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Tag: All Progressives Congress

  • Saraki had no business with Daura, sacked DSS chief,

    A former member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Timi Frank has dismissed insinuations that the sacked Director General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura was sacked for working for Senate President, Bukola Saraki and asked Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo to order full investigations into the invasion of the National Assembly.

    Frank said in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday that National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomohle, his deputy Niyi Adebayo, the Chief of Staff to the President Abba Kyari and the sacked DG of SSS, Lawal Daura should be held responsible for the deployment of armed SSS personnel that laid siege at National Assembly.

    He said that at no time did the President of the Senate had anything in common with the former DG of SSS apart from official duty, adding that both the National Chairman of APC and the sacked DG SSS with other known cabals in the presidency actually planned the siege on the National Assembly.

    Read Also: Saraki should resign as a matter of honour, says Sagay

    He said “Information at our disposal revealed that as at Thursday 2nd August 2018, National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, his deputy Niyi Adebayo, the Chief of Staff to the President Abba Kyari and the sacked DG of SSS, Lawal Daura, summoned the clerk of National Assembly, Sanni Omoloro who was approved and scheduled to commence his annual vacation on 3rd August 2018 outside the country, but was instructed that the presidency has cancelled his earlier approved vacation as he will be needed to be in Senate on Tuesday to swear in a new leadership of the Senate.

    “Sources close to the Clerk of National Assembly privy to his travel itinerary also revealed to us that the Clerk, based on the instruction given to him by those mentioned above, had no choice than to cancel his planned vacation.

    “With this available information, I hereby call on Acting President Yemi Osinbajo if he is genuinely committed to get to the bottom of the siege at the National Assembly to consider above information given.”

  • ‘Support Buhari’s administration’

    Nigerians have been urged to rally support for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in its bid to tackle the menace of corruption pervading the country.

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC),Olukayode Ehinlanwo made the appeal on Wednesday while declaring his intention to represent Ilaje/Ese-Odo federal constituency for the 2019 election held at Igbekebo,headquarters of Ese-Odo local government of Ondo state.

    According to him, the present change mantra has various dimensions of infrastructural and organisational benefits through which federal and state governments have made giant strides.

    He said” a lot of ground can be regained if we re-strategise our focus, more so with the various opportunities abound for the benefits of our people”.

    Ehinlanwo said the urge to the tap from these multi-farious opportunities the primary objective while he declared his intention to serve his people.

    The aspirant said APC is the only platform that could cater for the collective well-being of the masses.

    Read Also: Tinubu alerts of plot to impeach Buhari

    He noted that the fight against corruption and insurgency were on course, stressing that economic revival, prudent and transparent management of our nation ‘economy and  compassion  for the social welfare of the people would transform the country.

    Besides, he said improvement in power supply, social intervention scheme for school pupils and Agriculture revolution  part if the laudable achievements of Buhari’s administration.

    He said “there is a need to compliment all these efforts and we can only do this by electing people with genuine understanding of what an effective and robust representation is.

    “A representation hinged on diligence, transparency and accountability. These efforts can also gather immeasurable momentum if  we give full support to President Buhari’s re-election in 2019”.

    Ehinlanwo assured that even though ‘looters’ are staging come back, but vowed that they will fail with the determination of progressive Nigerians.

     

  • NASS invasion: APC, Presidency confused, says PDP

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the Presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are confused based on the their reactions to the blockade of the National Assembly complex by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) on Tuesday.

    The PDP also said the two institutions are burdened by guilt, following the barrage of national and international indignation that greeted incident.

    In a statement on Wednesday by the spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said with the “failure” of the Presidency and the APC to sway the public with the sack of the Director General of the DSS, Lawal Daura, they have become “schizophrenic” in their bid to politicise the invasion, while further exposing their culpability in the sordid act.

    In its latest reaction to the invasion, the leadership of the APC had accused the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki of instigating security issues at the National Assembly.

    The Presidency had, in a swift reaction shortly after the invasion, sacked the DG, DSS, Lawal Daura with immediate effect.

    Read Also: PDP to N/Assembly: Impeach Buhari

    Describing the APC’s accusation as jaundiced, the opposition party said the ruling party’s penchant for deceit knew no bounds.

    The statement said, “How can the APC accuse Senate President Saraki of causing security concerns by ‘reconvening’ the National Assembly, when it is public knowledge that the National Assembly has not been reconvened despite the pressure by the factional National Chairman of the APC, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, the Special Adviser to the Presidential on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang and Senator Ahmed Lawan on the leadership of the Senate to reconvene?

    “Is it not revealing that the APC, in alleging that the Senate President ‘reconvened’ the Senate as a pre-emptive move to frustrate federal lawmakers’ move to impeach him, unwittingly exposed their plot to cause violence and illegally take over the Senate?

    “The APC, in its statement, has finally vindicated our position regarding its plans to stampede the Senate President to reopen the National Assembly wherein it will unleash thugs and security agencies to trigger violence, overwhelm the legislature and forcefully take over the leadership of the Senate.

    “Nigerians are now clear on the fact that the invasion was carefully planned by the APC and the Presidency and that they would have succeeded but for the resistance mounted by our lawmakers, Nigerians and the media, who stood in defense of democracy.

    “We invite Nigerians to note that in its attempt to politicize the invasion and provide cover for the culprits in the Presidency and the APC, the APC has ended up exposing their sinister plots and culpability.

    “The PDP therefore insists on an independent panel of enquiry to be headed by a retired Chief Justice of Nigeria to investigate the remote and immediate cause of the assault while all culprits, no matter how highly placed, must be made to face the wrath of the law”.

  • Emmanuel sacks two commissioners linked with Akpabio

    Ahead of the defection of Senator Godswill Akpabio from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom has sacked two commissioners  loyal to Akpabio.

    The commissioners were sacked with immediate effect for what was called “act of disloyalty”.

    Read Also:Osinbajo, Tinubu, others welcome Akpabio to APC

    They are the Commissioners for Labour, Productivity and Manpower Development, Mr Ibanga Akpabio, and Culture and Tourism, Mr Victor Antai.

    The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Charles Udoh, said  the two commissioners had to be removed from the State Executive Council for disloyalty to the governor.

    Ibanga, who is a younger brother to Sen. Godswill Akpabio was sacked alongside Antai for receiving Akpabio, a former governor of the state and Emmanuel’s predecessor, at the Ibom International Airport on Tuesday.

    Akpabio flew into the state preparatory to his plan to defect from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Udoh said the commissioners had to be removed from the state executive council following their “reluctance to comply with good governance processes.’’

    “With the development, they have been mandated to handover to the Permanent Secretary in their respective ministries before close of work on Wednesday August 8,’’ he said.

    The commissioner stressed that the duo showed complete disloyalty to Emmanuel and therefore could not continue to remain in the state executive.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Akpabio on Tuesday tendered his resignation as the senate minority leader and will formally defect to All Progressives Congress Wednesday.

     

  • PDP to N/Assembly: Impeach Buhari

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the National Assembly to immediately pull the full weight of all legislative instruments against President Muhammadu Buhari to save the nation from imminent collapse.

    A statement signed by the spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said President Buhari crossed the line by placing the country’s democracy in jeopardy, thus setting the nation on the path of anarchy.

    The statement said, “The invasion of our highest legislative institution by agents of the Buhari-led executive, a few months after the Senate mace was blazingly carted away by armed hoodlums, is condemnable, reprehensible, unpardonable, and completely unacceptable.

    “With this siege, barely a week after presiding officers of the Senate were held hostage at their residences, it has become clear that the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) intend to forcefully overrun and ultimately shutdown the highest lawmaking organ of the Nigerian government and pave the way for the total suspension of constitutional rule in the country.

    Read Also: “You must join Buhari to transform Nigeria’

    “The PDP notes in this administration’s quest to foist a fascist regime on our country, the APC-led government has taken several steps and actions tending towards the suspension of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), including direct usurpations of the duties and powers of the National Assembly and the judiciary in governance.

    “Nigerians and the international community will recall that the PDP had earlier alerted of this plot, which included the phony medical trip to London for President Buhari as an alibi to exonerate him from any blame for this sordid assaults on democracy.

    “The PDP, therefore, calls on the Government of Britain to support Nigeria at this perilous time by not shielding President Buhari in London. Nigerians urge the British government and other members of the international community to immediately condemn and totally reject the ugly developments in our country.

    “President Buhari and his APC have consecutively and deliberately put our nation and its democracy on harm’s way and the National Assembly, as representatives of the people, must eschew all partisan interests and save the nation by immediately deploying all legislative instruments against President Buhari before it is too late.

    “It is instructive to state that if today’s assault on our legislature had succeeded, it would have been the second time Muhammadu Buhari would have toppled constitutional rule in our country.

    “Finally, the PDP commends Nigerians, who marched out in their numbers today, in response to our earlier call, to resist this brigandage against our nation even as we urge them to remain alert, as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”.

  • Weeding out fifth columnists

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) penultimate week went through another acid test in the run-up to the 2019 general elections.

    This time around it took place at the Senate and House of Representatives plenary sessions, where some lawmakers defected from the ruling APC.

    While 14 senators were said to have defected from the APC, 37 APC members in the House of Representatives were also reportedly defected to other political parties.

    This cross-carpeting coupled with the exit and creation of the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC), some Nigerians believed that the end was near for the ruling party.

    But the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, was of the opinion that those leaving the party didn’t really believe in the ideals of the party in the first place.

    Like weeding out fifth columnists from the party, he believed that it was more dangerous for enemies of the party to remain and continue to camouflage as true and patriotic members of the APC.

    In a chat with State House correspondents, he said, “I insist that I will not miss sleep one minute over mercenary activities.

    “I had said and I want to repeat, this business of governance must be driven by men and women of honour. If the only motivation is personal interest, what is in it for me, what have I gained, how many people have done xyz for, if that is the basis, the earlier those in this business of personal gains, the earlier they return to where they belong the better.

    “This party that I am privileged to chair is not worried at all, we are not disturbed, I am not going to miss my sleep and we will go into the campaign.

    “Check the electoral results, you will find that a lot claimed to have decamped on a good day the vote they got that made them members of the Senate, our President got much more votes in their constituency. So, we are not fooled at all.

    “The thing going on is that you have a lot of so-called big masquerades with very little or no electoral value. I have tried my best which I think I needed to do to give people comfort, those who claimed to be aggrieved.

    “But those who have other hidden agenda that are not negotiable, I am not going to be able to appease anyone who expects x-level of return and the system is not delivering it, in terms of personal return. I can’t solve that.

    “But those who felt that in terms of within the management of the party they have issues, those ones are on the table; it can be dealt with. But those who have issues under the table they are beyond me.

    “But let me assure you, I am so happy that over time that water will find its level. Because, if you remember what I said the day I formally declared my interest to contest, I had said, to be a progressive party means we must be clear that it cannot be a party for everyone.

    “We have to be sure that you subscribed to the values and ideals of a progressive party.  If indeed you belong to the extreme right, and you mistakenly find yourself in a progressive party, obviously that is not where you belong.

    “As soon as you realise that you can’t adjust to the requirement of progressives, which is people driven, people-based, people-oriented and you choose to return to the right wing where you know what the name of the game was, share the money, it is your choice.

    “But I need to remind you, I am not a poor student of struggle, I am not a professor of struggle, I am a product of struggle, I know what I am talking about. Very soon Nigerians will go to the polls and we will see who will deliver what in his constituency.

    “This is a thing that in the morning you will have breakfast with me, in the afternoon you are having lunch with python and in the evening you are having sugarcane with some other forces, I think in the interest of our nation we need to simplify these issues before the electorates. Because, the confusion is that you have coalition of people whose ideas are not compatible.”

    Oshiomhole added “To be very honest with you, it is better you formalize where you belong and be properly identified by your father’s name than purporting to bear my name and you are working for my opponent.

    “Every observer particularly the elite core of the Nigerian media that is represented in the State House, you know that it there has been opposition to this APC government, that opposition has come within the ranks of members of the APC, some in the National Assembly,” he said.

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s social media aide, Mrs. Lauretta Onochie, also believed that the exit of the former APC members is good for the party as it was losing some bad fat.

    On her Twitter handle, she said “As with an obese person who has struggled with weight issues all his life, APC has lost some bad fat.

    “APC is now healthier and better for the Party APC, and the nation. The fear of Adams Oshiomhole is the beginning of wisdom,” she stated.

    The President also wished those who decamped from the party best of luck in their future endeavours.

    Stressing that the APC had done its best to stop the defections, Buhari said, “As the saying goes, all politics is local. We understand that some of the distinguished and honourable lawmakers have issues with their home states, especially on zoning which bars some of them from seeking another term in their constituencies.”

    But Buhari’s core loyalists from the Senate last week Wednesday night stormed the Presidential Villa to show their solidarity to the President.

    A total of 42 members of the APC caucus in the Senate pledged their continued loyalty to the party and the President.

    The Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, who led the delegation said, “We have come to pay a courtesy call on our leader, the President of this country and them inform him about what happened yesterday in the Senate and indeed the National Assembly; the defection by some of our colleagues from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party, the PDP and various political parties. We informed the President of how we stand in the Senate.

    “As at today, the APC caucus in the Senate is 53 in number, followed by the largest minority party the PDP with 48 Senators and then the ADC with 2 Senators, APGA has 2 Senators. We have 2 vacant seats which were occupied by APC Senators who are late now.”

    While the real and remaining APC members in the party will continue to pray that all the enemies of the party are completely shown the way out, it is hoped that subsequent cross carpeting will not heat up the polity.

    Everything should be done to ensure peaceful and violence-free 2019 elections.

  • Court quashes fraud charge against businessman

    The Federal High Court in Lagos has discharged and acquitted a businessman, Dr Taiwo Malumi, of  alleged fraud.

    Justice Saliu Saidu granted the reliefs sought in his motion on notice.

    Malumi, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, sought an order dismissing the charge filed against him by the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU).

    He was accused of selling a property at Unit B9, Funtai Court, Ruxton Road, Ikoyi, to Whitehall Limited Managing Director Mr Nick Shaiyen, who complained to the Police that Malumi defrauded him.

    The Police arraigned Malumi for  claiming that the property was free.

    The defendant prayed the court to discharge him from all criminal infractions or wrongdoings arising from the deal between him and Shaiyen.

    Malumi filed the application on the ground that he had resolved the issues with Shaiyen over which they signed an agreement on November 10, 2016.

    “The agreement by its content is a full and final settlement which has by its content disclosed the prima facie total absence of any fraudulent wrongdoing not only relating to the charge of obtaining by false pretence, but also of any criminal infraction of wrongdoing whatsoever,” the defendant/applicant said.

    He added that the agreement was endorsed by another judge of the court, Justice Abdullazeez Anka with the consent of all parties.

    “It is clear from Paragraph 9 of the agreement that it shall form part of the evidence to be used in court and shall stand as irrefutable proof and acceptance that the entirety of the transaction for sale of the property between the parties was entirely civil and contractual, devoid of any element or trace of criminal wrongdoing or imputation,” Malumi said.

    He emphasised that the agreement was executed by Shaiyen (minor complainant) and his lawyer, thereby clearing Malumi of any involvement in any criminal wrongdoing against his interest.

    Malumi told the court that he asked Shaiyen to pay N170million for the property, but that he only paid a deposit of N40million, but could not complete the balance, due his disaffection with the finishing, among other reasons.

    But, the prosecution urged the court to refuse Malumi’s application on the basis that it was a criminal case involving him and the state.

    “It is only the state acting through the Police that can validly file any process before the court to terminate the present case either by a notice of withdrawal of the charge, plea bargain or settlement and not the victim of the alleged crime,” the Police said.

    Besides, the Police said the charge against Malumi was a felony punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud Act of 2006, and that the agreement was designed to scuttle the case.

    “The defendant is stopped from challenging the charge at this stage of the proceedings as to whether it is perfect or erroneous. The court lacks the jurisdiction to deliver a ruling at this stage of the proceedings. The court is urged to dismiss this application,” the prosecution said.

    Ruling, Justice Saidu noted that the Police was aware of the intention to settle and even played some role in the process, adding that the prosecution communicated the intention to settle to the court.

    According to him, the Commissioner of Police, SFU, was in support of the settlement, and that his office was used to discuss the terms under the supervision of a Deputy Commissioner of Police.

    “The court must always respect the terms of agreement of parties, wherein they have by their own volition expressed their wish to be bound by the terms once the court is satisfied that there is no fraud or misrepresentation.

    “The prosecutor cannot run away from this agreement and deny same. The hand of the prosecutor is tied to the terms of settlement,”the judge held.

    To Justice Saidu, the settlement entered by the minor complainant and the defendant in the prosecutor’s office “is a way of withdrawing the complaint/petition written against the defendant/applicant”.

    The judge was of the view that the circumstances of the case was not the type envisaged under Sections 221 and 396 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

    Justice Saidu noted Shaiyen was to pay N170million for the property, but he did not make the full payment.

    “All the court is being called upon in this case is to recognise and enforce the terms of agreement entered and filed before the court with the knowledge of the prosecution.

    “The equity in this case is that what the parties agreed to must be respected and executed and nothing more. I hereby grant the reliefs sought by the defendant/applicant and quash the charge in this case,” Justice Saidu held.

  • PDP accuses Presidency of inducing senators to impeach Saraki

    The leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has accused the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) of inducing senators to impeach the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

    The opposition party also alleged that the government was in the process of forcing the reopening of the Senate, contrary to Section 12 of the Senate Standing Rules.

    The Senate is currently on annual recess and is expected to resume session on September 25, to begin legislative business.

    But the PDP said the Presidency was offering each lawmaker $1 million to impeach Saraki for defecting from the APC to PDP.

    The Presidency however, said its call for the National Assembly to resume duties was to enable the federal legislature process the 2019 election budget for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    President Muhammadu Buhari had, a week before the National Assembly proceeded on its annual vacation, submitted a budget of N242 billion for the INEC for the consideration of the lawmakers.

    But at a media briefing at its Abuja secretariat on Monday, the PDP queried the timing of the submission of the INEC budget seven months to the general elections.

    Read Also: Resign now, Falana tells Saraki, others

    Besides, the party, through its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the Presidency does not have the powers to order or call for the reopening of the National Assembly, as suggested by the presidential liaison officer for the Senate, Ita Enang.

    Ologbondiyan said, “What Enang had done is just a mere wish. He does not have the power to order or call for the reopening of the Senate.  He is just expressing his personal wishes.

    “As a matter of fact, Sen. Ita Enang has been the chairman of the Senate Rules and Business Committee both in the House and in and the Senate. Would he have listened to anybody from outside the chamber to come and dictate to the presiding officers.

    “It is unfortunate that people who have experience in legislative practices and procedures, when they get to the executive arm, instead of telling the executive the limit of their powers, they pretend to know it all, and by so doing, they mislead the executives. That is exactly what Enang is doing.

    “There are set rules: Section 12 of the Senate Standing Rules puts the opening  of the Senate within purview of responsibility of the President of the Senate and the operational word there is “may”; that is if the Senate President is convinced to reopen the Senate.

    “We must not allow those who have no respect for laws to take charge of our lives because what they are plotting to do have a huge capacity to create anarchy for the nation.

    “This is not a local government parliament, we are talking about our national parliament and some characters are sitting somewhere and dominating ideas that suit their own interests. And they want to use that to subdue what the rules and the laws say. It is totally unacceptable”.

  • Akpabio’s defection, beginning of the end of PDP, says APC chieftain

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has described the defection of Senate Minority Leader, Obong Godswill Akpabio, from the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling APC, as the beginning of the end of PDP.

    He noted that the two-term Governor of Akwa Ibom State (Akapbio) deserved commendation for acting wisely and jumping out of the crashing PDP train, before it would finally crash.

    Eze said: “Knowing Akapbio very well, he is a one-man Tsunami and with him in the progressive train, PDP’s end is only a matter of time. What is more, with Akpabio now in APC, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who recently made the mistake of defecting to the PDP, can be sure that his Presidency of the Senate is only a matter of weeks.

    “The present sorry state of PDP, under the control of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Prince Uche Secondus, is most unfortunate. Wike, who was a mere local government chairman in 1999, has through deft political scheming, turned many key Nigerian leaders still in the PDP into his disciples.

    Read Also: PDP jittery as APC, Akpabio parley

    “I wonder how great leaders like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Saraki, Governor Aminu Tambwual and National Chairman of PDP (Secondus) will now be taking orders from Wike, whose brand of politics is retrogressive.”

    The APC chieftain also congratulated the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, a former Rivers governor, on his reappointment as the Director-General of the Buhari/Osinbajo Presidential Campaign Organisation.

    Eze expressed confidence that Amaechi would, once again, mobilize Nigerians to re-elect President Buhari, whom he described as a divine tool, to bring sanity and development to Nigeria.

     

  • I have no intention to return to PDP – Oke

    The governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the 2016 poll, Chief Olusola Oke (SAN) has refuted the report that he was planning to return to the People’s Democratic Party(PDP).

    Oke who is the former National Legal Adviser of the PDP before joining  the All Progressives Congress (APC) shortly  before 2015 general election won by President Muhammadu Buhari, later moved to the AD and contested against Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the then APC candidate.

    He however retraced his step and returned to APC at a rally in Akure late last year.

    A statement by his media aide, Rotimi Ogunleye said “There is no iota of truth in the story. It is a story planted by his detractors.

    “Regardless of the unfavourable experience in APC as claimed by the planted story, I have no intention of leaving APC either for PDP or any other party for now. Politics is in the air and one will understand the wicked intention behind the planted story especially at this time.

    Read Also: Why we returned to the PDP, by Ahmed

    While appreciating the information dissemination role of the media,Oke was of the opinion that the profession demands the right of confirmation of information and event before their reportage.

    The statement said “We think any information about the person, office, profession or vocation of Chief Oke should be confirmed before any publication of such information as he is accessible and would have thought the said news will be confirmed before its needless reportage.

    “We therefore advise the public to please disregard the news as it only represents the narrow intention of the minds behind the planted story”.