assembly.

    Unlike in 2015 when the leadership was hijacked by senators, against the wish of the APC leadership, the ruling party is determined to ensure that its wishes prevail now.

    The dinner, which started around 8pm, was still in progress at the time of filing this report.

    Senators Ahmed Lawan, Ali Ndume and Danjuma Goje have indicated interest in Senate President.

    Also yesterday, Oshiomhole ruled out the possibility of the ruling party sharing legislative powers with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Giving an insight into what to expect from the Ninth National Assembly, the party chair insisted that the mistakes of 2015 would not recur.

    The leadership of the National Assembly was constituted on June 8, 2015 against the directive of the party. Those listed for principal offices were meeting at the State House when the lawmakers elected Dr. Bukola Saraki as Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP Deputy Senate President.

    Addressing the Representatives-elect, Oshiomhole said the APC was not prepared to share principal offices and headship of critical committees with the PDP, except for positions reserved for minority members.

    Oshiomhole told the lawmakers that Nigerians have reposed confidence in the APC, giving it overwhelming majority in the House and will use the numerical strength to its advantage.

    According to him, Nigerians have punished 15 out of the 16 senators who defected the APC by not re-electing them.

    He urged the members to collaborate with the government on the implementation of the party’s programmes.

    He said: “The first is the challenge of ensuring that this time around we ensure that we have a leadership of the National Assembly that shares the vision of the executive. Although we speak to separation of power, but there is only one government and unless the various arms pursue the same agenda, it is difficult for the executive to realise its purpose because legislative backing is often required for the executive actions.

    “So, I will expect that you bear in mind that we are one family joined together as shown in our broom, with a share commitment to bail Nigeria out of the condition in which we found it in 2015.

    “And that you have the numbers and we will use those numbers to ensure that we have a leadership that commands the trust and the respect of all the members of the House of Representatives.

    “There will be contestation; that is why we are in democracy, but after the contestation and debate, we have to agree, and once you have agreed, you move forward.

    “We have the numbers to produce the Speaker and we will produce the Speaker who must be a member of the APC. We have the numbers to produce the Deputy Speaker and we will use the numbers to produce the Deputy Speaker, who must be a member of the APC. We have the number and we must use the number to elect a House Leader who must be a member of APC.

    Read also: Buhari receives minimum wage report

    “We have the numbers and we will use the numbers to produce a Chief Whip and a Deputy Whip who must be members of the APC. I think the only position that we are not interested in is the Minority Leader. Let it remain minor in the hands of the minors in the opposition.

    “We will not share power in the House of the Representatives and the leadership must ensure that critical committees that drive government are chaired only by APC members. If the Nigeria people wanted them to be chairmen of committees they would have voted for them.

    “So, all the chairmen of committees, except the one that is statutorily reserved for opposition, which is Public Account, they can have that. So, we would not do the kind of thing that happened the last time in which some APC members as members of the leading party became distance spectators in the management of committees, when PDP had majority of the strategic committees in the House, that will not happen in the next Assembly.

    “We are aware that they believe they can use the divide and rule by sponsoring many people within our ranks to contest for which of the position so that they then become the king maker and in return the person will offer them some chairmanship seats.

    “Honourable members and comrades, I’m sure you are not going to do business with them. We will see them as partners in progress but in democracy, the rule is, and it is a universal rule, majority must have their way but minorities must be allowed to have their say.

    “So, the PDP and other minority can have their say, but working together APC must have its way in legislative agenda, in the leadership of the National Assembly and the leadership of the committees in the National Assembly. I thought we should make this thing clear so that those who may not understand what is happening don’t fall into the trap.”

    Calling on the would-be lawmakers not to allow anybody to divide them, Oshiomhole said his leadership will consult with President Muhammadu Buhari and all the leaders of the APC.

    “We will work out a sensible zoning formula that seeks to carry everybody along and give people chances to demonstrate their capacities and their capabilities. We are working on that,” he said, adding:

    “Somebody told me the opposition party people are already doing something, raising money to bribe people and I said, ‘no, we are anti-corruption, we cannot be corrupted’.

    “If they bring N1 billion to each member, a PDP person will not be Speaker, a PDP person will not be Deputy Speaker, a PDP person will not be Whip, a PDP person will not be Leader and a PDP person will not take any of the committees that are meant for the ruling party. We are determined to achieve that and be rest assured that the party will stand by you.”

    Congratulating the in-coming lawmakers on the electoral victory, the party chairman said: “We are proud that Nigerians in your various constituencies have reposed confidence in the APC.

    “I was looking at the number this morning and I realised that at the level of the House of Representatives, the Nigerian people gave the APC a resounding vote of confidence.

    “Before the election, we had about 190 members. The Nigerian people elected and re-elected 223 members of the House of Representatives on the platform of the APC. This has given us overwhelming majority, almost two-third that we need even if we want to amend the constitution.

    “I like to, on your behalf, thank the Nigerian people for reposing confidence in our party. I would like to say that by the same token, the Nigerian people has reposed less confidence in the major opposition who went into the election with more members and returned with 111 members.

    “It is easy the first time to ask people to give you the benefit of the doubt. But when you have occupied an office for four years, and the people choose to favour your party to the extent to which they have favoured the APC, it is a thing of joy. We are grateful to the Nigerian people for giving us the number we need to carry through our legislative agenda.”

    Alluding to party supremacy, Oshiomhole said: “For us to be able to enjoy our numerical strength in the House of Representatives, we must recognise that we were elected on a party platform.

    “Over the last couple of weeks, I have been invited by INEC to forward names rising from court decisions to the effect that APC has won in a certain constituency even when there is dispute about who is the candidate.

    “I am sure that when you went to vote, you did not see the portrait of any candidate, but the logo of the APC, which is the broom. Something unique about the broom is that when you pick a stick of broom, you can easily break it. But when it is together, as it is in our logo, it will be difficult to break.

    “The essence of that broom is to remind us that when you are together, we share ideas together, make decisions on the basis of inclusion and we carry everybody along, we encourage debate, contestations and agree that at the end of the day, agreement reached are binding on all, then we will be as strong as the broom in our logo.

    “We have called this meeting to remind us that we have a huge task ahead of us. Nigerians have voted the way they did and they expect new vigour and have injected new blood into the House of Representatives and I am sure that you have all come determined to make a difference in the way the National Assembly is run.

    “As people who are active, you are very familiar with the issues that bogged down the National Assembly between 2015 and 2019, arising from a unique concussion and I pray that this time around, we have all learnt a lesson from our immediate past and allow the positive lessons of our immediate past to shape our future.

    “You have been elected at a very challenging time to provide legislative backing for APC agenda and manifesto. Our President, who has been reelected, reminded us that the three critical issues on which we canvassed for votes in 2015 are still valid even now in 2019.

    “The President is doing everything possible to turn the economy around and to ensure that we work and create job led growth and not jobless growth where we celebrate abstract statistics that does not reflect the quality of life of the Nigerian people.

    “We must work hard to rebuild the economy, strengthen the private sector, create job, make the business environment friendly, and expand the capacity of our current investors.

    “If Nigerians consume what we produce, our economy will grow in double digits and that growth will reflect on the quality of lives of our people. What has been missing has been leadership and that President Buhari has brought.

    “We need to sustain and deepen these policies and I sure that some aspects of it will require legislative intervention. We will need to reinvent the manufacturing sector. If we have sensible and sustainable industrial policy in place with appropriate legislative backing to give people the confidence of policy stability, even to cloth half of our population will generate more than ten million jobs in the textile sector alone.

    “There is no reason while Michelin should not return to Nigeria, especially if we have sensible industrial and trade policy that discourages the importation of these items which we were producing before. All these need a collaborative National Assembly.

    “We need to pursue sensible monetary policies and should not price the funds out of the reach of the ordinary person. There must be coherence in all our policies so that we can witness sustainable growth and get our young people busy.

    “President Buhari has a rare opportunity to now think of what legacies to leave behind for Nigerians. He has spoken about corruption and we all know that it is one factor that has destroyed the country.

    “What we owe the Nigerian people is to create an environment for people to work and earn a living and for investors to have decent results for their investment and this also requires legislative action.”

  • You are jittery, PDP tells APC, Buhari

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop their “unnecessary fabrications, smear campaign” and prepare to face the opposition’s legal team at the Presidential Election Tribunal.

    Responding to a petition by the spokesman for the President’s campaign, Mr. Festus Keyamo, the PDP said Buhari is overweighed by the burden of “illegitimacy”, following overwhelming evidence before the tribunal that he “stole” the presidential mandate.

    In an email exchange with our correspondent Monday night, the spokesman for the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, described the allegation as “a lame one”.

    Ologbondiyan described it as an attempt at blackmailing the tribunal by engaging in clear acts of subjudice.

    The party spokesman said the facts and issues touching on the INEC server were already within the public domain.

    Read also: Buhari moves to prevent National Assembly hijack

    Ologbondiyan continued: “By resorting to shadow-boxing outside the tribunal, President Buhari and the APC have shown that they have no defence to present to the court against PDP’s submission that they stole our mandate.

    “It is even more appalling that Festus Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a member of Buhari’s legal team, who should know better, would engage in this act of subjudice designed to distort facts already known to Nigerians, that our presidential candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, clearly won the February 23 presidential election.

    “Since it has become clear that President Buhari has no defence to present to the court, we counsel him to save the nation further stress by surrendering our mandate, which was freely given by majority of Nigerians to Atiku Abubakar.”

  • Ndume joins race for Senate President

    A former Senate Leader Mohammed Ali Ndume, yesterday announced his intention to run for Senate President of the ninth National Assembly.

    Ndume is seeking the blessing of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest the position.

    The Borno South Senator is the second aspirant from the Northeast to declare his interest for the position.

    Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan was the first to signify his interest.  The ninth  Senate is expected to be inaugurated in June.

    Read also: ‘Why I want to be Speaker’

    Ndume noted that he is throwing his hat into the ring believing that the position would be zoned to the Northeast where he hails from.

    The former Senate leader, in a letter of intent dated March 25,  and addressed to the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, said the decision to seek election into the exalted office was borne out of his desire to help accelerate the nation’s socio-economic development.

    “Following the successful conduct of the 2019 general election and the overwhelming victory of our great party the APC at all levels, I hereby forward my letter of intent to contest for the office of the President of the Senate in the 9th National Assembly.

    “I wish to emphasise that my decision to contest for the Senate Presidency is informed by my conviction to contribute my quota to nation building,” the letter stated.

    Ndume, who served as minority leader in the sixth House of Representatives and Majority Leader in the 8th Senate spoke of his capacity to deliver on party policies and programmes, adding, “my vast legislative experience and my deep desire to take Nigeria to the next level of development” are reasons for contesting.

  • Appeal Court nullifies Zamfara APC primary elections

    THE Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division yesterday set aside the judgment delivered by the Zamfara High Court allowing the All Progressives Congress (APC) to field candidates in the 2019 election.

    The appeal was filed by Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) Senator Kabiru Marafa and 129 others through his counsel, Mr. Mike Ozheokome, SAN.

    Respondents are Kabiru Liman-Danalhaji and 139 others represented by Mr. Mahmud Magaji SAN as lead counsel.

    Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Tom Yakubu held that the lower court failed in its duty to properly evaluate the evidence before it.

    The judgment was adopted by two other Justices Tijjani Abubakar and Jamilu Tukur.

    Justice Yakubu said judges have the legal power to produce judgment and reach decisions with reason, noting that in the instance case, it was not done.

    “I am convinced that the lower court has failed to evaluate the evidence before reaching the decision. The Appeal Court has power in law to access pieces of evidence on appeal, which we have done.

    “Based on available facts, the respondents did not contradict the INEC evidence on conducting the said primary election,” Yakubu said.

    The presiding judge, said: “Documented evidence has upper consideration than oral ones.”

    Justice Yakubu held that the plaintiffs being card-carrying party members and aspirants in the said primary election have the legal capacity to institute the suit.

    He added that Federal, states and FCT High Courts have jurisdiction to entertain such matter.

    The judges agreed that the judgment should serve as “bitter lesson” for political parties as they ought to follow legitimate guidelines and rules.

    “Domestic affairs of political party activities must act within the confines of the law in dealing with party members and elections” the judges agreed.

    A Zamfara High Court recognised the primary election that produced governorship, state and National Assembly candidates held by APC in the state and declared that INEC accepts the party candidates for the elections.

    Unsatisfied with State High Court decision, the appellants approached the Appeal Cour, challenging the decision on the ground that the State High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit among others.

    But, Zamfara State Governor Abdul Aziz Yari yesterday appealed to APC members and residents to be calm, law-abiding and go about their normal businesses in a peaceful manner pending the release of the judgment.

    Read also: Rivers AAC governorship candidate alleges threat to life

    The governor stated this after the Appeal Court set aside ruling of Justice Bello Shinkafi of High Court on the governorship and state House of Assembly primary elections that was conducted on October 3 and 7, last year.

    The governor, who spoke through his media aide, Malam Ibrahim Dosara, stated however that “unlike the rumours now awash all social media platforms that the Court of Appeal Sokoto Division has nullified our elections, it is not true. The statement is incorrect. Those circulating the rumour are doing so to cause mayhem in our state to satisfy the ego of their masters”

  • Alleged hack into INEC server: You are jittery, PDP tells APC, Buhari

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop their unnecessary fabrications, smear campaign and prepare to face the opposition’s legal team at the presidential election tribunal.

    Responding to a petition by the spokesman for the President’s campaign, Mr. Festus Keyamo, the PDP said President Buhari is overweighed by the burden of “illegitimacy”, following overwhelming evidence before the tribunal that he “stole” the presidential mandate.

    In an email exchange with our correspondent Monday night, stage spokesman for the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan the allegation was a lame one.

    Ologbondiyan described it as an attempt at blackmailing the tribunal by engaging in clear acts of subjudice.

    The party spokesman further stated that the facts and issues touching on the INEC server, were already within the public domain and Nigerians are already at home with them.

    Read also: Kano rerun: Prosecute electoral offenders, observers tell INEC

    Ologbondiyan continued, “By resorting to shadow-boxing outside the tribunal, President Buhari and the APC have shown that they have no defence to present to the court against PDP’s submission that they stole our mandate.

    “It is even more appalling that Festus Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a member of Buhari’s legal team, who should know better, would engage in this act of subjudice designed to distort facts already known to Nigerians, that our Presidential Candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, clearly won the February 23 Presidential election.

    “Since it has become clear that President Buhari has no defence to present to the court, we counsel him to save the nation further stress by surrendering our mandate, which was freely given by majority of Nigerians to Atiku Abubakar”.

  • INEC resumes collation of Bauchi governorship poll result

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says it has resumed the collation of the Bauchi Governorship Election results, for the Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area (LGA) which was earlier suspended.

    INEC on Monday, in a notice posted on its twitter hand media handle, @inecnigeria, said that the process would be completed on Monday.

    The notice read: “Following the striking out of the case instituted by the APC and its candidate Mohammed Abubakar against INEC and the order of injunction stopping the process, and collation of the Bauchi Governorship Election results, for the Tafawa Balewa LGA by INEC, has commenced.

    ” The suspended process will be concluded today with the state collation and declaration of result of the election.”

    The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, gave INEC the leeway to continue and conclude the collation of the results of the March 9, Governorship election in the Tafawa Balewa LGA of Bauchi State.

    Delivering judgment, Justice Inyang Ekwo set aside his earlier order of March 19, 2019, which stopped the collation of the results.

    Read also: 9th Assembly: Onyejeocha declares for Speaker

    After declining jurisdiction to hear the substantive case, the judge ruled in his judgment on Monday, “the defendant, INEC, should be allowed to continue its constitutional duty.

    “There is no legal impediment before the defendant to go on with the decision of the defendant, to execute its decision in its press release,” the judge ruled.

    The ex parte order was given, following an application filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Gov. Mohammed Abubakar, of Bauchi state.

    The governorship election is keenly between incumbent Abubakar of the APC and former minister, Bala Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party.(NAN)

  • Buhari, APC senators meet in Aso Rock

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday night met behind closed doors with All Progressives Congress (APC) senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    The senators included serving senators and senators-elect on the platform of the party.

    Some of the APC state governors who attended the dinner, included Lagos, Plateau, Kogi, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara, Osun.

    Among those at the meeting also included the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,

    The President hosted them to dinner at the new Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

    Discussions at the dinner may not be unconnected with zoning and selection of the leadership of the 9th National Assembly.

    Read Also: Buhari appoints Jauro as NESREA DG

    Unlike in 2015 when the leadership was hijacked by senators, who didn’t get the blessings of the ruling party, the APC is determined to ensure that the next leadership of the National Assembly are in line with the wishes of the ruling party.

    The dinner, which started around 8pm, was still in progress at the time of filing this report.

    Senators already aspiring for the 9th National Assembly Senate Presidency included Senators Ahmed Lawan, Ali Ndume and Danjuma Goje.

  • Zamfara: Appeal Court has vindicated us, says Marafa

    Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum, Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa (APC, Zamfara) has hailed the judgement of the Appeal Court, Sokoto division, which set aside the ruling of the Zamfara State High Court on the All Progressives Congress (APC), primaries tussle in the state.

    The Appellate court on Monday set aside the ruling by Justice Bello Shinkafi of the Zamfara State High Court on the APC Governorship, National and State Assembly primaries.

    In his reaction to the judgement, Marafa, a leading governorship aspirant in the state, said it has shown that “truth will always prevail over falsehood.”

    He said: “I have always believed that the Zamfara State High Court ruling was nothing but a black market judgement that can never stand legal scrutiny.

    “The Appeal Court judgement has rekindled the fact that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man.

    “We are all living witnesses to the fact that the APC in Zamfara was unable to conduct primaries and couldn’t reach consensus due to the attitude of Yari, but the Zamfara state High Court judge ruled against the truth.

    “The Appeal Court has today done justice by throwing the judgment of the Zamfara High Court to the trash bin, where it rightly belongs.”

    The ranking Senator, while commending the millions of his supporters for their support, cooperation and patience, urged them to discountenance the release from the Zamfara Government House, claiming that today’s judgement has no effect on their election.

    “The statement by the Zamfara Government House on the Appeal Court judgement is the last kick of dying pigs, not even horses.

    “You can’t build on nothing, APC didn’t conduct primaries, they don’t therefore have candidates in the just concluded elections,” he said.

  • Ndume joins Senate Presidency race

    A former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, on Monday announced his intention to run for the office of the President of the Senate of the ninth National Assembly.

    Ndume is already seeking the blessing of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest the position.

    The Borno South Senator is the second aspirant from the North East geo-political zone to declare his interest for the exalted position.

    Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan was the first to signify interest to run for the Senate President when the ninth Senate is inaugurated in June.

    Ndume noted he is throwing his hat into the ring believing that the Senate President position would be zoned to the North East geo-political zone where he hails from.

    The former senate leader, in a letter of intent dated March 25, 2019 and addressed to the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, said the decision to seek election into the exalted office was borne out of his desire to help accelerate socioeconomic development of the nation.

    “Following the successful conduct of the 2019 general election and the overwhelming victory of our great party the APC at all levels, I hereby forward my letter of intent to contest for the office of the President of the Senate in the 9th National Assembly.

    “I wish to emphasise that my decision to contest for the Senate Presidency is informed by my conviction to contribute my quota to nation building,” the letter stated.

    Ndume, who served as minority leader in the sixth House of Representatives and majority leader in the 8th Senate, assured of his capacity to deliver on party policies and programmes.

    He said: “My vast legislative experience and my deep desire to take Nigeria to the next level of development” are reasons for contesting.

  • Updated: Court nullifies Zamfara APC primaries for gov, assembly elections

    The Court of Appeal Sokoto Division on Monday set aside the judgment delivered by the Zamfara High Court, allowing the All Progressives Congress (APC) to field candidates in the 2019 Election.

    The appeal was filed by Sen. Kabiru Marafa, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) and 129 others through his Counsel, Mr Mike Ozheokome , SAN.

    Respondents are Kabiru Liman-Danalhaji and 139 others represented by Mr Mahmud Magaji SAN as lead Counsel.

    Delivering the lead judgment, which was adopted by two other Justices Tijjani Abubakar and Jamilu Tukur, Justice Tom Yakubu, held that the lower court failed in its duty to properly evaluate the evidence before it.

    Yakubu said judges have the legal power to produce judgment and reach decisions with reason, noting that in the instance case it was not done.

    “I am convinced that the lower Court has failed to evaluate the evidence before reaching the decision.

    Read Also:  Court dismisses suit against conclusion of Bauchi Governorship election

    ” The Appeal Court have power in law to access pieces of evidence on appeal, which we have done.

    ”Based on available facts the respondents did not contradict the INEC evidence on conducting the said primary election” Yakubu said.

    The Presiding judge, said “documented evidence has upper consideration than oral ones”.

    Justice Yakubu held that the plaintiffs being card-carrying party members and aspirants in the said primary election have legal capacity to institute the suit.

    He added that Federal, States and FCT High Courts have jurisdiction to entertain such matter.

    The judges agreed that the judgment should serve as “bitter lesson” for political parties as they ought to follow legitimate guidelines and rules.

    “Domestic affairs of political party activities must act within the confines of the law in dealing with party members and elections” the judges agreed.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report that a Zamfara High Court recognised the primary election the produced governorship, state and national assembly candidates held by APC in the state and declared that INEC accepts the party candidates for the elections.

    Unsatisfied with State High Court decision, the appellants, approached the appeal court challenging the decision on the ground that the State High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit among others.

    NAN recalled that similar case was instituted before the same appeal court by Rep. Aminu Jaji, a Governorship aspirant and member representing Kauran Namoda/Birnin Magaji Federal Constituency and was dismissed after Jaji withdrew.