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Tag: APC

  • PDP shopping for excuses for failure, says VON DG

    Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Director General of the Voice f Nigeria (VON) Osita Okechukwu,  has said that the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) should stop shopping for excuses they will tell Nigerians when they lose the 2019 election and concentrate on going about their campaign in a decent manner.

    Reacting to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) outrage over the appointment of Amina Zakari as chairperson of Election Collation Center, Okechukwu said the PDP should leave propaganda and concentrate more on what he described as real campaign.

    He said: “One is constrained to advice the PDP to leave propaganda, stop shopping for excuses and concentrate more on real campaign. For the truth of the matter is that the electoral machine , card reader is one of the greatest antidotes to rigging invention. There is no way Hajia Amina Zakari can manipulate the card reader process. How can she alter or stop the results from Enugu, Ekiti, Bayelsa or even Jigawa or any other State for that matter?

    “I laughed when I saw my friend Kola, spokesman of the PDP banging the table that Amina will manipulate the results. How? Is she going to be the Returning Officer? Is PDP agent going to sleep? Is there fear that he will be compromised by Amina?

    My understanding is that Amina’s role is more administrative than electoral result management, pure and simple.”

    Read also: Kings Cup: Musa excited to start 2019 with a bang for Al-Nassr

    Speaking on the none signing of the Electoral Act by President Muhammadu Buhari, Okechukwu retorted, “President Buhari is a fan and beneficiary of the card reader and was even the one who reminded the National Assembly of the omission of the card reader. The card reader process which starts with immeasurable accreditation mechanism has plugged up to 98% of the traditional method of rigging.

    “Please ask yourself why politicians resorted to Vote-Buying? Vote-Buying is now the main vice of our electoral process, not ballot box snatching or other rigging methods. Card reader technology has plugged big loopholes of election rigging.”

    On why he believes that the PDP will lose, he said, “the day His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar emerged in the primary, we celebrated it. We could have been more worried if Governor Tambuwal of Sokoto had won.

    ”Atiku’s baggage is heavy, integrity deficit huge and falls within the same age grade bracket in Igbo parlance with Mr President.” He didn’t present any major choice-wall to block Buhari. Even those who ordinarily don’t want Buhari cannot sincerely take Atiku as an alternative.

  • 2019 polls: Obaseki intensifies campaign for APC candidates

    Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki has taken the campaign for candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the doorsteps of electorates in the 12 wards in Oredo Local Government Area, with an assurance that a vote for the ruling party will guarantee effective representation of voters at both the state and national levels.

    Presenting the party’s candidates in the State Assembly, House of Representatives and the Senatorial elections, Obaseki appealed to the electorates to collectively vote for the APC so that they will continue to enjoy the dividends of democracy.

    He explained that in the last two years, his administration has focused all its attention on governance which has produced the achievements the Edo electorates are currently enjoying.

    Read also: Edo Poly Usen set for natural product research

    “In the last two years we have concentrated on governance, constructing roads, schools and primary health centres, empowering the youths of the state, and ensuring we provide security and basic amenities to make life easy for our people”.

    The governor noted that the elections will be won at the unit level and pledged to galvanise the party’s unit leaders to take the party’s achievements to every house and business place in each ward to ensure the party wins resoundingly.

    “Ward Six is the only ward in the Oredo Council without a primary school, my administration will ensure that this ward gets at least a primary school for now and an ultra-modern health centre to care for the health need of the people,” he assured.

    He urged the electorates to register for the APC’s social investment programme as the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, through the Office of the Vice President, will empower traders in the state with trader-moni to boost their businesses, from next week.

    Speaking on his plans for the electorates if elected, Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, the APC’s candidate for the Edo South Senatorial District’s election, said he is in the race to change the narrative by focusing on projects that will impact positively on the people.

    The party’s candidate for the State House of Assembly election, Mr. Osaro Obazee, pledged to focus on sponsoring bills that would better the lives of Edo people and residents.

    The APC youth leader in the state, Mr. Valentine Asuen, commended governor Obaseki for his developmental strides and stressed that his performance would give the party an edge at the polls.

  • IGP reverses self, recalls Imo CP

    The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, on Friday caved in to pressure from governorship candidates in Imo State and recalled the redeployed Commissioner of Police, Dasuki Galadanchi.

    This was two days after the State Commissioner of Police and all the senior Police officers in the state were transferred out of the State in an unprecedented shakeup in the Command.

    Governorship candidates of political parties in the state had described the mass transfer as a ploy to manipulate the election in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Also recalled were three Deputy Commissioners of Police and eleven Assistant Commissioners of Police redeployed to various states by the IGP.

    Read Also: Buhari, IGP meet in Aso Rock

    The IGP had on Wednesday transferred the Imo State CP, Galadanchi to Bauchi state and posted the current commissioner of Police in charge of the Kogi state Command, Ali Janga to the state.

    But 48 hours after the IGP cancelled the controversial transfer.

    It was gathered that a signal came on Friday morning stating that all the transferred police officers should return to their former offices with immediate effect.

    When our correspondent visited the Police Command headquarters in Owerri, Police officers were in a happy mood as they discussed the development.

  • Rivers APC crisis ‘ll boost victory chances – Abe

    Senator Magnus Abe, representing Rivers South Senatorial District at the National Assembly has said that the current crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers will boost the party’s victory chances.

    Abe disclosed this on Friday in a statement signed by his spokesman, Mr Parry Benson, and released to newsmen in Port Harcourt.

    He urged the leadership of the party to do the right thing to sustain the unity, rather than taking the issues of the party personal, for it to come out stronger and victorious in the forthcoming elections.

    Abe stated that one of the issues that had brought the party to its knees was the failure to produce a governorship candidate that was acceptable to the law.

    “First of all, the issue of whoever that emerges as the candidate of the party, I totally subscribe to that, but what is the process by which the candidate would emerge.

    “This is the issue, when you use a process that cannot produce a candidate who is acceptable to the law.

    ”Our party is made up of human beings, people that have put their lives on the line to create and sustain the party called APC in Rivers State, they are still alive and not dead.

    “Those people have the right to fight for what they believe is right and I do not think that it will weaken the party.

    “I think at the end of the day, our party will come out stronger if we do the right thing,” Abe said.

    The senator said that the legal foundation on which Mr Tonye Cole candidacy was based, was very faulty both morally and legally.

    “However, if the leaders of the party decide to keep quiet and ignore such a trend, it may lead to party being completely shortchanged.

    He called on members of the party to speak up and help the party to stand in the state, noting that some members had suffered so much to put in place the party and should not be left without any option.

    “Whether it is Tonye Cole or I, it will get to a point where we see clearly that this is where we stand; then all of us must be able to come together and put aside our pride and our differences and help the party to survive,” he said.

    Abe insisted that lack of internal democracy in the party made Mr Dumo Lulu Briggs, one of the party governorship aspirants to dump the party.

    “If the process was free, fair and credible, how come people who participated in the process when it started didn’t accept it,” Abe said.

  • ‘Use your PVCs to end dismal PDP in Sokoto’

    AHEAD of the soon to be conducted 2019 polls, Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, has urged electorates in the state to wisely use their Permanent Voter Cards ( PVCs), to end the administration of sitting Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) in the state for its dismal performance in the last four years .

    Wamakko made the call in Sokoto at the formal inauguration of the APC state campaign committees for the Sokoto North Senatorial District, as well as the eight Local Governments in the zone.

    They are Sokoto North, Sokoto South, Wamakko, Kware, Silame, Binji, Gudu and Tangaza according to a statement issued to reporters Thursday night by Bashir Rabe Mani, Special Assistant to the Senator on Media and Publicity.

    Read Also: PDP not a threat to Buhari’s re-election — Keyamo

    Represented by the Zonal Campaign Coordinator, Alhaji Tsalhatu Sidi Mamman, a former Commissioner in the State, Senator Wamakko, who represents Sokoto North Senatorial District, sermoned ‘” The people of the state should judge for themselves and vote out the current administration in the state.

    ” This is because the confidence, trust and respect in it had for long been eroded as the people have not gotten the much expected dividends of democracy like they happily and tangibly did between 2007 and 2015.

    ” Consequently, we should be the judges for ourselves and come out on February 16 and March 2, 2019, to massively vote for President Muhammadu Buhari and all Candidates of the APC, at all levels. ”

    The APC lawmaker and immediate past Governor in the state said the party holds the sanctity of the people in high esteem, while it has mapped out myriad of people-oriented programmes and policies, for all Nigerians.

  • 2019: Rivers PDP, APC rate their chances

    PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State have disagreed on good governance and 2019 elections.

    A statement yesterday by the Director of Information and Communications of PDP’s Campaign Council, Emma Okah, said the APC governorship candidate, Pastor Tonye Cole, was not a match for Governor Nyesom Wike.

    Okah, who is the commissioner for Information, described Cole as a political neophyte lacking the requisite public service experience and exposure to govern a multi-ethnic and complex state as Rivers.

    The statement reads: “Only enemies of Rivers State will prescribe a pupil to a teacher in a contest that requires tact, maturity and expertise to excel. A child cannot be older than his father. Cole should have started campaigning since 2011, if he truly means to battle a political colossus like Governor Wike.

    “Those who love Rivers State can never prefer an unrepentant Lagosian, who does not know the cultural and political terrain of his ethnic nationality, let alone the state, to aspire to govern the state.

    “Suggesting that Cole should govern Rivers at this time is to set the state 10 years behind, as he would spend so much time learning the ropes, names of the various towns and communities that make up his kingdom, learn to speak his native language, names of the councils and headquarters, names of key members of his party, and the likes.

    “The people have learnt their lessons and will not allow a stooge preside over the affairs of the state. Rivers people do not want selfish and greedy merchants who will buy off valued state assets at cheap prices, but will vote for a man they know and have been seeing. The man who has been council chairman, state campaign coordinator, super minister, a bencher and sitting governor.”

    The statement added that Wike promised to develop the state in 2015, and three and half years later, he had fulfilled his promises, wining multiple awards and even doing more for Rivers people.

    But Cole’s campaign organisation, through the Director, Strategic Communications, Prince Tonye Princewill, said the governorship candidate was no match for Wike in corruption, violence and uncommon failure.

    Princewill said: “There is no need to respond to our brothers in PDP because it is only true sons and daughters of the soil who see constant bickering as demeaning and a stain on the image of the state. We know Wike is afraid, and it is right that he should be.

    “If Wike was not afraid, why will he be in court seeking to nullify the candidacy of Pastor Tonye Cole? Our candidate has said we can either promote violence with our tone or reduce it. We opt to reduce it. We care about our state.”

  • APC blasts Atiku, PDP over probe demand

    The President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation (PMBCO) yesterday slammed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate for insisting that the president’s relations used his influence to acquire Etisalat and Keystone Bank shares.

    In a statement yesterday, the campaign organisation said it was baffling that despite refutal by Etisalat and Keystone Bank  investors, the PDP was  still demanding for a probe.

    The statement signed by the Council’s spokesman,  Festus Keyamo (SAN) reads: “The widely published refutal by investors in Etisalat and Keystone Bank that the family members of President Muhammadu Buhari have nothing to do with both companies is another indication of the fast-collapsing campaign of the Presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and that of the PDP.

    “The result of the fact-check which was published in some news outlets clearly shows the depth of desperation, deceit and debauchery to which the Atiku campaign has sunk. They have no moral compass, no scruples, no direction in their present attempt to smear just everyone in sight in order to run a campaign of ‘we are all corrupt’.

    “Rather than respect the feelings of Nigerians by offering clear-cut responses to straightforward allegations of tax evasion, ‘alleged’ grand corruption in and out of office, ‘alleged’ impending sealed indictment waiting for him in the United States (U.S.), Atiku Abubakar has decided to drag the world down with him as he goes down in a blaze of infamy.

    “He has decided to go wild with wild and unsubstantiated allegations against the President and the vice president throwing caution in to the wind in the process. We alerted the public about this impending avalanche of fake news a few days ago. This is the classic hallmark of a sinking campaign boat, clutching at straws,  as Nigerians have woken up to the realisation that these are deceitful  people who have nothing to offer.

    “That is how its vice presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, was reeling out false statistics with a straight face throughout the vice presidential debate. Till today, he has not apologised to Nigeria for taking them for a ride. It is a real shame.”

    Keyamo urged Atiku and the PDP to apologise to Nigerians, especially the family of the President for adopting the unwholesome tactics and telling tales by moonlight that have clearly backfired.

    He said: “The public space is now full of jokes about President Buhari  buying the whole of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, the National Stadium and even the Presidential Villa.”

    Read also: Emmanuel: 2019 elections will mark the end of godfatherism

    He advised the PDP and its flag bearer thus: “instead  of making a mockery of a serious campaign with such infantile lies, Atiku should admit it is all over for him and the PDP, throw in the towel and endorse the candidacy of President Buhari.

    “We would be sad to see that happen because democracy desires a healthy contest, a serious challenger and a competent opposition.

    “But as it is, with nothing more to campaign about, it is the only way for him and his party to save face and sill retain some modicum of honour before the Nigerian people for future engagements –that is if they survive this massive rejection by the Nigerian people as a result of their bare-faced lies.”

  • APC and collapse of party discipline

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has failed to resolve its post-primary crises in some states. Some governors are sponsoring candidates on the platform of opposition parties in their states. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the weakness of party supremacy and collapse of discipline in the ruling party.

    THE ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is in a fix in some states. The post-primary crises that hit the troubled chapters are taking tolls on their preparations for governorship and parliamentary elections. APC, analysts warn, may pay severely for the loss of cohesion in the affected states.

    Although the various camps and factions in the polarised chapters have resolved to mobilise for President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in next month’s election, they have also resolved to go their seperate ways during the governorship and parliamentary elections.

    The affected states are Zamfara, Imo, Ogun and Ondo. Curriously, the president has not been able to reconcile the antagonistic camps.

    In Ondo State, there is crisis in Ondo North Senatorial District. Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, who represents the district, are locked in a war of attriction. The two politicians do not see eye to eye.

    Boroffice, Asiwaju of Akokoland, has a third term ambition to repressent Owo-Akoko axis in the Senate. The governor, who is from Owo, is opposed to his aspiration. Both seemed to have parted ways during the last governorship primary. The two of them were aspirants.

    Boroffice believed that the governor was opposed to his ambition without justification. He took his case to the APC national leadership. Despite Akeredolu’s objection, he triumphed during the selection process.

    The governor kicked against his ‘victory’. It is doubtful if Boroffice also tried to reconcile with the governor. Instead, their aides have been fueling the media war that has further crippled their relationship.

    Determined to frustrate Boroffice’s bid, Akeredolu has now thrown his weight behind the senatorial ambition of the human rights lawyer, Dr. Tunji Abayomi, who is also from Akoko. Thus, while the governor will be campaigning for President Buhari, Senator Tayo Alasoadua (Ondo Central) and Yele Omogunwa (Ondo South), he will be opposing the candidature of Boroffice on the platform of the APC.

    Instead, Akeredolu’s supporters will be mobilising and strategising for Abayomi, who has gone to Action Alliance (AA) to seek refuge.

    To observers, the scenario underscores the weakness of crisis resolution mechanism in the party.

    If Abayomi wins the poll, will he retrace his steps to the APC? If he loses, will he return home? If Boroffice wins, will it end the acrimony between his supporters and those of the governor? Will there be truce after the poll? Will the protracted crisis not spill over to the next governorship primary?

    Ogun APC faces the same dilema. Four years ago, the party split ahead of general elections. Now, history is repeating itself.

    Governor Ibikunle Amosun lost out in the succession battle. He is an advocate of power shift to Ogun West District. This is Yewa/Awori Zone. His candidate is Adekunle Akinlade, a member of the House of Repreentatives. But, the governor could not convince all the stakeholders to endorse him, despite his power of incumbency.

    Historically, no governor in Ogun State has handed over to his preferred successor.

    Akinlade’s opponet, Dapo Abiodun, enjoys recognition as the flagbeaer. The National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, said he is the authentic candidate. He blamed the governor for planning to impose a candidate on the chapter. He said the move infuriated the stakeholders.

    Oshiomhole said the party had to stop Amosun when he decided to impose Akinlade and other parliamentary candidates. Amosun reminded the chairman that he imposed Godwin Obaseki as his successor.

    Ogun APC is at cross roads. The governor has rejected Abiodun’s candidature. He is now supporting Akinlade, who is flying the ticket of the Allied Progressives Moment (APM). It is not the best of times for both APC and APM in Ogun.

    Two weeks ago, Aso Villa became a threatre of drama. Amosun, accompanied by the APM national chairman, stormed the seat of national government to endorse the president. The implication is that, while APM members, who are defectors from the APC are mobilising for President Buhari, they are against his governorship candidate, Abiodun.

    Amosun is ambivalent. He is a fan of the president. He has reiterated his loyalty and commitment to his second term ambition. The governor is the APC senatorial candidate for Ogun Central. This is his native Egba zone. But, he has distanced himself from Abiodun’s campaigns. He is mobilising for himself and President Buhari on the platform of the APC. But, he is working at cross purpose with the APC governorship flagbearer.

    Last week, elderstatesman Aremo Olusegun Osoba, former governor of the Gateway State, stormed Aso Rock to present Abiodun to him. The president assured the APC candidate of his support.

    As both camps flex muscles, the president is reluctant to put his feet down. The two sides are rooting for him. The question is: is the anti-party activity not glaring? Why can’t the president reconcile the two sides as the father of the party? If the president has made effort, why have the two sides refused to embrace peace?

    According to observers, the governorship poll may be marred by violence, following the split in the main dominant political family. Both sides may approach the exercise with desperation.

    There are many APC chieftains who have refused to join the APM plot, despite their sympathy for Amosun and Akinlade. Their argument is that, if the APC is destroyed in Ogun State, it may not be easy to rebuild it.

    What is the prospect of reconciliation, few weeks to the elections?

    Can Abiodun win the poll without the support of the governor’s camp? Can Akinlade triumph at the poll on the platform of his new party?

    In Imo, APC also is in disarray. The governorship primary was rancorous. An aspirant, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, pulled out. He is now the flagbearer of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

    Governor Rochas Okorocha is at the centre of the controversy. He wanted his anointed candidate and former Chief of Staff, Uche Nwosu, to succeed him. Nwosu is a committed party chieftain. He is Okorocha’s in-law.

    Those opposed to Nwosu’s ambition said the opposition is justifiable. It is on moral ground Nwosu is a member of the governor’s family. Another person outside the family should be given a chance, they reasumed.

    Up came Senator Hope Uzodinma, who eventually got the ticket.

    Hell was let loose. Kicking against Uzodinma’s emergence, Okorocha cried foul, saying that Oshiomhole was behaving like a thin god. The national chairman stood his ground, saying that the senator enjoys the recognition and support of the party leadership.

    Okorocha is an APC senatorial candidate. But, he will be supporting Nwosu, who has defected and emerged as the AA governorship candidate, during the election.

    In Zamfara, it is a period of storm and stress for the APC. The chieftains are in pains. Up till now, there is no governorship candidate. Members of the party are anxiously waiting for the verdict of the court.

     

  • APC alleges anti-Buhari plot as PDP knocks rally

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continued their war of words yesterday.

    The ruling party alleged that the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, hired foreign conmen to spread fake news about President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC-led government.

    It said the PDP opted for blackmail and false alarm as its campaign strategy just to drag the President’s name in the mud to make up for its campaign that crash-landed before it reached any threatening altitude.

    The APC insisted that Senate President Bukola Saraki, House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara and all those who joined  the PDP from the ruling party were a clog in the wheel of progress in their days in the APC.

    But Atiku fought back, listing job losses and abject poverty as what the APC-led government had on its scorecard for more than three and half years in the saddle.

    He disagreed with President Buhari’s claim during the kick-off of his presidential campaign in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, last Friday that his administration had delivered on all its electoral promises to Nigerians.

    Atiku warned, in a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, that Nigerians should not return Buhari to office on February 16.

    At a news conference in Abuja yesterday, APC National Publicity Secretary Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu said the PDP had practically given up on the chances of winning next month’s presidential election.

    He said that accounted for the opposition party’s resolve to blaming institutions of government, such as the police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), accusing them of working for the APC.

    Issa-Onilu said the PDP was trying to create an impression that it was being rigged out ahead of the elections, adding that nobody was planning to rig anybody out because there was no reason to do so.

    He said: “When we promised change, we did not mean a change from PDP to APC, but about changing the way we do things, including the application of the justice system.

    ”The year 2018 was significant in many ways. Importantly, we witnessed in this past year the shameful attempt by the political predators to launch themselves back into reckoning.

    “Those who were roundly rejected by Nigerians in 2015 for their grievous crimes of corruption, impunity, and maladministration once again struggled to rise up from the dungeon the people of this country had dumped them.

    “They were fierce and reckless in their wicked attempt to return to power to continue their primitive appropriation of our commonwealth for themselves and their immediate family.

    “The actions from these elements who have raped our nation for close to two decades were disruptive to the course of progress being vigorously pursued by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

    “The year 2018, particularly, was a tough year for the APC government as we had to confront the monsters who have found their way into the ruling party during the merger in 2014, pretending to have cured themselves of their insatiable greed and callous selfish disposition.

    “These enemies of our country found out that the beats have changed and their strenuous efforts to steer the APC administration towards their ignominious ways, as they practised under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had become impossible under President Buhari. Predictably, the forces of evil finally gravitated towards themselves and are now ensconced in their wicked nest, called the PDP.

    “Unfortunately, they did a lot of damage to our determined efforts in the last three and half years, by constituting themselves into a stumbling-block, using their vantage position in government in conjunction with their associates outside of government who have been deploying their ill-gotten wealth to pervert justice, create a state of insecurity, propagate falsehood and promote dissent. It was a callous strategy design to pull the wool over the eyes of the people of this country.

    “As frustrating as their activities were in 2018, they met more than their match in President Muhammadu Buhari. Their Dubai-made strategy has collapsed like a pack of cards.

    “The plan was to recreate the 2014/2015 scenario when APC pilloried them for their crimes, which woken the electorate to the reality of the disaster we were headed under the PDP government.

    “PDP, led by their discredited presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku paid huge sums of money to some foreign con men in Dubai who posed as strategists.

    “They began to spurn daily fake news and make spurious and unsubstantiated allegations against our President, the family members of our President, the vice president, the APC national chairman, notable government officials, and public institutions to deceive Nigerians. Their strategists did not tell them that such would not work when the allegations cannot be proven.

    “Unlike in 2015 when the APC allegations were based on facts, which have been validated by revelations upon revelations of heist committed during the inglorious 16 years of PDP rule, the opposition’s disgraceful recourse to false alarm as a campaign strategy this time is a wrong approach. Facts are sacred. Falsehood, no matter how fleet-footed, would be overtaken by the truth in no time.

    “The reality has dawned on the fortune seekers in PDP that it is not possible to tag a label of corruption on President Buhari as a demarketing strategy. Neither is it possible to campaign based on issues of governance as the achievements of this administration have shown. It is obvious that the PDP has found itself in a fix.

    “Many in the leadership of the main opposition party are finding it difficult to identify with a character like Atiku and many of the charlatans running the PDP campaign are unsellable.

    “It is worthy of note that a few of the PDP leaders, with some residual credibility, are battling with their conscience as they are increasingly becoming uncomfortable with the level of immorality that underlines the PDP’s politics.

    “Anyone with a modicum of decency cannot be proud of the odious reputation of PDP. When this is added to the fact that the PDP campaign has failed to present any programme to Nigerians, we can see clearly why the party’s campaign has become a stillborn.

    “Like a lion, PDP roared, but it didn’t last. It has joyfully ended up as the bleating of a goat. Perhaps, the pun is intended as PDP is actually a goat that spent 16 years eating our yams.

    “What has the PDP to offer Nigeria? Or rather, why does the party want to return to power? It is simply to return Nigeria to the past, the past, when our collective wealth was being stolen by a few wicked elites. The past when monies meant for the development of our economy were being pocketed.

    “The past when no road, no railway, and no power plant were ever completed, even though huge sums of money were being allocated and released every year. The past when labour was stripped of dignity; when the harder you worked, the poorer you became.

    “The past when people with no defined business raked in billions of dollars from our economy, acquiring mansions as if they were buying shoes they never had while growing up.

    The past when our country had become the butt of a joke amongst the comity of nations. The past when dubious characters were acquiring fleet of private jets.

    “It is heart-warming to see the PDP campaign crash-land before it reached any threatening altitude. It has become apparent that PDP is technically out of the race before the elections start considering the level of disdain and apathy being demonstrated by the voters across the country towards the party.

    “As the ruling party on a rescue mission, we call on all well-meaning people of this country to keep the faith with this administration. The graphs are on the positive upward swing.

    “President Buhari is laying a solid foundation for a prosperous future. We must endure and be steadfast. We have already turned the corner, leaving behind the years of the locusts under the PDP.

    “We are headed towards a future that guarantees stability, economic buoyancy, world class infrastructure, reward for hard work and for honesty, and the security of our nation. PDP remains our collective national vomit. We shall never go back to it.”

    Issa-Onilu said it was a defeatist approach for the PDP to keep attacking INEC and the police, adding that the party was busy creating an alibi so that after the election which they are going to lose, they will have something to hold on to because Nigerians have rejected them.

  • APC cautions ex-Senate president Nnamani on anti-party utterances

    FORMER Senate President Ken Nnamani and All Progressives Congress (APC) was under fire yesterday for allegedly praising Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

    The APC local chapter Chairman, Dr. Ben Nwoye, who demanded a clarification from the senator on why he was praising an opposition party’s governorship candidate, warned the senator to desist from anti-party utterances.

    He, specifically, urged Nnamani to clarify a statement he made while commissioning a four-room building with Ugwuanyi, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor and the party’s candidate in the forthcoming governorship poll.

    Nwoye also asked Nnamani to explain why he could not campaign openly for his party’s governorship candidate but rather was telling the PDP governorship candidate that “a good product markets itself’’.

    The party chair accused Nnamani of promising that when the time comes, he would say where his “people belong.’’

    “This is very misleading. Could it be that Sen. Nnamani is so ashamed of his political party that he could not canvass openly for the party? Nwoye wondered.

    The party chair noted that the APC in Enugu had observed Nnamani’s double standards for too long, adding that the party could no longer fold its arms and watch him de-market the APC in the state.

    He said: “We deplore this attitude of being APC in Abuja and PDP in Enugu State. How can the vice chairman, South of APC Presidential Campaign Council feel more comfortable in the midst of candidates of the PDP than among APC candidates almost on the eve of an election?”

    Nwoye alleged that Nnamani was surrounded at that event by candidates of the opposition PDP for various offices, and wondered what signal he was sending to APC supporters.

    Read also: APC alleges anti-Buhari plot as PDP knocks rally

    He said: “This is a man who has just been unveiled as the vice-chairman of the APC Presidential Campaign Council romancing and hobnobbing with the opposition party and making insinuations that his people would vote for the opposition.

    “How can the PDP governor work for Buhari, when he is still busy campaigning for PDP presidential and national assembly candidates?’’

    Pointing out that the APC was strong in the state and the Southeast zone, the chair urged the authorities in Abuja to ignore the self-serving misinformation being propagated by the PDP.

    Nwoye said “How can people who are so scared of their impending loss of election be the same people being touted to help the APC?

    “We want to say it loud and clear that the APC will sweep the polls in Enugu State. We don’t need anybody to help us. Buhari will score over 90% of the votes that will be cast in the Southeast.’’

    He warned that the party would not hesitate to commence disciplinary action against any members found to be engaging in anti-party activities.