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Tag: APC chief

  • APC chief foresees brighter future

    APC chief foresees brighter future

    NATIONAL Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC) Alhaji Maimala Buni has assured Nigerians that the nation’s economic challenges will soon be over.

    He spoke in Damaturu in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday.

    Buni said fiscal steps taken by the administration could get the country out of the recession.

    He noted that the government is considering a series of measures to create robust employment, wealth and improve lives.

    “The Nigerian economy had been in recession for a long time before President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration came on board.

    “Many scholars and experts saw this coming and predicted same.

    “Nigerians should appreciate the painstaking measures of the APC administration in pushing the economy to survive the turbulent economic storm,’’ Buni said.

    He said the APC government had efficiently checked corruption in governance, saying corruption has been grossly degraded.

    “We have now recorded increased transparency and accountability in government business.

    “This regime has improved revenue generation and remittance, especially in non-oil sectors; this will contribute to national economic growth and development,’’ he said.

     

  • Rivers rerun: DSS arraigns SSG, APC chief

    The Department of State Security (DSS) yesterday arraigned the Secretary to Rivers State Government (SSG), Kenneth Kobani, and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Azubuike Chikere Wanjoku, before the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, the state capital, for alleged breach of the peace during the March 19 legislative rerun.

    The conducts of the duo, the DSS alleged, constituted threats to public peace during the elections.

    But Kobani was granted bail on self-recognisance, being a two-time commissioner in the state and a former Minister of Commerce and Industry under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan before becoming the SSG.

    Wajoku, an APC House of Assembly candidate for Ikwerre Local Government Area, was granted bail for N500,000 with one surety.

    But he was remanded in prison custody, pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions.

    The charges against Kobani as well as the others, said to be on the run, are punishable under the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011.

    The APC chieftain pleaded not guilty to the three-count charges preferred against him.

    The charges read: “That you, Kenneth Kobani, with others at large, on or about March 3, 2016 at a meeting in your home at Bodo community, Gokana Local Government Area, did conspired to carry out activities that could cause the breach of the peace and a breakdown of law and order on March 19, 2016, thereby committing an offence, contrary to Section 516 of the Criminal Code Act.

    “That you, Kobani and others, now at large, on or about March 19, 2016 on the premises of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Gokana Local Government Area, within the jurisdiction of this court, did conduct yourself in a manner that caused the breach of peace by leading and instructing your followers to barricade the entrance to INEC office, prevent officials of the commission and other ad hoc workers from discharging their duties and causing stampede in the vicinity, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 249 d of the Criminal Code.”

    The charges added: “…On or about March 19, 2016 on the premises of INEC office in Gokana Local Government Area, within the jurisdiction of this court, did hold Mr James Simon, an official of the commission and other ad hoc workers hostage until their eventual rescue by security personnel, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 11 of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011.”

    Wanjoku was also charged with alleged breach of the peace by “falsely” accusing Kingsley Osifu, the Ikwerre INEC Electoral Officer of receiving a certain sum of money from him.

    He was also accused of obstructing a public officer, Mr. Kingsley Osifu, from discharging his official duty and for “menacingly” demanding a refund of his money.

    The prosecutor said the offences are punishable under Section 351 of the Criminal Code, Cap C38, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2014.

    Kobani and Wanjoku pleaded not guilty to the charges.

  • Abia APC chief backs anti-graft campaign

    A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Abia State, Dr Ephraim Iroakazi, has said that the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari was just what Nigeria needed to move forward.

    Speaking in Umuahia, Iroakazi said the anti-corruption crusade is credible and transparent but not influenced by the president.

    The anti graft agencies which have woken up to their responsibilities are not being controlled by President Buhari despite the fact that he is the president of the country, contrary to what people are saying.”

    Iroakazi said that people are getting to know about the magnitude of corruption in the country because of the exposition being done by the anti-graft agencies under the administration of President Buhari.

    He denied the accusation of selective prosecution from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying, “They were in government for 16 years with nothing to show for it, only corruption in high places and felt and it would continue forever”.

    Iroakazi said, “Corruption is a monster; it has the capacity to fight back. What is important is the political will of those fighting corruption. The PDP crying out is expected: they have been in government for 16 years”.

    He said that President Buhari has embarked on programs that would revive the economy and make life better for Nigeria and has set up a team headed by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to rejuvenate and revive the economy.

    Iroakazi said, “What is happening is putting down required template that will put the economy on sure footing and emphasis is in the area of agriculture and natural resources for food security”.

     

  • Decision on Akwa Ibom polls curious, says APC chief

    Decision on Akwa Ibom polls curious, says APC chief

    National Vice Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the Southsouth Prince Hilliard Eta, yesterday, lamented that the tribunal judgment in the Akwa Ibom election was “curious”

    Eta said the judgment was not sustainable in the right of the decision in the case in Rivers State.

    In a statement yesterday, he explained that the judicial decisions on the election cases in Akwa Ibom State were curious in the light of the fact that the European Union, the American government, the African Union and local election monitors agreed that there were no elections in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states, only for the courts to cancel all disputed elections but one in Rivers while upholding all election cases in Akwa Ibom.

    “I am of the strong opinion that what accounts for the differential judicial outcome on the Siamese election fraud cases in Rivers and Akwa Ibom is corruption,” the APC South-South national vice-chairman said.

    Lamenting that the judiciary had reduced Nigeria to a laughing stock before the international community, Eta drew attention to specific cases in the handling of election petitions in Akwa Ibom. He noted that in Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District (Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District), where both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal upheld the election of the Senate Minority Leader, Chief Godswill Akpabio, the number of votes cast, which stood at 450,000, according to INEC records, far exceeded the number of registered voters in the district, which stood at 205,000 voters.

    ‘’Yet the courts overlooked this clear case of over-voting, contrary to Section 53 of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended. In the case of the governorship election petition, the tribunal also refused to take into account the case of over-voting where 1,222,836 votes were recorded by Akwa Ibom State INEC as against INEC headquarters Card Reader data showing that only 437,128 voters were accredited to vote.

    ‘’The courts equally overlooked the critical fact that Senator Akpabio was not presented by his party for election in Akwa Ibom North West, where he was declared elected, only to  rationalise that the nomination of Akpabio in a different senatorial district other than where he was declared winner was a minor error outweighed by the curious view of the courts that the voters knew whom they voted for even if he was not validly nominated.

    Eta compared the case of Akpabio v Okori of the APC to the decision of the tribunal in Taraba State, where it was decided that the PDP candidate, who is now the governor, could not be returned elected because he was not validly nominated by his party due to a similar irregularity in his nomination process. Votes for the PDP candidate were regarded as wasted because he was not validly noted. Why was the law applied differently in Akwa Ibom North Senatorial District? Eta asked.

    Eta repeated his call to the Judiciary to uphold the rule of law and save the nation’s young democracy from fatal judicial abuse.

     

     

     

  • Adamawa APC chief dead

    The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lamurde Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Shedrack Gajere, is dead.

    The politician had been battling stroke for months, it was learnt, and had been bed-ridden in the last few months.

    APC’s Secretary in the local government, Mr. Lawson N. Ignatius, announced Gajere’s demise to reporters.

    The late Gajere, according to Ignatius, was recuperating from a stroke, for which he was hospitalised at the state’s Specialist Hospital in Yola, the state capital.

    Ignatius said: “…Death has finally snatched away our chairman, Mr. Gajere, who …was the chairman of the APC in Lamurde Local Government Area. He was recuperating from a stroke.”

    The APC secretary said the late politician would be buried this weekend.

    He said: “We urge you all to pray for the repose of his soul. His legacy as a steadfast and loyal party man, who laboured to entrench firmly the APC in Adamawa State and Lamurde Local Government Area will continue to endure.”

    The late Gajere is survived by a wife, Blessing, and five children.

     

  • Brutalised APC chief returns from medical trip

    Brutalised APC chief returns from medical trip

    The coordinator of the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation in Anambra State, Chief Ifeanyichukwu Nwokoye, who was brutalised by men of the Department of State Service (DSS), has returned from his medical trip.

    Nwokoye was assaulted by DSS officials at his May-Roses Hotel on April 27.

    Nwokoye, who returned last week, vowed to seek legal redress.

    His words: “We thank God I’m still alive. I have never experienced such brutality in my life and I will not leave the matter like that; they will face the court.

    “As we are talking now, my sight is yet to clear and my shoulder requires another round of operation in a few weeks. I still have pains all over my body, including my eyes.”

     

  • Who killed Lagos APC chief?

    Who killed Lagos APC chief?

    who killed Alhaji Azeez Asake, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos last Saturday?

    The APC and a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, cried foul yesterday over his death, demanding a probe.

    Asake was killed after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rally in Lagos last Saturday, which was attended by President Goodluck Jonathan and the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, among others.

    In a statement, Lagos State APC Publicity Secretary Joe Igbokwe alleged that  Asake was shot dead by the notorious Abuja group loyal to a serving minister from the state.

    It recalled that two weeks ago the same group allegedly shot dead one Wasiu Lawal in Ajah where APC members were holding their weekly meetings. It said no arrest has been made.

    APC said it has not been informed of any arrest made in connection with the killing of Asake’s death. The party warned that if the ‘murderous’ gang “are not called to order, they would create further crisis that will lead to bloodshed in Lagos”.

    Hon Okoya-Thomas, representing Lagos Island Federal Constituency condemned what she called the “gruesome murder” of Asake.

    Okoya-Thomas decried violence and thuggery in politics, stressing that they are threatening the peace of Lagos Island and the state in general. She called on security agencies to bring to justice the perpetrators of the dastardly act.