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Tag: APC

  • APC says its official website hacked

    Hackers  yesterday hijacked  the official campaign website of the  All Progressives Congress (APC),posting  “unauthorised content” on it.

    National Publicity Secretary of the APC , Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu said in a statement in Abuja that the party had directed  that the site be taken down and be cleaned up of all such  unauthorised contents.

    He said: “Our attention has just been drawn to the fact that the APC’s official website, apc.com.ng, has been hacked with unauthorised content posted on our pages.

    “I have instructed that the site be taken down. Steps are underway to clean it up, strengthen the security and restore it as soon as possible.

    “We won’t allow desperate people to succeed in their evil plots.”

  • APC raise alarm over hacked website

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised an alarm over the hacking of its  official campaign website by criminals who are posting unauthorised content on the site. National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, in a statement in Abuja, revealed that the party has however ordered that the site be taken down and be cleaned of all unauthorised contents.

    The statement reads: “Our attention has just been drawn to the fact that the APC’s official campaign website, apc.com.ng has been hacked with unauthorised content posted on our pages. I have instructed that the site be taken down. Steps are underway to clean it up, strengthen the security, and restore it as soon as possible. We won’t allow the desperate people to succeed in their evil plots.”

  • APC afraid of losing polls, says Tambuwal

    Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of being afraid to lose the forthcoming general elections.

    Speaking on Saturday at the launch of the PDP campaign at the Southern Senatorial District in Bodinga town, Tambuwal alleged APC was bent on collaborating with institutions to win the 2019 polls.

    According to him: “If former President Goodluck Jonathan could accept defeat in 2015, President Buhari should also emulate his predecessor.”

    The governor, who also expressed concerns over what he described an emerging situation on federal government’s attempt to arraign the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Walter Onnoghen for false asset declaration.

    The former Speaker of the House of Representatives said: ” I hope it is not true. If so, he should be given fair hearing without any political undertone.”

    While urging residents of Sokoto state to vote for the PDP, Tambuwal acknowledged the show of love for him by supporters.

    READ ALSO: 2019: Tambuwal pledges continuation of projects in Sokoto

    He reassured that if given a second term, he would reposition the education sector with priority to ensuring enrolment of the out- of- school children in school.

    “All our children will be returned to school based on the UNICEF reports on OOSC with adequate support, facilities and quality teachers,” he stressed.

    The governor also assured his re-election will fasttrack responsive support for farmers and boost fertilizers and input supplies better than the FG intervention scheme.

    Former Minister for Water Resources, Barr. Mukhtari Shagari said Tambuwal remains the candidate to beat in Sokoto.

    He described APC as a dangerous tablet that cannot cure ailment but one that causes liver and HIV ailments.

    Former governor Attahiru Bafarawa said the essence of the party’s movement in support of Tambuwal was to salvage the state and its people from the reigns of failure and underdevelopment of the APC.

    According to him: “PDP is set to actualise a rebirth of a new Sokoto state and Nigeria with full opportunities for all.

    “My decision to join the campaign train is to ensure the reelection of Tambuwal and to develop education, youth and women empowerment and health, which we agreed to pursue through a result oriented blue print to move the state forward and encourage an all- inclusive government in the state.”

  • Ibeto leads former PDP gov aspirants back to APC

    Former Ambassador to South Africa Musa Ibeto on Saturday led three other governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress.

    Among the defectors are Alhaji Mohammed Baka, Alhaji Hannafi Sudan and Alhaji Dogo Koli, all aspirants in the PDP governorship primaries.

    Ibeto had resigned his appointment as the Ambassador to South Africa and defected to the PDP to contest for the governorship candidature but lost to Honorable Umar Nasko.

    Ibeto and the other defectors were received by the APC Deputy National Chairman, Niyi Adebayo, during the APC governorship flag off campaign at the trade fair complex in Minna.

    Addressing the crowd, Ibeto who was also a former Deputy Governor of Niger state, said: “We have returned home.”

    He promised to work for the success of the party in the forthcoming elections.

    “We will work to ensure the overwhelming success of APC in February and March elections.

    “Just as we did in the past, we will repeat the success. Niger state will be captured by APC,” he stressed.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo expressed optimism that APC would win big at the forthcoming poll.

    He said work had been completed on the Baro Port project, which would soon be commissioned as part of effort to boost the economy of the state.

    “I want to tell you that President Muhammadu Buhari is very committed to the well-being of Nigerians. The Lagos to Kano railway project is one of such commitments of this administration to ease movement of our people.

    “The completion of Baro Port shows that this administration mean well,” he said.

    Osinbajo described Bello as ”a young and hardworking man who deserves another four years to continue with the infrastructure development of the state.”

    He appealed to the people of the state to support the re-election bid of the governor as well as other candidates of APC.

    Niger state Governor Abubakar Bello promised to continue works he started in the state.

     

     

  • Osinbajo to supporters: don’t take 2019 elections for granted

     

     

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged Nigerians not to take the 2019 elections for granted saying everyone must come out so that the All Progressives Congress (APC) retain the presidency.

    Speaking at the flag off of the APC governorship campaign in Niger state on Saturday, Osinbajo told voters tell off the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the opposition has nothing to offer Nigerians.

    “Nigerians should tell PDP to go away, PDP go away, Niger state is APC and Nigeria is APC. It will be APC all the way, ” he stressed.

    He stated the President Buhari’s administration is committed to Niger state assuring that all major projects would be completed when the President is voted back in February.

    Read Also:Osinbajo’s visit: Police ready to provide security in Niger

    Director General of President Buhari Campaign Organisation, Honorable Rotimi Amaechi, said the 2019 elections would be a contest between between the rich and the poor.

    “PDP is the party for the rich. PDP is rich because they stole our money but we are poor.

    “PDP wants to come back to power because they are hungry and want another chance to steal more money as the money they stole is finished,” he alleged.

    Amechi declared that the government has delivered on its electioneering promises, adding it would do much more for the masses when reelected.

    Niger state Governor Abubakar Bello vowed to continue with ongoing projects when reelected.

    He promised that all projects would be completed shortly after receiving his flag from the Deputy National Chairman.

  • Disqualification: APC appeals judgment

    THE All Progressives Congress(APC), in Rivers State says it has filed appeal against last Monday’s high court judgement against it ahead of next month’s general election. A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt on January 7, had disqualified the state chapter of  APC  from fielding any candidate in the general poll for failure to comply with the provisions of the electoral act number 87(1), on the process of nominating candidates by political parties to elections in the country.

    Justice James Kolawale Omotoso in his judgement nullified the congresses and primary elections held by the party to select candidates for the polls and restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting or publishing the name of APC candidates for the exercise. Justice Omotoso said the purported process the APC had claimed to have cimplied with was held in disobedience to pending court injunction order placed over the conduct of the exercise  by the political party (APC), in May last year.

    He stated that since the ward, LGA,   state congress ans primary elections were held to slide the court, all the  the products, candidates who emerged from the exercise is non and void, hence not fit to be fielded for the general elections in Febraury and March, this year. He warned the party’s governirship, Senate, House of representative and state House of Assembly candidates who are already parading themselves as going around the state to campaign for votes to cease forthwith insisting that they are not qualified to cintest the polls having not complied with the provisions of the electoral act.

    Omotoso ordered INEC to remove the logo of the APC from all election materials and all concerned, and neither should they publish the list of any APC candidate for the polls. However, The party yesterday  hinted that they have appealed the judgment and have equally served all concern, including INEC. Counsel to APC, Emenike Ebete confirmed it to the Nation in a telephone interview yesterday evening. Ebete said, “Yes we have file appeal against the Federal High Court’s disqualification judgment on the APC. We filed the Appeal yesterday (Thursday), and served parties today(yesterday)., we have also served those concern, including INEC.” Asked the implication of the appeal said, “The implication is that status quo remains until the appeal is disposed of, so APC candidates should carry on with all activities for the elections while the Court of Appeal hears the matter.” He however  said that date for hearing it is yet to be fixed and hoped that date will be  given for the hearing soon.

  • Group exposes how Obasanjo, PDP, others manipulated INEC to pre-write result

    Fresh facts have emerged over what led to the postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, earlier slated for Saturday, February 16, 2019.
    Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission had shifted the poll, based on logistics.
    However, indications have emerged that leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had earlier manipulated the electoral umpire, who had written a result in favour of the party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and some top shots of the PDP were fingered in the foiled move.
    The National Front of Nigeria [NFN], which made this shocking revelation at a world press conference on Monday, claimed that the compromise of INEC was so bad that results have been written in favour of the PDP before the Election Day while sensitive election materials were delivered to PDP chieftains in several areas hence the failure of the materials to be delivered to the right destinations and officials at a few hours to the elections
    According to the group led by Alhaji Abubakar B Tsav CP rtd, former Public Complaints Commissioner of the Federation, INEC decided to shift the polls after its plan with the PDP failed to materialize Friday night.
    The group, therefore, called on the federal government and the relevant authorities not to relent as the manipulators were hell bent of achieving their aim at the rescheduled polls.
    It also asked the Commission to identify, sack and hand over its compromised staff to the police for prosecution before proceeding with the election
    Full text of his speech below.
    In recent hours, events that were previously taken in isolation of each other have now been confirmed to not only be interconnected but they are also pieces in one big puzzle, a grand plan to force regime change on Nigeria while masking the crime as part of the democratic process, viz the general election that has now been postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Because most Nigerians had innocently taken events in isolation, the natural reaction has been one of condemnation of INEC, with several persons and groups accusing the electoral body of working for whatever political party they suspect. We shall come to heaping our criticism on INEC but not before we attempt to alert Nigerians to the real dangers facing them as a people.
    Whatever shortcoming has been observed with INEC, its state of readiness, its troubled election logistics and battle with credibility crisis amongst others are nothing but symptoms. It is like an individual having a high fever, pale skin tone, vomiting and a host of other manifestations; the manifestations themselves are not the ailment they are merely symptoms of a deeper infection or life threatening organ damage that the body is dealing with. All efforts can be put into managing or treating the symptoms but they will amount to nought if the root causes of the problems are not addressed. Painfully, INEC is today a microcosm of Nigeria, a country grappling with contrived problems that are nowhere in the region of natural.
    It is on record that the period preceding elections, prior to the postponement, witnessed unprecedented spike in the number of Boko Haram attacks that the Nigerian Army repeatedly repelled, often inflicting heavy casualty on the insurgents. In the security circle, intelligence report confirmed that these attacks were intended to produce a situation when it would become glaring that it was impossible to conduct elections.
    The objective was such that in the absence of elections there would be widespread uprisings and protests that would have eventually produced an interim government. The repeated defeat of the terrorists made the opposition, in this case the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), to be faced with the prospect of going into an election it is guaranteed to lose to the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, who is seeking re-election on the platform of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
    Recall that prior to this, a former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, cobbled together several alliances and coalitions that failed woefully like every other thing he has ever laid hands on. Even though Chief Obasanjo had in the past invoked God’s wrath on himself if he ever returns to the PDP (he tore his membership card to seal the curse) he has since fully returned to the PDP and is now its most popular gladiator, save the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Obasanjo had made it appear as if certain clerics captured in photo op with him and Atiku were instrumental to brokering peace between him and his former deputy but events have proven otherwise. What they did in Otta on the day they purportedly made peace was to further perfect their scheme against democracy in Nigeria. As we speak, the denomination lead by one of the clerics at that meeting continues to abuse and desecrate the name of God by converting sermons into political campaigns.
    In the aftermath of that meeting, Chief Obasanjo initiated contact with his neocon masters. The objective of that contact was to handpick the enforcers that were sent to Nigeria as election observers. Tragically, this is the one area where INEC got it wrong. They accredited these international enforcers without adequate background checks. What has now happened is that a lot of them from western country are in reality in the country to manipulate the presidential election in favour of Atiku Abubakar and the PDP.
    The compromised and pre-determined position of these so called observers has been confirmed by several actions they have taken. Instead of working as independent countries, they coordinate to issue statements that are solely intended to erode the public perception INEC, criminalize the federal government and to canonize Atiku Abubakar as a president in waiting even when elections have not held. They have also taken on a belligerent attitude, in which they dictate what they want to happen and expect INEC to frog-march to their tune. All these abhorrent behaviours on the part of the foreign intruders were encouraged by Atiku and his party who wrote several letters upon which they are basing the legitimacy of their interference. Of course they continue to cite the invitation that INEC, because of the naivety of its Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, extended to them to monitor the elections.
    This naivety of Professor Yakubu has hurt the country in no small measure. Right under his nose staff of the Commission were compromised by the opposition to the extent that even the final list of candidates were presented for his signature only after Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Chief Obasanjo and Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike have approved it. The compromise of INEC was so bad that results have been written in favour of the PDP before the Election Day while sensitive election materials were delivered to PDP chieftains in several areas hence the failure of the materials to be delivered to the right destinations and officials at a few hours to the elections. The logistics failure that prompted the postponement was therefore contrived by these people and not a natural occurrence.
    The evil that was planned against Nigeria by Chief Obasanjo and his protégés – Atku, Wike and others is beyond imagination. It was as if he has sensed that Nigerians will vote in a way that will disgrace him with his failed alliances and lying letter so he decided the only way to save face is to manipulate the elections by compromising the umpire. A last minute realization of the crimes that have been committed in INEC is what jolted its Chairman out of his lethargy to postpone the polls in the hope that remedial actions can still be taken to reverse the damage that the PDP, Obasanjo and Atiku have done to its credibility.
    Before now, there have been several calls on these men to desist from their acts that are capable of plunging the country into crisis but it is now apparent that they are not amenable to reason. Instead of retracing their steps they have approached their western allies to mount undue pressure on INEC while unfairly accusing the government of the country. They are activating their international enforcers to declare the elections as fraudulent while ignoring the capacity of this irresponsible move to cause widespread unrest. The media is also replete with fake news they are pushing to the effect that the elections would be rigged by the ruling party while in reality they, the PDP, are the ones that are desperate to win in the Obasanjo do or die style.
    We call on Nigerians to shift from their indifference to become more assertive in declaring the kind of country they want, a country that faces its challenges headlong under a patriotic leaders or a colony governed by the appointee(s) of western countries. This is why citizens must rise up to the challenge of subduing unpatriotic, corrupt and selfish past political office holders if they must save Nigeria from collapse.  If the progress being made under President Buhari must be reversed for any reason then it must be a decision that Nigerians make with their votes that must be cast without manipulation. Citizens should exercise their right to insist that the progress and national development under a patriotic nationalist like President Buhari is a must.
    Our demand to Professor Yakubu and INEC as an institution is simple. The Commission must identify, sack and hand over its compromised staff to the police for prosecution before proceeding with the election. A failure to do this would imply that INEC has no intention of doing the right thing which would greatly undermine its credibility like the western coalition and the opposition has been trying to do. Where INEC fails to yield those indicted for prosecution, we encourage the police to arrest them before the election.
    We remind the foreign observers that have been going beyond the terms of their accreditation to retrace their steps. A failure to retrace their steps will guarantee some sort of retribution in the short term and they can be guaranteed that a blend of the internet and the social media will make it possible for aggrieved parties to meddle in their own internal affairs in damaging ways. It is expected that they will not have cause to lament should matters come to that.
    We warn that the postponement of the election has not discouraged these mischief makers. They will exploit their other fall back options as they continue to try to hijack power without winning election, which would cause crisis in the country. Nigerians and the Federal Government must therefore not let down their guards as the danger has not passed but has only retreated to mutate into something more evil than its previous option.

  • APC thugs, police after my life- Saraki alleges

    Senate President Bukola Saraki has raised the alarm, alleging threat to his safety and that of the members of his immediate family in Ilorin, Kwara State.

    Addressing reporters in Abuja on Friday, Saraki fingered thugs allegedly sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the police as instigators.

    Saraki, who is the Director General of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation, described the alleged conspiracy against him by the thugs and the police as sinister, uncivilised and unfortunate.

    He said: “I call you today to bring to your attention the sad development in my home state, Kwara State, and the role of the security agencies in giving cover to people who are unleashing violence on our people because they are surprised and cannot understand how and why the people continue to give massive and overwhelming support to the PDP across the state.

    “Also Yesterday (Thursday), these same APC thugs shielded by policemen went to my family quarters in Agbaji in Ilorin and vandalized houses, shops and inflicted wounds with matchete on three people.

    “All these destructions took place in the presence of policemen who came with them but watched without any care, as the APC thugs and supporters unleashed violence on our people.

    “For me, personally, I believe the decision to attack people and properties in my family ancestral compound is a direct affront and attack on my person.

    “And whatever signals these APC elements with support from the police believe they are sending is definitely sinister, uncivilized and unfortunate”.

    He expressed regrets that the police have continued to show undisguised hostility toward him and his supporters in the state.

    According to him, this latest round of violence was part of efforts to jeopardise and undermine his personal security and that of his immediate and larger family members.

    Narrating his ordeals further, Saraki said: “Three incidents will illustrate what I am saying to you. Yesterday, after the APC concluded their campaigns in Ilorin, some of their supporters and thugs moved around town and in areas like Adewole/Adeta, Ile Otan and Ubandawaki/Pakata where they saw our people gathered holding their weekly ward meetings.

    “They disrupted the meetings by shouting their party slogan and when our people responded by mentioning our own slogan, they fired gunshots into their midst in Adewole/Adeta.

    “They also inflicted matchete cuts on some of them. As a result of this attack, two people suffered bullet wounds”.

    The former Kwara State Governor said reports of the attacks were filed in relevant police stations in Ilorin but expressed doubts that anything tangible and constructive would come out of the reports.

    He stated further that as part of the plot, the police, under the directive of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, had, on Thursday, commenced the transfer of Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) out of Kwara State.

    Saraki called on Nigerians and the entire world to hold the IGP responsible if anything untoward happens to him and members of his family.

    Read Also: 2019: APC needs no violence to win, says Tinubu

    “While the police are free to take decisions on the deployment of their personnel, we found the postings in Kwara State strange and more than a mere coincidence.

    “It should also be noted that IGP has posted three different Commissioners of Police to Kwara State in the last six months.

    “In fact, the previous and current Commissioner of Police in the state got strict instructions from the IGP not to relate or engage with the Senate President,” Saraki added.

    According to him, the usual practice has been that the Commissioner of Police personally ensures the security of the Senate President whenever he visits his home state.

    He said all his predecessors were accorded that security cover whenever they visited their home states and that he also enjoyed it in his first year in office from 2015 to 2016.

    Saraki expressed apprehensions over his personal safety as the ward to ward electioneering campaign is about to begin across the state.

    According to him: “We need to make it clear to the entire world that now that ward to ward campaign is about to begin in the state and I am set to participate in that grassroots campaign, as I have always done, nobody is sure what instructions Mr. Idris has given to the police command in the state.

    “Thus, the entire world should hold the IGP responsible if anything untoward happens to members of my family and myself.”

    Deploring the role of the IGP in the entire plot, Saraki continued, “Do not forget that before now, this same IGP has tried several tricks to implicate me in some criminal charges.

    “First, he arrested some cultists and was about to compel them to claim they worked for me. We exposed the trick early enough and the media also pointed out holes in his story. He quickly withdrew that.

    “Later, he went on to the Offa robbery case and politicised the investigation in order to rope me.

    “In the process of forcing suspects to implicate me, the principal suspect died in their custody.

    “He has also not succeeded with that plot. Who knows what else he may have planned.

    “Now, that full campaign is on, which requires my going round, I want the world to hold him personally responsible if anything happens to me.”

  • 2019: APC needs no violence to win, says Tinubu

    *’Atiku failed to help Lagos when Obasanjo seized LG allocations’

     

    The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) does not have to engage in violence to win the forthcoming elections,Co-chairman of its Presidential Campaign Council, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu said on Friday.

    Tinubu who was responding to allegations from certain quarters that the APC was preparing ground for violence during the elections said those making such allegations were already sniffing their defeat at the polls.

    He said the cries of violence were also indications that those making the allegations had already conceded defeat even before the first ballot was cast in the election.

    The APC leader spoke to reporters after a meeting with traditional rulers from the South West in Abuja.

    The traditional rulers were led by the Ooni of Ife,Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi

    Tinubu said neither the party nor its presidential candidate,Muhammadu Buhari, wanted any Nigerian to a victim of violence during the elections and therefore did not need any form of violence to win the election.

    The APC,he pointed out ,was working hard to win the elections while those alleging violence were busy looking for excuses for their impeding defeat.

    On his meeting with the obas,Tinubu said: “the royal fathers spoke of the need for a peaceful election. When you have the belief that you can get a proper result, you work hard because you want peace.

    “When you believe that you can win, you don’t want violence. We all love our children, our brothers and our followers and none of us would want our followers to become sacrificial lambs. “We won’t encourage violent disruption of any election because we are confident of winning. Those who are crying wolf before the election have already accepted defeat before the election as far as I am concerned.

    “I am very happy and proud of the very promising situation. When you have the endorsement of your royal fathers, it means you have the people with you and the voice of the people is the voice of God. I am elated.”

    The APC Leader appreciated the royal fathers for their support and for not giving up on the APC and for visiting the President to encourage him.

    Taking a fresh broadside at Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,the PDP Presidential candidate,Tinubu said he (Atiku) did nothing to help Lagos State as Vice President when the Obasanjo government seized its local government allocations , but merely asked them to go and comply with Obasanjo’s directives.

    He said: “Atiku was Vice President of this country when the local government allocation for Lagos state was seized.

    “When we led a protest to Atiku then, he said ‘go away. Go and comply.’ Without the allocation, you cannot bring development.

    “When we said we needed power to power Lagos and the industrial base in our region, they said no.

    “They were taking away N250 million from our allocation every month for being innovative and creative.

    “Everywhere we turned, they rejected us and punished us. But we never gave up.

    “Today, we are in that progressive development championed and led by President Muhammadu Buhari. Thank you for not looking back. Thank you for visiting and encouraging him.”

    Tinubu also spoke on his reported collapse on Monday after the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

    His words: “Fake news and whoever is manufacturing it, you better not believe them.”

    He also described as negative and fake news, reports of alleged boycott of the campaign council by APC governors.

    He said:“The point is: the governors had to stay back home because we all don’t have to converge in one place to decide certain modalities when we can easily go back to them on what was discussed and what we expect from your state. That is what we call structuring in an election. There are some jellyfish reporters around Nigeria these days.”

    At the meeting, Oba Ogunwusi said as royal fathers, traditional rulers would, therefore, continue to preach peace and peaceful coexistence.

    The Oni said :“My message to Nigerians in this time of election is peace, peace and peaceful coexistence all the way.

    “The power of every Nigerian and every electorate lies in the thumb.

    Read Also: Atiku’s campaign office in Ebonyi attacked

    “As traditional rulers, we are fathers to all and in playing that role, we pray that there should be peace in this country.

    “ That is what we are preaching and it is very important to all of us to know than Nigeria is greater than any of us. So, we should continue to preach peace and identify with good things that will be beneficial to the nation. That is why we are here.”

    The traditional rulers who had earlier visited the President also included the Alake of Egbaland Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo; the Alayemore of Ido Osun, Oba Aderemi Adedapo; the Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade; the Ayangburen of Ikorodu Oba Kabiru Shotobi; the Olukare of Ikare Akoko, Oba Akadiri Momoh 1V, and the Oloye of Oye Ekiti Oba Michael Oluwole Ademolaju Adugbole III.

  • FG challenges PDP to prove allegation of campaigning with state funds

    The Federal Government on Friday challenged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to prove its allegation that the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led government was using state resources for electioneering campaign.

    Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed in a statement in Ilorin said that the allegation was made by a media aide to the PDP Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

    According to Mohammed, Abubakar’s media aide’s allegation was provoked by the ministry’s widely circulated testimony series showcasing the achievements of President Buhari’s administration.

    He dismissed the allegation as “acute paranoia’’, stressing that those who made the comment should prove it.

    “It is up to those who made the accusation on the use of state resources for electioneering campaign to prove it, in line with the maxim that he who alleges must prove,’’ the minister said.

    He said that the Buhari administration’s massive achievements had rattled the PDP and its candidate, and their actions amounted to an acknowledgement of the administration’s impressive accomplishments.

    “In publicising the activities and achievements of the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture is only carrying out its statutory role.

    “Long before the elections, the ministry has used various platforms, including town hall meetings, to showcase the activities and achievements of the administration.

    Read Also: Participate in 2019 elections, MASSOB directs members

    “We understand that the PDP and the Atiku Campaign Organisation have been rattled by these successes as well as the effectiveness of the campaign to showcase them.

    “We are sorry we can’t help them,’’ the minister said.

    He expressed surprise that the PDP that had said earlier that the Buhari administration had not achieved anything had now changed its tune.

    Mohammed said the PDP had turned around to admit that the media was awash with video testimonies from Nigerians on the Buhari administration’s achievements.