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Tag: APC defectors

  • APC defectors allege death threats

    •’No one wants to kill them’

    EX-chapter Chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State, who led over 20,000 members to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday, have alleged threats to their lives.

    The former chairmen, who addressed a news conference yesterday, said they were harassed by thugs suspected to be loyal to APC while returning home after their defection.

    Joseph Amah, who spoke for others, said: “Our members trooped out and celebrated their freedom from political oppressions and unending impunity, as practised in APC. Thereafter, as our people were heading home, they were molested by hoodlums sponsored by APC.

    “The former chairman of Nsit Atai was attacked and his tyres damaged. In Ibesikpo Asutan, Eket and Ikot Ekpene, the former APC stalwarts were harassed and intimidated. This ugly situation is most reprehensible and must be condemned”.

    “This conference is to alert the public that if anything happens to us, Chief Godswill Akpabio, Obong Nsima Ekere, Uyo Nathaniel and Chief Sunny Ibanga should be held responsible. Having not yielded to their pressures to remain in their evil political coven, they have resorted to threats and violence. In the days ahead, we will expose the contents of the play book of APC and how they hope to overrun the state with federal might.”

    Amah added that their suspicion and the names mentioned were based on “earlier moves, threats and calls to prevent them from defecting from APC, having got tired of “the systematic deceit, strategic economic demobilisation and sheer lack of focus by the leadership of APC”.

    “Prior to yesterday’s event, there were spirited moves to prevent us from holding the event but we marched on, knowing that the true measure of a man isn’t where he stands in moment of comfort and conveniences,” he added.

    But APC stakeholders have described the claims of death threats as “fraudulent”, insisting they remain committed members of APC.

    Former senatorial aspirant in Ikot Ekpene Uduakobong Akpoho, who addressed reporters in Eket following PDP’s purported reception of APC members at the Ibom Hall in Uyo, said the defection was a charade packaged to mislead the public.

    He said: “We convened this conference to refute claims of the defection at Ibom Hall by PDP, claiming our members have joined them. We are foundation members of APC; our party is intact.

    Read also: PDP accuses EFCC of witch-hunt

    “None of the people they listed defected; none of the people you’ve seen here today defected. I want the world to know the purported defection is a figment of their imagination. What you saw today on television is advanced political fraud, it is a scam.”

    Akpoho reiterated the stakeholders’ support for candidates of APC, and warned PDP against deceiving the public.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Suspect held for attacking APC defectors

    The police, at the weekend, arrested a suspected political thug for allegedly attacking members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Brass Local Government in Bayelsa State.

    The suspect, identified as Clement Atonyefa, popularly known on the Island as Black Arrow, was reportedly held after he tried to shoot at some of those who defected to the PDP.

    It was gathered that the suspect accosted some of the defectors on their way home after a ceremony organised by the Brass Caretaker Chairman, Victor Isaiah, to receive them.

    But his loaded pistol was said to have malfunctioned when he attempted to pull the trigger, and in the process he was overpowered by youths with assistance from the Brass volunteers.

    Atonyefa, who was taken to the police station in Brass, is said to be a loyalist of the only APC member in the House of Assembly, Israel Sunny-Goli.

    The suspect and the pistol were reportedly handed over to the police in Brass for interrogations and further investigations.

    He was said to have been transferred to the state Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Yenagoa, the state capital.

    Police spokesman Butswat Asinim confirmed the arrest but said it was a case of illegal possession of firearms.

    Asinim said youths from the community brought Atonyefa to the station with a pistol, which they said they recovered from him.

    He said although the suspect claimed the rifle was planted on him, the police had commenced investigations to determine the truth.

    He said: “The suspect was brought to the state headquarters and the police have commenced investigations into the matter. Those, who handed him over to the police said they found him with the pistol.

    “But the suspect said the gun was planted on him. We have commenced investigations to determine the truth. It is only investigations that will determine whether the suspect is culpable or not”.

  • I can’t work with Saraki – Kwara PDP chairman

    The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, said on Thursday that he cannot work with the All Progressives Congress (APC) defectors led by Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

    He said other members of the party executive committee in Kwara cannot work with the defectors too.

    Two senators – Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara North) and Rafiu Ibrahim (Kwara South) – as well as six members of the House of Representatives from the state were among federal legislators that defected from the APC on Tuesday.

    Saraki and the state Governor, AbdulFattah Ahmed, are expected to announce their own defection soon.

    Oyedepo, who spoke on the development during a radio programme in Ilorin, said the national leadership of the PDP has set up a committee to interface between his group and the defectors.

    He said the first meeting is slated for next week.

    The PDP chairman, who said he had just returned from a meeting with PDP leaders in Abuja, blamed the party’s national leadership for being allegedly insensitive to the political configuration in Kwara State and allowed themselves to be swayed by funding capacity of the defectors.

    According to him, the option before the leaders is to choose between his group and the one led by Saraki.

    He said: “We have not been opportuned to sit down with the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and the state governor, Alhaji AbdulFattah Ahmed, even though I’m hearing several rumours that I have met with them and that they have offered me juicy positions. These are all lies, the Senate President despite his humongous wealth, does not have what it takes to buy me. He cannot ever buy me because he cannot buy my integrity. If my bank account is not fat, my integrity account is very fat.

    “So they have not met with us but our national body said they have set up a committee to meet with the two sides next week and when that meeting comes up we are going to tell the national that we cannot accept the formula they have put down which is 60:40, 60 percent for a state defecting with the governor and 40 percent for the existing PDP members. And if they said what of 50:50, or 40:60 or 30:70 or even 10:90, we shall not accept; we cannot accept any offer. Anything less than our not working together we cannot accept.

    “So we will tell our national body to choose between us and them and I know that they will not choose us because we don’t have money but we are not worried. We will only know that an end has come to our journey and our relationship (in the PDP).

    “If we agree to work with them (Saraki) just imagine myself and (Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed) Maigida standing on the same rostrum pledging to do things for the people. It will be a shame; many people will look at me and wonder what has happened. So it is better not to be in politics again. Instead of a dog being the treasurer for the lion it is better for both to part ways and go on their separate hunting game.

    “The blame is not from the Saraki camp, the blame is from our national leaders in the PDP. Leadership in Nigeria is the conspiracy of the elite to punish the downtrodden. When they gave us the party, we inherited nothing and so whatever you see in the PDP today is the product of our efforts. For this alone we should not be interested in defecting from our own house but it is better we do so now and look forward to better future for our dear state.”

     

     

  • ‘Rivers PDP’s planned reception for APC defectors is propaganda’

    ‘Rivers PDP’s planned reception for APC defectors is propaganda’

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Emma Chindah, has dismissed the “planned reception” for the party’s defectors by the state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Felix Obuah, as propaganda and deceit.

    He noted that despite the unfavourable January 27 judgment of the Supreme Court, no Rivers APC member had defected to the PDP.

    The party stalwart insisted that many PDP members were instead eager to join the APC.

    Chindah, who is also a former Commissioner for Agriculture, spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

    The APC chieftain urged the peace-loving residents to discountenance Obuah’s claim and wait for God’s judgment on the governorship election in which he said over 100 innocent persons were killed and several others were injured or maimed.

    Chindah assured that APC leaders and members were prepared for the February 6 rerun polls involving three senatorial, 12 of 13 House of Representatives and 22 of 32 House of Assembly seats.

    The APC chieftain expressed optimism that the party’s candidates would win the rerun.

    Obuah, through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, claimed that he planned to receive some prominent leaders and members of the APC from the 23 local government areas of the state.

    He claimed that the defectors were reacting to Governor Nyesom Wike’s olive branch to all politicians to join his administration, following his victory at the Supreme Court.

    Obuah said PDP’s umbrella was large enough to accommodate everyone, including defectors from the party on the eve of the apex court’s verdict.

    But Chindah said PDP’s promises to APC’s supposed defectors were mere propaganda that should be discountenanced.