Former Ekiti State Governor and Interim National Vice-Chairman (Southwest) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Otunba Niyi Adebayo, will today inaugurate the Oyo State APC harmonisation committee.
The ceremony will hold at the party’s Zonal Office in Alakia, Ibadan, at 11am.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State has debunked reports that its Interim Executive Committee, headed by Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), has been dissolved and replaced with another committee.
In a statement, the Secretary of the Interim Committee, Prince Olu Adegboro, said: “The attention of the party has been drawn to media reports that the Interim Committee has been dissolved and replaced with a new committee. The masterminds of the false publication claimed that their appointment was sequel to the purported dissolution of the Interim Committee inaugurated by the party’s Interim National Vice-Chairman, Southwest, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, at the Lagos home of Chief Pius Akinyelure. Akinyelure has denied the dissolution of the Interim Committee and stated clearly that such decision was never reached at his home.”
The Interim Committee urged party supporters to disregard the “false publication”, which it said was aimed at creating division in the party.
Adegboro urged members to turn out en masse for the forthcoming registration of party members.
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has said he supports the directive of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to its lawmakers in the National Assembly.
The directive is to stall the passing of this year’s budget and other bills sent by the Executive until rule of law is reinstated in Rivers State.
Addressing reporters after inaugurating the Ejigbo-Ajao Link Bridge yesterday, Fashola said the directive was in line with the principle of separation of powers in a democracy.
The governor said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should stop raising unnecessary alarm over the directive.
He said the ruling party’s reactions on the matter showed that “they still have a lot of learning to do as far as the democratic process is concerned”.
Fashola said the APC lawmakers “have found as a legitimate weapon the withdrawal of cooperation from the Executive in order to bring a belligerent Executive back to the negotiation table because as they say themselves, nobody can claim ownership of Nigeria”.
He added: “Therefore, where appeals and letters fail, the legitimate tool is the use of the power of cooperation or the withdrawal of cooperation.
“Where the party in power has full legislative majority, this has been a weapon that the parliament has employed.”
Fashola alluded to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which he said had been stalled at the National Assembly for over three years and the refusal to approve appropriation for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The governor said no voices had been raised in those situations.
He said: “Have you asked yourselves why? That was an example of withdrawal of cooperation. The same party in the majority returned the budget and you know how the budget finally came back to the National Assembly. That was an example of withdrawal of legislative cooperation. The same party with the majority, last year, said it was not going to approve appropriation for the SEC, a constitutionally empowered body, because they disagreed with its leadership.
“I did not hear this loud noise at that time from the PDP. So, how can the withdrawal of support suddenly amount now to truncating democracy?
“Investors are withdrawing from our Oil sector because we haven’t passed the bill. That is the truth. Oil assets are being sold off by traditional investors who have been here for about 40 to 50 years.
“Therefore, the capacity to fund the budget will become high questionability as we go forward. Who is really endangering the budget?”
Fashola faulted the position of the PDP on the directive, which called it a threat to democracy.
The governor wondered how parliamentary representatives’ withdrawal of support to the Executive could threaten democracy.
“Instead of resorting to violence, they are resorting to a legitimate tool to direct the Executive to the table that ‘we must have a negotiated compromise in order to go forward’.
“If you close that, then you are treading the expressway to anarchy. It is a legitimate tool. The Americans have used it; the British have used it when it suited them.
“In the absence any evidence to the contrary, they told their government to invade Iraq, and when it did not suit them, in the spirit of non-cooperation to the government of the day – which was a coalition – they said: ‘You can’t go to Syria’.
“So, we must open our minds and stop raising needless alarm.
“Now, perhaps, the PDP is no longer able to stomach the medicine it has dished out over the years. But I have news for them. There is a stone for every Goliath and this is one stone we have found.”
A GROUP of lawmakers, under the aegis of the National Unity Group (NUG), has announced plans to block the moves by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to shut down the Executive through legislative blockade, including the delay of this year’s budget.
The group comprises members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Labour Party (LP) and Accord (A).
It chided the APC for directing its members to block all bills from the Presidency.
Addressing reporters yesterday at the National Assembly, the NUG described the APC’s call as unpatriotic, bad and anti-progress.
It warned those in the House of Representatives to present its views instead of personal opinions.
The NUG promised that the APC would be “robustly resisted” on all fronts in the House.
Its erstwhile spokesman, Zakari Mohammed, is a member of APC, having defected from the PDP. The deputy, Victor Ogene, is a member of APGA.
Bitrus Kaze (PDP, Platueau), who read the statement in company of other members, said the multi-party group was committed to good governance, national stability an Pan-Nigerian consensus-building.
The statement said: “Any attempt to tamper with the 2014 budget and, hence, the Transformation Agenda of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, would be met with robust resistance.
“No Nigerian anywhere will stand by and watch an opposition, with mischief and power lust, to frustrate the hopes of tens of millions of Nigerians with regard to health care, schools, universities, agricultural grants and projects, foreign investment promotion, water supplies, road works, utilities and other infrastructure, including electricity, solar street lights and a dozen other necessities and obligations of Nigeria, as a responsible nation whose duties are enshrined in Chapter II of the 1999 Federal Constitution.
“If this budget is not passed soon, there will be hunger in the land and the APC plan for anarchy will have succeeded.
“We, in the NUG of the House of Representatives, wish to add our voice to those calling for peace over the tension in Rivers State, as mentioned above, and in Ogun State as well as Ekiti, where APC factions have violently engaged themselves as sitting APC governors try to foreclose challengers. We are also hoping the situation in Kwara, Borno and Kano, occasioned by APC thugs forcibly taking measures against the PDP.
“Given the wrong premise upon which they are operating, we dispute the bogus claims of majority status by APC and call on our colleagues in the opposition to always strive to advise their colleagues to obey judicial pronouncements, no matter how unpalatable to their political dreams and ambitions…”
Section 68 is clear about elected members and their parties – you don’t cross-carpet when and how you like.
“That further, we call on those purporting to act as spokesmen of the House to always endeavour to wear the toga of nonpartisanship and to always be sure what they are feeding the public are based strictly on House resolutions rather than their partisan ends.
“That we fully commend the leadership of the House for the skilful handling of a difficult set of circumstances and continue to urge them to continue to put the interests of the nation ahead at all times.
“As a multiparty platform, the National Unity Group, NUG, stands ready always to defend the Nigerian constitution as a matter of priority no matter whose interests are offended”.
On the issue of budget consideration and approval, Friday Itulah (PDP, Edo) responded saying the document would go through the normal legislative process.
“The budget would go through the Committees and then presented to the Committee of the Whole where the majority would decide its fate. It is about a simple majority and we are ready to ensure that the majority will carry the day.
“Since it is the budget, it will no longer require a simple majority, it is not an issue of two third. So, the possibility of somebody trying to block the decision of the House will not arise.
“But if they attempt we will have to show them that it is the majority that decides what happens in the House”.
When asked about the numerical strength of the group made of four Parties, Tajudeen Yusuf (PDP, Kogi) refused to give specific figure, saying PDP remains in the majority.
He also said that there was no defection and that those that felt that they have defected were only on ‘astral travel’.
He said: “The constitution is clear on cross-carpeting, you don’t cross carpet the way you want it, there are guidelines. Moreover, we only have colleagues that have expressed interest to join other Parties, so the PDP is still intact.
“Talking about the Party in the majority, even without adding members from Labour, Accord and APGA, the PDP is way above two-third. We are in clear majority, we just don’t brandish numbers.
“We are challenging APC to publish the names of its members
The PDP number, Accord, APGA and Labour in the House is way above two-third.
“There is no merger between the PDP and the other three Parties, we are just united for national development”.
Kaze, in conclusion said the commitment of the group to the Nigerian Project is irrevocable, “We accordingly invite House APC members, our colleagues – and by extension the other Parties in the House – to always strictly seek to add value to our national quest for democracy and development.
“We, therefore, call on our colleagues whose sense of duty and patriotism remains unquestioned to reject the latest APC “directives” as unpatriotic and bad anti-progressive. They must reject all efforts to destroy the Nigerian economy,” he added.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered fresh service of court processes on five former governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The processes are on a case filed by the PDP seeking the governors’ sack following their defection to the opposition party.
The governors are: Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Abdulfatai Ahmed (Kwara).
Justice Gabriel Kolawole gave the order yesterday following the complaint by the plaintiff’s lawyer, Alex Iziyon (SAN), that despite being served, the defendants were not only absent in court but also failed to file any response to the processes served on them.
The judge ordered that the governors be served through the national office of the APC in Abuja.
Justice Kolawole also granted the plaintiff the permission to publish the court processes in two specified newspapers.
He adjourned till February 6 for hearing of the plaintiff’s originating summons.
Sued with the governors is the Independent National Electoral Commission (first defendant).
The PDP argued that the governors should be sacked from office because, by their defection, they had forfeited their offices which the party said should revert to it.
Should the five governors be sacked from office, the PDP urged the court to order their deputies or speakers of the Houses of Assembly of the affected states, or any officer next in rank, who is still its member, to assume their positions.
The PDP urged the court to declare that by the combined provisions of Sections 177 (c), 221 and 222 (c) of the 1999 Constitution, the five governors, who were elected on its platform, cannot continue to enjoy the mandate given to them by the people/electorate of the affected states as they (governors) have defected to another party.
It prayed for a declaration that in the absence of any division in the PDP, the five governors have vacated or forfeited their seats following their defection to the APC.
The party sought a declaration that by the combined provisions of Sections 87 of the Electoral Act 2011 (as amended), and sections 177 (c), 221 and 222 (c) of the 1999 Constitution, the offices of the defected governors have reverted to the PDP.
The PDP also urged the court to declare that by the combined provisions of Sections 177 (c), 221 and 222 (c) of the 1999 Constitution, following the defection of the five governors, their mandate has reverted to the deputy governors or Speakers of the Houses of Assembly or any other officer next in rank who is still a member of the PDP.
The credibility of the 2015 elections is on the line, if the nation fails to hold the elections on the same day, House of Representatives Deputy Minority Leader Kawu Sumaila (APC, Kano) has said.
The lawmaker said the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) timetable is subject to legislative review and approval in line with the Electoral Act.
The INEC released its timetable, showing that the Presidential and National Assembly elections would be held first while the governorship and Houses of Assembly would follow.
In a statement yesterday, Kawu noted that holding the elections on the same day would reduce their cost
He said: “It will be proper to conduct all elections on the same day to save cost and reduce tension. All the five elections can be conducted on the same day with voters being given five ballot papers and five ballot boxes stationed at every polling booth.
“This will make candidates to mobilise their agents to monitor the process well.
“The allowances to ad hoc workers on each Election Day, instead of paying two or three times, the government will pay once.
“The elections should also be moved backwards to January 2015 or November 2014 so that there will be time to dispose of litigation before swearing-in. It will help those elected to prepare themselves very well to take over the rollout of their programmes.”
“However, as far as the timetable released by INEC is concerned, it is still subject to the review of the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution, which are pending before the National Assembly.
“Therefore, even the sequence elections will then be subject to legislation by the National Assembly.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has welcomed 2,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Mbangur, Mbadede ward of Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State.
The Interim State Chairman, Targema Takema, described APC as a party, which cares for Nigerians.
He said PDP was in the hands of Tiv leaders but it was hijacked by some people, who denied Tiv people employment.
According to the chairman, President Goodluck Jonathan joined others in marginalising the Tiv people. He said of the 29-member National Conference Committee, no Tiv man was appointed.
“Four Idoma natives are serving in that committee. Any true Tiv man who wants to ‘eat and die’ should remain in the PDP.”
He praised a House of Assembly member, Mrs. Dorothy Mato, for ensuring the defection of the PDP members from her constituency.
Getting to know the truth is becoming more difficult nowadays especially if you listen to the spin doctors of the main political parties.
Last weekend rally by the Save Rivers Movement at Bori in the heart of Ogoni land in Rivers State was a huge success if you are getting your information from the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze.
But if you have been listening to Jerry Needam, spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Ogoni people boycotted the rally and Governor Rotimi Amaechi was only addressing himself at the event. But as they say pictures don’t lie and the truth stands somewhere between their statements.
Attempting to call white black would only damage the reputation of whoever was peddling lies and whatever he stands for or represents as the people of Rivers State certainly know the truth and who is fighting their cause.
The size of the crowd at the rally is not even the issue here; the fact that it went well without any of the mayhems that had attended two previous rallies of the SRM, one in Port Harcourt and the second in the same Bori showed that whoever was behind the violent disruptions of the two previous rallies of the Movement loyal to Governor Amaechi had the support of the Nigeria Police.
At the Port Harcourt rally where a serving Senator, Magnus Abe an Ogoni man and ally of Amaechi was hit by a rubber bullet shot at him by the police, it was glaring that the State’s commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu and his men were at work. Though the CP denied any bullet, rubber or live was used in dispersing the SRM rally, the public condemnation of the brutality of the police in Rivers State under Mbu and the partisanship of his men in the political crisis that has pitched the governor against the coordinating Minister of Education Nyesom Wike,(acting on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife Patience) had forced the police to retreat from their onslaught on Amaechi and his supporters ahead of the second SRM rally at Bori.
When the Movement gathered for what was essentially a pro-Amaechi rally, hoodlums and armed militants, allegedly paid by Wike and his group violently disrupted the gathering, injuring many and destroying cars and other property in the process. While all this lasted the police folded their arms. And while those behind the mayhem had not been arrested by the Rivers State police command, two local government chairmen from Ogoni land loyal to Governor Amaechi were picked up by the police for no other offence than being supporters of the governor.
Of course the public condemnation of the police grew louder and finally the noise got to the ears of the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar and the country’s chief police officer had to order his Commissioner of Police in Rivers to allow another rally of the SRM planned for Bori to go ahead and also provide protection. And the rally went peacefully. Now do we need any soothsayer again to tell us who has been behind the violence that has recently engulfed Rivers State?
When people point accusing fingers at CP Mbu for being partisan they get accused as being Amaechi supporters. But just for once that the IGP and his CP decided to act as impartial officers of the law, there was law and order. So, what this means is that if the police in Rivers State act in accordance with the law and in the overall interest of the state and the country, the crisis in the state would not be and would not have been.
As his tenures draws to a close, IGP Abubakar would do well to leave a legacy of a disciplined, well trained and apolitical police force that would only do the biddings of Nigerians and not the powers that be. Abubakar started well and the only blot on his score sheet so far is the police in Rivers State under Mbu. Wherever the courage to stop Mbu came from, he should continue with it.
Since the Rivers crisis began, so many stories have been flying around that CP Mbu rather than take orders from Force Headquarters in Abuja, go to the presidential villa for his briefs. It was even rumoured that he doesn’t take the calls of his IGP any longer preferring either Wike or even Madam Jonathan to give him directives.
For the purpose of this argument, I want to believe this as one of those beer parlour rumours and the fact that when the IGP gave his orders to Mbu publicly, they were obeyed should be enough to put the matter of where Mbu takes his briefs to rest. But to further reassure us that he is in charge of the entire Nigeria Police, including the Rivers State Command, IGP Abubakar should henceforth be giving his orders to CP Mbu in particular publicly, so that if he refused to obey his IGP, then Nigerians would know who truly he is.
But could the threat by the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress to all its Senators and House of Representatives members to shun discussions and debates on the 2014 federal appropriation bill and all other executive bills including confirmation of Service Chiefs until the Rivers crisis is resolved have anything to do with the thaw in the crisis rocking the state?
Those who are blaming the APC for this directive and labeling the party and its leaders as unpatriotic should rather see the Rivers u-turn by the Federal Government and its agencies (security) as a positive fall out of the APC’s threat.
It shows that a virile opposition is needed to put the ruling party in check and on the path of sound democracy and the rule of law. With the balance of power shifting in favour of the opposition in the National Assembly, the PDP Federal Government and in particular President Goodluck Jonathan no longer has room to maneuver and take Nigerians for a ride again.
Nigerians have tolerated the PDP for so long and the party has proved itself unworthy of our trust and support. If it would require threats from the APC to make the government to do the right thing, so be it. Nothing bad in that! And by the way, what is the business of the opposition if not to bring down the government in power to pave way for it to form the next government. As long as it was done within the ambit of the law and in accordance with democratic tenets let it continue. Nigeria does not belong exclusively to PDP and its leaders alone. All the parties and indeed all Nigerians have equal stake in the destiny of this country. Enough of this PDP noise.
Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is embroiled in crisis. State Correspondent Ernest Nwokolo examines the issues at stake.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), a formidable opposition party, entered the nation’s political firmament late last year following its official registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It is a conglomeration of democrats and progressives who espouse politics of ideas and peace as opposed to that of violence, thuggery and the machiavellian-like principle of might-is-right.
This image is what the party at the national and state levels has been striving to protect since its emergence as a registered political party. To certain extent, this has endeared it to the teeming progressive – minded Nigerians, particularly the youth, who are desirous of change from the much maligned and lack – lustre outing of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) at the centre in the last 15 years.
But in Ogun State the story is becoming different. Discordant tunes and in fighting within the APC in the state are not only disturbing but also an early pointer to the problems ahead of 2015. The recent development suggests that there are some elements within the party that believe in violence and arm twisting tactics to advance their political agenda.
In the last couple of weeks, Ogun State APC is embroiled in a crisis that bears semblance of the type that had afflictedPDP preparatory to the April 2011 general elections. As a result PDP lost the governorship election and majority of other elective offices to the then Action Congess of Nigeria(ACN). Since then, PDP in Ogun State is yet to recover and put its house in order. The crisis in the state chapter of the PDP was stoked by the struggle for the control of the party structure between former Governor Gbenga Daniel and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
All attempts made by the National PDP to resolve the crisis failed. The party ended up with two parallel congresses held to pick candidates for the April 2011 polls in the state.
Daniel who lost out in the struggle, herded his supporters and candidates into the Peoples Party of Nigeria(PPN), a political party he floated at the eleventh hour.
Three years after, APC seems to to be treading this destructive path and with speed.
Analysts are worried that the silence of the national leaders on the crisis could have adverse effects on the party. They call for immediate intervention of the party’s national headquarters before it gets out of hand.
The crisis has been there since 2011 albeit in a smouldering form even though the party leaders had been pretending that crisis did not exist. But on January 9, the bubble burst when hoodlums stormed the secretariat of the APC on Leme, Abiola Way, Abeokuta and sacked its Harmonisation Committee meeting convened by Senator Gbenga Kaka.
Journalists at the venue for coverage of the proceeding were assaulted while the Harmonisation Committee members comprising National Assembly members from the state fled the troubled spot and later addressed reporters at the Oke – Ilewo Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Senator Kaka(Ogun East), Senator Akin Odunsi(Ogun West), Senator Gbenga Obadara(Ogun Central) and other members of the House of Representatives were at the APC secretariat to inaugurate and announce membership of the state Harmonisation Committee.
The Committee was expected to work in harmony with party leaders to midwife the stages leading to the planned membership registration exercise as well as congresses at the wards, Local government and state levels.
The crux of the matter is that while the National lawmakers are gunning for return tickets, the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun on the other hand is desirous of cornering the same tickets for his loyalists. Hence, his alleged overt and covert moves to scuttle the chances of Obadara and his colleagues by scheming to foist only his loyalists as members of the Harmonisation Committee members.
The implication is that whoever gains the upper hand between the Governor and the national lawmakers in the formation of the committee would determine who votes at the congresses and ultimately, who emerges as party’s candidates in the coming 2014 general elections.
And barely two weeks later when the dust over the violence that witnessed the inauguration of the Harmonisation Committee was yet to settle, hoodlums wielding guns, machetes and clubs invaded the venue of a sensitisation andempowerment programme organised by Senator Obadara at Wasinmi in Ewekoro Local Government Area. They unleashed terror on party members. Many were wounded and taken to hospital for treatment Thus,the programme billed to take place ahead of the party’s planned registration exercise ended abruptly as people scampered to safety.
By the time the dust finally settled, Senator Obadara’s Police orderly, Sergeant Sunday Akinbode was wounded at the thigh near the pelvic region following gunshot from the thugs .
Since the outbreak of the violence, there has been accusations and counter – accusation between the State government/Governor Ibikunle Amosun camp and that of the members of the National Assembly from Ogun State on the ticket of the APC who see themselves as victims of the governor’s high- handedness orchestrated to muzzle them, and the desperate move to highjack the party structure for personal political agenda.
Senators Kaka and Obadara in separate fora accused the Governor Amosun of sponsoring political thugs to intimidate and harass them.
The duo in conjunction with their colleagues at the National Assembly, also faulted the recent endorsement of the Governor for a second term in office, dismissing it as “sham and an exercise in futility.”
The law makers accused the governor of planning to perpetrate a wave of political violence in the state and blamed it on them, ostensibly to achieve his political end.
But the Interim Chairman of the Party in the state, Alh. Tajudeen Bello, who described what is currently happening in the party as “a great surprise” and handiwork of few elements who are desirous of disrupting the peace of the state, alleged that the hoodlums were brought from Lagos by the National Assembly members.
In Bello’s reckoning, the state harmonising Committee initiated by Senator Kaka (Ogun East), Senator Akin Odunsi (Ogun West), Senator Gbenga Obadara (Ogun Central) and other members of the House of Representatives was a “charade.”
Bello who addressed reporters on account of the violence at the party Secretariat and festering crisis, blamed the occurrence on the former Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, whom he advised not to destroy a house he has built at a time he is expected to play the role of a “mediator.”
He argued that what was expected to be done according to the directive of the APC National body is preparation for membership registration and not Harmonisation Committee.
Bello said: “it was a great surprise that a new dimension is being introduced to politicking in Ogun State. Moreso from the so called responsible politicians that the people give very high regard. We got a report from my administrative staff at the Secretariat that some hoodlums came to attack them for no just cause and in the process, they wounded some of our staff there and I had to phone them to quickly vacate the office.
“This is a party that does not believe in violence and you would see the approach of the Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, on the issue of curbing violence and since he has been on the saddle of governance, you will bear me out that violence in all forms has been reduced to zero level.
“And everybody is now sleeping with his two eyes closed. It is so unfortunate that this sort of things would be happening in the days of progress, an era that we have never witnessed in the history of the state.
“However, immediately after the attack, we learnt that our revered leader Chief Olusegun Osoba also came with members of the National Assembly and addressed the press that he was spoiling for a fight, that he was ready for a fight.
“ I would not believe that he said so because he happened to be a builder of this party and we say what you build, you don’t destroy. As an elder statesman, every expectation is that he should always play a mediatory role in case of any issue whatsoever.
“The people can bear me out that the attack was carried out by hoodlums that came to invade the Secretariat. Generally we all believe that they came in through Kobape. You would agree with me that the vehicle came in through Kobape and we believe that they were brought by people who came from lagos, who had ulterior motive.
“Governor Amosun needs encouragement, he has been performing well and he is well received by the majority of the people. What then is the hue and cries about any issue that would distract the attention of the Governor from the laudable projects he is doing in Ogun State.
“This is a party that Nigerians want, a very matured party
Who ever that is a bad element in the party in the state and so far as they are exposing themselves, we leave them to the judgment of the people.
“We were peaceful in our state. Suddenly we woke and came under attack, I would not know the motive of the people that came. Thank God there were no serious casualty, they have been defeated, the Governor is moving well and charting the progress for the state.”
But the matter took a worrisome dimension during the week when in published letter by Governor accused Obadara and his group of plotting to destablise the state with an implication to undermine the party and stall the progress being recorded in the state by the administration.
Amosun made it explicitly clear that he was neither in competition with past leaders of the state nor members of the National Assembly from Ogun on the platform of the party, as every body’s duty is “clearly defined and distinct,”
said he had tried in vain to court the cooperation and support of the lawmakers.
Curiously enough, while the Governor attended Obadara’s mother’s burial last year and Senator Kaka’s function when he opened his Senatorial Office in Ijebu – Igbo, none of the Senators had attended any state event organised by Ibikunle led administration since inception.
The lawmakers in turn, fired back, accusing him of intolerance and plot to high-jack the party from the founding fathers.
In a personal letter addressed to him, the National Assembly members comprising three senators and seven House of Representatives legislators reminded him that the Ogun “APC is not his personal estate” that should be administered the way he deemed fit.
They reasoned that it was the intolerance of the Governor that sent party members, including former Deputy Governor of the state, Alh. Rafiu Ogunleye, away to another political party.
They also faulted his claim that they belonged to a group within the party, saying they have neither been involved in factionalisation nor operated outside the APC structure unlike his SIA’s group.
They accused Amosun of practising political harlotry as well as always striving to destroy any party he courts since his days in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to Congress for Progressives Change to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and finally to APC.
The letter reads in part:”why do you always destabilize any political platform you join – PDP, ANPP, CPC, ACN and now APC? Why do you like politics of intolerance and exclusion?
Why do you like to disregard party supremacy anywhere you go?
“Could the above be the reason why you change party platforms always? You should please note that a political party belongs to all. APC in Ogun State is not your personal estate, where you can do whatever you want.
“We know your intolerant disposition . That is why your threat to deal with the leaders, who SELECTED you above others aspirants is now coming to pass. Your intolerant disposition made people like Alh Rafiu Ogunleye,a revered party leader and former Deputy Governor to leave the party.
“You claimed we are romancing the opposition. That is in your dreams. But If you think you can chase us out like others, you are greatly mistaken. That will not work with us. We are born progressives.We are known progressives.We have NEVER change political platforms in our lives.
“We are ardent believers of our late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo.We are ardent followers of all our current leaders in the progressive family like Chief Bisi Akande, Aremo Segun Osoba,Gen Mohammed Buhari,Asiwaju Bola Tinubu etc and shall ever remain so.Long Live APC.Long Live the progressives.”
But beneath the crisis, according to analysts, is the hidden but the fuelling hands of Chief Osoba, who is believed to be using the Ogun indigenes at the National Assembly to prosecute a proxy war against Governor Ibikunle Amosun.
Many are of the conviction that the lawmakers are only acting the script of the former Governor and hinged the argument on the fact that the Akirogun of Egbaland had never rebuked his foot soldiers either privately or publicly.
It is being said that he never wanted Amosun to fly the party’s ticket in 2011 but was prevailed upon by the National leader of APC and its Interim National Chairman, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande.
No fewer than nine aspirants including renowned journalist and publisher, Mr Kayode Soyinka, were jostling for the then ACN governorship tickets when Amosun appeared from the blue and clinched it.
.However, anxiety is rife in the state that the Presidency has started digging into the APC crisis in Ogun state ostensibly to deepen it and then precipitate its collapse while overture to Amosun is also being contemplated, but how far the APC can go with the crisis, only time would tell
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi has urged the judiciary not to allowed itself to be used by politicians to scuttle democracy.
He said the recent court injunction obtained by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to prevent the change of the leadership in the House of Representatives was a strategy by the party to buy time.
Olusi told The Nation at a graduation ceremony of artisans organised by the Apapa Local Government Area, that if the court becomes a ready tool in the hands of politicians, the country’s democracy will suffer.
He said: “The court injunction obtained is part of the effort of people who do not want democracy to thrive in our country. The judiciary must resist the temptation of people who tried to use this arm of government to slow down the progress of democracy in our country.”
The APC chieftain maintained that the constitution has spelt out the roles of the judiciary and the legislature, stressing that one should not usurp the functions of the other.
“I know that it is stated in the constitution of the country that the court has no jurisdiction over the business of the House or the proceedings in the House. It has no business on how the House elects its officers. By this action, it is getting out of its jurisdiction. That being the case, the court should avoid the temptation of being used.
He called on party faithful to take part in the registration exercise in enable the party effect the necessary change that will move the country forward.
“The registration is a must for those who believe in change for Nigeria. It is important for those who want Nigeria to advance and those who want democracy to be entrenched in the country. People should go out and register as members of this progressive movement.”
“This will ensure that the party is firmly established and in order to ensure that the party towers in 2015. By doing so, the change that will route out the present PDP government in our country will be accomplished.
We are all aware that PDP is a party of retrogression, it a party that has not been able to give us power and light which is important for industrialization. For over a decade the country has been crawling from one problem to another, it is time the change that the people want come and I urge our members to register,” he said.