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Tag: APCPCO

  • Presidency wants to ground my campaign, backers, says Buhari

    Presidency wants to ground my campaign, backers, says Buhari

    The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO)  yesterday alleged plan by the Presidency to ground all aircraft being used by the party’s presidential  candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari,  as part of a grand plot to cripple his campaign.

    Also being targeted for freezing by the authorities, according to APCPCO are the  bank accounts of stalwarts of the party.

    The  Director, Media and Publicity of the campaign team, Mallam Garba Shehu,   said in a statement that the move  to destabilise Buhari might  not be unconnected with  the massive  global attention on the APC  after Buhari’s sterling  performance at Chatham House, London last  Thursday.

    Shehu described the Presidency’s alleged plot as desperate, anathema, criminal and inimical to the nation’s  nascent democracy and civilised human behaviour.

    But he vowed that any such move “will be foiled by the citizens who have taken over the movement of change as symbolised by General Muhammadu Buhari.”

    He added that the authorities plan to “use the Aviation Ministry and the secret arm of the Security Service to hound and clampdown on members of the APC, by prospecting obnoxious means that would ground private jets belonging to senior members of our party, in order to halt and slow down Buhari’s world-acclaimed phenomenal popularity as President-in-waiting.

    Shehu added, “There is also a plot to block or freeze the bank accounts of APC chieftains like Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Rotimi Amaechi (Director General of APC Presidential Campaign Organisation), and other prominent leaders believed to be funding the General’s campaign; and availing him their aircraft for electioneering purposes.”

    Shehu recalled  that private jets conveying APC Governors including Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, had in the past being either prevented from taking-off or landing during crucial political occasions, particularly during  the run up to the last governorship election in Ekiti State.

    The organisation  regretted what it called PDP’s descent into  the abyss in its desperate bid to retain power, stressing that the party has become so delusional that it now fabricates outright lies to blackmail and denigrate the APC and its presidential candidate and his running mate  Prof Yemi Osinbajo,all in an attempt   to divert attention from the mess it has created in every facet of lives in the country.

    He cited how the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), an appointee of the President, used his office to do a counter-affidavit and supporting written address to  give tacit approval to a nocturnal group’s desire to truncate the use of card reader in the coming elections.

    He said: “an online news blog, Sahara reporters, made copious public display of the two documents; the AGF, in doing a volte face, denied giving authorization to the staff members of his Office in that ignoble service to the Nigerian state.

    “A patriotic Nigerian soldier, Captain Sagir Koli, had done a painstaking and elaborate audio recording of the meeting in which the Presidential order for the rigging of the 22nd June, 2014 Ekiti governorship election in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was handed down.

    “Among the people present at the meeting were: Mr. Ayo Fayose, the greatest beneficiary of the nefarious rigging plot, Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro as the Minister of state for Defence, Brigadier-General Aliyu Momoh, the commander of 32nd Artillery Brigade, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan, Minister for Police Affairs, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, PDP governorship candidate for Osun State.

    “Meanwhile, Ayo Fayose, Jelili Adesiyan and Musiliu Obanikoro had variously made statements in attesting to the veracity of the nocturnal meeting; President Goodluck Jonathan, pressured to probe the incident, peremptorily foreclosed such investigative check when he said ‘If someone comes up with a spurious allegation that has no substance and the person disappears, of course, what do you want me to do?’

    “Obviously, this President is not mindful of his oath of allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria! The evidence of audio recording with the available technology can be used to ascertain the truth about the plot, regardless the presence or absence of the source of it. Apparently, the President, caught in the act of ordering an electoral heist, is unwilling to initiate a probe that will indict and incriminate him.

    “The Director of Communication for the PDP Presidential Campaign, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said with uncanny impudence that the APC Vice Presidential candidate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, was made to agree to an oath to resign six months after and allow Senator Bola Tinubu, in the event that APC wins the Presidential election.

    “Quite evidently, this piece of bunkum was meant to vitiate the integrity of our respected Vice Presidential candidate by the band of dishonourable politicians in the PDP. We state, without any iota of equivocation, that this is untrue and unfounded.

    “We have shown these examples of the PDP-led Presidency’s conduct in desperately laying hold at straw despite the rejection of the Nigerian people, ahead of the general elections. The resort to deliberate falsehood and unfounded allegations represent the PDP-led Presidency’s unmistakable beclouding of the campaign issues of the forthcoming election.”

  • Shekau order: APC alleges plot to blackmail Buhari

    Shekau order: APC alleges plot to blackmail Buhari

    Insurgents ‘posing as women in Baga’

    THERE is a plot to frame up Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as a Boko Haram sponsor, the APC Presidential Camapaign Organisation (APCPCO) said yesterday.

    The proof lies in the Federal Government’s order to troops to capture alive Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

    A fake Shekau, said the APCPCO, will be made to state that he is working for Buhari, the APC’s presidential candidate.

    But, said the organisation, it is all blackmail because:

    •the military has claimed several times that Shekau has been killed; and

    •Gen. Buhari was attacked in Kaduna by suspected Boko Haram bombers who killed some of his guards.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the general elections from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11 because the Service Chiefs said they could not gurantee security. They needed six weeks, they said, to wipe out the Boko Haram insurgency. Shekau issued a video tape in which he lampooned the plan to defeat him.

    The APC campaign said in a statement signed by its Director, Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, that the directive to soldiers to capture Shekau alive is a ploy by the government to claim glory for winning the war on terrorism.

    He said that “the charge to the military, that they should catch Shekau alive by the President in the last 24 hours lends credence to the report that indeed a fake Shekau is about being created.”

    The statement argued that the profile of the leader of the insurgents as a dedicated ideologue presupposes that the man is not likely to allow himself to be caught alive.

    “It is both contradictory to the ideology he preaches and the psychological profile that the world has of him that Shekau would allow himself to be caught alive,” it added.

    According to the statement, the attack in Kaduna on Gen. Buhari was seen and believed by most Nigerians as perpetrated by the Boko Haram. “The police that is constitutionally empowered to investigate and report on such incidents has not contradicted the widespread belief that this was a Boko Haram attack,” APCPCO said, adding:

    “The view of the APC is that it does not make sense for General Muhammadu Buhari to be in league with, or be associated in any way with people who have set out to kill him.”

    Shehu advised the government to listen to the various counsel from international bodies and lately by religious leaders that campaigns must be about issues and not maligning people, adding that “unfounded allegations linking the opposition to insurgency amounts to leaving the issues to pursue personal attacks as warned against, barely 24 hours ago by leaders of the Catholic Community through Arch. Bishop John Onaiyekan”.

    The APC Campaign said it was shocked, as other Nigerians by the President’s admission in a weekend newspaper interview that he had underestimated the Boko Haram challenge, arguing that any leader in that circumstance should not consider himself fit to seek re-election.

    Quoting President Jonathan’s recent confession that he underestimated Boko Haram, the APC presidential campaign said the admission was a direct evidence that the President has nothing to offer and must bow to the wind of change.

    President Jonathan is out of touch with the realities of the lethal challenges posed by global terrorism, including Boko Haram, which is believed to be affiliated to Al-Qaeda global terror network, Shehu said.

    Malam Shehu maintained that for any President to under-estimate terrorism, it means that he doesn’t take any national challenges seriously, including health, poverty, unemployment, power, education, infrastructure and other issues.

    He emphasised that with his admission, President Jonathan has passed a vote of no confidence on himself and his administration, adding that his confession underlines the imperative for change.

    Shehu said a President admitting his incompetence in tackling a mortal challenge to the security of Nigerians, he has no business seeking re-election or looking for excuses to delay elections.

  • 2015 polls: Soldiers’ deployment, mockery of democracy – APC

    The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organization (APCPCO) has faulted the proposed deployment of soldiers for the 2015 elections, describing it as a mockery of democracy.

    The organization said the act is alien to the nation’s constitution.

    The APCPCO said in a statement signed by its spokesman, Garba Shehu, that while it appreciates the readiness of the military to deploy troops for the elections, democracy and the military are not complementary as subjecting the fate of a democracy to the military is a coup against the people.

    Shehu said services of the military would be better utilised in other pressing areas, especially in the combat of insurgency and protection of the country’s territory integrity.

    He said the position of the campaign organization has become necessary following the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega’s assertion that the service chiefs will have to ratify the March 28 date for the presidential election in the country and the military’s expression of readiness to deploy troops for the polls.

    While calling on INEC to take cognizance of the courts’ ruling on the role of the military in elections and the military’s own commitment to deployment of troops for the elections, Shehu said “the idea of placing the fate of democracy in the hands of the military is not only alien to the Nigerian constitution, extant judicial pronouncements have clearly stipulated that the military has no duty to play in the conduct of elections.

    “We are not comfortable with any attempt to draft the military into election functions and are reassured by the declaration by President Goodluck Jonathan that the elections would hold as scheduled by INEC on March 28 and April 11.

    “We have carefully studied positions made by the INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday and we want to put it on record that we are not in any way comfortable with the idea that the military service chiefs will determine whether the March 28 date of the presidential election is feasible or not.

    “The concepts of democracy and the military are never complementary, and to say that the military will determine when an election will hold is antithetical to the very idea of democracy. It is akin to a coup against the people of Nigeria to subject the fate of our democracy in the hands of a few military service chiefs.

    “For the avoidance of any doubts, the APC presidential campaign organisation will not accept any attempt to subvert the electoral processes of democracy in the country,” the organization said.

  • Jonathan has failed Nigerians – APC

    The All Progressive Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has said the claim by President Goodluck Jonathan that four years are not enough to transform the country is a “double-mouthing” by a President who has failed to deliver on his own timeline.

    A statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity of the APCPCO, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Tuesday, said: “It is very imprudent of Mr. President to shift the goal post mounted by him in the middle of the game.

    “It was this same President Jonathan who said in 2010 that if he could not improve on the country’s power generation capacity within four years, then it means he could not do anything.

    “What was the president thinking about when he said: ‘Four years are enough for anyone to make significant improvement, and if I can’t improve on power within this period, then it means I cannot do anything.’

    “Nigerians expect that a President must own up to his own words and be responsible for his own beliefs.

    “There can only be one reason why President Jonathan is changing his own beliefs about what it takes to transform the country and that is because he is incompetent for the job.

    “Today, Nigerians are clamouring for change because, for six years the country has been led by a President who cannot give the people direction on how to stop corruption, how to provide security, create employment and provide infrastructure that will impact positively on the economy.

    “We have said it in the past and we will be repeating it that the 2015 election, more than anything is a referendum on the performance of President Jonathan. The President has not measured up to the least expectations of Nigerians and that is why they are earnestly waiting for February 14 to pass their verdict.

    “Whereas the Goodluck Jonathan administration has not been able to deliver on any of the promises the President made to Nigerians in 2010, the government under the President’s watch has surpassed every known boundaries on issues of corruption and impunity.

    “Let us remind the President that if truly Rome was not built in a day, Rome is also not built forever. The President has failed to deliver by his own timelines and he should patiently wait for Nigerians to pass their verdict over the incompetence of his administration.”

     

  • Silence on ceasefire with Boko Haram a disservice to Nigerians –APC

    The APC Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has said the long silence of the Federal Government on the phantom ceasefire agreement with Boko Haram insurgents reflected the unserious and unaccountable nature of the Nigerian government.

    It said the long silence on the issue was a disservice to the Nigerian people especially the families of the abducted schoolgirls.

    A statement signed by the organisation’s of Director Media and Publicity, said the APCPCO expressed concern that since the collapse of the phantom ceasefire with the Boko Haram insurgents, the Goodluck Jonathan administration has refused to talk about it, pretending that the passage of time would automatically make the issue to die a natural death.

    It said the government got it wrong with the curious silence over the botched deal, adding that “a democratic government should be open and accountable to the people.

    “Accountability is the dividing line between a dictatorship and a democratic government, but the Jonathan administration is behaving as if it owes Nigerians no explanations over the failed ceasefire deal.

    “For the sake of Nigerians who may have lost their recollection of this epic national scandal called a ceasefire deal with Boko Haram, it is important to quote the government officials and remind them of the promises they made to free the Chibok girls under that phantom truce.

    “On October 17, 2014, the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh excitedly told an expectant nation that a deal had been reached with Boko Haram, which included not only a ceasefire, but also the immediate release of the kidnapped Chibok girls within a week.”