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Tag: APC

  • Fayose, APC trade words over Institute of Medical Technology

    Fayose, APC trade words over Institute of Medical Technology

    The Ayo Fayose Campaign Organisation (AFCO) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday traded words over the plan of Governor Kayode Fayemi to establish an Institute of Medical Technology in Ifaki-Ekiti, Ido/Osi Local Government Area.

    Fayose condemned the plan, describing the move as a “greek gift”.

    He urged the people of Ifaki-Ekiti to reject the institute.

    A statement yesterday by the Director-General of AFCO, Chief Dipo Anisulowo, said the Technology Institute was an “insult on the people of Ifaki-Ekiti”.

    The statement reads: “It is only a wicked government that will take away a university (The University of Science and Technology, Ifaki-Ekiti, USTI) from a community and come back three years after with a plan to replace it with an Institute of Medical Technology. Or isn’t it an act of wickedness to take an 18-seater bus from someone and replace it with Okada?”

    The APC spokesperson, Mr. Segun Dipe, condemned Fayose for “his persistent ignorance in the midst of several opportunities to be enlightened”.

    Dipe said contrary to what AFCO said, USTI was only merged with other state-owned institutions, adding: “This was a sincere and genuine recommendation of a three-day State Education Summit.”

    He added: “For saying USTI was scrapped, Fayose has once again proved he is either incurably unteachable or perniciously lost in perfidy. Ekiti State University (EKSU), which today is the result of the merger of the three erstwhile state-owned institutions, has fared better in all parametres of an academic institution.

    “Hitherto, Ekiti had to battle with the funding of three universities, a situation which was neither desirable nor achievable, as all three then were barely surviving.

    “The decision to merge the three was not a a fanciful fiat of an all-powerful governor. Fayemi only followed the recommendation of Stakeholders Forum tagged the Ekiti Education Summit,which analysed the education situation in the state and then made recommendations which included the consolidation of the secondary schools in the state by which both senior and junior secondary schools came together under one administration. This has started yielding results, including unprecedented improvement in the WAEC and NECO results of students in the last two years.”

  • Fabian Okonkwo emerges Abia APC chair

    Fabian Okonkwo emerges Abia APC chair

    The  All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State has elected its first chairman. He is Fabia Okonkwo, a lawyer.
    He was elected at a  state congress held at the auditorium and ground of the popular National War Museum in Umuahia. The delegates  unanimously elected Okonkwo.
    The Congress Committee Chairman and Osun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Sunday Akere, thanked all APC members for a hugely successful congress, which began with the ward congress across the state on  April 8 and local government congress on April 16.
    The congress was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Department of State Security and the  police .Others elected with  Okonkwo are  Elder Smart Ebere (Secretary), Chief Princewill Agwu (Treasurer), Chief (Mrs) Franca Osuwa (Women Leader) and Chief Johnson Ekekwe (Deputy Secretary). Others in this new excecutive council include: Sir Mike Ozoemena ( Organising Secretary), Comrade Benedict Godson  (Publicity Secretary), Sir Joshua Akomas (Financial Secretary), Kalu Kalu (Youth Leader), Chief Nnamdi Uchendu  (Legal Adviser), Chief George Nwancha (Welfare Secretary), Mrs Joyce Adiele (Auditor), Chief Ejiofor Okeudo (Vice chairman, Abia North), Grant Nwogu (Vice-chairman, Abia South), Chief Okey Nwagbara (Vice-chairman, Abia Central); Mrs Abel Adaku (Zonal Women Leader) , Smart Nzeadibe (Asst Youth Leader), Ambrose N. Alex (Zonal Youth Leader, Abia South), Okorie Ugochukwu (Zonal Youth Leader, Abia North), Chief Uzoma Nwamuo (Asst Organising Secretary), Mrs Nna Rose  (Assistant Women Leader), Chief Ugochukwu Onyenwenwa (Assistant Publicity Secretary, Prof Mba Uzoukwu (State ex officio), Dame Lady Comfort Iheme (State ex officio),  Chris Okpechi (State ex officio), Dr Emmanuel Ndukwe (State ex officio), Larry Obonna (Assistant Legal Adviser) and Dr Chris Ugochukwu (Assistant Welfare Secretary).
    The party said: “Apart from the initial skirmishes by some hired thugs and hoodlums who were easily overwhelmed by the teeming APC supporters, the congress was largely adjudged by many as a huge success.”
    Okonkwo thanked all delegates, Akere and congress committee members who refused to be blackmailed. He promised not to betray the confidence reposed in him and his team and assured party faithful that ‘’ APC will form the next government in Abia come 2015’’.

  • Vacuous politics

    Vacuous politics

    It must be symptomatic of the fallen standard of education in Nigeria today that the quality of political discourse has dropped to an unbelievably pedestrian level. Public comments are devoid of neither rigour nor intelligence, while criticisms are stark and devoid of such nobility of purpose that serve the overall interest of a nation. The atmosphere is therefore suffused with knee-jerk remarks and unintelligible utterances made only for the sake of their noise and nuisance values. In the end, not the parties or the society is enriched.
    All the political parties have in some degrees not been up to par in their information management and dissemination strategies. However, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) comment in the wake of the bomb blast in Nyanya, Abuja, mid-month must be the lowest limits. As acrid smoke still billowed from what may probably be the worst terror attack on the nation, the PDP spokesman, Chief Olisa Metuh, released what will pass for the most unconscionable political statements in recent times off-handedly blaming the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) for the attack.
    The PDP’s statement reads in part: “We stand by our earlier statements that these attacks on our people are politically motivated by unpatriotic persons, especially those in the All Progressives Congress (APC) who have been making utterances and comments, promoting violence and blood-letting as a means of achieving political control. Nigerians are also aware of the utterances by certain APC governors which have been aimed at undermining our security forces and emboldening insurgents against the people.
    “Those who have been promoting violence through their utterances can now see the monster they have created. They can now see the end product of their comments; a country flowing daily with the blood of the innocent. The question is how do they feel when they see the mangled and blood-soaked bodies of their victims? How do they feel when they hear the voices of the dying and injured? Of course they feel nothing. Their hearts have been hardened and they are embittered by the fact that they have been rejected by the people. They are bitter because the people have chosen to rally round the government they love and voted for; but must they choose the path of violence and blood-letting as a response to the wishes and aspirations of the people?”
    There must be a limit to party propaganda and political bombast. The charred and mangled bodies of nearly 100 innocent citizens cannot be the platform for scoring cheap political points or engaging in childish blame game. Have we descended to the level of playing politics with death and destruction; with our collective national calamities? Metuh made his vacuous statement even as the nation wept and compatriots were still in the vast motor garage sorting pieces of flesh from personal effects. The ruling party would make wild accusations against fellow countrymen while condolence messages were streaming in to Nigeria from across the world.
    Metuh had made such weighty allegations based merely on specious, circumstantial grounds with nary a strand of evidence. Politicking while the nation is in deep sorrow may well be an attempt to cover up PDP’s failure in the past three years to curb this incipient terror that has brought the country to her knees. But this cancerous insurgency may well have its roots in the PDP as was noted by the late former National Security Adviser, General Owoye Azazi.
    While we admonish all parties to endeavour to raise the level of public political engagement in the interest of the nation, the ruling PDP has a higher, bounden duty to show better example.

  • ‘Kekemeke best for Ondo APC ’

    ‘Kekemeke best for Ondo APC ’

    An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Ondo State, Prince Boye Ologbese, has lauded the emergence of a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Isaac Kekemeke, as the party’s chairman.
    He described the development as a new dawn for greater transformation.
    Ologbese said: “We strongly believe that the emergence of Kekemeke and his team will reposition the party. We are confident of Kekemeke’s leadership qualities, going by his antecedents. He is capable of leading APC to victory in 2015.”
    Another APC chieftain, Ambassador Bayo Yusufu, said: “I have worked with Kekemeke in the past and I know what he is capable of doing. He will harmonise the party and fortify it to win elections.”

  • APC, North’s governors, Kalu condole with Sambo over brother’s death

    APC, North’s governors, Kalu condole with Sambo over brother’s death

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), the Northern States’ Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu have commiserated with Vice-President Namadi Sambo on the death of his younger brother, Capt Yusuf Sabo Sambo, in a road crash in Abuja.
    In a statement yesterday in Lagos by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party expressed shock and sadness at the death of such a vibrant personality in such a tragic circumstance.
    “Death is never easy to accept, and when it is so unexpected, it adds to the grief. But the sweet memories and good deeds of the departed will always be a balm to sooth the indescribable pain of death.
    “We sincerely sympathise with the vice-president, the immediate family of the departed as well as his extended family. We pray that God will strengthen and comfort them all in this difficult time,” APC said.
    The NSGF urged Sambo to take heart and be strong.
    The forum’s chairman and Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu said the vice-president should not be discouraged by his younger brother’s death.
    The NSGF’s condolence was contained in a statement yesterday in Minna, the state capital, by Aliyu’s Chief Press Secretary, Malam Danladi Ndayebo.
    It said the best tribute Sambo could pay to the memory of the departed was for him to touch more lives positively.
    The forum noted that though the pilot’s death was untimely, life is not about how long people live but how people impact positively on the environment around them.
    The forum stressed that although the late Capt Sambo lived a relatively short life, he ensured positive change to his family and the Aviation sector, where he worked for many years.
    The governors prayed God to give the vice-president and members of his family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss and to grant eternal rest to the soul of the departed.
    Kalu, in a condolence message to the Sambo family, described the death of Capt Yusuf Sambo as shocking.
    The late captain worked with Kalu in various capacities, including being the captain of his fleet at Slok Airlines.
    Kalu said: “Nigeria has lost one of its good pilots.
    “The Air Force officer died at a time his intellectual capacity would have been most appreciated in the aviation industry.
    “The late Sambo was a source of inspiration to younger pilots.”
    The former governor urged the vice-president to take solace in the fact that the deceased lived a life dedicated to God and humanity.
    Kalu commiserated with the people of Kaduna State and prayed God Almighty to grant the deceased eternal rest.

  • Ngige reopens Obiano’s alleged triple registration

    Ngige reopens Obiano’s alleged triple registration

    The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Chris Ngige, yesterday returned to the witness box at the Anambra State Election’s Petitions  Tribunal, Awka.
    This followed the judgment   of the Court of Appeal, which restored paragraphs of his joint petition with his party
    The tribunal granted Ngige’s application to reopen his case following the April 15 judgment.
    Ngige tendered an extract of the  Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) Voter’s register for Lagos State showing Chief Willie Obiano as having voted in the governorship and presidential elections of April 2011.
    The extract was certified by Lagos State Independent National Electoral Commission on April 23, 2011.
    Ngige said ‘whatever that was in the register as at  April 24, 2011 when it was certified was the situation of the register now.’
    Counsel to INEC Chief Adegboyega Awomolo asked Ngige if INEC confirmed that he tendered the certified extract, Exhibit 424, as the current state of the register.
    Obiano’s  counsel, led by Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, claimed that Obiano transferred his voter’s card from Lagos to his hometown in Anambra State.
    Ngige also tendered the certified true copy (CTC) of Obiano’s Form EC 4B, which was an INEC form, capturing particulars of nomination, as submitted by his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
    The document was admitted as Exhibit P.415.
    Also yesterday, the tribunal admitted Obiano’s INEC Form CF 001 and candidates’ personal data.
    Form CF 001 showed Obiano’s voter card, No. 332, obtained on September 3, 2013, the day he collected the forms.
    It was found to be different from the voter’s card, No. 11, exhibited in the Lagos Register, and different from a third one allegedly obtained on August 21, 2013.
    The tribunal rejected the application by Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who led Chief Emeka Ngige for APC and Ngige to tender  66 files containing extracts of missing pages.
    The registers sought to be tendered were from the four local government areas of Anaocha, Anambra East, Anambra West and Ayamelum.
    Osita Nnadi asked Ngige if he reported Obiano to the Police for prosecution.
    But Ngige said the reason his party went to the Federal High Court was to seek an order of Mandamus for his Obiano’s prosecution.
    Before Ngige entered the witness box, Mr. Chibuzo Obiako tendered the certified true copies (CTC) of Obiano’s three cards.
    Also recalled to the witness box was Mr.  Emeka Nwachukwu, PW22, who conducted the Internet search establishing that Obiano had three registrations with INEC.
    He told the tribunal that the documents were sent to INEC with an application for certification.
    Ngige and APC closed their case yesterday.
    Tribunal Chairman Justice Ishaq Bello fixed Wednesday for INEC to present 26 witnesses.
    Obiano and APGA are also expected to call their witnesses between Wednesday and Friday.

  • APC hails suspension of PDP rally

    APC hails suspension of PDP rally

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has hailed the reported suspension of today’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rally in Adamawa State.
    In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party called the suspension “the right decision under the circumstances”.
    It said the suspension has shown that President Goodluck Jonathan is listening to the voices of his compatriots on important national issues.
    ‘’As we said in a statement on April 24, it smacks of insensitivity, inhumanity and indecency for our President and other leaders to engage in any celebratory venture when we do not know the fate of the  girls, who were abducted from their school.
    ‘’We also said the President should not repeat the same mistake he made when he  went to Kano to dance at a political rally after the Nyanya bus park bombing.
    “We are delighted that good sense has prevailed this time,’’ APC said.

  • Senator Solomon opens campaign office

    Senator Solomon opens campaign office

    Lagos State governorship aspirant, Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon (Lagos West) yesterday opened  his campaign headquarters at Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja.
    Solomon described  the opening of the office as an expression of his presence in the state capital even though he has not officially declared his ambition.
    He said his aspiration to become governor of Lagos State was long-standing. “It is not new. I was in the race in 2006. Nobody prompted me to seek the governorship ticket of our great party, All Progressives Congress (APC). I have passion for it”.
    Asked what programmes he would implement if elected, he said: “We are here today to express our presence at the state capital. When the time comes, we shall unfold our programmes and how we intend to implement them”. We are prepared for the job, he remarked.
    He told his supporters that APC is a party of democrats where internal democracy prevails. According to him, the position of the party is that candidates for elective offices shall emerge through primaries. He made reference to Anambra State where the party’s governorship candidate for the last year’s gubernatorial election was decided through direct primaries. Even in Ekiti and Osun where there are sole candidacy of Governors Kayode Fayemi and Rauf Aregbesola , they  still went through primaries, he said.
    The APC, he said, had done primaries in three states. There will be primaries in all states including Lagos State. What applies to governorship ticket will apply to other elective offices. Party members would pick candidates of their choice.
    “This time around, members would pick their candidates, they would exercise their rights, internal democracy would be at work. That is what APC stands for. This is our time. If we deny ourselves the opportunity, we shall have ourselves to be blamed.
    Against the insinuation that the Lagos State governorship has been zoned to a particular division , Solmon said the APC constitution does not allow zoning.
    He said we should not allow imposition of candidates. Those that didn’t work for the party should not come and reap what they didn’t work for.
    “If you want to be a politician, you should put your profession aside and face politics. Our leader Senator Bola Tinubu was an accountant by profession but when he decided to serve people, he resigned his plum job and joined politics in 1992 and has since remained in active politics.”
    Present on the occasion are Hon Toyin Aina, Mr Emmanuel Bamigboye,  Alhaji Musibau Alebiosu, Bashorun Taju Jaiyesinmi, Oba Babatunde Ogunronbi, and Oba Samuel Alamu.

  • Fabian Okonkwo emerges Abia APC chair

    Fabian Okonkwo emerges Abia APC chair

    The  All Progressives Congress (APC) In Abia State has elected its first chairman. He is Fabia Okonkwo, a lawyer.
    He was elected at a  state congress held at the auditorium and ground of the popular National War Museum in Umuahia. The delegates  unanimously elected Okonkwo.
    The Congress Committee Chairman and Osun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Sunday Akere, thanked all APC members for a hugely successful congress, which began with the ward congress across the state on  April 8 and local government congress on April 16.
    The congress was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Department of State Security and the  police .
    Others elected with  Okonkwo are  Elder Smart Ebere (Secretary), Chief Princewill Agwu (Treasurer), Chief (Mrs) Franca Osuwa (Women Leader) and Chief Johnson Ekekwe (Deputy Secretary). Others in this new excecutive council include: Sir Mike Ozoemena ( Organising Secretary), Comrade Benedict Godson  (Publicity Secretary), Sir Joshua Akomas (Financial Secretary), Kalu Kalu (Youth Leader), Chief Nnamdi Uchendu  (Legal Adviser), Chief George Nwancha (Welfare Secretary), Mrs Joyce Adiele (Auditor), Chief Ejiofor Okeudo (Vice chairman, Abia North), Grant Nwogu (Vice-chairman, Abia South), Chief Okey Nwagbara (Vice-chairman, Abia Central); Mrs Abel Adaku (Zonal Women Leader) , Smart Nzeadibe (Asst Youth Leader), Ambrose N. Alex (Zonal Youth Leader, Abia South), Okorie Ugochukwu (Zonal Youth Leader, Abia North), Chief Uzoma Nwamuo (Asst Organising Secretary), Mrs Nna Rose  (Assistant Women Leader), Chief Ugochukwu Onyenwenwa (Assistant Publicity Secretary, Prof Mba Uzoukwu (State ex officio), Dame Lady Comfort Iheme (State ex officio),  Chris Okpechi (State ex officio), Dr Emmanuel Ndukwe (State ex officio), Larry Obonna (Assistant Legal Adviser) and Dr Chris Ugochukwu (Assistant Welfare Secretary).
    The party said: “Apart from the initial skirmishes by some hired thugs and hoodlums who were easily overwhelmed by the teeming APC supporters, the congress was largely adjudged by many as a huge success.”
    Okonkwo thanked all delegates, Akere and congress committee members who refused to be blackmailed. He promised not to betray the confidence reposed in him and his team and assured party faithful that ‘’ APC will form the next government in Abia come 2015’’.

  • Gaidam: insecurity will end with APC at the centre

    Gaidam: insecurity will end with APC at the centre

    •’God ‘ll expose terror sponsors’

    Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam has said insecurity will become history in the country when the All Progressives Congress (APC) takes over the central government next year.
    The governor said the nation was better off before 1999, when the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took over the reins of leadership of the country.
    He said: “Nigeria would be in trouble if we allow the PDP to continue in power beyond 2015. We were better off before 1999. From all indices of development, things are getting worse since the PDP government took over the affairs of this country. The economy is very bad. Look at the security situation in the country: there’s no light, no roads. Nothing is moving.
    “With an APC government at the centre, it is my view that the insecurity in the country will be over and everything will be improved upon. Nigeria will be better again.”
    Gaidam, who spoke yesterday at the inauguration of newly elected state executives of the party, also said God would soon expose the sponsors of the Boko Haram sect.
    “The insurgency is coming to an end and God will get hold of the sponsors. God will not allow them to succeed again,” Gaidam said.
    The governor called for special prayers for the 234 secondary school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram members in Chibok, Borno State.
    He urged the new party executives to show their political strength in the next election by ensuring that their constituencies vote for the APC.
    Gaidam described the APC as the only party that can take Nigeria out of the woods.
    He added: “We decided to be part of this merger to join other progressives to save Nigeria from PDP’s misrule.”
    The party’s new chairman Mai Mala Buni promised that the executives would give 100 per cent loyalty to APC.
    He acknowledged the enormous responsibility placed on their shoulders.