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  • Andy Uba may defect to APC

    Andy Uba may defect to APC

    CHAIRMAN, Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Senator Andy Uba may have concluded arrangements to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Uba was re-elected to represent Anambra South on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    A source said he met his political godfather, a former president, on Wednesday, for hours.

    The former president was said to have told Uba to defect to the APC to pave the way for him to become one of the principal officers of the Senate.

    According to the source, the former president said since APC has no senator from the Southeast, Uba’s defection to the APC would put him at an advantage in whatever position the Senate zones to the geopolitical zone.

    The source said the need to spread positions in the Senate to all geopolitical zones made it expedient to get at least one Southeast PDP senator to defect to the APC before the inauguration of the 8th  Senate in June.

    Senator Uba denied contemplating to defect to the APC.

    He said: “Whoever told you that did not say the truth. There is no truth whatsoever in the story. It is not true.”

    But the Northeast caucus of the party in the Senate may have positioned itself to clinch the plum job of the Senate president.

    Of the 65 senatorial seats won by the APC, the Northeast chapter of the party has 13 senatorial seats.

  • Will APC be PDP’s nemesis?

    Will APC be PDP’s nemesis?

    Not many Nigerians took me seriously when on August 2, 2013, I wrote the piece being reproduced here today. Precisely twenty months after the registration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in July of 2013, the party has made history as the first opposition party to deracinate a ruling party from power at the centre. The party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Mohammadu Buhari defeated incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan fair and square in the March 28, 2015 Presidential election. He scored 15,424,921 votes; Jonathan scored 12,853,162 votes. The total number of votes-28,288,053. The election was a true reflection of the Latin phrase: ‘Vox populi, vox dei.’ Indeed, the voice of the people is the voice of God. The myth surrounding the once impenetrable central ruling party, for several decades, was shattered on that day. This victory is for God that made it possible; the victory is for the majority of Nigerians that trooped out on election days, who endured scorching sun and heavy downpour to cast their votes for the winner. And the man behind the most successful political merger in the country and, the most successful politician in the nation’s history is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He deserves special recognition in whatever we do under this outgoing administration and that of incoming dispensation. His story will be told soonest in this column. Not to forget Professor Attahiru Jega, chairman of INEC for his calm courage in the face of outright provocation by devilish agents of Jonathan and for his transparent approach throughout the entire process. Thank you Professor. And to other writers of truth like yours sincerely, we all deserve a pride of place at the appropriate time. Anyone that still doubts whether columnists are not prophet, should kindly savour this reproduced piece, first written less than five days, after APC’s formal registration. Enjoy yourself.

    The late John F. Kennedy, 35th president of world’s most powerful country – the United States of America – in one of his widely reported statements, once said: ‘Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.’ This quote aptly captures the mood in the polity as more previously doubting Nigerians are now struggling to identify with the All Progressives Congress (APC), the newest political party in the nation’s political firmament. The party was formally registered two days ago by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The road leading to the eventual registration of the APC was littered with doubts arising from the ruthless antecedent of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to always circumvent seeming new viable democratic initiative. The path was strewn in prickles aimed at stagnating the progressives’ efforts of ensuring the birth of a formidable political party to wrest power from obviously bungling PDP.

    Personally, l doff my hat for those progressive leaders of APC for their selfless pursuit of their party’s registration to a fruitful end: They sacrificed their self-interests and endured personal discomforts. When it looked as if the set goal of registration was impossible; when their political hecklers were already jubilating that they had reached a dead end, they remained unrelenting. They must have strategised day and night to lay the unassailable foundation, through APC, for the imminent dethronement of PDP’s impunity in the governance of this country. Now that the APC has been registered, it is pertinent to ask whether the new party is ready to restore confidence of the people in their government if it wins the presidency in 2015. Or will the APC be another rabble-rouser in power like the current ruling party?

    From this moment, all eyes will be on APC. And what the new party’s detractors might be saying do not count; what really matters is what the party does rightly to rescue the nation from the siege of PDP before the next general elections. Mr. Kofi Annan, former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General once observed that “good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development.” What Nigeria lacks for several years of democratic rule is good governance. The PDP in barely over 14 years has shamefully succeeded in enthroning graft and visionless leadership on the nation. And Nigerians are waiting in the wings to see whether APC would deliver on this if given the opportunity to govern so that poverty and retarded development could be banished from the country.

    The attainment of this lofty goal cannot be by mere rhetorics. The new party with its array of tested and accomplished political leaders must earnestly unveil its manifesto to the Nigerian public. Nigerians desire a manifesto with rigour/empiricism: A manifesto that has intrinsic and extrinsic correlations with people’s basic needs over time. Nigerians want good roads; they want affordable education; functional and effective healthcare system that is currently a charade under this PDP led administration. Nigerians want inexpensive and safe housing; they want gainful employment and a country that is safe for all to live in.

    The people of this country want to see a well developed agricultural sector that could guarantee a situation where food items would be the cheapest things after inhaled air. With the deplorable state of federal roads across the country, it has become clear that the lives of Nigerians plying those roads mean very little to the government at the centre. For instance, the Lagos/Ibadan Express road remained a death trap for 14 wasteful years of PDP tyranny over the nation. The healthcare system, as typified by the debilitating state of most federal hospitals, is in shambles. A visit to the National Hospital, Abuja would give credence to this reality.

    This PDP government seems confused over the state of insecurity in the nation. Also, the administration of the ruling party has embarked on more actions that would increase unemployment rate than those that could promote employment generation. The pursuits of selfish political ambitions by members of the ruling party have relegated general public interests to the background. The touted mileage in agriculture has remained a paper thing with no direct impact on the production and prices of agricultural produce.

    The Nigerian public has increasingly become weary of sustained on-going trend of ineptitude in the running of the country’s affairs. They desire long over-due change of political baton from the on-going inglorious routine of misrule and systemic corruption. That is why yours sincerely thinks that with proper planning; a vision driven by a mission and resolve to think less of selves by the leadership of the APC, the days of PDP in power might just not exceed 2015.

    What the country needs most at this crucial period is a party that could inspire the country to do what she is capable to be what she could be. A party that would throw up principled leaders of courage to occupy salient positions; let us have a party that is not only about techniques but also above average in traits of character and public spirited restraints. So far in the south-west, the laudable governance skills of Governor of example, Babatunde Raji Fashola, is a pointer of what to expect in APC. The other governors in the southwest including the focussed and principled Abiola Ajimobi in Oyo state; the astute precursor of renowned ‘Opon-Imo’ and high performer, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State among others, are not doing badly in their various jurisdictions. Their performances have set the template and teasers of what to expect from the newly registered APC.

    Is APC the long awaited party that would checkmate the long, excruciating run of PDP in power? There is no doubt that public expectations are very high on APC and it is believed that the party will not disappoint Nigerians. The indefatigable strategist leader of the APC and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Tinubu, has assured that the formal registration of the party will usher in ‘an irreversible cause of positive change and people oriented development’ in the country. Indeed, the new dawn is perhaps around the corner.

  • Agenda for in-coming APC government

    Agenda for in-coming APC government

    The transition to a new government is underway. Public affairs commentator Abiodun Ladepo, in this open letter to President-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, sets an agenda for the incoming All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

    Let me quickly jump in front of the oncoming bandwagon in offering my congratulations. I know you do not have too much time for niceties because much has been left in the Augean Stable for you to clean up. Let me be one of the first to offer my two kobo on how you should begin the art (for, in Nigeria, it is indeed an art) of governing us for the next four years. My advice is neither in chronological order nor even in any order of preference. But most of it stems from lessons learned in the huge fall from grace to grass of your immediate predecessor, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan.

     

    Declaration of Assets

    Even before your official swearing in ceremony scheduled for May 29th, go ahead and declare your assets as you promised. Do it publicly. In fact, find some money and buy space in a few national dailies and online media outlets and declare your assets. I am sure your Vice, Professor YemiOsinbajo, will follow suit. Nigerians know both of you are not stupendously rich, so no need to worry about having to explain how you came about your assets. Then go ahead and make it (in private, of course) a requirement for all your ministerial, judicial and heads of MDA appointees, to also declare their assets.

     

    Appointments

    Please look beyond the APC for a combination of brains and brawn. Make deliberate efforts to find talents in other parties (believe it or not, there are good people even in the PDP) and appoint them to, not just inconsequential positions, but key positions that will task their intellect and vigor. Look beyond active politicians for skilled people because many of them want to serve and can serve very well but for myriad reasons, could not participate in politics. Spread your appointments across the nation as fairly as possible. I know the southwest practically elected you (the north had always been with you) and you will be pulled by those of us from the southwest to reward us and not marginalize us like Jonathan did. But you are president for the whole country. Beam your searchlight on the east, south-south and all over the country and look for talents. If you try hard, you will find talents in the states that voted against you. You will find talents among Nigerians living abroad. You have to demonstrate the level of maturity that Jonathan lacked and show the world that you are not vindictive. How nice would it be if you could askNuhuRibadu to be Minister of Interior, in charge of the Police, Immigrations, Prisons, Civil Defense and Customs? These are parastatals that have become cesspools of corruption and need someone of Ribadu’s incorruptibility, energy, patriotism and attention-to-detail to lead. How about RajiFashola for Ministry of Works or Ministry of Justice? You get my drift?

     

    Corruption

    Nigerians trust you and to some degree, trust Osinbajo. But that is not the same and will, of course, not be the same for your appointees. You cannot single-handedly eradicate corruption in Nigeria. In fact, no one can eradicate corruption from any country. You can only do your best to reduce it to the bare minimum. To this end, you must return transparency and independence to the EFCC and ICPC. Once nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve for a specified term, the chairpersons of both organizations should only be removable by (a simple majority) legislative impeachment. This removes the EFCC from Executive control and allows every political party to have a say in how it does its job. Please ask your political appointees to sign an undated Resignation Letter before you appoint them. This will serve you well in the future if they misbehave and you need to sack them. All you would need to do is put a date on their Resignation Letter and ACCEPT their resignation. This letter serves to keep them on their toes. I have heard other members of your party (and specifically Prof. Osinbajo) promise to not go after those who have perpetrated corruption before your election. I hope that is not true. Nigerians expect you to go after those who stole the future of their children. No, you should not allow this to consume you and detract from more important things. Nonetheless, we cannot afford to let them go scot-free. They must pay, if only to serve as deterrence to future thieves.

     

    Judiciary

    You must overhaul the judiciary as a matter of urgency. The process of litigation in Nigeria is too long, too tedious, too expensive and too prone to abuse that justice is often delayed and thus often denied. Please embark on the construction of more courtrooms, upgrade the infrastructures of the existing ones, improve the welfare of judiciary workers and build more prisons to house those convicted in your new, expedited process.

     

    Federal Budget

    This is too fat. You have to demonstrate to Nigerians that you are going to live by example. All those billions of naira usually allocated for food in Aso Rock need to be drastically cut down. Everybody working in or visiting Aso Rock is already being paid handsomely. They can pay for their own food. Make the cafeteria in Aso Rock a pay-for-your-own-food establishment for everybody. Cut down on the number of people traveling out of town and out of country who collect estacodes and allowances for doing practically nothing on such trips. Then invite the Senate leader and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and ask them to lead their respective legislatures in taking drastic cuts both in salaries and in other emoluments. Nigerians find it unconscionable that a Senator earns more than the President of the United States. Your predecessor was too compromised to have the moral authority to ask the legislators to take a pay cut. You do not have such a problem. They – the legislators – are looking for motivation, direction and purpose. You must provide that leadership.

     

    NNPC

    I don’t need to tell you that this is the nation’s jugular. Fortunately, you are probably the most knowledgeable about this sector out of all who have governed Nigeria. So, there is very little anybody can tell you about this that you do not already know. You must appoint persons of absolutely unquestionable character to head this Ministry and the various parastatals that support our oil industry. Your Minister of Petroleum must believe in refining our oil within our country. And so that person must commence the construction of new refineries and the repair of old ones. If you have to borrow money to do anything, this is one sector you must get going almost right away. By the time your party comes to ask for our votes in 2019, we must be paying far less at the pumps than we are currently paying and exporting finished oil products to neighboring countries.

     

    Transportation

    I take you at your word that you will revive the moribund Nigeria Airways by first deploying most of the aircraft in the currently bloated Presidential fleet to the national carrier. It has been a national embarrassment that the Giant of Africa has been unable to manage its airline. Remember that what killed Nigeria Airways was corruption (from ticketing fraud to spare parts fraud and) general poor maintenance record. Your new Nigeria Airways must be peopled with crack professionals and technicians – people who take aviation safety and customer service seriously. On the railways, you will agree with me that the situation whereby people and merchandises headingfrom Abuja to Ondo, Ile-Ife, Sokoto, Ado Ekiti, BirninKebbi, Akure, Benin City, Ogbomosho, Oyo, Jalingo,Yola, Damaturu, Dutse, Calabar, and many more key townscannot even contemplate taking the train. Train tracks do not pass through these places! And the tracks we have are single tracks that force trains to wait for each other for hours at trains stations. These were the tracks betrothed to us by the colonial masters and we are yet to improve on them. Please start building new tracks and get rid of those archaic, used locomotives with which your predecessor “transformed” us back to the Stone Age. Remember, a viable rail system will ease the pressure on our roads as large goods such as petroleum tanks and containers will find it cheaper and faster to use the railways.

     

    Defence

    Like NNPC, this is another sector about which nobody can lecture you. As the Boko Haram quagmire has shown us, there has been gross corruption or negligence or incompetence of all of the foregoing in the Ministry of Defense dating back to before your predecessor. Things just got past him more because he knew next to nothing about this sector and he was too incurious and too afraid to ask questions. Luckily for us, you know what is going on and nobody can accuse you of being too afraid to ask questions. The ranks of our military leadership, the officer corps, has been politicized and bastardized to the point that they have lost credibility with Nigerians. The respect and adulation normally enjoyed by the military has been erased and replaced with scorn and derision. People now see the military as a bunch of willing tools in the hands of politicians; a rag-tag bunch who will scamper off the battlefield with tails tucked between their legs at the sound of Boko Haram’s Hilux trucks. You have to restore the dignity of the Nigerian military. Heads have to roll. In fact, heads that have left the service but responsible for the rot in the military must be recalled and set rolling. You must set up a panel of former military officers, aided by a crack team of accountants, to look into the books of the military and find all the missing trillions – the reason our military lacked weapons and other equipment when called up to defend the country; the reason why thousands of our citizens were easily massacred by terrorists; the reason why we lost parts of our country to a Boko Haram and the reason why our country became the butt of jokes in international military circles. You must reorient the military to the path of professionalism – training for war in peacetime as if they are at war; training them in some of the best countries in the world and with some of the best militaries in the world; equipping them with the most modern war-fighting equipment; taking care of their welfare and that of their family and building for them infrastructures that befit the status we want them to occupy in the world. If you have to reduce the size, please do so. Remember, size is not might. Most advanced nations have moved away from large, slower military to smaller and more mobile, more nimble forces. That is the direction we should be headed. We should be building a smaller but more lethal force.

     

    Intelligence

    There are too many unintelligent personnel parading themselves as intelligence operatives in our country. Like the military, they too have been co-opted into serving the whims and caprices of the government of the day. And they do not know what they are doing. I make this last statement boldly, confident that I know what I am talking about. Our intelligence organizations should complement the efforts of the law enforcement agencies and the military. In fact, they should be integral parts of those organizations and should not, themselves, be exempted from being scrutinized. You need to infuse the DMI, the NSA, the DSS and all the others with well-trained (internationally well-trained) professionals who can teach basic and advanceintelligence gathering, packaging and dissemination to the end user. The gun-toting, sunglasses-wearing and suit-decked so-called intelligence personnel are just collecting pay checks. Where, for example, is the Boko Haram leader? Where are the Chibok girls? How are weapons getting inside Nigeria – and I mean heavy weapons? How are fighters getting inside Nigeria and how are they getting re-supplied? You need to overhaul this sector.

     

    Medical

    Please send a bill to the legislature prohibiting all government officials from using government money to fund any aspect of medical care they receive abroad. They can exercise their inalienable right of free movement, but Nigeria should no longer pay for anybody to receive treatment abroad. In the mean time and while the bill snakes through the legislature, use your executive powers to deny requests for overseas medical travels that involve the use of government funds.

     

    Clearly, your biggest challenge is electricity. This is the giant killer that has “killed” those before you. If you fail in everything above and succeed in stabilizing electricity supply, increasing its generation and distributing it effectively, your name will be written in gold. This will task your brain and sap your energy the most. Every sinew of your being must be engaged when you appoint people to solve this very huge problem. With the talents that abound within our country and outside, with the resources at our disposal, you can eradicate our dependence on all sorts of generators. With stable electricity, you won’t need to create too many jobs as Nigerians will create jobs by themselves.

    Your Excellency, I know you have a full plate and you are no spring chicken. That is why assembling a team of very qualified and able people from across the country and the Diaspora will make your job easier. All you need to do is provide the motivation, purpose and direction and they will execute.

  • APC wins three Senate, six House seats in Kogi

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State won the three Senate seats and six House of Representatives seats in last Saturday’s election.

    The result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) showed that the APC candidates won in the three senatorial districts and six of the nine House of Representatives constituencies.

    In Kogi West, the APC candidate, Dino Melaye, polled 41,120 votes to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Senator Smart Adeyemi, who polled 38,148.

    In Kogi East, APC’s Abubakar Abdulrahman (Railway) polled 98,915 votes to defeat Senator Atai Aidoko of the PDP, who got 88,994 votes.

    In Kogi Central, Mohammed Ohiare of the APC polled 55,778 to defeat Ahmed Saliu Ogembe (PDP), who got 42,736.

    For the House of Representatives seats, the APC candidate for Okene-Ogorimagongo Federal Constituency, Abdullahi Bello, scored 20,656 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Tijani Damisa, who got 19,656 votes.

    The APC candidate for Ajaokuta Federal Constituency, Lawal Idris, polled 10,049 votes to defeat Aloysius Okino of the PDP, who got 9,049 votes.

    Other federal constituency seats won by the APC are Ankpa, Dekina, Lokoja and Adavi.

    PDP won Idah, Yagba and Kabba federal constituencies.

  • Court dismisses Omisore’s appeal

    Court dismisses Omisore’s appeal

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure on Thursday dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, in the August 9 governorship election in Osun State.

    Given the ruling on the appeal, the court also upheld the cross appeal by Governor Rauf Aregebsola of the All Progressives Congress that Omisore’s petition ought to have been dismissed as an abandoned petition in the first instance by the State Election Petition Tribunal before hearing by the Justice Elizabeth Ikpejime led tribunal panel.

    The Appeal Court presided by Hon. Justice A G Mshelia in an unanimous decision delivered Thursday dismissed Omisore’s appeal for incompetence, stressing that the ground for the appeal does not arise from the judgment of the tribunal.

    In determining the appeal, the court adopted the seven issues formulated by the appellants, Omisore and the PDP.

    But before considering the main appeal, the court upheld the preliminary objections by Aregbesola and APC’s Counsel challenging ground 13 of the Notice of Appeal, the complaint of the appellant (Omisore and PDP) on ground 13 of appeal is that the tribunal failed to act on admission made by Aregbesola’s counsel in a chart contained in their written address before the lower tribunal.

    The Court of Appeal in holding that the ground of appeal is incompetent held that the ground does not arise from the judgment of the tribunal.

    The Court of Appeal held that the decision of the tribunal was that Aregbesola’s counsel did not make any admission, therefore having failed to appeal this specific decision of the tribunal, the Court of Appeal held that ground 13 is incompetent and consequently struck it out together with issue 5 formulated from the ground.

  • APC, APGA, others want Imo REC redeployed

    APC, APGA, others want Imo REC redeployed

    Major stakeholders in Imo State, including the All Progressives Congress (APC), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Chidi Ibe, have called for the immediate redeployment of the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), George Ada, for allegedly conniving with security agents to compromise the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Ibe who recounted how he was manhandled by soldiers at the alleged instance of the Minister of State for Education, Professor Viola Onwuliri, accused the REC of compromising the process by handing over sensitive electoral materials to PDP candidates.

    According to the Commissioner, the purported results released by the Commission do not represent the figures obtained by the various party agents in the state.

    “We urgently demand the redeployment of the state REC and the overhaul of the entire INEC officials and adhoc staff in the state before the governorship election to forestall a repeat of the sham that happened during Presidential and National Assembly election.

    “We saw how security agents and INEC staff assisted the PDP to compromise the process and we will resist any attempt to rig the governorship election by any person or group of persons”.

    Also rejecting the results of the National Assembly elections in the state, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the APC Senatorial candidate for Imo North (Okigwe senatorial zone), Hon.Benjamin Uwajumogu, described the election as a “complete sham”.

    The Speaker held that elections did not hold in the majority of the Local Government Areas, including Ehime Mbano, Isiala Mbano, and Okigwe Council Areas but results were released in the Council Areas by INEC in favour of the PDP.

    Calling for the cancelation of the entire election, Uwajumogu alleged that “at Ehime Mbano LGA for instance, ballot papers and other election materials meant for Imo West (Owerri senatorial zone) were brought to Okigwe zone. On noticing the situation INEC quickly withdrew the ballot papers and this delayed the exercise.

    “At about 7 pm the Electoral Officer announced that it was already late and the election was shifted to the following day and we all agreed to hold the election the following morning but the moment we left the Electoral Officer and the PDP candidate wrote the results of the election and took it to INEC and it was announced as the result from the zone”.

    According to him, “the results that emanated in the purported Senatorial election in Imo North especially in the polling units of Ehime Mbano, Isiala Mbano, Onuimo, Okigwe and Ihitte/Uboma did not reflect the actual results with the party agents.

    “I reject the entire results being circulated to have emanated from the said March 28th 2015 Senatorial election in the affected LGAs in Imo North. And we will not accept the result until a fresh election is conducted”.

    In a similar vein, the APGA state Chairman, Barrister Peter Ezeobi, also called for the cancellation of the National Assembly elections alleging that the result announced did not correspond with the votes casted.

    Addressing journalists, Ezeobi pointed out that election never took place in some wards in Orlu Local zone such as Isu, Oguta, Ohaji/Egbema, agwa, Asa Obirie and Obiti where he alleged that ballot boxes were snatched by some PDP thugs.

    Ezeobi while calling for a fresh election to be conducted in the three senatorial zones in the state urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to improve on the performance of the card readers and check the high incidence of thuggery, violence and ballot snatching that marred the National Assembly elections.

  • Countdown to new Nigeria begins, says APC

    Countdown to new Nigeria begins, says APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) Thursday said with the victory of its presidential candidate, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and his running mate, Prof. Oluyemi Osinbajo, the countdown to new Nigeria “has indeed begun.”

    The party, also, said Buhari’s victory signaled the dawn of a new era for Nigeria, which it said, would definitely guarantee economic breakthrough, social justice, institutional strengthening and the rule of law in all facets of life.

    In a statement by its National Vice Chairman (South West), Chief Pius Akinyelure, the party assured Nigerians across all divides that the beginning of new Nigeria, which he said they all desired and toiled for, “has finally come.”

    Akinyelure noted that Buhari’s emergence in the just concluded presidential election “is no doubt, a defining moment in Nigeria’s recent history. His victory, too, is for all citizens of Nigeria irrespective of party, race and religion.

    “Given what happened during the electioneering, Buhari’s victory signals the dawn of a new era for Nigeria. It, also, indicates the beginning of new Nigeria, which we have all toiled to realise day and night through ballots and which they have long yearned to see after a 16-year reign of impunity in our fatherland.”

    But Akinyelure said the victory at the poll was just a phase in the quest for new Nigeria, noting that the task for new Nigeria “does not end at the poll. We have developed an inclusive manifesto to respond to diverse socio-economic and political challenges, which has defined Nigeria as one of the world’s most troubled countries.”

    The vice chairman, therefore, assured that under the Buhari-Osinbajo administration, the ugly trend of insecurity “will be effectively reverse. Aside, strong socio-political order that guarantee public safety will be established in the North-east and South-south so much so that it will create enabling environment for investments.

    “The surging unemployed population will be meaningfully engaged with a view to creating wealth across divides and reversing trends that lead to the explosion of our fatherland. The unemployment rate currently put at 29 percent will be stemmed with the implementation of different programme we have already developed.

    “Also, there is an assurance that institutions will be strengthened; the rule of law respected; human rights guaranteed; equal opportunities assured irrespective of political affiliation and social justice will ensured in all parts of the country in line with our manifesto. We will all witness the dawn of new Nigeria that we all desire.”

    The vice chairman, however, said nothing much could be done without the support of all Nigerians across all geo-political zones in the country, thereby calling all stakeholders irrespective of political leanings to make constructive and meaningful input “to the forthcoming Buhari-Osinbajo administration for the love of Nigeria.

    “We need the support of all Nigerians to rebuild Nigeria. We need constructive input from different all change agents to paddle the ship of Nigeria. We need prayers of all our fellow countrymen to lift up our fatherland to its deserved place among the black nations in the world and in the comity of nation. We covet the support of Nigerians at home and in diaspora to bring about restoration that will herald new Nigeria.”

  • APC lauds Ondo for backing Buhari

    APC lauds Ondo for backing Buhari

    The Ondo State Coordinator of the Buhari/Osinbajo Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Ife Oyedele, has thanked the people for voting massively for the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in last Saturday’s presidential election.

    Oyedele noted in a press statement he signed personally that it is gratifying that Ondo people chose to vote for the APC flag bearer in spite of the heavy intimidation and monetary inducement offered by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

    The Coordinator noted that the victory of the party in Ondo is particularly significant when viewed against the fact that the progressive camp has not been in government  in the state for the past 12 years. He said: “In Ondo State, the APC contended with, and defeated Governor Mimiko, the Southwest Coordinator of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Campaign Committee, who spent billions of naira to induce the electorates.”

    Governor Mimiko had earlier bragged that he will deliver one million votes to President Jonathan.

    Oyedele praised the gallant people of Ondo for standing firm in the face of unrelenting attacks by the gang of thugs deployed all over the state by Governor Mimiko.

    He urged the electorate to vote massively for all APC candidates in the House of Assembly election slated for Saturday, April 11, 2015, “so that Ondo State can be finally rid of the last vestiges of a mindless, inept and non-performing administration of the PDP.”

    He enjoined the Inspector General of Police to ensure that PDP thugs arrested before and during the election for various electoral offenses are prosecuted.

    Oyedele said the party leaders would meet to deliberate on the victories won by PDP candidates during the election, to decide whether to go to court or not.

  • APC, APGA, LP, PPA reject National Assembly poll in Ebonyi

    Four opposition parties in Ebonyi State yesterday rejected last Saturday’s National Assembly election. They urged its cancellation.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the poll.

    The parties are the All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Labour Party (LP) and Progressives People’s Alliance (PPA).

    The parties, in a statement, accused PDP of colluding with the military and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials to rig the legislative election.

    The statement was signed by the Chairman of APC, Mr. Ben Nwobashi; the Chairman of LP, Comrade Obiya Sebastine; the Chairman of APGA, Comrade Jerry Obasi and the Chairman of PPA, Mr. Stephen Ezeali.

    They said: “The most tragic aspect of the monumental show of shame in Ebonyi during the National Assembly election was that the military was involved in the attack on the civic functions of citizens on the order of the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, who was all over the place panting in desperation over the loss of his boss at the polls.

    “Cases include Izzi, Abakaliki, Ebonyi, Ohaukwu, Ezza North, Ishielu, Ikwo and Ohaozara local governments where elections were not conducted.

    “In Ohazara Local Government, it was difficult to differentiate between thugs, soldiers and INEC officials because all were engaged in a despicable bazaar of vote stealing.”

    The parties urged the removal of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Lawrence Azubuike, accusing him of aiding rigging.

    The Nation learnt that the  parties had begun moves to form an alliance against the PDP for the governorship election.

    The APC governorship candidate, Senator Julius Ucha; his APGA and LP counterparts, Senator Anthony Agbo and Edward Nkwegu, it was gathered, are meeting to perfect plans to defeat PDP in the poll.

    The three standard-bearers reportedly met Governor Martin Elechi yesterday morning.

  • Plateau APC candidate congratulates Buhari

    Plateau APC candidate congratulates Buhari

    The Plateau State governorship candidate of All Progressive Congress (APC), Hon. Simon Lalong, has described the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential election as a beacon of hope for democracy and for citizens of Nigeria.

    The APC governorship flag bearer made the remarks in a press conference in Jos yesterday.

    The former speaker of the state house of assembly promised to deliver the state to the APC in the governorship election scheduled for April 11.

    He said: “I wish to assure that even as the hopes of Plateau people as expressed in the presidential election are been denied by certain forces in power in the state, I wish to call on our supporters not to lose hope.

    “In Plateau State, the battle is far from been as we still have a great task to deliver the state to APC in the governorship election. More so that we can’t afford to drag the state backward by by voting another party apart from APC in the governorship election”