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Tag: PDP members

  • Don’t defect, Mimiko’s aide tells PDP members

    Don’t defect, Mimiko’s aide tells PDP members

    Ondo State Commissioner for Culture, Tourism and Special Duties Femi Adekanmbi yesterday appealed to members of the Ahmed Markafi faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to leave the party ahead of the November 26, governorship election.

    Adekanmbi said he is still confident that the appellate court handling the crisis rocking the party over whose faction should present a candidate for the poll, will rule in favour of their faction.

    The Markafi and Ali Modu Sheriff factions have been battling for the ticket of the PDP.

    A Federal High Court presided over by Justice Okon Abang ruled in favour of Sheriff’s camp making the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim as the party’s candidate.

    The Commissioner, who spoke with reporters shortly after addressing PDP members in Owo local Government, boasted that he believed the lower court pronouncement would not stand.

    The governor’s aide also lamented over what he tagged external forces, which he said were fueling the party crisis.

    He urged the party supporters to remain steadfast and continue to work for the party, saying he is so sure that the Appeal Court would rule in favour of their own candidate, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede SAN.

  • More PDP members defect to APC in Akwa Ibom

    More PDP members defect to APC in Akwa Ibom

    Hundreds of Akwa Ibom State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members yesterday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    A former Chairman of Uruefong Uruko Local Government Area, Okon Osung, led the mass defection.

    Joining him were chapter and ward executives of Uruefong Uruko joined him.

    Dignitaries who defected with Osung included a PDP chapter’s Secretary, Ating Uye; a former House Leader of Uruefong Uruko Legislative Council, Douglas Ulo and his deputy, Sunday Anwana.

    Others are: Nkereuwem Peter, Asuquo Uwe, Eyo Akaiso.

    Speaking on behalf of the defectors, Osung, who won the Best Local Government Chairman Award, thanked the state’s APC Chairman Amadu Atai and other party chieftains for accepting them.

    He said: “I thank the state exco of APC for receiving me, my councillors, chapter and ward executives and supporters into your party.”

    According to him, the political structures of the PDP in Uruefong Uruko  decided to move to APC for a brighter future for the Oro nation.

    Osung noted that APC had shown that it would zone the deputy governorship slot to an indigene, Benedict Ukpong.

    He added: “I am from Oron and I have found a party that recognises the Oro extraction, where I come from. I know what most of us passed through in the PDP in the course of asking for what should rightly be given to us. But, even without consultation, even without pressure, APC deemed it necessary to give the deputy governorship to Oron.”

    The former council chairman said APC’s action endeared the party to the Oro nation, which he said had vowed to ensure its victory in the state.

    Uye described his former party as a grave yard. “PDP in Oro, especially Uruefong Uruko, has become a graveyard where nobody wants to live. We decided to move to APC, a party that respects internal democracy and puts into consideration laid-down political arrangements of the people.”

    The politician hailed APC’s state executive and other members for ensuring that the wind of change blowing across Nigeria got to Akwa Ibom State.

    Dr Atai congratulated Osung and his supporters for leaving what he called a sinking party into the league of progressives.

    The chairman assured the people that the party was big enough to accommodate everyone, notwithstanding their former affiliations.

    He noted that for change to effectively take root in the state, more people needed to join the progressives.

     

    Dr Atai urged the defectors to severe their links with the PDP, which they said did not have their interest at heart, and focus on achieving APC’s objectives in Uruefong Uruko, Oron and other parts of Akwa Ibom State.

    Also present at the event were state chapter executives, party stalwarts and faithful, including the State Publicity Secretary, Ita Awak; Senatorial District Chairman of Ikot Ekpene, Chief Kufre Inyangette and many others.

     

  • Anti-graft war targets only PDP members, says Fayose

    Anti-graft war targets only PDP members, says Fayose

    Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration does not respect the rule of law.

    Fayose, who spoke yesterday at the Confluence Stadium in Lokoja, Kogi State, at the grand finale of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rally, said the Buhari administration did not possess human rights credentials and was only chasing PDP members on corruption allegation.

    He asked where was President Buhari when the APC cleared ex-Kogi State Governor Abubakar Audu to contest the governorship election when he was facing corruption charges?

    Fayose said: “The APC administration is dilly-dallying on the challenges confronting the nation. The Boko Haram insurgency and the economic situation have worsened in the last six months of the Buhari government.

    “This administration has only achieved a lot in the area of chasing shadows and making the nation bad for the people.”

     

    Former PDP National Chairman Alhaji Ahmadu Ali said the huge crowd was a testimony that PDP was still strong in the state.

    Governor Idris Wada, listing his achievements, said the party in the last 12 years had touched people’s lives through the provision of basic infrastructure.

    On the bailout loan, he said APC was playing politics with it, adding that it was not considering the workers, who are supposed to benefit from the fund.

     

  • 3,400 PDP members defect to APC

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has suffered another major blow, as the former chairman of Abaji Area Council, Alhaji Abubakar Ibrahim and 3,400 members of the party in the area have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Alhaji Abubakar Ibrahim was the first elected chairman of the council. He also contested for a seat for the FCT senatorial election on the platform of the PDP in 2003 but lost to Senator Isa Maina at the party’s primary election.

    Among notable PDP members who defected were the former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Commissioner, who was also a delegate representing the FCT at last year’s Constitutional Conference, Mr. Musa Salihu, chairman PDP elders of Nuku Sabon Gari Ward, Idris Abdullahi, Samuel Baba, PDP youth leader, Nuku/Sabaon Ward, Labaran Ahmadu, PDP Caucus Leader and Gurdi Ward, among others.

    Speaking on behalf of other decamped persons, Alhaji Ibrahim, said he and some PDP elders, caucus and stalwart of the party decided to join the APC, because of lack of sincerity in the ruling party.

    “For the last three years, Nigerians have been experiencing insecurity in which many lives are lost on daily basis due to activities of the so-called Boko Haram. That alone has been touching my heart, let alone mentioning other challenges which the masses are experiencing. On this account, I and other members of the PDP resolved to join the APC,” he said.

    On his decision to join the APC, the former INEC Commissioner, said he realised when he was in PDP that the mess the country has been plunged into cannot be wiped out by the party, unless by the APC.

    “The ruling PDP have shown me and other members that they are not ready to put things right and if for nothing because of our younger ones. There is need for me to join the APC to ensure that change. At my age, I don’t need anything, but the younger ones coming behind need us to join the progressives to ensure that we leave good legacy for them, “he said.

    Receiving the decamped persons at the Adamu Shuaibu Memorial Town Hall, chairman of the (APC) in the FCT, Alhaji Usman Abdulmalik, said there was no doubt that some prominent individuals of the council were among those that decided to pitch their tent with the APC, even as he added that they must have reasoned very well that things are not going well with the people of this country under the PDP administration.

    He said he was elated with the mass defection of members of the PDP across the 10 wards of the council, saying APC was ever ready to carry them along in line with the party’s constitution to ensure victory at the polls.

    He said: “I know there are some that have benefited from the PDP, but then what is happening under the PDP administration over 15 years is nothing but a repeat of deceit and fake promise which I believe prompted some of these prominent people in Abaji to join the progressives train. And APC shall carry everybody along in whatever decisions we are making to ensure that the APC waxed stronger in the FCT.”

  • APC chieftain protests attack by PDP members

    Lagos State All progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Hon. Muslim Folami has warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against causing trouble, ahead of next year’s elections.

    He alleged that PDP members have been attacking APC members in Orimedu, Ibeju-Lekki without provocation, adding that the rampaging PDP youths have the support of a notable PDP leader from the area.

    Folami, who has sent a petition to the Area Police Command, Ajah, Eti-Osa, urged the police to investigate the unwarranted attacks on the indigenes of the area, who have sympathy for the APC.

    The Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Political and Legislative Matters alleged that no fewer than 34 APC youths have been marked for liquidation by suspected thugs.

    He said: ‘The APC members that they planned to attack have been listed and pasted around the walls in the Orimedu Community. Some of the shortlisted APC members’ property have been vandalised. This is to show that, if the members of the APC have not been tolerant, the community would have been turned to a battle field

    “This matter is in court and the court verdict should be respected. We believe their actions to restrain the APC members from entering the town contravenes their fundamental human rights as entrenched in the 1999 Constitution as they are not law enforcement agents empowered to do so.”

    Folami urged the police to intervene in the matter, with a view to resolving the matter so that the shortlisted indigenes can return to the community without further molestation.

    The Special Adviser, who spoke with reporters in Lagos, berated PDP leaders for do-or-die politics, saying that it is counter-productive. He lamented that three APC chieftains, including himself, former Health Commissioner Dr. Tola Kasali and Baruwa Yusuf, were detained by the police when they were framed up after the murder of a PDP member, Shakiru Ogboye.

    Folami alleged that suspected PDP thugs killed the deceased, dumped his body at the front of his residence and vandalised his property.  He added: “Many APC chieftains were picked up forcefully in the night on the order of the PDP leader in the area. Twenty six people were arrested before some of them were released. I was detained at Panti Statation and taken to court on the fourth day where I appeared before a Chief Magistrate Court at Ebute-Metta. I was granted bail on self-recognition.”

    The Special Adviser said that PDP leaders have planned to threaten APC members so that they will not participate in the elections. He added: “We have informed the governor. We have reported the matter to the police. They are boasting that they have the police. But, we believe in the law and justice.”

    In another petition to the State Security Service (SSS), Folami alleged threat to his life, following his objection to the hijack of community land by the PDP leader. He said: “Some elders of Orimedu, including myself, who were not happy with the fraudulent manner the land was given to him challenged it. As part of our strategy, we decided to have a sensitisation forum that brought the stakeholders together to let them know the implications of allowing such a massive land, which could have been used for the development of the town, to be given to only one individual.

    “My activities and that of the elders in respect of this matter must have pro,pted him to ask his thugs to make ‘threat to life’ calls threatening through hidden numbers. I think it will be stupid of me to fold my hands and allow the unexpected to happen to me and my family. Hence, this petition to alert you for prompt investigation, protection and action.”

  • Edo: PDP member collapes during tribunal’s sitting

    Edo: PDP member collapes during tribunal’s sitting

    A member of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, collapsed on Thursday morning during the on-going hearing of the petition filed by Major-Charles Airhiavbere against the election of Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

    Airhiavbere represented PDP in the July 14 governorship election in the state.

    The man, who wore a white flowing brocade made a noise when the second witness called by Airhiavbere was about to start testifying at the tribunal.

    Immediately he made the noise, he fell, hit his head hard on the floor and started bleeding.

    Everybody sitting around him, including lawyers fled and stood afar, watching him.

    While some attributed the fall to epileptic seizure, others said it was a spiritual attack.

    It took several minutes before the man was placed in a police van and driven to the Central Hospital whose building is adjacent to the venue of the tribunal sitting.

    The tribunal judges abruptly retired to their inner chambers and sitting was disrupted for about one hour.