The Nation Newspaper

Tag: APC meeting

  • Uduaghan, Marwa, others join Buhari at APC meeting

    •Tinubu, Onoja, Akpabio, Elechi, others plan battle for 2019

    The new shape of the All Progressives Congress (APC) national caucus emerged yesterday.

    There are new faces, such as former Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and former Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio.

    Uduaghan’s membership of the APC was largely unknown until last night when President Muhammadu Buhari met with the party’s national caucus at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    Also at the meeting, which is expected to kickstart the APC’s preparations for next year’s general elections, were former Lagos State Military Administrator Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.) and former Military Governor of Katsina  State Gen. Lawrence Onoja (retd.).

    Gen. Marwa is from Adamawa, home state of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar who quit the APC to pursue his presidential ambition in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was active in the CPC.

    Information Minister Lai Mohammed was at the meeting. He is now the leader of the party in Kwara State, following Senate President Bukola Saraki’s defection to the PDP.

    Former Ebonyi State Governor Martins Elechi, formerly of the PDP, was also at the meeting.

    The Caucus meeting will prepare the ground for tomorrow’s National ExecutievCouncil (NEC) meeting which will ratify the plans for the party’s congresses and convention to pick its candidates for all the various offices, including the standard bearer in the presidential election.

    A decision on whether to adopt direct primaries being advocated by National Chairman Adams Oshiohmole or indirect primaries, through the delegates system was expected to be taken.

    President Muhammadu Buhari presided over the meeting held at the New Banquet Hall of the State House. Proceedings started around 8.30pm.

    Also attending were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo,  Oshiomhole, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Interim National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande and former National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun. Deputy National Chaorman (South) Adeniyi Adebayo and Chief Don Etiebet were there.

    There were 17 governors at the time the meeting started. They are the governors of Lagos, Borno, Jigawa, Niger, Plateau, Kogi, Adamawa, Ondo, Kano, Ogun, Oyo, Katsina, Osun, Yobe, Nasarawa, Kebbi, and Imo.

    Also at the meeting were House of Representatives Leader Femi Gbajabiamila, former Senate President Ken Nnamani, Senators  Kabiru Gaya and Jim Nwobodo.

    There were also former governors Segun Oni (Ekiti) Ali Modu Sheriff (Borno), Sullivan Chime (Enugu) Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa) and Oserheime Osunbor (Edo).

     

  • Lawmaker condemns death of six at APC meeting

    The lawmaker representing Ogbadibo, Okpokwu and Ado Federal Constituencies in the House of Assembly, Hassan Saleh, has described the death of six persons at an All Progressives Congress (APC) meeting in Benue State as barbaric, criminal and undemocratic.

    A statement by Saleh at the weekend blamed the violence on an aspirant for the state chairmanship, who he said was being imposed by some forces outside the zone.

    The statement reads: “We came to Otukpo for the meeting to discuss issues concerning the upcoming APC congresses from ward to the National level, as well as the resolution of the NEC.

    “I came with the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh; former Senate President Ameh Ebute; Chief Mike Onoja and some other stakeholders.

    “When we arrived, the meeting was on and the hall was filled with thugs. Those invited to the meeting were not allowed to express themselves freely because of heckling from the thugs.

    “The Zonal Chairman yielded the floor to Ogbeh and Senator Ebuteh, and in their speeches, they cautioned the party against imposing candidates, but to ensure that congresses were held at various stages and whoever wanted to contest for any position should be allowed to do so.

    “The two elders were shouted down; the meeting ended in chaos and we left the venue. But to our shock, we heard news that the about 150 thugs engaged each other in a free-for -all fight over money. There were reports of the use of dangerous weapons, while gun shots were fired freely.”

    According to Hon. Saleh, those behind the violence are becoming desperate in their desire to maintain a stronghold on the party machinery. But he said the plot will not work as the people were tired of aspirants being sponsored by some forces.

    He urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies to investigate the violence and prosecute the perpetrators.

  • Otukpo: Disagreement over death of five at APC meeting

    …Nobody was killed at the said meeting
    – Yaro, APC state chair

    There is disagree-ment over the death of five persons, allegedly killed at a zonal caucus meeting of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Benue South Senatorial District in Otukpo, Benue State.

    According to an eyewitness, Omale Obande, the meeting was attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, and other elected and political office holders from Benue State, including the chairman of APC in Benue State, Abba Yaro.

    Mr. Obande told The Nation that there was disagreement over the purported endorsement of the chairman of APC, Abba Yaro, as some party men and women who attended the zonal caucus meeting kicked against his endorsement for a second term as chairman.

    The chairman of the APC, Benue State Chapter, Abba Yaro, has been in a running battle with some APC members and they have vowed to replace him at the coming party congress.

    But the chairman, according to some sources, is scheming behind the scene for re-election and his ambition is generating tension within the state chapter of APC.

    But at the zonal meeting, where the matter was discussed, according to the eyewitness, some thugs attacked some members alleged to be opposed to Yaro’s re-election. This degenerated into a fracas where five people were allegedly killed while many others sustained serious injuries.

    But in his reaction, the chairman of APC, Abba Yaro, told The Nation that nobody was killed at the zonal meeting held in Otukpo.

    “The meeting took place at Double K Hotel in Otukpo and it was peaceful and ended on a peaceful note,” he said. Abba Yaro added that his enemies are the ones spreading the dangerous rumour.

    Police spokesman Moses Yamu’s official confirmation could not be obtained as he failed to pick his calls yesterday.

     

  • Why I left APC meeting, by Amosun

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has debunked a media report that he stormed out of the Abuja meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders last Tuesday.

    Amosun also said he had done everything possible to carry former Governor Olusegun Osoba along in his administration’s activities without success.

    Briefing Ogun APC leaders on the Abuja meeting at the weekend, he said he accords party members great respect and would never walk out on them.

    Amosun said he took permission from the APC Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, who presided over the meeting, before leaving.

    He said on his arrival at the meeting, he informed members that he would be leaving early to prepare for the Ogun State Investors’ Forum, which began the following day.

    The state held its second Investors’ Forum last Wednesday and Thursday.

    Amosun said: “It will be wrong for anyone or group to say, write or insinuate that I stormed out of the meeting when I actually got the permission of our revered party chairman, Chief Akande.

    “I did not storm out as was widely reported. Rather, I left the venue after properly getting permission from the chairman and others because of the Investors Forum billed for the following day.”

    The governor told the APC stakeholders that he informed the national leadership of the party that he had done everything to carry Osoba along to no avail.

    Amosun said he urged those present at the Abuja meeting to ask Osoba what he expects of him, adding that Osoba did not say anything before he (Amosun left the meeting.