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  • Ladoja, Akala left decaying infrastructure, says Oyo APC

    Ladoja, Akala left decaying infrastructure, says Oyo APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Oyo State chapter, has said the bridges which collapsed in Ibadan during the 2011 floods were products of the decay left behind by the administrations of former Governors Rashidi Ladoja and Adebayo Alao-Akala.

    The party was reacting to a statement by an aide to Ladoja, who spoke on the state of bridges in the state capital.

    The APC said: “Politicians, who always seek to reap from where they did not sow, have made Apete their new Mecca. One Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship pretender promised to give the people electricity, which is a Federal Government’s responsibility. Even Ladoja, whose government was known to be drab, inactive and laid-back, has been promising Apete people heaven and earth. The people know who has buttered their breads between our government and these emergency friends of Apete people.

    “I urge the people to notice a life sworn to lie-telling that has become the pastime of the Accord. First, he said 60 people died at Apete. Any passably intelligent person knows that this is a terrible lie. Second, he said Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, accused him of mismanaging the N100 billion monthly budgetary allocation for Oyo State. We are aware that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala is too intelligent to make this statement and indeed never uttered this Accord fraudulent lie. Even the Federal Government knows that its monthly allocations to Oyo can’t pay workers’ salary alone.”

  • APC decries delay to release Permanent Voter Cards

    APC decries delay to release Permanent Voter Cards

    •Party warns INEC against partisanship

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has decried the delay in distributing the permanent voter cards (PVCs) ahead of the August 9 governorship election in Osun State.

    Its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement in Lagos yesterday, warned that the delay might be a ploy to disenfranchise voters.

    “INEC has been painfully slow in processing the permanent voters cards and one can only hope that the electoral body is not doing this deliberately to disenfranchise voters, especially in opposition strongholds.

    “The slow processing of the permanent voter cards has in particular hit the Central Senatorial District of the state and has affected those who had registered as well as those who registered this year,” it said.

    APC said INEC has continued to tell those who throng its offices in the state that the cards are not ready, without giving an indication of when they will be ready for collection.

    “If INEC has no diabolical plan, then it should speed up the processing of the permanent voter cards. We say this based on the reported announcement by the REC in Osun State that whoever does not possess a permanent voter card will not be allowed to vote in the August 9 election,” the party said.

    It urged INEC to maintain its neutrality and  ensure it does not do anything that can affect the credibility of the commission or the integrity of the election.

    APC recalled that a few days before the Ekiti governorship election, INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega had told stakeholders that the commission would use colour-code ballot papers to ensure that ballots meant for one local government are not taken to another.

    “However, not only did INEC not use colour-coded ballot papers in the Ekiti election, it never felt the need to explain its sudden volte-face. This is a blow to the integrity of INEC and we hope it won’t be repeated,” the party said.

    The APC has raised the alarm over a multi-pronged strategy by the federal authorities to skew the election in Osun State in favour of the PDP, just as they allegedly did in Ekiti State last month.

    According to the party, the dubious strategy by the federal authorities involves using the military and other security agencies to lock down the state, days ahead of voting as well as an alleged plan to starve the state of funds so it cannot meet its obligations.

    “Whereas Ekiti was locked down about three days to the election, indications are that Osun will be locked down at least a week before the state’s poll, while the security agencies will again be used to harass, intimidate and arrest opposition politicians just as they did with impunity in Ekiti.

    “We are raising the alarm now so the world can see that any election can only be described as free and fair if the entire process is transparent and not skewed in favour of any of the parties. We insist that election is a process, and that whatever happens on election day is only, but a part of the whole.

    “Therefore, we demand a level-playing field for all the candidates before, during and after the Osun election. We reject any plan to use the military and other security agencies to lock down the state and to harass, intimidate and arrest opposition members. We call on local and international observers to take note of these and other anomalies ahead of the Osun poll,” it said.

  • Omisore accuses APC of ‘buying voter cards’

    Omisore accuses APC of ‘buying voter cards’

    APC: You’re confused

    The Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has warned the state’s residents not to sell their voter cards to politicians.

    His Director of Media and Strategy, Prince Diran Odeyemi, in a statement, alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is collecting voter cards from innocent people.

    Omisore also informed the electorate to report anybody who asks for their voter cards to security agencies.

    But in a swift reaction, the APC through its spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi, described Omisore as confused.

    Oyatomi said what Omisore and the PDP were desperately doing was what they were accusing the APC of.

    He said: “The people of Osun know the truth and no amount of lying or desperate accusation can make them not to put things in their right perspectives.

    “The people know who between Omisore and Aregbesola or the PDP and APC is trying to buy the people’s voter cards in exchange for their dirty money.”

  • APC raises alarm over Omisore’s masked guard

    APC raises alarm over Omisore’s masked guard

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State yesterday accused the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Chief Iyiola Omisore, of encouraging the terror culture by going about with a masked guard.

    The APC said the objective is to intimidate the electorate.

    The APC Director of Publicity and Strategy in the state, Kunle Oyatomi said in a statement that Omisore and the masked armed man have been spotted at campaign rallies.

    The party said: “While President Jonathan fights armed and masked terrorists in the North with Nigerian soldiers, the reverse is being done in Osun by Jonathan’s man, hiding behind security cover to intimidate the electorate with masked and armed suspect terrorist guards.”

    It called for “a full scale investigation by the security agencies, if it was not privy to the exercise,” saying  “this potentially dangerous dimension of electioneering violence is a high risk factor that can derail democracy and threaten Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

    The APC also  alleged that the PDP has  “brought  in bales of fake police uniforms with substantial arms into the state with the intention to replicate the scenario of Ekiti and enact the bombing experience in Ile Ife, in several other cities of the state.”

    It deplored the impunity with which the PDP and Omisore are operating and said  that “as the August 9 election approaches, PDP’s desperation to win by force of arms rather than the votes of the people is manifesting ever so clearly. Political terrorism has arrived in Nigeria’s democratic space by the evil construct of the PDP.”

    It said the only theme of Omisore at his rallies is ‘arrangement has already been made to remove Aregbesola from office no matter whatever he is doing,’ without articulating a plan of governance for Osun.

    In a separate statement yesterday, Oyatomi warned the PDP, Omisore and others against “breaching the peace of the state to stop causing chaos in the guise of political campaigns.”

    It said the warning was necessitated by the rising wave of planned violent political attacks on the supporters of the All Progressive Congress (APC) across the state.

    The APC therefore cautioned “agents and promoters of conflicts and chaos to refrain from such acts or face the wrath of the law.”

    It drew attention to the political violence said to have been averted by the State Police Command in Obokun Local Government Area of the state on Friday in a fashion that followed similar attacks on the supporters of the APC at Ila-Oragun, Iwo, Ikirun, and the destruction of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s campaign billboards along Osogbo-Ilesha Road and Ibokun and Ile-Ife.

    It said: “Since PDP’s exit from power, however, peace returned to Osun. Our people have from 2010 embraced the peace and harmony that Aregbesola’s government heralded. It has been shown to the whole world that this state values, enjoys and promotes harmonious living among its various peoples.

    “This is one of the cardinal programmes of the APC government. Ours is not a government that fans the embers of disquiet, discord and chaos.”

     

  • ‘New Ondo federal Poly, a welcome development’

    ‘New Ondo federal Poly, a welcome development’

    The Ondo State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the weekend hailed the location of a Polytechnic in the State by the Federal Government.

    It described the step as a welcome development.

    A statement signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya said: “Citing an institution is a matter of policy that can be done by anybody in power but the compulsory aspect is the erection of physical structures, the commencement of academic session in the institution within less than 24 months and equipping the institution to an enviable international standard.”

    The party implored President Jonathan and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to commence the development and building of the institution to a remarkable level of completion before May 29, 2015.

     

     

    The party further noted that roads within Ile-Oluji/Okegbo local government where the new federal tertiary institution will be located are deplorable, calling for the rehabilitation of the roads to aid the smooth take-off of the institution.

     

     

  • Amala, rice, corn politics

    Following the surprise victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Ekiti State governorship election,  Ayodele Fayose, it is understandable why supporters  and sympathisers of the All Progressive Congress (APC) are worried about the fate of the party in the forth coming Osun State gubernatorial election and future elections in the South West.

    There are those who fear that the APC may lose its dominant status in the region if the party’s governors do not take necessary measures to prevent a repeat of the Ekiti experience. There have been claims that one of the major reasons Fayose won the election was because he was able to ‘connect’ with the majority of the citizens of the state by providing  ‘stomach infrastructure’  instead of propounding some grandiose policies  of what he hopes to accomplish if he is elected.

    Abimbola Adelakun, a columnist in The Punch captured the joke which the Ekiti election has been reduced to with a facebook post in which she wrote: The lesson of Ekiti Election, serve your rice raw.

    Consequently, APC governors and candidates of other parties have been bombarded with unsolicited advice about the need to adopt what they termed the Fayose’s populist political campaign style to ensure victory.

    Apparently irked by this line of thought, which he said has even been suggested to him by some members of his cabinet, the Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun, has said he will not reduce governance in his state to ‘Amala’ politics of  sharing rice and money instead of neglecting infrastructural development.

    I agree with Amosun that this advice, informed by those who want the governors to win at all cost is not only an insult on the intelligence of the people but a disservice to the electorate who elected them based on various electoral promises the governors made.

    While there may be lessons for the governors to learn from the Ekiti about matching polices with politics, it will be unfortunate if genuine developmental policies will have to be sacrificed to satisfy momentary needs and selfish political interests.

    Governors and other elected political office holders should strive to meet the expectations of those who elected them and improve on their standard of living, but this should not be done at the expense of the introduction of policies needed to raise the standard of productivity and service in the states.

    If some teachers voted against Fayemi in protest against the introduction of competency test as alleged, Ekiti State is the ultimate loser as it will have to continue to have teachers who are not competent to raise the standard of education as required to meet new realities.

    Edo State governor has reportedly backed down on the sack of teachers who failed the competency test for fear of the political backlash. I would rather have governors who would do what is right and in the best interest of the state now and in the future, instead of those who are so desperate to do anything to remain in office.

    The picture of a governorship candidate of a party holding roasted corn he bought on the roadside has gone viral on facebook. Obviously, the picture is meant to be a publicity stunt to portray him as a  ‘man of the people’ life Fayose,  but the real implication is how cheap the basis for getting elected into political office  has become.

  • Ekiti unleashes strange metaphysics

    Immediately the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost Ekiti State in the June 21 election in a fashion many have described as spectacular and unnerving, a strange spirit seems to have seized parts of the country, particularly the Southwest states. Now, everyone wants to copy Governor-elect Ayodele Fayose’s social mannerisms and re-enact his quaint political abracadabra. His victory is attributed to his distaste for intellectualism, his refusal to inflame and annoy the electorate with newfangled ideas about production and social relations, and his obvious fascination with what some analysts disdainfully call inferior taste.

    Consequently, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the August Osun governorship poll, Iyiola Omisore, whose reputation is as tattered as Mr Fayose’s, has adopted the latter’s idiosyncrasies in order to appeal to the rabble and the booboisie. He eats by the roadside, hops on commercial motorcycles, shares rural jokes with farmers, and winks at the common idiocies of voters whose coarseness would ordinarily have received short shrift from him. You must expect that in the 2015 elections, many Fayose goblins will be let loose on the country, complete with the devil’s metaphysics to hoodwink and mystify the electorate.

    Worse, the Southwest and nearby states are in frenzy to check the devil’s metaphysics from wafting into their states. Edo State is courting teachers, even romancing them, no matter their follies and foibles. Did they forge certificates and cut their official age, well, all is forgotten and forgiven. Should they even require the elixir of youth, the comrade governor would be glad to oblige them. What about quality of teachers and instruction? Why, in the face of vote herding, perish the heresy of quality control. Ekiti has taught a hard lesson on the vulgarisation of governance, and the lesson is well and truly learnt.

    Ogun is also giddy with excitement to please teachers and civil servants. So, too, is Osun. The Southwest is truly animated, its governors eager to dole out, if need be, more than half of their states’ recurrent budget to obviate real or imagined discontent. Visionaries will be driven out of town, so also all ambitious social engineers and self-anointed political innovators. The future is now, and the new political and democratic orthodoxy is the need for politicians to connect with their bases. Let the future take care of itself, and let the devil take the hindmost. But it won’t be long before the Southwest is intoxicated, its maudlin soul sated and entangled in the labyrinth of grassroots politics, the kind best exemplified by Messrs Adedibu, Adelabu, Fayose and Omisore, all of them past and present champions and magicians of the devil’s metaphysics.

  • Anti-APC plot: PDP in rowdy session as Fayose takes on Bode George

    Anti-APC plot: PDP in rowdy session as Fayose takes on Bode George

    A Meeting by some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on how to dislodge the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Southwest turned rowdy yesterday when Ekiti State Governor-elect of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, joined issues with former Deputy National Chairman Chief Olabode George.

    With his election, Fayose insisted that he, not George, should be the natural leader of PDP in the Southwest.

    According to sources, the meeting was convened by George to strategise APC from the Southwest between now and 2015.

    The session, which started at about 10pm on Monday, went on till 1am yesterday, with PDP leaders reeling out ideas on how to “conquer Osun, Oyo, Ogun and Lagos states”.

    Some of the leaders recommended the adoption of what they described as Fayose’s “strategy” (stomach infrastructure) in Ekiti to enable the PDP overrun APC in the Southwest.

    The party leaders also opted to focus on trade unions, student leaders, and teachers, because “these groups can influence people to turn against APC”, with adequate propaganda.

    But the situation degenerated over the claim to the leadership of the party when Fayose challenged George.

    A highly-placed source said: “To the consternation of a few and cheering applause from many witnesses, amidst shouts of Oshokomole, an alias name for the Ekiti latest gladiator, Fayose said he should be the rallying point of PDP in the Southwest till other governors join him.

    The source quoted Fayose as saying: “Being the only governor of the party in the Southwest, the leadership of the PDP in the Zone automatically belongs to me.

    “I have won elections twice and I make bold for anyone to contest that.”

    A party elder reportedly cautioned Fayose to eschew arrogance and respect George, who was not only the convener of the meeting but a much older person than Fayose.

    “Ayo, you can’t come to an elder’s house to insult him.” the elder cautioned Fayose.

    On the motive of the meeting, the source said: “The PDP leaders at the session designed a plot tagged: ‘Operation Total Conquest of South-West’. They said with the defeat of APC, the “Ekiti startegy” could work in any state in the Southwest.

    “They drew up a number of options which would be tabled before the PDP leadership and the Presidency.

    “They also decided to support Prof. Wale Oladipo as the National Secretary of PDP instead of the return of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.”

    At the session were a former Minister of Works Adeseye Ogunlewe, Osun PDP governorship candidate Senator Iyiola Omisore, party chief  Kashamu Buruji and many others.

     

     

  • APC seeks probe of suspected thugs for alleged threat to peace

    APC seeks probe of suspected thugs for alleged threat to peace

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun State chapter, has alerted security agents to an alleged threat to peace by some suspected thugs who were destroying posters and billboards of  its governorship candidate, Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    It said the thugs were increasingly becoming a threat to peace as the August 9 governorship poll approaches.

    According to a statement by its Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, information at the party’s disposal from Ilesha showed “senseless act of vandalism by the thugs, who were on rampage, ripping posters and destroying billboards of the incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    “We like to believe that these vandals are acting purely out of criminal disposition; which is why we are bringing this incident to the notice of all security apparatus in the state, so that something should be done quickly before a wrong message permeates society that the vandals are protected.

    “Pulling down billboards and ripping off posters of political opponents are not part of democracy or law and orders. The people are now wondering what kind of security cover these thugs have to operate as they do.

    “These thugs endanger law and order and give the impression of a reign of lawlessness in spite of security agencies. This is a potential tragedy that law enforcement agencies should not tolerate. The thugs must be called to order; but if they persist in their crime, then they must be brought to justice.”

    The party, therefore, appealed to the security agencies to act fast before there is break down of law and order.

     

  • New face of opposition in Oyo

    New face of opposition in Oyo

    The defection of Senator Olufemi Lanlehin from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Accord Party (AP) has generated controversy in Oyo State. TAYO JOHNSON examines the politics of defection and its implications.

    The recent defection of Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, who represents Oyo South District in the National Assembly, from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Accord Party may have strengthened the resolve of the opposition that it can give the ruling party a run for its money in the 2015 general elections.

    Lanlehin’s defection has created worries for the APC, bearing in mind that he is a lawmaker representing  nine local government areas, including: Ibadan North, Ibadan North-East, Ibadan North West, Ibadan Southwest, Ibadan South-east, Ibarapa Central, Ibarapa North, Ibarapa East and Ido. The party’s fear is that the Senator was capable of helping Accord win more votes in the above local council areas in 2015.

    Lanlehin, who opted out of the APC to join Accord on June 5, 2014, said the 2013 merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with other parties, which included the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) did not go down well with him.

    In the letter he wrote to Senate President, David Mark in which he explained his position, he said:”My action was in exercise of my constitutional rights to freedom of association under the 1999 constitution as amended, and pursuant to the provision contained in section 68 (g). I decided to transfer my membership of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria to the Accord Party with all the rights and duties accruing thereto.”

    However, the APC has played down the significance of Lanlehin’s defection. In his reaction, the State Publicity Secretary of APC, Hon. Dauda Kolawole, described the exit the Senator Lanlehin from the party as good riddance to bad rubbish, saying it is worthy of being celebrated.

    “Lanlehin was only putting into action his well-known political pedigree of political flirtation,” he had said, stressing that if the Senator had not abandoned the APC, he would have made news as acting against what the world knew him to be.

    He said: “No one who knew Lanlehin’s political odyssey would be shocked at his most recent flirtation and betrayal of the hands that fed him. He has travelled a political road that is land marked by political treachery, abandonment and lack of basic ideology.

    “That it took him this long to show his most recent political destination is a testimony to the fact that the APC is a good manager of political deviants.”

    The Chairman of the Accord Party, Lawal Bashiru, disagrees with the APC spokesman. He argued that  Lanlehin’s defection was a good omen that will bring peace and progress to the party.

    He said: “We are happy that Accord Party now has a serving Senator and we are sure that this will create a better chance for us to snatch the governorship of the state from the APC come 2015.”

    But observers say the Accord Party does not stand any chance of challenging the ruling APC in the state in 2015, without teaming up with the other opposition parties. Aside from the APC, other political parties in the state have dismissed Lanlehin’s defection to the Accord Party, saying it would not improve the party’s chances of winning in 2015.

    For instance, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) believes the Accord Party does not stand much chance in the forthcoming general elections in the state, even with the defection of Senator Lanlehin. A chieftain of the party in the state, Alhaji Rashid Olopoenia argued that Lanlehin’s defection is not a threat to PDP, because the lawmaker has no political history and electoral value.

    He said: “Lanlehin has made the greatest mistake to have joined the Accord Party; nobody knows him in Oyo State and if not for the crisis in PDP by then, he won’t have won any election. For instance, you cannot compare him to Senator Ayo Adeseun who has announced that he would be leaving the APC back to the PDP. Adeseun is a big catch for us to win the 2015 general election and we are all happy that he will be back soon in our midst.

    “Oyo PDP is so happy to receive the news that Adeseun will be returning back to our party, this has indeed proved to the citizens of the state that our house is now in order. With his presence we shall reclaim back this state from the opposition party,” Olopoenia boasted.

    Similarly, a Labour Party deputy youth leader in the state, Mr. Gbade Agunbiade condemned the lawmaker for pitching his tent with what he described as a ‘one man’s party’. He noted that the Labour Party is waxing stronger in the state everyday and does not have a dent on its name.

    Agunbiade, said: “We are not afraid of Sen. Lanlehin ‘s accord with Accord Party in the state, because our party is too strong for him to withstand in the next general election in the state.”

    What could have been responsible for letting Lanlehin and some of his supporters leave the APC?  The crisis is not unconnected with unresolved grievances within the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), now APC, prior to the 2011 general elections when Senator Abiola Ajimobi was given the governorship ticket.

    The demise of the former governor, Alhaji Lamidi Adesina, and the merger of the ACN with other political parties to form the APC also appear to have dimmed the chances of some defunct ACN chieftains of realising their political ambitions in the next general elections in the state.