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Tag: Kola Ologbondiyan

  • PDP cautions INEC over alleged plot to shift 2019 elections

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against alleged plots to shift the dates for the 2019 general elections.

    The opposition party also advised the chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu not to allow the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Buhari Presidency to use him to execute their plots to frustrate the conduct of credible elections in 2019.

    Saying that the plot was meant to push for illegal tenure elongation for President Buhari and the APC, the PDP told the President and his party to perish the thoughts of staying in power a day beyond May 29, 2019.

    A statement on Wednesday by the spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan said, the opposition party was already aware of suggestions by the INEC chairman to have the elections postponed.

    The PDP further stated that the alleged plot was a product of series of clandestine meetings between the INEC and the APC on ways to frustrate the 2019 elections. It added that the APC and the INEC have realised that there is no hope for President Buhari in the 2019 polls.

    Read Also: 2019: No plan to postpone elections, says INEC

    The statement said, “Nigerians and the international community have also noted the various ploys by INEC to frustrate a credible elections, including its stiff opposition to the amendment of the Electoral Act by the National Assembly to check APC rigging plans in addition to its exposed collaborations with INEC to manipulate the voters register, enrol underage voters and secretly creating 30,000 illegal polling centers in certain remote areas from where it plans to allocate fictitious votes to the APC.

    “Nigerians may recall that the PDP had earlier alerted of the plot by the Buhari Presidency to enmesh the 2019 elections into a needless controversy by deliberately delaying the presentation of the election budget to the National Assembly until the time the parliament was proceeding on annual recess.

    “Ostensibly to ensure that the election does not escape controversy, President Buhari demanded that the fund be taken from already approved budget for lawmakers’ constituency votes, despite entreaties by well-meaning Nigerians for a fresh budget for the elections.

    “Seeing that Nigerians are standing shoulder to shoulder with the PDP to resist and dismantle their rigging machinery, the APC and Buhari Presidency are now trying to use INEC to frustrate the elections and cause crisis in our country.

    “The PDP therefore rejects this plot by APC and INEC. The 2019 election must hold as scheduled. Nigerians are ready for elections and cannot wait to vote out President Buhari and his dysfunctional APC.

    “In that wise, our party cautions the INEC Chairman to open up, expose the Buhari Presidency and immediately commence the application of its constitutional First Line Charge funding instruments instead entangling itself with the plot to destroy our nation”.

  • PDP faults purchase of nomination forms for Buhari

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged a shadowy group was used as a front to purchase the N45 million presidential nomination form of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.

    Describing the development as a “worn-out stunt, smacking of fraud”, the PDP said it has the potential of worsening the image of the President.

    In a statement on Thursday by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said President Buhari can no longer play the “pro-poor gimmick” which his followers have always presented to Nigerians.

    The statement said, “Already, our people are daily confronted by the flaunting of affluence and material wealth by the President and those around him, while betraying and abandoning millions of poor Nigerians who, unfortunately, put their trust in him in 2015.

    “Nigerians are aware that the very expensive personal effects, including posh jewelries daily paraded by his close relatives betrayed the gimmick of using an unregistered group, pieced together to execute  another failed pro-poor stunt to sway Nigerians.

    Read Also: Buhari not power drunk, says presidency

    “Moreover, the PDP urges the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to note that the purchase of the N45 million form by the group directly violates section 91 (9) of the Electoral Act which provides that  “no individual or other entity shall donate more than One million naira (#1,000,000) to any candidate.”

    “Since President Buhari has not publicly disowned the purchase of the form by the group, the PDP charges INEC to, within the next 24 hours, hold him culpable and make him to face the appropriate sanctions for the violation of electoral laws.

    “Finally, it is unfortunate that President Buhari and his handlers, in their desperation to hang on to power, even when they have been rejected, have reduced themselves to objects of public ridicule with their many bloopers ahead of the 2019 general elections”.

     

     

  • Defection: We are discussing with APC govs, lawmakers – PDP

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Wednesday confirmed  media reports indicating that five of the party’s governors have been holding discussions with some governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    A statement by the spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan however said the discussions were geared towards poaching some targeted APC governors and federal lawmakers for the PDP.

    Read Also:PDP chieftain decries Buhari’s refusal to sign PIB

    According to Ologbondiyan, the PDP had already six APC governors and 27 APC federal legislators with the view to defecting to the PDP ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    He added that the affected governors and lawmakers were already consulting their various constituencies with the view to securing their mandates for their defection.

    The statement said, “The PDP verifies that discussions on control of party structures in the affected states and senatorial zones have also reached advanced stage and would be completed in a couple of weeks after which the governors and lawmakers will announce their defection to the PDP.

    “However, in line with decisions reached at the discussions, the members of the National Assembly decamping to the PDP will cross-carpet at the reconvening of session in the two chambers, which will increase the PDP majority in both chambers.

    “The party assures that all grey areas of the  agreement, including issues of waivers and accommodation for participation in primaries, are being smoothened out by the former Governor Liyel Imoke-led PDP Contact and Integration Committee, which has been galvanizing our alliances among stakeholders across other parties, including those from the APC.

    “The PDP also commends the spirit of tolerance, dialogue, accommodation and oneness of purpose that pervade the alliance among members”.

    The PDP expressed its determination to reclaim control of power at the centre, as well as states like Plateau, Niger, Adamawa, Kano, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Imo, Edo as well as southwest states of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Lagos states.

    The party charged all members and supporters to remain steadfast and be wary of what it described as the gimmicks of the APC, which it said, has resorted to sponsoring spurious publications filled with deceptions, fabrications and lies against the PDP

    “The PDP also commends Nigerians across board for their overwhelming support and solidarity with the repositioned PDP as expressed in the unprecedented interest in our tickets for various elective positions, particularly the presidency, governorship and National Assembly positions, in addition to spirited public discourse at all levels of political engagements across our country.

    “These interests and movements from the APC to the PDP are indicators of the consensus by Nigerians to rally on the platform of the PDP to end the economic hardship, bloodletting, violence and infrastructural decay that have become the hallmark of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration, and return our nation to the path of unity, national cohesion and economic prosperity, which the PDP is known for”, the statement added.

  • PDP sets agenda for visiting British Prime Minister

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the the visiting British Prime Minister, Theresa May, to use her state visit to Nigeria to uncover the “dismal state” of the Nigerian nation by resisting a “choreographed” plan by the Buhari Presidency to hoodwink her for an endorsement stunt.

    The party also called on the British leader not to allow the Buhari Presidency to confine her to the palours of the Presidential Villa, but to insist on visiting other parts of the nation to enable her directly appreciate the “level of lies and false performance indices” the Federal Government has been dishing out to the world.

    A statement on Tuesday by the spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the opposition party had been made aware of plans by the Federal Government to use the visit to “dish out more lies” to the international community in an effort to cover “its failures” in governance in the last three years, for which Nigerians are clamouring for a new president under the PDP.

    The PDP further charged the British Prime Minister, as a parliamentarian, to take the Buhari Presidency to task on its unabated interferences and violent attacks on the institution of the National Assembly, including threats to forcefully remove the elected presiding officers of the Senate, as well as the recent invasion and blockade of the National Assembly by security forces

    The party also called on the British leader to task President Buhari on his disposition to the supremacy of the rule of law, including alleged violation of human rights in the country.

    Read Also: I am confident of picking PDP’s ticket – Makarfi

    “This includes government’s disobedience to court orders, reported extra-judicial killings, torture, unlawful political arrests and detention, restriction of free speech and media freedom and lack of government’s accountability, as detailed in report by various international bodies, including Transparency International (TI), Amnesty International (AI) and US Department of States.

    “The British leader should also elicit discussions with the President on the recent report by Price Waterhouse Cooper showing humongous corruption in his administration, including the circumstances surrounding the N4 trillion unremitted oil money in agencies under his direct supervision as minister.

    “Finally, the PDP urges Prime Minister May, to engage President Buhari on the violent rigging of elections under his watch, and extract commitment from him on his administration’s preparedness for a free, fair and credible general elections in 2019, especially as there are apprehensions across Nigeria, that his actions, utterances and body language suggest otherwise”, the statement added.

  • PDP faults Buhari’s position on rule of law

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s position that the rule of law could be subsumed under the “national interest.”

    In a statement on Monday by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the opposition party said the President’s position was strange to the nation’s laws and completely unacceptable.

    The party described the President’s position as a direct trademark of despotic rulers and as such cannot find expression or accommodation in a democratic setting of a contemporary nation.

    It expressed readiness to rally Nigerians to reject every attempt by President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to introduce the long forgotten trappings of military dictatorship into democratic rule, which the party said, Nigerians laboured for many years to attain.

    The PDP further stated that it would not stop at anything legitimate to ensure that the International Criminal Court (ICC) holds President Buhari responsible for violations of the rule of law and criminal abuse of human rights committed under his rule in the last three years.

    Read Also: PDP challenges Buhari to debate on good governance

    The statement said, “It is instructive to note that contrary to claims by Mr. President, there is no pronouncement by the Supreme Court that subjugates constitutional rule of law and rights of citizens to the whims, caprices and dictatorial impulses of any President.

    “Our national interest is thoroughly embedded, protected, expressed and enforced only under the rule of law as provided by our constitution and there is no how Nigerians can allow an individual to superimpose or override the constitution with his personal whims and impulses; a pattern that is characteristic of known dictators all over the world, as expressed in the obnoxious Executive Order 6, designed to justify a complete clamp down of political opponents ahead of 2019 general elections.

    “President Buhari should therefore be made to answer for the litany of human rights violations in Nigeria, including documented disobedience to court orders, extra-judicial and arbitrary executions, unlawful arrests and political detentions, killing of persons in custody, torture and excessive use of force by security forces on innocent citizens, destruction of property, restriction of free speech, press, official corruption and lack of accountability as detailed in report by various international bodies, including Transparency International (TI), Amnesty International (AI) and US Department of States.

    “This is in addition to the quest to forcefully remove the leadership of the National Assembly, the blockade of the National Assembly and siege of the official residences of the Senate President and Deputy Senate President by Presidency controlled-security forces.

    “We know that President Buhari is apprehensive of the electoral defeat that awaits him in February 2019 for which he is seeking ways to subvert the system, but we caution that in this desperation to hold unto to power, he must not seek to again, subvert our constitutional order as he will be firmly resisted by Nigerians.

    “The PDP therefore calls on all Nigerians, particularly the Judiciary and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to speak out against this direct assault on our democracy as a nation before it is too late”.

  • Rivers bye-election: PDP decries use of police, military for poll

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has decried the use of security forces, including special police and military units, by the federal government during the last bye-election in Rivers State.

    The main opposition party said the security agencies were used to subjugate Nigerians and provide cover for thugs deployed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to unleash violence, disrupt polling processes and foist fake results after the poll.

    A statement on Monday by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said such brazen assault on the will of the people was completely provocative and incendiary.

    The party added that such tendencies have unlimited capacity to elicit violent resistance from the people and derail the country’s hard-earned democracy, especially as the 2019 elections draw nigh.

    The statement said, “We invite Nigerians to note that the use of security agencies by the APC to aid the subjugation of the people has become a regular practice as amply witnessed in the July 14, 2018 Ekiti governorship election, the 2016 Edo state governorship election, the bye-elections in Kogi, Bauchi, Katsina and Cross Rivers and most recently, the River state Assembly bye-election, where special police units were used to manhandle voters, while providing cover for APC thugs to attack voters, snatch ballot boxes and disrupt the election.

    “The APC, in its desperation, is resorting to this underhand means, because it knows that there is no way it can win in any peaceful and transparently conducted election in any part of the country, due to the public indignation against its dismal performance in the last three years.

    Read Also: PDP condemns demolition of Aiyefele’s studio

    “Our worry as a party, however, is that Nigerians are daily pushed to the wall and there is a limit to what they can endure, without resorting to violent resistance, particularly in the face of unrelenting subversion of their will and freedom to select leaders or representatives of their choice.

    “The APC and its agents in the police and other security agencies should therefore bear in mind that they are on collision course with the people. Their eventual resistance, if such subversion continues, could come with very dire consequences.

    “The PDP is aware that this resort to violence by the APC is to test-run its plans to rig the 2019 general elections and we ask, what shall it profit a man to gain political power and set his nation ablaze?

    “Finally, the PDP cautions all those being used by the APC to know that history will never forgive them for these atrocities. They will forever be remembered for their ignoble past and have their places in the hall of shame”.

  • PDP to APC: Your resort to blackmail can’t sway Nigerians

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has told the All Progressives Congress (APC) that its resort to blackmail, twisting of facts and fabrications cannot sway Nigerians from the truth of their culpability in the current impasse at the National Assembly.

    The PDP said Nigerians are already aware of how the APC has been frustrating the National Assembly by creating hitches, illegal impeachment processes, physical blockade of access to the parliament and besieging of the official residence of Senate President and his deputy.

    A statement on Friday by the spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan said Nigerians know those who set security agents after federal legislators, set parliamentarians against one another and those who have been chasing lawmakers around the country with tons of money as bribe, just to illegally change the leadership.

    The statement said, “We are not amazed that the APC, in its characteristic shambolic denials, will turn around to point accusing fingers at our repositioned party and members for the situation in the National Assembly, when the echoes of their open threats, tantrums, verbosity and loquaciousness against our legislators are yet to evaporate from the public space.

    Read Also: PDP having sleepless nights over Buhari’s achievements – APC

    “The APC is pretending not to remember that the Buhari Presidency deliberately kept the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) budget submitted to it since February till July when it presented it to the National Assembly and curiously demanded that the fund be vired from the constituency project fund of lawmakers.

    “Nigerians will recall that as a patriotic and responsible party, the PDP raised the flag and pointed out that bringing the budget in July, at the time the National Assembly was already going on annual vacation, was rather late and asking that the fund be vired from constituency project fund was sinking

    The INEC budget and the entire 2019 electoral process in a needless controversy. The APC and the Buhari Presidency ignored this wise counseling.

    “Furthermore, the APC in it deception fails to note that Nigerians are aware that it is President Buhari that is holding the nation to ransom by refusing to sign the Electoral Act Amendment bill, already passed by the National Assembly, just because the amendment checked the machination which APC intend to deploy to rig the 2019 general elections.

    “Moreover, relevant National Assembly committees have been having interface with INEC over the budget presented by the President. Except for the sinister intent of the APC to shut down our National Assembly and bring forth a totalitarian system of government, there is nothing deserving of the wailing of the APC to reopen the chambers of the National Assembly at its instance. The rules for reconvening the chambers of the National Assembly are extant.

    “Also, since the PDP told its members to rise in defense of democracy and stop the rigging and vote buying of the APC, the ruling party has gone hysterical and making all manners of spurious and diversionary allegations, but it will be instructive for the APC to accept that it has failed Nigerians and the people have resolved to vote them out, come February, 2019”.

  • We’ll match APC in election rigging – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) vowed on Tuesday to march the All Progressives Congress (APC) in election rigging in future elections, starting with the September 22 governorship election in Osun State.

    In a statement issued by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party also vowed to dismantle the APC’s “rigging machinery” henceforth.

    The PDP said it has become manifest to Nigerians and other political parties that the APC is only interested in brazen rigging of elections.

    The party added that it would contend with the APC, “head to head, means to means, scheme to scheme, shenanigan for shenanigan, in all ramifications and magnitude,” to discomfit the ruling party in all coming elections in the country.

    The party said it has thoroughly reviewed all infractions, barefaced suppression, unleashing of violence and unabashed use of security forces and compromised electoral officers to rig elections against the PDP since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office.

    It vowed to never again allow the APC and its Federal Government to continue using foul means to usurp power as it has done in the past and asking the PDP to go to court thereafter.

    The statement said: “The PDP has particularly reviewed the rigging of Edo State governorship election in 2016, the blatant rigging of the July 14, 2018 Ekiti State governorship election and the last Saturday’s federal constituency bye-elections in Bauchi, Katsina and Kogi States.

    “The review showed that the PDP won in all the elections but was viciously manipulated out by the APC- controlled Federal Government through the instrumentality of violence against PDP agents and supporters, vote buying, use of thugs, ballot snatching, harassment, arrests, maiming and even killing of PDP supporters in addition to the use of compromised electoral officers to cancel votes belonging to the PDP, alter results from polling centers and then return APC candidates as winners.

    “Furthermore, the PDP takes very strong consideration of the open boasts and chest-thumping by officials of the Buhari Presidency and the APC, particularly on their rigging of the Ekiti governorship and the federal bye-elections in Bauchi, Katsina and Kogi States, where APC thugs were allowed to freely use weapons against PDP supporters.

    “This is in addition to the unholy convergence of APC governors and security goons in constituencies where elections are held to supervise the free distribution of funds to buy votes, bribe electoral officers and openly intimidate the people.”

     

     

  • Senate leadership not party positions – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday said Senate leadership positions did not belong to political parties but to Nigerians.

    National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, stated this in a statement in Abuja, and said principal officers in the chamber were elected by representatives elected by the people.

    Ologbondiyan, therefore, advised the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Adams Oshiomhole, to stop moves to change the leadership of the Senate, saying such was completely out of his reach.

    He said Oshiomhole should stop thinking that senate leadership could be changed by orders of a political party when the law settled that such power was vested only on two-third votes, representing 73 of the 109 senators.

    “Since Oshiomhole assumed office, the nation has witnessed various unimaginable constitutional infractions, including the invasion of Benue House of Assembly and the Ekiti State Government House by security agencies.

    “The escalated harassment of federal legislators and persons perceived to be averse to APCs’ re-election bid.

    “The siege at the residences of Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, by security agencies as well as the recent invasion of the National Assembly by security operatives.”

    Ologbondiyan called on Nigerians and the international community to note the activities of Oshiomhole, alleging that he was being directed from some quarters.

    He, however, said that the PDP held firmly that the APC was fighting a lost battle.

    Ologbondiyan said Nigerians could not be intimidated into their resolve to return the nation to the path of peace, national cohesion and economic prosperity, on the platform of the re-positioned PDP in 2019.

  • You can’t remove Saraki, Ekweremadu – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) says the All Progressives Congress (APC) lacks the legislative number and constitutional facilities to remove Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.

    In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan on Friday in Abuja, the party advised the Presidency and the APC to “accept the reality’’.

    It said that Presidency and the APC, having realized that there was no way they could muster the constitutionally required two-third votes of the 109 senators, representing 73 senators, was now engaged in under-hand tactics.

    These, according to it, include the invasion of the National Assembly.

    “Even before then, Nigerians were already aware of moves to use humongous funds to induce lawmakers to trigger crisis in the National Assembly and pave the way for the removal of presiding officers.

    Read Also: Guber poll: Saraki, Mark to reconcile PDP aggrieved members in Osun

    “Now that they have discovered that there is no way they can achieve their devious intentions, they have commenced a war of blackmail,
    distortions of fact and media trial against the Senate leadership.”

    It said that the attempts would end up as another wasteful venture as Nigerians were aware of the long-drawn desperation to annex the legislature.

    The PDP added that even among the ranks of APC senators and members of House of Representatives, there is huge aversion to the tactics being deployed to force out duly elected presiding officers of the assembly.

    It said that such lawmakers were fully aligned with Nigerians, the PDP and the national assembly leadership in the protection of the independence, sanctity and integrity of the parliament and all democratic institutions in the country.

    “It is therefore instructive for both the Presidency and the APC to know that there is no way they can remove the leadership of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate.”

    It cautioned against over-heating the polity and attempts to circumvent rules and the Constitution, saying that such would not change the resolve of Nigerians to vote out APC in 2019.