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  • South West APC leaders must beware

    South West APC leaders must beware

    “People who always want to have their ways at all cost and never provide better arguments but rather want to force their petty ideas on others are anarchists and pocket despots who will ultimately fail’ -AWO, during the Omoboriowo crisis  in Ondo state, exactly 30 years ago (1983).”

    Something is afoot in the South West APC and it is guaranteed to negatively affect the party if its leaders will not face up to it and deal squarely with it now that they still can. I am not one to speak from two sides of the mouth as neither my being Ekiti, nor having the rare privilege of being educated at Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, will permit it.. I have written previously on this page about the PDP’s plan to encircle the South West in a pincer-like movement, effective 2014, using mostly disgruntled or over ambitious ‘members’ of the progressive camp who, our leaders, unfortunately, believe are beyond reproach. And if care is not taken, these ‘gentlemen’ will, before their very eyes, emerge the Labour Party gubernatorial candidates in their respective states and there would be nothing they can do.

    Something tells me this is a well-funded PDP project being coordinated by two Southwest governors, one serving, the other ex. At the recent launch of Prof Ropo Sekoni’s book at the Muson Centre, Lagos, one of these individuals, confessed that much to both Professor Akin Oyebode and myself. And this is where a too trusting Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose name, one of them keeps dropping at the drop of a hat, readily comes in.

    Without a scintilla of doubt, but behind his back, I must have used close to a million words defending Tinubu at several fora in the past 10 years, all because I believe in what he represents. And this has nothing to do with my writing for The Nation newspaper. Anyway, The Nation was not established 10 years ago. I have told all who care to listen how, long before he became governor, he had been promoting and extending the frontiers of democracy. I have written about how he mobilised and sent, both Hon Wale Oshun and now, Senator Femi Lanlehin, with funds to a West African country to assist in the campaign of a presidential candidate long before he became governor. Today, hardly does any official event happen in Lagos without representations from Ghana and Sierra-Leone, owing largely to his political reach. And, but for him, nobody knows where exactly Obasanjo would have left Yoruba land. I never cease to pray that the good Lord will continue to lead him aright. Directly on his handling of the removal of Hon Bamidele as Chairman of the Ekiti ACN Caucus in the House of Representatives, an event for which many Nigerians commended the discipline and orderliness in the party, Opeyemi gleefully came back to Ekiti to tell his few followers that Asiwaju merely came to Ekiti to play politics and that he supports his aspirations all the way. Though we know this is what Fela would have called shakara, such talk, unfortunately, emboldens his misguided supporters who, unknown to Asiwaju, have also been assured of federal support in matters involving the police.

    Full scale disturbances have therefore occurred each time Ope visited the state with APC members always being at the receiving end because it is also a PDP plan since the Police Affairs Minister, an Ekiti and a wannabe gubernatorial candidate, is on orders to deal with APC members.

    In respect of this plan, I recently wrote somewhere as follows: ‘We are inching toward the final denouement. This scenario will soon play out in both Ekiti and Osun States where elections are due next year. Starting innocuously, sleeping agents of the PDP, who are otherwise APC ‘members’, but inexorably destined for the Labour Party will, acting as agent provocateurs, mess up the current peace in the South West. The police, in turn, would thereby get the alibi they need to arrest and detain, indefinitely, targeted leaders of the APC as has happened to the Interim APC Chairman, Mr Jide Awe. Now, the plot has shifted to the governor’s Special Adviser on Security, who usually foils their many evil plans and whose town, Iyin -Ekiti, was the latest of Hon Bamidele’s hot spots, backed by members of the Dr Fasehun wing of the OPC. Reminds one of the new UPN!

    The plot is aimed at crippling the APC ahead of the 2014 election. If they succeed in Ekiti, Osun will be next. It is all a strategic bating which is not the brainwave of dunderheads, but a well-choreographed scheme of evil geniuses hell bent on having the South West under their stranglehold again. Indeed, mere writing about them is dangerous enough, but write we must if democracy must survive in this land.

    In a private letter to Hon Bamidele this past week, Igede-based Abiola Olufemi affirmed that the legislator had actually started holding nocturnal meetings all over the state long before the Appeal Court decided in favour of Fayemi, all in the hope of contesting against him. He wrote him in 2011:’ You were sending rice and vegetable oil all around the state and preparing the ground for your contest as you thought Fayemi was going to lose at the Appeal Court. But to your amazement, Fayemi became governor and rather than support him, you were too bitter about the senatorial ticket given to Ojudu. That was why you started branding Fayemi a non-performer, bandying about 2006 census figures in order to pillory the governor. I was so miffed that I had to react with an article I titled “Opeyemi Bamidele’s Selective Amnesia”. Rather than change, you granted more than ten interviews within two days, sounding more hysterical than ever. Like many of your concoctions, you claimed that the leadership had not endorsed Fayemi.

    For the avoidance of doubt, you have as much right as anyone to aspire to be governor. But I ask: were you truly attacked? In this computer age, social media and the lot, you failed to provide a single photo or video evidence of the attacks. Where are the scars or the wounds? Where are Jaruu’s marks on you? I don’t really like him, but I don’t also think you should demonise him in your attempt to make Fayemi look bad! The latest claim of attack from your camp has its roots in an incident that happened at a party in your hometown of Iyin-Ekiti on Friday, 23 August, 2013. Jaruu was uncharacteristically cool under your boys’ provocation but Niyi Apase who came later with his fellow members of the Gani Adam faction of the OPC couldn’t stomach it when your Fredrick Faseun faction of the OPC attacked him. You saw it all, but never called them to order since it would make a good spin for the tabloid.’

    I quoted that letter at some length for the reading public to know the truth about these many ‘attacks’ on Opeyemi. I know, first hand, both in his quest for the Senate and this one, that party leaders sincerely pleaded with Hon Bamidele to take things easy. In the Senate case which he never ceases to claim he won, I know, as a member of the ACN state screening committee, appointed by the National Chairman of the party, that the election was inconclusive as the rerun never took place owing to threats of ‘war’. In the current case, I am equally aware that long before the party leaders came to Ekiti to endorse Fayemi, both Chief Bisi Akande and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu met with the duo and actually believed they had settled it all, but Opeyemi did not do any of the things he promised the party leaders.

    In conclusion, I will like to plead with those close to Hon Bamidele to let him know that he needs no alibi to move to another party, if he must, to fulfill his ambition rather than take us back to those rancorous days of the PDP in Ekiti.

  • ‘APC states have alternative revenue sources to oil’

    Regional development, culture, tourism and cocoa production have been identified as alternative sources of revenue for the South West.

    Oyo State Deputy Governor, Otunba Moses Adeyemo Alake, who made this assertion added that the potentials in the identified sources could be money spinners for the nation and the zone if adequately explored and harnessed.

    Speaking at the 2013 Udi Iroko Cultural Festival in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, as a guest of the state Deputy Governor, Prof Modupe Adelabu, Adeyemo said that the All Progressive Congress (APC) controlled states in the region and Edo State are already thinking and planning on how to harness other areas which could serve as alternative revenue sources to finance its various developmental projects.

    While making reference to many of the outstanding projects in the country today which were financed with revenues derived from coca plantation in the Southwest, groundnut pyramids in the north, rubber plantations from the South and coal from the East, Adeyemo stressed the need for the country to diversify its source of revenue generation and stop paying lip service to agriculture development.

    Adeyemo said that governments in the South West zone have already taken decisive steps to resuscitate cocoa production, develop tourist potentials which abound in the zone and elevate cultural festivals.

    He listed such potentials as Udi Iroko Festival in Ado-Ekiti, Osun Osogbo Festival in Osogbo, Eyo Festival in Lagos, traditional “ofi” weave attire in Iseyin, Oyo State.

    Adeyemo said these cultural events could be elevated to world-class festivals which will generate substantial revenue to South West states.”);

     

  • APC clears Ezeemo for primaries in Anambra

    •Party elects states leadership

    The All Progressive, Congress (APC) appeal screening committee has cleared one a governorship aspirant in Anambra State, Mr. Godwin Ezeemo, to contest the party’s primary tomorrow.

    Also, the party yesterday elected its state leadership with Barr. C.J. Chinwuba the chairman and J.P.C. Obikwelu as state secretary.

    The congress which took place at the Sun city Hotels in Awka yesterday also elected Obiora Samuel Igwedibia as its deputy chairman in the state, among other officers.

    APC is seriously preparing for its state primary on Monday to elect its governorship candidate, following the clearance of Ezeemo by the party’s screening committee.

    According to a letter signed by the Interim National Secretary of APC, Tijjani Musa Tumsah, dated 30th August, 2013, the decision to clear Ezeemo was taken on Friday by the party.

    In the letter titled: ‘Decision of the Anambra State Appeal Screening Committee’, which reads in part, Tumsah said: “Following the gubernatorial appeal committee sitting which took place on Friday, 30th August, 2013 at a National Secretariat, I wish to inform you that the appeal committee has set aside the decision of the Screening Committee and hereby declares you eligible to contest our primary election scheduled for 2nd September, 2013.”

    Following the declaration of the committee, Ezeemo would now square up with Senator Chris Ngige for the governorship ticket on Monday.

  • APC: Merger or synergy?

    APC: Merger or synergy?

    When a nation stagnates, it needs a catalyst  for change. And this change can come either through a revolution or a reform. We need not delude ourselves, Nigeria is in the throes of stagnation. Unfortunately, the party in power, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has some difficulty in accepting this fact. A government that runs a nation without a definitive philosophy is incapable of identifying and conceptualising a crisis. When, therefore, you cannot see a crisis, it follows naturally that you cannot solve a crisis. You cannot solve what you do not see.

    Because of their progressive inclination, the major oppositions, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), saw what the ruling party refused to see: a national crisis—one that has ravaged our values, social structure, political institutions, governmental policies and social-political leadership. They contemplated a fusion. They debated it and later began the process for a merger. Convinced that they were the solution to the Nigerian crisis, they approached the electoral authorities for formal consummation and official endorsement. This was granted and the rest is history as the cliché goes. The mega party, as they choose to call it, had since then unfolded its manifesto/agenda to the Nigerian public. Whether this can inspire the radical change the system requires or not is a subject for another day. My major interest for now is to explore the possibilities that what we have on ground may not be a merger but a synergy. I may have simply dismissed this as a mere academic exercise if I was not convinced that there were some inherent dangers in this conceptual confusion. With a merger, all primordial correlates vanish and never resurface.  With a merger, all structures, ethnic, political and religious, are collapsed. With a merger, every nostalgic attachment to the past is demobilised.

    The purpose of a merger is for the groups and their members to evolve a new bonding and fraternity that will terminate previous individual relationships and allegiances. A merger is about structure and not mere images. A merger is about bonding and not branding. A merger is about sacrifice and not rewards. A merger is about vision and not friction. It is about a goal and not intention. A merger is about objective and not just determination. A merger is about the coming together of people of like minds in spirit and in truth and not just a fellowship of associates with veiled umbrage.  Merger, in simple language, is the convocation of assorted humanity who are willing to submit their individualities for the sake of their collective prosperity. The day a merger is consummated, there should be no trace of old alignments and political fraternities. All ideologies, idiocies, idiosyncrasies, philosophies and ideas are compressed into one. This is to avoid contamination and pollution. Old things should pass away and all things must become new.

    However, post-merger developments, especially in the South-West, have clearly shown that what we are calling a merger may not really be what it seems. Immediately after the official announcement that INEC had registered APC, some South-West governors took the initiative to convoke a rally to formally disband ACN and inaugurate the APC. It was done in the State of Osun. It was done in Ekiti State. It was done in Oyo and Ogun States. Lagos State is still hesitating while Edo State is still undecided. I am not sure of what happened in other states in the North, Southeast and Southsouth. I am not angry with the fact that these governors were being pro-active, but I am not happy with the way some of them handled the inauguration. That of Osun was done with clinical rapidity and Raufist ‘typicality’. The rally which attracted an unprecedented crowd was held 24 hrs after the announcement. Since the day of the inauguration till date, there was no sign of division or exclusion. That shows that the governor carried the other two partner parties along by involving them in the rally. So, I have no problem with them in Osun.

    The next rally was that of Oyo State which was held on August 11. I will comment on this later. I move to Ekiti State which held its own on August 12. It was also well attended by party supporters and was addressed by the governor, Kayode Fayemi and the Chairman of the defunct Ekiti ACN, Chief Awe. However, media reports did not say if members of CPC and ANPP in Ekiti State attended the rally or were allowed to address the gathering. But since there was no open protest by these two parties, I want to assume that all was well. And there is no need to cry more than the bereaved since they are not complaining.

    Next was Ogun State. The APC rally took place on August 19 and it also attracted a huge crowd of party loyalists.  Nevertheless, there was no mention of CPC and ANPP at the rally. Besides, media reports confirmed that even within the party, all was not well because Chief Olusegun Osoba, one of the national chieftains of the party, stayed away from the rally just like a sizeable number of the state assembly members. The state government had not refuted these reports.

    Back to the Oyo State drama. The state government, in an advertorial, had scheduled the APC rally for Sunday 11th August. But in a shocking counter advertorial, some identified members of the three merged parties called on their supporters to boycott the rally. Their reason was that “directives from the National Headquarters of the APC stated that no APC rally should be held in the meantime in any state of the federation…and what is the wisdom in scheduling a political rally for Sunday when party leaders  and followers, who are Christians, will be in churches seeking the face of the Lord?” The advertorial was signed by eight members of the APC, representing the three merged parties, namely ACN, ANPP and CPC.

    Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, an ACN  Senator, Alh. Rasaq Folorunso, State Chairman of the defunct ANPP and Alh. Abideen Oladimeji, State Chairman of the defunct CPC, were some of the notable party chieftains that signed the advertorial. Of course, the state government still went ahead with the inauguration in spite of the protest.

    The Ibadan scenario may appear like an insignificant fissure in the APC structure, it however, provides us a better reading of the larger implications of one group ascribing supremacy to itself after the fusion of the three groups. The attitude of the Oyo State government implies that the merger is being misconstrued for a synergy. A synergy does not have the depth of a merger. It is the power or success that is achieved by people or groups working together, instead of on their own. In this instance, APC is not working together, it is working as one indivisible party. In synergy, you are bothered about differences and incompatibilities only if they will frustrate the objective of power attainment. But in a merger, not only are you bothered about differences and incompatibilities, it is imperative to harmonize and synthesize such differences and incompatibilities. Not doing this may complicate the process of attaining power. The divergences in a synergy pose no serious threat to their cooperation but the divergences in a merger contradict the philosophy of fusion.

    In this case, the APC is not about political cooperation or alliance. It is a merger meant to achieve a change in which “the power of hitherto privileged groups is curbed and the economic position and social status of the under-privileged groups is correspondingly improved.” It is about bringing a change in the direction of greater social, economic, or political equality, a broadening of participation in society and polity.

    If APC operates the merger as if it is a synergy, APC may not win more than the eleven states controlled by the progressive governors and this will still make the PDP to control the centre. I understand why some of the Southwest  governors  did what they did. They needed to consolidate and strengthen the party as quickly as possible by creating the necessary awareness and enlightenment about APC because of the 2014 elections. The defunct ACN, noted for its political aggressiveness, was not willing to subscribe to any frustrating political bureaucracy. Besides, these governors knew that as a new party, the APC would have to contend with the PDP whose structure remained intact. And the only way to do this was to quickly transfer the machinery of  the  defunct ACN to the APC without prolonged delay. While not blaming the governors for being pro-active and for their foresight, my concern, which stemmed from the actions of some of them, is that in the course of prosecuting their political agenda, the partners of the merger should be accommodated and taken into confidence to assure them of their relevance and importance in the merger arrangement. It may be true that both the CPC and ANPP did not have strong following in the Southwest to warrant their being given any special attention but what happens should they also decide to treat the ACN the same way in states where they also have dominant presence? When we talk of merger, the issue of whether somebody is inconsequential or not becomes secondary with every member of the defunct groups being accorded equal respect and treatment.

    I am not comfortable with the posturing of the merger actors nor am I convinced that they know how to make the merger work in other states not controlled by the progressives. To be able to dislodge the PDP from some of the states under their control, the APC need to work very hard and inject some funds into the “restoration project.” But as it is, where will the resources come from? Most of the progressive states are already saddled with their own financial burden and may not be able to raise sufficient funds for the “restoration project.” With elections taking place next year in some of the states, the issue of funding may not appeal to the governors at the moment.

    The APC cannot, and should not, think of sweeping Jonathan out of power with only its 11 states namely Nasarawa, Yobe,  Borno, Ekiti, Imo, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Zamfara, Edo and Lagos. My calculations are, however, based on what is on ground. There may be other variables, for instance, the PDP crisis and the possibility of some disgruntled and disenchanted PDP governors moving over to the APC, which may work in its favor.

    The initial fear was whether the government will tolerate the emergence of another formidable political party which will threaten its dominance in the polity. But this fear has been eclipsed by the registration of APC and others, meaning the system has played its part. It is now the responsibility of the APC to prove to the whole world that it is indeed a threat to the ruling party. The future and strength of an organic APC are dependent on how quickly it can attenuate people’s perception of its superficiality as a result of the disparate activities of some sub-structures of the merged parties. The merger actors should amplify more on the philosophy and principle behind the merger rather than celebrating the merger itself.

  • APC’s emergence good for democracy – Lawan

    APC’s emergence good for democracy – Lawan

    The former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Education, Farouk Lawan, has said the emergence of the All Progressives Congress would force political parties to become ideologically inclined.

    The lawmaker said the nation’s democracy would be better for it as Nigerians would know the “real worth” of their political parties.

    Lawan, who spoke in Abuja during a National Assembly media interactive session, said with the advent of the new party, others would be forced to market their ideas.

    “The registration of new parties, though not new was good for our democracy. The coming together of some parties particularly, those hoping to challenge the Peoples Democratic Party in a more forceful manner, I think would add colour to politicking and democracy in this country.

    “Personally, I think we are likely to witness more excitement and this would give Nigerians the opportunity to determine the ‘real worth’ of each political party. This would also help the parties to market themselves on ideological basis,” he said.

     

  • Awo, APC and 2015

    Awo, APC and 2015

    Thirty years ago, on 15 December 1983, at the Sixth Annual Congress of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) held at the Ogun State Hotel, Abeokuta, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in his characteristic manner, in his speech on that occasion, looked into the future. It was the first annual congress of the party after the highly flawed August 1983 General Elections, which returned the Presidential Candidate of the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) Alhaji Shehu Shagari, for a second term in office as President. Chief Awolowo was the Presidential Candidate of the UPN in the election.

    In the memorable speech, Chief Awolowo floated the hypothesis of the Synthesis of the Thesis and the Antithesis. He spoke of the “binary compounds of thesis and antithesis which may be evolutionary or revolutionary in which, whether we like it or not, all human beings are inescapably involved… When the war is over, only the best of us will be accommodated in the synthesis with the best in the antithesis in complete dominance”.

    There were six registered political parties that took part in the 1983 General Elections. The NPN and UPN were the two leading political parties. The simple analogy deducible from the Awo postulation or rather, prophetic pronouncement, was an advocacy of a two-party configuration for Nigeria.

    Two weeks after the explosive thought provoking address, on 31 December 1983, the military struck again and terminated the democratic process. General Muhammadu Buhari took over with his lieutenant, Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon. Notably, for the 20 months they were in the saddle (before they were booted out on 27 August 1985) the Buhari/Idiagbon regime said no word about the return of the country to democratic rule. It was however a different ball game with the succeeding Ibrahim Babangida regime that promptly announced a Transition to Civil Rule programme.

    On 13 January 1986, about five months after it came into power, and three years after Awo’s Abeokuta Declaration, military President Babangida inaugurated a 17-man Political Bureau headed by Dr. J.S.Cookey with the mandate to conduct a nationwide debate towards fashioning out a viable and enduring ‘‘people oriented political system devoid of perennial disruptions’’ for the country. Its term of reference among others also include a ‘‘review of Nigeria’s political history, identifying the basic problems which led to our failure in the past and suggest ways of resolving and coping with the problems’’.

    At the end of its assignment, following an exhaustive debate across the country and a critical, in-depth appraisal of our past political experiences, the bureau recommended a Two-Party System for the country. The recommendation was accepted by government but it rejected the suggestion by the bureau on the imposition of two distinct ideologies – Western Liberal Capitalism and Socialism – for the two political parties. Government was of the view that ideologies should not be imposed but should emerge from the consensus and activities of the political parties.

    Empowered by the relevant decrees, the National Electoral Commission with Professor Humphrey Nwosu as Chairman, on 4 May 1989, barely 24hours after the ban on political activities was lifted, released guidelines for the registration of political parties. Thirteen political associations collected, completed and returned the relevant application forms for consideration for registration. Nwosu, on September 25, 1989, presented the report and recommendations of his commission on the verification and assessment of the political associations to the government. The best six associations were recommended for consideration.

    In the estimation of the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) none of the six scaled the hurdle for registration as a political party. The bombshell of a verdict was contained in an address by Babangida on Saturday, October 7, 1989 creating two political parties; National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The two parties, with professed ideological leanings; A Little to the Right, A Little to the Left, were automatically registered by the electoral body.

    Babangida left no one in doubt of his conviction that a Two-Party System is the panacea to the myriad of problems that had bedeviled Nigeria’s political landscape. In the determined effort to make the system permanent and enduring, he got government to build party offices for the two political parties in Abuja, all the state capitals and the headquarters of all the 454 local governments existing at the time.

    So much has been said over the years about the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election as the freest, fairest and the best in the history of the country but not many had acknowledged the fact that the historic development was largely made possible by the Two-Party arrangement. It left us with only two options. Consequently, there was little or no acrimony. Religious, tribal, ethnic and other primordial considerations were subsumed as the membership of the two political parties cut across all divisive barriers.

    Twenty years after, here we are again. With the registration by INEC – on July 31 of the All Progressives Congress (APC) a merger of the former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (ANPP), Nigeria is set on the path to the emergence of two strong political parties with some other mushroom parties on the fringes, that would, with time, die naturally.

    Looking back, it is discernible from our past experience that we have always exhibited a tilt towards a two-party arrangement. After the 1959 General Election, the NPC (North dominated) had to go into a coalition with the NCNC (East dominated) to form the government at the centre leaving the AG (West dominated) in the opposition. A similar scenario played out towards the 1964 General Election with the emergence of the Nigeria National Alliance (NNA) and the United Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA) from the various political parties of the time.

    A situation similar to that of 1959 surfaced again after the 1979 General Election with a coalition arrangement between the NPN (North rooted) and the NPP (East rooted) leaving the UPN (West rooted) as the main opposition party. In the course of the Second Republic, the NPN/NPP fraternity collapsed. Subsequently, the three governors elected on the platform of NPP, joined their nine other colleagues of the UPN (5), GNPP (2), PRP (2) that had been meeting periodically (12 Progressive Governors) for matters of mutual interest thus constituting a formidable opposition to the ruling NPN.

    We can also not forget in a hurry, the alliance between the AD and APP for the 1999 Presidential Election which pitched Chief Olu Falae, as the joint presidential candidate of the two parties, against Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP. The notable and significant difference between the past coalitions and the birth of APC is that, APC is an outright merger with all the parties involved dissolving into one block. – a welcome development that would impact positively on the nation’s polity, as a whole.

    As Chief Awolowo stated in his Thesis, the arrangement cannot be perfect at a go “The dialectic process represents principles of change and of progress: of progress from lower to higher, from part to whole, from the indeterminate to the determinate…The goal of the dialect procession is perfection; it aims at the perfection of all the virtues embodied in it. There are stages, epochs and eras in the dialectic process…”

    We should not expect perfection from the APC from the outset. Perfection would come with time. One prays that the party and its leaders would be able to go through the crucible successfully as the journey towards 2015 continues. This nation, at this point in time, is in dire need of a truly new breath of fresh air, a strong opposition party, an alternative to halt the slide towards a one-party-state, to save our ears from the sickening crackles of the groove repeating gramophone record that ‘we will rule for donkey years…

    • Akinyemi, journalist and public affairs analyst sent the piece via akinyemi ayo@yahoo.com

  • APC demands extension of date for council poll

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State has asked the State Independent National Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) to respond to its letter of August 22, 2013 from the party’s national secretariat, asking the electoral body to shift the September 21 local government election, to enable it participate.

    The Minority Leader in the House of Assembly, Mr. Alex Irek, in a statement in Calabar yesterday, said the umpire’s decision to disqualify the party on the basis that it was not up to 90 days old after its registration as stipulated by the electoral law, portrayed the body as “a bundle of contradictions.”

    His words: “That the chairman of CROSIEC said the basis of our disqualification is because we have not clocked 90 days after our registration speaks volumes about the honesty and transparency on the part of CROSIEC. For your information, what that relevant part of the electoral law applies to is for the election into the offices of the President, National Assembly, Governors, Houses of Assembly as well as Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory. It does not apply to states. CROSIEC turned the truth upside down when it further asserted that APC did not meet this requirement and so is automatically disqualified.

    “In any case, on July 17, the merging legacy parties (ACN, ANPP and CPC) sent a letter to CROSIEC, which was acknowledged, notifying it on the intention to merge. The merger was consummated on July 31. The questions are: 1. When do you start counting? In this regard, is it from the date of the notification or from the date of registration that the 90-day countdown begins? 2. Is the 90-day for merging or newly-registered parties? 3. Perhaps it is wise to look at Section 84(2) of the Electoral Act (2010) as amended.

  • Offa rerun: APC, PDP quarrel

    Ahead of tomorrow’s rerun in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state have accused each other of plotting to disrupt the election.

    The PDP alleged that it “uncovered a clandestine and dangerous plot by the APC to violently disrupt the election”.

    But a chieftain of the APC in the state, Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN), described the allegation as baseless and false.

    Belgore addressed reporters on Wednesday in Offa during a campaign rally for the APC chairmanship candidate, Prince Saheed Popoola.

    He said: “The allegation is false. There is absolutely no basis for it. While would a party that is popular want to disrupt an election? Where has that been ever done? If you are popular and you know you are going to win in a free and fair contest, why would you want to disrupt the election? It is totally false allegation. I see it as perhaps the PDP laying the foundation for what they are probably planning.”

    On the allegation that the APC cannot participate in tomorrow’s poll, the senior lawyer said: “It is extremely infantile. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) no longer exists; APC now exists. The process as to when a political party can stand for an election is very clear; it is written in plain language. Everybody can read it. You don’t have to be a lawyer. But again, what manner of government would be raising this kind of issue? It is only an unpopular government that feels threatened by a party in opposition.

    “A party that has been in power for 14 years should have no problems with an opposition party emerging and contesting an election. But I can tell you that these people are so shameless that all they want to do is to disenfranchise everybody so that at the end of the day it will be their own very fractious and ailing machinery that is left to contest the election against the will of the Nigerian people.

    “We have the people; we have the support. The people will turn out en masse. The people will be there in a lawful and orderly manner to await the rest of the process.

    “This is because the voting is just one process. There is the counting and there is the collation and there is the announcement. The people will be there at every stage in accordance with the law: it is pure and simple. If the PDP people are confident enough, then they should do the same thing.”

    Popoola said: “The people of Offa are ready for this election. The only thing we need is tight security. That is why we have written a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan. We don’t want our community to go up in flames. We don’t want a situation where some people will rig and our community will be in problems. We love our community; we don’t have any other than this place.

    “Contesting the election is because it has been ordered by a court of law. That is why we are contesting. We have seen the desperation of the PDP and the state government. If it were a normal election, we might decide to boycott it, but it’s because it was ordered by a court of law. We don’t have any option than to participate. I want to assure you that the ratio will be 10 to one. The only advice I have for our people is for them to come out en masse and fear nobody.

    “Sincerely speaking, Offa Local Government is just like Israel in the Bible. God will see us through.”

    PDP spokesperson Mash’ud Adebimpe said: “As a law-abiding party, we wish to alert the public and the good people of Offa to be wary of uninvited guests and visitors who may disguise as election monitoring team members and observers before and during the election.”

  • Imo students endorse APC

    Over 500 students at the weekend in Owerri, the Imo State capital, endorsed the All Progressives Congress (APC), noting that the progressives will turn Nigeria around to achieve its potential greatness.

    The students, under the aegis of APC Students Support Group, said they are dumping the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for APC.

    At a meeting of the Southeast APC Students Support Group, the former Chairman of the PDP Students’ Roundtable, Ugochukwu Chinedum, said 14 years of PDP rule has not improved the lives of the people.

    He said: “We have watched and followed developments in APC. We discovered that it is on course with the agenda to rescue Nigeria from its present sorry state.

    “We believe that if Nigeria must be better, we must also show that by our action. We are happy with the initiatives of the leadership of APC Students Support Group (APC-SSG) led by Imo State Youth Ambassador, Godstime Chukwubuikem Samuel and his team.”

  • ‘APC is vehicle for change’

    ‘APC is vehicle for change’

    Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has described the All Progressive Congress (APC) as a vehicle for social change. He said that the leaders of the party will use their ingenuity to effect social change in the country.

    He spoke at the meeting of the party in Abuja last week. Oshiomhole said those opposed to the formation of the party resorted to blackmail by saying that it is not different from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    He the leaders of the party had demonstrated commendable courage at different times. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), he said, enthrenched the culture of discipline in Nigeria, with the introduction of the War Against Indiscipline (WAI).

    He also recalled that, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo withdrew the security aides of former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, he still ruled the state successfully.

    Oshiomhole said the former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, stood against all odds to sweep away the ruling party from the state.

    He also said that the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, laid the foundation, which now makes the commission a dreaded organisation.

    Governor Oshiomhole claimed that he has effected a huge political change by defeating the acclaimed political godfather of the state.

    “I have mentioned only these few names just to remind Nigerians that we have within the APC family tested and trusted materials, which is the main difference between us and other people.

    “But, let me also mention that when we talk about change, we want to change from a nation that relies on import to a nation that wants to produce; from a nation that sees the youths as a burden, to a nation that sees the youths as valued assets. We want to bring value to the quality of our human capital, rather than sheer number of our population.”

    Oshiomhole said that, since the people own the power, APC must be connected to them.

    “Allow me to congratulate the leaders of the three parties. And of course, the elders of the three parties that have come to form the APC and as well as my brother, who brought the authentic APC.

    “ To use the word change, as a slogan, means it is something that has been properly thought over and carefully chosen. Therefore, you must go around for you to properly educate and sensitise our people. There have been all kinds of write-ups and analysis .

    “We are different from others, if we are not different, we will have no reason to ask for change. They asked, who are our leaders and why should we be trusted? And I think, for all of you, who have come from different areas of the 774 local government areas, you have a message for them. From the ANPP, we have Modu Sheriff, we have Yerima . And for those with memory, you know that it requires courage, energy, conviction and vision for Yerima to be able to uproot certain forces in Zamfara; for him to assume the governorship of that state at a time when PDP badly wanted to take over Zamfara State.

    “So, can we question the capacity of Yerima to drive change from that part of the country? Modu has lectured us that his life is synonymous with opposition. He has demonstrated that he doesn’t want to go with the wind in the areas of what he believes in. It takes courage, honour and conviction to choose to be different, even if that means to be isolated. Is that not a demonstration of character?

    Oshimhole described Buhari as a man who made remarkable inpression in Nigerian during the short period he led the country. According to him, Buhari has demonstarted what it means to lead by example.

    “We have here a man who is respected, acknowledged appreciated across the 36 states of the Federation, a former Head of State, who showed that it is not how many months you rule, but what difference you make in power. Gen Muhammed Buhari demonstrated that Nigeria’s case is not hopeless; that when the leader is disciplined, the people will follow.

    “Under six months, Nigeria under Buhari learnt how to queue, how to behave and how to respect the rights of the poor. So, you can see some coordinated attempts to demonise some of our most outstanding leaders with enormous electoral value. Therefore, when you go back and they ask the question, you must ask them to remember the General for the difference that he made”.

    On Tinubu, who was unavoidably absent at the Abuja meeting, Oshiomhole said, in him, the party has a good fighter for the cause he believes in. “This morning, we are not privileged to have Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu here. We must remind ourselves that in Tinubu, we have a fighter. A man, who stood against a General and defeated him with bare hands. They were determined to take over Lagos. They changed the commissioner of police, INEC, electoral officers and they withdrew his ADC and yet, he defeated them in the battle for political supremacy. He used the power of the energy, creativity and the doggedness of a man to defeat those who were armed with armoured vehicles. In him, we have a fighter that we can depend on for change.”

    He said he had to mention a few names in the APC to tell the world that in the APC, there are leaders who have been tested and trusted.

    “ I only mentioned these few names, just to remind Nigerians that we have within the family of APC, tested and trusted materials to make the difference between us and other people.