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Tag: Atiku Abubakar

  • PDP won’t lose sleep over Atiku’s US visa row, say party chieftains

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will not lose sleep over the unresolved bid by the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to obtain a visa to travel to the United States.

    Prominent chieftains of the PDP who spoke with our correspondent yesterday dismissed the visa row as a non-issue, saying the party has left the matter for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to be fixated with.

    One of the party chieftains, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity on grounds that the PDP leadership might have a different view, said the matter has been put in abeyance.

    The source said: “As far as some of us are concerned, the hoopla over US visa for Atiku has been taken off the discussion table because we don’t want it to become a source of distraction to the party.

    “In the first place, we are working to elect a suitable President for Nigeria and not a President for the United States, so those who want to spend their time debating Atiku’s visa application can continue to entertain themselves.

    “What I can tell you is that the PDP as a party has moved ahead because we don’t believe that winning the 2019 presidential election would have nothing to do with getting a US visa.”

    Another party chieftain who did  not want to be quoted said the issue of Atiku’s US visa has become a lazy talk, adding that for now, the party was busy with its campaign strategies and had little time for such distraction.

    He said: “For how long are we going to dwell on a matter that is personal to Atiku as if traveling to America will win the election for our party and candidate?

    “As far as some of us are concerned, securing a visa to America won’t win the election for Atiku so we remain unfazed by the matter.”

    In his reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said Atiku remained a global citizen, wondering how many US Presidents are given condition to visit Nigeria as part of requirements for their office.

    Stressing that traveling to the US is not one of the conditions for anyone to become the President of Nigeria, he recalled that the late President Umaru Yar ‘Adua never travelled to the United States before he became President in 2007.

    In a veiled reference to President Muhammadu Buhari’s frequent medical trips abroad, Ologbondiyan said: “Nigerians don’t need a President that will go and stay in the United Kingdom for several months and wasting the country’s resources in the process.

    “Nigerians have never elected their presidents based on whether they have US or UK visas. And our Presidents are not elected on the basis that their actions and inactions should divide Nigerians along ethnic and religious lines like we have today.

    “Let the APC continue to be fixated on whether or not Atiku will be given a US visa. What we are telling Nigerians is that we have a candidate that is coming to fix our nation.

    “We have a candidate that is coming to address the suffering, devastation, killings, hunger, deprivation; a candidate that will correct the present strangulating economic indices which the APC has foisted on Nigerians.”

  • APC plots to rig election, PDP alleges

    The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has again accused President Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of plots to rig the 2019 elections.
    At a media briefing in Abuja on Friday, spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, alleged frenzied desperation to foist President Buhari back on Nigerians against the wish of the majority.
    Ologbondiyan said, “Having realized that there is no way they can win in a credible, free and fair presidential election, the Buhari Presidency and the APC, in cahoots with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), have been engaged in series of provocative machinations aimed to corrupt the electoral process, trigger violent dissentions and ultimately derail our democratic process.
    “You will recall that on Thursday, the PDP vehemently rejected the plots by INEC and the Presidency to rig the election by creating illegal polling centres in Chad and Niger Republic, under the guise of ‘special arrangement’ for displaced Nigerians in those countries to participate in the presidential election.

    “The PDP had exposed the plot to use such illegal centres for allocation of fictitious votes, massive ballot stuffing, voting by aliens, underage and unregistered persons to pull millions of fictitious votes in favour of President Buhari.

    “Having been busted, INEC beat a retreat only to invent a fresh ruse by announcing that the ‘special arrangement’ would only be for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) within the shores of Nigeria, while secretly retaining the illegal offshore voting plot”.

    Read Also: APC to PDP: Nigeria more secured under Buhari’s govt

    The party spokesman said intelligence available to the PDP indicated that instead of the open offshore voting centres, the Presidency had directed INEC to circumvent the checks by secretly opening illegal voting centres at the desert fringes and remote border lines with Chad and Niger, and use them to achieve its original plans to rig the presidential election.

    According to the main opposition party, part of the plot is to use the illegal remote centres, which will not have functional Smart Card Readers, to allow unchecked voting by aliens, and underage persons as well as provide the unlimited latitude for criminal allocation of fictitious votes for President Buhari and the APC.

    The PDP also alleged plots to compromise security personnel operating in the affected areas to provide official cover for the rigging plot.

    Continuing, the PDP said, “Furthermore, it is instructive to inform Nigerians that, as part of the Buhari Presidency’s rigging plot, INEC has been instructed to deploy defective Smart Card Readers to IDP camps, particularly in some strategic northern states, to pave way for direct manipulations, including alteration of voter register and voting by unregistered persons, particularly, with the foreclosure of incident forms for manual accreditation.

    “This grand plot to rig is the essential reason President Muhammadu Buhari has deliberately refused to sign the amendments to the Electoral Act, which among other things checked manual manipulation by insisting on the use of card readers for biometric accreditation of voters and elimination of over-voting.

    “It is clear that the Buhari Presidency is desperate to re-enact the same rigging scenario, which, in 2015, allowed 13.5 million unauthorized persons to participate in the presidential election, paving the way for the illegal allocation of millions of fictitious votes to President Buhari and we urge Nigerians to unite in condemnation of this ignoble scheme.

    “The PDP therefore rejects, as completely deceptive, the untenable assurances and lip service by this overtly compromised INEC that it can deliver a credible election without an across-the-board biometric accreditation of voters and the use incidence form.

    “Our party completely rejects the plan by INEC to substitute biometric accreditation with manual verification on self-recognition and thumbprint on the voters register.

    “Such primitive method of accreditation only opens the way for unlimited rigging, multiple, underage and alien voting, as well as ballot stuffing which will afford President Buhari and the APC to manipulate themselves back to power against the wish of majority of Nigerians.

    “The PDP, therefore in very unambiguous term, cautions INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu not to be used to set our nation on fire but to immediately retrace its steps and untangle itself from the wicked scheme of the APC as Nigerians will never allow them to have their way.

    “For the purposes of emphasis, the PDP rejects all forms of fraudulent “special arrangements” tailored to rig this election. Our party insists that elections must only hold in statutorily designated polling centers across our country.

    “The PDP and indeed, Nigerians are not ready to accept any fabricated result from any illegal polling center created to assist President Buhari to rig the election.

    “This is essentially because all IDP camps in our country fall within the catchment area of an already delineated polling unit. Therefore any individual who is displaced from his original area of registration is at liberty to have his registration transferred to an exiting statutory polling center near his or her IDP camp of residence. This is a provision that is clear to all, including the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

    “The whole world has now seen that the only reason President Buhari has refused to sign the Electoral Act is because he knows that there is no way he can win in a peaceful, credible, free and fair election. President Buhari is not ready for elections. His only hope in contesting the election is getting INEC and security forces to assist him and the APC to rig.

    “For PDP, our party and Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, are ready for the election but we caution INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to note that by playing the Buhari/APC rigging script, it is running on collusion course with the people.

    “This anti-democratic tendency may attract dire consequences as Nigerians are now, more than ever before, ready, willing and resolute to take back their country from the incompetent, divisive and arrogantly corrupt Buhari administration, come 2019.  Enough is Enough”.

  • Atiku signs peace accord, urges Buhari to sign Electoral bill

    Former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Amendment Bill into law if he is sincere about having a free, fair and credible 2019 general elections. 

    Abubakar expressed concern about the forthcoming election adding that the only way to ensure a free and fair polls is for government to be fair to all political parties and stakeholders involved. 

    He said spoke on Wednesday in Abuja after signing the Peace Accord by the National Peace Committee, chaired the by a former Military Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar. 

    Atiku promised to play by the rules and remain committed to a free, fair and credible election.

     “We are committed to a free, peaceful, fair and credible elections and we have always said that and we believe in that. I am a democrat. I was never converted. I fought the military to return this country to a democracy.

    “However the best way to guaranty peace in any election or any human interaction is to ensure manifest justice to all.

    “I am delighted that President Muhammadu Buhari have agreed to sign this peace accord. But we want to appeal to him to also sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. Mr. President needs to understand that as long as he refuses to sign this bill, we will have doubts that this government is thoroughly committed to free, fair and credible elections.”

    The peace accord document read by the Director of Kukah Center, Fr. Atta Barkindo, stipulates that political parties pledge to run issue-based campaigns at national, state and local government levels.

    ” In this, we pledge to refrain from campaigns that will involve religious incitement, ethnic or tribal profiling, both by ourselves and by all agents acting in their names; party, any public statements, pronouncements, declarations or speeches that have the capacity to incite any form of violence, before, during and after the elections.

    It reads in parts:”We, the undersigned Presidential candidates of the under-Iisted politica| parties for the forth-coming elections in February 2019 have attended a one-day Conference in Abuja under the auspices of the National Peace Committee, NPC. 

    “In the course of the Conference, we listened and discussed extensively on the need to ensure that we politicians create a favourable and conducive environment for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in 2019. Furthermore, we discussed the theme of Trust as a key ingredient in the conduct of our affairs. In the end, we have resolved to adopt the same principles that guided the very successful 2015 Elections and therefore commit ourselves to the following;

    “To commit ourselves and political parties to the monitoring of the adherence to this Accord by a National Peace Committee made up of respected statesmen and women, traditional and religious leaders; 

    “To support all institutions of government including INEC and the security agencies to act and be seen to act with impartiality; 

    “To forcefully and publicly speak out against provocative utterances and oppose all acts of electoral violence whether perpetuated by our supporters and/or opponents.”

    The Chairman of the National Peace Committee, Abdulsalami Abubakar apologised to Nigerians on behalf of the PDP for not being absent at the Tuesday’s signing with President Muhammadu Buhari emphasizing that everyone is committed to a peaceful election in 2019.

    The Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus also signed his part of the peace accord document.

  • 2019: Buhari, Atiku, others to sign Peace Accord

    President Muhammadu Buhari and other presidential candidates, including Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are to sign Peace Accord to ensure smooth conduct of 2019 general elections.

    The event, slated for International Conference Centre, Abuja, on Tuesday at 3.0 p.m is being organised by the National Peace Committee.

    The committee is headed by former Military Head of State, retired Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.

    The Peace Accord is an undertaking by all the presidential candidates to ensure peaceful and rancor free campaigns before, during and after the 2019 general elections.

    Read Also: Buhari: why I defeated Jonathan in 2015

    The candidates are also expected to avoid hate speech, fake news or any act capable of causing socio-political unrest in the country.

    The leadership of the affected political parties as well as the Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) are also expected to grace the event.

    Other presidential candidates expected to sign the peace agreement include: Mr Donald Duke-Social Democratic Party (SDP); Mr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim- Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Mr Omoyele Sowore-African Action Congress (AAC) and Mrs Obi Ezekwesili- Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN).

    Others are Dr Obadiah Mailafia-African Democratic Congress (ADC); Prof. Kingsley Moghalu – Young Progressive Party (YPP); Pastor Chris Okotie – Fresh Democratic Party (FDP) retired Major Hamza Al-Mustapha-Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN).

    Habib Gajo-Young Democratic Party (YDP); retired Maj- Gen. John Gbor – All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA); Ali Soyode-YES Party and Dr Davidson Akhimien-Grassroots Development Party of Nigeria (GDPN) are also expected to sign the Peace Accord.

  • Secondus alleges plots to arrest Atiku, Obi, Saraki, Dogara

    The national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus has raised the alarm, alleging plots by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest some key leaders of the opposition party on trump up charges.

    Secondus listed the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar; his running mate, Peter Obi; President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and other leaders of the party as some of those marked for arrest.

    In a statement issued on Monday by Secondus media aide, Ike Abonyi, the party chairman warned that the country would explode any moment if the EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu continued with such impunity.

    Alleging plots to prefer frame up charges against the PDP chieftains, the main opposition party chairman further warned that the country is presently sitting on a gunpowder.

    Prince Secondus further cautioned the EFCC chairman, saying that he won’t get away with the hatchet job he has taken upon himself by using instruments of state to harass and intimidate opposition figures.

    Regretting that Magu has made himself a willing tool for oppression, Secondus said available intelligence indicated that the EFCC chairman was working in cahoots with some prominent chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    “They are presiding over clandestine meetings and developing strategies for the APC, which is aimed at caging and crushing critical leaders of the opposition”, Secondus said.

    The party chairman said aside arrest and detention of the targeted opposition leaders, their family members and business associates have also been lined up for intimidation and harassment, including freezing their business interests and their bank accounts.

    He described as an afterthought fabrication, the EFCC’s statement that the two sons of Atiku, whose residence was raided by operatives on the Commission on Saturday, were not the target of the raid.

    Prince Secondus recalled the security search on Atiku on November 11, when he arrived in the country from Dubai, saying the country has gone into full blown dictatorship.

    “After that embarrassment and harassment which was aimed at intimidating the candidate and nothing incriminating was found on him, no apology was extended to him as a former number two citizen.

    “They followed it up with the freezing of the bank accounts of our vice presidential candidate as well as that of his friends and family members as part of a large scheme to keep the party distracted from its focus of regaining power in 2019”, the statement added.

    The PDP chairman said the script being played by the ruling party was meant to bring key opposition leaders to their knees, with a view to grounding them, framing them up and putting them behind bars before the 2019 elections.

    He called on all lovers of democracy and rule of law, especially the international community to rein in President Muhammadu Buhari, Magu and the APC to observe the tenets of democracy that respect the sanctity of the opposition and human rights.

     

  • PDP condemns EFCC’s invasion of Atiku’s sons residence

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organization (PPCO) has condemned Saturday’s raid on the Abuja residence of two sons of the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had raided the residence of Aliyu and Mustapha Abukakar early Saturday morning, an action the PDP described as vicious, outrageous, dirty and reprehensible.

    A statement Monday by the spokesman for the PDP Campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the operatives of the EFCC unleashed violence on the home of Atiku’s sons while the young men were away.

    Tye statement said, “The invasion of Aliyu and Mustapha Abubakar’s home, even in their absence, allegedly in search of imaginary cache of foreign currency, has further exposed how depraved the Buhari Presidency has descended in the desperate plot to harm, traumatize and malign the character of our presidential candidate and his family, having realised that Nigerians have aligned behind him as the next President of our country.

    “It is indeed appalling that the Buhari Presidency can now go as low as engaging in wicked politics of chasing after family members of a presidential candidate, who are neither government officials, government contractors nor involved in any underhand dealings, but young students pursuing their legitimate personal educational careers without ill will to anybody.

    “While nothing incriminating was found in the apartment, the PPCO has been made aware of how the squad, said to be acting on ‘orders from above’ ransacked the house and destroyed valuables belonging to Atiku’s children and we demand an explanation from the leadership of the EFCC.

    Read Also: 2019: Group advises Atiku

    “The PPCO completely rejects the wicked politics that the APC and the Buhari Presidency are importing into our polity. We hereby urge all Nigerians, particularly the youths, to rise in condemnation of these vicious acts.

    “Only last month, a special security squad of army, police and paramilitary agencies was unleashed to physically harass our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, at the Abuja airport, upon his return from Dubai

    “Similarly, last week, all transactions in bank accounts belonging to PDP Vice Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, his wife, his family members and their businesses were stopped by agencies of the Buhari Presidency on account of imaginary investigation.

    “Nigerians are already aware of how opposition leaders and others perceived to be averse to the President Buhari’s re-election bid, on account of his woeful performance in office, are being blackmailed and framed up with spurious charges.

    “President Buhari should note that, as an opposition presidential candidate from 2003 to 2015, none of his children or family members were in anyway attacked or victimized by the government in power. He should stop importing such vicious underhand tactics into our political hemisphere.

    “Finally, the PPCO counsels the APC and the Buhari Presidency to come to terms with the fact that Nigerians have moved beyond them and that no amount of intimidation, harassment or attack on our candidates, leaders and their families will stop Nigerians from voting them out of office, come 2019 and electing our candidate, Atiku Abubakar”.

  • 2019: Edo PDP tasks leaders on ward campaigns

    The Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State has told its leaders to commence campaigns at various wards and local government areas in the state.
    It said the 2019 election is not about the PDP or the APC but about Nigerians calling for a change so that they could have the dividends of democracy.
    State Chairman of the PDP,  Chief Dan Orbih stated this at the flagging off campaign rally at Afuze, Owan East Local government.
    Orbih said the APC has failed to deliver on the campaign promises made to Edo people and Nigerians.

    Read Also: PDP presents Ogun governorship flag to Adebutu

    He urged the people to campaign for the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
    According to him,  “Let us take seriously the challenge before us,  so that,  as we prepare for the elections,  we must defend  the interest of the people which is the primary obligation of the PDP.
    “It is not only where you vote but where results will be collated and be ready to defend your votes. I here by declare the campaign flagg-off”
    ” It is now for the PDP leaders to take the  campaigns from local government to wards by ward, units by units because we need total grassroots mobilization  to ensure victory for our party,” Orbih said.
    About 2500 members of the APC defected to the PDP at the campaign.

  • 2019: Group promises 90 per cent votes for Atiku in Cross River

    Director General of `Atiku Shall Lead Nigeria 2019’, Mr Patrick Agida, has promised to deliver 90 per cent of Cross River State votes to the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in 2019.

    According to Agida, who spoke with reporters in Calabar, Atiku’s chances of getting over 90 per cent of the votes was premised on the sterling performance of Governor Ben Ayade.

    He said that the group which cuts across all the states in Nigeria was made up of people with great concern to canvass for massive votes for Atiku in 2019.

    According to him, the group had mobilized all its members across the country to polling units to ensure that Atiku’s votes are protected and counted.

    The DG said that the group seeks to make a change in leadership at the national level through the ballot in a free and fair election.

    Read Also: 2019: Group advises Atiku

    “Nigeria is facing serious challenges and we believe that we need capable hands that will move this country forward. As a political support group, we are going to give Atiku 90 per cent of the votes from Cross River.

    “This group is all over Nigeria. We have structures at the national, zonal, states, wards and units. We are all over Nigeria and knowing that it is only through the ballot box that our principal can win,’’ he said.

    He said that Atiku will improve the economy and provide security for all Nigerians if elected president, adding that with a better economy and security, every other sector in the country will be affected.

    He described Atiku as an employer of labour, saying that the former Vice President knows the appropriate government policies to use in promoting the economy if he becomes president.

    He urged security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission to be transparent and fair to all political parties during the conduct of the polls.

  • I am committed to Government of National Unity – Atiku

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, says he is committed to a Government of National Unity.

    Abubakar stated this on Friday in Abuja during his meeting with the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), an umbrella of over 45 political parties that endorsed him as their consensus presidential candidate.

    He said that PDP was a party that believed in the doctrine of Government of National Unity (GNU) and participation of many Nigerians irrespective of their political affiliations, since its formation as a political party in 1998.

    “I want to commit myself to the continuation of the doctrine of a GNU. We have a lot of work to do together. We should not go back and rest and say we have endorsed,” he said.

    The presidential candidate commended the CUPP for endorsing him as their candidate, describing the gesture as historic.

    “You have not taken a wrong decision because the PDP since we formed it in 1998, is a party that believes in national government,” he said.

    Speaking on the suggestion that elders should leave politics for the young, Abubakar said that democracy was not a process where one group replaced another but “a process where all groups participate”.

    “It is not a process where one group young or old, rich or poor excludes the other but a process where everybody participates.

    “So, when I hear young men say we are coming to replace our fathers, our uncles, our elder brothers and so on, I laugh.”

    The Senate President and the Director-General of Atiku Campaign Council, Sen. Bukola Saraki, called on the coalition to work hard to ensure victory for Abubakar.

    “We must be part of the process to usher in a new direction. The most important thing is that we want a change and a new direction,” Saraki said.

    An Elder Statesman, Chief Tom Ikimi, said that the journey was going to be difficult, but members of the CUPP were committed to it.

    The National Chairman of Kowa Party, Alhaji Saidu Bobboi, said that the party remained committed to CUPP and its decision on adoption of Abubakar as its presidential candidate.(NAN)

  • 2019: We are not part of Atiku’s endorsement – SDP

    The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has distanced itself from Wednesday’s endorsement of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar by Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) as consensus candidate for 2019 presidential election.

    SDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Mohammed Alfa who disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja, said the party already has a candidate, Mr Donald Duke whose name had been submitted to INEC for the 2019 election.

    Alfa said that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party would meet next week to take a position on the issue.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), on Wednesday announced that it had endorsed Atiku, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the 2019 presidential election.

    Mr Ikenga Ugochinyere, spokesman of the group who announced the endorsement, said Atiku is the coalition’s consensus candidate.

    The SDP publicity secretary however said that the attention of the party had been drawn to the statement issued on the endorsement.

    “We want to enjoin the general public, SDP faithful, especially all our candidates to carry on with their campaigns effectively, irrespective of the development.

    “We assure you that the SDP National Working Committee (NWC) will meet and issue appropriate statement on the matter next week.

    The SDP is one of the 39 opposition parties that formed CUPP in July 2018 with the aim of producing a presidential candidate that can defeat the ruling party All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2019 election with the aim of forming a government of national unity.