The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Lagos APC

  • Eight months after, Lagos APC rates Ambode high

    Eight months after, Lagos APC rates Ambode high

    THE local chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) did an eight-month appraisal of the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration in the centre of excellence and said the government was on track.

    According to the party, the performance of the government since inception has so far justified the confidence reposed in the APC by Lagosians.

    “Governor Ambode has shown good reasons why the people of Lagos reposed implicit confidence in him during the election and the period following his swearing in when some people launched a ferocious campaign to distract him,” the APC said in statement signed by its spokesman, Joe Igbokwe.

    The party specifically listed the provision of security, public infrastructure and electrification of major highways, as areas where the government has recorded landmarks.

    It encouraged the governor to continue in the tradition of good governance which had been the landmarks of the progressive party in the Centre of Excellence since 1999.

    The statement reads: “Governor Ambode must continue in giving the best to Lagos so as to deepen the rich credentials of governance in Lagos in the past 16 years.

    “We recall that while he was barely two months in power, there were orchestrated campaigns to distract him from the task he has set for himself to give the best to Lagos and excel in the enviable status he met on ground.

    “We recall that knowing our candidate in the last election and his capacity, we did say that we are confident that the Ambode regime will give superlative services to the state.

    “We are happy that eight months in power, the present regime is giving Lagosians value for their support. We note the fast rate at which state roads are being constructed in all nooks and crannies of the state especially in the rural parts of Lagos in fulfillment of the party’s manifesto and the governor’s electoral promise.

    “We note the frenetic lighting of all parts of Lagos in efforts to realise the governor’s plan to restore the hitherto enviable Lagos nightlife and drive hoodlums and criminals out of Lagos.

    “Lagos APC notes the great priority the government has paid to the security of lives and properties in Lagos. We note that the government has made quite huge investments in security in its resolve to see that every Lagosian is protected.”

    “We note that the present government continues to pursue the enviable environmental upgrade of Lagos, as started by his predecessors in a bid to ensuring a cleaner, healthier and more beautiful Lagos.

    ‘We note also that the governor is targeting rural development in his efforts to open up all parts of Lagos and we believe this is the panacea to a seamless LAGOS where every Lagosian feels comfortable. “

    Expressing confident that Ambode will take Lagos to loftier heights, the APC urged Lagosians to continue to support his administration to make the city more livable for law-abiding citizens.

    The statement further reads: “We also call on Lagosians to be good citizens by paying their taxes as and when due to enable the government to serve Lagosians better.

    “We urge the governor to continue in his present strides as it is quite in tradition with the governance of the Center of Excellence since 1999.”

     

  • Lagos APC hails House of Assembly

    Lagos APC hails House of Assembly

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State has hailed the Lagos State House of Assembly for the quick and prompt passage of the 2016 budget sent to it by Governor Akinwumi Ambode.

    The party said the House has kick-started the government’s resolve to unleash rapid development in Lagos this year.

    In a statement in Lagos by its Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, the party said the quick passage of the budget signifies the eagerness of both the executive and the legislature to take Lagos to the next level.

    “Lagos APC is happy about the cordial relationship built on shared progressive belief, mutual respect and convergence of ideas between the House and the executive as we believe this will work to the advantage of Lagosians in the coming years.

    “We see the prompt passage of the budget as a means of deepening the mutual understanding between the various arms of government towards the aspiration to make Lagos to continue to excel in progress, good governance and rule of law.”

  • Chieftain advises Lagos APC on unity

    Chieftain advises Lagos APC on unity

    A CHIEFTAIN of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Alhaji Taoreed Faronbi, has advised the party to work towards institutionalising internal democracy to reposition itself ahead of the local government elections.

    Faronbi disclosed this at a stakeholders meeting organised by Hon. Bolaji Ayinla, who represents Mushin II Constituency at the House of Representatives. At the event, which took place at Aggrey Memorial School, Mushin, Lagos, he urged the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and other chieftains to ensure that the choice of the people prevail, “because the third tier of government being the closest to the people is very crucial”.

    He said Mushin indigenes have planned to vehemently resist any attempt by any leader to impose candidates on the people during the election.

    Faronbi, who is popularly known as Alado, said the people are determined to reject imposition, which he described as “bringing somebody from outside the large community to become their local government leader”. He added: “This has been the practice in Mushin and it always causes of political violence and bloodshed within the community.”

    Faronbi said the widespread belief in Mushin is that most of the politicians claiming Mushin when seeking for elective positions are not indigenes of Mushin. He said: “They are not the true sons and daughters of the community; they are imposed. As a result, they often abandon the electorate after securing their elections into various positions.”

    He said none of them has ever provided job opportunities or any other useful thing to Mushin residents, particularly the youths. This development, he said, deprives the people of their rights. “It is also the major cause of political violence within the community,” he added.

    He said Mushin is one of the largest communities in Lagos that delivers large votes. He lamented that the community has never produced governorship candidate nor occupied the post of a local government chairman.

    To end this trend, Faronbi appealed to Tinubu and others party chieftains to intervene to checkmate those in the habit of imposing non-indigenes on the community, adding that they are the sponsors of political violence in the area.

    He said Mushin has educated young men and women in abundance and that they can perform excellently, if given a chance.

    Alado also urged voters in the area to stop demanding money from politicians before or after the election, saying it is like selling their birthright because it will hinder them from enjoying the dividends of democracy.

    He promised to organise a meeting with other Mushin political office holders to enable them to address the challenges facing residents of the community. The promise came in response to demands for the provision of social amenities in the community by the residents.

  • Lagos APC tackles PDP over Ambode’s commissioners’ list

    Lagos APC tackles PDP over Ambode’s commissioners’ list

    The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday tackled the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the latter’s call on members of the House of Assembly to reject the list of commissioner-nominees sent to the chamber for screening and clearance.

    It accused the PDP of not only meddling in its affair but promoting impunity.

    According to the APC spokesman, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, the PDP stepped out of its bounds by asking the Assembly not to screen would-be commissioners, who the governor feels comfortable to work with.

    In a statement, Igbokwe described as reckless the PDP reason that the nominees have links with a national leader of the APC, wondering if the APC expected Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to recommend those who will be clogs in the wheel of progress as commissioners and special advisers.

    The statement  reads: “Now for the avoidance of doubt the nominated candidates are cerebral and very competent personalities who can hold their heads high anywhere in the world and answer their fathers names if the need arises.

    “They have climbed through the ladder of leadership from various departments in lagos State to get to where they are today. They have been tested and therefore can be trusted to add values to Lagos State.

    “These gentlemen and women are no pushovers in their chosen professions and they are capable of assisting the governor to take Lagos to next level. Leadership is not measured by height or old age. Otherwise, giants and Methuselah would have been ruling the world. You may not know somebody until you entrust him or her with position of authority.”

    He urged the party to mind its own business, pointing out that “the strings of defeats it suffered since 1999 in the hands of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the APC”, as enough evidence that Lagosians are for the progressives.

     

  • Lagos APC to Tinubu’s critics: stop attacking our National Leader

    Lagos APC to Tinubu’s critics: stop attacking our National Leader

    •Party describes attack on ex-governor as reckless

    The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged fifth columnists to stop attacking the ruling party’s National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    The party described as reckless the back page article of The Sun of September 2, in which the author, Dele Akin Rahman, made some scathing remarks about Tinibu.

    In a statement by its Lagos spokesman, Joe Igbokwe, the APC described as illogical that a leader, who backed Buhari to get the presidential ticket and weathered the nationwide campaign that ended the 16-year reign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), could now turn to bring down the structure he played a pivotal role to build.

    The party accused the author of not only doing a hatchet man’s job, but doing the bidding of his paymasters who never envisaged that the APC could end the rudderless administration of the PDP.

    The statement reads: “Lagos APC condemns in strongest terms this calculated attempt to bring Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu down to their miserable level and to judge the consummate leader of men by their horrible and dubious standards.

    “Before the 2015 Presidential elections our well-respected National leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed and President Buhari were subjected to vicious attacks and debilitating assaults just to bring them down but they failed woefully. President Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu ran away with a resounding and unprecedented victory on March 28, 2015.”

    According to Igbokwe, the author and his paymasters have been angry, frustrated, confused, humiliated, humbled, afraid and disgraced at the loss of the last general election to the APC.

    He said: “Politically, they have been decimated and relegated to the background, economically their business of stealing government money in billions has been checkmated and blocked and socially they have been ostracised and rejected by Nigerians.

    “These fraudsters and morally bankrupt nonentities know that it is impossible for them to get to Asiwaju BAT’s intimidating, illustrious and glorious personality, so they resort to blackmail and character assassination to bring the sage, the colossus and the leader of men to the miserable level.

    “Having failed to stop the Buhari-Tinubu tag that rescued Nigeria from the forces of decay, corruption, and rot, having failed to distract and derail the recovery of Nigeria from the forces of decay, the desperadoes are now trying a sly tactics of instigating Buhari to go after Tinubu for the crimes of wrecking and looting Nigeria blind for 16years when Tinubu’s only feel of power was 8 glorious years he ruled Lagos.

    “It is obvious that these dying forces of evil are on a futile effort to parry their 16years of wreckage and who else to bear the brunt but a Tinubu who has come to personify a living nightmare to the dying PDP.

    “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains a well-respected political figure in Nigeria, Africa and the world today and anybody who thinks in his wildest imagination that a strong and powerful image built for nearly 50 years can be destroyed by the antics of a foolish constituency and men without honour must be jokers.

    “Every leader writes his own history through his own deeds and choices. Asiwaju Tinubu has become a working history in Nigeria by his actions and deeds for nearly 50 years and no power in the tongue of any man can vitiate this even in this age or the age to come.”

     

  • Lagos APC berates PDP

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State yesterday berated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for asking Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to probe his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola.

    It said the PDP lacked the moral latitude to make such call. The party said the renewal of the ruling party’s mandate on April 11 was evidence that Lagosians wanted continuity.

    The APC reminded the PDP that it was the mismanagement of the economy under its watch that made Nigerians reject it at the polls.

    In a statement, the party’s spokesman, Joe Igbokwe, said no amount of mudslinging will warm the PDP into the hearts of residents who have pitched their tent with the APC since 2009.

    “For a party that believes in hauling hollow, laughable and tendentious gossip to stay alive, the PDP in Lagos seems to have accepted the fact that it is an irredeemable bad product, Igbokwe said in the statement.

    He said the call for Fashola’s probe by the PDP was not only unfortunate but mischievous.

    The statement reads: “Lagos PDP’s call for Governor Ambode to probe former Governor Fashola for some inchoate and laughable reasons shows that Lagos PDP has lost it and is in a journey of self derision and ridicule.

    “We are not surprised that Lagos PDP continues to demonstrate traits that show it as a jesting group that has no meaningful thing to contribute to the growth and progress of Lagos.”

  • Lagos APC cautions tanker drivers

    Lagos APC cautions tanker drivers

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State has cautioned tanker drivers to be mindful of the lives and properties of Lagosians.

    The party said the two tanker accidents are worrisome. It urged tanker drivers must take extra precaution to avoid a recurrence.

    A statement by its Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, said: “We deeply sympathise with the victims of the Iyana Ipaja and Idimu incidents. We feel their pain and see their loss as a loss to Lagos.

    “We are alarmed that Lagos witnessed two horrific accidents in a space of a few days and we believe something deliberate must be done by both the government and the tanker drivers to prevent a recurrence.

    “We applaud Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for his quick and prompt response to the incidents but we feel that the state cannot continue to experience these tragedies.

    “We are happy that in both incidences, no life was lost but we regret that several properties were destroyed.

    “Lagos APC calls for stricter regulation of heavy duty vehicles plying Lagos streets, in view of the recurring cases of tanker accidents in Lagos.”

  • Airport Car Hire Operators back Lagos APC candidate

    Airport Car Hire Operators yesterday declared support for the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode .

    The car operators, at a rally at the airport, said they believe the APC candidate would initiate adequate policies that would grow the transport sector.

     The coordinator of western zone of the Car Hire Association of Nigeria, Mr Olagbadebo Joshua ,said the operators have made their position known to the APC chieftain, Lanre Rasak ( KLM), who visited them at the airport.

    He said the airport car hire operators are favourably disposed to supporting the APC governorship candidate in Lagos to pursue continuity in governance.

    He said:” We are fully in support of Akinwunmi Ambode because we do not want Lagos State to be in the opposition again. We are in support of the APC governorship candidate to foster the development of Lagos State.”

  • Lagos APC warns against brigandage on streets

    Lagos APC warns against brigandage on streets

    The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress yesterday condemned what it called the syndicated demonstration being sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) across the country.

    It accused the ruling party of plotting to disrupt the general elections because it has become obvious to it that the polls cannot be manipulated.

    In a statement by its spokesman Joe Igbokwe, the party described the wave of protests by out-lawed militia groups – the Movement for the Actualisation of Soverign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) – as desperate efforts to scuttle the electoral process.

    The statement reads: “The syndicated protests by MASSOB and OPC are desperate efforts by a dying government to create confusion and trouble so as to sabotage the election when it had become obvious to the PDP that it had lost the support of Nigerians in the coming election and warns that more of such purchased mercenary protests are in the offing as we inch close to the critical 2015 election.

    “It is instructive that the purchased campaigners are destroying campaign posters and bill boards of the APC in their mercenary traits and said this tells so much of the mission they are sponsored to do.

    “We in the APC say that Nigerians must see in what is happening today the consuming desperation of Jonathan and PDP to pull down the Nigerian house when it has become obvious that they have lost the support of the people.

    “No one should be surprised at what is happening today because it reflects the last acts of a dying junta desperate to use every means to remain in power.

    “It is obvious that Jonathan and PDP have given up hence the open and bizarre sponsorship, bribery and inducement to militia groups through generous dollar-bribes and contract bazaars, for the purpose of creating enormous crisis and confusion in a bid to scuttle the coming elections.

    “We see the present actions of OPC as spurred by the multi-billion naira contracts that was recently given to their leaders by a desperate Jonathan as bribery to secure such hatchet jobs they are doing at present.

    “Nigerians note that the action of the hired mercenaries like OPC on the streets of Lagos, where they are visiting destruction on APC campaign materials, is an act of war, as the intended purpose is to provoke monumental crisis that will stop the election through widespread violence that may lead to war.

    “The PDP is desperate to plunge the country into such war that will make both Rwanda and Burundi a child’s play considering the mix of the country’s population. We see the desperation of the PDP to remain in power when it is obvious that Nigerians don’t want it, as a clear and present danger and we alert the world to hold the PDP responsible for any breach of security in Nigeria today.

    “We note that in their frustration and desperation, the PDP has resorted to the use of the word – ‘MUST’ in their public statements, as in the needless refrain that “Jonathan Must Continue In Office”, a statement that betrays the fear and hopelessness that has hit PDP and its clients such as OPC and MASSOB.

    “That tells of a party that has no hope that its corrupt license would be renewed. We see the present disoriented and rootless campaigns the PDP and its purchased allies like MASSOB and OPC are now mounting against the Prof Attahiru Jega – led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) and the PVCs are the deliberate antics of veteran electoral criminals to remain in power and nothing more.”

    Igbokwe hailed Nigerians for not falling for the traps being set by the anti-democratic forces.

    He said: “We are happy that Nigerians are not buying their spurious antics.

    “Lagos APC is worried that the police and other security agencies are turning blind eyes to the sponsored brigandage which the PDP is unleashing on the country’s space and are not doing anything about it.

    “We are worried that the syndicated brigandage of the PDP a few days to a critical election is not eliciting actions from the security agencies and while we urge our members and supporters to remain calm so as to ensure we do not play into the hands of these desperate desperados that want to scuttle an election just because they have seen they are about being thrown into the dustbin of history by Nigerians.”

     

     

  • Lagos APC lauds INEC on biometric verification

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State has lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the successful test-running of the card readers.

    The party said the successful test-run has vindicated INEC’s preparedness for free and credible elections.

    In a statement in Lagos by its Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, the APC said: “We are elated that the card reader has proved successful.

    “We note that besides the languid attempts by traditional election riggers to tarnish this important gadget, the card reader is capable of instilling discipline and integrity in the coming election.

    “We applaud INEC on this wonderful device and urge it to ensure that the shortfalls recorded during the trial are addressed and the card readers further fortified to ensure that votes decide who wins the elections.”