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Tag: APC secretariat

  • Thieves break into APC secretariat, two arrested

    Suspected thieves have broken into National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress ( APC ) and stolen some of the split air conditioners at the secretariat.

    Available information has it that the thieves gained access into the secretariat from the back after cutting the security wires.

    The two persons said to have been arrested in connection with the incident were said to have gained access to the secretariat around 2.30am.

    One of the police officers on duty was said to have heard a strange noise in the compound and decided to check through the back of the building and found one of the thieves kneeling down apparently to escape the prying eyes.

    Thinking it was one of his colleagues, the officer was said to have called out his name and decides to move closer when there was no answer, only to discover that it was a strange person busy removing the airconditioners.

    The police also discovered that the robbers had already removed one of the air condition and place it on top of the fence for easy transfer to their waiting vehicle while he was in the process of removing the second one.

    Another person was said to have been arrested across the fence after others had already taken to their heels.

    As this time of filing this report, available information has it that two of the robbers are currently in Wuse 2 police station explaining their involvement in the attack.

    The party was yet to react to the development.

    Details later…

  • Aspirants table petitions at APC secretariat

    Aggrieved aspirants who lost out in primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday besieged the national secretariat of to submit their petitions against the elections.

    Some aspirants from Niger State told reporters that the party leadership was planning to give their victory to serving senators, but said they would resist such moves.

    They accused the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, of wickedness, saying the plan to upturn their victory would be resisted.

    The aspirants – Mohammed Bima, Mohammed Sani Musa and Zakari Jikantoro – said after winning their senatorial primaries, the party leadership was planning to offer automatic tickets to the incumbent senators who they described as “working for the Senate President Bukola Saraki”.

    Bima said: “I don’t think even the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will do what our party is trying to do. What the national leadership is trying to do is wicked; it is more than short-changing us. It is wicked but our next line of action would be in accordance with the laws.

    “Our leaders should discountenance whatever is corrupt and tag along with our President in his anti-corruption fight. Nothing should be done to take the party backwards because our founding fathers have done a lot to reposition it. Anything done to return these three senators will kick the APC out of Niger State. We call on Mr President to intervene because we don’t want our party kicked out of the state.”

    Mohammed Sani Musa said they will do everything to protect their mandate. “We won’t give up our mandate. No official communication has been sent to us to the effect that our election was upturned; reasons for the change of committee we don’t know. Offering automatic tickets to lawmakers was not official. If it was, why did the NWC sell forms to the same senators?”

    Adaze Wilson Imafidon, who contested the Orhionmwon/Uhunmwonde Federal Constituency seat of Edo State, insists that no primary held in the area.

    In a petition to the Appeals Committee, Imafidon said despite the short notice of the rescheduled primaries, he fully mobilised his supporters in the wards and voting centres within the said Federal Constituency.

    He said: “Unfortunately, none of the accredited members of the appropriate committee mandated by the party to supervise and conduct the Orhionmwon/Uhunmwonde election was present, except in Urhonigbe South where only the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) workers came to observe proceedings of an election that did not hold.

    “It is beyond contention that the proposed primary election into the Federal House of Representatives in Orhionmwon/Uhunmwonde Federal Constituency, which was slated for October 6, and indeed in the whole of Edo State, did not hold.”

  • Ambode supporters protest at APC secretariat

    Some supporters of Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode on Monday staged a protest at the Lagos secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over what they called the party’s plan to manipulate the governorship primary to favour Mr Jide Sanwo-olu.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the protesters, numbering about 200, carried leaves and placards, expressing their displeasure with the electoral process.

    Mr Daud Olasheu, who led the protest, alleged that the party leadership had already compromised the process with the adoption of Sanwo-Olu, even before Tuesday’s primary.

    Olasheu, Deputy APC Local Government Chairman in Somolu, said that the party was taking a number of other steps to ensure that Ambode did not win the election.

    He said they were sure that Lagos residents wanted the governor because of his administration’s strides, and that he would win in a free and fair contest.

    “We are here today, first to show solidarity with Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode ahead of the primary and to say we are solidly behind him.

    “We are also here to show our resentment over the partial role the leadership is playing in the process, especially with the endorsement of Mr Sanwo-Olu.

    “We want to say the party leadership have already compromised the process even before the primary.

    “We do not believe in the process and we want the national leadership to do its best to make the primary credible”, he said.

    Olasheu alleged that thousands of Ambode’s supporters were not issued the party’s membership cards to enable them to vote in the election.

    According to him, the failure to issue the cards is a clear ploy pave the way for the emergence of Sanwo-Olu.

    He urged the National Working Committee of the party to take over the conduct of the primary and do its best to make the process credible.

    The politician said Ambode had done well for the people of Lagos and so deserved support for re-election.

    NAN reports none of the state party officials addressed the protesters as they were busy meeting with NWC officials on the primary.

    The protesters stayed into the night while the meeting was on-going, chanting solidarity songs in support of the governor.

  • Oyo govt ‘uncovers’ plot to burn APC secretariat

    OYO State said it has uncovered a plot by the “Unity Forum”, an All Progressives Congress (APC) ‘’dissident group’’, to burn the party’s secretariat in an alleged bid to scuttle Saturday’s council poll and party congresses.

    The government said yesterday it received intelligence that members of the group had been holding clandestine meetings in Ibadan, the capital, to perfect the plot and recruit thugs to carry out the hatchet job.

    A statement yesterday by the Executive Assistant (Political) to the Governor, Dr. Morounkola Thomas, noted that the group include some members of the House of Representatives, a minister, as well as former and serving political office holders.

    The government said the group had been granting interviews with the claim that Governor Abiola Ajimobi wanted to kill them.

    The statement said the group had been meeting in the homes of two members in Bodija and Samonda to cause panic among residents.

    It warned the group to be prepared to bear the consequences of its actions, saying it would scuttle their plans.

    The government urged law-abiding residents to go about their businesses without fear.

    It added: “Oyo State is peaceful and will remain peaceful with the support of every law-abiding citizen. The governor has been a peace-loving leader and chief promoter of peace in the last seven years of his administration.

    “He will, therefore, not fold his arms and allow any group or individuals, irrespective of status, to take the state back to the dark era of political brigandage and violence.

    “The protesting members of the House of Representatives and their leaders are all beneficiaries of Governor Ajimobi’s generosity and should be grateful to him, instead of biting the fingers that fed them.

    “We are aware that they are looking for relevance, and the only way they can get this is by linking Governor Ajimobi to the imaginary threat to their lives and well-being. Would anyone planning to injure you inform you before the act? They should have come up with a more believable tale.

    “These are the governor’s political sons and we don’t know what will profit a father to kill his son. The Almighty has been sufficiently good to him with every sense of modesty and he will not take issues further with them.

    “All their tantrums are mere distractions and a plot to derail the governor from his focused cardinal objectives of Transformation, Reformation and Repositioning Agenda, which have indubitably transformed the face and fortunes of the state.

    “It sounds unbelievable that the (House of) Representatives members and their ilk could claim that the same governor, who single-handedly propelled them from political irrelevance to the limelight will now be plotting to take their lives.

    “The ward congresses have come and gone. The congress committee and the so-called Unity Forum adjudged the congress to be free and fair. An appeal committee has been put in place and we advise those aggrieved to explore the opportunity.

    “The governor has turned his attention to the task for which he was elected for the second term by the people of Oyo State and will not allow himself to be distracted by the noise of the marketplace.

    ‘’We will rather advise them to get busy with the business of law-making for which they were elected.”

  • Army denies involvement in Kaduna demolition

    Army denies involvement in Kaduna demolition

    The Nigerian Army on Wednesday denied involvement in the demolition of the factional All Progressive Congress (APC) Secretariat in Kaduna in the early hours of Tuesday.

    The Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi- led faction of the party had on Tuesday alleged that the demolition of its secretariat was supervised by the armed soldiers.

    But the army through the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 1 Mechanised Division, Col. Muhammad Dole, said the allegation was a mischief of the highest order.

    The army in statement titled: “Re: Army Demolish Property In Kaduna,” said the “allegation is viewed as another calculated attempt to distract our troops from performing their professional duties.”

    “The attention of the 1 Division Nigerian Army has been drawn to a Twitter message, a report in mass and social media of alleged involvement of military personnel in the demolition of a politician’s property by KASUPDA in Kaduna.

    “This is not true. No soldier was involved in the exercise. The allegation and the attempt to drag the Nigerian Army into the issue of demolition is yet another baseless and unsubstantiated claim to malign the hardworking, loyal and professional officers and soldiers of 1 Division Nigerian Army and discredit them.”

    “Therefore this claim remains the highest mischief and misleading and it is viewed as another calculated attempt to distract our troops from performing their professional duties. Therefore, the public should disregard such false allegation.

    “The troops of 1 Division Nigerian Army will continue to remain apolitical and non-partisan in the discharge of their constitutional roles. Presently our troops are dutifully engaged in EXERCISE AYEM AKPATUMA (CAT RACE) in Niger and Kaduna States, combating kidnappings, cattle rustling, armed banditry and terrorism.

     

     

  • Commotion at Cross River APC secretariat as Minister is suspended indefinitely

    Commotion at Cross River APC secretariat as Minister is suspended indefinitely

    The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Usani, was yesterday indefinitely suspended by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State.

    The party also recommended his expulsion to the national leadership of the party.  Acting chairman of the party, Sir John Ochala, who was in the company of the South South Vice Chairman, Ntufam Hilliard Eta, was to convey the development to reporters at the party’s secretariat but some aggrieved members disrupted the meeting.

    They ordered reporters out of the building.

    The aggrieved members were angry that many of them who sacrificed for the party have not been taken care of.

    Some of them broke some chairs and threatened to break the camera of one of the private national television stations.

    Usani, a former chairman of the party in the state, was accused of indiscipline.

    Ochala, addressing reporters later at a separate location in Calabar, said they had the powers to suspend the Minister but could not expel him, warranting the recommendation to the national leadership.

    He alleged Usani was into organising illegal meetings against the best interest of the party even after several efforts to reconcile their differences.

    He alleged the minister’s aim was to install a state chairman to do his bidding.

    “We had an emergency meeting which had to do with in discipline among some other issues within the party.

    “Majorly, what we took in the meeting had to do with the formation of caucuses across the state and also the issue of indiscipline which is fueled by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

    “With the powers vested on the state working committee, we had no choice but to invoke the tenets of the constitution which is the suspension of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and recommend his expulsion to the national,” he said.

     

  • Police finger ex-militant leader, others for attack on APC secretariat 

    Police finger ex-militant leader, others for attack on APC secretariat 

    The police in Bayelsa State are on the trail of six suspects in connection with the bloody attack on the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that killed two persons and injured many others during the inauguration of the acting state chairman of the party, Joseph Fafi.

    The thugs, said to be hired, wielding weapons and guns, stormed the secretariat along the Melford Okilo Road, Yenagoa, yesterday and attempted to stop the inauguration.

    They were, however, confronted by security operatives, who engaged them in a shoot out, causing pandemonium, leading to the death of two persons and injuries to many others, including journalists.

    Commissioner of Police, Amba Asuquo, who was jolted by the incident, ordered full-scale investigations to unmask the identities of the thugs and their sponsors.

    Already, the police investigative team was said to have identified six persons behind the dastardly act.

    It was gathered the team in its preliminary examination discovered and impounded the vehicle that conveyed the invaders.

    The police were said to have found the vehicle bore the plate number of the Bayelsa State Government House.

    On closer inquiry, the police team further discovered the particulars of the vehicle bore the name of a famous ex-militant leader from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.

    When contacted, the command’s Spokesman, Asinim Butswat, said when policemen searched the vehicle, they discovered some arms and ammunition.

    Butswat confirmed that the police identified names of six persons in connection with the attack, adding that efforts were ongoing to arrest the suspects

    He said: ‘’After the incident, the hoodlums abandoned a Hiace bus with number-plate BYGH 335.

    “The hoodlums on sighting policemen at Bay Bridge area, about 200 metres from the APC secretariat on Melford Okilo Road, Kpansia, abandoned the vehicle and took to their heels.

    ‘’The vehicle was searched and one live ammunition 9MT Shell of 7.62mm ammunition was recovered.

    “We have also identified about six names (which I would not want to mention for security reasons). Efforts are ongoing to arrest those six persons.”

    Though Asinim declined knowledge of the owner of the bus, a police source, who spoke in confidence, confirmed the team during a search recovered the particulars of the vehicle’s owner.

    He said the particulars belonged to an ex-militant leader from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

    ‘’We have yet to establish the nexus between the number plate and the particulars of the owners. Our investigation showed that the hoodlums might have used the number-plate for the attack,” he said.

    But the Bayelsa State Government expressed serious concerns over regular violence and insecurity during activities of the APC.

    Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Jonathan Obuebite, in a statement, described the incident as a serious breach of the existing peace in the state, barbaric and against all democratic and acceptable norms.

    The statement said: “The APC has failed to conduct its affairs peacefully since its inception in the state.

    “It is a very sad commentary the APC in Bayelsa State has turned itself to a lawless and violent organisation where its leaders and supporters resort to violence at every slight provocation, even for internal matters of the party that ought to have been handled with maturity and reasonable level of understanding.”

    In his reaction, Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha condemned the incident.

    Okorocha, who is also chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, cautioned members of the party against following bad examples of other political parties in the country, especially those known for thuggery.

    In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, Okorocha said: “Going by the name and philosophies of the party, it is believed that the members should be progressive-minded fellows who should not in any way see the desire for political position as a do or die affair.

    “The ugly culture of political thuggery should remain totally divorced from APC”.

    He also maintained: “The APC as a party and the members must do things differently to show the political light and exemplary political character by not engaging in actions and inaction that would run counter with the ideals of the party”.

  • Cross River: Hoodlums vandalise APC secretariat

    Suspected political hoodlums yesterday vandalised the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Obudu Local Government Area, Cross River State, which was to serve as the venue for an awards/recognition ceremony and meeting for members of the party in the state.

    This was as the party was denied the use of the public civic centre and public centres for the meeting even after payment.

    A party stalwart said they had paid for the civic centre, but the manager of the place had called on the eve to the meeting to say that following “orders from above”, they could no longer give out the place to the APC and refunded the money.

    Efforts to get other venues after that also proved abortive as the operators also claimed they were directed not to release the venue to the party.

    Obudu, in the Northern Senatorial District of the state and about five hours drive away from Calabar, the state capital, is the local government area of the state governor, Prof Ben Ayade.

    After the party finally resorted to use its secretariat premises where it would set up canopies, unknown hoodlums attacked the place in the wee hours of Saturday, destroying the party’s banners and smashing the windows of the building.

    South-South National Vice Chairman of the APC, Ntufam Hilliard Eta, who was in Obudu for the event, said the party would not be deterred by the development.

  • Fetish items surface at Ondo APC secretariat gate

    Fetish items surface at Ondo APC secretariat gate

    Unknown people yesterday placed fetish objects, including rituals, cutlasses and palm front, at the entrance of the Ondo State All Progressives Congress (APC) Secretariat at Cathedral Area, Akure.

    The secretariat had been sealed off by aggrieved party members under the aegis of Movement Against Imposition (MAI) in protest against the alleged anti-party activities of its state party chairman, Isaac Kekemeke.

    Some of the fetish items were placed at the secretariat gate and some were hanged around the premises.

    It was learnt that the items were placed in the night.

    The development scared many party supporters and prevented them from gaining entry into the secretariat.

    Many traders and other shop owners around the APC secretariat could not open their shops as a result of the development. Residents of the area scampered when they heard about the fetish items.

    Workers at the secretariat deserted the place for fear of being victims of the rituals until some APC youth came to remove the objects after “spiritual cleansing”.

    Speaking on the development, the party’s Director of Media and Publicity, Steve Otaloro, described the situation as unfortunate.

    He noted that the development might not be unconnected with the crisis rocking the party, which, according to him, had been resolved in the interest of peace.

    Otaloro blamed the opposition members, who, he said, were not comfortable with reconciliatory effort being made to forge ahead for the APC victory on the November 26 poll.

    He was optimistic that the party’s National Secretariat was making frantic efforts to reconcile warring factions within the Ondo APC ahead of Saturday primary.

    Some members of MAI linked the crisis to Kekemeke, stressing that the state APC organs, including the youth wing, women wing and members of the National and State Assemblies have passed a vote of no confidence on him.

    But they said yet Kekemeke wants to remain in office.

    Policemen have been permanently stationed around the secretariat premises to prevent further crisis.

     

     

     

  • Members seal off APC secretariat for alleged anti-party activities

    Members seal off APC secretariat for alleged anti-party activities

    •Kekemeke: primary ‘ll be free, fair

    SOME members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the aegis of Ondo State APC Movement Against Imposition (MAI) yesterday sealed off the party’s secretariat in Akure, the state capital.

    They announced the purported removal of state party Chair, Isaac Kekemeke and his replacement by a member of the State Executive Committee (SEC), Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye in acting currently.

    But Kekemeke described the action as laughable, saying it was part of challenges confronting those in leadership position.

    He denied the allegations levelled against him by the protesters, who carried placards with various unprintable inscriptions.

    A detachment of policemen took positions around the APC secretariat to maintain the peace.

    Some of the allegations against Kekemeke include anti-party activities, manipulation of delegates’ list for the primary election and attempt to impose a particular aspirant as candidate, among others.

    The convener of the group, Tolu Babaleye, a lawyer, said a genuine delegates list used for the 2014 primary election of the National and State Assembly elections must be made available to the aspirants.

    He urged the APC national leadership to appoint an officer from its National Secretariat in Abuja to conduct the next week’s primary election to facilitate a credible exercise.

    Kekemeke noted that only the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) has the power to conduct primaries in every state.

    He said there was no going back on conducting free and fair primary election for the APC governorship aspirants.

    The party primary holds next Saturday in the state capital.

    Kekemeke said irrespective of blackmail from some quarters, he would continue to pursue the course of free, fair and transparent poll.

    The chairman refuted the allegation of bias, saying he has maintained a level-playing ground he promised the aspirants.

    Saka Yusuf – Ogunleye said the party would not accept anything less than free, fair and transparent primaries election devoid of undue influence.

    He expressed the need to allow internal democracy in the affairs of the party to facilitate victory.

    The protesters purportedly came from the state’s three senatorial districts.