The Nation Newspaper

Tag: APC

  • Ortom, three other guber candidates’ debate

    Ortom, three other guber candidates’ debate

    Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue State, Chief Dr Samuel Ortom Friday debated with three other candidates of different political parties at the Smile View, Hotel, in Makurdi.

    Others candidates were Barrister Boniface Oheme of All Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN, Dr Iyorwuese Ligom, Labor Party, and Rev Samuel Gar, Social Democratic Party, SDP.

    The event was organized by the Benue Coalition of Business and Professional Associations in conjunction with the Center for International Private Enterprises and Nigeria Elections Debate Group.

    It was held at the Smile View Hotel in Makurdi.

    A panel of four journalists asked the candidates questions on why each was contesting, how they would address internally generated revenue, multiple taxation, how to stem corruption, power generation, herdsmen and farmers’ violence, addressing decay in the education sector and how to boost the low morale of civil servants.

    The candidates shared similar views on most of the issues stating for instance that they would address the power challenge by exploiting solar, wind, hydro and coal resources of the state by providing an enabling environment for private investors to invest in the sector.

    Ortom promised to anchor his administration on the fear of God which he said would engender core values including transparency, accountability, integrity, truthfulness, selflessness, justice, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace and unity which he said would make development inevitable.

    He said he would implement free and compulsory primary and secondary education which he would fund by generating revenue from the boost he would give to the private sector by providing it with an enabling environment for industrialization, small and medium scale enterprises as well as commercial and trading activities in addition to attracting investment into the state on

    He said the initiatives would be targeted at generating massive jobs, wealth and opportunities.
    The former Minister of State, Industry, Trade, and Investment pledged to dialogue with the other tiers of government to solve problems of multiple taxation and violence between herdsmen and farmers.

    Chairman of the organizers, Mr. Iyornumbe Ime stated that the debate provided an opportunity for candidates to market their programs and canvass votes as well as interact with one another and members of the public at no cost.

  • Polls: Group endorses Buhari/Osibanjo ticket

    Polls: Group endorses Buhari/Osibanjo ticket

    A group, Rivers Youths for Democratic Vanguard, (RYDV), one of the formidable socio-political organisations in Rivers State has endorsed the candidature of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari of All Progressive Congress (APC) and his deputy Yemi Osnibajo for 2015 general election.

    Arising from their emergency meeting Friday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, the group said their decision was on the premise of the economy critical condition which needs someone like Buhari for urgent rescue

    The leader of the group, Rev’d Fred Woke who chaired the meeting yesterday said as much as governor Chibuike Amaechi is leading the change movement there is no going back on their support for Buhari/Osinbajo ticket.

    He said out of 262 members of the organisation only 22 were against their vision, adding that the group has planned to begin door to door campaign for Buhari presidential election in Rivers State.

    He accused the Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of defacing the pictures of APC Presidential Candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in Rivers state, describing it as a campaign strategy to misinform Rivers people that Buhari has no supporters in the state.

    Woke said, “As you can see, we have just ended the three hours meeting of this great organization to decide on who among the Presidential candidates of the various political parties lined up in the forthcoming election in Nigeria will be our candidate.

    Today, after resolving our differences, we have in one voice endorsed Buhari/Osinbajo ticket, we love the governor of this state and if he could lead this change movement then we have no choice than to endorse the APC presidential candidate.

    “I want to use this opportunity to call on the PDP in the state to stop defacing Buhari campaign pictures. We described such action as a failed quest to mislead the public and blackmail Gen. Buhari.”

  • Ekiti APC lawmakers condemn alleged plan to attack Tinubu

    Ekiti APC lawmakers condemn alleged plan to attack Tinubu

    The 19 All Progressives‎ Congress (APC) lawmakers in Ekiti State House of Assembly have condemned the alleged planned attack on the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, warning the agents of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to respect the sanctity of human life in their pursuit of power.

    Reacting to Tinubu’s alarm over alleged plan to assassinate him by PDP over political differences and threats posed by him for the success of President Goodluck Jonathan in his re-election bid, the APC lawmakers said the political mood in Nigerians as expressed by voters to change political leadership did not support shedding the blood of opposition figures to secure victory.

    In a statement by the Special Adviser on Media to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Wole Olujobi, the lawmakers said PDP should note that Nigerians had seen PDP’s deceits, corruption and ineptitude in the last six years and had made up their minds that enough of dashed hopes for a new lease of life.

    The statement also said PDP should demonstrate in practical terms the declaration by Jonathan that his re-election is not worth the blood of one Nigerian, stressing that it would be dangerous to re-enact Ekiti bloody scenario of intolerance on the national scale.

    “It is dangerous that what we thought was a local problem in Ekiti State in the hands of an intolerant and desperate administration is fast spreading to the national stage where our national leaders are being targeted for elimination.

    “We condemn this as totally unacceptable. PDP has done enough damage to the national psyche and economy and has created conditions that gave bleak hope for the future of young Nigerians. After succee‎ding in killing Nigerians’ dreams, it should spare the lives of the opposition figures who have the vision to turn around the fortunes of Nigerians for good,” Olujobi said.

    He said Tinubu is a patriot and visionary who would not compromise his democratic credentials to sit in court with felons‎ to gang-rape the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the name of contraption called Interim Government that PDP leaders were luring him to participate as the Vice President.

    “Tinubu has come a long way. He is conscious of his place in the history of political development of Nigeria, particularly his roles in mid-wiving the nation’s ‎democracy through his activities in NADECO.

    “It is shocking that the man that helped in erecting democratic pillars for Nigeria is the same man PDP is expecting in a conspiracy to sabotage the democratic rights of Nigerians to have a democratically elected President,” the media aide said, adding that the APC leader would continue to lead the way in growing democracy for national transformation and salvation.

    The statement also warned the ruling party to stop its plan to implicate opposition leaders in trumped-up charges to put them out of circulation ahead of March 28 presidential election‎.

    It urged the security agencies to provide protection for Nigerians for peace to reign before and after the polls while it said PDP would be held responsible for any untoward happenings to APC leaders.

  • Jonathan not solution to Nigeria’s stability – Tafida

    Jonathan not solution to Nigeria’s stability – Tafida

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Sokoto state, Alhaji Aminu Abdullahi Tambari Tafida has said that voting President Goodluck Jonathan is not the panacea to Nigeria’s stability.

    According to him, “Nigeria’s stability is the function and desire of its citizens not Jonathan.”

    “A nation that has been thrown into predicament of political confusion and uncertainty as a result of bad governance resulting to gross incompetence, insecurity, poverty and economic undergrowth.

    “This is disaster and where we have able and capable persons that can lead in order to rescue the country from colossal collapse you are talking of Jonathan and PDP which by all assessment have failed the expectations of Nigerians all round.”

    Tafida spoke exclusively to The Nation in Sokoto while reacting to recent statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe.

    Okupe had according to newspapers reports said the elections are about the stability of the country, also urging the north to wait for 2019 presidency,” when Jonathan completes his term, the region would have what he described as an “unequivocal” and “indisputable” opportunity to rule for eight years.

    He said the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari from the North as the APC presidential candidate was not staged managed for sentiment rather on competence for a new Nigeria where its citizens will feel positive impact and belonged in affairs of governance.

    However, Tafida said “Okupe cannot and is not to decide on the wish and desire of Nigerians who are rooting for change.

    “The same PDP kicked against zoning at various instances and today they are talking of zoning,” he pointed out.

    He said” APC is not afraid of the general elections and their outcomes. And the issue of conceding to Jonathan is out of place.”

    According to Tafida “the APC journey for fresh air to Nigerians is a majority voice and collective decision that cuts across all ethnic, political and religious divides.

    “Is a desirous political formation of those who have lost confidence in the present system under president Jonathan.

    “Since he (Okupe) acknowledges that the north has been a stabilising political factor in the country, then why should he be over stretching his veins at this time that majority of Nigerians are fed up and willing to support a change of system,” he rhetorically asked.

    He maintained that the same north has now come together with the south west, noting that “It is a union that has never been thought by political leaders either post or pre-independence era,” he pointed out.

    Tafida said “Okupe should not be talking and making comparison with pre and early independence era of the country. They are two different circumstances.

    “Our independence was paramount to our growth and unity as a nation seeking sovereign power from the colonial masters. We are talking of choice and abilities as politics demands of leadership.

    ” But what we (APC) are struggling to give Nigerians today is a place in the scheme of affairs of governance where they will be carried along in the most democratic ways for their individual and collective advancement where basic facilities will be available for and accessible to them under a transparent and accountable leadership,” he stressed.

  • Fayose’s antics not representative of Ekiti Ethos – APC

    Fayose’s antics not representative of Ekiti Ethos – APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has said Governor Ayodele Fayose’s anti-social behaviour and belligerent postures against elderly Nigerians do not represent the ‎standard conduct of Ekiti people.

    APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun‎, said in a statement that Fayose’s tantrums against APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, represented the quality of the governor’s personality, noting that his record of interpersonal relationships with others reflected a man ravaged by desperation, recklessness, greed and riotous handling of issues not representative of Ekiti credo.

    Fayose had said on the live telecast of the meeting of PDP Governors’ Forum in Lagos that Buhari was of the same age with his mother, who he said was bedridden in pampers‎ and no longer physically strong to do productive things.

    He said for the reason of same age with his mother, the APC candidate should stay clear of presidential contest for the young blood, President Goodluck Jonathan.

    But Olatubosun said Nigerians should not be surprised that the governor made that declaration on his mother in a live programme beamed around the world, explaining that Fayose was a special breed of Ekiti son with record of ‎lack of decorum in all his actions.

    ‎”Fayose is the most desperate among Ekiti sons. We don’t know the spirit that drives his actions. If a man could‎ paint his own mother in such a disgusting manner to advance his reason why Nigerians should not vote for Buhari, then we can appreciate how desperate Fayose is in doing things when his political interest is at stake,” APC spokesman said.

    Explaining that the governor had a record of treating elderly people with disdain and humiliation while he impoverishes the young ones, Olatubosun said: “Fayose’s record speaks volumes of his tempestuous lifestyle in both private and public life.

    “For instance, the report of the Security Panel set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo to investigate political killings in Ekiti State between 2004 and 2006 revealed that Fayose was allegedly culpable.

    “As  Ekiti State governor during his first stint,  government’s agents arrested the Atta of Ayede-Ekiti, the late Oba Adeleye Orisagbemi and put him in the booth of his car over alleged failure to support his government, the same way the octogenarian Elekole of Ikole, the late Oba Adetunla Adeleye, was dragged out of his car and the car forcefully taken away in broad daylight for not supporting him.‎”

    Noting that no Ekiti man had ever behaved like Fayose in history, Olatubosun said if the governor could do this to revered traditional institution, ‎people should not expect any limit to his irrationality fueled by unrestrained capacity for violence.

    Fayose has no record of maintaining a long standing relationship as none of his close aides is still with him to date.

    Olatubosun said Fayose should have told the world that his mother and Buhari were bound by the same fate ‎and should have told Nigerians how many times his mother changed diapers daily or how long his father was in diapers before he died in 2009.

    APC spokesman said Fayose was on his own in his uncivilized and desperate manner of doing things.

    While apologizing to Buhari for the embarrassment, he also apologized to Nigerians on behalf of Ekiti people for the shame and embarrassment the governor is causing them every day.

  • Support Buhari, Osinbajo for genuine transformation – Group

    Support Buhari, Osinbajo for genuine transformation – Group

    A support group for the All Progressives Congress(APC),Change Network Initiative(CNI) has urged the people of Ondo State to join the crusade for the victory of the party’s Presidential Candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and his running mate, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

    CNI is a group of APC Aspirants who came together after losing party primaries in their various constituencies across the country.

    Their mission was to work for the victory of all Candidates that emerged after the primaries through aggressive mobilisation of the electorate.

    Speaking to reporters at the APC Secretariat, Akure Thursday, the CNI Chairman, Austin Ola Pelemo said as a forum for all APC Aspirants across the country, they were determined to put their resources together for the victory of all the candidates of the party.

    He said the group apart from embarking on aggressive one-on-one campaign round all the 18 local government areas, had provided bill boards, posters and other souvenirs for many of the Candidates.

    According to him, “the project is self-sponsored, we levied ourselves without minding the huge resources we spent before our primaries and we eventually lost out, but we still resolved to join the candidates to ensure victory for them.”

    Pelemo urged the people opposing the usage of Smart Card Readers and Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) particularly the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to desist, stressing that this is the only way to prevent electoral fraud.

  • Yobe APC mobilises grassroots support for Buhari

    Yobe APC mobilises grassroots support for Buhari

    The Buhari Support Organization (BSO) in Yobe State has called on the people to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari during the March 28 polls.

    As part of its mobilisation drive, the group headed by Mohammed Ali Tanimu has put together a sensitisation forum in Damaturu, the state capital.

    The event, which was held at the BSO office complex along Maiduguri Road, brought together  the 17 local government coordinators. At the campaign, seasoned politicians spoke on votes protection, politics without violence, discouraging money politics among the electorate and the role of women in mobilisation of voters.

    One of the guest speakers and one-time presidential aspirant, Khalifa Hassan Yusuf, said there is the need for voters to “jealously guide their votes from the point of casting it to the collation and counting.”

    Yusuf, who is also the former Chairman of Damaturu Local Government and a member of the 1999 Constitutional Conference, charged coordinators to take their assignment seriously, particularly the idea of mobilising  grassroot support for Gen. Buhari.

    He said: “From what I have seen, most of you are young with a lot of energy. Your age reminds me of the time we were young politician in 1959. I want to use this opportunity to call on all of you not to use your energy for violence, but to deploy it towards mobilising support at your various local governments for Gen. Buhari.”

    The Special Adviser to Governor Ibrahim Gaidam on Political Affairs, Aji Yerima Bularafa, lamented the decision to postpone the election, saying it is a rape on democracy. He however reminded the coordinators of the message of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari who has called on all his supporters to remain calm.

    The Political Adviser, however, noted that the decision of INEC to postphone the election is purely the script of the PDP-led government as according to him, the PDP is jittery of Buhari’s victory at the polls hence their fear to conduct the election.

  • Court restrains NTA, AIT over anti-Osinbajo documentaries

    Court restrains NTA, AIT over anti-Osinbajo documentaries

    The Federal High Court in Lagos has restrained Daar Communications Plc and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) from broadcasting any video documentaries against All Progressives Congress (APC) Vice-Presidential candidate Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).

    Justice John Tsoho made the order Wednesday following an ex-parte application by Osinbajo.

    Daar Communications (owners of African Independent Television (AIT), NTA and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) are the respondents. The suit is numbered FHC/L/CS/277/2015.

    Justice Tsoho ordered that status quo be maintained pending the hearing and determination of the applicant’s motion on notice for interlocuctory injunction.

    The motion ex-parte, filed on March 10, was moved by Osinbajo’s counsel Mr. Femi Falana (SAN).

    The judge ordered: “That an order of interim injunction shall be considered with notice to the respondents. Generally, however, the status quo as at today shall be maintained pending hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.”

    Justice Tsoho also granted the applicant leave to serve the Originating Summons and other accompanying court processes on the respondents in Abuja, which is outside the court’s jurisdiction.

    Osinbajo had prayed for “an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents, their agents, privies, representatives and other media entities under the control of the third respondent (NBC) from any interference with or violation of the applicant’s right to dignity of human person, right to privacy and right to life and/or livelihood whether by means of publication or dissemination of any video documentary or by any means whatsoever pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction.

    Justice Tsoho adjourned till tomorrow for hearing of the motion on notice.

    Osinbajo alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been sponsoring defamatory documentaries against him.

    AIT and NTA had, for weeks, been broadcasting a documentary detailing the “atrocious” past of the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

    The station also aired a similar documentary on APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, chronicling his series of alleged financial misconduct.

    Osinbajo maintained that the documentaries, which allegedly contained untrue information and injurious falsehood, constitute a personal attack on his person.

    He argued that the videos were being aired in violation of his fundamental human right to dignity of human person, right to privacy and family virtue and right to life and/or livelihood as protected by Sections 33, 34 and 37 of the 1999 Constitution.

    “Unless the respondents are restrained in the manner requested in this application, damages will be grossly inadequate to compensate or redress the unquantifiable, unwarranted and malicious damage to the applicant’s right to dignity of human person, right to livelihood and privacy guaranteed and protected under Sections 33, 34 and 37 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

    After listening to Falana’s submission, Justice Tsoho ordered that NTA and AIT and any other broadcast station should forthwith stop the broadcast of the damaging documentary which the applicant complained of until the determination of the substantive suit.

    Tinubu had threatened to sue the management of Daar Communications for the defamatory content of the documentary.

    His counsel Mr. Tunji Abayomi, through a letter delivered to Daar Communications, asked the organisation to apologise for the content and stop its airing.

    The letter reads in part: “…You aired an hour-long documentary focusing on our client (Bola Tinubu). Clearly pre-occupied with political resentment and hatred neither warranted, necessary, proper, or justified, you published several false allegations against our client… More disturbing is your misrepresentation that the said documentary was “sponsored” without disclosing the “sponsors”. You cannot under law hide under media freedom to maliciously injure a citizen’s reputation”.

    The letter also demanded N20 billion as cost of damage done to the reputation of Asiwaju Tinubu, failing which the client will sue the company.

    “To affirm the right of our client against your defamatory publication, we demand that you confirm to us within 24 hours of receipt of this letter, an apology and retraction of the said publication/documentary,” the letter added.

  • Niger Governor is an Incurable liar, says APC campaign

    Niger Governor is an Incurable liar, says APC campaign

    The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has said that Niger State Governor, Muazu Babangida Aliyu is an incurable liar who should never be taken seriously by any right thinking mind.

    Reacting to report credited the governor that the APC Presidential candidate signed a single tenure pact, spokesman of the organisation, Garba Shehu said the Niger state governor was afflicted with the diarrhoea of the mouth, adding that the claim was a figment of his imagination, jaundiced, ill-motivated and irresponsible.

    According to Shehu, Aliyu has made a bad career of misguided claims of this nature in which he presents himself as a clairvoyant fly perching on the walls of political meetings across the country.

    He dismissed Governor Aliyu’s recent vituperation and insinuation as the outbursts of a perpetual rabble-rouser, amateurish ethno-religious propagandist and unrepentant mischief-maker bent on stocking division and disaffection in the APC.

    APC Campaign maintained that it was not surprised at Governor Aliyu’s blatant lies considering that he has also been at the centre of controversy of being in possession of a letter in which his party’s presidential candidate signed onto a one-term pact with governors of the ruling party.

    “When has this Governor of a grossly underdeveloped state suddenly become a clairvoyant who knows what obtains in places where he was never present or represented?  Is he an APC member? If not, how and where did he get his information from? And what Northern Nigeria is he representing?

    “Nigerians are wiser now and they know what to do come March 28 and April 11. For the time being, our suggestion to Governor Babangida is that he should use the balance of his time in office to right a few wrongs in his state, currently adjudged as the most lacking in the North when it comes to development,” Shehu said.

  • APC lambasts Fayose for attack on Buhari

    APC lambasts Fayose for attack on Buhari

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has said Governor Ayo Fayose lacks the moral rectitude to query the right of its presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to occupy the nation’s highest office.

    The party, in its reaction to Fayose’s description of Buhari as a liar, said the governor’s action gave him away as an “unconscionable character who ought to hide his head in shame for activities that marked him as a dishonest fellow”.

    The APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, in a statement yesterday described Fayose as “the most integrity-challenged governor in Nigeria”, saying the Ekiti chief executive is not competent to impugn on Buhari’s integrity and character.

    Olatubosun said Fayose’s first stint as governor witnessed incidences of violence, attacks and murder attempts on the lives of many Ekiti citizens and cases of fraud that are still in the courts.

    He said the governor’s “second coming” has been marred by attacks on  courts, judges, lawyers, judiciary staff, emasculation of the legislative arm and acts of impunity.

    Olatubosun said: “Lying is a question of integrity. A liar does not have integrity. Lying leads to deceit, stealing, conspiracy, murder and other vices.

    “Buhari has never and would never be associated with any of these vices, same cannot be said of Fayose.

    “His latest lie is the denial of his involvement in the  Ekitigate scandal.

    “Fayose ‘led’ thugs to attack the judges and tear court records in the chief judge’s office last year.

    “On May 29, 2005, he  led thugs to attack the Alliance for Democracy (AD) rally at Mugbagba in Ado-Ekiti.

    “Chiefs Ojo Falegan and Segun Oni nearly died of teargas fumes after they were beaten by government agents.

    “Taiye Fasuba, the Chairman of Ado-Local Government, was illegally removed after he refused to surrender council funds for a fraudulent poultry project.

    “The late Atta of Ayede-Ekiti, Oba Adeleye Orisagbemi, was arrested for his  alleged refusal to support Fayose.

    “The Elekole of Ikole-Ekiti, Oba Adetunla Adeleye, was forcefully dragged out of his car for his alleged refusal to support the governor.”

    Olatubosun said only an “integrity-challenged” man could have all these “vices” around his neck and still seek leadership position or criticise leaders with impeccable records.

    He advised Fayose to start thinking of how to plan a life after paying for his alleged crimes, noting that Buhari’s presidency was a reality that could not be stopped by Fayose’s tantrums.