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  • Why Fayose should not be governor, by APC

    Why Fayose should not be governor, by APC

    The Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged the electorate not to vote the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the June 21 governorship election, former governor Ayodele Fayose.

    The party said: “Fayose represents a plague which God would not allow to befall Ekiti again.”

    In a statement yesterday by the spokesperson of the APC , Mr. Segun Dipe, the party added: “Neither the nearly eight years he has stayed out of power nor his advanced (over fifty years) age could change the gangster spirit which will live in him for as long as he lives.”

    According to Dipe, Fayose lacks the barest inkling about governance, which was why within the space of three and a half years he reversed the achievements of his predecessor in office, Otunba Niyi Adebayo.

    Dipe explained that Fayose had been engaging in politics of lies and falsity by twisting facts about his achievements in Education and the improvement in the lives of teachers and civil servants generally.

    Fayose, said Dipe, has shown lack of understanding of simple economic principle of inflation for claiming that Fayemi has awarded a kilometre of road for N1.150bn as against N33m when he was governor.

    The APC said the fact remains that the cost of contracts could not have remained the same for eight years after Fayose vacated office.
    Said he: “The records of governor Kayode Fayemi’s achievements are there in our Ministry of Education or the internet and such could be accessed by anyone genuinely desirous of truth and facts not concocts of a depraved seeker after an office he never qualified for either morally or educationally.

    “Let me recall that Fayose in many of his encounters has promised to change his ways. This in itself is an admission that he had faulted and failed the people in his earlier coming. But we know that the however long the rain beats down on the leopard, it would not wash away its dark spots.

    “He executed projects only half heartedly and abandoned several others. Before the grand plot of the State Assembly unseated him in October 2006, he had become a big mess and a threat to peaceful living. Inspite his lies today about his performance in education and infrastructure, the records showed that Fayose hardly added to what Adebayo left.

    “All Fayose could be remembered for today were fanciful feats of doling out money to Okada riders on the streets of Ekiti and make belief shows of love and affection for street side yam and Akara (bean cake) sellers.

    “APC shall not relent in warning the electorate not to be hoodwinked by his latter day saintly attitude. He (Fayose) also recalls his time in governance with joy but history don’t lie.  His reign was marked by one week one trouble.

    “Fayose is congenitally incapable of appreciating certain human values which was why he milked rather than made Ekiti and never left a legacy which could today complement his aspirations to rule the state again. While Fayose could lie and his massive propaganda set up could go about twisting the facts, history of how he lived his time as governor of Ekiti would not lie. His atrocities will live for as long as Ekiti lives.”

    Fayose  yesterday said the APC must not be allowed to return to power.

    He spoke during a rally in Ijurin-Ekiti, Ijero Local Government.

    Fayose insisted that allowing the return to power of APC would amount to sentencing the state to “permanent slavery, permanent poverty, permanent hunger for workers and permanent kingdom for thugs, killers  and treasury looters”.

    The former governor, in a statement by his spokesman, Idowu Adelusi, said the Fayemi administation did not construct any new road but only repaired the roads he constructed, spending huge amount.

    Fayose promised that he would not borrow to execute any project, adding that  he left N10.4bn in the state treasury.

    He said during Niyi Adebayo Administration which is an offshot of Fayemi Administration, Ekiti State came 35th position in secondary schoool’s public exams, but the status changed during his tenure because by 2005, Ekiti rose to 1st position in the South West.

    “However, the result of WAEC exams just released by the WAEC confirmed that Ekiti State has gone back to 34th position notwithstanding having a Phd holder and professor as governor and deputy governor of the state.”

    Fayose said contractors who are Ekiti indigenes were relegated to the background as contractors were brought from Lagos, “ even at that these Lagos contractors have left the sites because Fayemi refused to pay them”.

  • PDP candidate tackles Fayemi

    PDP candidate tackles Fayemi

    The Ayo Fayose Campaign Organisation (AFCO) has accused the All Progressives Congress’s (APC’s) candidate for the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, of denying opposition parties the freedom to campaign in Isan-Ekiti. He alleged that the APC planned to twist votes.
    Its Director-General, Chief Dipo Anisulowo, spoke at a news conference yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the capital of the state.
    He added that the  statement of APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that  the coming election would “be rig and roast” only indicated the party’s frustration .
    It  urged Commissioner of Police Felix Uyanna to ensure that those who were caught fomenting trouble are duly prosecuted.
    But the Director of Media, Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation, Dimeji Daniels, opposed the allegation that the party had plans to twist the voters’ registers.
    He said: “We are tired of all this scare-mongering by the PDP candidate. Let him be a man of honour for once. We challenge him to come out with the so-called incontrovertible evidence that he has.
    “We are tired of all this scare-mongering by the PDP candidate. Let him be a man of honour for once. We challenge him to come out with the so-called incontrovertible evidence that he has.
    “Fayose is fond of screaming blue murder when he is the one guilty of same offence. We have incontrovertible evidence of how in 2011 he approached INEC and offered one of the officials N10 million. When the man declined and Senator Babafemi Ojudu walloped him in the election, he turned around to say it was ACN “.
    Anisulowo, who was represented at the conference by his Deputy, Barr Owoseeni Ajayi, said “We make bold to say that Ekiti people have rejected  him and his stooge. We only advise him to wait till June 21 before venting his anger and frustrations.
    “We are not unaware of the clandestine moves of the APC leaders to infiltrate the independence Electoral Commission . We have incontrovertible evidence being made by the APC to manipulate the voter registers and we are also aware of frustration and stiff resistance they met while trying to buy up the leadership of INEC”.

  • Good riddance to Lanlehin, says Oyo APC

    Good riddance to Lanlehin, says Oyo APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has described Senator Femi Lanlehin’s exit from the party as “good riddance to bad rubbish”.
    In a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Dauda Kolawole, APC said the exit was worth celebrating.
    At the weekend, Lanlehin, who represents Oyo South Senatorial District, said he was never an APC member and would soon announce his next political destination.
    The APC said Lanlehin was only displaying “his well-known political pedigree of party flirtation”, stating that if the Senator had not abandoned the APC, he would have made news as acting against what the world knew him to be.
    It 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 landmarked 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.”
    Recounting Lanlehin’s political journey, the APC said his father was a well-known Action Group stalwart and his romance with conservatives came as a surprise to many at the early part of his political journey.
    It said: “Lanlehin had a short-lived stint with the Alliance for Democracy (AD), where he was Special Adviser to the then Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He stabbed the former governor in the back and walked out of the government and the AD. He thereafter hobnobbed with General Olusegun Obaasanjo and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who were then Tinubu’s political adversaries. Not satisfied with the PDP, he took his mantle again and came to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), where he was made a senator. His political history has always been that of a rolling stone that gathers no moss.”
    The APC said Lanlehin had always been a political liability, noting that throughout his stay in the party, he refused to be a team player in his senatorial district, choosing to sulk over the party’s failure to nominate him as its governorship candidate in the 2011 elections.
    It said: “He had always been divisive from the word go, dividing the ranks of our party members in his senatorial district and openly fraternising with the opposition where he sent his sparse political followers, even from the inception of this administration. He had always been one bad apple that corrupts the bunch and we are not surprised that he eventually followed the geography of his unstable politicking.”
    The party congratulated the Accord, which it said was the beneficiary of Lanlehin’s “well-known unstable political party flirtation”, warning it that “the Senator would soon unfold himself”.
    APC said: “Lanlehin became a member of the Accord the first day he was denied the ACN’s governorship ticket in 2011. We congratulate the Accord for its projected short-lived honeymoon with Lanlehin. Very shortly, it will occur to the party that it had just been handed a kite that won’t fly.”

  • Ajimobi charges Oyo APC new exco on unity

    Ajimobi charges Oyo APC new exco on unity

    HUNDREDS of delegates of the Oyo state chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) on Saturday converged on the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasigba, Ibadan where they elected new officers to run the affairs of the party.

    The party congress, which was twice postponed, was witnessed by the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi; his deputy, Chief Moses Alake; the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Monsurat Sunmonu and party leaders across the 33 local Government areas .

    Among the officers who emerged as party executives are Chief Akin Oke (Chairman), Mr. Isiaka Adisa ( Deputy State Chairman) and Alhaji Mojeed Olaiya (Secretary).

    The congress was conducted through affirmation after an internal screening of the aspirants.

    Speaking at the end of the election, Ajimobi charged the newly elected state executive of the party to use the opportunity to ensure harmonisation and unity of all members of the party in the state.

    Ajimobi, who described the party congress as the most peaceful in the country, said, “The message is that in life, you must learn to give and take,” adding, “Therefore, what is required of us is to give these newly elected officers our full support to assist them in accomplishing the task ahead of them.”

    In his acceptance speech, the newly-elected state Chairman of APC, Chief Akin Oke, praised party members for their maturity and understanding over the seamless integration and fusion of all the political parties into APC in the state without any major rancor.

  • PDP, Omisore plan to import miscreants to Osun, APC alleges

    PDP, Omisore plan to import miscreants to Osun, APC alleges

    The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate for the August 9 election, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, of planning to cause a breach of the peace in the state.

    According to the APC, intelligence reports at its disposal alleged that a plot has been hatched to import miscreants and thugs to the State of Osun to stage protests in order to create mayhem across the state.

    In a statement issued on Saturday, APC further alleged, “These senseless and unwarranted protests are intended to manipulate the populace, the electorate and the electoral system in their (PDP and Omisore) favour.

    “Plans are said to have been concluded by both Omisore and the PDP to create a virtual state of confusion before August 9 believing that if the plan works, it would facilitate an easier manipulation of the electoral process and their rigging exercise.

    “This is a sinister conspiracy against law and order in Osun, which has been known and confirmed by responsible individuals and foreign diplomats in the country as a safe and peaceful place to do business and attract investments.”

    The APC therefore called on law enforcement agencies to ensure that the alleged plan does not succeed in the interest of democracy, law and order and peace in Osun State.

     

  • Ogun APC : No victors, no vanquished, says Amosun

    Ogun APC : No victors, no vanquished, says Amosun

    •Lauds Osoba’s  support

    Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun, has called on members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to unite to overcome the challenges ahead.

    He noting that its month-long congresses have produced “no victors, no vanquished.”

    Amosun said those who won should be magnanimous in victory while those that lost should take it in their strides.

    He spoke yesterday at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta at the end of the State congress of the party, which was monitored by 12 officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from the state and federal levels.

    He said the congresses in Ogun APC had proved “free and fair elections are possible in Nigeria if we all abide by the rules”.

    The governor added: “One thing we should all take away from the conduct of our congresses is that there was no overt or covert attempt to impose candidates or disenfranchise anyone.

    “The exercises were conducted in a peaceful atmosphere and all electors exercised their right of franchise without let or hindrance”.

    He explained that the National Secretariat of the party had provided in the Congress Guidelines opportunities for petitions and redress and that “some members of our party actually utilised the avenues.”

    Commenting on the protests that nearly marred the sitting of the Appeal Panel last Wednesday, Amosun said such was not totally unacceptable in politics. “Once people don’t take laws into their own hands, then all is well and good.”

    He stated further that with the overwhelming endorsement of the April 5 and 12 Ward and Local Government Congresses by the APC Appeal Panel and the success recorded in the State Congress, members should now sink their differences and come together as one family.

    “Yes, tendencies are common to party politics all over the world. But once the process has run its full course, party faithful should come together in the interest of the party,” Amosun argued.

    “I spoke with our party leader, Olusegun Osoba, this morning and we shall continue to work together so that we can face the next elections as a united body,” he added.

    The state’s helmsman lauded the leadership of the party at the national and state levels on the credible polls and urged party faithful to sustain the positive momentum so that APC can win a landslide in the general elections.

    Amosun thanked the people of Ogun for their unflinching support and abiding faith in the party and his administration, adding that his government would continue to justify the confidence reposed in it.

    Chairman of the State Congress Committee, Hon Ope Salami, commended the efforts of the rank and file of the party towards successful congresses.

     

     

    He acknowledged a few hitches in the exercises but said they were not enough to invalidate them.

    The National Secretariat of the party, he said, scored the congresses very highly.

  • Sokoto: Abubakar emerges chairman by consensus

    Sokoto: Abubakar emerges chairman by consensus

    THROUGH consensus, the Sokoto State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at its congress held on Saturday has affirmed Alhaji Bala Abubakar has chairman of the party.

    The consensus option followed a motion moved in that regard by the Senator representing Sokoto East Senatorial District, Alhaji Ibrahim Gobir.

    Also picked as Deputy Chair of the party at the congress conducted peacefully under the watch of party members was Usman Danmadamin Isa with Alhaji Aminu Bello endorsed as the Secretary,

    Mukhtari Maigona also emerged as the state treasurer, while Sidi Aliyu clinched the post of publicity secretary of the party.

    Others who returned for other positions respectively include Abbas Ahmed as financial secretary with Mannir Mohammed picked as the legal adviser, while Aminu Liman emerged as Organising Secretary.

    Chairman of the State Monitoring Committee for the congress, Alhaji Baba Dala, described the election as peaceful, orderly and in tandem with the guidelines of the party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    He emphasised that APC adopted the consensus option in picking its executives in order to ensure peace and orderliness within the party.

     

  • Ondo: Ex-SSG emerges Chairman

    FORMER Secretary to the Ondo State Government, Hon. Isaac Kekemeke, on Saturday emerged as the State Chairman of All Progressive Congress (APC).

    Kekemeke, who served under the administration of former governor of the state, late Dr. Olusegun Agagu, narrowly won with 499 votes beating the runner-up, Engr. Ade Adetimehin, who scored 497 votes.

    Other contestants for the chairmanship seat include Barrister Sola Iji, Prof. Wole Aderounmu, Adetimehin and Prof. Abiodun.

    Security was tight at the venue of the congress, which was held at the multi-purpose B-Kay Complex in Akure, the state capital.

    Addressing reporters shortly after the poll, the State Chairman of the Congress Committee, Chief Femi Pedro, described the event as successful.

    Pedro, who was a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, said over 1,070 delegates from the 18 local governments and 303 wards in the state participated in the congress after they were duly accredited.

    According to him, “The congress was hotly contested by five candidates, but there were two major candidates, the winner, Hon. Kekemeke and the runner-up, Engr. Ade Adetimehin.

    “Though, there were argument before the commencement of the congress, but we were able to resolve these issues. This is usual and excepted in a political gathering but you know in APC, we know how to handle our issues.”

    On other elected positions in the party, Pedro said there was consensus arrangement for other State executives post, which he said have been zoned.

    Pedro noted that with the emergence of the new executives for APC in the state, the days of the ruling Labour Party (LP) in the Alagbaka Government House are numbered.

    The new APC State chairman, Kekemeke described his victory as a new dawn for the progressive party in the State.

  • Rivers elects Ikanya as chairman

    Rivers elects Ikanya as chairman

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State Chapter on Saturday conducted its state congress.

    Hon. Asita Honourable, a lawmaker representing Ahoada-West in the House of Representatives moved the motion to declare the seats of the interim executives vacant and was supported by Emmanuel Chinda, the state Commissioner for Agriculture.

    The Rivers State Governor, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who was represented by his Deputy, Engr. Tele Ikuru, was the first to cast his vote, followed by APC Senators and members of the House of Representatives from the state.

    At the end of the exercise, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, was elected as the state chairman of the party and Prince Peter Odike as his deputy. Chief Emeka Bekee emerged as State secretary, while Evangelist Caroline Nagbo was elected State Women Leader.

     

  • Edo postpones congress over logistics

    Edo postpones congress over logistics

    THE Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said its state congress scheduled for Saturday was postponed due to logistic challenges.

    The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Godwin Erhahon, who disclosed this to journalists, said the logistics needed to ensure success of the congress were yet to be put in place.

    He also attributed the non-conclusion of the local government congress as another reason why the state congress could not hold.

    Erhahon disclosed that congresses were yet to be concluded in no fewer than seven councils of the state.

    The Edo APC spokesman listed some of the affected councils to include Orhionmwon, Owan West, Etsako East, Etsako West and Etsako Central.

    Erhahon, however, did not give a date when the state congress would hold.