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Tag: PDP

  • Community threatens to withdraw support for PDP

    Residents of ‘Aba Ngwa’ community in Aba North/ South Federal Constituency of Abia have threatened to withdraw their support for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if their grievances emanating from the just- concluded party primaries were not addressed.

    In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday, the President of Aba Ngwa Youth Congress, Mr Greg Obi, said that the community was ready to forfeit rents for tenants to ensure total withdrawal of support for the party.

    Obi alleged that there was a case of over-voting at the primaries conducted for the House of Representatives seat in the constituency as the number of votes counted exceeded the number of accredited voters.

    According to him, the election was rigged in favour of Mr Uzo Azubuike as against the interest of the people and preferred candidate, Dr Blessing Nwagba.

    He said that they had been dominated by non-indigenes over the years as only people from neighboring Local Government Areas occupied the seat.

    The president said the community supported two of its indigenes to contest in the just-concluded PDP primary election but one died mysteriously after purchasing the form.

    According to him, the community then threw its weight behind Nwagba, a serving member of the Abia State House of Assembly to clinch the ticket but that the primaries were rigged.

    “Since 2009, no member of Aba-Ngwa community had been given the opportunity to represent the constituency either at the House of Reps or at the Senate.

    “It is not that we have not been contesting but the results do not always favour us,” he said.

    In a separate interview , Nwagba alleged that she was being marginalised by the party because she is a woman.

    Nwagba said that she had reported the irregularities at the primaries to the appeal panel and to the party’s leadership.

    She said that she had not been invited neither by the members of the appeal panel or party leadership and that the report of the panel had not been made public.

    The aspirant said neither her grievances nor those of Aba-Ngwa community had been addressed by the party and that no explanation whatsoever had been given for the silence.

    Read Also: 2019: ‘Resist violence for Nigeria’s sake’

    The aspirant said women were not meant for the kitchen alone as they were equally endowed to add value to society through good governance.

    Nwagba said if due process was followed, she would have won the election because she worked hard and did all that was required to emerge victorious.

    Responding, the PDP Chairman in Abia, Chief Johnson Onuigbo, told reporter that he was aware of Nwagba’s complaint.

    He said Nwagba submitted her complaint and had met with the appeal panel which was saddled with the responsibility to listen to aggrieved aspirants and resolve issues.

    According to him, Nwagba was interviewed by the panel in the state office of the Deputy Chairman of the party.

    He said that the report submitted by those who conducted the primary showed that the election “was free, fair, credible and verifiable.”

    Onuigbo said unlike in other climes, “people in this part of the world” hardly accept defeat in any competition.

    According to him, if Nwagba has won the election, she would not be protesting and challenging the process.

    The chairman said that it would be very unfair for the residents of Aba-Ngwa community to withdraw their support for the party.

    According to him, the PDP made Nwagba, and that she cannot win everyday.

    He said that Nwagba losing this time did not mean she should turn against the party, “that is not the spirit of sportsmanship”.

    Onuigbo described the plan by the community to forfeit rents for tenants to ensure maximum withdrawal of support for the party as a “strategy to sabotage PDP.”

    Reacting to the issue of Aba-Ngwa indigenous representation at the National Assembly, the chairman said that power was not given based on asking but contested, struggled for and taken.

    He said the PDP preaches free, fair, credible and verifiable primary elections and that the party does not allocate power to anybody or community.

    According to him, while we agree on morals grounds that every community gets an indigenous rep, this is a struggle for power in line with the Constitution.

    He said no law stops anybody from contesting for a seat at the National Assembly as many times as the people allowed him or her to do so.

    “We cannot as a party say it is your turn since no law bars a lawmaker from seeking re-election just because we want power to go round.

    “We have to look at the law, legally speaking, it is unfair to do so, we do not dash it, we cannot say it is your turn, take it.

    “If they do not get it now, next time they may; there is always another chance,” the chairman added.

  • Akpabio preaches tolerance as defection hits PDP

    Former Senate Minority leader Godswill Akpabio has called on Nigerians to avoid negative political antics as 2019 elections approach.

    According to him, there can be no progress without peace among people of diverse political leanings.

    Akpabio spoke at the reception for defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Odot,Nsit Atai Local Government.

    He condemned the destruction of campaign billboards in the state, and lauded members of APC for not following suit.

    Akpabio’s Media Office quoted the former governor: “If you look outside this venue, you’ll see posters of the outgoing Governor, Udom Emmanuel; they are not torn, it shows that APC is a peaceful party.

    ‘’While coming down here, on Airport Road, you’ll notice that billboards of APC are all torn. We are for peace; Nsit Atai is for peace. Let me assure you that they can only tear your posters and billboards but they cannot tear your votes in 2019.”

    He said APC would record a landslide victory in Akwa Ibom as reward for the goodwill done the state by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The senator said Akwa Ibom had benefited from the Federal Government through employment, projects, and social intervention programmes, such as N-Power. PDP did nothing for the state in 16 years.”

  • 2019: Police warns politicians against violence

    The Police on Tuesday warned that any politician in Ebonyi state caught engaging or instigating acts of  violence during the electoral period will be decisively dealt with.

    Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone C, Samuel Ogunjemi who gave the warning in Abakaliki, the  state capital, said that there will be nothing like federal might in the state in the conduct of the election.

    He said that any candidate banking on it to overrun his opponent would be disappointed.

    According to him, the police would play its statutory roles of protecting lives and property in a very neutral and professional manner.

    Ogunjemi spoke at the state police headquarters while addressing stakeholders of the state and various ethnic groups in the state.

    While assuring that the police in the state would do everything possible to ensure there is violent free elections , the AIG urged politicians to play by the rule.

    “Violence will not be tolerated whether from APC, PDP, SDP or Labour party we don’t want violence. Your power is your PVCs, it is the voting power you have. If you like a party, if you like a person or candidate, take your voting card and vote. If it will take the whole of the day for you to cue, do that.

    Read Also: Police arrest suspected traffic robbers

    “If you want to do empowerment, do it now so that the people can vote for you. But it is not for you to create some thugs and think with that you will be able to overrun your opponent and will. The police will not sit idle and watch.

    “If you create problems or you bring thugs, we are going to deal with you mercilessly, very ruthlessly . We are going to deal with you very ruthlessly and we have that instruction and we are going to implement it to the later and we wouldn’t want that to happen here.

    “One of the Chairmen(APC) is here and since he is here I also want to make it  clear that there is nothing like federal might. We are neutral and we are going to remain neutral. Our function is to maintain security; credible, all inclusive, free and fair elections.

    “Without security all these cannot be achieved and that is why you have to corporate with us in the forthcoming elections to make sure the state remain peaceful the way it is”, Ogunjemi said.

    He noted that the police under his watch will not be involved in ballot box snatching  or colluding with anyone to disrupt the electoral process during the general elections.

    The AIG assured that the police will provide adequate security in the elections and will protect voters to ensure they exercise their franchise.

  • Nasarawa: PDP governorship candidate picks running mate

    Mr Emmanuel Ombugadu, Nasarawa State Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has picked Rep. Ogoshi Onawo as his running mate.

    The state chairman of the party, Mr Francis Orugu, who made this known to Newsmen on Tuesday in Lafia, said Onawo was carefully selected after due consultation with the relevant organs of the party.

    Orugu explained that the party gave Emmanuel Ombugadu free hand to choose his running mate and he picked Onawo from Nasarawa South.

    According to the PDP boss, the party had on July 28, zoned all elected and appointed positions as a strategy for victory in 2019 elections.

    He said that the decision of the party was based on the calculations at that time but the party had to change the decision in order to address new realities.

    “At that time, we zoned the governorship seat and deputy speaker to Nasarawa North; deputy governor and majority leader to Nasarawa West.

    “Others are speaker and Secretary to the State Government to Nasarawa South.

    “The party has now swapped all positions zoned to Nasarawa South and Nasarawa West. That is why the running mate was picked from Nasarawa South, ‘’ the Orugu said.

    He, however, described the recent primaries of the party as the best in the history of the state.

    Orugu, therefore, appealed to all aggrieved members to work for the victory of the party in 2019 general elections.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Onawo is a member of the House of Representatives, representing Awe/Doma/Keana Federal Constituency.

  • Lagos APC to PDP: Sanwo-Olu is prepared

    THE Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday objected to the remark by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that its governorship flag bearer, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is “an emergency candidate that is unprepared for the job”.

    The party insisted that Sanwo-Olu is more qualified to rule the state than the PDP candidate, Jimi Agbaje, who it said, lacked a public sector experience.

    Its Publicity Secretary, Comrade Joe Igbokwe, predicted doom for the major opposition, saying that its candidate will suffer a defeat in next year’s election like his predecessors since 1999.

    He said the PDP has resumed its periodic ritual of “rants and tall dream,” which usually heralded its failure in elections every four years.

    Igbokwe, in a statement in Lagos, added that the Lagos PDP has become the “rudderless, confused, motionless and completely dead party” that is destined to contest and fail.

    He said the endorsement of Sanwo-Olu by 45 opposition parties has jolted the PDP and its candidate out of their delusion about a bright electoral future.

    Igbokwe said the APC’s strategies and tactics for building virile and democratic institutions were beyond the comprehension of Lagos PDP leaders.

    He added: “The Lagos PDP claim of ‘hurried and controversial emergence’ of Sanwo-Olu shows lack of clear understanding of the dynamics and inner workings of Lagos APC.

    “What Lagos APC did is to advance the cause of democracy and prove that the party is supreme as we have seen in other climes like South Africa, where former President Mbeki and Zuma were asked to step down in order to advance and strengthen the fortunes of the party.

    “The huge lessons have been sent out there for elected persons not to ignore the platforms they used to get to power, and not to kick away the ladder they used in climbing up to where they are.”

    Rejecting the notion of lack of preparation for the huge task, the party’s publicity secretary said Agbaje’s experience as the owner of an Apapa-based pharmacy store without any branch for 30 years paled into insignificance in the face of Sanwo-Olu’s experience as a former bank executive, special adviser, commissioner and managing director of a parastatal.

    He said: “Babajide Sanwo-Olu has a five-page Resume that is in the public domain and time and space will not permit us to put it here. Babajide Sanwo-Olu is a proud product of the University of Lagos with a degree in Surveying & Informatics and a Master’s degree Holder in Business Administration (MBA).

    “Sanwo-Olu has an enviable banking career, where he rose to the position of DGM at First Atlantic Bank, now First City Monument Bank. He came into the public sector when he was appointed the Acting Commissioner for Economic Planning & Budget in less than a year after he joined the former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration as SA on Corporate Affairs.

    “In 2006, he became the Commissioner for Commerce & Industry and in 2007, he became the Commissioner for Establishment, Training & Pensions under Fashola Administration, which he served diligently from 2007 to 2011.

    “Babajide was appointed the MD/CEO Lagos State Property Development Corporation (LSPDC) by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in 2016 and he has made humongous impact and progress in that huge corporation until he joined the race for the governorship of Lagos State. This is the loaded and heavily experienced Sanwo Olu PDP described as ‘an emergency candidate that is unprepared for the job’.”

  • Reps by-election: Kwara APC, PDP candidates emerge through affirmation

    Ahead of the November 17 by-election to fill the vacant seat of Ekiti/Isin/Oke-Ero/Ifelodun Federal Constituency of Kwara State, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdulraheem Olawuyi, has been elected through affirmation.

    Last week, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fixed the date to fill the seat formerly occupied by the late Princess Funke Adedoyin, who passed on September this year.

    The APC primary took place at Omu-Aran, headquarters of Irepodun Local Government Area.

    APC State Chairman Bashir Bolarinwa urged party members to unite and work for its victory.

    He said members adopted consensus, in line with the party’s constitution.

    Bolarunwa, who urged APC members to observe one-minute silence for the late Adedoyin, said she got to the National Assembly in 2015 on the platform of the party.

    He added: “The election will be a test case for APC in Kwara State. It will also enable us to show to Kwarans and Nigerians that APC will take over the state in 2019.”

    The chairman of the electoral panel, Dr Usman Zanna, lauded the conduct of party members.

    The panel chairman expressed optimism that APC would emerge victorious at all levels in next year’s polls.

    He said: “If you are united and firm, nobody will be able to penetrate your ranks.”

    Olawuyi thanked the constituents for the confidence reposed in him.

    He promised to be loyal to the party, saying: “My joy knows no bound. It is not because I am the best candidate but for the confidence reposed in me.”

    Also, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elected Saheed Alatishe as its candidate for the constituency through affirmation.

  • Crashing of pump price: Ezekwesili campaign organization blasts PDP, Atiku

    The Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) has described the promise made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate Alh. Atiku Abubakar to crash the pump price of petrol from N145 to N90, if elected into power as a 419 desire.

    It said the pledge has shown ignorance of basic economics by Atiku.

    The party took swipes at PDP in a statement by Oby 2019 Press Office, which was signed by the party’s national chairman, Gani Galadima.

    It said: “Today, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) reminded us of why both they and the APC are one of the same, fielding a single candidate. In a PDP statement this morning, the party promised to “crash fuel pump price to N90.”

    “This is 419, and it betrays the PDP candidate’s ignorance of how  Basic Economics and the solutions Nigeria truly needs.

    “The country ended 2018 with N4trillion of Fiscal Deficit.  Where will they find money to slash fuel price? Even if FG had such  money, is it because they want another round of Subsidy-Slush Fund  that they want to take the country deeper into the corrupted and  market distorting fuel price fixing method?

    “The Obiageli Ezekwesili For President 2019 campaign is all for market determined pricing which will end up more favorable to the Poor who have been and continue bearing the effect of corrupted subsidy regimes more while the rich enjoy the benefits.

    “This is a reminder to Nigerians that Abubakar Atiku’s so-called and questionable business acumen does not qualify him to run this economy.  Obiageli Ezekwesili is the only candidate in the race who has built and rebuilt national economies in Nigeria and outside, with a track record to show for it.”

    In a separate statement Ezekwesili said Nigerians should be alarmed by the CBN-acknowledgment of the drop in foreign direct investments (FDI) and closure of two global bank offices – HSBC and UBS – in Nigeria.

    She said the decline in FDI is a pointer to the weakening investor confidence in Nigeria’s macroeconomic policies and commitment to key structural reforms.

    The statement added: “The latest decline in the on FDI numbers ($1.7billion in the first half of 2017 compared to $1.2billion in 2018) signifies the weak confidence of foreign investors in the macroeconomic policies and commitment to key structural reforms in power, oil, gas and minerals sector of the administration.

    “The country faces a fiscal crisis. It scarcely has the capacity to fund Capex out of revenues other than through borrowing. Problem is that debts (local and foreign) have risen, taking up with it, debt servicing which is now 69 per cent of revenue,” Ezekwesili stated.

    “And yet the #APCPDP is having a debate over WAEC certificate. WAEC certificate? Do these people understand how serious and urgent Nigeria’s crisis is now?”

    “Our campaign has outlined critical steps as part of our State of Emergency on the Economy within our first 100 days in office, ensuring confidence-boosting economic policy reforms in key sectors that signal positively to the private sector.”

  • President Buhari, WAEC and PDP’s toxic air

    The West African Examinations Council, WAEC, Friday, said the controversy concerning President Muhammadu Buhari’s school certificate is embarrassing and felt a sense of duty to produce and deliver to him a confirmation and attestation of his results, in form of a duplicate certificate.

    This is a god-sent, with WAEC being a non-political entity. This should put to rest the absurd allegations by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, brought up again and again, that he did not attend a secondary school.

    The unreasonable position of the PDP had been sustained all along in spite of testimony by classmates who read with him in school and graduated together, and that fact that a court of law had given a ruling on the matter.

    In 2014-2015 when they raked up the issue, I remember that it took the courage of the then college Principal to issue a statement of results from available records. In doing so, he defied the ruling PDP government in the state which asked him not to.

    At the time we got the results sheet, reports said that the government had determined to send arsonists to burn the school to ashes so that the existing records will be obliterated.

    This was against the backdrop of the shocking claim by the Army Records office in Lokoja, that they didn’t keep any records of General Buhari as a military officer.

    Curiously, the Army Records office had once come under Muhammadu Buhari, as Military Secretary who, during his tenure streamlined the records of the entire officer corps, and could not, by any stretch of imagination, have left his own records in a mess. General Alani Akinrinade (Rtd) reportedly dismissed this mischief as an insult to the military.

    After doing his conscience’s duty by daringly releasing those results, the then government of Katsina State punished the Principal by stripping him of his seniority and posting.

    As we said in a number of past statements, the matter of the President’s qualification to run for office is a non-issue, nonetheless feasted upon by the PDP which has stopped thinking and have nothing to offer to Nigerians.

    Based on arguments that “education gives a human being the power to discriminate between right and wrong,” the 1999 Constitution stipulates a minimum educational qualification for citizens who intend to contest for elections at all levels, which requires that they must possess a secondary school education or its equivalent. The provision above has itself come under serious re-examination by scholars who argue that the possession of a secondary school certification does not necessarily mean that a person is intelligent.

    It is equally argued that it is a mistake to assume that a person with a certificate has higher knowledge or intelligence than the one who doesn’t have. In an article published by the Daily Trust a day or so ago, Professor Shehu Zuru quoted Wendy Sherman, the author of the book Not For The Faint Heart, that “courage and integrity are critical attributes that you cannot acquire from a classroom because they are the inert fabrics of human conscience that dictates the power of the negative and the power of the positive.” As far as his educational career is concerned, President Buhari attended the Katsina Provincial Secondary School, before enrolling in the Nigerian Military Training College, NMTC Kaduna (1962), renamed Nigerian Defence Academy, in 1964. As narrated by Major-General Sani Saleh (Rtd), “I worked at the Nigerian Defence Academy so I know the processes. You cannot get in with a forged certificate, it is impossible.

    “At the time (Muhammadu Buhari enrolled), the army was still controlled by the British…Nigerian Army was a select and (an) elite organization, we had very few Army Officers at that time. I don’t think the whole Nigerian Army Officers were up to 50. You can imagine what it takes for you as a Nigerian to be one of those…and today, somebody will be accusing you that you don’t have a certificate.” From NMTC, Muhammadu Buhari went to the Mons Officer Cadet School, Aldershot, United Kingdom (1962-63), the Defence Services Staff College, India (1973) and thereafter, United States Army War College, which upon completion, awarded its graduates a Master’s degree in strategic studies. In the belief that the nation has the right to know the educational details of their president, Candidate Muhammadu Buhari laid bare everything and tendered an affidavit in respect of the WAEC certificate. The masquerades wielding the real power behind the PDP, some of whom played an active part in his overthrow as military Head of State in the mid-eighties are deliberate in keeping this issue alive. As a thoroughbred, toughened general, he won’t cry out that his home and office were vandalized by scoopers when they threw him out of power.

    In meeting the eligibility for the contest in 2015, President Buhari presented the WAEC results and the other degree and non-degree related results. He went through the verification process in the party, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and the court. He ran and won against the PDP. With these, the unnecessary controversy should have ended. It is equally hard to fathom how such a dead issue should get the type of attention given it by the media, considering the many matters of serious concern to the citizens – internal security that was given a short shrift for 16 years by the PDP; the diversification of the economy by focusing on key sectors (apart from oil) that can create jobs and generate revenue such as Agriculture, Solid Minerals and Manufacturing which the Buhari administration is keenly doing; the ongoing pursuit of more reforms and better governance; bolstered efforts towards poverty alleviation; ending corruption and insurgency and ploughing the savings therefrom to put in place needed infrastructure and so forth.

    Do they know that Nigeria Airways, NITEL and other pensioners they left in the cold, unpaid when they sold public assets to cronies or to themselves are getting their dues under this dispensation? If these things had been done when the oil price was as high as US$140 per barrel, Nigeria would not be in the current predicament. We would not have suffered when we had no cash reserves but we had regular supply of power, a good rail system, good roads and good housing. These are the issues dear to the hearts of our people. In its political fight for 2019, the PDP is not relying on the big issues of the day -security, corruption and jobs but on small, distractive matters that take little or no account of national interest. But what do you expect of a group that has stopped thinking, just blowing hot, toxic air, indulging in divisive politics and is raking up sectional issues so that the people will forget the real issues of corruption, infrastructure, security and economy for which they have no plans?

  • Wike smacks his lips

    Governor Nyesom Wike remains a fixture of both affection and controversy in his party, The PDP. Those who love him, especially in his state, swear because of what they consider his earthy virtue, his folksy voice and visceral effusions. Those who don’t like him consider him a boor.

    But the Rivers State governor is anything but boring. Not when he is sparring with his favorite foe, the transport minister Rotimi Amaechi, whose fight was thankfully kept alive recently for having a second life after surviving a giddy air experience in a flight from Port Harcourt to Lagos.

    But the most potent battles he has had of late has been within his party. The latest is the charge that the Ikwere man picked the feminine-voiced Peter Obi as the running mate of Atiku Abubakar, the party’s flag bearer. It gave Wike a sort of larger-than-life image, the man who was only just a junior minister under the shadow of Jonathan and also in good spirits with the former first lady, Patience, has suddenly morphed into a party titan?

    But Wike would not take credit, and rejected any role in vaulting Obi to the party’s presumably number two spot when some of his colleagues even within the same region had their eyes set on that fleshy prize. He was also a butt of outrage from Obi’s kinsmen, especially the governors. Some of them thought the River State governor was presumptuous for going out of his natural zone to foist a man out of the comfort zone of the south-eastern elite.

    He was unmistakable in his rebuttal: “I never nominated Obi. But the mere fact that the vice presidential candidate is coming from the southeast does not give the zone the sole right to nominate a person, since the entire country will benefit.” If you thought he prevaricated a little, hear this: “when the southeast said they were not consulted before Peter Obi was nominated, when did we meet as a party that the vice president must come from the southeast? But we said if the presidential candidate believes he has somebody to work with, so be it.” A bit of a lawyerly logic here.

    But it all began since he wanted to host the PDP convention in the garden city that ultimately picked the party presidential torch bearer. Wike was resented by those who feared his muscle as the landlord of Port Harcourt. With that clout, he would pick the candidate. He was oil-rich, he was a bulldozer and an underrated chess player. They did not want to mess with him, and that would amount to keeping the fish in the custody of a cat.

    He used all the tools of power player. He cajoled. He threatened. He teased. Eventually he triumphed. He brought dollars and political sense to his city, and bested his foes. Is he doing all these at the expense of his friends within the party, or his stature only grows in the PDP by default. Time will tell. But Wike seems to be enjoying the theatre at some people’s expense. That, we agree, is how the political cookie crumbles.