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Tag: APC

  • Ilaje poll: Farukanmi urges APC chieftains to reconcile

    All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Ondo State Senator Olorunnimbe Farukanmi has urged party members in Ilaje/Ese-Odo local government to reconcile and work for victory at the proposed House of Representatives by-election.

    The Second Republic senator, who chairs the APC Screening/Selection Committee for the poll, was said to have selected the former student union activist and banker, Comrade Bola Ajimuda, as the party’s flag bearer. However, other party leaders opted for Chief Adewale Omojuwa, leading to crisis in the local government chapter.

    The committee headed by Farukanmi conducted the selection, following the failure of the Ilaje/Ese-Odo APC Elders’ Forum led by Prof. Fola Ebosemiju to pick a candidate from 11 aspirants from either Ilaje/Ese-Odo Constituency 1 or 11.

    The aspirants are Olusoji Ehinlanwo, Ajimuda, Felix Rawa, Omojuwa, Adebanbo Odoro, Jolomi Oluwasola, and Desmond Iwajomo. Others are Akin Esanmore, Aiyedatiwa Lucky, Olorunnimbe Tawose and Williams Aiyerin.

    In his report, Farukanmi said that the selection committee examined the aspirants’ academic background, managerial and political experience, acceptability, integrity, propensity for performance, articulation and communication skill, charisma and financial capacity.

    He said that four of the aspirants showed the capacity to represent the constituency. They are Ehinlanwo, Ajimuda, Omojuwa and Odoro.

    Farukanmi added: “But, going through the manifesto submitted by Comrade Bola Ajimuda, which compares with no other one and his level of articulation, I wish to recommend Comrade Bola Ajimuda”.

    However, other members of the committee disagreed with the elder statesman. Acknowledging their objection, Farukanmi said that, as indigenes of the constituency, they have vested interests.

    The party chieftain urged peace and unity in the troubled chapter, saying that they are critical to victory at the poll. He added: ‘The party should embark on more reconciliation across every specter of the membership in the area”.

     

  • 2015: Can Kwara PDP spring surprise?

    2015: Can Kwara PDP spring surprise?

    President Goodluck Jonathan has visited Kwara State to boost the morale of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members, wo have lost many of their leaders to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Correspondent ADEKUNLE JIMOH examines the challenges confronting the troubled chapter, ahead of the 2015 elections.

    The defection of the Kwara State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members led by Senator Bukola Saraki, to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is taking its toll on the party. For 11 years, the PDP was the ruling party. But, now, it is in the opposition, struggling for relevance in the Northcentral state.

    The defection has changed the political landscape in Kwara. Following Saraki’s defection to the APC, the 2011 governorship candidate of the defunct ACN, Dele Belgore (SAN) and his supporters left the APC for the PDP. Also, the son of the late Governor Mohammed Lawal, Hakeem, his supporters, and the former Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) governorship candidate, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, who is Senator Saraki’s sibling, also defected to the PDP.

    When Gbemisola returned to the fold, PDP stakeholders were happy. They said that the defection of his brother, will not diminish the popularity of the party. Saraki’s men who have not defected include Senator Simeon Ajibola, from Kwara South, his predecessor, Senator Sulaiman Ajadi, who has been appointed the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, Prof. Oba Abdulraheem, and former Transport and Sports Minister Alhaji Bio Ibrahim.

    President Jonathan, the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, and other party leaders also believe that the PDP still has a future because these chieftains have not left the chapter. At the recent PDP rally in Ilorin, the state capital, the national leaders basked in the euphoria of hope.

    Speakers at the event said that the huge crowd at the Metropolitan Square was encouraging.

    Dr Jonathan said: “Today is a great day because, as all the speakers that spoke first have spoken, Kwara is a PDP state. Kwara truly believes in the PDP because, for now, it is only the PDP that can bring liberation.

    “We ask ourselves: why do you get yourself into politics? It is your people that matter in politics and not yourself. If you get involved in politics, you have to think about your people, not yourself. People who think about the people follow the people’s party and the PDP is the only people’s party.

    “PDP is the party that, even if you go outside Nigeria and you ask people from all over the world which are the political parties we have in Nigeria? They will say, ‘PDP and others.’ Because you know it is only in the PDP that everybody voting has in this country. It is only the PDP people that can take this country to where we want it to be. I say it without any contradiction. Because only in the PDP that people like me can come from the low level and stand here as the President of this country because the PDP is not owned by any individuals.

    “It is not owned by any group of people. We do not have dictators in PDP. We have leaders who believe in people; that s why in PDP we talk about one man, one vote, one woman, one vote and one youth, one vote.

    “PDP is the only party that can liberate everybody and also liberate Kwara State; it is only the PDP that can give you what you want.”

    Senate President David Mark boasted that, “those who are pretending to leave the party would soon come back”. He urged the people to have the large heart to accept them when they come back.

    He added: “The only party that promotes democracy and good governance is the PDP. This is the reason why we have this large turn out of people to welcome Mr. President. The turn out was so impressive that I almost shed tears.”

    Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who thanked President Jonathan for what he had done for Kwara State in education and agriculture, said that¸ “the PDP train is moving and anybody that does not join it now is late”.

    To Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio, Kwara belongs to the PDP. He said: “PDP shall reclaim its mandate in Kwara. We worked for it and we shall not allow it to be snatched away by anybody.”

    Adducing reasons for his defection, Belgore said: “We are joining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has shed the very core of the liabilities that made our people run away from it.

    “We are joining hands with other like minds in the PDP, who were unjustly shut out because of their progressive bent to endear the party to the people of Kwara State.

    “Together we will work to advocate and bring about economic liberation, equal opportunity for all and positive development to our dear state and its people.

    “We join forces to break the shackles of oppression and restore our state back to its former glory. It is never easy to leave a party that one has nurtured to such an enviable position.

    “My supporters and I call on all those who wish Kwara State well, both within and beyond Kwara, indigenes and non-indigenes, to support us in the PDP to fight this just and noble cause so as to bring a brighter day to the lives of our people and to renew their positive aspirations.”

    Belgore added: “Today is very symbolic. It is symbolic because people have waited for us to make a pronouncement on our political future”

    Senator Gbemisola Saraki said her return would boost the fortune of the chapter. She said: “Three years may not be so much a long time, but it has been long enough for me to learn very important lessons. During this period, I have interacted more and intimately with thousands of Kwarans from different towns and villages. I have closely related with people of varied status. I have related with the very poor, the common people, the educated and the uneducated, the workers, the unemployed, the old and the young people.

    “I have interacted with the traditional rulers, the community and religious leaders. I have lived every day of my life as an Ilorin woman and as a Kwaran. I have had my happy moments. I derive my utmost joy when I have you, especially the common people, around me. You have had my low moments. Unfortunately, this has been more pronounced because each day, I see despair and helplessness from people who are ordinarily hardworking, honest, and courageous. I hear tales that are heart rendering”

    Gbemi, as she is fondly called, said that the defection of her brother to the APC notwithstanding, the PDP remains the party of majority of Kwarans. She stressed: “The majority of the people of Kwara State remains in PDP. We must therefore, show our strength.

    “We must begin to pull together and give our support to President Goodluck Jonathan. It is clear that the reason for the defection by a loud few is because of their personal and selfish reasons. It is not about Kwarans, majority of whom remain solidly committed to our party and the national leadership.”

    The Chairman of the PDP Caretaker Committee, Solomon Edoga, said that the party would wrest power from the APC in 2015 elections.

    He added: “We have seen that the PDP is Kwara and Kwara is the PDP. The ground that President Goodluck Jonathan is coming to cultivate is a politically very fertile and the harvest is going to be jumbo. The shackles of bondage will finally be broken on that day and the President is coming here to cut the freedom cake. Kwara is now free. Every voice will now be heard. Decisions will become bottom-top approach.

    “As from 2015 elections, votes will count and will be counted. The one man one vote mantra will be in place in the state. Elections will now be based on the voice of the people and that is why we are putting in place an elders’ committee. The committee will midwife all the processes that will lead to the elections of our ward, local government and state executives.”

    Gbemisola said that the PDP is on course because of its commitment to internal democracy. She added: “Internal democracy is now liberally practised in the PDP. The PDP is trying to make itself the biggest party in Africa. That shows how universal we are. The PDP we are building is one where godfatherism will not count, where one man show is an aberration.”

    However, keen observers of Kwara politics contend that the PDP faces a difficult future. “Its leadership is now weak,” said an observer. Other analysts are of the opinion that Kwara PDP has become an amalgam of ambitious and power crazy politicians who will not kowtow to any consensus arrangement.

    They argue that the choice of party leaders at the next congress and selection of ther governorship candidate next year will tear the party into shreds.

    It is believed that Abdul-raheem, Ibrahim, Belgore and Gbemi Saraki are interested in the governorship race. Thus, observers contend that, when the party is seized by post-primary crises, there will be no strong leadership to broker peace and reconciliation.

    The determination of the APC family to retain the state is also a setback to the PDP. The APC now has the majority in the House of Assembly. As the ruling party, it also leans on the power of incumbency, which the PDP lacks.

    An observer put this into perspective: “Saraki has never lost any election in Kwara. They made a mistake of allowing him to leave the party. With the large number of supporters behind him, the APC, under his leadership, will retain the state.”

  • Osun students protest lecturers’ strike

    Osun students protest lecturers’ strike

    •APC: aspirant behind demonstration

    Students, under the aegis of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), protested yesterday the ongoing strike by their lecturers in Osun State-owned polytechnics and colleges of education.

    As early as 9am, the students converged on Olaiya Junction, carrying placards and singing solidarity songs. They caused a traffic gridlock for over three hours.

    Chairman, NANS Joint Campus Committee, Osun chapter, Comrade Samuel Awowole urged the government to meet the demands of lecturers, so that they can resume work.

    He also urged the government to recruit more lecturers and provide adequate learning equipment in state-owned tertiary institutions.

    Awowole said: “We are compelled to troop out again because the incessant strike by our lecturers, leading to continuous closure of our schools, is affecting us. Sadly, the state government has done little or nothing to persuade our lecturers to go back to work.”

    Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Maishanu led a team of policemen to control the students and prevent a break down of law and order.

    He urged the students to end the protest and leave the road.

    Commissioner for Information Sunday Akere said: “The government is doing its best to resolve the impasse. We met with the students’ leadership at the weekend, so we did not expect the protests this morning (yesterday). We are still meetings with their leaders.”

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun chapter, said it has information that a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant is behind the students’ protest.

    In a statement by its Publicity Director, Kunle Oyatomi, APC said the aspirant’s plan was to cause chaos through the protest.

    It alleged that the plan was finalised last Thursday at a hotel in Ijebu-Jesa, where the students were “mobilised to hit the street”.

    According to the party, the aspirant in question is seeking to get students’ support for his electoral ambition.

    It said: “The students were enticed with money to start the operation on Monday (yesterday) and continue with a larger turnout during the week.”

    APC urged security agencies to ensure that Osun remains peaceful, adding that, if the students’ protest is not properly handled, it could turn violent.

    It expressed disappointment that “after all the good things Governor Rauf Aregbesola did for the students by increasing their bursary from N2,000 to N10,000 and reducing the school fees from N42,000 to N25,000, their gratitude is to disrupt the state’s peace, so that the people who made life difficult for them before Aregbesola came in can return to power.”

    The party urged parents of call their children to order.

     

     

  • Ondo bye-election: APC picks ex-OSOPADEC boss

    Ondo bye-election: APC picks ex-OSOPADEC boss

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State at the weekend declared the former Chairman, Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC), Chief Adewale Omojuwa, as its candidate for the April 5 bye-election for the vacant seat of Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency.

    A statement by the Secretary, Interim Committee of the party in the State, Prince Olu Adegboro, said Omojuwa polled 83votes to beat six other aspirants, who included Mr. Bambo Odoro, Soji Ehinlanwo, N.Tawose, A.0 Jolomi, Iwajomo Desmond and Akin Okadigbo.

    In his acceptance speech, Omojuwa commended the party members for reposing confidence in him, promising to work with the other aspirants to ensure victory for APC in the election.

     

  • Osun PDP, APC clash over verification of voter registration

    Osun PDP, APC clash over verification of voter registration

    •NCP accuses police, PDP of frustrating agents

    Supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ikirun, headquarters of Ifelodun Local Government Area of Osun State, clashed last Friday during the verification of voters’ registration.

    No fewer than three persons have been arrested in connection with the clash.

    It was gathered that the clash between the two parties started at Eweta Ward 07 Ikirun over collection of permanent voter’s cards.

    The Akirun of Ikirun, Oba Rauf Olayiwola, was implicated in the crisis by the PDP but the monarch denied any involvement in the fracas.

    Speaking with The Nation, the monarch said he only responded to the call of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area over the crisis.

    He said: “The tension was high when I got there. People dared the police and said they were ready to be killed but I kept appealing to them because I did not want a crisis in my domain.

    “Even some of these people said they would burn down the police station over the arrests the police made. My intervention had saved the situation from escalating”.

    The monarch dissociated himself from political activities in the town, saying he was a father to all politicians regardless of political parties.

    But the PDP members are blaming the APC and Oba Olayiwola for the clash.

    The Osun PDP chairman, Alhaji Gani Ola-Oluwa, told reporters that a stalwart of the party in the area, Mr. Seyi Oyelade, was injured during the clash while three other members of the PDP, Salaudeen Lukman, Abolarinwa Moruf and Yusuf Wasiu are currently in police custody.

    The National Conscience Party (NCP) also accused the police and PDP of frustrating its agents out of some polling units in Osun State in collection of permanent voter’s cards.

    According to a statement by the Deputy National Chairman of the NCP in the South-West, Alhaji Waheed Lawal, the party’s agents were not allowed to monitor the distribution of the card in some polling units in Ila, Boluwaduro, Ife East, Ife Central and some other local governments in the state.

    Lawal said the NCP agents were accused of forming alliance with the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the PDP, lamenting that the police had “ignorantly bought the accusation.”

    The party called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address the issue as a matter of urgency.

    The party refuted the allegation that the NCP has formed alliance with the APC on the monitoring of the permanent voters card collection or any other political issue in the state.

  • APC road map: brilliant piece of politicking, but…

    APC road map: brilliant piece of politicking, but…

    All of a sudden, politics has become cerebral. With the unveiling on Thursday of the All Progressives Congress’ social contract with Nigeria, in which the leading opposition party spells out in detail how it would govern the country and what the fundamental underpinnings of that government would be, it is hard not to acknowledge that we have finally reached a political watershed. No matter what anybody does now, and notwithstanding the bellyaching and proclivities of the ruling party, political platforms and campaigns must henceforth acquire sophistication and depth. I confess that the APC surprised me. It was well publicised that the party would make some kind of public presentation of a Code of Ethics and what can be properly described as a manifesto, but few expected the exercise to rise above the routine and stultifying level the country had become accustomed to in the past few decades or so.

    Divided into many segments, the presentation showed coherence, class, style and consistency. The organisers’ sense of timing was fluidly dynamic and business-like, accompanied by the sort of discipline seldom realised in these parts, no matter how hard the effort. There were a few transgressions to be sure, like the poetic rendition the organisers, not the lady who did the presentation, didn’t manage with maturity, but on the whole, I was shocked by the modernity of the entire exercise. The segments were in fact so finely synchronised and showed depth and undisputed grasp of issues that I thought the whole thing ventured so daringly into uncharted and unsustainable territories. I half expected them to flounder at any moment, but they didn’t.

    The speakers were themselves quite exceptional, to a man. When the founders of the party spoke, they did so with gravitas, absolutely shorn of the overbearing carriage and grammatical lunacy that sullied and undid the politics of the past. The progressives had been accused of one-man show, both in the distant and recent past. But on Thursday, the APC carried out a dress rehearsal of the egalitarianism, fraternity and equality they promised would be the credo of their party. No one dominated proceedings; and no one was an underdog. Tom Ikimi wandered a bit in his contribution, struggling for the rousing snobbery that lathered his Third Republic politics, but in general he made his point stoically. Audu Ogbeh, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Bisi Akande and Atiku Abubakar spoke firmly and precisely of the foundations of the party and their hopes for Nigeria. And the laconic Mohammadu Buhari spoke tersely of what APC hoped to accomplish.

    There was quite some excitement when the 16 progressive governors addressed the audience. Rochas Okorocha of Imo spiritedly set the tone. Some of the governors addressed the cortex of the audience, and others spoke to their midriff. But they never lost sight of the need to inspire and, in a quaint way, even to rouse. It is hard not to imagine what great things the lot could do if the leadership of the country fortuitously passed into their hands. I doubt whether any other party for now can surpass them intellectually and in political drama. Somehow, too, the party managed to pull off the segment on the 10-point programme presentation. Not only was the content coherent and remarkable, even by international standards, the impassioned discussants, including the boisterously lovable rascal Dino Melaye and the implacable Nasir el-Rufai were classical in their performances.

    I thought the keynote lecture ought to have been delivered by a politician of great standing and rhetorical flamboyance, someone with a Clintonian flourish or the mesmerising profundity of the lawyerly Obama. But the APC gave the assignment to the dour and gritty Oby Ezekwesili, who though was brilliant and courageous, did not deliver her excellent ideas with an eye on politics or the excitement of a soapbox artist. Dr Ezekwesili needed to be patient with her audience and carry them along with the sufferance of an mesmerising politician. But when she appeared to be heckled at a point during her lecture she gestured and snapped, and was even impatient and reproachful, thereby creating an anticlimactic dissonance on the APC’s great moment.

    What is, however, most remarkable about the APC presentation last Thursday is not even the content of the party’s 10-point road map, as innovative, comprehensive and daring as it is, or the calibre and depth of the party’s leading functionaries. What is most remarkable is the party’s overall show of political iconoclasm, its exemplification, if not embodiment, of new political dynamics anchored on clear, coherent thinking, energetic perspectives and great hopes for the future. The party’s presentation is also indicative of the new politics that is afoot, one in which a truly pan-Nigerian party not encumbered by ethnic and sectional bigotry can be formed and efficiently run. The greatest challenge they will face, however, is how such a party without a strongman as it were, a party whose strength is both its diversity and new egalitarian foundation, can deploy its new-found democratic apparatus to elect candidates capable of winning elections, especially at the presidential level. The APC must be prepared to resolve the conundrum of how to combine its remarkable manifesto and new identity with the ability to elect a winning ticket. The outcome is not always inevitable.

    Given the party’s new form, it is no longer possible for it to engage in candidate selections, at least not substantially, nor visibly. It has a new life, a new enthusiasm, a new conviction about politics and about democracy in particular. It is already soaring in its own fancies, determined to replicate the best attributes of Western democracies. It is therefore expected to submit itself to the rigours of the quintessential democratic processes, from ward level to the convention floor, complete with signature campaign frills and lofty speeches, far better than what it displayed last week in Abuja. But when they subject themselves to the demands and strictures of the democratic process, would they have the assurance that the process can adapt to and accommodate the shifting mores of the land, which mores have ethnic, geopolitical and religious configurations and implications?

    If APC leaders will be honest, and if they are as eager as some of us to see a new party in power, they must be entertaining some doubts already about the competence of the new processes they have triggered to produce such outcomes as would take the party into Aso Villa. I myself entertain some doubts, for as the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States sometimes show, not to talk of the Conservative and Labour parties in the United Kingdom, parties at times fail woefully in cobbling together the right platform for victory or producing the right candidates. No matter how brilliant the APC’s manifesto, and no matter how suave and democratic its intra-party processes, it is not guaranteed that it can elect a winning ticket; nor that its proboscises are sharp and sensitive enough to read the country’s mood correctly.

    One thing that emerged from Thursday’s event in Abuja, however, is that the party has deftly wrong-footed the PDP and showed it up as a political dinosaur. But I have confidence that the PDP will respond forcefully and perhaps violently, for it appears to me to be a party which, in structure and philosophy, is dedicated to strong-arm tactics and is absolutely incapable of the dynamism, intellectualism and exhibitionism so positively and entertainingly displayed by the opposition party last Thursday.

  • APC on mission to rebuild the nation –Former Commissioner Ojuko

    APC on mission to rebuild the nation –Former Commissioner Ojuko

    A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Commissioner for Commerce, Tourism and Cooperatives in Ogun State, Chief Jide Ojuko, has described the recently released All Progressives Congress road map as a laudable project aimed at re-building the nation. Ojuko, who made this remark in an interview with journalists in Ota, Ogun State early in the week, assured Nigerians that All Progressives Congress controlled federal government in 2015 would implement peopleoriented programmes that will make it an envy of other developing countries. The APC leader said a lot of researches have been conducted by the party on ways to move the nation forward, noting that with all the nature’s gift in the country, all the in-coming APC government needed was the proper harnessing of the resources in order to turn them into fortunes. He noted that with the present APC controlled states in the south-west being models for other states of the federation, the incoming APC controlled federal government needs the people’s support and loyalty for the party to form the government in 2015. Ojuko, a former state secretary of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Ogun State, however, reiterated the APC’s determination to better the lots of Nigerians if voted into power at the federal level in 2015, appealing to Nigerians to continue to maintain their loyalty and support for the party in order to make their dream a reality.

  • APC: our plan for Nigeria

    APC: our plan for Nigeria

    State police, free education, jobs and a solid anti-corruption battle.

    These – and many others – formed yesterday the major highlights of the 10-Point Road map unveiled in Abuja by the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is planning to win power at the centre in 2015.

    The party said it would give independence to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other agencies.

    Besides state police, there will be a Serious Crime Squad to curtail insurgency.

    Highlights of the roadmap presented at the party’s Inaugural National Summit in Abuja are: jobs; anti-corruption fight; free; relevant quality education; agriculture; housing plan; and healthcare plan for children and adults.

    APC plans a social welfare scheme for the less advantaged and build roads and power plants. It will manage better our natural resources, the party said, adding that it will strengthen peace, security and foreign policy.

    The Road map reads in part: “Roughly, one in four Nigerians, and half of young job seekers are unable to find work. The number of people whose jobs do not cover the cost of food and housing is even greater.

    “In addition, major industries that pay higher wages account for just over five per cent of the economy.

    “The lack of jobs is the most critical challenge facing Nigeria today, hurting every community and preventing us from being the truly vibrant and prosperous nation we deserve. Building a diverse economy that allows every Nigerian to earn a living and better care for his or her family is our number one priority.

    “APC road map for jobs includes: Create 20,000 jobs per state immediately for those with a minimum qualification of secondary school leaving certificate and who participate in technology and vocational training.

    “Encourage state governments to focus on employment creation by matching every one job created by the State Government through funding with two jobs created by the Federal Government in the same state.

    “Direct conditional monthly cash transfers of N5,000 to the 25million poorest and most vulnerable citizens upon demonstration of children’s enrollment in school and immunisation to help promote job empowerment.

    “Establish technology/Industrial Estates fully equipped with ICT, power and other support across the country to attract and encourage small-scale technology businesses and other entrepreneurs.

    “Provide allowances to discharged but unemployed Youth Corps members for 12 months while they seek jobs or acquire training and skills for job placement or entrepreneurship.

    “Establish plants for the assembly and ultimately the manufacture of phones, tablets, computers and other devices.

    “Pay a guaranteed indexed-linked price to farmers to ensure that there is always a ready market for their produce, which will create more jobs, agricultural related employment and sustain existing jobs.”

    On corruption, the APC said it was worried that “corruption is crippling Nigeria”.

    It assured Nigerians that it would “create a vibrant economy where jobs and opportunities are more readily available.” “Every individual, civil servant, business and government leader must play by the same rules, obey the law and reject the temptation of bribery and corruption.”

    The party was specific on its anti-corruption agenda. It plans to: “show zero tolerance for official and/or private sector corruption. Place the burden of proving innocence in corruption cases on persons with inexplicable wealth.

    “Pursue legislation expanding forfeiture and seizure of assets; laws and procedure with respect to inexplicable wealth, regardless of whether there is a conviction for criminal conduct or not.

    “Strengthen legal provisions to prevent stay of proceedings and other delays in corruption trials.

    “Guarantee the independence of anti-corruption and financial crimes agencies by legislation, charging their budgets directly to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

    “Stop corruption in our elections, in part by making the Independent National and State Electoral Commissions truly independent and free from political interference.

    “Improve the ability of citizens to keep an eye on their government, with more open access to government data, greater disclosure of government contracts prior to awards and during implementation, and ensuring the people’s business is done in an open and transparent way.”

    Regarding security challenges facing the nation, the APC said it would allow states to own local police forces.

    It promised to establish a serious crime squad to fight terrorism.

    The road map added: “Peace and security are fundamental to Nigeria’s social and economic wellbeing. Every Nigerian should be safe and free to work in any part of the country, regardless of tribe, ethnicity, or religious beliefs.

    “Our law enforcement agencies face significant challenges on many fronts: terrorism, especially in the Northeast, unresolved high-profile homicides and the rise in new crimes, such as kidnapping, abductions and cyber-crime. The result is an international perception of Nigeria as a failing state where violent crime, corruption and fraud are rife.

    “APC’s roadmap for peace, security and foreign policy includes: Enable states to have their own local police forces that address the special needs of each community, including community policing initiatives that restore trust among local citizens.

    “Establishing a serious crime squad with state-of-the-art training and equipment to combat terrorism, militancy and ethno- religious crisis, clashes.

    “Provide a comprehensive compensation plan for victims of ethno-religious crisis, communal clashes and terrorism.

    “Initiate a national reconciliation and healing plan, beginning with a truth and reconciliation commission on ethno-religious clashes, ensure the teaching in our schools of religious tolerance and public demonstrations of religious and ethnic tolerance by public officials.”

    On Education, the APC plans to “make the right of every Nigerian child to receive a free, relevant and quality education a reality, based on free and comprehensive primary and secondary education.

    “Provide free tertiary education to students pursuing Science and Technology. Engineering and Math (STEM).

    “Create incentives and dedicate special attention to the education of girls.”

    Shedding light on the road map at a follow-up round table, the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said: “We commissioned a survey on what exactly is wrong with Nigeria, what exactly Nigerians need. Unemployment, corruption insecurity are the major problems confronting Nigeria today. So, the roadmap is a result of what Nigerians need.

    “What we have done today is to show that there is a big difference between the PDP and the APC. We are after a new Nigetia. This is a new Nigeria we are creating in which the people will be the beginning and the end of all development programmes.”

    The Chairman of Anti-Corruption Network, Otunba Dino Melaye, said: “The road map has lucidly elucidated the palliative measures against corruption. What the PDP is practicing now is greedocrcracy, the government of the greedy by the greedy and for the greedy. The road map, which is to correct corruption, is coming at a time when we are getting to the brink. The APC is the solution to the challenges facing the country. Once I was blind but now I can see.

    “Nigeria is like a car being driven by a drunken-driver. What we have now is that corruption is being massaged and promoted. What we have in the road map is to make every Nigerian a change agent. In 2011, I was in the National Assembly where a budget of N250billion was passed for fuel subsidy but this reckless government increased it to N2.3trillion.

    “This roadmap will produce a President that will not just commission projects but supervise projects; a President that will execute projects that are people-oriented. N149billion has been used in the last three years for politically exposed persons for medical tourism. We are setting an agenda. The President APC will produce is going to attend hospitals in Nigeria. We are going to bring back our medical experts deposited in Saudi Arabia and in the United States.

    “APC wants a Nigeria where you will not need to manipulate or commit immoral sins to get political appointments.”

    A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, said: “The best way to differentiate the APC from PDP, not only in terms of corruption but in many ways is to look at the leaders of APC. PDP cannot produce or present an incorruptible leader like Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. If they have any, let them produce such a person. I think the results are there on ground; if the APC leaders are credible. We have the history to show us and we have the performance of our leaders to speak for us.

    “The last time the PDP produced a manifesto was in 2007. It has been pursuing one agenda or the other since then. We challenge the ruining ruling party to produce its own roadmap.”

    A former National Secretary of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), George Moghalu, said: “The road map is all about Nigeria, doing things at the right time and in the right way. It is a reflection of the wish of average Nigerian.

    “It is an agreement we are going to sign with Nigerians so that at the end of the day, we can account to them.”

  • APC unveils 10-Point Roadmap, pledges 20,000 jobs per state

    APC unveils 10-Point Roadmap, pledges 20,000 jobs per state

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) Thursday unveiled a 10-Point Roadmap for the nation which it will execute if it emerges the ruling party in 2015.

    The party pledged to pursue a free, relevant, quality Education and generate at least 20,000 jobs per state.

    It also placed priority on the fight against corruption with zero tolerance for official and or private sector corruption.

    The party said it would give independence to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other financial crimes agencies.

    It however offered to give states the power to own local police forces.
    On terrorism, the APC said it would establish a serious crime squad to curtail insurgency nationwide.

    The highlights of the roadmap, presented at the Inaugural National Summit of the APC in Abuja, are as follows:
    *Create jobs
    *Fight corruption
    *Free, Relevant Quality Education
    *Restore Nigerian Agriculture
    *Housing Plan
    *Healthcare Plan for Children and Adults
    * Social Welfare Plan for the less advantaged
    *Build Roads, Power and Infrastructure
    *Better Manage Our Natural Resources
    *Strengthen Peace, Security and Foreign Policy

  • Ondo By-Election: APC picks Ex-OSOPADEC Chair as flagbearer

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State Thursday announced the former Chairman, Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) Chief Adewale Omojuwa as its flag bearer for the April 5 by-election for the vacant seat of Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency.

    A Statement by the Secretary, Interim Committee of the Party in the State, Prince Olu Adegboro said Omojuwa polled 83 to beat other six Aspirants.

    The Contestants are: Bambo Odoro, Seven votes, Soji Ehinlanwo, four votes, N.Tawose, four votes, A.0 Jolomi, two votes, Iwajomo Desmond and Akin Okadigbo – NIL.

    The primary election was in line with APC’s party guidelines.

    Omojuwa commended the party members for reposing confidence in him, promising to work with other Aspirants to ensure victory for APC after the election.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fixed April 5 for the election following the death of former Member representing the Federal Constituency, Raphael Nomiye (Groovy) late last year in Abuja.