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Tag: APC

  • Ngige calls for REC’s removal

    Ngige calls for REC’s removal

    Less than 15 hours to the governorship election in Anambra State tomorrow, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dr Chris Ngige has called for the transfer of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Prof  Chukuwuemeka Onukaogu.

    He said his party has no confidence in him following his performance in the 2011 general election.

    Ngige also told The Nation yesterday in Awka, capital of the state, that once the election is conducted in a free and fair manner, he was sure of victory. He expressed the hope that he would carry the day.

    “We have complied with all legal and even moral requirements for the election of tomorrow. We ended all forms of camping yesterday as early as 6 pm of Thursday. However, we also want the Independent National Electoral Commission to play it’s part very well. In fact, INEC has to be very careful with what they are doing here. We have been pleasantly surprised as a political party that they retained the REC, who conducted the 2011 general elections that was highly flawed.

    “And our party has to go to court to upturn some of those results of the elections conducted by him. So, since we discovered two days ago that it is still him that will conduct the election, we have been calling for his transfer. I am using this opportunity to reiterate our stand as a party that he should not be allowed to conduct the election. It is not too late”, he said.

    Speaking on his chances, he said ” once there is a free and fair election, we are sure of victory. If the electoral process is not compromised or manipulated, we will win. I am very hopeful, I have done my campaigns and ended it since yesterday ( Thursday). If the elections are properly co ducted, we will take it”, he said.

  • APC decries 22-hour curfew

    APC decries 22-hour curfew

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has slammed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its 22-hour, no-movement order (from midnight tomorrow to 10 pm on Saturday).

    In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said even during general elections, people were allowed to move from 4pm on election day.

    “Election is not a war, but a celebration of democracy. Declaring a 22-hour curfew for an election in only one state raises serious questions: What is INEC hiding? Is the curfew meant to give riggers enough time to write and collate their cooked-up results? Are elections and free movement of people incompatible? Why does INEC need a 22-hour curfew to conduct a ‘peaceful and successful’ election in one state? Where in the world is a 22-hour curfew imposed during an election?

    “Anambra does not have the kind of terrain or riverine communities that will justify waiting for hours for election results to be taken from polling units to the collation centre, hence there is no reason to turn Anambra into a ghost state just to hold a governorship election.

    “We urge INEC to reconsider this overstretched curfew if it has no underlying motive for declaring it. After all, information at our disposal has it that some decent INEC officials have rejected being part of the Anambra election because they do not want to be tainted by the shenanigans of some of their unscrupulous colleagues, who are colluding with do-or-die politicians for ‘30 pieces of silver’,” it said.

    APC said with the creation of 1,973 extra polling units by INEC, of the original 4,608 units, the election should even be faster as it will take voters less time to complete accreditation and voting.

    The party warned security agents against harassing and intimidating voters on Saturday, as they did during the Delta Central by-election last month.

    “We have it on good authority that troops, police and State Security Service (SSS) personnel are being mobilised to Anambra from Abuja and neighbouring states, ostensibly to provide security during the election. But we know that this is a ploy to scare voters away from the polling units and provide cover for ballot box hijackers and those adept at vote tampering.

    “But we will like to remind our security agents that they are first and foremost Nigerians, hence they should always work in the interest of the country. They should not turn themselves to the armed wing of the PDP or APGA. They should allow voters to peacefully cast their votes without harassment or intimidation on Saturday,” it said.

  • APC ready to take power in 2015, say Buhari, Tinubu

    APC ready to take power in 2015, say Buhari, Tinubu

    National leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Gen. Muhamadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday said the party is ready to take power in 2015.

    They urged the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to plan ahead of the 2015 general elections.

    The APC leaders spoke yesterday in Benin, the Edo State capital, at Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s fifth year anniversary in office and launch of the party in the state.

    “We are, therefore, reminding INEC that it has the responsibility to direct the people and correctly advise the people that it will guarantee a free, fair and credible election.

    “We know that power is not easy to surrender. But we want it and we will get it in an honest manner because APC has come to stay,” Tinubu said.

    He hailed the residents for their foresight in voting for Oshiomhole.

    Tinubu said: “Your votes have not been misplaced by the amount of massive development being experienced in the state.

    “Since you took that decision five years ago, Oshiomhole has never looked back in terms of infrastructure and economic development of Edo State.

    “You have seen and witnessed the radical development. But let me say that this is not our final destination.

    “Our destination is to take over the federal level to replicate what Oshiomhole and other APC governors are doing in their states.

    “You have accepted APC and it is now your duty to begin to spread the good news around your neighbourhoods and communities.”

    Gen. Buhari, who congratulated Oshiomhole on his achievements, said: “I am happy that the people can now see the difference.”

    The former head of state said he was optimistic that the governor would continue to develop the state.

    He stressed that an APC government at the centre would eradicate poverty and provide security in the nation.

    “If you vote us into power, we are prepared to tackle abduction and killing of people across the nation so that people can move freely in whatever part of this country.

    “APC is here to take power in 2015, to effectively manage the economic fortunes of our land,” Buhari said.

  • Buhari, Tinubu, Ikimi launch APC in Edo

    Buhari, Tinubu, Ikimi launch APC in Edo

    Benin City, capital of Edo State was a carnival-like yesterday as the All Progressives Congress (APC) was launched in the state.

    It was an occasion that also marked the fifth year anniversary of the administration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

    Roads leading to the Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia stadium venue of the launch wore new looks as banners from different associations adorned the streets and the stadium.

    Youth, women, students and several organisations were at the stadium to grace the occasion.

    The crowd gave their affirmative support that the state was in support of the APC after a question was put to them by APC leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

    First Executive Governor of Edo State, Chief John Oyegun Oyegun said God has planted a grenade in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that the grenade is separating the sheep from the goats in PDP.

    Chief Oyegun warned that the battle for 2015 would not be easy even if the G-7 governors joined the APC.

    According to him, “The battle ahead of us is not an easy one. We must be ready for every possible eventuality. The PDP will not surrender power. The APC must seize power. That can be achieved by all of us. The mobilisation must start today for us to seize power. We must make it expensive for anybody to attempt to rig the 2015 election. The APC is a serious party.

    Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Chief Tom Ikimi said the people of the state are determined not to go back to what the state was 10 years ago.

    He said “The PDP is dead and buried. It is finished. It is dead, in Edo, Kwara, SOkoto, Kano and all over Nigeria . Arising from the ashes of the burial of PDP is the APC.”

    Esogban of Benin Kingdom, Chief David Edebiri, predicted that the APC was destined to rule the country.

    Former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari said the APC was out to solve economic and security problems of the country.

    “We know the difference for five years now in Edo state. We are happy that the governor is coming along with the APC. The APC would ensure peace and stop terrorism and reconstruct the infrastructure for Nigerians to enjoy. It is important for you to pass the message to others that APC is determined to take over in 2015 and manage the country effectively. Nobody will ensure that the votes count excepts you”.

    Tinubu hailed the people for snatching victory from ‘election thieves.’ And congratulated Oshiomhole for making the people the cornerstone of his developmental policies.

    He described Edo as the state on a shinning hill that brightens Nigeria saying Oshiomhole redefined the sense of patriotism because it is about the people.

    To him, the destination of the APC is the federal government at the centre. He explained that they came out with APC for a lasting change in the country.

    Tinubu lampooned the federal government for lying to the people on economic growth of the nation saying people were still suffering.

    He said, “Power is not easy to surrender but we want it in an honest manner. We are tired of failure. How do you give statistics that the economy is growing and we are still suffering? You have GDP that is growing and we have army of unemployed youth. We have to change this government.

    “The APC has come with a rescue boat to rescue Nigeria from the thieves. They steal in hundred, of billions. We have to send them out. Oshiomhole has enough ambulances to send them out of here, out of Abuja and out of Anambra.”

    Governor Oshiomhole said his administration had delivered on electoral promises in building infrastructures and creating environment for businesses to thrive.

    He said the painful decisions he took have led to building of roads, providing water and schools across the state.

    Oshiomhole said “the challenge is to focus on the economy. Having spent so much to build infrastructure, this is meant to create enabling environment for business to thrive. I am happy at the response we are getting. The private sector, from agriculture to palm oil, they are all coming to Edo State to set up business”.

    “We have people who are coming to Edo state to set up fertilizer plant. We are refocusing on security and appreciate the role of our security agencies. Our House of Assembly have risen to the occasion and has approved death penalty for kidnappers and Edo state is no longer safe for criminals because this governor will sign death warrant as soon as it comes my way.

    “We are delivering and not just talking. In our second term we have started commissioning projects. Over the past three days we have commissioned five roads and the five junction and we have more than one hundred projects to commission between now and December, you will see all the things that we have been doing with your money.”

     

    “Between November last year and November this year we have paid to major contractors about 36billion naira certificate generated from road construction, schools construction and hospital construction and we recognize that our allocation from Abuja is barely over four billion” he said.

    Oshiomole declared “every month we pay to contractors about three billon naira. Edo State devotes about 85% of the federal revenue on capital projects that people can see. Our market women who were in the past used during election and abandoned, we have empowered them by giving them cash to rebuild their markets.

    “Today I want to remind you of how we started. In the past Edo State was a one party state, controlled and manipulated and dehumanised by a few godfather who turned the state to a personal estate. The were celebrated not for fixing roads, electricity. Education or healthcare, but celebrated for declaring winners as losers.

     

  • APC informs of 1,973 extra polling units

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has informed voters in Anambra State of the 1,973 extra polling units, in addition to the existing 4,608 in the state, bringing the total to 6,581.

    In a statement in Benin yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said this information became necessary, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had failed to educate voters on the extra polling units – a development that could disenfranchise many voters.

    It said the need to alert voters was heightened by the fact that the extra polling units account for over 800,000 votes.

    “INEC, apparently to facilitate the accreditation and voting process on Saturday, has created these extra polling units from those that have in excess of 500 voters. This action in itself may not have diabolical undertone, especially because the extra polling units are expected to be located within the same place as the original ones and presided over by assistant presiding officers.

    “But in a situation where voters are not aware of this development, there is the risk that some dirty INEC officials could collude with unscrupulous and desperate politicians to move these extra units away from the location of the original ones for secret thumb-printing, thus disenfranchising over 800,000 voters and paving the way for the appropriation of such votes by vote thieves,” APC said.

    The party implored INEC to give the creation of the extra polling units the necessary publicity; alert voters to the fact that the extra units will be at the same location as the original ones; ensure the deployment of adequate officials to man the extra units on Saturday and make sure that enough voting materials are provided for them.

    “INEC must be proactive, because lack of adequate personnel and materials for these extra polling units will create chaos on Election Day. Therefore, adequate personnel must be trained to man the extra units, while voters must be educated so that they won’t be looking for where to vote on Saturday.

    “They must be told that the extra voting unit created from any polling unit will not be taken outside the location of the original one. If the location is different, then something is wrong,” it said.

    APC urged its members and supporters to spread the news of the creation of the extra polling units, as well as the fact that the extra units are located on the same premises as the original ones.

    “Every vote must count on Saturday, and every voter must be allowed to exercise his or her franchise. This is why we enjoin INEC to do everything possible to ensure that no voter is disenfranchised. We also urge voters, especially our members and supporters, to defend their votes,” the party said.

     

  • Ex-CPC members back Ajimobi

    Ex-CPC members back Ajimobi

    Members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Oyo State yesterday endorsed Governor Abiola Ajimobi for reelection in 2015.

    The defunct party’s Youth Leader, Hafis Oladejo, and former governorship candidate Deaconess Esther Olubukola Adedokun led their members to the State Secretariat in Ibadan to pledge their support to the governor.

    Contrary to the position of her running mate in the 2011 election, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, who wants to contest the 2015, governorship election, Deaconess Adedokun said members of the defunct party, who have joined the All Progressive Congress (APC), were in support of Ajimobi’s second term ambition.

    She said: “We are here to adopt Ajimobi as our governorship candidate. We want him to continue in 2015. We have gone round the local government areas, including Oke Ogun where Shittu hails from, to sensitise people on the need to support Ajimobi.”

     

     

    “We know we cannot win governorship election alone as CPC, reason we are supporting the governor for him to succeed. There is no more CPC. We are now part of APC and the only symbol we have in Oyo state now is Governor Abiola Ajimobi”, she said.

     

    Explaining on why she has refused to support her former boss, Shittu, the former deputy governorship candidate said, “Though our relationship still remains cordial, the difference between me and Alhaji Adebayo Shittu is that while he wants to eat rice, I want to eat beans. He wants to become governor, but I am supporting the sitting governor to continue for second term to complete the good work he has been doing. Barrister Shittu wants to be governor of APC, but I face my governor as leader.

     

    The former CPC chieftain also used the occasion to rubbish the proposed national conference mooted by President Goodluck Jonathan, Adedokun said, “PDP had ruled us for 14 years yet there are no improvements. If they were serious about discussing the fate of this country, they ought to have allowed the confab immediately the military left in 1999. Introducing it now is unopportune.

     

    “It is likely to end up as another wasteful exercise. Let the PDP allow another party to administer and they would see the diference. If after eight years, the APC does not change things for better, then they can let us have a confab. But definitely, it is not now.”

     

    ENDS

  • Two Anambra PDP lawmakers join APGA

    There was a drama yesterday at the Anambra State House of Assembly when two lawmakers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) on the floor of the House.

    The action of Obinna Emeaka (Anambra East) and Vivian Okadigbo (Oyi) raised dust in the House as the place was turned into a market.

    Some lawmakers- Valentine Ayika (PDP Njikoka 1); Tony Oneweek Muonagor (APC Idemili North); Ebele Obi (APC Idemili South); Kenechukwu Chukwuemeka (APC Awka South 1) and Gabriel Onyenwife (PDP Ayamelum) objected to the act.

    Ayika said: “I am totally ashamed at the crop of politicians we have today.

    “We are supposed to be standing in for our people at all times even when it matters most to us. But what do we get, some politicians only fight when they gain but when the road seems dark, they turn their back on the people.

    “I am not against anyone cross-carpeting, it is allowed but it should be done in a respectful manner in any constituted authority.”

  • APC elects leaders in Niger

    The Interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State, Ibrahim Shetima, said the party is set to upstage the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015.

    Shetima said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had plundered the state’s resources since 1999, promising that APC was set to salvage the state.

    The interim chairman spoke yesterday in Minna shortly after he was elected to head the interim management team of the party in the state.

    Those elected were Kabirs Abas (Secretary), Salihu Shadaffi (Treasurer), Mutala Musa (Organising Secretary) and Solomon Nyaze (Publicity Secretary)

    The election was supervised by Jacob Lamba, a member of the party’s national interim management committee from Plateau State.

    Lamba said the emergence of the interim leadership marks the real beginning of APC in Niger State.

    He said the party is the solution to Nigeria’s problem and urged all members to unite.

  • Tinubu: don’t subvert people’s will

    NATIONAL Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to subvert the will of the people.

    He spoke in Benin City during the five-year anniversary of the Governor Adams Oshiomhole administration in Edo State.

    Tinubu said Nigerians had been taken for granted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government, adding that they were now wiser.

    The former Lagos State governor said starting with the Anambra governorship election on Saturday, the people are ready to defend their votes.

    He urged INEC to be upright and follow due process, saying: “We need your electoral blueprint in the Anambra governorship poll on Saturday.

    “We are sending a message to INEC that Anambra people will not tolerate the kind of open stealing, cut-short and manipulation of election as they did in the senatorial by-election in Delta State.

    “APC will give Nigerians and Anambra indigenes a good leadership, a direction needed, if they do the way they always do. We will react, we are sending a strong message to them.

    “INEC should show Nigerians that it is truly independent. If not, we will react if it dares manipulate the Anambra governorship poll. The election must be one-man one-vote.”

    He said the PDP-led Federal Government had not given Nigerians a purposeful leadership.

    Asiwaju Tinubu lamented that the people had been fed with lies, as government claims of growth in the GDP had not translated into a better life for the masses.

    He said: “We have been fed with lies by this government. This is why we are now more poised to reclaim power from them to give Nigerians a purposeful leadership.

    “We are aware that power is not easy to surrender, but in the face of recent happenings in the PDP-led government, we will get this power and it will be in a genuine way.

    “They keep telling us about growth in the economy, yet, we have millions of unemployed youths roaming the streets. People now experience more hardship than before.”

    Another APC National Leader, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), said Nigerians must brace themselves for a change in 2015.

    He said APC was interested in two things – security and a better economy.

    Buhari, a former military head of state, urged Anambra people to stand by the principle of one-man one-vote.

    Governor Oshiomhole, who listed his achievements in the last five years, promised more people-oriented projects before the expiration of his tenure in 2016.

    Advising INEC to stand on the path of honour in the Anambra election, he urged the people to defend their votes.

    Dignitaries at the event included the Interim National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Tom Ikimi, Audu Ogbeh, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, Bello Masari, a former governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, a governorship aspirant in the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Chief Solomon Edibiri, national and state lawmakers and traditional rulers.

  • ‘Ngige not deterred by antics of mischief makers’

    ‘Ngige not deterred by antics of mischief makers’

    In this piece, PAT ANYADUBALU contends that the plan to blackmail the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Dr Chris Ngige, by political opponents, ahead of the poll, will fail.

    The governorship election in Anambra State comes up on Saturday. The state is agog with campaigns and the parties employ all manners of instrument, including lies, and campaigns of calumny to outwit their opponents.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the 2013 election, Dr. Chris Ngige, is undoubtedly the most unjustly maligned of all the candidates.

    The campaign of calumny against Ngige has gone so awry that a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain was so troubled that he recently issued a release condemning it. The PDP member pointedly accused the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) of being behind the ill treatment of the APC candidate, a story, the APGA has not denied.

    The APGA’s diabolic acts towards Ngige reached a dead end recently when it involved the men of God despite the biblical injunctions of God that one should not touch his anointed nor do his prophet any harm.

    The Catholic Bishop of Awka recently buried his deceased mother at Nanka and expectedly, the event attracted ‘who is who’ in Anambra especially now that Anambra is in a political atmosphere, there was a minor skirmishes that never involved Ngige nor his aides but the mischief makers suspected to be from the APGA went to town that Ngige slapped a reverend father.

    The Chancellor of Awka Catholic Diocese, Rev. Dr. Chudi Peter Akaenyi, in the presence of Rev. Fr. Ezeokwonu, (the priest allegedly slapped) strongly refuted the story and averred that no priest was slapped and that no priest granted any interview to any body that a priest was slapped.

    Earlier, the same mischief makers had accused Ngige of organising a rally on the day Obi of Onitsha held his Ofala festival. They even referred to Benin and Lagos to buttress their argument that no event should have held that day.

    The promoters of this mischief forgot that, in the history of Ofala festival at Onitsha, markets and events are not usually prohibited and non was prohibited on that Ofala day as traders went to market unperturbed.

    Ngige’s explanation of the mix up with the Igwe’s aides was also ignored, since that would have exonerated Ngige.

    The issue of deportation of Ndigbo from Lagos also came up. Ngige’s explanation that the over zealous Lagos officials, who dumped those people at Upper Iweka Awka, should be punished as well as Peter Obi’s officials who failed to come to receive these our brothers, even after agreement between Lagos Government and Anambra State government, was ignored.

    This justifiable explanation was interpreted as Ngige’s support to deportation of Ndigbo.

    Another, campaign of calumny is that Ngige is good, but in a wrong party. One asks the question: what is wrong in being in a national party, a party that has the potential of producing a President of Nigeria from Igbo extraction especially when Ndigbo are clamouring for same.

    The message for those who malign the just especially Ngige is to learn a lesson from Hon. Justices Egboegbo, Stanley Nnaji and late Ralph Ige.

    It is God that gives power. Senator Ngige was similarly unjustly maligned during his senatorial campaign. But he weathered the storm and came out victorious. This gubernatorial election may not be different.