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Tag: APC

  • Madumere hails Okorocha for giant strides

    Madumere hails Okorocha for giant strides

    •Urges chieftains to uphold party’s ideals

    Imo State Deputy Governor Eze Madumere has hailed Governor Rochas Okorocha for living up to the people’s expectations.

    In his statement during the inaugural ceremony of the executive members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Imo State chapter, he said members gathered because the governor made them proud, following his giant strides, which he attributed to vision and hard work.

    Madumere urged the APC Chairman, Dr. Hilary Ekeh, not to shirk his responsibility, to avoid betraying the confidence reposed in him.

    The deputy governor, who was applauded by the youths, called for a collective pursuit of the party’s goals.

    He said all hands must be on deck to get the job done.

    Madumere pledged to support the chairman to make him succeed.

    He enjoined others to do same and advised him to run an open door policy.

  • APC urges INEC to conduct Ondo by-election

    APC urges INEC to conduct Ondo by-election

    ALL Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the by-election for the Odigbo State Constituency.

    The seat became vacant in the State House of Assembly following the death of its representative and former Speaker of the State Assembly, the late Samuel Adesina.

    The party’s Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya, accused the ruling Labour Party (LP) for the delay in conducting the by-election

    It noted that the State Assembly, which is populated by LP lawmakers, ought to have notified INEC on the death of the former Speaker, following which the electoral body would conduct the election within the stipulated three months.

    Odigbo Constituency is the only local government populated mostly by non-indigenes from Osun and Kwara states.

    The state APC Chairman, Mr. Isaac Kekemeke, has also urged Nigerians to ensure peace in the country to guarantee stability.

    He gave the charge in Ore, headquarters of the local government while leading other state executives to worship with Islamic faithful at Ore Central Mosque.

    Kekemeke called on the Muslim communities to work assiduously for the success of the APC during the coming election.

    He stressed that APC, as a progressive party, would put their interest at heart and ensure they enjoy the dividends of democracy being denied them by the ruling LP.

    The Chief Imam of Ore Central Mosque, Alhaji Ismail Olurimisi, offered special prayers for members of the APC officials and the success of the party in August 9 election in Osun State and in next year general election.

  • Jonathan paying lip service to free, fair elections, says APC

    Jonathan paying lip service to free, fair elections, says APC

    President Goodluck Jonathan should match with action his talk on free and fair elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said.

    The opposition party also said all the assurances so far given by the President have not translated into credible elections.

    In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the APC urged the President to ensure that next year’s elections are not marred by the intimidation and harassment of opposition party members and supporters. There should also not be deliberate disenfranchisement of voters, which hallmarked the Anambra and Ekiti governorship elections, among others, the party added.

    ‘’On the same day the President’s latest assurances of a free, fair, credible and transparent elections in 2015 were being reported, agents of the Jonathan-led federal government were ransacking the offices of a company hired to carry out an opinion poll for Osun State ahead of the August 9 gubernatorial election.

    ‘’If the opposition can no longer freely carry out opinion polls, if the companies hired to carry out such polls are harassed and intimidated by SSS officials as they did to tnsrms, the offices of which were searched for six hours, after which top officials of the firm were dragged to the SSS offices in Shangisha and computers carted away, then, how can any President convince anyone that free and fair elections can be held under his watch?

    ‘’If the Ngozi Okonjo Iweala-linked NOI polling firm has never been harassed for its choreographed opinion polls that favour the Jonathan Administration, why should other firms be subjected to the kind of Gestapo- tactics that tnsrms was exposed to? This is why we are asking President Jonathan to walk the talk,’’ the APC said.

    The party said the foundation was being laid to “rig at source” next month’s governorship election in Osun at source, claiming INEC had been frustrating attempts by APC members to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards. The PDP, it alleged, continued to boast that it would use the military to illegally shut down Osun State and bully the opposition as it did in Ekiti.

    It also wondered whether INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega properly weighed the statement he made, in which he tried to justify the deployment of troops in Ekiti for the election on the basis that they helped to ensure a violence-free exercise.

    ‘’Jega should be asked to explain why troops sent to provide security for the Ekiti election were harassing and intimidating only the opposition? Why were they arresting only opposition members? Is that also part of providing security for an election? If soldiers had only provided non-intrusive security for the election, perhaps no one would have complained. But where they turned themselves into the enforcement arm of the ruling party, everyone, including INEC, should be concerned,’’ the APC said.

    The party urged President Jonathan to refrain from deploying the military for election purposes and read the riot act to his cabinet members, such as Musiliu Obanikoro and Abduljelili Adesiyan, and party officials who specialise in electoral malfeasance, and elections will start becoming free, fair, credible and transparent to such an extent that the world would notice.

    ‘’Saying one thing and doing the opposite, Mr. President, will not translate to credible elections. The world is watching,’’ it said.

    As a starting point, the APC urged the President, if indeed he is committed to free and fair elections, to launch an inquiry into why the offices of the firm carrying out an opinion poll for Osun State were invaded and to tell Nigerians whether the firm would have been harassed if it had been hired by the PDP or its candidate for the August 9 election.

  • Asiwaju group empowers the needy

    Asiwaju group empowers the needy

    A Lagos political group, Asiwaju For Life, has empowered over 750 indigent people across the state. The group, named after the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, regularly empowers people with entrepreneurial items.

    The major beneficiaries of the 4th empowerment programme, which coincided with the end of the Ramadan, were artisans, traders and others drawn from the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas of Lagos State.

    Some of the items given were hairdryers, sewing machines,  refrigerators, grinding machines,  generators and others.

    Money was also given to the needy.

    The coordinator of the group, Alhaja Ola Williams, said the programme was put in place to meet the needs of the less privileged.

    Other dignitaries who attended the event were Mrs. Jumoke Okoya Thomas, a member of the House of Representatives; Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the Iyaloja General; Mrs. Tayo Ayinde, the Ojon of Lagos; Chief Olubiyi Agoro; Ayodeji Oyekan, the Bajulaye of Lagos; Dr. Kazeem Fatade; Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya (aka MC Oluomo) and others.

  • Pressure on Adamawa council chairmen to dump APC

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is mounting pressure on local government chairmen and Development Area Administrators in the state to return to dump the All Progressive Party and return to the party following the successful impeachment of the state governor Murtala Nyako.

    The local government chairmen and development area administrators had followed Governor Nyako to the APC, but the PDP now want the back, describing them as ‘prodigal sons’.

    Chairman of the PDP in the state, Chief Joel Hammanjoda Madaki, pleaded with them to go back to their wards and revalidate their memberships of the party so that the PDP can win a landslide victory in the forthcoming elections.

    He said, “We in the Peoples Democratic Party PDP are calling on you all the LGAs and all 50 Area Administrators to please return to the PDP the party in which you were elected before you later declared for the All Progressive Congress Party”

    Chief Joel Hammanjoda Madaki said, “The PDP now regards you as prodigal sons who left the party but now the party is calling on you to retrace your steps and go and revalidate your memberships of the party at the ward level so that we can now officially receive you along with the Acting Governor”

    The council chairmen and area administrators had defected from the PDP to follow former Governor Murtala Nyako to join the All Progressives Congress last year, who left the party due to the lingering crisis in the PDP involving Nyako and the former PDP chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who were fighting for the soul of party in the state.

    Speaking at the PDP secretariat the chairman of Michika Local Government Area of the state Hon Vandi favanza who spoke on behalf of his colleagues pledge to carry the message of the Adamawa State PDP back to their respective Local Governments.

    “We are not strangers in the PDP because we came into power on the platform of the party but we left the party with former Governor Nyako to the APC to secure our positions, if not the powers that would booted some of out of our seats, therefore we promise  to consult our people and report back to the chairman.

    In the same vein the Gombi local government chairman Hon Rufai Umar express fear that the PDP executives at their local government levels may not accept them due to sentimental reasons that may have been existing between them.

    Rufai pointed out that unless the PDP set up a consultation and reconciliation committee to visits all the 21 LGA it would be very difficult for many of the chairmen to return to the PDP

    He however pleaded with the state exco to set a reconciliation committee that will harmonize them at the local level so as have good working relationship with the local government exco of the PDP across the state.

     

  • APC, PDP in row over ‘plot’ to rig, incite residents

    APC, PDP in row over ‘plot’ to rig, incite residents

    Who is plotting to rig the August 9 election?

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it has uncovered another plot by the Peoples Democratic Congress (PDP) to rig the poll.

    APC’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, made the claim yesterday in a statement.

    But the PDP insisted that it had no such plans.

    The APC alleged that the PDP had penetrated the ranks of the youth corps members to be used as electoral officers by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    It claimed that 70 of the corps members had been compromised to look the other way when the PDP agents use other people’s voter cards.

    “It should not be forgotten that our party, the APC, had brought to public knowledge, the criminal intention of the PDP to buy up voter cards  for rigging purposes during the election on August 9.

    “According to credible information reaching the APC, 96 of the youth corps members were invited to a closed-door meeting with the PDP officials last week, but only 74 attended. During the meeting, the corps members were told to disregard the difference in facial appearance between the voter and the picture on the computer record and allow the mercenary voter to cast his or her vote.

    “Sensing that this could be dangerously problematic, one of the corps members allegedly asked: ‘Suppose party agents discovered and raised alarm?’ The PDP officials were reported to have replied; ‘don’t worry about that. The security people will deal decisively with any troublesome agent,’” the APC said.

    It added that after the meeting, the PDP distributed N20,000 each to the corps members and promised N30,000 more when the next meeting holds. “We learnt that the next meeting will hold in few days in Ile Ife,” the statement claimed.

    The reason why the PDP decided to embark on the method, according to the APC, was because the INEC in Abuja told the opposition party that snatching ballot boxes and stuffing them with already thumb-printed ballot-papers would not be permitted.

    The APC said the INEC had insisted that the PDP should look for the voters and make them vote.

    “With this secret let out of the bag, youth corps members acting as electoral officers will now come under closer scrutiny during the election and party agents and observers will be further armed with this information to prevent the PDP’s fraud at the polls,” the party said.

    The state government has also alerted the residents to  plans  by “some unscrupulous people” to mark some buildings for demolition in major cities.

    The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Sunday Akere, in a statement yesterday, said their intention was to incite the populace against the government.

    He advised residents to question anyone that inscribes any mark of demolition on their buildings and report such person to the police for proper action.

    Akere also denied claims by members of the opposition party, particularly the PDP, that the state government has concluded plans to introduce a new tax regime if re-elected into office.

    He said the government is  not in any way thinking of introducing any tax regime or intend to increase its tax levy as claimed by the PDP.

    The spokesperson for the PDP and the Omisore Campaign Organisation, Prince Diran Odeyemi, said: “We are tired of their unfounded allegations. It is one allegation for each day. Their plan was to use the allegations to distract us from doing serious and issue-based campaign.”

    Odeyemi advised the APC to report any criminal finding to the security agents, rather than taking serious issues meant to be investigated and prosecuted in the court of law to the media.

    “It is the constitutional role of the police to investigate and prosecute accordingly any criminal issues that the APC might have. Reporting it on the pages of the newspapers amounts to propaganda,” he said.

  • Omisore’s excuse for absence at debate lacks wisdom, says APC

    Omisore’s excuse for absence at debate lacks wisdom, says APC

    •Group flays candidates’ nonappearance

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has decried the reasons adduced by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, for not participating in the pre-governorship election debate in Osogbo last Saturday.

    It described the PDP candidate’s arguments as “the wisdom of a fool.”

    Omisore had reportedly claimed that he was supposedly superior to Governor Rauf Aregbesola, which made it a match “between two unequal parties.”

    He also inferred that the “weaker of the two parties may resort to physical assault and harassment.”

    But the APC observed that it was disheartening that Omisore’s remark came after the event, which it said “Aregbesola was majestic and at home with facts and figures on how his administration had prudently managed the state’s economy.”

    It added: “Omisore sounded mean and shallow when he tried to denigrate Aregbesola’s academic qualification that the governor ‘presented O’Level (certificate) to INEC’. Again, that’s the wisdom of a fool; but for the foolishness embedded in that piece of information is that Omisore’s current certificate presented to INEC was a court affidavit in place of his primary and secondary school certificates.

    “In particular, we challenge Omisore to produce his certificates from St John’s Grammar School, Ile Ife and Owo Polythecnic, Ondo State.

    “What moral authority then has a man who till today presented court affidavit to show that he went to primary and secondary schools to denigrate another person who he said presented his O’Level certificate to INEC?”

    Omisore, the APC said, has missed his chance to convince the world that he was mentally and intellectually mature enough to handle difficult situation under pressure in a robust and critical debate.

    “The truth of the matter is that, like all inadequate personalities, Omisore was and continues to be afraid of confronting Aregbesola who can expose his lies with incontrovertible facts. That was why he ran away from the debate – simplicita!” it stated.

    An association, Oranmiyan Support Group, has condemned the actions of Omisore and others who refused to attend the debate organised by a United States (U.S.)-based organisation, the International Republican Institute (IRI).

    The group also decried candidates who rely on material inducements to woo the electorate rather than intellectual engagements.

    The group’s leader, Mr. Ayo Akinola, who spoke in Osogbo, said: “Debates are used all over the world to sell political programmes and manifestoes to the electorates.

    “It also provides opportunities for candidates to argue and correct erroneous impressions about themselves and even foster bond of friendship among contending political figures, as this is about the only opportunity that enables candidates to meet one-on-one.”

  • Oyo APC urges prayers for peace

    Oyo APC urges prayers for peace

    The Oyo State branch of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged Muslims to pray for lasting peace ahead of next year’s general elections.

    The party, in a message yesterday in Ibadan, the state capital, by its Chairman, Chief Akin Oke, felicitated with Muslims for successfully fulfilling one of their religious obligations, as stipulated in the Holy Qur’an and the teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

    APC said: “It is very important for a party like ours, which respects the rights of individuals to religious practice, to identify with our Muslim brothers and sisters on this year’s occasion of Eid-el Fitri.”

    It urged Muslims to always exhibit the virtues of sacrifice, humility, love and service to God and humanity beyond the holy month.

    APC called for prayers to make peace reign in Nigeria, especially as insurgents have held the nation by the throat for years.

    “Our dear pacesetter state equally deserves special prayers, even as we urge residents to be vigilant and not succumb to the antics of retroactive elements who are bent on returning Oyo State to the era of impunity, recklessness and bad governance,” it said.

     

  • Osun APC congratulates Muslims

    Osun APC congratulates Muslims

    Osun State branch of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday congratulated Muslims for the successful Ramadan fast as a devotion to the will of Allah.

    In a Sallah message by its spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi, the party said the period, which elevated the spiritual consciousness of Muslims, would lead them to take the right decisions on matters which affect their faith and their lives “in an environment that is constantly threatened by thugs, rapists, assassins and mischievous politicians”.

    APC added: “At least, those who have been faithful in their devotion during this Ramadan will come with clear conscience to sort out the evil from the good when they take a critical decision on August 9, whether or not criminals should capture power in Osun, or Allah’s grace that rained on the state since November 2010 should continue.

    “The Ramadan came just in good time to assist not only Muslims but every adherent of faith in Osun to consciously resist evil which desperate politicians that have gone mad for power pose to the progress already made since 2010.”

  • PDP faults APC’s stance on attempt on Buhari’s life

    PDP faults APC’s stance on attempt on Buhari’s life

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted the position of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday’s terror attack in Kaduna targeted at one of its leaders, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari(Rtd.).

    The APC, in its reaction to the attempt on Buhari’s life, had stated that the incident had put a lie to PDP’s hackneyed claim that the opposition party was behind the spate of terrorist attacks in the country.

    But in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, the PDP described attempts by the APC to use the incident to absolve itself of blames for encouraging insurgency in the country as “laughable and lame”.

    The PDP said the APC’s true identity as a party supportive of violence and disunity in the country is already well known.

    The statement said: “Nigerians will recall that when the news of the attack broke out, the PDP took the high moral ground of condemning the development and sympathised with General Muhammadu Buhari while at the same time calling for a thorough investigation to fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly act.

    “We are therefore shocked, disappointed and disgusted that the APC leaders chose to use the ugly development to embark on image laundering.

    “However, their hasty attempts to indict the Presidency and our great party while exonerating themselves from the widely held notion that they have been promoting insurgency have raised issues regarding what really happened, especially now that a suspect has been arrested.”

    The party added: “Nigerians now ponder; they ask, was the attack a setup aimed at scoring some political points? If indeed it was an assassination attempt, was it engineered by internal frictions and crisis of ambition within the APC?

    “Has it to do with some other presidential aspirants in the APC seeing General Buhari as a threat and obstacle to their ambitions?

    “Or could it be APC’s desperate strategy of trying to disentangle itself from the internationally acknowledged link with terrorists and possibly undermine the planned probe of their involvement by the United Kingdom?

    “These questions have become completely pertinent considering the fact that General Buhari poses no threat whatsoever to any candidate that the PDP might project.

    “He lost three times to our great party in presidential elections and will lose the fourth time if he emerges the candidate of the APC. Our advice to APC is that they might as well consider looking inwards if they believe it was an assassination attempt.”

    The PDP insisted that the APC cannot in anyway exonerate itself from the insurgency ravaging the country, which it said the latter had been promoting through the utterances and actions of its leaders, “thinking that the insurgents were after the President and the PDP”.

    The ruling party said if the APC leaders had joined other well-meaning Nigerians in condemning acts of terrorism at the early stage, the perpetrators would not have been bold enough to get to the current alarming level.