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Tag: APC

  • APC to Jonathan: you can’t get Rivers

    APC to Jonathan: you can’t get Rivers

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has dismissed the boast by President Goodluck Jonathan that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will ‘recover’ the state next year.

    In a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt by its Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, the party said: “This boast made on Saturday by President Jonathan at the PDP’s Southsouth rally in Benin City, the Edo State capital, is ridiculous because it runs counter to the reality on ground in Rivers State.

    “President Jonathan’s boast is obviously based on ignorance about present political reality in Rivers State. He may not have known that the state PDP leader and prospective governorship candidate, Nyesome Wike, has polarised the party to the extent that it cannot even win a councillorship seat in a fair and free election.

    “Apart from this, Wike, on whom the President is building his hopes of PDP reclaiming Rivers State, has lost political relevance since he left the mainstream of the political family that binds Rivers State together.

    “Wike is either deluding himself or deliberately feeding Mr. President with lies in a bid to feather his nest.”

    Ikanya cited Jonathan’s ‘wickedness’ towards Rivers State as yet another reason why PDP can never recapture power in the state.

    The APC chairman said: “On what basis should the people of Rivers State vote for PDP in 2015? Is it based on the wicked policies of the Jonathan administration against Rivers State and its people?

    “Is it based on the ceding of our oil wells to his home State of Bayelsa and supporting Akwa Ibom and Abia states to take over our oil wells? Or is it because he has ensured that the Federal Government does not cite any meaningful project in Rivers State?

    “Or his deliberate refusal to implement the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoni? President Jonathan has left no one in doubt of his deep hatred for Rivers State and its people, so how can we support him or any PDP candidate in 2015?”

    “In any case, the feats of the Amaechi administration are enough to give us victory in future elections. These feats, which are well known, include making Port Harcourt the World Book Capital City, eradication of militancy, the dogged fight for the oil wells and other rights of Rivers State and its people, as well as award-winning achievements in education, agriculture, health, etc.”

  • Niger East: APC candidate petitions tribunal

    Niger East: APC candidate petitions tribunal

    The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Niger East Senatorial by-election, Mr David Umaru, has challenged the declaration of Dr. Shem Zagbayi Nuhu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the poll.

    Umaru is praying the National Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Minna, the Niger State capital, to declare him winner of the by-election, “having polled majority votes”.

    Joined as respondents are 388 others, including the PDP, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) and INEC presiding officers.

    Umaru is praying the tribunal to cancel results in 378 polling units and recalculate the total result.

    He said the votes ascribed to each of the candidates were not their actual scores, but the product of “deliberate wrong entries and collation of figures made by the third respondent’s agents or officers at the polling units”.

    On September 7, INEC declared Nuhu winner of the by-election with 92,056 votes while Umaru got 87,406 votes.

    Umaru said: “If the results of the polling units affected by these non-compliance and irregularities are cancelled and deducted from the final scores of the candidates, I shall have the highest number of valid votes cast at the election, thus: APC 87,405-22,491 = 64,914  PDP 92,056-53,837 = 38,219.

    “Nuhu did not secure the majority of lawful votes and is not qualified to contest the election, having not been properly sponsored by his party (PDP) in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.”

  • Lagos 2015: Igbos should vote APC

    Lagos 2015: Igbos should vote APC

    Prior to the victory of Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999 governorship election in Lagos state which produced Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, many progressive Igbo people in Lagos had forged a common alliance under National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) with like minds of Yorubas and other Nigerians from the North and Southern parts of Nigeria to push for the return to democracy from military rule. Under the able leadership of Abraham Adesanya, the late Lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), some of these Igbos which includes Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (Rtd) and Engr. Joe Igbokwe, to mention but a few, suffered deprivations in their quest to ensure that the military returned to their barracks.

    With the metamorphosis of AD into Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now All Progressive Congress (APC) the political ruling class in Lagos continued carrying Igbos along together with their political and economic interests. It is instructive to note that before his inauguration in 1999, some prominent Igbo sons were part of the Think Tank set up by Tinubu to formulate policies for the Lagos State government. These include Professor Pat Okedinachi Utomi and Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

    Under the leadership of Tinubu, an Igbo man Ben Akabueze a technocrat was appointed a Commissioner in Lagos State and has continued to serve till date. Another illustrious Igbo son Engr. Igbokwe was also appointed a General Manager of one of the government agencies. In honour of Rear Admiral Kanu, a Park in Alausa, the seat of government was named after him just like it was done for Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) in Ojota and Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti in Anthony. Several Igbo sons and daughters have continued to prosper in their businesses courtesy of the enabling environment created by the Lagos State government in the last 16 years.

    It may also be pointed out that leading Igbo groups in Lagos such as Aka Ikenga, the Pan Igbo Think Thank, Ndigbo Lagos, a Socio-Cultural organization and also the leading Igbo Socio-Cultural group Ohaneze Ndigbo have held strategic meetings with Tinubu and later Fashola over the years. These groups in recognition of the contributions of these governors to the protection and development of Igbo interests in Lagos have also honoured them on several occasions in the past.

    As the 2015 governorship elections approaches in Lagos State, one of the rival political parties to APC has gone into its bag of tricks and has come up with a plot to deceive Igbos into voting for it. It is tinkering with the idea of making an Igbo man a deputy governorship candidate of its party together with a few slots in commissionership and the state House of Assembly. This promise would have been good if not that it is only a gimmick to win elections in Lagos State and not borne out of a sincere love for Igbos. Why is it that in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 governorship elections in Lagos State, the party did not nominate an Igbo man as its deputy governorship candidate? Having lost its deposit in the last four general elections, this party is desperate to win at all cost.

    Further, Igbos should remember that the mere fact that a person is chosen as a candidate does not mean that his kinsmen would vote for him. In 1999, the ruling political mafia in Nigeria chose General Olusegun Obasanjo (Rtd) as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). His kinsmen, the Yorubas instead voted for Chief Olu Falae, the presidential candidate of AD. Obasanjo was roundly defeated in the six Yoruba states including his home state of Ogun.

    Since Igbos have made appreciable in road into APC, it is better for them to remain there and negotiate their interest inside that party. The transformation of Lagos which started with Tinubu in 1999 and has continued with Fashola since 2007 has benefited all Lagosians without discrimination.

    Infact, I dare say that as a people given to mercantile pursuits, these two administrations which has boosted the economy of Lagos State by logical deduction has favoured the Igbos more than any other ethnic group doing business in Lagos. Therefore, it is in the enlightened self interest of the Igbos to vote for APC in 2015 governorship election in Lagos State.

     

    • Aham Njoku,

    Lagos.

  • Rumpus in Bayelsa APC as members plan mass defection

    Rumpus in Bayelsa APC as members plan mass defection

    The Bayelsa State chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has been thrown into confusion following plan by many of its members to defect en masse to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    It was gathered that major stakeholders of the party including some members of the APC’s state working committee were holding meetings with the leadership of the state PDP to perfect the arrangement.

    The defection, it was learnt, will take place in a rally to be attended by President Goodluck Jonathan in Yenagoa, the state capital.

    It was gathered that the governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, who was elated at the development, directed the leadership of the state PDP to liaise with all the stakeholders and select a suitable date for the event.

    Already, PDP was said to have received a one-time National Youth Leader of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and former Interim Ex-officio member of the APC, Mr. Miriki Ebikibina.

    Ebikibina, who is an aide to Governor Dickson on Inter-Party Affairs, was received along with other aggrieved zonal members of APC during the PDP’s rally in Benin, Edo State.

    It was further gathered that the former state chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Mr. Sunday Frank-Oputu, who is a known loyalist of former Governor Timipre Sylva, was among the APC chiefs ready for defection.

    But Oputu and other APC members in the state were said to have preferred making their declarations for PDP at the Yenagoa rally.

    The aggrieved APC members were said to be angry at the comatose nature of the party in the state and the alleged highhandedness of the party’s state chairman, Mr. Tiwe Oruminighe.

    When contacted, Frank-Oputu said Oruminighe and Sylva killed APC in the state, adding that members of the party in their thousands were ready for the defection.

    But the leadership of the APC disowned Miriki, Frank-Oputu and others planning to join the PDP, describing them as liabilities to APC.

    The state chairman of the party, Mr. Marlin Daniel, said they were planted as moles but became frustrated when APC failed to give them a chance.

    “If you look at the activities and antecedents of these people, you will know that what they do is to trade with opposition for monetary reasons. They cannot cope because APC has come to make a difference.

    “We decided to quarantine them because we have known them for a long time and their motives. We will celebrate their exit because we know that even PDP will not accept them.

    “Frank is fond of selling parties to any government. PDP wanted him to be the chairman of our party so that he can sell the party to them later, he contested but he lost. APC is credible and strong in Bayelsa. We are not shaking,” he said.

  • Polls: Delta APC warn against rigging

    Polls: Delta APC warn against rigging

    The 25 chairmanship candidates of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the forthcoming local government elections in Delta State have warned of mass protests, should Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) fail to  ‘conduct, free, fair and credible elections’.

    Mr. Otunya Enumah, a chairmanship aspirant in Ndokwa West L.G.A, who spoke to reporters, weekend in Asaba, maintained that local polls were difficult to rig, saying the opposition APC will win handsomely at the polls.

    He warned that anybody planning to rig election, ‘will have himself to blame.’

    He said the APC has campaigned across the state and is fielding ‘eligible, courageous, and people –oriented candidates.’

    DSIEC has fixed October 25th as date for elections into the chairmanship councillors position in the 25 local government areas in the state.

    His words, “If DSIEC does not conduct a free and fair election, there will be mass protest and the APC will seek legal redress. DSIEC will not have the audacity to do so because they know it is wrong. Nigerians are yearning for free and fair elections and this local polls cannot be rigged .We are very confident that anybody who is planning to rig the elections will have himself to blame.”

     

  • UK-based APC chieftain seeks re-election of Kwara governor

    UK-based APC chieftain seeks re-election of Kwara governor

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the United Kingdom, Mr. Yemi Kolawole-Taiwo, has canvassed for the re-election of the Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed.

    The former Liaison Officer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), North-Central in the UK, who recently joined the APC, also commended the APC governors for providing visionary leadership for Nigeria, stating that the developmental efforts of Ahmed as well as the leadership of Saraki would continue to put Kwara State on the path of progress.

     

  • Anambra 2015: Aspirants scramble for APC ticket

    Anambra 2015: Aspirants scramble for APC ticket

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State says plans have been concluded by the party to win the majority of the elective positions during 2015 general elections.

    As a result, many aspirants are scrambling for slots in the party for different elective positions in all the senatorial zones.

    Over 30 persons are said to have interest in the House of Representatives seats, while uncountable number of aspirants are gearing up for state House of Assembly.

    The Secretary of APC in the state, Chukwuma Agufugo, told The Nation yesterday in Awka, that the party had put machinery in motion in making sure that everybody would be carried along.

    He said the number of aspirants shows that APC was a leading party not only in Anambra State but in the entire country.

    One of the aspirants for the House of Assembly in Idemili North Local Government Area, Olisaemeka Onyeka, told The Nation yesterday that APC had taken over the entire state.

    Some party members in the area are already touting Onyeka, who is contesting the position with the incumbent, Hon. Tony Oneweek Muonagor, as haven clinched the ticket.

    It would be recalled, however, that the party had continuously announced that no automatic ticket would be given to anybody irrespective of his position or status.

    According to Onyeka, popularly known as (Odu-Ogidi) in the state, “APC is strong now in the state and that is why we have been having defections from different parties to APC in recent times.”

    Speaking further yesterday to The Nation, the chairman of the party in the state, Emeka Ibe, said the party was ready to take all comers in 2015, adding that APC was a party to beat.

  • Ondo APC flays delay in payment of workers’ salaries

    Ondo APC flays delay in payment of workers’ salaries

    THE Ondo State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted what it called ‘the anti-labour’ posture of the state government on the delay in the payment of August salary to civil servants in the state.

    In a statement issued in Akure by a member of the party’s state Publicity Committee, Charles Titiloye, the APC bemoaned the plight of workers in the state, while challenging the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, to declare the state of finances of the state.

    The party noted that most parents are now at the mercy of owners of private schools who charge high fees due to what it called the failure of the state government to revive and rebuild public schools in Ondo State.

    It added, “Anybody who values good education would not send his children to Ondo public schools with their deplorable and dilapidated infrastructures. Yet, the same government cannot pay salary regularly to its workers to meet their financial obligation in paying their children’s school fees at private schools.

    “Our party is no longer comfortable with the fact that state government can no longer meet its financial obligations to pay workers’ salary and perform its social responsibility to the citizens of the state by fixing and repairing basic public amenities.”

    While lamenting the deplorable state of major roads in Akure, the state capital, the APC further alleged a “total breakdown of responsive and accountable governance in Ondo State.”

  • Periscoping the ideal APC presidential candidate (2)

    Periscoping the ideal APC presidential candidate (2)

    And I make bold to say that Nigeria, in its current dire straits, needs Buhari more than he needs Nigeria

    Writing in his column in The Nation of Thursday, September 25, 2014, the highly regarded Ambassador Dapo Fafowora clinically dissected one of the many evil consequences of PDP’s screaming ineptitude since assuming power in 1999.  On why Nigeria is no longer respected at international fora, he wrote:  ‘It is because of the widespread corruption in Nigeria which has continued to undermine economic and social development. Virtually all the state institutions, including the executive, legislative and the judiciary, have broken down completely. The other day the Chief Justice of the Federation was reported as complaining that the judiciary was rotten with many judges openly taking bribes to distort justice. The bench too is believed to be as corrupt …’ Now that the PDP has decided to  adopt  insecurity, nation-wide darkness(16 years ago, Nigeria was generating 4000 MW as against today’s below that figure), unprecedented level of corruption, de-industrialisation, massive unemployment, even official money laundering,  by  foreclosing  competition for  elective posts , come 2015, it is important that APC should go out  to deliberately choose  an  individual who, irrespective of  ethnicity or religion, has a track record of incorruptibility in high public office; a candidate whose integrity is so overpowering, overwhelming and assured, that Nigeria  could be lifted up from its current stagnation in  the lowest rungs of  the human  development indices within his first four years in office.

    South Africa, a country we now claim to have upended after re-basing our economy, has just seized a humongous $9.3 million ferried into that country in a private plane, ostensibly to illegally purchase arms, simply because it is alien to the PDP federal government to be honest in anything.  Indeed, the government, only this past week, withdrew the fraud charges against former Works Minister, Hassan Lawal, just like it did in the Abacha case, all for narrow political considerations. As it turned out in the money laundering case, the company they claimed they were going to buy arms from is not even authorised by the South African authorities to deal in arms. Hardly could anything be more demeaning of a country than that seizure, but our government is beyond shame. Everything is about cutting corners; never for them security of life and property, every government’s raison detre,  guaranteed uninterrupted electricity, anti-corruption, employment for  teeming millions of  our unemployed youth, or  programmes designed to reduce mass poverty as long as TAN and the Protectors can conjure claims  of a so-called transformation agenda.

    I was ruminating over these PDP-induced national malaise as I reached page 337 of ‘SCALING ACCIDENTS OF LIFE – an upcoming autobiography by the incomparable patriot, Chief Oladeji  Fasuan, only to  see right before me, a letter the author addressed to Governor Fashola on 1, June 2011. The letter reads as follows: “Dear Governor, during the last elections, I voted for a non-existent Buhari/Fashola ticket. Some of my friends (notably Afe Babalola, SAN) laughed at me. I pity them because until there is a Buhari/Fashola ticket or something containing the characters of these two men, Nigeria will continue to tumble and stumble till we get the right national leadership. Know what these two represent? BELIEF, COMMITMENT, RAW DETERMINATION plus CAPACITY, WILLINGNESS and TRANSPARENCY.

    It is on the heels of the octogenarian’s above testimony that I present below, the views of Fola Aiyegbusi, a young Nigerian patriot, who is critically aware of the perilous times we are:

    ‘My reaction will start with a question:  Is Nigeria ready for an incorruptible president? The answer, unfortunately, is no.  Nigerians only complain of corruption when they are not the beneficiary.  That is when you hear ludicrous rationalisations for corrupt practices as in the one Femi Fani-Kayode recently did entitled: “of cash, the jet and Pastor Oritshejafor,” in defence of his co-religionist.

    ‘Today in Nigeria, General Buhari stands out as an epitome of incorruptibility, very much unlike the rest. As Head of State  between  1983- ‘85, his  government  gave a monthly account of crude oil lifted, how much it was sold for, and what  government was going to do with the revenue generated  there from. That now sounds like ancient history. As a military Head of State, he was not obliged to do it but because of his innate transparency and that of his Chief of General Staff, General Tunde  Idiagbon,  they   opted to lead by example. Today, under a PDP administration, reports of unremitted oil revenues are legion. Rather than openness in the Nigerian extractive industry,  it is corruption galore and we now daily hear of millions of barrels of stolen crude oil in spite of sweet heart, multi-billion pipeline security contracts awarded  to some of our president’s  Ijaw  compatriots.  Are oil thieves ghosts, since you need a barge worth millions of dollars to engage in oil stealing or are they being protected by higher authorities?  Any Nigerian wishing the country well already has his choice for the office of president because the general has already demonstrated, in previous posts, the ability to perform creditably the onerous task of ruling this largest agglomeration of blacks in the universe.

    ‘Anybody rushing to join the PDP today must have his eyes on corrupt enrichment, especially going into an election year.  Were Nigeria a serious country, that party ought to have been asphyxiated to death by now.  With their bulging 2015 campaign budget, not a few unreflecting Nigerians would still head there in search of loot.  Or what, other than monumental corruption, ethnic and religious bigotries and insecurity of life and property can Nigerians point to as benefits of PDP’s fifteen year stranglehold over Nigeria?  Never in the history of our country have religion and ethnic sensitivities been as pronounced as we now have.

    ‘But the time for change has come. For the APC to vanquish a thoroughly clueless PDP, General Buhari is its only option and with any of governors Tunde Fashola, Adams Oshiomhole, Rochas Okorocha, Chris Ngige or Kayode Fayemi. General Buhari will be APC’s ideal presidential candidate.  He has the drive, the passion and the sheer perspicacity to rescue this country from this journey to nowhere.’

    I say a big thank you to Fela for his well crafted views. As my own little contribution, let me quickly say that despite all the attempts by the opposition to dress the general in the robes of a Taliban, he comes to me, in the words of an elder, as a bridge builder who connects easily with his conservative north and the progressive Southwest and Middle belt in particular. A spartan soldier/politician, GMB has more than demonstrated the ability to lift Nigeria far beyond its present morass.  And I make bold to say that Nigeria, in its current dire straits, needs Buhari more than he needs Nigeria. Indeed, only this past week, Tunji Ololade, my co-columnist at The Nation, in his column, Reality Bites, of Friday, September 25, 2014, put the situation very brilliantly when he wrote: ‘Again, we are set to elect familiar ogres we do not know to power. Some of them we know we ought to shy from but we would still go ahead to vote for them, won’t we? Granted the reins of hope come 2015, shall we choose misery and tragedy undiminished? Shall we choose ruin over rebirth, distrust over trust, shallowness over depth and puerile platitudes over the precision of promising logic?’

    These are the questions Nigerians, given our  present circumstances, must critically interrogate from now till that February date when we cast our votes for the next president; not phony religious sentiments, unprofitable ethnicity or filthy lucre in whatever currency. These are the realities Nigerians must face squarely, come February, 2015 unless we want to remain glued to  our current miseries.

  • APC chieftain joins senatorial race in Ekiti South

    APC chieftain joins senatorial race in Ekiti South

    ALL Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain,  Mr. Ayoleke Adu, has joined the senatorial race in the Ekiti South District.

    He said he joined the race to prove that effective representation is possible, urging the constituents to vote for change.

    Adu, a chartered accountant and banker, also assured that the party would bounce back in next year’s parliamentary elections, despite its defeat in the recent governorship poll.

    The politician, who visited the Lagos office of The Nation, said the job of a federal legislator required skill, expertise and professionalism, which are beyond ill-equipped contenders.

    Adu promised to articulate the problems of the district in the Senate and lobby the power-that-be to accord Ekiti its dues in the scheme of things.

    He advised APC chieftains to gird their loin, saying that the party would bounce back.

    Adu said: “We did not lose the governorship election. Our governor performed. Ekiti will soon see the difference.”

    The senatorial aspirant will formally declare his ambition in Omuo-Ekiti tomorrow.

    The event will be witnessed by the APC Deputy Chairman Chief Segun Oni, Chief Jide Awe, Hon. Rotimi Ajidara and other party leaders in the district.