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Tag: APC to Jonathan

  • APC to Jonathan: Tell Nigerians how spent N5tr oil money

    NIGERIANS must be told how N5 trillion oil money was spent from the Federal Account, the All Procressives Concress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) said yesterday.

    The party urged President Goodluck Jonathan to disclose how his administration spent the revenue whiech accrued from the oil and gas sector.

    Director of Media and Publicity of the Campaign Organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, who made the request in a statement, said the President owes Nigerians how N5 trillion disappeared under his watch as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

    Shehu alleged the money would have been lost to fraud and embezzlement.

    The statement reads: “This government must answer the questions posed by the different Committees and Task Forces that probed the Oil and Gas Sector between 2011 and 2012.

    “By this, we mean the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Task Force Report, the Minister of Trade and Investment’s report on stolen crude; the House of Representatives fuel subsidy report, coupled with the investigations into the ecological fund, SIM card registration and frequency band spectrum sale”.

    He recalled that a prominent newspaper had alerted Nigerians on how over N5 Trillion oil money had been stolen under Jonathan’s presidency.

    Lamenting the slump in the nation’s economy following the free-fall of the oil prices at the international market, the APC alleged that wastages and graft, associated with the management of oil and gas revenue, have further compounded the nation’s economic predicament.

    The statement reads: “If the above scenario was frightening, what followed in the last two years has been worse and most flagrant, adding that “industrial theft of oil surged from 250,000 to 400,000 barrels per day and remains unabated.

    “The issue of corruption has also been repackaged and lowered to the status of petty stealing. Worse still innocent whistle-blowers were hounded out of office,”

    The party also queried the involvement of the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mike Omeri in the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, adding that that the appointment was an act of impunity, and a violation of the NOA Act.

    “This action by ruling PDP is in violation of Part 2 Section 6 (2) of the National Orientation Agency Act which expressly prescribes that the Director General of NOA should be non-partisan,” the APCPCO statement said.

    It described this behavior as unbecoming and designed to compromise the rules and principles on which the nation’s public service was founded, adding that such action would jeopardise the neutrality, reputation and position of the service as an institution of governance.

    The APC condemned the inclusion of Omeri as a member of the Media and Publicity sub-Committee of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation.

    According to it, Omeri’s appointment amounted to a contravention of the public service rules to which all public servants including the DG of the NOA are bound.

    “The publication of the name of the NOA chief in some national dailies with other members of the PDP publicity sub-committee is insensitive, reckless and in poor taste,” the statement further stated.

    It said the unprecedented step of co-opting public servants of any cadre into a political party’s campaign structure could compromise seasoned public officers as partisan civil servants.

    The party called on the President to remedy the blunder by ensuring that Mr. Mike Omeri is dropped from the PDP Media and Publicity sub-Committee without delay, considering the fact that it contravenes Part 2 Section 6 (2) of the rules and regulations for the appointment of the DG of NOA which states, inter alia that the DG of the agency shall be non-partisan.

    “In this election season, the helmsman of the NOA by the law establishing it, should be in the forefront of the campaign for peaceful and credible election and not to be seen to be collaborating with the ruling PDP,” the APC said.

  • APC to Jonathan: don’t use Chibok girls for politics

    APC to Jonathan: don’t use Chibok girls for politics

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to release the schoolgirls who were abducted at Chibok, Borno State, over six months ago, if indeed he knows where they are, instead of seeking to make political gains out of their release.

    “Mr. President, tongues are wagging that you know where the girls are and that you want them to be released only when it will give you the maximum political advantage. We don’t know if this is true or not, but if it is, please, release the girls now,” the party said in a statement yesterday in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

    APC added: “It is cruel and unconscionable for anyone to use these girls as pawns on a political chess board. They have now been in captivity for over six months. Please, end the agony of the girls’ parents and other Nigerians.”

    The party said Dr Jonathan’s body language since the abduction of the girls “points to the fact that he knows more than he is willing to admit” on the unfortunate issue, adding that he has exhibited an unprecedented nonchalance over the plight of the girls.

    It said: “First, the President waited for 19 days before even admitting that the girls had been abducted, losing a critical window of opportunity to rescue them from their abductors. When eventually he was forced by global pressure to admit that the abduction was real, Mr. President and his wife chose to subject the girls’ parents and others to untold verbal assault and mental torture.

    “A little over a month after the girls were abducted, the Chief of Defence Staff said the security leadership in the country had located where Boko Haram was holding the abducted girls. Since then, Nigerians have been waiting for the girls to be rescued, to no avail. No one has told Nigerians the problems that are militating against the release of the girls – logistics or otherwise.

    “More recently, on September 23, the military tweeted the imminent release of the girls, only to retract the statement shortly thereafter. However, in the intervening period, thousands of ‘supporters’ of the President gathered at the Pierre Hotel in New York to welcome Dr Jonathan (who was then in New York for the United Nations General Assembly session) after the release of the girls, while media interviews had been booked for him. No one has told Nigerians why that ‘imminent release’ of the girls was botched.

    “Also recently, a flurry of nocturnal activities have been going on, ostensibly to negotiate the release of the girls, even after the same government, which is apparently behind the activities, had bluntly ignored wise counsel and said it would never negotiate their release.

    “Finally, President Jonathan, in his characteristic ‘I-don’t-give-a-damn’ attitude, refused to meet with the selfless men and women who have been championing the campaign for the release of the girls on the sixth-month anniversary of their abduction. Instead, the President sent a team of impudent ministers, who lambasted the altruistic campaigners and called them names.

    “Juxtapose that with the global solidarity shown to the campaigners from non-celebrities and celebrities alike, including Alicia Keys, and you will realise how insensitive this administration has been.”

    The party said from the ongoing, it is clear that President Jonathan has consciously manipulated the abduction of the girls for maximum political advantage.

    APC said: “It is clear that President Jonathan has suddenly shown more interest in their release after his consensus nomination as PDP candidate for next year’s elections. Our appeal, therefore, is for the President to allow the immediate release of the girls, rather than wait for when it will give maximum boost to his political fortunes.”

  • APC to Jonathan: TAN’s rallies endanger Ebola control

    APC to Jonathan: TAN’s rallies endanger Ebola control

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to halt the rallies being organised across the nation by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) for his re-election.

    The party noted that the rallies were jeopardising Nigeria’s efforts to control the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    In a statement yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC said: “Mr. President, you said your ambition is not worth the life of any Nigerian. But the TAN rallies for your re-election are endangering the lives of thousands of Nigerians in these days of Ebola. Some things must simply transcend politics. This is one of them. Please, stop the rallies now.”

    It urged the President to ensure that the rally slated for Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Saturday, is stopped, because of the spread of the Ebola virus to the city and the fact that 100 people have been placed under surveillance there, following the death of a doctor from a suspected Ebola disease.

    APC said: “If TAN goes ahead to organise its rally in Port Harcourt, can anyone guarantee that none of those who have had contact with the doctor will attend? It can only be better imagined the kind of danger that those who will attend the rally will be subjected to. Therefore, President Jonathan has a historic opportunity to put the well-being of his compatriots above politics, for once.”

    The party reminded the President of the statement he made on August 8, when he declared the EVD in Nigeria a national emergency, thus: “Religious and political groups, spiritual healing centres, families, associations and other bodies should, in the meantime, discourage gatherings and activities that may unwittingly promote close contact with infected persons or place others at risk.”

    It also reminded the President that his administration had postponed the resumption of private and public primary and secondary schools across the nation as part of the measures to curtail the spread of the virus.

    APC wondered what message the same government was sending to Nigerians by allowing TAN rallies to continue.

    It said: “Mr. President, add this to the fact that Nigeria’s economy is losing millions of dollars to the Ebola disease, and you will realise that the need to control the disease supersedes personal political considerations.”

    The party said the TAN rallies in Awka (Anambra) and Ibadan (Oyo) and the forthcoming ones in Port Harcourt and elsewhere flout the advice by the President against large gatherings that could encourage the spread of the disease.

    It described as untenable the argument that the rallies were not being organised by the government, hence the President has no control over them.

    APC said: “Mr. President, you are the sole beneficiary of these rallies. Top officials of your administration, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, have been attending the rallies. The signatures being collected by TAN are ostensibly to encourage you to run again. So, this is your show.”

    The party wondered how Dr Jonathan could, on one hand, be complaining about the stigmatisation of Nigerians by other countries over the Ebola outbreak and, on the other hand, turning a blind eye when his supporters were flouting the Ebola control measures put in place by his administration.

    It said: “The embassies of the foreign nations in Nigeria are seeing all that is happening. They are seeing how the efforts of the Federal Government to control Ebola are being sabotaged by the supporters of the President. How then can we complain when our citizens are stigmatised abroad? How can we complain when the foreign governments issue travel advisories to their citizens coming to Nigeria? How can we complain when they start barring Nigerians from coming to their countries on account of the Ebola virus?

    “This is why we are calling on President Jonathan to call his supporters to order today. We are also calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the President not to endanger the lives of Nigerians simply because of his personal ambition.”

  • APC to Jonathan: TAN’s rallies endanger Ebola control

    APC to Jonathan: TAN’s rallies endanger Ebola control

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to halt the rallies being organised across the nation by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) for his re-election.

    The party noted that the rallies were jeopardising Nigeria’s efforts to control the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    In a statement yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC said: “Mr. President, you said your ambition is not worth the life of any Nigerian. But the TAN rallies for your re-election are endangering the lives of thousands of Nigerians in these days of Ebola. Some things must simply transcend politics. This is one of them. Please, stop the rallies now.”

    It urged the President to ensure that the rally slated for Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Saturday, is stopped, because of the spread of the Ebola virus to the city and the fact that 100 people have been placed under surveillance there, following the death of a doctor from a suspected Ebola disease.

    APC said: “If TAN goes ahead to organise its rally in Port Harcourt, can anyone guarantee that none of those who have had contact with the doctor will attend? It can only be better imagined the kind of danger that those who will attend the rally will be subjected to. Therefore, President Jonathan has a historic opportunity to put the well-being of his compatriots above politics, for once.”

    The party reminded the President of the statement he made on August 8, when he declared the EVD in Nigeria a national emergency, thus: “Religious and political groups, spiritual healing centres, families, associations and other bodies should, in the meantime, discourage gatherings and activities that may unwittingly promote close contact with infected persons or place others at risk.”

    It also reminded the President that his administration had postponed the resumption of private and public primary and secondary schools across the nation as part of the measures to curtail the spread of the virus.

    APC wondered what message the same government was sending to Nigerians by allowing TAN rallies to continue.

    It said: “Mr. President, add this to the fact that Nigeria’s economy is losing millions of dollars to the Ebola disease, and you will realise that the need to control the disease supersedes personal political considerations.”

    The party said the TAN rallies in Awka (Anambra) and Ibadan (Oyo) and the forthcoming ones in Port Harcourt and elsewhere flout the advice by the President against large gatherings that could encourage the spread of the disease.

    It described as untenable the argument that the rallies were not being organised by the government, hence the President has no control over them.

    APC said: “Mr. President, you are the sole beneficiary of these rallies. Top officials of your administration, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, have been attending the rallies. The signatures being collected by TAN are ostensibly to encourage you to run again. So, this is your show.”

    The party wondered how Dr Jonathan could, on one hand, be complaining about the stigmatisation of Nigerians by other countries over the Ebola outbreak and, on the other hand, turning a blind eye when his supporters were flouting the Ebola control measures put in place by his administration.

    It said: “The embassies of the foreign nations in Nigeria are seeing all that is happening. They are seeing how the efforts of the Federal Government to control Ebola are being sabotaged by the supporters of the President. How then can we complain when our citizens are stigmatised abroad? How can we complain when the foreign governments issue travel advisories to their citizens coming to Nigeria? How can we complain when they start barring Nigerians from coming to their countries on account of the Ebola virus?

    “This is why we are calling on President Jonathan to call his supporters to order today. We are also calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the President not to endanger the lives of Nigerians simply because of his personal ambition.”

  • APC  to  Jonathan, PDP: You’re making  political gain out of  Nigeria’s  woes

    APC  to  Jonathan, PDP: You’re making  political gain out of  Nigeria’s  woes

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday accused President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of politicizing the nation’s  security by engaging in outright deception to exclude APC governors from the Thursday national security meeting the President himself had called.

    Interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in Lagos that after deliberately excluding the governors from the meeting, the presidency and the PDP then engaged in outright disinformation and distortion of facts to make it look as if the APC governors deliberately boycotted the meeting, apparently in an effort to make political gain from the whole issue.

    ‘’It is now clear that despite their inability to protect lives and property and to stop the terrorists attacks in the country, the presidency and the PDP are not interested in any genuine efforts to end the worsening security situation. It is patently obvious that their aim is to make political capital out of the tragedy that has befallen Nigeria, rather than to ameliorate the cruel fate being daily suffered by the citizens,’’ the APC  said.

    According to it,the same presidency that invited all state governors to the expanded National Security Council meeting as  announced  by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, had no qualms in duping the APC governors out of the meeting and turning it to a parochial meeting of governors of the PDP and its satellite parties, only to shift the blame on the same governors who were conned.

    The  APC party said that after the presidency publicly invited all state governors to the meeting, it then clandestinely reached out to the APC governors to say the meeting had been called off, only to turn around and blame them for shunning the meeting.

    It added: ’’The Kwara State Government confirmed that its Chief Detail received a call from the presidency to the effect that the meeting had been called off. Then, the deputy governor of Borno State, who had already arrived in Abuja for the meeting, also learnt that it had been called off. Curiously, the meeting that was announced publicly by the presidency was not even listed among the President’s official engagement for Thursday.

    ‘’Despite all these glaring evidence of a grand plot to exclude APC governors, the President’s assistant on New Media, Reno Omokri, the same fellow who tried to malign the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria using a fake name, took to Twitter to tell the world that the APC governors shunned the meeting and to accuse them of playing politics with national security.

    ‘’Unfortunately, while the fallacious Omokri was twitting lies, the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Gov. Godswill Akpabio, was telling journalists that the APC governors were not invited to the meeting, and that it was initiated by the PDP governors (not minding that the governors of states controlled by the APGA and Labour Party were in attendance).

     ‘’Who then is lying between the presidency and the Chairman of the PDP governors’ Forum? Why would the presidency engage in such a grand design just to make the APC governors look bad? Is this a part of the plan to shift the blame for the state of insecurity on the APC and to make the party look bad ahead of the 2015 elections and the preceding ones? Is this in furtherance of President Jonathan’s improper blame of the governors of the worst-hit states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe for the insurgency in their states? Can any genuine efforts to resolve the crisis exclude the governors of the three states?

     ‘’The presidency is playing a dangerous game by seeking to make political capital out of an insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and done incalculable damage to property and the economy. It is now clear that this presidency has its eyes firmly fixed on benefitting from the insurgency, and that it had no interest in any genuine measures to end it.

    ‘’Were it not so, the presidency and the PDP would not have attempted to deceive the whole nation into believing that the APC governors shunned a meeting to address the issue. Were it not so, President Jonathan would not have been dancing in Kano, where he went on an illegal electioneering campaign, less than 24 hours after 75 of his compatriots were killed in a bomb blast in Abuja, and even as school girls were being abducted in Borno. Were it not so, the PDP would not have acted to insensitively and irresponsibly by blaming the opposition even as the nation was still grieving.,’’ it said.

     APC, however, reiterated its earlier statement that in the overriding interest of the nation, it is willing and ready to be part of all genuine efforts to end the terrorist attacks, and that only a non-partisan approach could end the security crisis.

  • APC to Jonathan: Don’t take Nigeria back to Abacha days

    APC to Jonathan: Don’t take Nigeria back to Abacha days

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday urged the Jonathan administration not to take Nigeria back to “the dreaded and calamitous days of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, when perceived opponents of the government were targets of rampaging murderous gangs and Nigeria was turned into a pariah nation through unbridled human rights abuses.”

    Interim National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement in Osogbo, expressed “serious concern over the allegations that the Jonathan administration is training snipers at the same facility where the Abacha killer squad was trained; talks of abuse and misuse of the military and other security apparatus for personal and political interest as well as the reported placing of 1,000 people under a ‘political watch-list.’”

    The APC, Mohammed said, “is constrained to take the allegations very seriously because it emanated from no less a personality than former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in an open letter he wrote to his fellow party man, President Jonathan, which has now been widely circulated in the traditional and social media.

    ‘’All Nigerians must be worried by these weighty allegations, coming less than 15 years after the long-suffering people had collectively vowed ‘never again’ to a regime like Abacha’s that sent many innocent souls to their early graves and dispatched many citizens into forced exile for merely holding views that were opposed to that of the late dictator’s government.

    ‘’We are therefore compelled to call on President Jonathan to urgently address these allegations, which have already sent jitters down the spines of Nigerians, especially those who hold views that are diametrically opposed to the administration’s.

    “The allegations cannot and must not be swept under the carpet, otherwise Nigerians will know who to hold responsible if perceived opponents of the administration come to any harm.’’

    The party, however, expressed satisfaction that “more and more people within the ruling PDP are now coming to terms with the real dangers facing the country under their party which, despite being in power at the centre, since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, has only succeeded in putting the country in reverse gear and is now threatening its fledgling democracy, following its (PDP’s) implosion.”

    It added: ‘’We are not concerned by the dirty politics in the PDP and the glaring fact that the behemoth is sinking fast. What bothers us is the impact that the death throes of this rudderless party will have on our fragile polity.”

    The party reiterated its position on Federal Government’s battle with the Islamist sect,Boko Haram, and said: ‘’We have said the Boko Haram crisis cannot be resolved by military onslaught alone and that it must be tackled from its roots; that corruption has reached an unprecedented level; that the investments by the oil majors in that sector have dwindled dangerously; that the discovery of Shale oil in the US threatens our economy; and that the government must move fast to check the unprecedented high cases of crude oil theft.

  • APC to Jonathan: replace sacked ministers with women

    APC to Jonathan: replace sacked ministers with women

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to replace the sacked ministers from his cabinet with seven women.

    The party described the sack as an onslaught on women in Nigeria, where the same President harps on 35 per cent women affirmative action.

    Addressing reporters during the APC’s Internal Democracy and Party Organisation Training in Abuja, the party’s Interim National Women Leader, Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, noted that Jonathan’s action was a major setback to Nigerian women.

    Ikeazor said: “It is an onslaught on the women. It is a direct attack on the Nigerian women. I might be in the opposition but I make my feelings clear. I make it known that it is wrong.

    “So, we pray that the President replaces those five female ministers with women; with at least seven women, to make up. In APC, we are building capacity. There are competent women all over the country. They can be found all over Nigeria.”

    She explained that in the quest to carry the women along, most of the APC-ruled states have ensured that their deputy governors are women.

    According to her, APC’s women are forming into caucuses to air their views.

    She said a policy document on women would soon emanate from the party’s women’s summit.

    On the training, the APC Interim Deputy Secretary, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, explained that it was “an assistance to the new political party – the APC – packaged by the International Republican Institute (IRI) and funded by USAID.

    “It is to support democracy and the growth of democracy in Nigeria. We are very happy that our party is one of the beneficiaries of such a programme. It is talking about internal party democracy and how to manage political parties and so on.”

    He said APC is doing its best to be an internally democratic party in all ramifications, adding that the party has already conducted open democratic party registration and primaries in Anambra State.

    On opening APC’s doors to the aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members, el-Rufai said the progressives’ party has its constitution and guidelines for all issues.

    He added: “If they come to our party, they are welcome. It is an open platform, as we exclude no one from joining the APC. But you have to be subject to our rules and the way we do things. It will not be the way PDP does things. You are now in a new party and you have to do things the way APC does things.”