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Tag: All Progressives Congress

  • How PDP spent N11b forms proceeds, by Secondus

    How PDP spent N11b forms proceeds, by Secondus

    The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday gave account of how the controversial N12 billion generated by the party during the last general elections was spent.

    The money was the proceeds from sale of nomination and expression of interest forms from various elective office seekers across the federation.

    At a briefing in Abuja, the party’s Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, said the actual amount was not N12 billion but a little over N11b.

    According to him, “10 percent of the money went to the state chapters, five percent to the zonal chapters and another five percent to local government chapters of the party.

    “Another 15 percent was expended on assignments by various party functionaries and the rest was used to fund our campaigns. We raised money and we used the money for elections. We don’t need to go into details”.

    Protesting workers at the party secretariat have been at war with the Secondus-led National Working Committee (NWC) following the alleged embezzlement of the money, which they said was partly responsible for the poor outing of the PDP in the general election.

    The NWC had threatened to sack half of the workers and reduce their pay by 50 per cent, a development that further infuriated the aggrieved workers.

    Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, who led the PDP Senate caucus to the briefing, explained why the party must reduce the secretariat workers.

    Akpabio said: “We can no longer run to the Villa for cash so we don’t have the wherewithal to maintain that large number of secretariat workers.

    “The workers should understand that they are in a master-servant relationship in which you cannot force an unwilling master to keep a recalcitrant servant. We are definitely going to downsize”.

    Akpabio and Secondus complained about what they described as “harassment and intimidation” of the party’s ex-governors and former ministers who served under the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    According to them, the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were singling out ex PDP public office holders for investigation.

    They urged the anti grant and security agencies to prove that only ex-PDP public office holders were corrupt and that those that were elected under the All Progressives Congress (APC) were saints.

    “We have been reading in the papers about corrupt practices in Rivers and Lagos State under the control of the APC. But the EFCC has not deemed it fit to invite the immediate past governors of these states,” Secondus said.

    The party leaders also complained about what they termed the arrest and intimidation of electoral officials in Rivers, Akwa Inom and Abia states by the DSS, saying the trend was limited to states under the control of the PDP.

    They cautioned the Federal Government against selective application of the law, saying the process must be seen to be holistic.

  • New appointments vindicate Buhari – APC

    New appointments vindicate Buhari – APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South East geopolitical zone said on Friday that recent appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari is a clear demonstration that the President bears no grudge against any section of the country.

    In a statement issued by its Zonal Spokesman, Osita Okechukwu and made available to journalists in Abuja, the party said the appointment of Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and Engr. Dennis Ajulu as Group Managing Director and Group Executive Director (Exploration and Production) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) respectively vindicated his earlier position that every region of the country under his watch would receive equal and fair treatment.

    He also applauded the enlistment of Enugu Airport among the airports to be upgraded, describing it as a clear indication and demonstration that Mr. President bears no grudge against Ndigbo for not voting for him.

    He recalled that South-East APC had earlier assured the Igbos that President Buhari will not marginalize them for not voting for him and therefore urged Ndigbo to disregard gossip-terrorists and ethnic merchants peddling falsehood that President Buhari hates the Ndigbo.

    “Since I cannot assume to know all the pressing issues facing Ndigbo or what Ndigbo expect of the new Nigeria we wish to build, I would greatly appreciate if you could kindly arrange a consultative meeting with Ohaneze Ndigbo where we could discuss and try to determine how this could best be done.

    “I considered it pertinent to hold consultations with all communities nationwide in order to build a mutually acceptable national consensus. Needless to add, no national consultation will be complete or meaningful without a meeting with the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo.”

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  • NNPC probe: What mother tick told its children

    According to a certain African folklore, mother tick, the wizened matriarch of the blood-sucking specie of mites is said to have told her little ones to always stay calm and take cover each time humans begin to act up and begin to switch on the heat.

    “Stay quiet and lie low my children,” mother tick would admonish her fledgling parasites in hushed tone, “whatever is heated up would eventually grow cold.”

    Could this be the unfolding scenario in Nigeria today? Is the new All Progressives Congress (APC) government losing the momentum that brought it to office or is it actually planning diligently to unleash the real transformation?

    Apart from the fact that 30 days after inauguration, the President’s core backroom team (chief of staff and all the secretaries) is not yet in place and running, people fear there may be some disorientation when they eventually come on board.

    The civil servants may just get used to reporting directly to number one to the detriment of the appointees. This will mean that there may be so much bad blood that crucial tasks requiring urgent action may be jeopardised.

    One notable example is the ongoing attempt to probe the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). After the inauguration of the National Economic Council (NEC) last Monday, President Muhammadu Buhari set up a four-member committee to probe an alleged misappropriation of about N3.5 trillion by the NNPC and another N2 trillion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

    The panel comprises the governors of Edo (Adam Oshiomhole), Gombe (Ibrahim Dankwanbo), Kaduna (Nasir el-Rufai) and Akwa-Ibom, (Emmanuel Udom).

    NEC is a conclave of all the governors of the land and the president; it meets every month to deliberate on broad national issues. Now the matter of NNPC is crucial being Nigeria’s most strategic asset and again, being at the core of the unbridled corruption that ravaged the country in the last few years. Flashing a searchlight on this body is neither an ad-hoc affair nor a matter for busy governors.

    NNPC is Nigeria’s putrid honey pot. It requires a truly forensic audit of its affairs in the last five to 10 years. There is need to ascertain the true picture and completely revamp and upgrade its processes. There is need for even a forensic review of an earlier forensic audit by a certain accounting firm. NNPC is the heart and soul of the nation; it is an elaborate enigma, a jigsaw puzzle that would solve most of Nigeria’s problems if handled right.

    This is why Hardball is worried that after 30 days of the CHANGE administration and after all we know about this bastion of corruption, we can only come up with this kind of committee. If we mismanage the NNPC affair, it means that we are not gonna  get much else right. With this excited crowd of panelists to probe NNPC, the blood-suckers, like mother tick, would take one look and chuckle to themselves: “We thought these fellows were serious!”

  • PDP’s BoT meeting in Bayelsa sparks row

    PDP’s BoT meeting in Bayelsa sparks row

    It was meant to bring peace. But a meeting by the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  in Bayelsa State to reconcile feuding groups ahead of the December 5 governorship election has provoked more controversies.

    The Acting Chairman of the party’s BoT, Dr. Haliru Mohammed, it was gathered, presided over the parley which was convened on Sunday at the courtyard of the former President Goodluck Jonathan in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area.

    It was gathered that the meeting was at the behest of Jonathan, who was said to be making efforts to halt the exodus of his party men to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    A core decision taken at the gathering, it was learnt, was the lifting of the suspension and expulsion of party leaders by the State Working Committee (SWC).

    The SWC, in a move supported by the Governor Seriake Dickson, expelled for anti-party activities during the last general elections.

    They were sanctioned a few months after the state chairman of the party was suspended for allegedly diverting N40million campaign funds donated by the former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke – an allegation he denied.

    But the move backfired and led to a prolonged crisis that saw some disgruntled people pitching their tent with the APC.

    The Saturday meeting, which started at 11am, however, ended with anti-Dickson forces claiming that the governor and the chairman of the state Reconciliation Committee were barred from the gathering.

    One of the anti-Dickson party members said the meeting, insisted that Dickson and Alameiyesiegha should not be part of it.

    The source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The two were asked to leave and were accompanied out of the venue by Haliru before the meeting commenced. They accused Alamieseigha of taking sides and insisted that he should not be party of the gathering.

    But a loyalist of the governor who spoke in confidence said nobody was walked out of the meeting.

    He said: “This is part of a campaign of calumny against Dickson. I was present at the meeting and nobody was walked out. It is senseless to say that a sitting governor who also initiated the reconciliation and a former governor who is the chairman of the reconciliation committee were barred from attending a meeting. It is unbelievable. Nothing of such happened”.

    Also, the Secretary of the state Reconciliation Committee, Chief Thompson Okorotie, said there was no time the governor or any member of the party was walked out of the meeting.

    He said the Haliru-led committee met with groups separately as part of diplomacy in resolving the crisis.

    “Dickson had an engagement to inaugurate the Nembe City stadium. So after concluding his meeting with the committee, he was allowed to go for his engagement with his entourage. We also followed him to Nembe.

    “Alamieyeseigha followed us to Nembe. Even the former President left shortly because the committee wanted to be left alone with the people they invited to meet. So, it is not true that he was walked out of the meeting,” he said.

    Also, the state Secertary of PDP, Mr.  Godspower Keku, said the meeting ended peacefully, with a call on feuding members and stakeholders to close ranks, ahead of the forthcoming governorship poll.

    He said the meeting resolved to rescind the suspension and expulsion of some members, who had despite the internal squabbles, remained in the PDP, unlike those, who defected to the opposition.

    He said the decision was taken in the best interest of the party, especially with a crucial election around the corner.

    According to him, the decision was taken on Dickson’s request.

     He, however, pointed out that, the lifting of the suspensions was still subject to the ratification of the state’s working committee, which is expected to deliberate on it soon.

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  • PDP, DSS and election matters

    PDP, DSS and election matters

    [dropcap]I[/dropcap]n a syndicated publication in several newspapers and prime-time news-reports in the electronic media, a group known as the Public Interest Lawyers League, accused the Department of State Security (DSS) of intimidating, coercing and detaining vital witnesses of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting at Abuja.

    Earlier, the same group of lawyers had accused the DSS of harassing the Akwa-Ibom Resident Electoral Commissioner, Austin Okojie so that he will acquiesce in the execution of an alleged plot to deny the PDP the governorship seat in the state. Of   course, not to be left out in this DSS-bashing game is a group of senators and members of the House of Representatives from Rivers State under the auspices of Rivers State Caucus, National Assembly, led by Senator George Sekibo (PDP, Rivers South-East Senatorial District), who claim that the secret service is being used to arm-twist the hands of the electoral tribunal hearing the petition against Governor Nyesom Wike.

    A single thread that runs through their protests is the unsubstantiated claim that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has elicited the services of the DSS as a manipulative and arm-twisting tool to reclaim the governorship seats from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states.

    In a press statement signed by Abdul Mahmud and Mathew Jibril, President and Executive Director respectively, the Public Interest Lawyers criticized the DSS over what it described as “certain hideous occurrences, outside of the courtroom, that portend clear and present danger to the ends of justice in the election dispute”.

    Similarly, the group claims that the allegations against Okojie “were inappropriate and the APC had no right to conclude that the man’s actions (Okojie) were criminal without any proven evidence”.  Given these protestations, the pertinent question remains:  Are these protests being driven by political considerations or genuine concerns for the promotion of justice in election matters?

    It would appear that the protestations from these groups with regard to the activities of the DSS in election matters border not only on ignorance but on the need to ensure that INEC officials and PDP members accused of the promotion or commission of violent crimes during the governorship elections in Akwa-Ibom and Rivers States are not tried and punished.

    These critics of DSS activities do not seem to appreciate the fact that the same activities by INEC officials could lead to two different outcomes – the one, electoral; and the other, criminal.  For instance, the non-release of election result sheets by a resident electoral commissioner to the polling centres and booths as required by the electoral law could lead to the distorted outcome of the result of an election, as well as the maiming and killing of voters arising from the violent disruption of election proceedings.  In this circumstance, are the police or the DSS expected to keep hands at akimbo and allow injustice to prevail?

    Now, it must be mischievously absurd to suggest that the investigation of a resident electoral commissioner whose activities wittingly or unwittingly led to the death of innocent voters on Election Day is tantamount to the police or the DSS interfering in an electoral matter before an election tribunal or the courts.

    The truth of the matter is that while election tribunals and the courts are meant to redress distorted election results arising from the manipulation of an election process – rigging, the police and the DSS are required by law to investigate, arrest and prosecute all those, including INEC officials, whose actions engendered crises and violent crimes in the electoral process.

    And there is no law that I know in this country or elsewhere in the world which says that election tribunals and security agencies cannot carry out their different constitutional responsibilities in election matters, simultaneously.

    From the benefit of the appraisals just made above regarding the different outcomes – electoral and criminal – that could manifest, for instance, from the single action of a resident electoral commissioner, it becomes clear that almost all the groups or interests using the media to demonize the DSS and its operatives over the election matters in Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states are simply crying wolf where there is none.

    In the light of what we know about the killings on the day of the governorship election in Akwa-Ibom State allegedly arising from the actions or inactions of the resident electoral commissioner, what do we make of the ranting of the Public Interest Lawyers League that the DSS has been unduly harassing Okojie because of “the interest of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Akwa-Ibom’s natural resources”?

    Similarly, in the light of the reported widespread violent crimes and killings that graced the Rivers State governorship election, can any rational mind take seriously the moronic insinuations by the Rivers State Caucus, National Assembly, led by Senator Sekibo that “they have witnessed the modus operandi of the DSS and have come to the conclusion that what’s happening can be best described as dictatorship in a democratic regime”?

    No matter what anybody might like to say to the contrary, the Public Interest Lawyers League and the Rivers State Caucus, National Assembly, among others, are just the public arrow-head of the hierarchy of the corrupt and discredited past PDP henchmen in Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states.

    Their strategy is to cry foul and sound alarmist in order to embarrass the Buhari Presidency in the hope of getting it to interfere and obstruct the DSS from carrying out its constitutional duty to Nigeria regarding the atrocities that were committed by INEC officials, – high and low – in Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states during the 2015 general elections that led to the death of innocent voters.

    The members of these groups are no democrats interested in protecting the peoples’ mandate.  They are simply the fronts for PDP politicians in Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states interested only in protecting their anticipated loot and underserved privileges they hope to reap and enjoy over the next four years if the PDP governments of Emmanuel Udom and Nyesom Wike are given the oxygen of life by the election tribunals.

    Nigerians must, therefore, resist these characters masquerading as public do-gooders for the peoples of Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states by extending their undiluted support to the DSS in its crackdown and investigation of Okojie and Mrs. Gesila Khan, the Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, with regard to their activities during the 2015 general elections that reportedly led to the death of innocent voters.

    After all, there is nothing special about INEC officials to warrant their being treated with kid gloves or as persons above the laws of Nigeria.  The DSS must, therefore, continue its investigation of the activities of INEC officials in Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states, whether or not they are witnesses in the petitions filed at the election tribunals.

    There is no known law in Nigeria, including the Electoral Act that precludes the DSS from doing its work because suspects in the cases its operatives are handling are witnesses in matters before election tribunals and the courts.

    • Nkemjika, is Co-author of “Oil Exploration in Northern Nigeria: Problems and Prospects”.
  • Tribunal grants Isiaka access to INEC’s documents

    Tribunal grants Isiaka access to INEC’s documents

    The Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal yesterday rejected bids by Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gboyega Isiaka, from accessing the materials used in the April 11 election.

    The tribunal granted Isiaka’s prayer to have unfettered access to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) documents used during the election.

    Tribunal Chairman, Justice Henry Olusiyi said Isiaka’s prayer succeeded and was granted because it has considerable merit.

    According to Justice Olusiyi, Amosun’s counsel Olumide Ayeni was unable to convince the court how the granting of Isiaka’s prayer would be prejudice.

    Isiaka’s counsel Funminiyi Adeleke argued that INEC’s documents would assist in the determination of the substantive petition before the tribunal.

    Adeleke argued that granting the application would be in line with the applicant’s right to fair hearing as well as strengthening justice.

    But, in opposing the application at the time, Ayeni argued that it was grossly incompetent and that the tribunal also lacked the jurisdiction to entertain it

    The counsel also reckoned that the application sought to embark upon a fishing expedition for evidence, thus rendering it an utter and complete ruse calculated to mislead the tribunal.

    He explained that all documents being sought by the applicant have been in his custody as demonstrated by the available information before the court.

    In granting the application, Justice Olusiyi said the issue for determination was resolved in the affirmative in support of the applicant.

    “Counsel to the first respondent failed to show how granting the application would prejudice him.

    “There’s considerable merit in the application, it succeeds and is hereby granted,” he ruled.

    The tribunal, however, directed that Amosun’s and APC’s representatives should be available during the inspection, which should be concluded in seven days.

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  • Buhari can’t perform magic, needs time – Tinubu

    Buhari can’t perform magic, needs time – Tinubu

    The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu on Tuesday declared that President Muhammadu Buhari cannot perform magic to bring instant changes to the country.

    He said that Buhari needs time to plan, examine, re-evaluate what is on ground towards taking accurate steps that will bring about the changes Nigerians desire.

    Tinubu spoke to State House correspondents after meeting President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, Nigeria has had many problems because of policies that were created without adequate and effective planning.

    Responding to a question on delayed changes expected by Nigerians, he said: “Excuse me! Let us calm now here. How long ago? May 29th was when this president was sworn in. It is an international norm all over the world, there is an honeymoon period, at least minimum of 100 days honeymoon.

    “And you won’t allow honeymoon at all? You said change is not coming, change is not by magic it is driven by the people, the spirit and the character and the planning.

    “You see, we have had so much problem in this country in the past because we run into policy blind folded without adequate and effective planning you don’t have results unless you plan well,” he said.

    Continuing, he said: “The time it takes you to plan, examine, rejig, re-evaluate is more important than the time you just rush into taking action because you are either being sentimental, being emotional and being driven by other forces that are not expected.

    “It is not fair to jump into those conclusions. There must be time to plan, to review and even listen to people. There is a separation between a campaign period, articulating your vision, expressing the promises to Nigerians, there is a time to look at wholistically what you inherited, analysis it, distill and then take action.

    “Even in 100 meters race, there is a time to say on your mark, set, ready, go. So you don’t even want a time to be on your mark, set and go? No no no. You are not being fair.” He added

    He said that the purpose of his visit to President Buhari is to ensure that the right tract is maintained.

    He said: “The purpose of this visit is to see my president and our leader. The purpose is to ensure we are on the right tract and coming back from a very successful trip to United States of America.”

    On the report that the President’s meeting with APC members in the House of Representatives on Monday was deadlocked, he said: “That is the conclusion of the press. Deadlock if we are going for literally translation that is people’s opinion, I have not read any comment from the parties whether it was deadlock or not, that is the media conclusion.

    “But the question is a political process it needs to develop its own life to be worked upon to really stabilize and continue to serve the interest of the populace. As a matter of fact when the National Assembly job starts, the job of lawmaking in earnest, the president needs to step in once in a while as he did to let people to understand the import of the expectations of the public and particularly of the international community on various Programmes and institutions.

    “We need to build the institutions, make it viral and effective for the entire country. To step in to douse any conflict is not a wrong thing or do you think is wrong?” he queried.

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  • APC hails Buhari for ending workers’ misery

    APC hails Buhari for ending workers’ misery

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for coming to the aid of the long-suffering Nigerian workers with a multi-billion-naira package.

    The party aid the aid  will not only ensure that all arrears of salaries owed by many states across the country are immediately paid, but will also make it easier for the states to meet their monthly salary obligations henceforth.

    In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the APC said it was particularly delighted that the President has shown that he is truly the father of the nation by eschewing partisanship in approving the intervention fund for all the states, irrespective of which parties they belong to.

    ”We say this because when states were financially handicapped during the tenure of the last federal government, opposition states were hung out to dry why states belonging to the then ruling PDP got generous bailouts,” it said.

    APC said by his action, President Buhari has practicalized his deep understanding of the essence of governance which, more than anything else, is the about the well being of the citizenry.

    The party said worthy of note and commendation is the fact that the special intervention fund approved by President Buhari was packaged without any external borrowing, despite the paucity of funds occasioned by the fall in the price of crude oil and the unprecedented profligacy of the immediate past administration that dried out the pot of national resources.

    It said so early in the life of his administration, President Buhari is walking his talk by showing that with prudence, financial discipline, plugging financial leakages and a deep sense of patriotism, even the nation’s dwindling resources can still be more effectively utilized for the benefit of Nigerians, rather than be looted by thieving public officials who abuse their office.

    APC described as uncharitable and a clear indication that shame has taken flight the situation in which those who created the rot that is now being cleared by President Buhari are the same ones daring to point accusing fingers at the government that inherited their rot.

    ”The PDP that spent the past 16 years plundering and pillaging Nigeria has boasted that the Nigerian people will soon come, cap in hand, to beg them to return to power. What delusion! What arrogance! Who presided over the looting and the mismanagement of public funds that made it impossible for the nation to absorb the shock of the falling oil prices? Who depleted the Excess Crude Account (ECA) without authorization? Who has degraded the standard of living of Nigerians?” the party queried.

    APC said the multi-pronged package approved by President Buhari includes the sharing of about $2.1 billion sourced from the LNG’s payment to the Federation Account; and a CBN-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging between N250 billion to N300 billion, as a soft loan available to states to access for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries.

    Also, the President has approved a debt relief programme that will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660 billion. The implication is that the life span of such loans will be extended, while reducing the states’ debt-servicing expenditures, thus leaving the states with enough resources – which otherwise would have been removed at source by the banks – to meet their monthly salary obligations, among others.

    ”History is repeating itself before our very eyes. Some 31 years ago, Buhari, then as a military head of state, also inherited a huge national rot similar to what has been bequeathed to it by the PDP, and had to approve 480 million Naira for the payment of arrears of workers’ salaries. Truly, the President is a man of destiny,” the party said.

    It said that with thousands of workers made destitute by the frittering away of the commonwealth under a rapacious and wasteful PDP government now being given a new lease of life, their purchasing power being boosted and the nation’s economy being reflated, the change which the President and his party promised the nation has just begun.

    ”We thank Nigerians for voting the APC into power at the centre and for believing in us even when the horizon became hazy, not out of our making but because of the misdeeds of the past. By their relentless support for President Buhari and the APC, Nigerians have indeed demonstrated that what is worth fighting for is worth defending,” APC said

  • APC Scandinavia: Crisis will strengthen Party

    APC Scandinavia: Crisis will strengthen Party



    The All Progressives Congress (APC) Scandinavia chapter has described the current crisis in the party as one that would further strengthen the party.
    The statement was made on Thursday by Mr. Ayoola Lawal, National Coordinator, APC Scandinavia during a caucus meeting in Sweden.
    Lawal opined that Nigerians and the International communities should not be exceedingly alarmed at the current crisis facing the formidable party.

    He stated that: “Crisis are regular part of growth and development and we want to assure everyone that All Progressives Congress will overcome this current crisis and come through stronger and better than it was known before now.”

    “For us at APC, it is not a challenge but a test of our resilience that our party loyalist and Nigerians can testify to over the years even before we won the last general elections at the federal level.

    “The party is a party of orderliness and that is why we are still this coordinated. If this sort of crisis befell another party in this country, even the former ruling party, it would have grown out of hands.”

    The coordinator further noted that it is, however, pertinent that everyone in the party respect the party hierarchy and act in agreement with laid down rules and regulations as contained in the party’s constitution.

    “We implore every House of Representatives member and all Senators elected on the platform of the APC to maintain the level of orderliness associated with the party,” Lawal stated.

  • NASS: Ashafa urges APC lawmakers to unite

    NASS: Ashafa urges APC lawmakers to unite

    Senator Gbenga Ashafa ofLagos East Senatorial District, has urged other senators elected on the platform of his party, All Progressives Congress, APC to close ranks and settle down to work, having come to terms with the enormity of the task before them.

    Ashafa made this statement in reactions to the senate inauguration fallout and how it affects the legislative body.

    He pleaded that members of the APC Senators Unity Forum, the senators of Like Minds and other such caucuses in the 8th senate should collapse their structures and form a united, progressive front that will work with the new leadership of the red chamber for the overall interest of the Nigerian people.

    The second term senator who is well known to be a bridge-builder amongst his colleagues in the senate made the call on the heels of the fallout which trailed the stormy inauguration of the senate on June 9 where Senator Bukola Saraki emerged as the senate president as against Senator Ahmed Lawan, the candidate anointed by APC.

    He furthers, “We have to realize that the hopes of Nigerians are high. The new government has amassed a lot of political capital – having been elected as a result of the massive build-up of goodwill for our various candidates in the elections and the stark disenchantment with the previous administration.

     As a result, the goodwill of Nigerians must not be taken for granted. So I make this call for one Nigeria and it starts with us – One Senate, united for the progress of our various constituents and translating change into policies and laws that will, in turn, yield tangible and beneficial results for everyone.”

    Senator Ashafa urged all party members with various leanings to push aside their personal ambitions for now, noting that whilst the party’s decision is binding on us all, we must see the bigger picture which is a progressive and united Nigeria.

     He concluded saying he will be devoted to pro-people policies and promised a re-invigorated approach to committee oversight functions upon resumption from the current recess embarked upon by the 8th senate.