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Tag: PDP candidate

  • PDP candidate promises N20,000 stipend for jobless graduates

    The Niger State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for next year’s election, Alhaji Umar Mohammed Nasko, has promised N20,000 monthly stipend for every unemployed graduates.

    Nasko said the stipend, which would be paid to all registered graduates in the state, would not only enable them to keep the “body and soul together” but also help them to keep them off crime and other anti-social activities.

    The PDP governorship candidate also promised to re-introduce the free education policy for indigene and non-indigenes at the primary and secondary levels, which was abolished in 2016.

    The PDP flag bearer made the pledge in Suleja at the weekend at the zonal governorship campaign kick-off.

    He said the monthly stipend would reduce the increasing rate of crime and thuggery in the state.

    According to him, the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration in the state has done little or nothing to keep the youths off the street.

    Nasko said the neglect of the youths in the state was one of the greatest failures of the APC.

    “In addition to the N20,000 monthly stipend, if voted into office, my administration will immediately bring back the graduate employment scheme where they will be trained and posted to relevant ministries, agencies and corporations for full employment,” he said.

    The PDP candidate faulted the ruling APC administration for the alleged dichotomy in the school fees at the state-owned tertiary education and the abolition of payment of the West African Examinations Council WAEC and the National Examination Council (NECO) examination fees for non-indigent pupils.

  • How I will defeat Gaidam, by PDP candidate

    Former Chairman of Bursari Local Government Area of Yobe State Alhaji Abba  Ganatata has vowed to send Governor Ibrahim Gaidam  to political retirement by defeating him  in next year’s senatorial election.

    Both candidates are contesting for the Zone A senatorial seat. Gaidam is running on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC). He got the ticket unopposed after former Governor Bukar Abba Ibrahim stepped down for him, following series of peace meetings and horse-trading,

    Ganatata got the PDP ticket without any friction within the party hierarchy.

    Ganagtata, whose posters have flooded the streets of Damaturu,  the capital, said he will be a beeter senator than Gaidam.

    He said: “I know I can represent my people at the senate better than Governor Ibrahim Gaidam. My people also know that and they are going to make a good choice of me rather than voting Governor Ibrahim Gaidam for the Senate. I know he has served as a governor for about ten years now but I am not afraid of him. I am ready for him,” Tata boasted.

    Ganatata added: “What I did while as chairman of Bursari local Government has never been outmatched by any chairman in the history of Yobe State  after so many years of my exit. As a member of the board of TETfund, I have brought development to all tertiary institutions across Yobe, not just my zone. You can go and verify that.

    “I am a grassroot politician who is connected to the people and at the same time very accessible to the common people taking care of their needs. I will not be a lawmaker that builds a wall around me to fend off my constituents but rather my people will constitute the wall around to form a formidable force that will affect their needs through impactful legislations,” Tata explained.

    “My track records have shown that I use to give my people every sense of belonging and bring to them what belongs to them in everything that I do. If elected as senator, I will defend them, stand for them and also serve them well.”

  • ‘Why Tambuwal will emerge PDP candidate’

    A former member of the House of Representatives, Victor Afam Ogene, has predicted victory for Governor Aminu Tambuwal in the race for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket.

    Ogene, speaking with reporters, said Tambuwal would be the major opposition to President Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate for All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He said: “First and foremost, in seeking to confront an incumbent, and possibly triumph, an opposition political party must, in the search for its standard bearer, go beyond the stereotype criteria of settling for the aspirant with the deepest pockets. Remember that in 2014, when the APC settled for General Buhari as its candidate, he was probably the least endowed, financially speaking. And this did not begin with President Buhari.

    ‘’Indeed, former Presidents Obasanjo, the late Umaru   Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, did not emerge as flag bearers, and ultimately as elected President, on the strength of financial superiority over those who stood against them in party primaries.

    “As you must have observed, the PDP field is star-studded, with virtually all 13 aspirants having the pedigree of name recognition across the country. However, in a contest expected to throw up only one person, the delegates and party elders must evolve a set of criterion, with especially the general election in mind.

    “For me, I would compress my benchmark to three simple, yet decisive, issues which are expected to dominate discourse in the electioneering towards 2019 – and of course, ultimately zero in on the aspirant with the most probable chance of winning.”

    He added: “The first issue is what I refer to as a clean record of service. Out of the 13 aspirants of the PDP, how many of them possess an unblemished  record of service, devoid of inquisition by the anti-graft agencies such as the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)?

    ‘’I may not be totally correct, but if my memory still serves me without default, I think it is only  Aminu Tambuwal that can easily pass this test. In fact, not only is the Sokoto State governor without a file in the offices of the ICPC, the EFCC or Code of Conduct Tribunal, he is also not known to have been issued a police summons in his over 15 years of public service.

    “The second consideration to my mind – although closely related to the first – is the issue of immunity. Under the current inclement political climate which we are experiencing, it would be tantamount to foolhardiness for the PDP to settle for a candidate who currently does not enjoy immunity.”

  • Fayemi Campaign to PDP candidate: you lied on poll fund

    The Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation has debunked allegation by the Kolapo Olusola Campaign Organisation on movement of N18b from Akure Airport to Ekiti State for the election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

    Olusola’s campaign spokesman, Lere Olayinka, had alleged that the funds were illegally moved from UBA to Ekiti State to fund Fayemi’s election.

    But a statement by Director of Media and Publicity Secretary, Wole Olujobi, said the author of the press release was writing from a “hallucinating imagination” and background of a professional liar.

    “Lere Olayinka has a background of integrity deficiency in information dissemination in strict complement with his boss,Governor Ayodele Fayose.

    “Across the country and the world audience through social media, Olayinka is renowned for his notoriety to concoct falsehoods and present them to readers as facts.

    “Discerning minds will note the lies contained in the story by a single logic that it took Olusola and Olayinka a whole week after the leak of funds movement before they alerted Nigerians about a purported money cargo being offloaded in Akure for Fayemi’s election in Ekiti.

    “By this lie from the pit of hell, we know that PDP is trying to paint a picture that it is a comrade-in-crime with APC after Fayose’s 2014 poll fraud funded with the loot from the office of the National Security Adviser.

    “It is also to argue that APC bought Ekiti people’s votes after Saturday humiliation of Fayose and Olusola who have set Ekiti people back in their thirst for development.

    Olujobi also faulted Olusola’s claim that policemen assaulted Fayose on Wednesday, explaining that the latest Fayose’s apology to the Police authorities for lying against their officers did not support the claim that police assault the governor.

    “It is great that security details attached to Fayose have confessed that there was no attack on the governor.

    “The security details confessed after they were queried for dereliction of duty in the protection of their principal.

    “Late last night, Fayose sent his aides to the police for forgiveness for lying against their officers.

    “The police spokesman this evening said so, but Olusola is still misinforming Nigerians that the police assaulted Fayose, which then goes to show the quality of his Christian life that he is flaunting to aspire to lead the state.

    “Nigerians are expecting the purported pictures showing funds movement to Ekiti State to fund Fayemi’s election, but we know that the pictures cannot be more than the 11 pictures that Fayose threatened to publish to show that President Muhammadu Buhari was on life support machine in the United Kingdom hospital,” Olujobi explained.

     

  • PDP candidate unfolds six-point agenda

    Ekiti State Deputy Governor and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, has unfolded a six-point ‘Shield Agenda’ he will implement if voted into power in the July 14 poll.

    Describing the Shield Agenda as “continuity agenda,” Olusola said the blueprint was carefully and conscientiously packaged to stimulate an all-encompassing development of Ekiti and better standard of living for its people.

    He noted that the agenda incorporates Security, Sustainable Human Development, Healthcare, Infrastructural and Industrial Development, Education, Leadership and Governance and Development of Tourism and Agriculture.

    Olusola who addressed reporters at the Executive Council Chambers of the Governor’s Office yesterday, promised to make Ekiti safe for residents to be able to attract investors and also create jobs for the teeming youths.

    He pledged to partner with private investors to industrialize the state, by providing enabling environment for private sector to flourish and grow cottage industries.

    The PDP candidate promised to expand the stomach infrastructure policy of the Governor Ayodele Fayose administration to make it more functional than it is at present.

    Olusola stressed that his administration would invest in agriculture using the youths as catalysts of mechanized commercial farming which will take them off the streets to contribute meaningfully to the state economy.

    He disclosed that Ekiti State government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Lagos State government for rice cultivation on 10,000 hectares of land expected to provide jobs for 9,000 youths.

    Olusola disclosed that his government has the vision to construct more inter township roads in the local government headquarters and rural roads while the urban renewal of the present administration will be sustained.

    The PDP flag bearer said his government would promote technical education by developing the three Technical Colleges across the State starting with the one in the state capital.

    Speaking on his agenda for the health sector, Olusola promised to upgrade the state comprehensive health centres across the 177 wards to cottage hospitals, to tackle incidences of child and maternal mortality and render robust healthcare services to the masses.

    According to him, his administration will draft consultants from the State University Teaching Hospital to rural areas to offer services to the people on the grassroots to democratize access to healthcare delivery.

    Olusola said: “What we intend to do is to draft the consultants in Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital to these cottage hospitals to offer consultancy services once or twice a week. Our people must be healthy to be able to enjoy the dividends of democracy.”

    He said the state will establish recreation centres in some selected local governments to serve as places of leisure that can develop local economy and prevent rural-urban drift.

    In education sector, Olusola revealed his intent to introduce

    Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in all schools for pupils and students in public schools to compete favourably with their peers all over the world.

    He said: “I will start by introducing ICT in all our schools, so that all the teachers can comply with the new trend   in education. I

    believe teachers can stay in the office and communicate with students,

    this is very essential.

    “During my time, the Technical Schools will not be vocational centres

    alone, it will be entrepreneurial and skills centres.

    “We are also going to make technical education academic by upgrading

    the College of Education in Ikere Ekiti to a University of Education

    since the College has a better technical department that needs only

    upgrading.

    “Our priority would be to change all the obsolete equipment in these

    schools and upgrade it to modern one.

    “Establishment of a new Polytechnic is not out of place, but they are

    being phased out now and time will come that they can only give

    certificates up to Ordinary National Diploma”.

     

     

     

     

  • PDP candidate Ize-Iyamu strategies for 2020

    PDP candidate Ize-Iyamu strategies for 2020

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftain Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is not giving up on his quest to govern Edo State. His supporters said he is still interested in seeking the ticket to contest in the 2020 governorship poll. His attempt at occupying the Osadebey Avenue  in 2016 failed. He challenged the outcome of the election to the Supreme Court. What perhaps Pastor Ize-Iyamu is hoping for the defeat of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in next year’s general election.

    Ize-Iyamu started nursing ambition to be Edo governor since when he served under the administration of Chief Lucky Igbinedion as Chief of Staff and Secretary tô the government. Having fallen out with the powers that be in the Pastor Ize-Iyamu and others formed the Grace Group, which later metamorphosed into the defunct Action Congress of Nigerian and now the All Progressive Congress.

    He left the APC for the PDP after it became clear to him that former Governor Adams Oshiomhole would not support his ambition. He realised the game plan of Oshiomhole when he failed to get grasp of the party machinery in the party congresses.

    Pastor Ize-Iyamu said he left the APC because Oshiomhole promised to support his candidacy as his successor, adding that he joined the PDP because he believed the party was the best vehicle to reach his destination.

    He said: “Oshiomhole himself publicly and privately has come to me to say Pastor I appreciate the support you have given to me. I know how competent you are. When the time comes I will support you to become the governor. If he denies it, it will completely show he is not a man of his words.

    “The issue is somebody has consistently promised me to become the governor but with the way Comrade has been going, by 2016, I don’t think there will be any APC for somebody to say he wants to run the ticket on.

    “The APC today has become an animal farm. Everything we condemned is now in place. The governor wanted the conduct the congress in an undemocratic way by asking me to take five wards and the deputy takes five wards. He was so petrified about Pastor Ize-Iyamu being in control that he wanted me to become a minority.”

    On why he did not emerge governor in 2007, Pastor Ize-Iyamu said, in 2015, he rejected a plot to be installed as a successor to Igbinedion because he felt it was wrong for him to succeed a fellow Benin man, based on his belief in equity and fairness and that wanted somebody from another senatorial district to be made governor.

    He said: “I could have been governor in 2007 but I said a Benin man has been governor for eight years. I said a Benin man cannot become governor again.

    “I said we must look for someone in Afemai to become governor. We now founded our group and finished everything when they brought Oshiomhole. They said we must help him. So I asked Oshiomhole if he wanted to become governor and he said yes, but that he didn’t  know anybody since he came from Kaduna and Abuja.

    “The election was so tough that three people died in the election. When he became governor, we realised that he had a different thing in mind.  People were angry and came to tell me that we have sold a ‘bad market, to them.

    “I however did not want to truncate Edo North’s two term and said that God will touch his heart in the second term. To be sure that I was with him, he made me the director general of his campaign. The moment he won, he said: “this Pastor who has been doing anyhow, I must drive him away. That was how he (Oshiomhole) started to fight me.”

    However, since his petition was thrown out by the Supreme Court, Pastor Ize-Iyamu has been strategising on how to win in 2020. He has managed to keep his followers within the PDP. His supporters threw a welcome party for him after the Supreme Court verdict and they staged a road show to showcase their strength

    Pastor Ize-Iyamu begged his supporters not to leave the party but to remain focused and committed to the growth of the party as four years of the APC in the state was not forever.

    His words: “We belong to one family. The PDP must not scatter. Don’t lose up. Don’t give up. Let us be united. Let the other side be scared of our unity.

    “Our party people, I want to tell you that you have not been defeated. Edo people knew how the election went and I believed that they can hold their heads high. Four years is not the end of the world. In the next three, four years, we will do an election again in the state,” he said.

    As a way of testing his popularity within the PDP, Pastor Ize-Iyamu joined the state PDP leadership in its recent tour of the 18 local government areas. He was allowed to address party members in all the meetings.

    The Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, explained that Pastor Ize-Iyamu remains the party’s candidate, until the court rules on a suit challenging the qualification of Governor Obaseki.

    Orbih, who said he cannot abandon Ize-Iyamu in the middle of the river, said that until Pastor Ize-Iyamu gets into that position (governor) he would not be tired of supporting him.

    He added: “Even if I am no longer chairman of the PDP, I will still support him. It is proper for me to do what I am doing now. This is because we still have a pre-election matter in court challenging the qualification of Governor Obaseki. Until the case is decided, he remains a candidate of the PDP. Until that case is decided, we will accord him all privileges.”

    Assuring PDP supporters that the 2019 general election is the time for the party to return to power, Pastor Ize-Iyamu noted that the focus should be on the presidential election as according to him, if the PDP gets the federal government, the state government will fall.

    Ize-Iyamu however, warned that, for the PDP to secure victory, its members must reconcile and forgive one another, reorganize and rededicate themselves to the values of the party.

    He said: “Let us forgive ourselves. We made mistakes but we must reconcile. If we continue to quarrel, the unity we need to achieve victory in 2019 will not be there.

    “We need to rededicate ourselves to the values and principles of the PDP. The moment you hear PDP has won in February, just know that Edo will become a PDP state.”

     

  • ‘PDP candidate doesn’t know how Adeleke was rescued in 2014′

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the July 8 Osun West senatorial by-election, Senator Mudashir Hussain, has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr. Ademola Adeleke, is not competent to speak on the negotiations that rescued his late brother, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, in 2014.

    In a statement by his media aide, Kamil Opeyemi, the APC chiftain berated Adeleke for claiming on a live radio programme in Osogbo, the state capital, that his late brother did not benefit from his obedience to the party to step down for him.

    He said: “For Senator Adeleke’s brother, Ademola, to come out and claim that he did not step down for his late brother is a clear indication that he is totally ignorant of the issues that led to his brother’s coming to the APC from the PDP, where he and his loyalists had been disgraced.

    “Has he forgotten so soon how a serving Minister of Police Affairs at the time, who was a loyalist of Otunba Iyiola Omisore, threatened to beat him to coma but for what he knew was Adeleke’s poor health then?

    “If he is so sure that their family’s so-called empowerment of Ede people or Osun West people was so strong enough to win him election, why not stay in the PDP and fight it out?

    “The results of previous elections in our zone are there for all to see. I defeated his late brother before. In 2015, I was asked by the party to relinquish the ticket to enable him return to the Senate. As a loyal party man, I carry that responsibility to help my party in whatever it would take for it to win positions to better the lots of our people. I could not have done otherwise.”

    Hussein added: “Why is he announcing a N250 million scholarship scheme for Osun West students now? Why not before? If he had so much money and was ready to help, why at the point of using his brother’s shadow to deceive the people?

    “We have said and we mean it: humiliating defeat awaits Adeleke on July 8. Adeleke accused some people that they are Lagos-based! How else does a candidate prove to be shallow? Assuming we are Lagos-based, where is he based? He is based in America. What knowledge of the Osun West does he possess to know what really their needs are?”

    According to him, Ademola’s claim on the radio programme showed his strategy of deceit to participate in the election.

     

  • Lagos by-election: PDP candidate accepts defeat

    Lagos by-election: PDP candidate accepts defeat

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in last Saturday’s Ifako/Ijaiye by-election in Lagos Babatope Akinyele has accepted defeat.
    Akinyele told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos the poll was credible, blaming PDP’s defeat on divisions and rancour in the party.
    NAN reports that Nurudeen Akinwunmi of All Progressives Congress (APC) won the poll, which is meant to replace the late Elijah Adewale, of the House of Representatives.
    According to Akinyele, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was neutral in the poll.
    “The electoral body, with what I saw, was neutral; I did not see any bias from it. INEC did its job well.
    “I think INEC has improved; the way and manner it conducted this election was good.
    “I analysed the results, polling unit by polling unit; APC candidate, as far as I am concerned, won and INEC was neutral.
    “There is no reason I should not congratulate the winner. If I have Akinwunmi’s phone contact, I would have called him.
    “Our politics should be devoid of violence and should not be a do-or-die affair, if we want to ever achieve our dream of a better Nigeria,” Akinyele said.
    The candidate, who lauded INEC’s introduction of simultaneous accreditation and voting, said the development made the process efficient.
    He, however, said he would have won the election if there were no rancour or division in his party.
    Akinyele said: “I did well. The only challenge was the strength of the party behind me. It was Akinyele against APC. The support of my party was not as it should have been.
    “Our house is divided and when a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand, and there is no way it can win an election.”

  • Jegede is Ondo PDP candidate as Sheriff plans primary

    Jegede is Ondo PDP candidate as Sheriff plans primary

    •Sheriff’s faction holds primary next week  •APC to pick candidates on Saturday

    Former Ondo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) yesterday was elected the governorship candidate of the Ahmed Makarfi-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction for the November 26 governorship poll.

    He scored 760 votes in the primary held at the International Event Centre, Akure, the state capital.

    Jegede contested with the former deputy governorship candidate of PDP in 2012 poll, Saka Lawal, who scored 22 votes. No vote was declared voided.

    The exercise, which started at 9.55 am, was led by Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson. He was assisted by Senator Margery Okadigbo and others.

    It was witnessed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

    Jegede, who hailed the party’s delegates and his opponent, said the PDP is one family, adding that it would continue to open its doors for reconciliation.

    The PDP candidate said with dwindling economy, where prices of commodities have increased, his “target is to rebuild the state’s economy”.

    He said: “There is no victor, there is no vanquish; we are all winners. This is purely a family matter within the PDP. We will continue to build a court of friendship and bridges of friendship among our people.

    “We will open our doors for those who are interested in genuine reconciliation.

    “PDP is a big party and for those who are in the other side, it is between light and darkness. PDP is the light and we have seen it in the last one year.

    “I offer myself to serve and to take the flag of PDP with humility and gratitude to God. I accept this nomination and by November 26, we shall lead PDP to victory.

    “This indeed is a challenge to all of us. The economy is dwindling everyday. The price of diesel has gone up from N135 per litre to N200. So is the price of bread and rice. It is now time to talk about economy, economy and economy. By that, our people will be happy and build prosperity for our state.”

    Lawal, who also hailed the delegates, called for reconciliation among warring members.

    He lamented that majority of their leaders have joined other factions in the state.

    The party’s candidate vowed not to leave PDP, and promised to work for the party’s success at the poll.

    Governor Olusegun Mimiko described the exercise as the beginning of PDP’s victory.

    He said: “We will beat APC big in November 26. We want to tell Nigerians that PDP is in charge in Ondo State.”

    He urged party members to return to their wards and local governments and start campaigning for Jegede.

    Dickson hailed the party delegates for supporting the electoral officers in conducting a free and fair primary election.

    Jegede and Dr. Olu Agunloye of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) are still the two candidates produced by their party primaries.

    It was learnt the Sheriff’s camp of the PDP would have its primaries next Tuesday, near Ilesa garage, Akure.

    The faction’s apspirants are Sola Ebiseni, Bamiduro Dada, Jimoh Ibrahim, Niran Sule-Akinsuyi, who defected from All Progressives Congress (APC) to PDP and the only woman aspirant, Mrs. Abiye Ademuyegun.

    The APC will, this Saturday, conduct its primary election for its 24 aspirants.

  • Disclose source of your wealth, PDP candidate urged

    Disclose source of your wealth, PDP candidate urged

    GOVERNORSHIP candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo state, Mr Godwin Obaseki, yesterday told the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, to tell the people of the state the source of his wealth.

    He said “I will tell Edo people mine and let him tells us because sometimes we look at those who said they want to be governor, ask them where they have worked before. Somebody who has never created any job, only made money from politics, ask him which company he has ever worked before and I will tell you where I have worked.

    “The truth is that you cannot have anything to offer the people when you have not had the experience of managing people and resources as it is done in the private sector. Let us not elect thieves into government because these are people who believes that politics is about them and their families and not about the general public” he stated.

    Obaseki who was flanked by his deputy, Philip Shuaibu and other leaders of the party, stated this yesterday during a town hall meeting with artisans and youths numbering over three thousand.

    Stating that he was almost discouraged from joining politics due to what he described as the attitude of some bad leaders, the APC aspirant asserted that “I said no because the foundation governor Oshiomhole has laid cannot be allowed to be destroyed. Despite all the evil people did to stop Comrade God said no and look at what we have achieved today.

    “I have been here during the laying of this foundation and Oshiomhole has proved that politics is not all about stealing. Our location in Edo is very key and we only need a good leader to galvanize the resources we have and create wealth for the people. I see Edo state as a nation and not a state because when you look at the money Edo people abroad send back home through Western Union, is more than the annual budget of some states.

    “We will continue to build infrastructure, invest in agriculture and power. And we must make agriculture look like a business by providing modern equipment for our people. Our women must be empowered to carter for their children and our youths. Above all, we will make Edo internet capital of the nation” he stated.