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Tag: chieftain

  • Akume mourns ACN chieftain

    The Senate Minority Leader, George Akume, has commiserated with the family of the late Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Vice-Chairman (Southeast), Chudi Nwike.

    Nwike (61) was abducted on the Auchi–Abuja road on March 19 and his body was discovered in Agbor, Delta State, on April 9.

    In a statement yesterday, Akume said: “I feel very shocked, concerned and disheartened by the murder of the ACN vice-chairman by suspected kidnappers.

    “His death is indeed a great loss to all of us and his fatal travail in the hands of hoodlums further highlight our security inadequacies as a nation.

    “This is a sad but obvious indication of how vulnerable we all are wherever we may be in Nigeria and this does not portray us as a people who believe or attach importance to the sanctity of life.

    “We should not hesitate to condemn these barbaric acts but more importantly, we should challenge the security outfits to stop paying a lip-service to security issues.

    “I condole with the family of the deceased, the ACN and indeed all Nigerians.”

  • APC best for the country, says APGA chieftain

    APC best for the country, says APGA chieftain

    Former Kwara State All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate Alhaji Bala Lade has said that the birth of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is in the national interest.

    He said the ambition of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rule the country for the next 60 years has hit the rock.

    Lade told The Nation that the merger of the major opposition parties will changed the political calculation as the country prepares for 2015 polls. into APC as welcome development for the state.

    He said: “The coming on board of the APC is a welcome development. It is a welcome development in the sense that, where there is no strong opposition, the people take governance for granted. They take people for granted. I consider the merger as a blessing for the state and the nation in general. For those that are not performing now, they have to wake up to do more and for those that have been performing, they have to do more so that people will not change to other parties. As an individual, I consider it as a very good development for the country.

    “This government is about two years. People are watching. If they are not satisfied, we will not be too surprised, if people change to the new party. Change is the only constant thing in life. No party can hold on the reins of power for life. It is not acceptable anywhere. The only way that can happen is when people are enjoying the dividends of democracy.

    “Nigerian democracy is 13 years old now; people are beginning to understand what politics is all about. They are beginning to know what good governance is all about. A lot of serious people are beginning to join politics to offer their services. The time of ‘we can have it our way’ is gradually fading away. We thank God for that.”

    On the ideological differences among the politicians that formed the APC, the politician said: “We have every reason to give meaning to issues when they arise. For any serious person that desires a change, or progress for the country and for the state or the local area, we forget about our personal aspirations. Before they decided to form a merger, the people who are political juggernauts in their own right, would have put their personal aspirations behind them.

    “It is being said that General Buhari may drop his ambition. If the major people are dropping their ambition for the success of the party, then, others will borrow a leaf from them.

    “It is in this part of the world that you get elected or appointed into office and people jubilate. It should be a kind of sober reflection period for the elected or appointed because it is a big challenge on his shoulders. Here, we celebrate it because corruption is all pervasive.”

     

  • ACN chieftain saysAPC will end misrule

    ACN chieftain saysAPC will end misrule

    The proposed merger of four major opposition parties in the country has been described as the only panacea to preventing the advent of dictatorship and years of alleged misrule by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of the country.

    This was the view of a prominent leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Lagos State, Chief Livinus Okwara, during an interview with The Nation on Friday.

    Expressing optimism that the newly-formed All Progressives Congress (APC) will right the several wrongs of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when it gets into power in 2015, Okwara lamented the failure of the PDP to improve the plight of Nigerians since it was entrusted with the leadership of the country since 1999.

    He added that the situation has led to the spate of insecurity, which he noted was as a result of the alarming unemployment rate in the country. He said, “What has PDP achieved since it came into power in 1999? In the past, stealing of millions by government officials was viewed as obscene, but the situation now is that people have graduated from stealing millions to billions and trillions without the government having the will to put a stop to it.”

    Okwara, who is the proprietor of Rimax Institute, Lagos, stressed that now is the time for Nigerians to vote in the progressives to take charge of the affairs of the country, since the country in his views has continued to fare badly under the control of the conservatives since independence.

    He noted, “Conservatives by their nature do not care much about the welfare of the common man unlike the progressives whose cardinal policy is the upliftment of the standard of living of the people.

    A veteran politician, who was a member of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the defunct Second and Third Republic respectively, Okwara advised the leaders of the merging political parties to commence without delay the enlightenment of Nigerians on the ideology of APC.

    “Now is the time to start educating the people on the values and ideology of the new party. They (leaders) should not make their discussions a secret thing. The change APC wants to effect in the country should go down to the grass root, because Nigerians are tired of the misrule of the PDP,” Okwara said.

  • How to tackle insecurity, by CPC chieftain

    How to tackle insecurity, by CPC chieftain

    A chieftain of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Lagos State, Otunba Niyi Raheem, has expressed concern over the insecurity in the country. He asked President Goodluck Jonathan to set up a national emergency line similar to the “999” of the United States of America.

    Raheem, a former House of Representatives candidate in Agege Constituency, said that no country can make progress in the absence of security.

    He said: “It is important for our security wellbeing that such a number should be localised so that people can have access to emergency and law enforcement agencies. It will help in pre-empting crimes before committal and assist in tracking criminals. It is not a bad idea to try the special number”.

    Raheem also described security as a joint responsibility, urging the people to cooperate with the government to nip it in the bud. He advised the youths to shun violence, stressing that it is counter-productive.

    The politician appealed to the perpetrators of dastardly acts to desist from wrecking havoc. He said: “Growth, progress and development of any nation are only possible in an atmosphere of peace.”