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Tag: National Leader

  • Okota violence on Feb. 23 upsets me — Tinubu

    The All Progressive Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has said that the violence that erupted during the Feb. 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections upset him.

    Tinubu made the assertion during an interactive session with the media after he cast his vote at his polling unit Ward 3, Unit 047, Ikeja Lagos.

    The APC chieftain, who came to the polling station around 12 noon, accompanied by some aides proceeded to cast his vote by 12:15 p.m.

    Tinubu said that against the backdrop of painting the election as violent, it should rather be classified as peaceful, adding that the overall conduct of the election was fair.

    “I take exception to what happened in Okota two weeks ago. I am very upset about that incidence placing Lagos as if we are violence-prone.

    “We have about 1,325 polling units in Lagos State and only five units were affected in Okota. That should not mean that the election was a failure in the state.

    “If we should rate it, the election should be about 97 per cent rate of success if right mentally. An incident in Okota should not be used to generalise the whole election in Lagos State.

    “The success rate should have been the story not the ugly incident that should be the story,” he said.

    Tinubu, however, cautioned the media against the hype given to negative stories saying that such attributes would not bring the necessary progress.

    Read also: One killed at APC gov candidate’s home

    “For the media, how can five units out of 1,325 units constitute a violent election and were given hype that Lagos is violent; we cannot do justice to that.

    “How can we have development to the economy and the medium of information? In terms of security, Lagos has always been ready to celebrate democracy and is violence-free.

    “The security officials are doing well and the INEC has started well too with the logistics well managed.

    “The voters came out en masse,” he said.

    Tinubu said that the state would always continue to be home for all irrespective of wherever they came from.

    “We will continue to welcome everybody to Lagos State. We cannot stop people from coming to the state. If Lagos is not good enough, they won’t come.

    “If the state is plagued with disease or insecurity or unemployment, people won’t come. Those leaving their states to come to Lagos are welcomed, they are not a threat,” he said. (NAN)

  • Cross River APC crisis: Stakeholders seek Buhari, Tinubu intervention

    Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Cross Rivers State, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Leader of the party to step into the crisis rocking the APC in the state and stop it from snowballing into something else.

    The party leaders also asked the National Working Committee to immediately cancel what it called an illegal Congress conducted by the former Deputy National Chairman, South, Engr. Segun Oni which they said disenfranchised over 90 percent of delegates.

    A letter signed by the Chairman, Ikom Local Government and Area Council Caucus, Barrister Odey Oyama said the Congress fell short of the laws of the party and should be cancelled.

    Oyama said leaders of the party must wade into the crisis with a view to ushering in lasting peace, adding that the disenfranchisement of 980 delegates aggravated the party crisis in the state and therefore required urgent attention.

    Oyama stated, “By copy of this letter to the BOT chairman, the Chairman, Ikom Local Government and Area Council Caucus, Barrister Odey said the Congress fell short of the law and should be cancelled. By copy of this letter, we are notifying President Muhammadu Buhari, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,  as well as His Excellency (Senator) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (the Party Leader) of the crisis in Cross River State Chapter of APC and to emphasise that it requires urgent attention in order to prevent a multiplicity of actions.”

    Oyama, said only 94  delegates including a woman “were rather deliberately handpicked to participate in the state Congress”, adding that the disenfranchisement of 980 legitimate delegates (i.e. about 91℅ of the total number of legitimate delegates that ought to have participated at the Congress is perverse.

    “Therefore, in order to avoid the perpetuation of such gross impunity in APC, the BOT and/or the NWC has an inherent jurisdiction to set aside the congress that has been done in abuse of the APC  Constitution.

    “Hence it is our prayer that the BOT and/or the NWC should evoke its prerogative and inherent jurisdiction to discountenance the state congress of Saturday, February 24, 2018 that held in Calabar.

    “She Engr. Segun Oni’s Congress Committee lacked jurisdiction in excluding 91 per cent of constitutionally recognised delegates from participating in the state Congress. The prescribed procedures for conducting such a congress were not properly complied with and the event did not occur in consideration of the universal domain stipulated in the APC Constitution.

    “An assembly of co-conspirators who wanted to appoint a handpicked person as state Chairman of the party in total disrespect of the Constitution of APC and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is a situation that has the potential of creating a very serious crisis in Cross River state chapter of APC, the letter said.

    In another letter, Oyama is seeking proper construction, interpretation and administration of the APC Constitution, adding that the state Congress which held in Calabar on February 24, 2018 was in breach of the party’s Constitution as “it did not give at least 14 days notice to eligible members to attend.”

    He said the decision to hold the congress was taken at the National Secretariat Abuja on February 19, 2018, he stated that the congress held on February 24 indicating that only a 4-day notice was given to the members against the letters of the party Constitution.

    He said the party also flouted the statutory notice it was supposed to give to the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

  • My intervention in Oyo APC was for genuine reconciliation, by Tinubu

    •Ajimobi and I are partners, says APC leader

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said himself and Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State are partners, not rivals and that his intervention in Oyo APC is to engender genuine reconciliation and not to hide or supplant the governor.

    The APC leader was reacting to a false report by SaharaReporters that Asiwaju Tinubu was moving to ban Governor Ajimobi from leading APC campaigns in Oyo because of his intervention in the state, holding discussions with some notable leaders and bringing former governor Adebayo Alao-Akala back to the party’s fold.

    Tinubu described Governor Ajimobi as an excellent governor and a faithful member of the APC. “He has brought progress to the state and in serving two consecutive terms, Ajimobi made history in Oyo. He is instrumental to anything the APC can achieve in Oyo”.

    A statement yesterday by Tinubu’s Media Adviser, Tunde Rahman, said Asiwaju Tinubu was only lending his support to the governor’s and APC’s efforts in the state. “They are partners not rivals”.

    He described the report by the online medium as another excursion into falsehood. But he added: “This report goes beyond a lie. It is a vindictive attempt to sow discord because the writer is angered by the APC’s success in the presidential election. Thus, the writer has cast truth aside in his angry desire to inflict some kind of electoral wound on the APC.”

    The statement reads: “SaharaReporters seems unable to mend its ways. Instead of trying to publish what is fair and accurate, it rather grows its tales from seedlings of untruth and calumny. This online newspaper no longer bothers to offer the pretense of seeking the truth. For SaharaReporters, whatever is sensational must be true and whatever is true must be sensational. The real truth is that SaharaReporters no longer cares if its reportage is right. SaharaReporters just cares that it is widely read. It dare not allow veracity to hamper its business model. This is a disservice to ethical journalism which honors truthful, accurate reporting.

    “The report titled: “Tinubu Bans Ajimobi from Appearing at APC Governorship Rallies” is another of SaharaReporters’ excursions into falsehood. The report claims that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu somehow has banned Governor Abiola Ajimobi from attending APC campaigns for Saturday’s governorship election in Oyo State.

    “This report goes beyond a lie. It is a vindictive attempt to sow discord because the writer is angered by the APC’s success in the presidential election. Thus, the writer has cast truth aside in his angry desire to inflict some kind of electoral wound on the APC. However, the writer should refrain from this path of falsehood. It would be better for the writer to come to grips with reality and to accept the fact of the APC presidential victory and the likelihood of APC victories in most governorship elections, including that of Oyo.

    “The mischief that SaharaReporters cites is not between Tinubu and Ajimobi. It is solely in the mind of SaharaReporters. By its unsubstantiated report, the medium seeks to set brother against brother. Asiwaju and Governor Ajimobi have been political brothers and allies for a long time. Their friendship existed long before SaharaReporters came to the scene and will endure long after this self-diminishing online site is no more.

    “Moreover, Governor Ajimobi has been an excellent governor and a faithful member of the APC. He has brought progress to the state and in serving two consecutive terms, Ajimobi made history in Oyo. He is instrumental to anything the APC can achieve in Oyo. The truth is that Asiwaju is not trying to supplant or hide the governor. Instead, Asiwaju is lending his support to the governor’s and APC’s efforts in the state. They are partners not rivals.

    Read also: APC will complete the takeover of Delta on Saturday, says Buhari

    “As such, he has held strategic meetings with some notable groups and important individuals. The heart of the discussions was the need for all to come together to achieve victory for APC in the March 9 governorship poll. At no time did the issue of banning anybody, talk less of Governor Ajimobi, enter into the discussions. We want and need Governor Ajimobi to be a visible figure at the forefront of this campaign during these final decisive days. He will prove pivotal to our hope for victory in the state.

    “SaharaReporters betrayed its abject bias with this report. It makes absolutely no sense to even try to stop a sitting governor from campaigning in that governor’s state. Such a move would only create enmity and hinder, not help a campaign. For SaharaReporters to claim this is to claim that Asiwaju is a political novice. Asiwaju has never barred anyone from participating in a campaign. Why would he now start with Ajimobi in Ajimobi’s own state?

    “In addition to not having such a negative inclination, Asiwaju wields no such power and has no desire to have such power. Ajimobi is a sitting governor who can travel within his state as he pleases. Who can dare stop him? We want him in and at the rallies. Asiwaju’s intervention in Oyo was to engender genuine reconciliation. To exclude this good and able governor would have aborted this mission before it started.

    “Asiwaju views Governor Ajimobi as highly disciplined and a committed and respected party leader, unlike some others who have no respect for party supremacy. The relationship between them remains solid and loyal. And one hundred false reports by one hundred SaharaReporters cannot change that reality”.

  • I have no relation to or interest in Act Technologies —Tinubu

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has condemned Sahara Reporters for incorrectly linking him with a company called Act Technologies Limited.

    A statement issued by Tinubu Media Office yesterday said the APC leader has absolutely no relation to, or interest in, Act Technologies Limited.

    “He had never even heard of the company until the PDP (and its cronies in the media) started this campaign of calumny a few days ago.

    “Moreover, Asiwaju (Tinubu) has never been involved in the supply of card readers, voter registration and accreditation frameworks or any other materials or services to INEC. Never,” the statement added.

    According to it, SaharaReporters’ story is but an unfortunate and crude attempt to malign Asiwaju’s name.

    The statement titled ‘Response to Allegations in Saharareporters’ reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a false and reckless story published online by Sahara Reporters wrongfully accusing Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of electoral malpractice and incorrectly linking him with a company known as Act Technologies Limited.

    “If lies were sand, this story would be a desert. Perhaps the only thing this story manages to get correct is the spelling of Asiwaju’s name. However, the story is but an unfortunate and crude attempt to malign Asiwaju’s name.

    Read also: PDP’ll be defeated on Sat, says Tinubu

    “Asiwaju has absolutely no relation to, or interest in, Act Technologies Limited. He had never even heard of the company until the PDP (and its cronies in the media) started this campaign of calumny a few days ago.

    “Moreover, Asiwaju has never been involved in the supply of card readers, voter registration and accreditation frameworks or any other materials or services to INEC. Never.

    “Let us be clear in this matter. If any political party was in control of INEC’s procurement practices in 2014/2015, it would have been the one in control of the federal government at that time.

    “Asiwaju never asked for, nor did he receive, anything or any contract from Jonathan’s government.

    “As incompetent as his administration was, even President Jonathan would not have sat idly by while important electoral contracts were being handed over to his most implacable political foe.

    “As often happens with fiction concocted by amateurs, the application of a little common sense causes the entire story to fall apart.

    “Even the technological aspects of the report are fantastical and unfounded. The whole thing simply makes no sense from a technical point of view. The report only makes sense as part of a concerted effort to attack Asiwaju.

    “Why the PDP and their media boosters fear him so much, we leave for them to answer. But it is odd that they expend so much time and energy manufacturing falsehoods against someone whose name will not even appear on any ballot.

    “This story is simply another effort by those opposed to President Buhari and the APC to justify their plans to distort the elections by alleging that the APC government is illegitimate and was rigged into office.

    “The only problem being that the facts do not support their claims nor their rationale for cheating.

    “These people are incurable. They do not rig because they were once victimised by rigging; they rig because rigging is not only in their blood, it is their blood.

    “Such arrant nonsense has no place in our national discourse.

    “Sahara Reporters has descended to a new low. To publish such an unfounded report is more than shoddy journalism; it is malicious.

    “The publication and its editors should be ashamed.”

  • Indirect primaries: ‘Fifth columnists in APC Working against Buhari’s victory’

    Senator representing Zamfara Central in the National Assembly, Senator Kabiru Marafa has said that some fifth columnists are working within the APC to frustrate the electoral victory of the party in the forth coming general election by insisting on conducting indirect primaries using a flawed list of delegates that emerged from a flawed congresses that are currently being challenged in court.

    Marafa who spoke with newsmen at the national secretariat after obtaining his nomination form to contest the governorship ticket said the initial plans was to conduct the primary through indirect option so that people can challenge the victory of the President on the excuse that his nomination was done with a list of illegal delegates.

    He said the currently leadership of the party, working in concert with the National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu saw into the future and decided to isolate from such plot, insisting on conducting the Presidential primary through direct primary.

    Read Also:Katsina, Kaduna, Rivers, Imo APC adopt indirect method to pick candidates

    The Senator who said he would conduct his own primary through direct option “because I am challenging the flawed congresses in court”, said it is quite obvious and clear to all that those who are pushing for indirect primary do not mean well for the party and does not want the party to win the forth coming general election.

    He said: “I said it after the congresses that I see the activities of fifth columnists in the APC that know they cannot defeat President Buhari in the general election. So, the common fear is the fear of second term of President Muhammadu Buhari. The issue then was if you cannot beat directly, how do you beat him indirectly? That was why the congresses were done, deliberately in such a way that they cannot withstand legal scrutiny.

    “In more than 21 states, there were parallel congresses and like I said that time, I don’t need to be a lawyer, or a retired judge to know that what held in most of the state was nothing but rubbish.

    “The APC said at that time, that anybody that is desirous to contest any party office should go to the bank and make so so payments and produce the teller and collect form to contest.

    “The party constitution provides for consensus. But in the absence of consensus, there should be election. Most of these states, people made payments into APC account, obtained their tellers but the governors feel they were demi-gods who must be worshipped and are the ones that can determine the attitude of every human being in Nigeria and we said look, you cannot do that.

    “There are some of us that are radically inclined, you can’t threaten us. That is exactly what happened. Now, glory be to God, under the present leadership of the APC, they saw that these people don’t mean well for this party and decided to insulate the president. That is why the APC said, Presidential election is by direct primaries.

    “This is an admission of failure of the congresses in the States. I am very happy that the APC has protected the President because their intentions (the fifth columnists), was that after general elections, people would go and challenge the election of the President and say the President was voted for during the primary by illegal delegates.

    “The National Chairman is a very wise person, highly experienced, and is working with the leader of the party, Chief Asiwaju, who can see through machinations and do the right thing. The rest is for us, States, we can sort ourselves out, we know ourselves, we know where we came from, we know all is political.

    On the issue of whether to use direct or indirect primaries, he said “I wrote the party through my lawyers because I am in court, challenging the illegality of these congresses and I have absolute confidence in my God, I have confidence in the judicial system of Nigeria. I believe they are going to do the right thing, because it cannot stand anywhere.

    “Having seen that we conducted parallel congresses, I don’t recognize what they have, they don’t recognize what I have. The party here is at liberty to do what they want to do, the very NWC recognised a faction, but thank God, we have the judiciary, we are there, I believe it may take some time, but the judiciary will do the right thing.

    “So, we opted for direct primaries and the reason is simple. We don’t want to be like them, we don’t want to be selfish, we want APC to win Zamfara, they don’t want APC to win Zamfara, they don’t want APC to win Nigeria. There are some of the technicalities on those things but it doesn’t matter.

    “I will do my direct primary with my with my own set of executive, they will do their indirect with their own set of executive. So, when the time comes for the court to rule, if they say Marafa is right, they will go home and retire. If the court says they are right, will I going home and retire. Thank God I have done business before I came to Senate.”

    Speaking on his ambition, the Senator said “I am not overly ambitious by nature. So, the driving force behind my ambition now this time around is the condition under which my people in Zamfara state live today. The issue of insecurity in Zamfara state is a matter of concern for everybody let alone somebody like me who a section of Zamfara State has done a great thing, that I am representing the state now.

    “The attitude of the government in Zamfara state dictates that all sons and daughters of Zamfara must put their hands on deck to ensure that we deal with the issue of insecurity decisively because one can say without fear of any contradiction that as we live today, there is no government in Zamfara state.

    “It is a common knowledge that the governor has variously been described as an absentee governor. It is a common knowledge to all that when the people of Zamfara State needed the government to tackle the insecurity, the governor absconded and he came out publicly to say that he had resigned his position as Chief Security Officer of Zamfara State. In a civilised democracy, he was supposed to resign or be forced to resign.

    “When a state governor comes out to say that he has resigned his position as Chief Security Officer and is sitting tight on the seat, spending security votes, spending the money allocated to that State, I don’t know what that is supposed to be called.

    “I don’t envy anybody aspiring to be the governor of Zamfara State. I believe that I have a responsibility to the people of Zamfara State and the zone I represent who honour to me. I also believe that no amount of sacrifice is too much for the people of Zamfara State.

    “In 2011, we contested against the Federal government, the state government and the local government. We contested under the platform of the ANPP which had no Federal government at that time, no state government at that time, no local government at that time.

    “I have faith in my God and my people stood solidly behind me because the way and manner the then PDP treated me. They said go to any party that will take you and I went to ANPP that didn’t have anything and by the special grace of God, my people brought about government of Zamfara state at that time because they gave the winning votes.

    I’m sure it was not our power, it was not anything. The people believed in us and I believe the government of Zamfara State of today has failed and I think I have a duty as somebody that contributed most in bringing about that government and I believe it is the time for me to pay back to my people.”

    Marafa who is one of the most vocal Senators in the current National Assembly said honest and sincerity of purpose are the two major things needed to address the current security challenges in the state, saying “the minister of internal affairs once had course to say that if you like, deploy all the military in Nigeria to Zamfara, they can achieve nothing because the government on ground is not interested in anything.

    “Like I said earlier, the governor has been variously an absentee governor. As I am talking right now, he is not in this country. Imagine, the Chief Security Officer has been absent in his country for more than 9 days, men and women are fleeing their hometowns.

    “In Zamfara, between 2011 and today, we have lost over 15,000 people. If you take a minimum of two wives per person, that means we have minimum of 30,000 widows. If you have a minimum of four children per person, we have 60,000 orphans. Who is feeding these children? Nobody is asking, nobody is interested, there is no IDPs in Zamfara, nobody is asking these questions, who is taking care of these widows?

    “Recently, when the Federal ministry of agriculture distributed grains, Zamfara state was missing. I was emotional at the floor of the Senate to make a case for Zamfara State. This is the duty we have. As Nigerians, we all have responsibilities.”