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Tag: APC

  • Akwa Ibom, Cross River indigenes back APC

    Group, the Confederation of Akwa Ibom and Cross River Indigenes in Lagos, has endorsed all the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) candidates in Lagos State.

    The convener of the group, Mrs. Lizzy Eyo, said: “We the indigenes of Akwa Ibom and Cross River states in Lagos, see ourselves as Lagosians as many of us in my generation were born and raised  here in Lagos, not to talk of the many others who daily migrate to live in Lagos in search of  better opportunities. We understand the indigenous culture and can even speak the language fluently as well and invariably we make up a sizeable population which cannot be ignored by any serious political party. Lagos is the centre of excellence where opportunities are provided for every Nigerian to thrive,as such we will support the continuity of progress so far made in Lagos State, by fully supporting the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) all the way”.

    A town hall meeting organised by the group at the Mende Town Hall in Kosofe Local Government Area had in attendance, big wigs of the party, such as likes of Chief S.A. Sunmola, Hon. Bayo Osinowo, Kosofe constituency 1 House of Assembly Candidate, House of Representatives candidate for Kosofe Federal Constituency, Hon Rotimi Agunsoye, Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Hon Bosun Jeje and other party stalwarts.

  • Scandinavia APC mobilises for Buhari

    Scandinavia APC mobilises for Buhari

    The Co-ordinator of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Scandinavia, Europe, Lawal Ayoola, has described its party’s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as the best man to make Nigeria a better place for all.

    Ayoola said in a statement in Lagos that Buhari is the best candidate  desired by Nigerians, because he is a man of integrity that can be trusted to deliver on his promises.

    He said other Nigerians in the Nordic countries of Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Iceland, left their businesses to join the bandwagon for change because of the credentials of the standard bearer.

    On the effects of the postponed elections, Ayoola said that it sent a wrong signal to the international community. “The postponement is a very dangerous step for our democracy because it sent a wrong signal to Nigerians in Diaspora and the international community general,” he added.

    The coordinator said Nigerians in Diaspora are not comfortable with the attitude of the present administration and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because “they tend to do things for personal interest without considering the ripple effects in a larger perspective.”

    He added: “I think they are very myopic in their thinking and this is one of the reasons why Nigerians should say no to this present administration”

    According to the APC coordinator: ”The general perspective in the Scandinavia is that if anything goes wrong in Nigeria, it may affect almost the whole world. This is a general view of the superpowers since Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world.

    “When things are normal in your country, many foreign countries will be willing to trade with you, but otherwise, like it is now, expatriates will keep moving to other countries with stable economic outlook.”

    The Interim Secretary, APC Scandinavia, Finland Chapter, Balogun Kamorudeen, said that political interference with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is totally unacceptable.

    He said: “It runs contrary to the principle of making INEC an independent electoral umpire, which had in a seven-hours meeting with the Presidency and the National Council of State assured on its readiness for the February 14 and 28 general elections.

    “In actual fact, the INEC chairman stated in a press conference that they have made provisions for displaced electorates in the Northeast to exercise their civic duties, towards electing their candidate of choice.”

    Kamorudeen also said that many Nigerians, civil society groups, human right activists, as well as the U.S. Department of State frowned at this unfortunate coup-like postponement, stressing that countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Iraq conducted general election despite facing more violence than Nigeria.

    Lamenting the insecurity and the alarming rate of corrupt practices among public office holders, Ayoola said: “We live in the paradise on earth, but we are always sad when we remember our country.

     

  • Fayose has no Attorney General – APC

    Fayose has no Attorney General – APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has insisted that Ekiti State presently has no Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice known to law, urging the occupier of the office, Owoseni Ajayi, to stop parading himself as such.

    The party urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to ignore Ajayi’s defence of alleged human rights abuses leveled against Governor Ayo Fayose.

    The Ekiti APC in a statement issued on Monday by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, maintained that Ajayi’s appearance at the NHRC to defend the Fayose administration of human rights violations amounted to “impersonation and flagrant impunity to trample on the sanctity of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
    Olatubosun said Ajayi should have represented Fayose in his private capacity instead of “in borrowed robe of the state’s attorney-general to mislead the human rights watchdog.”

    The party spokesman reminded the nation’s human rights body that Ajayi was “screened” and “ratified” by seven Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers in the state’s House of Assembly which fell short of the constitutionally-required one-third of a legislature that has 26 members.

    Olatubosun drew NHRC’s attention to the violation of constitutional provision in Owoseni’s purported screening and confirmation as the attorney-general and commissioner for justice, saying that all the processes leading to his purported screening‎ and confirmation were not known to law.

    He said: “We wrote to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federation about the illegalities‎ involved in his purported confirmation and warned that such illegalities cannot legally produce the chief legal officer of the state.

    “We were explicit in our letter that Section 96(1) of the Constitution provides that ‘the quorum of a House of Assembly for such exercise shall be one third of all members of the House’.‎

    “One third of Ekiti State House of Assembly is nine, but seven PDP members aided by the governor were given security cover to illegally impeach the Speaker, Dr Adewale Omirin, and replace him with Dele Olugbemi in a brazen breach of the constitution.”

  • APC alleges PDP plans to push for new election dates

    APC alleges PDP plans to push for new election dates

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday raised the alarm over the “relentless scheming” by the Goodluck Jonathan Administration and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to push for another postponement of the 2015 general elections, unless they can perfect a rigging plan, and called for the imposition of global sanctions on whoever scuttles the polls.

    In a statement issued in Dubai by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the multi-pronged efforts to prevent the elections from holding as rescheduled include the use of some 23 portfolio political parties to seek a further shift in the election dates and the destabilisation of INEC’s election plan through the orchestrated removal of its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

    It said the “same 23 satellite parties” of the PDP that were used to push for the six-week postponement of the elections have again started testing the waters by pushing for a further shift in the elections in the six states of the North-east, ostensibly to allow the conclusion of the counter-insurgency battle and also to allow those displaced to return home.

    ‘’The plan is to use the same bogey of insecurity in the North-east to push for another postponement in the elections. The signs are ominous indeed. The body language of the President and his party does not support the holding of elections. They are mortally afraid of losing because the use of PVCs and Card Readers have thwarted their rigging plans,’’ APC said.

    The party said while the 23 parties are pushing for the elections to be further postponed, the Jonathan Administration and the PDP are simultaneously forging ahead with their plan to remove Prof. Jega and replace him with a malleable acting Chairman whom, they believe, will do their bidding.

    ‘’Once they remove Jega, his replacement will either seek more time to organise the polls or simply jettison the plan to use Card Readers, thereby opening the door for those who have been buying up PVCs to use them.

    ‘’Is it not interesting that the same Administration that has been flaunting free and fair elections as a key achievement has now gone for the jugular of the same man who organised those polls? Is the man they don’t want not the same person who organised the 2011 polls which the administration has described as free, fair and credible? What has now gone wrong between them and their poster boy for successful elections? it queried.

    APC warned that the consequences of another postponement of the elections will be dire, indeed, especially because it will create a constitutional crisis that is capable of endangering the country’s democracy and destabilising the country in its entirety.

    The party called on Nigerians, especially the civil society, to be very vigilant in the days ahead, as the cloud of uncertainty becomes thicker and the vultures begin to circle.

    It also called on the international community to consider imposing stiff sanctions on key members of the Jonathan Administration if they force another postponement or scuttle the polls.

    ‘’However, we also believe that the international community has a role to play in helping to check the desperadoes who are using the Laurent Gbagbo rule book as if it was made for them, and who will not hesitate to bring the whole system crashing down on all if that is what it will take for them to perpetuate themselves in power.”

  • PDP has conceded defeat before election, says APC campaign

    PDP has conceded defeat before election, says APC campaign

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation has described the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) allegation that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was nursing a presidential ambition after General Muhammadu Buhari becomes president as a concrete evidence that the party had conceded presidential ticket to the APC.

    Director of Strategic Communications of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation Mr. Dele Alake said this in a statement yesterday.

    Alake, while analysing the allegation credited to the Director of Media, PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, said the scenario started with the assumption that the APC would win the presidential polls on March 28.

    He said the time-frame of six months for the action to take place meant that Gen. Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo would have been sworn-in as president and vice president on May 29, 2015.

    “Any psycho-analyst can read the mind of the purveyors of this concoction of falsehood. Their assumption gives away the fact that they themselves accept the certainty of victory of the APC in the presidential election,” Alake said.

    He said the massive support for the APC presidential ticket locally and internationally has inflicted a devastating damage on the psychology of the PDP campaign managers, “leading to an acute case of schizophrenia.”

    Alake said the PDP presidential campaign spokesperson shot himself in the foot in his desperation to spin a conspiracy theory that was childish and merits the condemnation of all right-thinking persons.

    The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to the Director of Media of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation on the APC and its leaders.

    “Fani-Kayode alleged that Asiwaju Tinubu would become president by asking the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to resign after six months in office in the belief that the president, Muhammadu Buhari, may have terminal health challenges.

    “That the message came through Fani-Kayode, who, just a few days ago, was brought to answer corruption charges, makes the message incredulous.  The whole world knows the other reasons for the incredulity of any message delivered through him.

    “However, to the uninformed, there is no iota of truth in such allegation. It is a product of infantile and wild imagination of a convoluted, distorted and warped mind.”

    It added: “In the APC, we do not indulge in oath-taking, pact-signing and such other rituals that the PDP establishment is adept at. Such PDP-induced Okija scenarios have no place in the APC.

    “Prof. Osinbajo is a thorough-bred, accomplished professor, teacher, pastor, mentor and preacher, who is nationally and internationally acknowledged as a man of probity, integrity, transparency and competence, who can never be part of such inanities.

    “Asiwaju Tinubu, on his part, is the foremost national leader of the APC, who has achieved an enviable political status, fame and stature. He has gone far beyond using subterfuge to attain any political position.

    “It is widely known globally that he had been pivotal in midwifing the most potent and formidable opposition movement that has become the nightmare of the incompetent behemoth called the PDP, and to the delight of Nigerians, the desired change they are waiting for.

    “Having lost substantial ground politically and seeing the inevitability of an APC victory at the polls, it is the PDP that is strenuously engaging in all kinds of subterfuge from hurling personal abuses and attacks on Buhari and Tinubu; to election postponement antics; to evading elections at all costs and even the unfashionable idea of foisting an interim government. It is the PDP that is generating crisis to make the elections difficult, if not impossible. Unknown to its campaign machinery, these gimmicks portray the PDP as deep in conclusive disarray.

    “Indeed, the fact that the PDP campaign machinery can construct a post-presidential election scenario in which APC would be in power is a significant testimony of their admission that they have lost this election.

    “We note this mental and psychological concession of victory to our party’s presidential candidate, but reject the odious scenario. Nigerians should please ignore this latest antic because it is untrue, ridiculous, ludicrous, mundane and jejune.”

  • APC campaign: Jonathan’s harsh tax policies killing industries

    APC campaign: Jonathan’s harsh tax policies killing industries

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has said the harsh tax regime and high electricity tariff under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government are forcing many industries to close shop.

    The APC campaign assured Nigerians that the party would not impose any harsh tax regime on Nigerians, but would rather employ existing tax policies of government to fund its people-oriented programmes.

    Director of Media and Publicity of the APC Campaign Organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, said in a statement in Abuja that under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, the people and the business community were reeling under multiple, discriminatory and harsh tax regime.

    He said: “The prevailing harsh tax regime under the PDP government has caused untold hardship on the population while manufacturing industries are threatening to shut down their operations because of the high electricity tariff imposed on them when they depend largely on generating sets to power their factories.

    “An APC administration will make life more bearable and manageable for both the citizens and the business sector by entrenching discipline in public administration across all sectors of governance.

    “Second, the party will plug all loopholes through which public funds are being lost. When these loopholes and accompanying wastages are plugged and corruption reduced to a minimum or totally stamped out as promised by our presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, the government will have reasonable quantum of funds for social investments programmes in education, health, and safety nets such as free school meals for children, emergency public works for unemployed youths and pensions for the elderly.

    “Third, an APC government will seek to ensure that all existing laws and policies on taxation will be implemented judiciously while tax authorities and administrators will be encouraged to do their work with the utmost transparency.

    “The PDP is obviously scared of the credible alternative, which the APC represents and will go to any length to lie to Nigerians on any issue, including those on which the APC has not expressed a position. The majority of Nigerians are looking forward eagerly to the advent of an APC administration as a panacea to the deceit and fraud that has characterised the administration of the PDP in the last 16 years.

    “In view of the mood of the nation and the glaring cases of stealing, corruption, fraud and looting that is the character of the administration, we advise the PDP spokesperson to save his breath and make the burden of change and power transfer lighter by advising his party and their government functionaries to start preparing hand-over notes”.

  • APC petitions NBC against abuses on Ekiti stations

    APC petitions NBC against abuses on Ekiti stations

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has petitioned the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) against “acts of unprofessionalism and abuses” in the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State (BSES).

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, the party called the NBC’s attention to the poor quality control mechanism arising from poor staffing in the leadership cadre of the television and radio stations.

    “We have discovered that the core professionals who can advise on the quality control mechanism of the two stations have been sidelined in favour of Governor Ayodele Fayose’s cronies, who do not have requisite qualification to hold their positions.

    “For instance, apart from the avalanche of contract staff who were hired on the basis of partisan solidarity, the Acting Director General of BSES, Lere Olayinka, has never practised in any reputable newsroom of any print or electronic media anywhere across the country.

    “At best, he is a political journalist without any basic grounding in media practice and he is often used by politicians to malign innocent opponents.”

    He said Olayinka’s lack of requisite qualification had adverse effects on quality programming and professional touch in the running of the radio and television stations.

    The APC spokesman urged NBC to apply its standard to ensure and promote ethics and professionalism in the sensitive profession of electronic communication at BSES.

    He urged NBC to investigate Olayinka’s qualification, pointing the agency’s attention to various abuses arising from political partisanship and unprofessional conduct at the two stations.

    He listed the alleged directive by Governor Ayo Fayose to ban paid APC adverts and jingles in the stations with Olayinka  turning the stations to his boss’ megaphone to malign senior citizens and political opponents.

    “The stations in one of their news bulletins in November accused the Chief Judge, Mr. Justice Ayodeji Daramola, of collecting N200 million from APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to influence the judge sitting on Fayose’s eligibility case to rule against him.

    “About the same time, an allegation that the 19 APC House of Assembly members demanded N135million from the governor was also broadcast on the stations. All these were without evidence,” Olatubosun explained.

    He added that in another news bulletin, the chief judge was accused of collecting N20 million from Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration to prevent Fayose’s inauguration, noting that in January, the stations broadcast the allegation that Fayemi donated N1.5 billion to Buhari/ Osinbajo Campaign Organisation without any proof.

    Olatubosun said: “The stations also accused Fayemi of an attempt to transfer N950 million from a bank in Ghana but which the Ghana Central Bank stopped.

    “These are all lies aimed at denting the image of these decent Ekiti citizens.

    “The BSES is in the habit of copying social media gossips and broadcasting same in the stations’ news bulletins.”

    The APC spokesman also accused Olayinka of unprofessional conduct by approving fabricated stories for the private producers and presenters of a popular Yoruba newspaper review programme, Lati Inu Aka.

  • APC: Ladoja sponsoring lies against Ajimobi

    APC: Ladoja sponsoring lies against Ajimobi

    •Accord: it’s not true

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has accused the governorship candidate of  Accord, Rashidi Ladoja, of sponsoring the circulation of a “leaflet of concocted lies” against the Abiola Ajimobi-led administration.

    It said the electorate would not be swayed by such lies.

    In a statement by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, the APC said Ladoja has a penchant for fabricating lies and circulating same to mislead the public, especially to win undeserved electoral mandate.

    It claimed that the former governor was always at the forefront of attempts to institutionalise dirty politics in the state since 2002, when he succeeded to out-do other contenders to get the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The statement reads:   “The crude manner in which Ladoja secured the governorship ticket to contest the 2003 election remains fresh in the memory of the original members of the PDP.

    “The lies he told against the late Lam Adesina to dislodge him from the Agodi Government House were largely responsible for the failure of that administration to complete its well deserved two terms in office.

    “We recall that Ladoja also sponsored many lies against the Adebayo Alao-Akala administration in the build up to the 2011 elections but the effect was not in his favour as majority of the electorate knew what to do with their votes. He then sought to discredit the mandate given to Ajimobi by sponsoring infantile lies again.

    “Not satisfied with the “hand of fellowship” extended to him by Ajimobi who accommodated several nominees in his government, Ladoja used his loyalists within the corridor of power to obtain some classified information which he either doctored or twisted to mislead the public.

    “At a debate recently, he was confronted by the governor on some falsehood coming from his camp and he left no one in doubt of his character as one who thrives on perjury and mudslinging.

    “Ladoja has again begun to sponsor damaging publications, engage the services of rumour mongers and lie merchants to work against the governor and the APC after it became clear that the electorate would vote for the governor based on performance, promise and track record.

    “We came across a leaflet being circulated in Ibadan in which Ladoja and his sympathisers packaged some lies and tagged it ’50 reasons why Ajimobi should not be re-elected’.

    “We are also aware of a wicked rumour being circulated that scores of passengers disappeared with two Ajumose shuttle buses. These are the handiworks of the same disgruntled elements.

    “As we urge the public to verify every claim from politicians with a view to ascertain its genuineness or lack of it, we call on the Accord  leader to change his ways and turn a new leaf as politics should not turned to an instrument of character assassination, subterfuge and mudslinging.”

    But the Director-General of the Rashidi Ladoja Campaign Organisation, Adeolu Adeleke, denied the allegation.

    He said: “It is part of APC propaganda. If some people levy allegations against a government, and it believes that it is a lie, it should feel unconcerned.

    “We have more reasons than those stated in the leaflet on why Ajimobi should not be re-elected. That shows we are not behind it.”

  • Ekiti denies APC’s abuse claim

    Ekiti denies APC’s abuse claim

    The Ekiti State government has denied involvement in human rights abuses as alleged by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in a petition to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

    Describing the allegation of human rights violation as “spurious and unfounded”, the Ayo Fayose-led administration accused the APC of “misrepresentation of facts and engineering a smear campaign to achieve political gains”.

    The government, in a protest letter to the NHRC by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Owoseni Ajayi, said it was the out gone APC-led government that carried out human rights violations during its four-year stint.

    The protest letter was sequel to a petition forwarded to the NHRC by the state chapter of the APC, which accused Fayose of giving official cover to suspected political thugs allegedly wreaking havoc in many parts of the state in the run-up to the general elections.

    The thugs, according to the APC, attacked its members, destroyed their property and vandalised posters, billboards and campaign vehicles, among other allegations.

    The APC also followed up the petition by sending its representatives to the NHRC who were granted audience by the agency’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Bem Angwe, who promised to investigate the complaints.

    Ajayi accused his predecessor, Olawale Fapohunda, of using his position as a commissioner on the NHRC board to orchestrate a campaign of calumny against the Fayose-led government.

    The commissioner argued that contrary to the APC’s claims, infraction of rights allegedly occurred during the tenure of former Governor Kayode Fayemi.

  • Wike to APC candidate: stop attacking me

    Wike to APC candidate: stop attacking me

    The Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Nyesom Wike, has warned the Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Dr Dakuku Peterside, against attacking his personality

    He spoke at the Mega Rally of Ward 18, Eagle Island in Port Harcourt yesterday.

    Wike warned the Rivers APC governorship candidate against uncontrolled allegations during political rallies, threatening to open up on the former Commissioner for Works.

    “He shouldn’t dare me because I will publish these facts the way we published Amaechi’s actions in Government House and they are yet to respond.”

    Speaking on his contract with the people of Eagle Island, the Rivers PDP governorship candidate promised to build a public primary school in the area, reconstruct internal road in the area and site a security post in the community.

    He added that his administration would develop a beach in the area and improve the living condition of the people.

    The Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Senator George Sekibo advised the Eagle Island residents to vote for PDP as the future of the state rests with a PDP victory.

    House of Representatives member Blessing Nsiegbe assured Barrister Wike that the residents of the Island will join other Nigerians to ensure he becomes the next governor of the state.

    The Rivers State PDP Chairman, Felix Obuah, hailed the people to vote for Wike and the PDP.