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  • APC mobilises members for registration

    APC mobilises members for registration

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue has commenced the mobilisation of members for registration ahead of the 2015 general elections.

    An APC chieftain, Mr. Mike Gbasha, who addressed party members yesterday in Gboko, said that the meeting was convened to educate members on the need to woo more members into the party.

    He frowned at the imposition of candidates on the party by some individuals.

    Gbasha urged the people to turn out en-mass for the party’s registration, adding that it was their only weapon against the forces of imposition, intimidation and harassment.

    “I encourage you to come out in large numbers for the registration to defeat the forces of imposition by enthroning democratic principles in our great party,” he said.

    Also speaking, retired Maj.-Gen. India Garba, another party chieftain, assured the people that the APC would advance the cause of democracy in the country via the provision of democratic dividends.

    “The APC will implement programmes that will be seen by physical human beings and not spirits, saints and angels.

    “All we hear today is about projects that are only seen by angels, saints and spirits,” he added.

    Garba urged the party members to be “foot soldiers” in the drive to boost the party’s membership.

     

    Alhaji Usman Abubakar advised the party members to be wary of those defecting and swelling the ranks of the party.

     

    Abubakar, a former member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), said that the advice became imperative because of some recent happenings in some political parties where some defectors had caused internal wrangling within their new parties.

     

    He also advised some members of the party to desist from imposing candidates on the party, adding that the people’s will should be allowed to prevail and not that of a few individuals.

     

  • 2014: Year of decision

    2014: Year of decision

    There is hardly any Nigerian who does not believe that 2014 is perhaps the most fateful year in their country’s history. It is not only the 2015 elections that will be decided by this year’s events, the country’s very existence, its peace, development, unity and stability also seem almost certain to be hinged on the political and social dynamics of 2014. But it is not certain that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is as clear in their minds just how portentous the year is as the All Progressives Congress (APC) appears to show with their desperate political re-engineering designed to pip the ruling party to the post in the next polls. By its attitude and methods, the ruling party gives the impression that what needs to change is not how it has governed the country since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, but simply how it can retain power, assured that it is too big to fail, too inclusive to be pigeonholed, and too long in power to be dethroned.

    On the other hand, and like the rest of the country, the APC appears to think that the ruling party’s methods have so undermined democracy, impoverished the people and stoked the fire of sectarian, ethnic and class revolts that the country seems assuredly headed for the precipice. It believes that the PDP suffers from intellectual paralysis and lacks the hunger to remould and redefine the country away from the mediocrity and stultification of the past years. I fear they may be right. My fear is worsened both by the low calibre of ministers President Goodluck Jonathan has assembled and the manner the president himself has subjected the presidency to unyielding policy inertness and lack of vision and innovation. If the APC should win the elections in 2015, there is a sense in which both the party and the rest of us expect radical changes that would permeate the entire body politic. But if the PDP should retain power, there is a sense in which they would see it as an endorsement of their jaded methods and sterile ideas.

    Clearly, whichever fork in the road we take will have monumental repercussions on the future and destiny of the country. Indeed, given the paralysis and retrogression of the past 14 years, it is shocking to still hear some enlightened commentators argue for continuity. I am convinced that the age of active or passive neutrality has long passed. At the risk of being labelled partisan, I am today advocating drastic and urgent change with all the fibre in my being. The PDP has outlived its usefulness; it is time to try the APC. But here is the dilemma we must confront. The PDP is no longer able to govern; can the APC get its act together to win office, and if it does, will the process of winning leave the party with a substantially sound party structure and a reasonably coherent ideological rampart to satisfy national expectations?

    I think 2014 will offer the PDP enough chance to demonstrate just how incapable it has become in governing, and enough room for the APC to prove that the process of cobbling a platform or a rainbow coalition together does not deprive it of the sound structure a party needs to win as a political party, and the rudimentary ideology it also needs to prepare a concise, practical and unique roadmap out of the hell the ruling party has driven the country into. The PDP needs little effort in reinforcing its infamous ways. The harder task lies with the APC, which has surprisingly managed to assemble under one roof what may pass as the most fractious, most disparate and probably the most cantankerous political leaders and followers Nigeria has ever seen. The party’s leaders must resist the temptation to see this observation as unduly harsh – for even their PDP opponents bank on the party’s centrifugal forces to manifest dramatically as the elections draw near – but as a challenge they desperately need to confront boldly and overcome with all the innovativeness, resilience and diplomacy nature endows.

    As every rainbow coalition knows from experience, and as the fractiousness in the states is already showing, the APC won’t find its task of unifying rebels from other political parties easy at all. What is even worse is that rather than embrace and project a brilliant ideology indispensable to the remaking and revival of the country, the APC will find itself in the ghastly and uncomfortable role of embracing and projecting a single-minded grab for power. Even if it manages to cobble up a platform for the elections, it will not be because its members believe the ideals the party purports to stand for. Compromises will be necessary to create a semblance of unity in the party, no matter how tenuous and disingenuous. Members will block their nostrils just long enough until the party takes office, whereupon the logic of being in office will either compel obedience down the rank and file or produce a sound party leader who will begin the arduous and thankless task of gently nudging the party in the right ideological direction, softly and gingerly. Any attempt to put the cart before the horse would spell disaster. So, when next opponents and commentators ridicule the APC for being insufficiently ideological, they should take the insult in their strides, for it is not only a true reflection of the party’s current make-up, it is also a political exigency the party should be glad to have the opportunity of riding into office.

    To win in 2015, the APC will have to overcome two main challenges, and either is capable of destroying the party or truncating its noble aspirations. The first is its ongoing effort to reconcile the contentious political structures forced by circumstances to coexist and cohabit in many of the states now under the party’s control such as Kwara, Kano and Sokoto, among others. The APC, it must be remembered, is an amalgam of three parties in its first layer, to wit, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). Even before this layer of contrasting linear expansivities coalesced into a solid foundation, wider and more transcendental political goals compelled the amalgam to bear the additional layer of defecting PDP governors and lawmakers, with all their idiosyncratic foibles.

    The truth is that the APC is now indeed a boisterous and fragile mixture of incendiary elements with inadequate bonding electrons necessary to guarantee its stability. Whether its two or so mercurial leaders – both of whom are far more mercurial than anything we have ever seen in one party since the First Republic – can stabilise the party and steer it away from implosion remains to be seen. But the incentive to get it right is that if they do not manage the elements within the party well, subordinate their ambitions properly and also get other smaller party leaders to surrender their own ambitions for the common goal, they are unlikely to get another chance. Worse, their failure may also doom the country and render future coalitions difficult to cobble together.

    The second main challenge, which is closely leashed to the first, concerns how the party would manage the ambitions of its leaders especially at the candidacy level. Who should be the presidential candidate of a party widely expected to take office in view of the abject failure of the PDP? What of the running mate? How should power be shared between the political zones? What are their heads telling them about the kind of leaders the country is willing to vote for as distinct from what their minds are saying? Assuming the country is ready to put them in office, are they capable of providing the young and dynamic faces the country wants? In my opinion, this will be the most difficult challenge they will face. I expect them to surmount the difficulty of uniting their party’s many factions. But I am less sanguine about how readily they can read the mind of the country, not to say how easily and quickly they can get their powerful and notable aspirants to submit to new realities.

    However, I suspect that given the brilliance with which they have consistently wrong-footed the PDP, especially the Jonathan presidency, and the adroitness with which they have expanded the base of their party, not to talk of the uncommon passion with which they have approached the entire project of building a grand coalition capable of winning major elections, I am a little hopeful they will competently knit together a durable party structure ahead of the elections and balance the ambitions of their leaders to avoid a debacle. Their passion seems to suggest that their priorities, in descending order, are to legitimately defeat Jonathan in a free and fair election, take power from the PDP in order to effect change and foist new political and bureaucratic paradigms on the country, and put the right APC leaders in office. It is inevitable that such zeal should create the necessary conditions for the subordination of ambitions and the management of internal divisions and dissensions.

    I think they have gone too far forward to look back or to allow personal interests to stand in the way of victory. They will now need to work on the more unmanageable and excitable substrata of the party leadership to imbue them with the spirit of sacrifice without which it would be impossible to unhorse the PDP. I think the APC leaders will pull through and win, even if by the skin of their teeth. And who knows, 2015 could even turn into a rout.

  • APC and a collapsing PDP

    APC and a collapsing PDP

    The PDP never expected the All Progressives Congress (APC) to become the behemoth that it is today. It unwisely underrated the resilience and resolve of the founders of the party to collapse their differences and face a common foe-President Goodluck Jonathan. It never imagined that the ACN which they regarded as a South-West party or, as they called it then, “Tinubu’s Party”, would later become a national party with such formidable influence within the polity. The APC, an amalgamation of ACN, CPC and ANPP, had gained a very wide acceptability, national acclamation and popularity within a very short period of its existence.

    Deceived by the failure of the ACN and the CPC to work together in the 2011 elections, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was under the illusion that it was going to enjoy the monopoly of the political space till eternity. Unfortunately, the party was witnessing its own funeral ceremony at a time it thought it was immortal. Jonathan’s men, who deceived him into believing that “there is none holy as their boss…”, are acting as the undertakers with Bamanga Tukur and Olisa Metuh leading the funeral procession.

    When General Muhammed Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Chief Tom Ikimi and Alhaji Bello Masari saw that the Nigerian state was sliding into anarchy, directionlessness and was losing its moral balance, they decided to come together to save the sinking ship. The product and outcome of their efforts was the APC that is now spearheading the struggle for our national revival. These men must be commended for resolving whatever differences they had against themselves and making the national recovery a major project above their personal and individual aspirations.

    Though the PDP attempted frustrating the merger and the registration of APC by INEC, by sponsoring some phoney people to also present their own “APCs,” for registration in order to create a registration dilemma for INEC, the electoral body, however, saw that it was all a game of “Esau and Jacob”. It went ahead to register the authentic and original APC led by General Buhari, Asiwaju Tinubu and Ogbonnaya Onu and the APGA faction of governor Rochas Okorocha. Since the party was registered, Jonathan and his men have never slept well. And it is very likely, without claiming any prophetic power, that they will never sleep well again.

    Exhibiting obvious political immaturity and showing lack of experience to manage crisis situations, Jonathan chose the wrong time to cause disaffection and division within his party. Gullibly swallowing Tukur’s vulnerability theory, Jonathan, himself a captive and hostage of power, mishandled the PDP crisis. A more strategic and calculating person would know that it was not politically expedient for him to allow the crisis within his party to escalate at a time that the APC was growing in stature and influence. But not Jonathan and Bamanga Tukur: their response and approach to the issue of the seven aggrieved governors smacked of nothing but irresponsible arrogance that had caused more damage to their party and their ego. On his part, Jonathan could not stand or tolerate the guts of people like Sule Lamido, Murtala Nyako, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Aliyu Babangida who belonged to the founding team of the PDP. He was not receptive to people telling him the history and philosophy of the party.

    Since his intention was to hijack the party, the crisis provided him the avenue to ease them out by frustrating all reconciliatory moves. If it was not his original plan to get rid of these people, why should it be difficult for a man ruling a multi-ethnic state like Nigeria with all its problematic dimensions and conflicts, to resolve an ordinary dispute with just seven party men who felt the Chairman of the PDP was derailing the vision of the party for the nation. Jonathan’s failure to manage the PDP crisis was a serious deficit to his capacity to rule a complex nation like Nigeria with the expected efficiency and wisdom. How can we trust a man who could not fix his problem with only seven men to manage the destinies of millions of Nigerians that are craving for national redemption. Every citizen wants to credit their president with some initiatives but in our own case, how do we glorify a president who is tolerating the excesses of his party chairman because he claimed to be the only one that can ensure the invulnerability of the president? Should it be the chairman of a party that should be protecting the president of a nation or the other way round? The simple truth is that Jonathan’s desperation for his party ticket in 2015 has exposed him to all sorts of ridiculous manipulations by his aides. The man could no longer decipher truth from falsehood and sycophants from loyalists. It is a very dangerous ambition that makes the president of a nation to expose himself to admonitions from every Tom, Dick and Harry whose intentions and love for the president are far from being noble.

    The APC was too swift to appropriate the loss of PDP to its advantage. The APC leaders saw the crack in the PDP and decided to move in fast by lobbying the seven aggrieved governors, popularly known as G7, to switch to APC. They went to Rivers, moved to Kano, went on another pilgrimage to Sokoto before journeying to Kwara. Their next trips took them to Niger, Jigawa and Adamawa. All these efforts were not in vain as five (5) of the seven (7) governors had since joined the APC with the other two keeping their joker to their chests. Those who moved to APC were Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Abdullahi Ahmed (Kwara), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State.

    Not long after the governors’ defection, 37 members of the PDP in the House of Representatives defected to APC thereby giving the APC a simple majority in the House of Representatives. The PDP was so incensed that it quickly took the case to court, asking the court to declare their seats vacant not knowing that another court had already restrained the leadership of the House of Representatives from declaring their seats vacant. According to media reports, many PDP senators and members of the House of Representatives would likely defect to the APC this January.

    Both Jonathan and Tukur are now confused as to what action to take against the defectors and how to stem further defections. The APC, which they thought would become the butt of gossip centres and beer parlours, in and outside Aso Rock, has now become a consuming fire that is sending them scampering in different directions, looking for fire brigade remedy that can reduce the impact of their political tragedy.

    Aside from the legal action, the PDP and the Presidency have now resorted to begging, persuasion and appeals to stem the tide of defection. The Senate leadership, led by the Senate President, David Mark, had been saddled with the task of convincing the about-to-defect Senators not to go. Suddenly, Tukur and Jonathan have realised that a political party is an institution and not a village association. Why should two men appropriate the structure of a political institution by running it as if it is their personal estate and creating the impression that other members of the party are irrelevant? Why did it have to take the defections of party members for Tukur and Jonathan to realise that a political party is part of a political process that is system-driven and should not be manipulated in order to protect the ambitions of certain individuals? The defections are a serious embarrassment to the PDP leadership, hence its desperate attempt to nip subsequent ones in the bud.

    The picture of grim, over the collapsing PDP was well captured in this graphic lamentation by one of the founding members of the party, Alhaji Sule lamido, Governor of Jigawa state: “We are today witnessing the de-construction of what appears to be the final collapse of our dear party, the PDP, under the inept and imbecile National Working Committee (NWC), led by Bamanga Tukur…I am short of words to express my pain. It is agonizing to see the party built in every home, in every village, town and cities all over Nigeria with lots of sacrifice, being destroyed.”

    The response of Jonathan’s men, those who pushed their oga to his present predicament, was a consoling prophecy, nay prayer, or better still, a curse ; that the APC will soon collapse. Let us listen to the Doyin Okupe rhapsody: “The APC boat is destined for the Red Sea and in fact, I remember that when we went to Israel, we prayed to God to remove all the people troubling Nigeria. So, by what is happening now, I believe that God is working quietly to gather these people for destruction. By the time Jonathan defeats those giants, God will take all the glory and people will know that the APC is heading for failure.”

    When a man with no antecedents for prophetic expertise begins to revel in spiritual anecdotes and allusions about their activities while on pilgrimage to Israel, and concludes that the exodus of PDP members to APC was a collection for destruction by God, such a man is suffering from pilgrimage fatigue, prognostication illiteracy and heretic delusion. All these are serious ailments that only God himself can ‘rectify’.

    But the APC needs to be very careful so that Okupe’s wishful thinking will not end up haunting the party. It is a good thing that disenchanted and frustrated PDP members are flocking the APC because it is convenient for them. I am only worried about the post-storm debris and how to manage this sudden convergence of the assorted; those who are defecting are coming with their own aspirations and ambitions which the party leadership has to align with those of the original members.

    We are in a very critical stage of a strange struggle against political principalities and everybody must be ready to sacrifice personal political ambition for our national survival. This is not the time to be rigid about ambitions but a time to offer oneself for a liberation battle. We are under siege by a power-drunk bunch that is not prepared to sacrifice anything for national stability. If those in APC, including the defectors, begin to engage in power war because of political offices, where then is the justification for the vilification of the PDP? The beauty of having a party like APC as a viable alternative to the PDP can only manifest in the willingness of the leadership of the APC to jettison their individual aspirations for our national revival. The desperation for membership should not turn APC into a political dump site where just anybody having a grudge against Jonathan or Tukur would run to in order to settle a score. It is exciting seeing the PDP depleted but let those who are coming to the APC know that the sharing of the spoils of war can only come after the battle must have been won and lost. At this stage, both old and new members must be ready to make concessions, trade positions, reach some compromises, offer some sacrifices and operate on consensus.

    The real spoils of war can only come when the jackals in power have been pursued to the bush where they naturally belong. The APC cannot savor the euphoria of its triumph until the PDP has been finally laid to rest.

  • Hoodlums attack APC chieftain in Kano

    Hoodlums attack APC chieftain in Kano

    Suspected thugs yesterday attacked a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State, Alhaji Abdulmajid Danbulki Kwamanda, inside the Jumaat mosque in Kano.

    The hoodlums, numbering about 100 were said to have brutalised the APC chieftain when they sighted him inside the mosque where he had gone for the Jumaat service attended by many Kano elite and he went into coma.

    Alhaji Kwamanda, whose clothes were torn into shreds by the hoodlums, was also manhandled before a good Samaritan smuggled him into the residence of the chief Imam at the premises of the mosque.

    Briefing newsmen on the incident in Kano yesterday, Kwamanda said he thanked God that he was rescued from the thugs alive.

    The spokesman of the Kano State Police Command, Musa Magaji Majiya, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) could not be reached for comment at press time yesterday.

  • APC hails Geidam over council polls

    APC hails Geidam over council polls

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has praised Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Geidam for the peaceful conduct of the local government election on December 28.

    In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to learn from the Yobe State Independent Electoral Commission on how to organise elections.

    APC said it was not only delighted that it won the polls, but that the election, which was observed by many, was widely adjudged to have been free, fair and credible.

    It said: “INEC and its paymasters have started flying their kite of shame of a possible non-conduct of general elections in the state as well as the two others under a state of emergency in 2015.

    “The successful polls have shown that the only impediment to the conduct of elections in the states is a federal government that has ulterior motives and one that is afraid of its own shadows, as well as a conniving INEC that is independent only in name.

    “It was particularly remarkable that the people turned out in large numbers, without a single report of violence during and after the election.

    ‘’With what has happened in Yobe, it stands to reason and logic that any other election in the state will attract an equally-massive turnout, if not more.

    “The people are determined to ensure the survival of democracy and to seize the initiative from a few die-hard insurgents prancing the state.

    “This is why we in the APC believe that Governor Geidam deserves every possible accolade he can get for his courage, strong belief in democracy and a determined effort to ensure that a few renegades cannot hijack a whole state.

    “We, therefore, hail this quintessential democrat and urge him to continue with his good works.

    “We have no doubt that this trail-blazing effort will be a source of inspiration to other states that are under a state of emergency, as well as to an INEC that could not even successfully organise an election in one senatorial district in Delta State.

    “We, therefore, call on the blundering and floundering INEC to send some of its officials to Yobe State to understudy the art of election conduct.

    “After all, Yobe has shown that the main reason INEC cannot organise successful polls is that it sabotages its own elections.”

  • Rivers APC, PDP renew rivalry in New Year

    Rivers APC, PDP renew rivalry in New Year

    The New Year is bound to witness more intense politcal rivalry between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, reports BISI OLANIYI.

    Rivers’ APC, PDP set for showdown in New Year

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rivers State chapter, through its Director-General, Emeka Woke, has alleged that by March 2014, the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) will no longer be heard of in the Niger Delta state.

    The APC, through Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Public Affairs to the Interim Rivers Chairman of the party, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, declared that the PDP was dead in the state.

    The opposition party maintained that very soon, the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, and his supporters, would defect to the APC.

    Woke, at meetings with PDP members in Obelle, Ward 5 and Emohua Ward 3, both in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers state, alleged that there would be no road for the APC in Rivers.

    The director-general of Rivers PDP said: “In January 2014, it will become clearer to them. Now that they cannot present budget in the Rivers State House of Assembly, they are beginning to get the message.

    “When the elected persons cannot get second term tickets, they will come back to the PDP. They have been calling and begging the leaders of the PDP in Rivers State that they want to come back. Let us accept them.

    “The members of the House of Representatives and Senators from Rivers State have been calling me to tell Barr. Nyesom Wike that if he will guarantee them second term tickets, they will come back to the PDP and that they know that there is no road in APC.

    “The members of the Rivers House of Assembly are also calling me on a daily basis. Between now and March 2014, they will come back to the PDP. We will not leave the PDP, where we are enjoying the dividends of democracy. We have no reason to go to the APC. We will remain in the PDP. PDP is where we belong.

    “Membership of political parties or political association is based on ideology. There must be something that will make you to belong to a political party. Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has lost focus. He has nothing to offer Rivers people again. They do not have anything to tell us again. That is why we will not follow them.

    “I thank you for your show of support and solidarity for the PDP. Amaechi’s lies cannot stand the test of time. They said by March, we will see what will happen. We are waiting. By March, we will not hear anything APC again in Rivers State. If they come to you to accept them back to the PDP, since they do not know what they are doing, accept them back to the PDP.”

    Woke also stated that all the tissue of lies allegedly being told by Amaechi and his “cohorts” would not make “our” people to join the APC, but would continue to remain in the PDP, while assuring that the party would continue to win in Rivers.

    The Director-General of the PDP in Rivers said: “There is no road for APC in Ikwerre land and other parts of Rivers State. PDP is the only political party existing in Emohua LGA. Our friends, who are playing politics on radio and newspapers, said they had buried PDP in Emohua LGA.

    “They claimed that over 7,000 PDP members had defected to the APC and they could not bring out 100 people, for Nigerians to see. PDP is in charge of Emohua LGA and Rivers State.

    “Amaechi has been telling different stories, ranging from ceding of Soku oil wells to the oil wells in Etche and refusal to allow Train Seven in NLNG, Bonny, Rivers State. Tomorrow, they will say because the oil wells in Obelle have been ceded to Imo State. So, Obelle people should join the APC.

    “They claimed to have buried the PDP in Emohua LGA and Rivers State, but the party is still very strong and fully in charge. APC does not have any place in Emohua LGA and other parts of Rivers State.”

    Eze, however, admonished the confused PDP leaders and supporters to face the reality and accept the APC as the party to beat in Rivers state, insisting that Amaechi remained focused and not a liar.

    The APC’s spokesman said: “Woke is entitled to his opinions. The PDP’s Constitution does not recognise the position of DG. He is an impostor. PDP is known for illegalities. Let us assume that Woke spoke for Rivers PDP, he must know that many Rivers people are defecting to the APC en masse, on a daily basis.

    “If somebody is deluding himself that no other political party will be heard of in Rivers State, then the person is deceiving himself. During the mega rally of the APC, very soon, Nyesom Wike will formally declare for the APC, having discovered that the PDP is dead in Rivers State.”

    Eze also called on the peace-loving people of Rivers state to continue to support the courageous governor of Rivers state, in his determination to fully develop the state and empower the people.

     

     

  • ‘APC’ll save Nigeria’

    ‘APC’ll save Nigeria’

    Senator Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti Central District) has thanked the people of Ekiti State for their support for the Governor Kayode Fayemi administration.

    He also thanked his constituents for their support, promising to continue to serve them honourably in the Senate and meet their needs.

    Wishing Nigerians a happy New Year, Ojudu urged them to support the All Progressives Congress (APC) in its drive to rid Nigeria of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-created “rudderless governance”.

    He said the party would wipe away the “PDP-inflicted” tears of the masses.

  • PDP denies defection of members to APC

    PDP denies defection of members to APC

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday denied reports of mass defection of its members in Kaduna State to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    It said the report was meant to embarrass the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, who is a member of the constituency.

    The denial followed a visit by a delegation from Sokoto State, led by Deputy Governor Mukhtar Shagari.

    Shagari visited the Vice President at his Kaduna residence, assuring him that no PDP member in the state would join the opposition.

     Sambo was in Kaduna for a two-day meeting with stakeholders on possible ways of stopping further defections.

    The PDP Chairman in the local government, Abdullahi Babawo, said no member of the executive in the area has joined the APC.

    “We were surprised on how they got the 1,200 members who they said joined their party.”

    He challenged APC officials to produce the membership cards of the PDP members who have joined them.

    Babawo said: “Our attention has been drawn to publications by APC that f our members joined their party.

    “Their intention is to score cheap political point against the Vice President .

    “I have met with my ward chairmen and discovered that it was a malicious fabrication executed to coincide with the Vice President’s visit.

    “ I assure the public that APC has no strong footing within the local government and we are going to show them that we are the party to beat.”

    Shagari assured that the PDP was in firm control of the state despite the exit of Governor Magatakarda Wammako to the the APC.

     Shagari said: “The Vice President praised party stakeholders for consolidating the party and the efforts in wooing more party members in Sokoto State.”

    He said stakeholders have expressed their willingness to forge a common front to ensure peaceful political activities and due process.

    The deputy governor said: “After briefing the Vice President, stakeholders in Sokoto State expressed confidence in the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan and declared their support to him.

    “ We resolved to work to promote peace and unity among members and ensure the sustainable growth of the party in Sokoto State as well as its success in future elections.”

  • Tukur’s fate shaky as PDP NEC meets Jan. 8

    Tukur’s fate shaky as PDP NEC meets Jan. 8

    Worried by the degenerating crisis in its fold, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has summoned a meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC).

    On the agenda are National Chairman Bamanga Tukur’s fate and report on the talks between President Goodluck Jonathan and some aggrieved governors whose number has reduced from seven to two in the last three weeks.

    The meeting is scheduled for January 8.

    But while the party is preparing for an epic NEC session, about seven of the remaining 18 PDP governors have reached out to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo for direction on the party’s future and the 2015 poll.

    The NEC is expected to deliberate on issues bordering on the crisis in the party, the defection of five governors to the All Progressives Congress(APC), whether or not it is expedient for Tukur to step aside, and how to reposition the party for the 2015 elections.

    It was gathered that the agitation for and against Tukur’s exit might take the centre stage.

    There had been disagreement between the Presidency and some PDP governors who have been calling for Tukur’s removal.

    The governors about two weeks ago, recommended a choice ambassadorial posting as an exit package for Tukur.

    But some governors, the strategists of the President and First Lady Patience Jonathan were said to have kicked against Tukur’s removal.

    They said those calling for Tukur’s ouster were setting booby traps for the President to deny him a second term ticket on the platform of the PDP.

    A top member of the party, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said: “We have received the notice of the January 8 NEC meeting. This will be preceded by a meeting of the Board of Trustees on January 7.

    “This meeting is crucial because of events of the past four months, which led to the defection of five governors and some members of the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly.

    “The NEC will consider a report or brief from Jonathan and his perspective on the way forward for PDP. It is on that day we will know his terms for peace with the aggrieved governors.

    “If the President is amenable to reconciliation, it may set a new tone for the party, but if otherwise, it may lead to more defections.

    “The President’s peace terms are likely to determine the position of Governors Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Babangida Aliyu (Niger) who are yet to leave the PDP.”

    The NEC may also revisit the threats to its strength in the National Assembly because more lawmakers may defect to APC in March.

    “It is going to be a dangerous precedent to lose the control of the Senate and House of Representatives to the opposition,” a source said, adding:

    “Yet, we cannot pretend that APC is not a threat, irrespective of our attempt to underplay the unfolding scenario.

    “We may also seek a working alliance with some parties in the National Assembly, like the defunct accord between the defunct National Party of Nigeria(NPN) and the Nigeria Peoples Party((NPP).”

    Ahead of the NEC meeting, seven of the remaining governors of the PDP have reached out to Obasanjo for direction on the future of the party and the 2015 poll.

    The governors are from the Southsouth, Southeast, Northcentral and Northwest.

    It was learnt that the governors discreetly opened talks with Obasanjo following the tough attitude of the Presidency on the crisis in PDP and the 2015 poll.

    One of the governors from the Southsouth was said to have resented the development in the country and tabled some issues for Obasanjo to address to guide him to decide on 2015.

    A source said: “Some of them, who endorsed the contents of Obasanjo’s letter, also explained why they could not come out early to state their position.

    “Obasanjo’s advice will guide them to make their mind on or before March 2014. You can see that not all the governors in the party are fixated on the situation in PDP or the senior prefect attitude of the Presidency.”

  • All hope is not lost, Tinubu tells Nigerians

    All hope is not lost, Tinubu tells Nigerians

    National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has urged Nigerians not to lose hope in the country’s future.

    He said the progressives are poised to transform it into a fertile land of prosperity, when they take over power in 2015.

    In his New Year message, the former Lagos State governor said Nigeria is destined to be better than it is today.

    Tinubu said: “If put in the hands of enlightened progressive leaders, this nation can become a fertile land of prosperity, lawfullness, peace and dignity for us all.

    “This is why we formed the APC, a vehicle to generate and accelerate the process of change towards the most beneficial end for the greatest number of our people.

    “We may not be perfect, but we are dedicated to the wellbeing of something far greater and more important than ourselves.

    “Beginning this New Year, the APC will show the people the vast difference between it and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). We shall demonstrate our commitment to democracy by exercising internal democracy and transparency in our party deliberations.

    “We shall communicate with the people at the grassroots as well as at the national level. You will see and hear from APC members and leaders at the local, state and national levels.

    “We will highlight the ideological and substantive policy differences between the progressive us and the elitist them. Where the PDP has imposed trickle-down economics reminiscent of 1980’s Reagan –Thatcher-IMF road show, we seek an economy of genuine and broadly-shared growth, where the labouring wage earner and small business person benefit proportionally to the powerful financier and big corporate power

    “2014 will be the year of an even greater change foretold, for it shall set the stage for year after. May, 2015, will be the fateful year when we affirm into governance the change Nigeria needs.”