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Tag: APC

  • Enugu PDP chief defects to APC

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Dr. Sam Onyishi, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Onyishi, managing director of Peace Mass Transit, was welcomed into APC at a stakeholders’meeting in Enugu on Sunday.

    A source told reporters that Onyishi declared his interest in the governorship on APC’s platform.

    APC’s National Welfare Officer Emma Eneukwu confirmed that Onyishi joined the party.

    “We have welcomed him into our fold. He has defected to a party he feels will serve his interest better. May be he feels that PDP is being run as a cartel and decides to look for a better platform,” Eneukwu, ex-spokesman for the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), said.

    Southeast spokesman for APC Osita Okechukwu said the defection was a signal that PDP was declining in the state.

    According to him, Onyishi, having read the APC manifesto, appreciated the difference between its progressive philosophy and the PDP’s conservative philosophy.

    “APC is the home of social democrats and humanists like Onyishi. He is welcome into our fold. Luckily, coming from Nsukka zone, our party, after consultation, may make him the consensus governorship candidate in 2015,” he said.

    Other APC bigwigs, who received Onyishi at the meeting, included Peter Okonkwo, Okechukwu Ezea and Valentine Nnaedozie.

    Ezea described Onyishi’s defection as a good development, saying he was happy others were realising that PDP do not guarantee people a level-playing field.

     

  • Youths urge Bamidele to respect their rights

    Youths urge Bamidele to respect their rights

    Youths in Emure-Ekiti, under the aegis of the Emure Youth Development Council, have urged a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele (Ifelodun/Irepodun), not to turn their community into a battle field because of his governorship ambition.

    In a statement, the organisation’s President, Mr. Kayode Ojo, urged the lawmaker to play politics decently by respecting the wishes of the people.

    Ojo said: “We believe the recent event by Bamidele in Emure-Ekiti, which led to the death of Mr. Foluso Ogundare, who is yet to be buried, is a good ground for him to let our people be, instead of creating a scenario that will deepen their pain.

    “We see Bamidele’s choice of Emure-Ekiti as the venue of the declaration of his governorship ambition as insensitive to the pain of our people, more so, with the impression he is creating that Emure people do not have the human milk of kindness to deeply feel the pain of the loss of their illustrious son.”

    He said the youths acknowledge the lawmaker’s right to contest any position he desires, but they do not want the community to be turned into a battle field by thugs.

    The organisation said Emure-Ekiti is the stronghold of the All Progressives Congress (APC), “which has contributed to the community’s progress in various ways”.

  • Can APC sustain tempo?

    Can APC sustain tempo?

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) is enlarging its coast. But, there are more hurdles to cross. EMMANUEL OLADESU and LEKE SALAUDEEN examine the challenges that will confront the opposition party, ahead of 2015 general elections.

    The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thought that it was a joke. When the merger was being mooted, its chieftains predicted doom for the merging parties. Even, when the All Progressives Congress (APC) was registered by the electoral commission, PDP chieftains dismissed it as an empty threat. But, following the defection of five aggrieved PDP governors to the APC, the ruling party became jittery. Now, the stage for a titanic battle for power at the federal and state levels in the next general elections.

    The decision of the defunct parties-the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)-and a section of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to evolve a strong platform was a major breakthrough for the opposition. There is political streamlining, as reflected in the restoration of the two-party system, and the prospects of a one-party state is dimmed.

    “The chance of rigging will be slim in 2015,” said Mr. Olawumi Gasper, former Rector of Lagos State Polytechnic. “It will be a battle of ideas. Nigerians will have clear choice. There will be a ruling party and a strong opposition and the country will make progress,” he added. The National Secretary of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Mr. Ayo Opadokun, supported this argument. He said that a credible alternative platform represents a government-in-waiting. “Democracy will flourish because of the role of the opposition in democracy”, he stressed.

    However, many challenges will confront the main opposition party as it prepares for future polls. The prelude to the 2015 battle will be the governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti states next year.

    The APC Interim National Women Leader, Mrs. Sharom Ikeazor, spoke on the hurdles, shortly before declaring open the Southwest APC Women Wing in Lagos, last week. She admonished the party leadership to intensify the campaign for electoral reforms. “Anambra election was enough lesson for us in the APC. Our candidate was the best, but the electoral commission was compromised. We need to intensify the campaign for the sanctity of the ballot box so that we can have one man one vote”, Okeazor said.

    Adekunle-Ibrahim said the “electoral carnage” may continue to work against the APC, if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not purged of its unpatriotic elements. But, he also emphasised the need for the party to put its house in order. “APC has two elections in Ekiti and Osun. As the party is enlarging its coast, it should also protect its gains. Ekiti and Osun are parts of its strongholds. To the best of my knowledge, the party is united in Osun. In Ekiti, the APC has to unite the party and settle the rift between the camp of the governor and supporters of Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele. It is better for the APC to mend the crack,” he said.

    The APC leaders made enormous sacrifices. Former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, who explained the vision and mission of the party, to reporters in Lagos, said that it was formed in the national interest. He recalled that the leaders of the merging parties decided to forfeit their platforms, sink their slight differences and make sacrifice for the country. But analysts contend that the leaders must be ready to make more sacrifices, ahead of 2015, to get to the promised land.

    As the APC harmonises the ACN, CPC, ANPP and APGA structures at state, local and ward levels, there is the additional challenge of accommodating the ‘new PDP structures’ in states controlled by the governors that recently defected to the party. The promise made to the governors must also be honoured by the leadership to engender trust and confidence.

    The interim APC leadership reflects the spread of the party across the six geo-political zones. Although the setting up of the structure generated some skirmishes, it was not essentially destabilising. According to observers, what was at work was the internal crisis resolution mechanism and the mutual trust among the founding fathers. It is great lesson in party management. Conflict is part of politics, but it should not be allowed to fester to the level of becoming a threat to the existence of the organisation.

    How to formalise ward, local government, state and national structures is the next assignment during its proposed inaugural national convention. It is to the credit of the party leadership that the APC has, so far, being run as a mass movement. “What we have observed is that ACN, ANPP, and CPC members do not retain their old identities in the new party. Therefore, the APC can’t be polarised by caucuses,” said Adekunle-Ibrahim. “In setting up party leadership structures, not only are the founding fathers expected to make more sacrifices, they should also begin to build a culture of equity, fairness and justice in matters relating to the choice of party officers,” he added.

    When a party is growing in leaps and bounds, party management becomes more challenging. Many believe that it will be counter-productive for the new APC members to relate to the organisation as chieftains of the old ACN, ANPP, CPC and APGA. The interim chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, had allayed this fear. He said that the APC will not recognise any senior and junior partners, adding that members will enjoy equal treatment.

    The events taking place in the APC may ultimately influence the PDP’s response to many critical issues. Eyes are also on the APC as it brainstorms on the choice of its presidential candidate and his running mate. The flag bearer will mirror the platform, its manifestoes, ethos, values and promise. Whoever will emerge is important, but how he emerges is more important. The various positions and approaches germane to choice, selection and shadow election should be harmonised without internal bickering and bitterness. If the party puts its house in order at that level and there is no post-primary crisis, it will be fortified to forge ahead for the most critical battle.

    The task of mobilising for power shift in 2015 is critical. The ruling party may turn the heat on the APC through intimidation, harassment and blackmail. Pockets of dissention among the co-travellers may not be ruled out.

    There are issues of leadership ego that must be handled with care, if the party is to avoid internal crisis in some states. For instance, in Kano State, Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso and his predecessor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, are political foes, who are now in the same camp. Shekarau defeated Kwakwanso in 2003. But Kwakwanso bounced back in 2011. Also, the APC should reconcile former Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa and Governor Aliyu Wamakko. The two are political rivals.

    A party source disclosed at the weekend that reconciliation committees for Kano and Sokoto states have swung into action. The source said that former Head of State Gen. Muhammadu Buhari would reconcile Shekarau and Kwankwaso. “The elders are aware of the differences among some frontline members and they are taking necessary steps to bring them together. We are preparing safe landing measures for Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola in Osun State and Chief Segun Oni in Ekiti State, if they eventually join the APC. We want every member to feel free and exercise their rights in a peaceful atmosphere. In our party, there is no joiner, no founder. That’s what Chief Akande said.”

    A university don, Dr David Aworawo, observed that the APC had started well. He said one of the challenges confronting the party is the reconciliation of divergent views and interests. as the immediate challenge of the APC. Aworawo, who teaches at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), noted that political parties are formed by people who share the same ideology and philosophy. With the merger of the new PDP, he said that more work should be done. “The new PDP chieftains now in the PDP have their interest to pursue and achieve. So, the immediate task now is how to reconcile the divergent interest of the conservative PDP and the progressive APC”, he said.

    In Aworawo’s view, the challenge can be surmounted. “What both sides need to do is to shift from left and right to the centre. The reconciliation of extreme positions is possible, especially in the overall interest of the country. General Muhammadu Buhari in the midst of progressives today. Some people considered him as a reactionary and conservative element. But today, Buhari is a leader of the progressives,” he added.

    A lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Dr Tunji Ogunyemi, advised the party to accommodate the five PDP governors without discrimination. The major task before the APC, he said, is grassroots mobilisation. “The party should reach out to the rural areas by sensitising the grassroots people on the new development in the polit,” he said. However, Ogunyemi cautioned the leadership of the party against the fifth columnist. He warned that the PDP may penetrate its ranks by planting spies in the party.

    Civil rights activist Shehu Sani urged the APC to devise a mechanism for checkmating infiltration by PDP lackeys into the party. He said the growing influx of PDP chieftains and their quick embrace by the party is a matter of concern. Sani said that while the APC opens its doors, it should be conscious of plots, mischief and sabotage by infiltrators.

    APC also faces the test of internal democracy. Sani said: “The APC must imbibe the culture of internal democracy. It must provide a level playing ground for all its members and avoid the imposition of candidates, which have in the past contributed to the failures of opposition parties in winning elections.”

    Ogunyemi supported this view. He advised the party to create a level playing ground for aspirants to test their popularity. Through that, he said, members would be involved in the selection process and whoever that emerges will be acceptable to all and sundry.

    The party’s interim National Legal Adviser, Dr Muiz Banire, has assured that there would be no imposition of candidates. “Nobody can tell you who will be the presidential candidate. We will be more transparent in picking the party’s standard bearer than any other party. The APC is a credible alternative to the PDP. We have to demonstrate to the whole world that we are superior to them. There will be no imposition of candidates. This is a new era. People will decide who should be the party’s standard bearer”, he said.

    Banire cited the registration of members as a challenge. “We expect a huge turnout at all registration centres. We are going to provide necessary logistics that would make it easier for people to register without stress. I am sure that committed members of the party will be willing to assist the party in providing some resources to ensure a hitch-free registration. I am sure we will surmount all the challenges that may arise”, he added.

    Sani advised the APC to device credible means of assuaging the fears of Christians in the North and the Igbos in the South, who are complaining about marginalisation by the party. This, he said, can be achieved through equitable representation in the party’s National Executive Committee. “This will help in neutralising the propaganda and misinformation by the adversaries of the party now using religion to smear it”, he said.

  • Good luck for him, bad luck for PDP

    Good luck for him, bad luck for PDP

    Scratch Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the embattled national chairman of the crumbling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and you probably would find, in his DNA, traces of a political undertaker.

    Back in the Second Republic, Alhaji Bamanga, fresh from a high-flying stint as top dog at Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria’s national ruling parties’ cash cow, recorded a landslide to sweep into the Government House of the defunct Gongola State (now Adamawa and Taraba states), as National Party of Nigeria (NPN) gubernatorial candidate.

    Alhaji Bamanga’s landslide was part of the general electoral typhoon that shellacked the opposition; and which Alhaji Umaru Dikko, then President Shehu Shagari’s Transport minister and awesome man Friday, in roguish humour, christened a “moon slide”.

    That “moon slide”, by another election in 1987 the wise Dikko proclaimed, would explode into a “space slide”, by which time Dikko’s beloved NPN would have gobbled up the whole country (opposition be damned!), even if its incompetence was as clear as the moon at night.

    Compare NPN then to PDP now, and it is clear the PDP journey to perdition, under President Goodluck Jonathan, is not novel.

    Incidentally, there was no “1987”. The violently raped 1983 election rigged out the Second Republic. Three-month Governor, Tukur’s landslide mandate vanished under that republic’s rubble.

    Incidentally too, Alhaji Umaru is now chairman of PDP’s disciplinary committee, under the troubled national chairmanship of Alhaji Bamanga. Might the duo be comparing notes, with shared hindsight from the Second Republic crash, that might yet save their crumbling PDP?

    They had better! Otherwise, Alhaji Bamanga would yet earn another stripe as party undertaker – but this time, an hyperactive one. PDP’s crumbling fate is as much a result of past unconscionable impunities as it is Alhaji Bamanga’s reckless power grab, even with his suspect “election” (read presidential imposition) as PDP national chairman, after losing among delegates in his Adamawa base.

    Ironically, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, the much beloved Ebino Topsy of Awoist fame, is busy roaring like a lion in a new jungle, among PDP disciplinarians under Dikko – to underscore the neophyte progressive is in town to fix the conservative (if not reactionary) camp?

    Is he then fulfilling the post-1983 election Awo prophesy that after a political thesis and antithesis, a synthesis would align Nigeria’s political forces, such that those with Awo’s progressive inclination would ascend? Is Ebino then the Khalifa the PDP needs to set things right and yet triumph? Perhaps!

    Still, the Tukur mess is only a culmination of far too many bad calls. To start with, Tukur is only the party face of a dissembling president and a desperate Presidency, whose and which attitude to 2015, like that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007, is do-or-die.

    So, Tukur was supposed to do the dirty job and take the flak; while the real McCoy, the president breezes in, as prim and proper electoral statesman, to take the glory. It is the classical cant of Goodluck!

    Or why else would Chairman Tukur remain in charge, even if his party must become history? Unfortunately for Tukur and his principal, the “presidential chairman”, like the Achebe thief in A Man of the People, grabbed too much power for the owner not to notice – hence the PDP schism.

    Before the Jonathan-Tukur power show was the Obasanjo pious profanity of repudiating the PDP zoning arrangement – the same principle that propelled him to power – all in the bid to make Jonathan president, so he could be Baba’s poodle (Baba, that craved relevance at all cost), which Jonathan has not exactly been.

    Even before that was Obasanjo’s blatant subversion of party democratic principles, curling PDP round his fingers as first president of the Fourth Republic, ruthlessly purging those who might challenge him; and imposing on the party an unconscionable ethos of dog merrily eating dog; carefully veiled by a gruff military temper.

    And before all that was the grand subversive genesis: the Army Arrangement, (AA, apologies to Fela) that, in illicit concert with the North’s top political elite, imposed Obasanjo as Hobson’s choice, if only to impress upon starry-eyed democracy agitators the reality of Greek philosopher, Parmenides: nothing ever changes – departure from military rule must be a return to military rule, even if the starched khaki gave way to flowing agbada or babariga!

    Of course, there was Election ’99, but only to ratify Selection ’99 of AA and allied power plotters!

    Well, everything worked perfectly, except that Obasanjo proved no poodle of the North, any more than Jonathan has proved his own poodle! Indeed, things have turned full circle: the “North” finds itself at the receiving end of its own plot, and Obasanjo is threatened by the putative irrelevance he so mortally feared!

    This play of power giants has landed the country with an umpteenth mess: a clumsy Jonathan, a clumsier Jonathan Presidency and the meltdown of the federal ruling party in the clumsiest of ways!

    But having served as undertaker to his PDP, no thanks to unbridled desperation to remain president, Jonathan may yet serve as undertaker to his country. If the Anambra poll is anything to go by – and if that was aimed at securing an ally for 2015 – Jonathan may well press to that extent to make something give.

    Now, flash your mind back to 1983 and Umaru Dikko’s “moon slide”. Back then, the Shagari Presidency was the most incompetent in the country’s history. Now, the Jonathan Presidency would appear to have beaten that record. Yet, Jonathan, at all cost, wants an encore!

    So, if Umaru Dikko’s “moon slide” rigged the country out of democracy, a “space slide” by 2015 might just slide Nigeria into worse. For a country touted to kaput by 2015, these are indeed perilous times!

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) will therefore do well to learn from the PDP pitfall. PDP, ab initio, prided itself an all-comers’ affair. So, it can contemptuously thrust its jaw at any charge of harbouring strange bed fellows.

    APC has no such luxury. It has committed itself to a “progressive” ideology. Yet, not every strand in its rainbow coalition is “progressive”. But it can overcome these teething problems by federalising and being task-driven.

    It can do this by submitting itself to local tendencies, while committing to some pan-Nigeria goals. Then, it must rein in party barons, beyond offering leadership to rally members to the party’s cause, and educating fellow Nigerians on the difference the party can make.

    It should also sort out the very peculiar problem of internal democracy, the main driver of the PDP split, from which none of the APC legacy parties was immune.

    But most importantly, it must work out a restructuring agenda for the country. Without proper federalism, the collapse of Nigeria is only a matter of time.

     

  • AS APC SEEKS TO OUTFLANK PDP

    The emerging political behemoth, the All Progressive Congress (APC) has every cause to celebrate the successful poaching of five

    Governors, and their electoral worth, from the troubled political behemoth, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Many have argued that the country will benefit from the impending balance of political terror, with two strong political parties as the main contenders. That may however be of little benefit to the electorate, unless the new APC is able to distill a people oriented agenda, from the strange bed fellows that now make up the party. Of course, the wish of this column that the APC will engage in bottom up expansion of membership based on defined political principles has suffered another major set back, after the strange amalgamation that birthed it.

    But building ideology based political parties is not a lost cause. After all, who could have contemplated the possibility that through deft political maneuver, the leadership of three completely diverse political parties, at least as far as their public projection is concerned, namely the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Congress of Progressive Change and the Action Congress of Nigeria, with a stump of All Progress Grand Alliance, could agree to collapse their structures to form a single political party, the APC. While commentators were still relishing that unprecedented political feat in our country, the APC leadership has again boldly struck a severe blow on the over confident PDP by appropriating a sizeable chunk of its sagging bulk, to add to its own already bulging weight.

    So, I join other Nigerians to invest hope that the leadership of the two major political parties, the APC and PDP, particularly the new APC would sit down, to draw programs that is in accordance with the provisions of chapter II of the 1999 constitution – the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy. With the tantalising possibility of gaining power by the APC and the sobering possibility of losing power by the PDP, there is a huge chance, that the two major political parties, the APC and PDP may begin to context for power based on ideas, instead of manipulation as in the present. As I said, the new APC or even the PDP can boldly tantalise the electorate by promising to make chapter II of the 1999 constitution justiciable, in the same manner as the provisions of chapter IV of the constitution, dealing with fundamental human rights.

    As Nigerians celebrate the reduction in the potency of the PDP to abuse its power privileges, with the emergence of an expanded APC, let me yet again, rehash my prayers when APC was registered, in my piece on this page on August 6, titled: Congratulations to APC, “as we relish the possibilities with the new party, it is of paramount importance, in my humble view, for APC to immediately define its position on those national issues that has held our country down. For instance what is the position of the party on access to quality education, employment and housing? What will the party do with our lopsided federation, with regards to the ownership of natural resources, national infrastructure, federation account and cost of governance, police and the so called indigenship?”

    The new APC will need courage and sagacity to deal with the challenges of helping to remake Nigeria, particularly with its present make-up. My prayer is that the party will not be bogged down by internal challenges and contradictions, which have been the bane of the PDP. The contention that the former PDP governors may loose their position because of the defection is of little moment, as the Supreme Court has already settled the matter in the Atiku Abubakar’s case. With respect to the Legislators who have defected with their governors, interestingly the potential challenges posed by a court’s interpretation of section 68(1)(g); on whether there was a division in the PDP to justify the defection, is tamed by the provision in subsection (2), which gives the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, the right to give effect to the provisions of section 68(1). In the days ahead, Senate President David Mark will be fending off the hawks, while Speaker Tambuwal will be acting a fuller member of APC, than the new Asiwaju of Nigeria.

    Meanwhile, there is a substantial obfuscation of who is where among the defectors and the potential defectors. Former Osun state Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, capture this comic tragedy. On that faithful Tuesday, last week, the Prince, was joyously embracing his former political foe, Chief Bisi Akande, the chairman of APC, as he joined other defectors to celebrate their new membership of APC. In the photo story, the Prince was standing shoulder to shoulder with Governors Rotimi Amaechi, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Murtala Nyako, with top APC leaders.

    Surprisingly, while partisans where yet to recover from the reverie of downed champagnes to celebrate the new births and the attendant hangover (that word again; apologies to Dr. Reuben Abati, the presidential spokesperson, who has quarreled over such allusion to his principal, who allegedly celebrated his 56th birthday in far away London, and became indisposed the next day); Prince Oyinlola was on air, claiming that he was still a member of the PDP and the National Secretary to boot.

    With what a senior friend appropriately called a poker face, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola made those claims. In the days ahead, it is going to be a handful to determine those who are moles and those who are genuine members of the APC or the PDP. Meanwhile, may I congratulate the leadership of APC, for the unparalleled political successes? What remains is to see whether their tectonic maneuvers, would gift Nigeria a better political option in the days ahead.

     

     

  • Anambra supplementary election flops

    Anambra supplementary election flops

    •As apathy mars exercise

    •APGA’s Obiano in the lead

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday went ahead with the controversial supplementary governorship election in 16 local government areas of Anambra State but had to contend with mostly empty polling booths.

    It was not only the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) that boycotted the election as their candidates had warned, a majority of the voters also did.

    However, INEC procee-ded with the collation of the results last night at the close of voting.

    Chief Willie Obiano of APGA who had the entire electoral field to himself was at press time in the lead, according to the Returning Officer, Professor James Epoke, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar.

    Earlier in the day,the restriction of vehicular and human movement ordered by the law enforcement agencies during the election went largely ignored.

    People went about their business as they would on any other day. Markets, shops and stores were opened all day.

    Across Idemili North and South Local Government areas in particular, strongholds of the APC candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige, it was business as usual for the residents.

    Youths spent much of the time playing street football.

    Only a few people turned up to vote in the election with officials and agents of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), having the field to themselves especially in such areas Esther Obiakor Estate in Agu-Awka, Awka South Council Area and Agbaja 1 in Abatete, Idemili North Council Area.

    The state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Ken Emeakayi, acknowledged the poor turnout of voters and wondered why INEC allowed the APGA candidate, Chief Willie Obiano, to participate in the election despite the allegation that he registered more than once in violation of the Electoral Act.

    He told reporters that PDP has already gone to court to challenge that action.

    The Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Aniedi Ikoiwak, who supervised Onitsha North and South during yesterday’s election, decried the low turnout of voters.

    But Emeka Iloduba, who was at Nkpor Uno Isingwu, told The Nation that the apathy was programmed by the Federal Government and INEC to make it easy for the APGA candidate.

    At Ugbenu in Awka North Council Area, accreditation of the voters had not started as at 9.10am as INEC materials had not arrived despite sharing the items Friday evening.

    The 16 local government areas where INEC had scheduled supplementary elections in some units were Aguata, Awka North, Awka South, Anambra East, Anambra West, Ayamelum, Anaocha, Ekwusigo, Idemili North, Idemili South.

    Others were Ihiala, Nnewi South, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Orumba North and Oyi.

    Anambra State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Edozie Aroh who was seen with policemen told The Nation that everything was going on well.

    Accreditation began at 8am in some of the centres, while voting started between 12 and 2.15pm.

    The election was originally scheduled for November 16 but ended up being characterised by massive disorganisation and fraud.

    The APC, PDP and LP candidates protested the conduct of the election and called for its cancellation.

    Although INEC admitted irregularities, it said they were not enough to cause the cancellation of the election.

    It said the best it could do was to conduct a supplementary election which took place yesterday.

    According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) voters apathy trailed the supplementary election in some parts of Onitsha metropolis.

    A NAN correspondent who monitored the exercise in polling units in Ward 6 in Onitsha South Local Government Area and a polling unit in Ward 9 in Onitsha North, reported that INEC was fully prepared for the exercise.

    It was gathered that election materials and INEC personnel arrived at the various polling booths as early as 7 a.m. while sensitive electoral materials were also available.

    However, the electorate were not interested as most residents had decided to go to their daily businesses.

    There was a large number of security personnel at each polling booth, which, in some cases, out-numbered the voters who turned out.

    Mr. Chidi Okereke, a resident of Zik Avenue in Fegge, said that the materials, INEC main and ad hoc staff, as well as security agencies were in place as early as 7a.m.

    Okereke, who is a member of Fegge Community Police Public Relations Committee, said that the mass movement of residents out of Fegge hindered the conduct of the polls.

    “Although you cannot blame the people because having sacrificed some days for the election, they did not see reasons for the cancellation (postponement) of the result in the first place,” he said.

    “This is one of the areas in Anambra State where people turn-out en mass to vote during election but this today’s development is unlike this area,” Nwokabia, who is a Chief Orientation and Mobilisation Officer in NOA, said.

    He said that the number of security-men on ground was okay,.

    “Honestly, there is no amount of money spent on security that is ever a waste.”

    Prince Edward Okosi, Chairman of Onitsha North Caretaker Committee, told NAN at the polling booth 4 in Ward 9, that he believed that more people would see the need to turn out for the election.

    “The leaders of thought in the neighbourhood had gone ahead to create the awareness about the exercise among their people,” Okosi said.

    The restriction of movement was not effective in Idemili North Local Government area as residents operated their business activities.

    It was observed that most of the markets opened for business while vehicular movements were visible even with the presence of security personnel on the roads.

    An INEC official, Mr Edo Kelo, said there was poor turnout in the polling units, but he still expected more people before the close of accreditation at 12.00 p.m.

    At Nkpor Uno in Isingwu village, with 3 polling units of 983 registered voters, only 30 were accredited.

    Mr Emeka Ilodiuba, a voter, expressed dissatisfaction at the low turnout of voters, stressing that the withdrawal of some candidates might have caused the situation.

    Mrs Victoria Ibenegbu, another voter, expressed happiness about the peaceful conduct of the exercise.

    The polls are being conducted in 210 polling units in 16 out of 21 local government areas of the state.

    The 16 local government areas where INEC is conducting the supplementary election are Aguata, Awka North, Awka South, Anambra East, Anambra West, Ayamelum, Anaocha, Ekwusigo, Idemili North and Idemili South.

    Others are Ihiala, Nnewi South, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Orumba North and Oyi.

     

  • 2015: I have not anointed any candidate, says Buhari

    2015: I have not anointed any candidate, says Buhari

    Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday in Kano cautioned some members of the party said to be dropping his name to desist forthwith.

    He declared that he has not anointed any one for elective office in 2015 as being claimed in some quarters.

    Farouk Adamu, a former lawmaker from Jigawa State who represented him at a one-day sensitization workshop organized by APC Forum for Equity and Justice, in Kano, said: “I am one of the closest associates of General Muhammadu Buhari. The General has not anointed anybody.”

    Buhari, however, urged members of the APC in Kano to come together and form a formidable team that would be able to win convincingly in Kano in the 2015 elections.

    He described the APC as a fusion of different interests, parties and not about Buhari or anybody.

    ” Buhari’s candidate is the people’s candidate and whatever emerges from the party whether at the Presidential or state level or at any other level is Buhari’s candidate,” Adamu said.

    He said the forum was organized to unify the three main parties- CPC, ANPP and ACN- that fused into the APC.

    Alhaji Salihu Lukeman, who represented APC governors, said that all APC members in Kano are regarded with high esteem and advised them to shun rancour that could cause disaffection among them.

    Among dignitaries that graced the occasion were the APC leader in the State and former Minister of Labour, Alhaji Musa Gwadabe, a chieftain of the party, Alhaji Yusuf Ali, Senator Mohammed Mohammed from Bauchi State, former Kaduna State governor, Col Jafaru Isa (rtd), former Kano Deputy governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Tijjani Gwarzo, Barau Jibril, Kawu Sumaila and other party stalwarts in the state.

     

     

     

  • Anambra poll: Why we protested, by Buhari

    Anambra poll: Why we protested, by Buhari

    Former military ruler, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, says the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) marched on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday to underscore the need for justice for all Nigerians.

    The march, according to him, was also to drive home the point to those in charge to be courageous to punish those who made mistakes in the November 16 Anambra Governorship Election.

    Buhari who spoke during a reception in honour of Oluwaseyi Tinubu, son of a National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Abuja, said that although he was advised against participating in the protest, he ignored the advice because he was on a familiar ground..

    The gathering was organized to mark the call to the Nigerian Bar of the younger Tinubu.

    The ex-Head of State said that was the third time he would participate in such a protest against electoral malpractice.

    He said he was happy that the Nigerian elite are just realizing that Nigeria is in trouble if it could not conduct free and fair elections.

    Buhari said: “What we did on Thursday to get into that bolekaja (lorry), which I believe would not cost much even if it was smashed by the police or the military, was to ensure justice. We wanted to ensure that those who made mistakes are properly punished, those who have not made mistakes are freed and they resume their lives.

    “It was a very shrewd decision to get such an old vehicle and pack us inside it. I was advised by some of my colleagues not to be there. Maybe they thought the police would shoot us and I believe the police were much wiser, that shooting would not have stopped us. We congratulate them for showing some restraints.

    “But those who advised me not to go, I knew they were sincere. I did not tell them that I would not take their advice. But I did not take their advice because if they reflected this was the third time I was out like that.”

    He recalled the first occasion when the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo was tear-gassed.

    “I think it must be a toxic one and he had respiratory problem and he never recovered. The late Okadigbo never recovered. I consulted the party (the defunct ANPP) and we wanted to go to court but the family said no and they left it to God. We left it to God.

    “The second time if you could recall, myself, the late Chukwuemeka Odumegu-Ojukwu, Tunde Braithwaite and a few of them were tear-gassed here in Abuja. So this is the third time I was out.

    “So, those who advised me showed a lot of fear but I said well this is a well known ground for me, I will go again. So I went and I got off lightly. ”

    Turning to the guest of honour, Buhari said: “You have taken a profession where what we believe in social justice, your profession is a leader – the law – to make sure that those who made mistakes are properly punished, those who have not made mistakes are freed and they resume their lives.

    “From now, whatever you do or say, once they mention Bola Tinubu you are exposed. So you have to be watching your back all the time that you must not only keep the honour of the profession but the honour of your family and the background.”

    A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, who also took part in the rally, said the action was taken to make Nigeria better.

    Governor Raji Fasola of Lagos State said the responsibility of being a lawyer requires a lot of discipline.

    He said: “From today you have become our noble and learned friend no matter how old we are but it comes with a lot of responsibilities. The responsibility to continue to remain noble and the responsibility to also continue to remain learned. It is going to continue to require a lot of discipline and it is not discipline that would be imposed by mummy and daddy. That is easy discipline. It is going to come now from discipline that is most difficult to impose – self discipline.

    “Those were the words with which I was called to the Bar 25 years ago and those are words that I have found useful. I will lend them to you again tonight hoping that you will pass them on in about 25 years.”

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, said: ” “You are from a noble family but you have just joined a noble profession. You are from a noble family what you have done is to continue to carry the torch – the torchbearer of a family that is noble. Sustain the good name of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who I am sure you know is a leader in this country worthy of his name.”

    Oluwaseyi, who was overwhelmed with tears while thanking all the guests, was later joined by his mother, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

    The occasion was attended by the crème-de-la-crème of the society including the National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande; the National Secretary of APC, Alhaji Tijani Tumsah; a former Minister of FCT, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai; the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; the Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Chief Taiwo Adeoluwa; Senator Gbenga Ashafa, Alhaji Mutiu Are, a former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State.

    Others are Mr. Wale Edun; Senator Gbenga Obadara; Senator Domingo Obende; a former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye; the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa; Mr. Jimi Lawal; Olusegun Gboyega, Prince Olusegun Bada, and Dare Art Alade, among others.

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  • Anambra agog for Onwa December Gyration

    ANAMBRA Music Talent Hunt, brain child of musician cum actor-turned-politician, Tony One Week, will hold its grand finale Wednesday December 13. Tagged Onwa December Gyration 2013, the show will hold at the prestigious Marble Arch Hotel, Awka.

    According to One Week who is the minority leader of the Anambra StateHouse of Assembly and a top notch of All Progressives Congress (APC), a music starlet will be born in Anambra on that day.

    Entries, he said, have been received from 25 contestants, five of which will be selected through auditions to vie for the first three positions. With a cash prize of N500, 000 that will be shared among the three winners plus a recording contract for the first and second winners, the talent hunt is aimed at discovering musical talents that abound in the state.

    “The Tony One Week Anambra Music Talent Hunt is actually a campaign promise made to the youth of Idemili North Local Government Area whom I represent in the state assembly. I reasoned that coming from the background of entertainment, I must discover a musician, comedian or movie practitioner. It is a solely funded project with media support from Dream FM Enugu, Sapiensia FM Onitsha and of course the foremost artiste management company in Nigeria, NowMuzik,” he said.

    First prize, One Week revealed, is N250, 000 cash, recording and release of winning track with NowMuzik as the management company. “Second prize N100,000 cash, recording and release of winning song while the third prize is N50,000 cash with consolation prizes of over N50,000,” One Week said.

    Aside performances by the contestants, there will also be guest appearances and performances from Tuface Idibia, Dauda, Didi Nnaa Men, Huge Man and Tony One Week himself.

  • On the APC, New PDP nuptials

    On the APC, New PDP nuptials

    Former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is down. In his long years in politics and power the 77-year old has staggered from one scandal to another, but often staged improbable comebacks. This last week he was ignominiously ejected from the Senate because of his conviction on a tax-fraud case. That’s not the end of his troubles: he’s been ordered to stand trial for bribing a senator and is appealing a conviction in June for having sex with an underage prostitute – Karima El Mahroug aka Ruby the Heart Stealer – and abusing his office to cover it up. Clearly, a case of power corrupting and absolute power corrupting absolutely. Will the day ever come when such a character will face justice in these parts?

    Except for the blindly partisan, most reasonable people welcome the ongoing political shake-up which has seen the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) splinter group New PDP merge with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Going into what promises to be a hotly contested general election in 2015, there are now no guarantees how things would pan out. Don’t be deceived by the PDP’s attempt at insouciance. They would be foolish not to be worried about what is unfolding.

    It is not every day that a party loses five of its governors to a rival. Looming ominously in the horizon is the prospect that more will jump ship when the elements are right. Even before the defection, the G-7 governors had often said that a few other colleagues within the PDP would move at the appropriate time.

    There is nothing for the ruling party to celebrate in the fact that Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his Niger counterpart, Babangida Aliyu, insist they are still part of PDP. True, there are no permanent friends or foes in politics still I don’t see how these two can continue in the ruling party. Even if Jonathan capitulates and accedes to all their demands they would never again be trusted by the party’s high command.

    Last week’s developments have rearranged the political landscape such that it is no longer unduly tilted in favour of the ruling party. A newly competitive environment emerged.

    Many have focused on counting governors. But to get a real sense of the changing power dynamic, we must look to the National Assembly. Before now President Goodluck Jonathan could reasonably expect his legislative agenda to sail through with minimal fuss. This may no longer be the case – especially in the House of Representatives.

    For the first time in a very long while Nigeria is about to go into a phase of divided government – where the executive branch is controlled by one party, while the legislature is in the hands of the opposition.

    If the messy United States government shutdown is any advertisement for divided government, we should all brace ourselves for a chaotic time ahead. But this dreaded arangement is not all about obstruction: it is one side asking hard questions and insisting that parliament not be a rubber stamp for decisions the executive has already taken.

    In this age where the image of government at all levels is so dismal, the prospect of robust checks and balances rather than frighten, should give us hope that the train of impunity that has been running out of control can be reined in.

    So much has been made of the untidy nature of the fusion. One day it is seven governors, the next two of them are denying dumping the PDP. In some states the erstwhile lords of the manor in APC have been less than enthusiastic in welcoming the New PDP hordes that look set to gobble them up.

    For me these are minor points of cavil. Politics is messy business. Anyone who was expecting the unprecedented movement of five governors from one party to another – each with his own agenda and local worries – to be without hiccups must be living on another planet.

    Frankly, what the APC has pulled off is remarkable. At every point they were written off. When the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) came together their opponents dismissed the new grouping as a contraption that would collapse within months.

    When that didn’t happen, they began speculating that the arrangement would founder because of the personalities of Bola Tinubu and Muhammadu Buhari. Again, their dire predictions have not manifested.

    So now they cynically dismiss the latest stage of the APC evolution as the merger of strange bedfellows. This supposes that what we have in the PDP, Labour Party and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to name a few is a banding together of birds of a feather. Spare me!

    Depend on it: the merger of the APC and New PDP elements would throw up turbulence and disagreements from time to time. It will produce pain – even reverse movement when some people don’t get what they want. But then nature teaches us that the process of delivering a new baby can be painful and messy. To expect anything less is to fool ourselves.

    Thanks to the merger newspapers are now full of talk about ideology. This sudden fixation is so amusing because no one can tell you what the guiding philosophy of any of the current parties is – other than they all have a template of policies they would supposedly implement in office. The best you’ll get from any of them is that: a mere election manifesto.

    Ideological battles as we used to know them in the Cold War days died with that era. Harsh dividing lines between capitalism, communism, socialism and welfarism have become largely blurred. Philosophies of governance are now so indistinguishable that it is hard to tell what is driving what. Russia and China which used to be avowedly communist are now as capitalist as the United States.

    In America there is very little ideological difference between the Democrats and Republican. Both proseletyse about the beauty of markets driving the economy and making government intervention minimal.

    In the era of bitterly divided government in Washington, Barack Obama’s supposedly more left-leaning government has acceded to cutting government spending on social welfare programmes with a fervor that a typical conservative would envy. What now sets them apart are positions on social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.

    So if Nigeria’s emerging two-party arrangement does not throw up the kind of ideological divide to please the purists, too bad. In any event, who the progressive is and who the conservative is in this country has always been a matter of branding. Whatever labels our politicians have worn they have managed to get stuck in the same shortcomings of corruption and mismanagement of public resources.

    Ideology cannot be an end in itself; it ultimately should bring about development. Our people wouldn’t care whether you are socialist or capitalist if they have electricity, running water, healthcare and quality education for their children. Where these things are available the rest is just background noise.