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Tag: CNPP

  • Presidency under attack over shooting of senator

    Presidency under attack over shooting of senator

    Youths protest

    Senate calls for probe

    Tinubu, David-West, CNPP, MOSOP, others condemn police action

    There was outrage across the country yesterday over Sunday’s shooting of Senator Magnus Abe in Port Harcourt, Rivers State by policemen.

    The popular thinking was that Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu would not have ordered his men to visit violence on innocent citizens without the backing of the Presidency.

    Mbu said he ordered his men to smash a rally by the Save Rivers Movement (SRM) – a non-governmental body with affiliation to Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Tear gas canisters and rubber bullets were fired. Amaechi’s Chief of Staff Tony Okocha was hit in the leg. Abe was hit in the chest. He is believed to be receiving treatment in France, contrary to reports yesterday that he had been moved to Britain.

    The Senate called for a probe.

    Abe’s Ogoni kinsmen seized the East-West road in protest.

    APC leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Prof. Tam David-West, a Rivers indigene, and the conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) condemned the police action.

    There was no word from the police headquarters in Abuja.

    The leadership of the Senate condemned in “strong terms” Abe’s shooting by the police.

    In a statement by its spokesman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, the Senate “deplored the escalating political violence in Rivers State”. It urged Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar to probe the incident and ensure that it does not recur.

    The statement warned politicians to avoid overheating the polity and derailing the nation’s democracy.

    “The Senate particularly condemns the Sunday violence which resulted to injuries on a serving senator, Magnus Abe,” Abaribe stated.

    Abaribe said the “Senate is disturbed that what should have been a peaceful gathering turned violent, resulting in injuries”.

    He added: “On this score, the Senate associates itself with the admonition of President Goodluck Jonathan on his pronouncement to mark the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, wherein he warned that no Nigerian blood is worth spilling in the name of politics.

    “Consequently, the Senate urges the Inspector General of Police to investigate the latest incident and ensure that it never reoccurs.

    “In the same vein, the Senate advises politicians and their supporters to exercise greater restraint and avoid acts that will not only overheat the system but may harm the country’s democracy.”

    Prof. David-West, a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, expressed serious worry over the worsening political climate in Rivers State.

    The university don, who condemned the shooting, likened the political situation in the state to that of the Western Region in the First Republic which, he said, contributed to the outbreak of the civil war.

    David-West described Abe as a complete gentleman who does not deserve the treatment he got from the police.

    The former minister described the attack as “the lowest depth of indecency”.

    He said: “To attack somebody like that because of politics is the lowest depth of indecency. I am very ashamed as a Rivers man that all these are happening in my state. It is a great disservice to President Jonathan. Police are acting with impunity because they know they enjoy protection from the Presidency and the Inspector General of Police.

    “President Jonathan should remember what happened in the Western Region, which ultimately contributed to the civil war. Anybody who sits in Abuja and is happy should have a rethink. It is not good for the state. It is not good for the country. I am very worried. With what is happening, I see a very dark cloud stretching from the Niger Delta waters to the sands of the Sahara desert. The dark cloud could consume all of us if they do not stop.

    “If it does not stop, 2015 will be in jeopardy. We have never had politics this bad in Nigeria. There is politics of bitterness, ethnic problems and so.

    “Senator Abe is a very gentle man. He belongs to an ethnic group. By doing this, police and their backers are stoking the fire of trouble. They should stop,” he said.

    The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) promised to hold President Goodluck Jonathan responsible for the crisis in Rivers – if he does not intervene.

    The umbrella body of opposition parties was angry over the shooting of Abe and others: “in the presence of CP Mbu at a peaceful rally organised by the All Progressives Congress affiliate, Save Rivers Movement in Rivers State.”

    Jonathan, CNPP said, should as a matter of urgency order the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar to transfer Mbu out of Rivers.

    A statement in Abuja by the National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, said: “Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) calls on President Goodluck Jonathan to as a matter of urgent national importance to save our democracy by nipping in the bud the gathering storm in Rivers State. The first step is to post out of Rivers State Commissioner of Police Joseph Mbu, before it is too late.

    “For us, this is against police professional ethics and best practices, which means that CP Mbu had taken side, and, unfortunately, descended partially into the political arena; thereby breaching the law and enforcing a non-existing Police Permit Order.

    “CNPP wishes to remind the Nigeria Police Force that the Police Permit Order had been repealed by the Appeal Court, as an obnoxious colonial order, following a suit filed by the CNPP.

    “Accordingly, groups, associations and political parties are under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guaranteed freedom of association and assemblage; hence the duty of the police is to protect all and not to side any group.

    “We challenge President Jonathan to direct the Inspector General of the Police to post CP Joseph Mbu out of Rivers State; failing which we shall hold Mr President responsible for the do-or-die politics unfolding in Rivers State.”

  • You’ve been unfair to North, ACF, CNPP reply Jonathan

    You’ve been unfair to North, ACF, CNPP reply Jonathan

    Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State yesterday accused President Goodluck Jonathan of denying his state its dues in an apparent repudiation of the President’s Thursday declaration that he has been fair to all sections of the country.

    Governor Lamido said President Jonathan has breached the agreement he reached with the people of the state in the run-up to the 2011 election.

    The National Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr. Anthony Sani, also said there is sufficient evidence to show that capital provisions under the Jonathan administration “are skewed against the North.”

    The President, while receiving a PDP elders’ delegation from the North West on Thursday in Abuja, had dismissed as political blackmail allegations that he hates the North.

    “Sometimes, people say Jonathan is anti-North, he does not want to develop the North and sometimes they sell these ideas to people from outside,” Jonathan said.

    Governor Lamido told Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina who paid him a courtesy to visit in Dutse yesterday that the Jonathan Administration cannot boast of any project worth N25 million in the state despite the massive votes he got from the people in 2011.

    Contacted yesterday, the ACF spokesman, admitted that the Jonathan government has been fair to the North in the area of power supply with the provision of power plants in Zungeru and Mambila.

    But he was quick to add: “When you consider the capital provisions in the budgets under Mr.President zone by zone,you can hardly avoid the conclusion that they are skewed against the North.”

    The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) also did not take kindly to the President’s comment that he has nothing against the North.

    “We contend that Mr President hates the entire Nigerian masses both North and South,” the CNPP said in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu.

    He added: “The truth of the matter is that President Jonathan, by his inchoate and anti-peoples’ economic model, an economic policy which is at variance with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, hates the entire Nigerian masses, even those in Bayelsa.”

  • CNPP urges parties to boycott tomorrow’s poll

    The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has urged parties to boycott the supplementary poll scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for tomorrow in Anambra State.

    INEC said supplementary election would hold in 30 wards, following the irregularities, which marred the November 16 poll, resulting in the cancellation of over 113,000 validly-cast votes.

    CNPP, in a statement yesterday through its spokesman, Osita Okechukwu, enjoined parties to boycott the supplementary election “so as not to unwittingly legitimise an illegality.”

    According to the statement, CNPP made the call on the premise that it had lost confidence in INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega and no amount of lame excuses by the eminent professor and his cohorts would justify or rationalise the sham election.

    The statement reads: “CNPP disagrees with Jega’s platitude that ‘we had expected Anambra election to be the best, but unfortunately it was not. We did our best, however, from all indications; our best doesn’t seem good enough. This is why we have gone back and asked ourselves, how can we do our best to meet public expectation? We have resolved that no matter what, we shall retain our sanity and remain focused. I have and will continue to tell Nigerians that there is no need for us to panic at this time.’

  • Implement court order on council polls, by CNPP

    Implement court order on council polls, by CNPP

    On November 6, 2013, Justice Michael Edem of the Calabar High Court voided the election of three local government chairmen in the September 21 council polls in Cross River State. The ruling was on a suit filed against the State Independent Electoral Commission over adjustment in the time table for the election. In this interview with NICHOLAS KALU, chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) Mr. Cletus Obun insists that the ruling must be implemented.

    That are your views about the September 21 local government elections in Cross River State?

    It is important for people to know what is happening and the efforts being made to frustrate the opposition parties from participating in local government elections. Members of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP); including the National Conscience Party and Progressive Peoples Alliance which, having fulfilled all conditions precedent to conducting the elections in 2011, had gone to court for two separate things.

    First, the National Conscience Party (NCP) and the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) insist that, by the time table of CROSIEC, they are the only parties qualified to contest elections in three local government areas where they fielded their candidates and met all conditions.

    In the judgment of November 6, the judge granted all reliefs. This indicates that only the NCP and PPA qualified to run for elections in those three local government areas which included Obanliku, Yakurr and Obudu. It is on this basis that we demand that the judgment by Justice Michael Edem on November 6 be implemented.

    Any contrived delay in its implementation is anti-democratic. We demand that this anomaly should be corrected and urgently too because, justice delayed is justice denied.

    We expect that on December 14 2013, the tenures of the current administrations in the local government system will expire. So, the non-conduct of elections in these three local government areas in accordance with the existing court order which has not been challenged is going to deprive the NCP and the PPA from producing their candidates for the election and taking off along with others on December 14. Let us not create an unnecessary crisis because if the status quo ante remains, it would translate to either setting up a caretaker committee or handing the councils over to civil servants in those local government areas.

    If any of the two happens, it will be unconstitutional because Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), is very clear on that matter. It stipulates that a democratic local government system should be established in Nigeria and that there is no room for caretaker committees.

    Trying to create a situation that would bring that logjam would be resisted. So, CROSIEC should act like an independent body that the Constitution envisages it to be under section 7 and conduct elections in those three local government areas.

    The judgment of Justice Michael Edem is being delayed. Incidentally, on November 20, the matter instituted by the NCP and the PPA seeking clarification on the interpretation of the judgment in order to give an outright order for conduct of the election has already been cleared that we enjoy the benefit of that judgment.

    The matter was heard on November 20 and adjourned to December 2.

    We do not think that this kind of long adjournment on a serious matter like this ought to be. The Chief Judge of this state is creating judicial history.

    For the first time, the Cross River State judiciary is coming up to bring some revolutionary judgments and it should not be tainted by the continuous delay. The Chief Judge must live up to expectations and must live up to the tenets of the oaths of office that he took, which is to give justice to all manner of people irrespective of their status, political leanings and colourations, race or gender.

    It is their duty to do so. They remain the bastion and hope for the common man. It is expected that the weak be made strong, by the law, even as the strong must be made to obey the law irrespective of who is involved.

    This matter must be expeditiously pursued until justice is seen to have been done. This will be when we have elections in these three local government areas in which judgment was given. Justice should be done by having elections conducted in these three local government areas before the swearing-in of the chairmen who would be occupying their offices illegally.

    Our jurisprudence should go beyond the mundane tricks and tactics of delaying justice to make people wrongfully benefit from office they ought not to occupy. A situation where a chairman sits in office and begins to use state resources to deny justice to others should not be allowed by the judiciary.

    The judiciary must set the pace and the Cross River State judiciary has shown a glimmer of hope. The NCP and the PPA are passing the rough road of non-implementation of court judgment.

    What would be your next step if this judgment is not implemented and chairmen of these local government areas are sworn in?

    That would be a step towards anarchy and violence. Now violence is not just the act of picking up guns and matcheting people. Violence is the act of denying rights to individuals in such a way that their lives are affected.

    Swearing in a chairman who was not elected and who ought not to be in office is the worst form of violence you can inflict on the people. Therefore, people reacting by carrying stones and machetes and going to engage in guerrilla warfare is only a mild reaction to the bigger injustice of imposition.

    It is in the state’s interest not to create a situation where it becomes ungovernable. This is because nobody has the monopoly of violence as the saying goes. The insurgency in the north and in the creeks of the Niger Delta, the kidnappings and all that are fallouts of denying people their rights; especially the right to choose their leaders. Once you have a false leadership, you are going to have a sham followership and false society. This ultimately leads to faulty base for development.

    So, let government bear in mind that it will be impossible to guarantee peace when people are denied their rights or imposing leaders they did not elect on them. In the circumstances, their destiny is trusted in the hands of lawbreakers who we know are just puppets of some cabal that is bent on bringing under-development to our people.

    There is an argument that the court did not make any pronouncement about not swearing in the chairman…

    The order is very explicit. It stated that all actions CROSIEC has taken by giving forms to and recognising the lists of these people are illegal, null and void. I don’t know the kind of grammar they want to hear again. This is quite explicit even for a secondary school boy to understand. So, which order are they looking for?

    What do you think this judgment implies for the 15 remaining local government areas since the basis for the court’s nullification applies to all of them?

    The CNPP, in conjunction with the affected parties, are already on the drawing board about the implications which we are not ready to disclose for now. It is only left for the courts to interpret. This is so because we are going to approach the courts to seek what implications there are if you have three local governments that didn’t qualify. We would want to know if it does not follow that others that filed out for the election ought not to have done so in the first place, based on the judgment by a competent court.

  • CNPP wants Jega to resign

    CNPP wants Jega to resign

    The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has advised the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, to resign for betraying Nigerians by conducting a sham poll.

    The advice was contained in a statement by the CNPP National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Osita Okechukwu.

    The body said it made the call based on the fact that “Prof. Jega from available records bungled the Anambra election; and this being the case, what is the guarantee that he will not bungle the 2015 general elections?

    “We were perplexed that till Monday morning when the irregularities were made public by the Returning Officer, Prof. James Okuoke, resulting in the declaration of the result as inconclusive and cancellation of 113,113 votes; Prof. Jega, behaving as a hired hand in a television interview on Sunday afternoon, defended INEC and its failed exercise.

    “Jega to our consternation was nervously harping on only 65 polling units in Obosi Electoral Ward, even when by his own admission, the INEC electoral officer, whom he claimed had been arrested, had messed up the electoral process in Idemili North Local Government with 306 polling units and total registered voters of about 174,000; claiming that he could not cancel the total election because of one electoral officer’s malfeasance.

    “The first valid question to our eminent professor is, is the 113,113 cancelled votes from only Idemili North, where no election took place and where a rescheduled election was supposedly conducted at Obosi and later extended to Abatete and Nkpor Ward 2, without official notification?”

    CNPP said over 506,000 votes should be cancelled, as it is an oversight on the part of Prof. Jega and “his cohorts in INEC to cancel only 113,113 votes and close their eyes to the 174,000 votes in Idemili North, where voting did not take place and over 200,000 manipulated votes spread across Anambra West and East, Awka North and South, Ihiala and other uncountable polling units, as evidenced by reports of local and international observers.”

    CNPP also queried: “Secondly, is it with good conscience that an election was fixed on a Sunday in a predominantly Christian community?

    “The third valid question to the eminent professor is, can we trust the fate of Nigerians in an incapable, inept and compromised hand to conduct a more sensitive and delicate 2015 general elections?

    “In fact, Anambra State governorship election has exposed Prof. Jega’s palpable ineptitude, gross incapacity, utter negligence and near compromise in managing elections; therefore he should resign.

    “We call for the cancellation of the Anambra State governorship election.”

  • CNPP: don’t attack Tinubu over national conference

    CNPP: don’t attack Tinubu over national conference

    The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday condemned the President Goodluck Jonathan administration for a comment against the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

    The Presidency, in its response to Tinubu’s statement on the convocation of a national conference, said: “While the Tinubus of this world focus only on the 2015 general elections, most patriotic ordinary Nigerians are more concerned with the emergence of a united country based on equity and justice.”

    CNPP said: “The above statement is a farce, as the 2015 general elections hold higher hope for ordinary Nigerians’ aspirations for a change in government. It is the epitome of liberal democracies, upon which other meaningful changes are benched.”

    In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okwchukwu, CNPP warned the Presidency to stop attacking the former Lagos governor and address the issues raised on the national conference.

    It said: “We call on the Presidency to respond to the germane message that truly, the national conference is a Greek Gift, diversionary and deceptive.

    “This is the rational question raised by Tinubu and other patriots, which should be answered, rather than attacking the messenger.

    “We listened carefully to the statement made by Tinubu on his arrival from a medical trip abroad and it is in tandem with CNPP’s position that President Jonathan is deceptively building a bridge to nowhere, as we cannot tell how the resolutions of the conference will work outside the 1999 Constitution without a Sovereign National Conference.

    “Accordingly, our understanding is that Asiwaju, outside the diversionary and deceptive outlook of President Goodluck Jonathan’s conference, is worried about the credibility, reliability and capability of Mr. President to pull Nigeria through a free, fair and transparent 2015 general elections.

    “CNPP pages with Asiwaju on the truism that Mr. President’s failure to pull through the unintended consequences of the conference may hazard and scuttle the 2015 general elections, especially when ethnic merchants dominate the 13-man Prep Committee.

    “This fear is based on how President Jonathan demonstrated gross ineptitude and incapacity to manage his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    “For with the umbrella of his party in tatters, how can he mobilise the party’s majority in the state and national assemblies to amend the 1999 Constitution and accommodate issues to be raised by the National Conference? For instance, the agitation of the Ijaw National Congress and others for self-determination, or is he bidding Nigeria goodbye? Answer urgently, please.

    “Alternatively, for the avoidance of doubt, can rational patriotic Nigerians bank on a president, who, till date, woefully failed to address the core recommendations of the Uwais Electoral Reform Report; Lemu’s post-2011 General Elections-Crisis Report; Ambassador Galtimari’s Boko Haram Report and Orosanya Report; honour the 2009 Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) agreement and implement the 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the union?”

     

  • Convention: PDP lacks integrity, says CNPP

    Convention: PDP lacks integrity, says CNPP

    •urges party to resolve Rivers crisis

    The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of foisting leaders without integrity on the nation.

    The CNPP said PDP must address the integrity issues before holding its convention.

    In a statement in Abuja by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, the CNPP said the double standard of the PDP is fast: “corrupting the political landscape and it is a key factor for the inability of public office holders to fulfill their electoral promises.”

    The statement stated: “The total lack of integrity exhibited by the PDP in asking some members of its National Executive Committee (NEC) to resign to open the way for their being properly elected only for the party to disown them falls short of what is expected of an organisation that produces some of the people who lead the nation.

    “While the natural tendency is to dismiss this development as an internal affair of the PDP, we must all not collectively lose sight of the fact that the PDP top shots will eventually treat Nigeria and Nigerians worse than they treat themselves.”

    It added: “With the number of seats and executive positions the PDP controls, it is inexplicable that the future of Nigeria is now tied to the conduct of the PDP so it is crucial that Nigerians do not shy away from asking the party to do the right thing.”

    The CNPP said PDP has the right to install whosoever it wishes but stated it “has no right to drag governance and by extension Nigerians into the show of shame and brazen attempt at power grab in Rivers state since it is now known that the change in the leadership of the PDP was meant to oust those perceived to have been nominated by the state governor, Rotimi Amaechi.”

    It urged other political parties to resist the temptation of following in the steps of the PDP, as this will not bode well for the nation and the fortunes of such parties at the polls.

  • CNPP requests for blanket recovery of $400b Abacha’s loot

    CNPP requests for blanket recovery of $400b Abacha’s loot

    Rising from a meeting in Enugu at the weekend, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has called for a blanket request for the recovery of Nigeria’s over $400 billion looted funds.

    The CNPP said though it supported the recovery of the funds looted by the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, the Goodluck Jonathan administration should request for a blanket recovery of over $400 billion fleeced off the nation’s treasury in the last two decades.

    CNPP was reacting to a report by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), that the Federal Government had recovered about N5.5 billion (2.5 million British Pounds) and that negotiation had reached advanced stage to recover N36.7 billion (175 million Euro) of the late Abacha’s looted fund.

    In a communiqué by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Osita Okechukwu, the CNPPP said: “President Jonathan should utilise the window opened by the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which binds countries to render mutual legal assistance in gathering and transferring evidence and Chapter V of the Convention, which makes asset recovery explicitly a fundamental principle of the Convention.

    “Our investigation within the diplomatic circle shows that former President Olusegun Obasanjo only requested for Abacha’s loot and turned a blind eye to the other looters. We demand that a blanket request be made; for we need the billions of dollars to invest in critical infrastructure, revamp our decayed social services and stem gross unemployment.”

  • CNPP celebrates Amaechi’s victory

    •Says APC merger is at work

    The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has described the re-election of Governor Chibuike Amaechi as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) as a good omen for the nation’s fledgling democracy.

    The CNPP, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Osita Okechukwu, congratulated Amaechi and the 19 progressive governors who voted for him.

    It said Amaechi’s victory is a plus for the All Progressives Congress (APC) merger, stating that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the first time has been beaten in its own game.

    The statement added: “This means in simplicity that the latent and potent progressive forces and tendencies which coalesced to form the APC were at work during the Amaechi’s victory at the Nigeria Governors Forum’s election.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, 11 out of the 19 governors who voted for Amechi are the potent progressive forces currently in the APC while the eight are the latent progressive forces coming into the APC sooner than later.

    “We must as a matter of urgent national importance advise and caution President Goodluck Jonathan not to view Governor Amaechi’s victory as a personal loss. No, No, No, it is the triumph of true democracy.

    “As a statesman and democrat, Mr. President should recognise and accept the outcome of the Nigeria Governors Forum’s election.

    “He should not pander to the whims and caprices of bad losers, because of the collective interest of our dear country, and our fledgling democracy; especially now that he had secured Nigeria’s candidature, as Africa’s sole candidate for the UN Security Council.

    “We cherish and celebrate the victory sign as a harbinger of 2015 general elections and sign of good omen for our democracy.”

  • Cnpp, Lema hail Inec’s disqualification of rival Apc

    The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has hailed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for rejecting the registration of the Africa Peoples Congress (APC) because of irregularities in its application.

    In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, CNPP said the electoral umpire “has by the action served the cause of justice and defended the 1999 Constitution.”

    The CNPP said the rival APC was formed out of mischief. It accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of being the unseen hand behind an attempt to register the party with the aim of sustaining a one-party system in the country.

    “ We’ve always known that African Peoples Congress was born out of mischief to sustain the one party state foisted at variance with the constitution by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the country.”

    According to the CNPP, when the legal representative of the APC went to the INEC office, both the sponsor of the legal team and the protem chairman were still members of the PDP.