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Tag: National Working Committee (NWC)

  • Why Damagum should continue in office till Dec., by NWC members 

    Why Damagum should continue in office till Dec., by NWC members 

    • ‘Proxy war killing main opposition party’

    After a respite, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), regressed into crisis yesterday.

    A section of the National Working Committee (NWC) said Ambassador Umar Damagum should continue as acting national chairman till December.

    But, some chieftains from the Northcentral geo-political zone, who believe that the region should produce the national chairman, kicked against the suggestion, saying that it is unjustifiable.

    The NWC members, led by the Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, fired salvos at the anti-Damagum forces, saying that they are free to leave the party, if they cannot join hands to rebuild the platform.

    Osadolor attributed the party crisis to the ‘proxy war by privileged members,’ who are bent on shoving Damagum aside.

    He said his group decided to organise the solidarity meeting in support of the acting chairman, who has been given the nod by the court to steer the affairs of the party till December in an acting capacity.

    In his speech titled: ‘Tomorrow Beckons on PDP,’  Osadolor acknowledged that many party chieftains across the nation are now disillusioned over the leadership crisis.

    PDP NWC officials at the meeting are Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi,  Deputy National Financial Secretary, Ndubisi Eneh, and National Deputy Organising Secretary, Pascal Adigwe.

     Osadolor said: “We, the elected deputies of the PDP National Working Committee, have deemed it fit and proper to come out and speak, to save the soul and integrity of this blessed and beloved party of ours.

     “We are dealing with disillusionment of members across the country and beyond, for reasons bothering on distrust, insincerity, lack of firm enforcement of agreements, self-serving interests and unnecessary eye service that is laced with smooth tongues.”

    Osadolor said the fierce proxy war is counter-productive and very alarming, adding that “ it is distracting attention and misdirecting energies that could have been put to better use.”

     He stressed: “Worrisome is the action of members of the party who, under the guise of being  ‘due process advocates,’ act on behalf of self-serving leaders lurking behind the scenes mischievously, causing misunderstanding in the party.

    Read Also: NELFUND disburses ₦136.7m student loan to Joseph Sarwan Tarka varsity

    “This behaviour is apparently self-serving on their part, as it is not in the interest of the PDP in anyway.

     “It is ethically and morally wrong for members of the party to move around, creating confusion instead of exploring our internal mechanism for peace.”

    Osadolor said PDP is locked in protracted crisis instead of focusing on the Edo State governorship litigation and giving assistance to the candidate.

    He said: “This is no longer the time for blame game. All have sinned – from the Board of Trustees Chairman who endorsed an opposition governor, to candidates that negotiated and supported other parties’ candidates – to NWC members and leaders that lost their polling units.”

    Osadolor said many big wigs contributed to sad situation in the party.

    He said while there is no saint in the party, the  NWC deputy officials firmly believe that the only pragmatic solution is to rally round the acting national chairman and ensure that he remains in office without distractions until December.

     Osadolor said: “We must all come down from our high horses, forget pride for now and join hands with the party as led by Ambassador Ilyas Damagun to reposition this party back to winning ways; court distractions and media de-marketing of the PDP must stop forth with.

     “You do not need to like the officers, but the party is more important; if you want to resign and go, be a proper part of opposition. Do not be here and going from television stations to radio house, abusing the  party.

     “The case of the acting national chairman is settled till December, 2025, and on that of the National Secretary, we must wait for the courts to decide; let us learn to love and support PDP first and always.”

     He added: “We, the deputies, are committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure that PDP regains its pride of place and finds herself back in Aso Rock for the benefit of Nigeria and all Nigerians.

    “The task ahead is to prepare for the next elections and not the present bickering, which is distracting attention and misdirecting energies that could have been put to better use.

     “From 2013 till date, personal ambitions have driven us to heights of pure mischief and arrogant use of power and this has led to agreements not being kept and the ambiguities in our constitution being exploited by those in position, even through the courts.

    “We are all complicit by being perpetrators, supporters or silent onlookers; no one is coming to save us, we must stand up and become heroes, we brought ourselves here.

    “Tomorrow beckons on us, we need to rise up and surmount these challenges. As we await the outcome of the on-going litigations, let us work towards the upcoming constitutionally-backed stakeholder engagements, embrace each other, and put plans in place to amend the ambiguities and loop holes in our constitution.

    “Our individual ambitions must be within the ambits of the law and must be pursued with sincerity and loyalty to party, not the mischief and arrogance that we always display.”

    When contacted for his reaction to the statement, PDP National Publicit Debo Ologunagba did not  respond.

  • PDP optimistic of success in supplementary polls

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says it is optimistic of victory in states where the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is to hold supplementary governorship elections on March 23.

    The party’s National Working Committee (NWC), expressed the optimism in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, after the committee’s emergency meeting held on Thursday in Abuja.

    Ologbondiyan expressed the party’s readiness for the supplementary elections.

    He said that the hierarchy of the party was not happy that INEC declared elections inconclusive in states where PDP had popular support and had defeated it’s opponents.

    “In states where PDP was leading, elections were declared inconclusive, whereas in states like Ogun, where the All Progressives Congress (APC), was in the lead, a winner was announced even when the lead margin was below the number of cancelled votes,” he alleged.

    He said that the PDP was ready for the supplementary elections and was sure of resounding success.

    “In Sokoto state, a stronghold of our party and where the PDP is already in a clear lead, our victory at the March 23 supplementary election is guaranteed.

    “In Benue, the people have expressed their readiness to go into the supplementary election and they are prepared to vote for the PDP candidate, Gov.  Samuel Ortom.

    “They are also aware that by PDP’s current leading margin of over 81,000 votes, it is manifestly clear that there is no way any other party will defeat the PDP in Benue.

    “In Adamawa, the PDP observed the mischievous calculation of the opposition in sponsoring someone, who did not participate in the election, to go to court and claim that the logo of his party was omitted in the ballot.

    “This is a desperate bid to get the election already won by the PDP cancelled. The PDP, however, notes the failure of the opposition to achieve its mischief in Adamawa state.

    “In Bauchi State, it is known to all,  that the Tafawa Balewa Local Government has always been a home to the PDP since 1999,” he said.

    Ologbondiyan said that in Kano state, the APC would be confronting the strong will of the people to elect a new governor.

    “Already, the people of Kano State are standing shoulder to shoulder with the PDP in their pursuit of bringing a government that will be representative and purposeful.

    “On no account must Nigerians allow a culture of impunity, where those who failed in any election, will compromise our electoral arbiter and force themselves on the people,” he said.

    Ologbondiyan said that the party had directed all its members to resist any attempt by anybody to tamper with the will of the people in their states, during the supplementary elections.

    He said that the party, after proper review of various states where elections were declared inconclusive, advised INEC to release the results and declare the winners.

    “In Rivers state, the PDP restates its demand that INEC should release the results already collated on the governorship election in which PDP clearly won, and declare Governor Nyesom Wike as winner,” he said.

    Ologbondiyan expressed worry over the involvement of the military in politics, saying that the situation was affecting public confidence on the revered institution. (NAN)

  • Saboteurs won’t be allowed to lead 9th National Assembly, says Presidency

    The Presidency on Wednesday disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari and his government will not allow the emergence of saboteurs in the leadership of the ninth National Assembly (NASS).

    This was disclosed by a senior aide to the President on a condition of anonymity.

    According to him, the President will ensure that only persons selected by the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC) emerge as President of the Senate and other presiding officers of both the red and green chambers.

    Even as he declared the President has no preferred candidates for the position of the principal officer of the parliament, he said that he is ready and willing to support the decision of the leadership of the party in line with worked out zoning arrangements.

    He said the presidency had never had it smooth with the relationship that existed between it and the leadership of the 8th National Assembly and will therefore not sit to fold its arms while another set of unfriendly characters emerge in the next dispensation.

    Read Also: Senate Presidency: Ex-governors plot upset

    He said: “Be rest assured that the President will not micro-manage the process electing the National Assembly leadership but he will not allow the lawlessness that happened in 2015 to repeat itself.

    “The President will allow the decision of the party to remain supreme. Once the party zones the positions, he will give maximum support to it.

    “It is not like before, now, the decision of the party is supreme. You see what has happened to the two governors. In the past, this won’t have been possible.

    “What I can tell you is that the President doesn’t have any preferred candidates,” he said.

    At the beginning of the eight parliament, both Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had emerged against the arrangement of the APC leadership.

     

  • Oshiomhole gets 48 hours to rescind Okorocha’s suspension

    •Group wants Senate Presidency zoned to Southeast

    The Presidential Support Committee (PSC), Southeast Zone, has given the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) a 48-hour ultimatum to rescind the suspension of Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha.

    The committee, at a news conference jointly addressed by the Director of Inter-Party Affairs Robert Ngwu, National Legal Adviser Ejikeme Ugwu and Director of Political Matters, Comrade Maxwel Okoye, in Owerri, noted that suspending a key stakeholder like Okorocha “did not speak well of the NWC and Oshiomhole”.

    The group consequently threatened to embark on legal and mass action if the NWC did not repeal the suspension.

    The committee also made a case for zoning of the Senate Presidency to the Southeast in view of the support given to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    It noted that “the suspension is an orchestrated agenda to deny the Igbo presidency in 2023, knowing that Okorocha is one of the major contenders”.

    They said: “Okorocha’s suspension came to us as a shock. There is no way a cabal can suspend a major financier of the party. We give the NWC and the National Chairman 48 hours to reverse the suspension or we will resort to legal and mass action against APC leadership.

    “The suspension is aimed at disorganising Igbo ahead of 2023. Oshiomhole cannot wake up and suspend a major financier of the party. We plead with Buhari not to allow some few individuals rubbish his friends because we know that Okorocha is a good friend of the President.”

  • Amosun’s suspension long overdue, says Ogun APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), in Ogun State has hailed the suspension of Governor Ibikunle Amosun, by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), describing it as a thing that is “long overdue.”

    In a press statement in Abeokuta on Friday by the APC Ogun Caretaker Committee’s Publicity Secretary, Tunde Oladunjoye, the party stated that it received the suspension slammed on Amosun wholeheartedly.

    The statement reads: “we received the NWC’s decision wholeheartedly and we say it is long overdue.

    “Governor Amosun’s actions constitute a huge demonstration of ingratitude and party disloyalty.

    Read also: After suspension, Okorocha says Oshiomhole is blinded by 2023 ambition

    “We are calling on the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to go ahead and expel Governor Amosun from the party without further delay.

    “This will teach him a lesson and serve as deterrent to people who may want to follow his inglorious path.”

  • SDP expels Gana, suspends Duke

    The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), on Tuesday expelled former Minister of  Information, Prof Jerry Gana and Chief Supo Shonibare over what it described as anti-party activities.
    The party also suspended the former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke of the same offence.
    Details later……

  • APC holds guber primaries in Ogun – Onanuga

    The Ogun State Deputy Governor, Yetunde Onanuga, has urged delegates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to disregard speculations that the governorship primary elections will not hold as scheduled in the state.

    Onanuga made the clarification when she addressed newsmen at the Ijebu-Ode Local Government Secretariat on Tuesday.

    The deputy governor, who was in Ijebu-Ode her constituency to exercise her civic duty in the re-scheduled APC governorship primaries, allayed fears that the election would be cancelled again.

    “As I speak to you now, members of the National Working Committee (NWC) have left Abeokuta en-route the various voting centres to start the process.

    Read Also: Onanuga takes charge in Ogun

    “I can confirm to you that it will hold and we have already dispatched information to the 11 wards in Ijebu-Ode and members are waiting there, the elections will hold,” Onanuga said.

    She also assured delegates and citizens that their safety was guaranteed, saying that security for the purpose of the election had been provided.

    “No one can harass anybody or disenfranchise them not to carry out their rights. People should come out and vote for the candidates of their choice,” she added.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that at Ward 2, Ereko Area and Ward 9, St. Augustine Area, there was large turnout of delegates, who had been waiting from the early hours of Tuesday.

  • Ex-presidential aide seeks dissolution of APC factions in Enugu

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Dennis Aghanya, has called on the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to dissolve the two factions in Enugu State.

    Aghanya, a former media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari between 2009 and 2011 and Pioneer National Publicity Secretary of the defunct CPC, gave the advice in a letter to the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, on Monday.

    He said in the letter made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu that the situation was threatening the fortunes of the party in the state.

    “The situation is currently threatening the fortunes of the party to the detriment of efforts by serious candidates who are investing time and finance to ensure victory for themselves and President Muhammadu  Buhari at the forthcoming 2019 general elections.

    “I suggest that the National Working Committee of the APC should as a matter of urgency dissolve the two factions led by Okey Ogbodo and Ben Nwoye respectively.

    “The NWC should set up a caretaker committee to be composed of neutral persons, possibly from neighbouring states in the South East to conduct primaries for aspirants at all levels, using Direct Primary method.

    Read Also: Ogun APC: Aspirant urges members to insist on direct primary

    “The caretaker committee should go further to conduct a fresh congress for the party after the primaries so that the party can go out in pursuant of votes as a united family.’’

    According to him, ignoring this advice will amount to deliberately weakening the party to the advantage of the incumbent in Enugu State.

    He said that it would also amount to deliberately sabotaging Buhari from making inroad into the South East.

    “These are all assumptions and can only be proved wrong if only the right thing is done by the national leadership of the party now.

    “Just few days ago the acting national publicity of the APC announced that party members should go to their states and use their temporary party cards to collect their original membership cards.

    “My question now is which faction these members will go to collect their membership cards from?’’

    He said that 99 per cent assertions that“a thing cannot be done is just the unwillingness to do it’’.

    “It does not take anything to dissolve these two factions and set up a caretaker committee to reunite the APC family in Enugu State,’’ he said.

  • Obasanjo counsels Secondus, PDP on how to defeat Buhari, APC in 2019

    … As party apologises to ex – President

     

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday met with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and counselled them on steps to adopt if they hoped to unhorse President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019.

    Obasanjo who was elected Nigerian President twice from 1999 – 2007  on the platform of PDP,  told the  21 man delegation of the Committee led by PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Walid Jibrin to pay more than passive attention to four issues, he identified, as needed ingredients to bring PDP back to power.

    The Ebora Owu who announced his quitting of partisan politics in the build up to the 2015 Presidential election to become an elder statesman, advised the party to court and embrace “good image, internal discipline, commitment, quality leadership and moral principles.”

    Read Also:I’m worried about youth anger, frustration — Obasanjo

    The early morning meeting at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) at the state capital was at the instance of the NWC of the party which had earlier arrived Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, a day ahead of it.

    The ex – President gave the advice in response to Uche Secondus.

    The Party national leader had earlier, tendered words of apology on behalf the party to Obasanjo for the bad conduct and mistreatment met out to him and also drew  his attention to what he (Secondus) considered as the “distress and prostrate situation of the country today” as well as  the progress report on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding the  grand alliance of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) among others.

    These were contained in a release issued in Abeokuta by Obasanjo’s Media aide, Mr. kehinde Akinyemi, shortly after the meeting.

    The release reads: “Chief Obasanjo thanked the delegation for apologising on behalf of the party and made reference to the Lord’s Prayer where we are taught to ask God for forgiveness and to grant forgiveness to others.

    “He further underlined the pitiable situation of Nigeria today and the inexcusable killing and insecurity almost all over the country and the unprecedented division of the country all of which the present government seems to have no credible solution.

    “After deliberations, it was made clear that the MOU for grand alliance is what it says, a grand alliance. It is neither a merger nor absorption of any political party by any political party. It is clearly for the parties who agreed to be members of the alliance to work together to achieve one important common objective at the national level for the election of 2019 and where it is appropriate and necessary members may also form alliance and cooperation at the state level.

    “Chief Obasanjo reiterated to the Committee that the idea of a grand alliance was broached when the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) adopted African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a political party platform. He therefore reaffirmed his belief and support for the grand alliance.

    “Chief Obasanjo, however, advised that the individuality and independence of each political party must be observed and respected by all parties concerned. It is also desirable that in the process of implementing the MOU to achieve the set objective, solidarity and focus on the objective must be maintained.

    “Chief Obasanjo urged that all member political parties must be cautious of fake news, rumours, blackmail, and seeds of discord that may be sown among them from external quarters.

    “He also, reminded the committee that on adoption of ADC as political party of the CNM (Coalition of Nigeria Movement), he had maintained that he will not be a member of any political party but he will make himself available to guide any party that wishes to be so guided and he has offered such guidance to ADC.

    “While he may make himself available to any other party that will require it, service to ADC will be paramount, he equally pointed out to the committee that before their prompting he had put his hands on the ground and there is no looking back.

    “That he will join men and women in the country and if necessary lead them, in retrieving and saving the country from shipwreck.”

    Earlier, the National Chairman of PDP also appealed to the former President not to relent on giving necessary leadership to save the country from the throes of mismanagement and drift towards shipwrecking.

  • Mass killings: PDP declares 7-day mourning

    …Directs party flag to fly half-mast

    The National Working Committee (NWC) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has declared seven-day mourning for victims of gruesome killings by marauders and bandits in Plateau state and other parts of the country.

    Consequently, the party has directed that its flags at all its offices and formation at all levels across the country be flown at half-mast during the seven-day period, in honour of the victims.

    Read Also:Plateau killings: Buhari meets Saraki, Dogara in Aso Rock

    In a statement on Tuesday by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party urged the people of Plateau State to exercise their rights as global citizens, work with other public-spirited Nigerians and groups and take President Muhammadu Buhari and his government to the International Court of Justice at the Hague for acting helpless in the face of continuous mass killings in our country.

    The statement said, “The PDP firmly holds that the life of every Nigerian is sacred. All Nigerians must be protected whether they are Birom, Basange, Ebira, Tiv, Idoma, Hausa, Igbo, Fulani, Gbagyi, Yoruba or from any other tribe whatsoever.

    “The fundamental duty of government all over the world is the protection of lives and we can no longer afford to continue to fold our hands while compatriots are daily hacked down by marauders”.