The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Party chieftain

  • Delta APC crisis: Police seal state secretariat –Party chieftain urges warring parties to sheathe swords

    THE police in Delta State yesterday sealed the state secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asaba, as a fallout of the crisis rocking the party. Consequently,members of the Prophet Jones Erue led state executive committee of the party were denied entry into the building for the planned inauguration of the local government excos. The party has two factions with one led by Chief Cyril Ogodo and the other by Erue.

    The Ogodo –led exco was inaugurated by the the immediate past National Chairman of the Party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun on June 4 while the Erue faction was sworn in by the party’s new National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on July 16. It was learnt the State Police Command mobilised its men to seal up the secretariat to forestall the breakdown of law and order. It was gathered that the police commissioner was scheduled to meet with the two warring factions yesterday. Arising from the factional tendencies in the state chapter of the party, a frontline political figure and former speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Victor Ochei, has urged the party faithful to sheathe their swords, eschew inflammatory utterances and remain calm as concerted efforts are in top gear to resolve the contentious issues.

    He made the call while reacting to a flurry of statements credited to some members of the APC in the state. According to him, the situation does not call for derogatory or uncomplimentary statements capable of heating up the polity, as “the National Working Committee under the able and wise leadership of His Excellency, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole possess the requisite capacity and expertise to effect an amicable resolution of the issue in ground.” He further maintained that his call for caution is premised on the fact that Comrade Oshiomhole is a stickler for justice and peace, backgrounded on his pedigrees as a timetested unionist and excellent administrator of human and material resources.

  • Give Oshiomhole chance to re-unite APC –Party chieftain

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Emokpaire Ibrahim, has urged party faithful to support the new national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as “he attempts to reposition, reconcile and reclaim the trust of all party members.” Emokpaire told journalists that this period in the life of the party calls for total commitment, endurance, loyalty and unity in order to raise the bar of the new democratic process under the new national chairman. “Barely two weeks ago, members of our great party decided to hand over the baton of leadership to Comrade Adams Oshiomole.

    I sincerely believe in the ability and capacity of our national chairman to move the party forward. My decision to withdraw my nomination papers from contesting the national chairmanship position at the national convention also stemmed from this fact. “We are in a period when all hands must be on the deck to once again support the good work of President Muhammadu Buhari as we approach the 2019 general elections. “I appeal to all who are disgruntled about some of the issues raised about the outcome of the national convention to sheathe their sword and channel their grievances through the right process.

    Personal agenda should not supersede that of the party and as a family, there are certain internal problems that must be managed within the party without resorting to making public statements or deviating from the progressive agenda of our great party which is the unifying factor.” He urged leaders of the new group to revisit their decisions and come to a roundtable discussion with the leadership of the party so that their protest would be looked into by the appropriate authority.

  • Asiwaju’ll reconcile APC before 2019 – Party chieftain

    The intervention of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu-led National Reconciliation Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), will bring about the total reconciliation in the ruling party. A leader of the party in Lagos East senatorial district, Chief Lanre Razak, made the assertion in his hometown, Epe, at the weekend while commending party leaders and members for their orderly conduct during the ward congresses across the state.

    “Our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has been given an assignment to reconcile the party; I have every confidence that he will achieve the task given to him by President Muhammadu Buhari. Before the 2019 elections, our party will be fully reconciled by the Tinubu-led committee and this will go a long way in ensuring victory for APC here in Lagos and across the country,” Rasak said.

    “Some people expect that we would have crisis riddled congress but you can see for yourself that the whole process is peaceful. The APC has showed that it is the party to emulate. Again there is no party that is devoid of crisis. We have a good crisis management mechanism in place. I commend all our newly elected officials. We are very lucky to have observers from INEC who have just witnessed the process of the ward congress here,” he added.

  • VON DG, Kwara group, party chieftain hail Tinubu’s choice to lead APC reconciliation

    VON DG, Kwara group, party chieftain hail Tinubu’s choice to lead APC reconciliation

    Voice of Nigeria (VON) Director-General Mr. Osita Okechukwu has hailed Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s appointment as chairman of the party’s reconciliation committee.

    A group, Harmony Progressive Forum (HPF), and APC chieftain Timi Frank also lauded the establishment of the committee.

    Okechukwu told reporters in Enugu at the sideline of a meeting of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers, Rice Agricultural Programme that the appointment of  Tinubu by President Muhammadu Buhari to head the committee was timely and a milestone.

    He maintained that only a person of Tinubu’s calibre could reconcile the intra-party feuds in APC, noting that Tinubu provided the critical supplement for APC’s victory in 2015.

    “It is a milestone. I salute Mr. President for appointing our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to head such a crucial committee. It is timely and a welcome development. He was one of the core architects of the merger, which gave birth to the APC and has the Midas touch to stitch the torn parts. Let’s be honest, there are intra-disputes, which need a man of Asiwaju’s calibere to fix.”

    Asked  to name such crisis, Okechukwu said: “It is not crisis per se, but intra-feuds, which normally occur in every human association. Some of them are ego-based, some are ancient grudges and some are frictions, which could be traced to the fact that APC is a polygamous household with many mothers and one father.”

    On whether he was aware of the insinuations in the media that Tinubu’s invitation is being resisted by his  supporters, who felt that the he was sidelined, he said: “I don’t want to comment on speculation, all I know is that our brothers in the Southwest appreciate the critical foundation President Muhammadu Buhari is laying nationwide in infrastructural development. And our national leader is aware that what is paramount is to save Nigeria from those who for 16 years of unprecedented oil boom, squandered our commonwealth.

    VON DG expressed optimism that Tinubu would mend fences with APC National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun.

    “Oyegun belongs to his motherhood of APC and did his utmost best in the circumstance he found himself.

    “My happiness is that Asiwaju as a veteran stands on a good stead to reconcile the feuding parties and different tendencies, more so, when Mr. President has mandated him to select his team” he said.

    HPF, which is a coalition of ex-Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) local government chairmen of the Kwara State All Progressives Congress (APC), cautioned the Tinubu-led committee to be wary of individuals that might be out to derail its activities for personal and selfish reasons.

    Addressing reporters yesterday in Ilorin, HPF Chairman Alhaji Musa Umar said: “We appreciate the setting up of a reconciliation committee to settle amicably identified rifts among members of APC in the country. The choice of Tinubu as the team leader is highly commendable in view of his track record of managing political issues.

    “The outcome of the committee’s assignment should, therefore, be guided only by its objectives and verifiable submissions and not allow sentiments and primordial issues to becloud their work. Kwara must change for better and the time to act is now.”

    Frank, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, called for support for the Tinubu-led reconciliation committee.

    He said the committee has a very big task ahead of it and cannot perform any magic as it was almost too late to reconcile members.

    Saying the committee should have been set up about one year ago, Frank, who is one of the aggrieved APC members, said nobody took him serious when he raised an alarm that all was not well with the party.

    He added that if the Tinubu-led committee was set up earlier, many members of the party who left would not.

  • Party chieftain: APC ‘ll implode unless Buhari intervenes

    Party chieftain: APC ‘ll implode unless Buhari intervenes

    ALL Progressives Congress (APC) Deputy National Publicity Secretary Tmi Frank yesterday warned that unless President Muhammadu Buhari takes concrete steps to resolve the crisis rocking the party, it may cease to exist in 2019.

    Frank said political realignments were on-going in the country that might see many APC leaders abandoning the party to pursue their political careers in other parties.

    He attributed this to what he described as the incompetence of the party chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

    Addressing reporters in Abuja, Frank said he would keep supporting the position of the party’s stalwart, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that Odigie-Oyegun should resign as the national chairman.

    The party chieftain said the President must see reason why Oyegun must quit.

    He said this was the time to redeem the party, pointing out that the APC leaders have between now and early part of 2017 to harmonise all the interest within the fold and address the crisis rocking it.

    Frank, who added that he would visit the APC founding fathers across the country on a rescue mission, said: “It is very important that I embark on this rescue mission because I don’t want the party to die in the hands of Odigie-Oyegun and a few others.

    “I believe that Mr. President should be able to go back and have a rethink of his experience with Odigie-Oyegun as National Chairman of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). We are all aware that it was because of the incompetence of Oyegun at that time that drove President Buhari from the ANPP to form the CPC. Oyegun could not manage ANPP at that time and as at today, that same thing is happening in the APC.”

    He said he would soon write formally to the president and his deputy as well as the leadership of the National Assembly to seek their audience to adequately brief them on the circumstances that have necessitated the calls for Odigie-Oyegun’s resignation.

    “I will also consult the governors (of our party) to make them understand the danger inherent in their silence in the face of the wave of crisis that has enveloped the party.

    “This is like a rescue mission I am about to embark on. This struggle to rescue our party is not personal. It is because I love this party so much and I am a very loyal party man and I believe in this party.

    “I am also going to pay a visit to our former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; I will also visit Asiwaju Tinubu and all the past national chairmen that made the merger to work.

    “I am going to pay visit to my own former national chairman, Alhaji Kawu Baraje of the then New Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bisi Akande of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN), Chief Ogbonnaya Onu of the then ANPP, Chief Tony Momoh of defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Governor Rochas Okorocha, who led a section of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to make the APC.

    “This visit is one that I will start anytime soon,” he said.

     

  • Party chieftain urges unity

    Party chieftain urges unity

    Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Toyin Balogun has urged the party to close ranks to win the Ondo State governorship election.

    Speaking to The Nation, he said if the party fails to resolve the issues surrounding its shadow poll, which produced Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will take advantage of it.

    He said it was unfortunate that the party was drawn into undemocratic method of choosing its standard-bearer.

    Balogun said: “The opposition will work on the party weakness, if the house is not put in order. The election might not come out in favour of the party. The party leaders must swing into action to ensure that what happened in the last election in Ondo State does not happen again.

    “The Ondo primary election did not quite reflect democracy. We saw lots of atrocities, conspiracy and gang up.

    “It was further established after the result of the election, which produced Rotimi Akeredolu as the winner did not have popular support. It was discovered that the election was not free and fair. Some people came out to confess that they participated in the election even though they were not delegates.

    “The constitution of APC has it that only authentic delegates should take part in the primary election, but how comes they took part unnoticed. It was revealed that food vendors were reached out to for the election and they voted for certain aspirants they were instructed to vote for.

    “Again, some delegates complained that their names were deleted from the lists. They could not find their names during the election. They were disenfranchised with no few than 250 delegates, who complained of the infraction.”

    He said the party must ensure that its position on anti-corruption subsists, stressing that the Ondo primary was an act of corruption.