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Tag: PDP

  • APC, PDP clash over dead board appointees

    APC, PDP clash over dead board appointees

    •PDP: ‘A govt that appoints dead people cannot run Nigeria’
    •APC: ‘You’re belittling governance, embarrassing yourself’

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday lashed out at the Buhari-led APC administration over what it called unpardonable national embarrassment caused by the appointment of dead persons as chairmen/members of the newly constituted boards and parastatals.

    The opposition party said the gaffe is a further confirmation that the APC administration is completely confused, disorganized and grossly incompetent.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in turn labelled PDP ridiculous and an embarrassment to see everything as an opportunity to attack the administration “without looking at the seriousness of their claims.”

    The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement in Abuja said: “Nigerians can now see why the nation’s economy has been in shambles in the last two years. When we say that this government is completely inept, some Nigerians did not know to which level, but now they do.

    “This inability to tidy up a simple issue of list of 209 appointees has completely exposed the extent the APC government is bereft of simple organizational skills to manage a country like Nigeria, which is in dire need of development.

    “How on earth can a government that cannot compile a common list handle intricate issues of national planning and budgeting; issues of health, education, aviation, agriculture, infrastructure and management of the huge civil service?

    “How can they possibly initiate and successfully implement national and international instruments for national development in today’s competitive world?

    “This also explains why nothing has been working under the APC government. Furthermore, the mix up in the list also exposes the corruption in the APC government.

    “The fact is that the government of our dear country has been in wrong hands in the last two years and the situation will continue to worsen unless the nation is rescued from them in 2019.

    “Finally, we urge Nigerians to disregard the lame excuses by the APC government and hold them responsible for the woes that have befallen our country under their inept and undesirable regime.”

    However, in reacting to the PDP statement last night, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi said the opposition party was only belittling governance and embarrassing itself with the way it seeks to use every opportunity to attack the Buhari administration.

    He said “it is embarrassing that the PDP sees every move as evidence of APC’s inability to rule the country.

    “Things happen. I don’t think the PDP which has governed the country before should respond in such embarrassing manner to a situation where in a list of over 200 a few names, which ought to have been removed, escaped scrutiny.

    “These people died while the process of compiling the list was still on. It is nothing more than an honest mistake.

    “With the way it is trivializing every issue, PDP is embarrassing itself and belittling governance. If after several years in power, they still don’t know that governing a country is more than the trivial things they take so serious, then it is quite embarrassing. How on earth can a party like PDP say because of such honest mistake, APC is not qualified to rule Nigeria?

    “But we understand their desperation to take advantage of everything to gain prominence and seek political mileage.

    “But it is ridiculous for them to now see everything as an opportunity to attack this administration without looking at the seriousness of their claims. It is quite embarrassing.”

     

  • Can Dickson’s reconciliation committee save PDP?

    Can Dickson’s reconciliation committee save PDP?

     Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, examines the pockets of grieviances within the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and wonders if the Governor Seriake Dickson-led National Reconciliation Committee can once again return the troubled party to the path of peace.

    IT is no longer news that the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), through its National Reconciliation Committee led by Governor Seriake Dickson is making serious effort to combat a fresh intra party crisis occasioned by the dissatisfaction expressed by many chieftains of the troubled party over how a new national leadership was chosen at its last elective national convention.

    The question on many lips weeks after the committee went to town with its message of peace and reconciliation is how far it can go in its quest to stop the PDP from sliding back into the infamy of the past. This followed indications that the task of reconciling some of the aggrieved party men with the opposition party may be failing. Party sources say it appears Dickson, though threading a familiar road, may be encountering unfamiliar challenges.

    “The committee is trying but the situation is not as simple as you think. Some of the issues are such that unless something miraculous happens, it may be hard for the committee to resolve them. Imagine a situation where almost an entire zone of the party is considering dumping the PDP and moving to another party. Or a situation where a group of PDP founding fathers are convinced that the party has been hijacked by just two people.

    “The committee never said it has resolved the issues. It announced that it met the people involved and discussion continues. So, if we are now seeing signs that some of these people are not ready to explore merely the internal mechanism of the party in their quest for justice, it simply means the PDP may have to do more than forming a committee to stop another round of crisis ahead of the 2019 general elections,” a chieftain of the party in Lagos state said.

    It would be recalled that on December 9, 2017, at he Eagle Square in Abuja, the federal capital territory (FCT), leaders and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sought to return the troubled party to its glorious ways when they held an elective national convention that many had predicted will usher in a new and acceptable leadership for the opposition party after years of protracted intra party squabbles that nearly ended the very existence of the PDP.

    The convention held amidst uncertainties and controversies. Winners were declared even as nearly a half of the chairmanship contestants either boycotted the process or raised alarm midway into the convention. Worse still, leaders of the party in the southwest zone left the convention insisting that the party had not only marginalized the zone, but had also insulted its leaders in the manner the new leadership of the party was elected.

    “Governor Wike must tender an unreserved apology to the Yoruba people for his unguarded utterances against the Yoruba race. I listened to my younger brother and I see it as an insult. I consider it as an insult. I entered the contest on the micro-zoning principle, which has been thrashed by little men who have compromised. It appears the PDP is bent on self-destruction. I can’t be part of this. ”

    “The chairmanship position has been sold to the highest bidder,” Chief Bode George, a leading chairmanship aspirant from the southwest, stated while briefing newsmen at his campaign office in Abuja on his decision to pull out of the contest some hours to the start of the convention. His position was later echoed by many leaders and members of the party from the zone.

    Nonetheless, Prince Uche Secondus, who had earlier been rumored to be the anointed candidate of the Governors elected on the platform of the PDP, and whose name featured prominently as chairmanship choice on the now controversial “unity list” circulated to delegates at the venue of the convention, was announced as the winner of the chairmanship election.

    The conciliators return

    Expectedly, the outcome of the convention was rejected by some of the party’s leading figures, especially from the southwest geo-political zone. Some prominent PDP chieftains from other geo-political zones also expressed dissatisfaction with the manner Secondus emerged as the national chairman of the party. Many alleged that the distribution of a unity list at the venue of the convention rendered the entire exercise a nullity.

    “We reject the entire electoral process. The election has been grossly compromised to achieve a predetermined end. The illegal unity list is prepared by governors Wike and Ayodele Fayose to foist on the entire delegates,” Shehu Garba, Director General of the Tunde Adeniran Campaign Organization, had said shortly after the convention. Similarly, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, another chairmanship aspirant from the south-south, faulted the entire process and called on party members to reject it.

    But the leadership of the troubled party, appearing to have foreseen the unfolding post convention scenario, wasted no time in assuring the world that it intends to reconcile the aggrieved party men with the PDP and avoid a return to the inglorious era of intra party crisis. “The PDP cannot afford to fight itself. The task ahead of us as we approach 2019 is such that we must have all hands on deck,” one of the newly elected national officers told The Nation during the week.

    And selected for the job of ensuring that the grievances emanating from the convention are quickly managed to prevent any serious crisis was the same man who had earlier performed the same task following the Supreme Court judgement that ended the reign of Senator Modu Sherif as the national chairman of the party and confirmed Senator Ahmed Makarfi’s position as leader of the party, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state.

    Dickson, along with other members of his National Reconciliation Committee wasted no time. Within a week of its inauguration, the committee had toured several states of the country, talking to party members and aggrieved aspirants as well as urging PDP chieftains to refrain from inflammatory statements. And it appeared the reconciliation efforts were yielding fruits with many of those aggrieved talking about peace and solutions instead of crisis and fictionalization.

    Bode George told Dickson he will not fight the PDP but will appreciate an apology from Governor Wike. Adeniran urged the committee to ensure that the issues being raised by the aggrieved party leaders are thoroughly looked into. He added that it was important to also reach out to as many members of the PDP who did not contest for any position but fought gallantly to ensure the preservation of the party.

    Former Minister of Information and Orientation, Prof Jerry Gana, vowed he would never leave the PDP for whatever reason. Just as he told Dickson and other committee members that he had serious observations that would make the party stronger while former Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ibrahim Mantu, wants the party to focus on the 2019 elections, and strive hard to restore the party’s lost glory.

    Beaming with smiles of satisfaction after a meeting in Abuja last week, Governor Dickson said, “we have established contacts already with those who are, for one reason or the other, dissatisfied and who have concerns and issues, and grievances and which is normal in an exercise such as this. We can report to you that the efforts we have made so far to establish contact with all chairmanship aspirants, and indeed we intend to interact with all other aspirants.

    “All those who purchased forms, all those who actually contested, it is our intention to engage and interact with them to find out what the challenges and issues are with a view to promoting amicable resolution and promoting better understanding within the PDP family. We are pleased to announce that our contact with all the major candidates, with all the chairmanship candidates was very positive, our overtures were well received, and in the next couple of days and weeks, we are going to see a lot of activities undertaken by this committee, and also we are at liberty to co-opt other party leaders whose input would be helpful.”

    Twists and turns

    But just as Dickson and the new leadership were about concluding that solutions are at hand to the post convention grievances, the unfolding drama within the opposition party took several new turns as a number of twists were introduced into the scenario by the same aggrieved party men the committee said had been met and appeased to give peace a chance and allow it address their complaints.

    The latest is coming from the southwest where there are talks about a plan by leaders and members of the party to dump the PDP in protest agains the inability of the zone to produce the national chairman of the party. The Nation learnt during the week that several meetings have been held by chieftains of the party in the zone following the convention and it appears the majority opinion is for the zone to abandon the PDP in protest.

    “We are meeting. We are a proud people and we will not take kindly to some characters insulting us as a people. It is obvious the PDP has no respect for us in the southwest. Imagine the people they chose as representatives of the party in the new leadership. We don’t even know them. Some disloyal party chieftains who refused to support the southwest agenda at the convention are now parading themselves as PDP southwest leaders.

    “We are determined to show that the Yoruba race is not secondary and will never allow itself to be relegated anywhere we find ourselves. If the final resolution is that we move away from PDP, we will do so en bloc. And if that happens, you can be rest assured that it is over for the PDP in the southwest. The real leaders of the PDP are the ones complaining against the treatment meted out to us at the convention.

    “Imagine a situation where Bode George, Ebenezer Babatope, Tunde Adeniran, Taoheed Ladoja, Remi Adiukwu, Buruji Kashamu, Gbenga Daniel, Tajudeen Oladipo, Makanjuola Ogundipe and others like that decide to leave the PDP. What would be left of the party in the southwest? I can tell you nothing would be left. So, we are considering many options. One of it of course is the reconciliation Governor Dickson is talking about,” a party source said.

    And just as the Dickson committee and the PDP leadership were wondering how best to stop what has become a looming crisis in the southwest, the Adebayo Dayo-led factional executive committee of the Ogun State chapter of the party dragged the new leadership of the PDP before the Federal High Court, Abuja. The suit, which was instituted by Dayo and Semiu Sodipo on behalf of themselves and the Ogun State Executive committee of the PDP, has the PDP, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Elder Yemi Akinwonmi as the first, second and third defendant respectively.

    They want the court to replace Akinwonmi, who was elected Deputy National Chairman (South) of the PDP at its National Convention on December 9, with Hon. Segun Seriki. The Dayo-led exco also wants the court to determine whether the national leadership of the party has the powers to dissolve the state executive committee when its tenure has not expired. They are also challenging the use of some people as delegates to the National Convention of the PDP which held in Abuja on December 9, since there is a substantive judgment which recognizes the Dayo-led exco as the authentic leadership.

    Few days earlier, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, one of the chairmanship aspirants at the recent national convention of the party had also approached the court seeking to nullify the election of Secondus as the new national chairman. Adedoja, in the suit filed by Mr. Rikky Tarfa, is seeking the nullification of the election of a new executive on the premise that his name was removed from the ballot for the election for national chairman.

    “I went to the convention for the position of national chairman of the party with the strong belief that the party needed a chairman with wide experience, acceptability across Nigeria, integrity and a man with fresh and innovative ideas, with a view to bringing intellectualism to the governance of the party. Towards achieving this, I paid the necessary nomination fee, obtained and returned the national chairmanship nomination form; was invited for screening and subsequently screened with clearance certificate issued to me at a well-attended ceremony at the PDP headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, December 07, 2017.”

    “Surprisingly, on the election day of December 09, 2017, my name was deliberately excluded from the list of national chairmanship contestants posted on the ballot boxes/ cubicles meant for the election of the national chairman of the party, thereby, wilfully and unlawfully excluding me from participating in the said election. On realising the misnomer, I drew the attention of the chairman of the Convention Committee, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to it; who in turn promised to rectify the anomaly. The promise was not kept, culminating in the zero score credited to me during the declaration of results,” Adedoja said.

    According to him, his lawyer, Ricky Tarfa on Monday filed a suit before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to amongst others, “declare the election of national chairman of the PDP held at the Eagle Square, Abuja on December 09, 2017, null and void; declare as null and void any document submitted by PDP or by the purported occupier of the position of the national chairman to INEC.

    The “fresh” angle

    Last week, the confusion rocking PDP following the controversial outcome of its December convention peaked with the emergence of a parallel leadership led by Emmanuel Nwosu. The group, which referred to itself as Fresh PDP, is calling for the nullification of the party’s convention held on December 9 at the Eagle Square in Abuja. Briefing newsmen at the party’s secretariat located at Tito Broz street, off Jimmy Carter street, Asokoro, Nwosu said the process leading to the emergence of the Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee was fraught with illegality and abuse of electoral process.

    Earlier that week, the group had staged a protest in Abuja to express disaffection with the outcome of the just concluded national convention of the party. Led by Nwosu, members of the group had threatened to form a splinter PDP group, saying they were out to reform the party. An aggrieved aspirant for the office of the National Organising Secretary (NOS), Dr. Godwin Duru blamed purported unity list at the election which had his name removed as the reason for his dissatisfaction.

    He added that the neglect of their complaints by the reconciliation committee after the convention was also to be blamed for the emergence of the new faction. “After the convention, I called some of the party hierarchy to register my disgust over the outcome of the election and processes but all of them refused to pick my calls. They felt we are not important; the only people they recognised were the chairmanship aspirants.

    “We also went through processes of screening like the chairmanship aspirants; their reconciliation committee is only to the chairmanship aspirants and not to us in other positions, because they felt we are not important having dealt with us. The PDP election was never an election, it was a fraud, my name was removed from the ballot and not even on the purported unity list. Unity list means all the aspirants have come together to agree on the people that will be represented but in this case nobody notified or consulted me on people compiled in the list.

    “You can have a list but a list with PDP logo is wrong and all activities on Dec 9th went in same line with the list. Most people on the unity list did not campaign or buy form, were not screened but came up to become winners. We are all co founders of PDP therefore had the right to take the decision without the aforementioned. Nobody is above each other, we are all equal founders of the party so we have right to take our decision.”

    With the deluge of actions that suggests some of the aggrieved PDP chieftains as unwilling to co-operate with Dickson’s committee in spite of assurances that their grievances will be looked into and addressed appropriately, many observers of happenings within the opposition party are wondering if the reconciliation committee will save the embattled party from returning to its crisis ridden past.

  • PDP, Southwest and 2019

    So nonchalantly were the Yoruba treated that Governor Wike of Rivers State could, very petulantly, describe the Southwest as completely useless to their party.

    Christ is our corner-stone,
    on him alone we build;
    with his true saints alone
    the courts of heaven are filled:
    on his great love
    our hopes we place
    of present grace
    and joys above.

    It’s another year gone bye and we give God all the glory. A very eventful year it was with our president, Mohammadu Buhari, given up for dead but bounced back radiant as Nigerians have never seen him.  As he was  ‘resurrecting’, Nigeria  was  also exiting  the mother of all recessions,  the cumulative effect of PDP’S 16  years of utter planlessness  and corrosive  corruption which, according to DFID, set Nigeria back by N32 Billion in  6 years.  So much happened on the political arena, one of them being the return of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to the PDP, the second time, understandably to have another chance to contest for the presidency, an absolutely legitimate ambition by such a consummate politician.

    Here’s wishing him all the luck.

    However, in terms of its import, no event during the year can match the ignominy with which the Yoruba wing of the PDP was treated both before, and during its recent Abuja convention. So nonchalantly were the Yoruba treated that Governor Wike of Rivers State could, very petulantly, describe the Southwest as completely useless to their party. To get the full import of the put down, one would have to do a mental picture of Yoruba’s who is who, still claiming membership of the opposition party.

    https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif

    However, if anybody surprised me in his position on the shambolic manner in which Yoruba was treated, it is none other than Chief Ebenezer Babatope, my very intimate friend of over 50 years. Days before the convention, Babatope had, in his usual no nonsense manner, spoken on the Southwest quest for the party’s chairmanship. I can say without mincing words that PDP was never Ebeno’s first choice party as nothing in his persona aligns with that ultra conservative, rent seeking ensemble. The  story would have to be told another day of how  he, after being personally nominated by Chief  MKO Abiola to serve in the Abacha government,  came out totally misunderstood  by the Afenifere elders  who,  despite  his best efforts,  frustrated his intent to return to the Awo political family.

    Days before the convention, Babatope had said in a public statement: “I want to make it absolutely clear that if Mr. Makarfi is an honourable man, he will voluntarily resign his position without waiting to be pushed out.  Continuing, he said: “His game plan is simply to handover the party to Nyesom Wike, through his acolyte Uche Secondus.  …this is indeed a road to perdition … as the Yoruba will never accept any attempt to insult our people and denigrate our collective intelligence. We are absolutely resolved in our position. We will not stand idle and fold our hands while all kinds of machinations are being hatched to destroy the collective interest of the Yoruba people. If we are denied the chairmanship of the party, we will walk out of the PDP and take our fortunes elsewhere.”

    Then the somersault: a week after his Southwest had been mercilessly purloined by those Bode George, a chairmanship candidate who would later withdraw, had called “little men whose sun will soon set”, Babatope again  declared :”We have contributed to the party immensely and helped hold it together since its inception. We will not jump from one party to another. Those of us who believe in PDP will never compromise on our membership. The controversy will not have adverse effect on the party’s performance in 2019, especially if a reconciliation mechanism is put in place to address genuine grievances. The PDP will not suffer in the Southwest, because of what happened. Southwest PDP still see Wike, Secondus and others who denied the region the chairmanship slot as friends”. In  his own case, Bode George had, while withdrawing, said, “the Yoruba people have been openly maligned, savaged, tormented, treated with contempt, scurried, scoffed at, humiliated and denigrated by little men, whose sun will soon set”.

    These are the people now being led through a so- called reconciliatory chimera.

    The PDP Abuja convention was, indeed, the graveyard of the party’s old guard. General Babangida, like former President Goodluck Jonathan, were brutally buried, and their interment has seen Turaki, the man they recruited, now speaking in tongues about whether or not he will still contest. This is because, with their massive shellacking, he can, in his mind’s eye, already see Markafi as the anointed Presidential candidate. And why get involved again in a primary election only to be trounced as Senator Kwankwaso did to him in the APC primaries I 2015.

    I digress, and back to the Southwest shellacking.

    Now after the volte face by Babatope and Bode George, who are  now being toasted by their tormentors, how can Governors Wike, Makarfi or Fayose, nearer home, be expected  to respect these PDP elders?  Of course, they know only too well that the average Nigerian politician is concerned only with self. The elders are, therefore, most unlikely to see what happened to them as insult to the entire Yoruba race, which is what it is. For this reason, PDP will only be talking to the top guns, not the masses, the electorates.  Governor Wike has, without mincing words, told the Yoruba what awaits them whenever PDP ever comes to power which can, however, not be in the foreseeable future given their record of service. For instance, the federal government recently had temporarily forfeited to it, over 100 houses, by only three of the women who were closely connected to the Jonathan government. This is precisely why I am at a loss when Babatope exudes: “the PDP will not suffer in the Southwest, because of what happened. Southwest PDP still see Wike, Secondus and others who denied the region the chairmanship slot as friends”. Granted that my friend and his Yoruba PDP  compatriots  can see these Yoruba tormentors as friends and paddy paddies, do they think  Yoruba people  can forget, in a hurry, what they suffered in the six years of  President Goodluck Jonathan, when militants  of  Ijaw extraction were not only establishing universities offshore, but were buying warships. Are these Yoruba PDP elders of such short memories they could forget they had less than five of their compatriots as chief executives of federal agencies when another geo-political zone literally controlled all the regulatory agencies? And that was at a time when the Southwest chapter had not been as categorically rubbished as Wike just did. As I cannot adequately describe how beggarly the PDP/Jonathan government treated the Yoruba, I crave the indulgence of that seminal gentle man, Chief Nnia Nwodo, President Ohanaeze Ndigbo, who I knew way back in the 70’s when he was only a student at the University of Ibadan where he shone brightly as the Student Union President, to quote from his inaugural speech.

    Said Nwodo: “I remember a time in this country when all the six ministers in Jonathan’s kitchen cabinet were all Igbos. Ayim Pius Ayim was Secretary to Government, Ngozi Okonjo Iwealla was in charge of Finance, Emeka Wogu was in Labour and Productivity, Berth Nnaji was in Power and Energy, Dieziani Madueke was the powerful minister for oil. The six of them outside the Federal Executive Council would meet and decide what and what not to be discussed at the larger Federal Executive Council meeting. Okiro and Onovo had the police under their control. Ihejerika and later Minimah controlled the Army. These powerful Igbos could do and undo. Nigeria was in their pockets. Rather than care about the poor Igbo chaps scattered all over the country, they were busy diverting billions of naira into their accounts at home and abroad. The 2nd Niger Bridge, they did not do. They shared the money. The Lagos/Calabar rail lines passing through nine states, three of them in the South East, they shared the money.” (Any wonder DFID recently said Nigeria lost 32Billion dollars to corruption during President Jonathan’s six years). “Enugu/Onitsha, Aba/PH and other roads of economic importance to their fellow Igbos, he continued, they abandoned.” “Who is to blame? Who is marginalising Igbos? You had your chance, you bungled it. There was only one Yoruba minister worth mentioning at the time, Akinwunmi Adesina. He was in Agric. His budget was less than 1% while Emeka Wogu in Labour had over 10% for his ministry, Ayim had unlimited access to the  treasury for  the benefit of himself and family members. The poor Igbo guys meant nothing to him.”

    Res ipsa loquitor.

  • Osun 2018: New twists in struggle for PDP guber ticket

    Osun 2018: New twists in struggle for PDP guber ticket

    The struggle for the governorship ticket of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State ahead of the 2018 governorship election is gathering momentum. Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports that the lingering intra party crisis and the entrance of a couple of new aspirants into the race may be unsettling permutations in the race to determine who flies the banner of the opposition party in 2018.

    PERMUTATIONS in some quarters within the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun state seem to be crumbling as the 2018 governorship election in the state draws nearer. The opposition party, which has left no one in doubt of its desire to oust the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the government house during the forthcoming election, already parades a number of aspirants working hard to take over from outgoing Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    Although the PDP in Osun state is still bedeviled by a lingering leadership crisis which has seen the party divide into two camps, the struggle for its governorship ticket is one of the most talked about things across the state today following the announcement of election date by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Not a few chieftains of the party believe the PDP stands a good chance of winning the next governorship contest in the state.

    Consequently, even before INEC blew the whistle signaling the commencement of political hostilities ahead of the 2018 election, the party has never been lacking in governorship aspirants. The likes of former deputy Governor, Iyiola Omisore, former deputy governorship candidate, Adejare Bello, former federal legislator, Lere Oyewunmi and Dr. Kayode Oduoye, had long before now, signified interest in the race for the ticket.

    However, not a few within and outside the party had predicted a straight fight for the ticket between Omisore and Bello. Such permutations have largely been based on the political strength of the two gladiators within the party. The other contenders were considered as underdogs in the political fight to decide who flies the banner of the opposition party in 2018.

    But recent developments within the party may alter such permutations as pundits say the unending leadership crisis in the state chapter of the PDP as well as the entrance into the governorship race by some new aspirants on the platform of the PDP now indicate that the pendulum may swing elsewhere other than earlier predicted. “PDP in Osun state will see a fierce contest for its gubernatorial ticket ahead of the 2018 elocution,” a chieftain of the party said.

    ” The emergence of the Soji Adagunodo-led faction of the PDP, which is made up of people opposed to Omisore’s ambition, is a new twist in the race to the ticket. And if you consider the fact that the faction appears to enjoy the support of the real party members, you will understand what I am saying. And to further make nonsense of earlier permutations, Bello is also not popular with these people.

    “The development has made the party less dependent on any individual. They have a secretariat all members can lay claim to unlike in the past when one party leader usually own the building housing the secretariat. That has gone a long way in ensuring party supremacy. Most of the young Turks in the party identify with this camp and are determined to ensure a level playing ground at the primaries,” our source added.

    Few weeks back, the 2014 governorship candidate of the Labour party in the state, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, joined the PDP and promptly declared his interest in the governorship ticket. Akinbade, a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), is on his third attempt to govern the state, having lost two previous bids. His coming into the PDP has been described by many as a new twist that will make the contest fiercer.

    “Akinbade is no push over in Osun politics. He is a grassroots politician and has the resources and contacts to fight for the ticket. He has been contesting in the governorship election for a while now. He was a member of the PDP. No doubt, he will put up a serious challenge to any other aspirant in the battle for the governorship ticket,” a chieftain of the party said.

    But watchers of the politics of Osun state, especially the unfolding struggle for the governorship ticket of the PDP, insist the stiffest challenge to the old order within the party is being mounted by Ile-Ife-born legal practitioner turned politician, Dr. Ayoade Adewopo. According to reliable sources within the party, not a few aspirants are losing a lot of sleep over the young lawyer’s ambition.

    “It is not politically incorrect to say that today in Osun, Adewopo is the man giving governoship aspirants the most sleepless nights. This is for many reasons. One, it is the first time in a long time that a strong governorship contender will be sprouting out of the Ife axis to challenge the old order for the coveted ticket. Adewopo is not just from Ile-Ife, he is from a prominent family.

    “Within the political camps of some aspirants as we speak, many efforts are being put into checkmating the popularity of both Adewopo and his ambition. But the young man is everywhere telling party members he is the best man for the ticket of the party. In the Ife-Ijesha axis, he now enjoys appreciable followership. And if you consider the fact that he is a prince maternally in Ede, Osun West, you will appreciate their worry the more,” our source added.

    Aside being a lawyer, the young Adewopo is also an expert in anti-money laundering matters. In Osun, the story is also everywhere that he may be the preferred choice of some prominent monarchs and elites across the state. Within the party, he is today viewed as the arrowhead of the group seeking a new beginning for the PDP in Osun state. He also enjoys the support of the Adagunodo group within the party. “He is one of the young Turks giving PDP a new image in the state and he is in good stead to compete with any other aspirant for the ticket,” a party source added.

  • Nigerians are tired of failed promises – PDP

    Nigerians are tired of failed promises – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised the All Progressives Congress (APC) -led Federal Government not to issue any New Year promises to Nigerians since they have not fulfilled any of the promises made in their previous messages since assumption of office.

    In a statement issued on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said Nigerians have become overstretched by the litany of woes visited on them in the last two years by the incompetent and pretentious APC administration.

    It stressed that it would be the height of callousness for the ruling party and its government to spew another round of propaganda and false hope in the name of New Year messages.

    The party said: “What else would they tell Nigerians apart from inventing new lies and propaganda as they had always done, particularly at the turn of each New Year.”

    The PDP noted that the administration has been reeling out false promises year-in-year-out even when it has no intention of fulfilling them.

    It added: “What is the need for their yearly assurances when the only thing we see is an arrogant and incompetent government plunging the nation into economic recession and visiting the citizens with the worst forms of untold hardship.

    “What seriousness should any Nigerian attach to a government that takes governance for granted, puts off its Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the slightest whims and blame imaginary invasion of its offices by rats for the inability to meet required statutory functions?

    “What else should Nigerians expect from a government that promised massive employments only to render 7.74 million Nigerians jobless between 2016 and September 2017; with combined unemployment and underemployment rate hitting 40.0 per cent as declared by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

    “This is the same APC that promised to deliver naira exchange at N1 to $1 but ended up wrecking the currency from N160-N170 to a scandalous N350-N400; the same party and its government promised to reduce the price of fuel only for it to rise from where the PDP left it at N86.50 to N300-N400 per litre.

    “What do we expect from a government that so devastated the economy in 2017 that Nigerians were forced to turn to Ponzi schemes like the Mavrodi Mundial Movement (MMM) for survival only for an estimated three million of them to lose about N18 billion in the process.

    “The APC misrule literarily turned 2017 into a harvest of woes; hunger, disease, violence and deaths while the nation is now being pummeled by ethnic and religious agitations and attendant violence in all parts of the country.

    “Also this year, marauders, criminal herders, Badoo cultists and insurgents were on the prowl with several innocent Nigerians as victims.

    “Nigerians suffered strange diseases; businesses were shut; hardship and poverty swelled mortality and divorce rates while the APC continues to thrive on propaganda and lies.

    “Measured against all key performance indicators, the APC controlled Federal Government has fallen below the expectations of Nigerians.”

     

     

  • Ekiti has benefitted more under APC – Fayemi

    Ekiti has benefitted more under APC – Fayemi

    The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said on Thursday that Ekiti State has benefited more from the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government in less than three years than the 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Fayemi scored the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration high in its three cardinal policies of reviving the economy, security and anti-corruption.

    He urged Nigerians to be wary of the PDP’s threat to return to power, saying the damage done to the economy by the PDP government was monumental hence it should not be allowed to return to power.

    The former Ekiti State governor said the PDP was scheming for a comeback to power in order to continue the looting that brought the nation’s economy to its knees.

    Fayemi spoke at a news conference on Thursday at his Eyi Yato Villa residence in Isan-Ekiti shortly before hosting thousands of APC members to an end-of-the-year stakeholders meeting.

    The meeting was attended by party leaders including former Governor of the state, Segun Oni, APC Chairman in the state, Chief Olajide Awe, party executives from all the 177 wards, 16 Local Government Areas, 35 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) and the three senatorial districts in Ekiti.

    The minister faulted the claim of Governor Ayo Fayose that he (Fayemi) has not used his position as minister to benefit his home state, noting that Ekiti now enjoys concrete federal presence.

    The ex-governor revealed that thousands of Ekiti people are now beneficiaries of empowerment programmes and loan schemes of the federal government which has boosted their standards of living.

     

     

  • We will pray for Buhari’s son’s recovery – PDP

    We will pray for Buhari’s son’s recovery – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party said on Thursday it would pray for the speedy recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari’s son, Yusuf, who sustained head injury from a power bike accident.

    A statement issued by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, said the party was shocked by the news of the accident.

    The statement said: “PDP as a family received with shock the sad news of the involvement of Yusuf Buhari, son of President Muhammadu Buhari, in a power bike accident in Abuja on Wednesday.

    “The PDP as a family prays for Yusuf’s speedy recovery to enable him return to his normal life.”

    Ologbondiyan said PDP was reassured by reports from the Presidency that Yusuf was in a steady condition.

    “We also commend the prompt intervention by medics, even as we value the concerns of all well-meaning Nigerians and their prayers for Yusuf and the first family.”

    NAN

  • ‘Why Makarfi deserves PDP presidential ticket’

    ‘Why Makarfi deserves PDP presidential ticket’

    In this piece, Mohammed Ismail highlights the qualities expected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential flagbearer for the 2019 election.

    The recently conducted Peoples Democratic Party’s elective convention, has for the umpteenth time shown the democratic credentials of former governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Muhammad Makarfi who despite the projections of the naysayers, has superintended a successful convention that produced the Uche Secondus led National Working Committee of the party.

    After its defeat in the 2015 general elections, the party witnessed its major litmus test after it was engulfed by a lingering and protracted internal crisis between the Ahmed Makarfi’s faction and the Ali Modu Sherrif’s faction after the latter was surreptitiously imposed on the party by those who wanted it to die a natural death.

    As the protracted battle for the control of the party’s soul between democratic forces led by Ahmed Makarfi and those who wanted to foist an era of impunity on the party led by Ali Modu Sherrif lasted, many thought the ugly development will mark the end of the party and by extension serve as the precursor for the total asphyxiation and strangulation of the opposition politics in Nigeria.

    Those who harbour this erroneous line of thought did not reckon that men of calibre, substance, timbre, character, valour and true champions of democracy in the mould of Makarfi were still in the party, and could even pay the supreme price to ensure that our nascent democracy is truly rooted in our body polity.

    True to expectation, Makarfi did not disappoint anybody as he commandeered a team of “democratic musketeers” to fight the Frankenstein monster imposed on the party by its traducers.

    After the successful Supreme Court verdict which asserts Makarfi as the chairman caretaker committee, the party was left with another huge challenge of conducting  a national convention that will produce the substantive National Working Committee of the party.

    Adversaries of the party who do not give it the slightest chance of survival simply dismissed the possibility of the conduct of a successful national convention as a mirage, on the premise that the party could neither handle nor tame the vaulting ambitions of many of its members who are ready to tear it to shreds if their ambitions were nixed.

    But as if to spring another surprise, PDP under the eagle eyes of Makarfi, defied the naysayers and conducted a convention that produced the NWC of the party and finally put to rest the portentous speculative hoax being peddled around by the enemies of democracy.

    In an unprecedented feat, Makarfi held the most organized, and peaceful convention in the annals of the party which is in sharp contrast even to the last convention of the party which took place at Port Harcourt that was nearly stymied by legal tussles at a time the party was in power.

    The fact that majority of the candidates who contested the plum office alongside Uche Secondus have accepted defeat and even congratulated the new chairman glaringly shows to all conscientious Nigerians that the party and its tumultuous followers across the length and breadth of the country and by extension our fledgling democracy emerge the winners as sooner than later, the import of such feat will profoundly manifest in our body polity.

    It is normal in a political party as large as PDP to hear some shrill voices of dissent after the conduct of a major event such as its national convention, as complaints and outcries, true or false are natural instincts of human beings.

    This is where I situate the lone complaint of Professor Tunde Adeniran who as at now, is the only chairmanship candidate who has raised a voice of dissension against the conduct of the convention at a time his co-contestants deemed it fit to endorse the Secondus led NWC through their unconditional approval of his election.

    In line with the vision bequeathed by Makarfi, the new Exco of the party has swiftly moved into action in order to tame any untoward move by those who may be remotely aggrieved by the outcome of the convention by instituting a reconciliatory move in order to calm any frayed nerve for the good of the party and Nigerians who were at the receiving end of dearth of vibrant opposition.

    The lesson that could be derived from the PDP convention is that despite being in the political coolers for a longtime and despite not being in power for about three years, PDP was able to conduct a national convention, a far cry from what is obtained in the ruling APC.

    It does not require mentioning to note that the ruling party which on daily basis is  showcasing its mediocrity and cluelessness has failed to conduct a national convention because of the fear that it may be eclipsed by the surfeit of internal strife bestriding it.

    On the other hand, the PDP under Makarfi was bold enough to face the challenge which God blessed by giving Makarfi and his team the wisdom to organize a successful convention.

    As the rudderless ruling party continues to wander in disarray and confusion but pretends that all was well, it was glaring even to the most naïveté that APC is currently being weight down by its deluge of baggages and is on a fast drift towards total implosion due to the manifestation of a serious ailment that led to the defection of one of its leading chieftains and Waziri of Adamawa Atiku Abubakar.

    Going by the body language of some chieftains of the ruling APC including the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his political ally, Senator Dino Melaye who without the fear of being persecuted paid an open solidarity visit on the newly elected PDP national chairman, a development that constitutes ominous portents for the APC, it behoves on the ruling party to set its house in order or face the imminent consequences of its lethargy in the near future.

    It is my candid opinion that in view of the noble role played by Makarfi in rescuing the PDP couple with his unblemished and sterling record of performance both as Kaduna State governor, Senator and caretaker chairman of the major opposition party, the Secondus led-NWC should give him an automatic chance to fly its flag in 2019.

  • Ekweremadu: PDP should conduct primary

    Ekweremadu: PDP should conduct primary

    The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has charged the newly elected National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to ensure transparent and credible primaries, ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    He blamed the party’s defeat in the 2015 general election on lack of internal democracy that manifested in the imposition of candidates and disregard for the party’s constitution.

    Ekweremadu delivered a keynote address at the opening of a two-day retreat for the NWC and State Chairmen of the PDP in Abuja.

    He said: “Another election year is by the corner. The new NWC must ensure that the party does not repeat past mistakes. We must return power to the people, as our name and slogan rightly demand of us. This will not only reassure Nigerians that we are indeed an improved and rebranded PDP, but will also encourage the massive return of former party faithful.”

    Ekweremadu said, the public will evaluate the PDP’s commitment to end corruption and promote accountability and transparency by the way it handles internal party affairs.

    He added: “We have a history of fighting corruption and our systems must be corruption-free. This should stand us out as the only hope to eradicate corruption in Nigeria. The PDP established the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

    “We saw to the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act and introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), Treasury Single Account (TSA), and the Biometric Verification Number (BVN). The PDP also ensured that the Civil Society Organisations and the press flourished to promote an accountable and open society.

    “There was no effort by the PDP to tame the Non-Governmental Organisations or the use of the social media. Importantly, we beamed the anti-graft searchlight on our own members to demonstrate that there must be no sacred cows in the war against graft.

    “Therefore, we must conduct our affairs in a way that reassure Nigerians that under the incoming PDP administration, we will not only consolidate on all these track record, but will also firmly eradicate corruption from 2019”.

    The senator warned against any form of undue interferences by the NWC in the affairs of the state chapters of the party.

    “I appeal to the NWC to ensure that the state executives of the party enjoy the freedom to run the affairs of the party at the state level. The current NWC should emphatically denounce all forms of impunity and the politics of godfather and godson.

    “The state executives and members of our party at that level understand the character of the aspirants, their popularity, and the local circumstances in their jurisdictions. They should, therefore, be allowed to work with the electoral panels to pilot the primaries transparently and creditably.

    “But like Caesar’s wife, the state executives must also live above board. This is a new PDP”, he added.

    On the party’s presidential ticket, Ekweremadu urged the NWC to provide a level playing ground for all interested and qualified aspirants.

    He said: “Of utmost importance in the build up to 2019 election year is our choice of presidential candidate. The fate and political fortunes of the party depend on the party’s presidential candidate.

    “The party must, therefore, identify a candidate with the credentials, reach, charisma, competence, and popularity to outmatch any candidate presented by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and any other party for that matter.

     

  • Ondo PDP lawmaker, supporters join APC

    Ondo PDP lawmaker, supporters join APC

    The member representing Ileoluji-Okeigbo/Odigbo in the House of Representatives, Mayowa Akinfolarin, has dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    His supporters from the six local government areas of the Southern District of Ondo State defected with him.

    At a ceremony in Ore, headquarters of Odigbo, Akinfolarin’s supporters said they were in solidarity with him on his decision to join APC.

    Among notable APC leaders, who received Akinfolarin, were Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, his deputy, Agboola Ajayi, APC Acting State Chairman Ade Adetimehin and top party stalwarts.

    Akinfolarin, who is the former deputy Speaker, said the PDP was no longer itself.

    The lawmaker noted that the party had absorbed many bad characters affecting the smooth running of its affairs.

    He said: “I don’t want to be like the stubborn fly that follows a dead body into the grave.”

    Akinfolarin said his quitting the PDP was a collective decision with his people, adding that he has no choice than to obey them.

    Receiving the defectors, Adetimehin hailed Akinfolarin and his supporters for aligning with the progressive government, led by Akeredolu.

    The acting chairman assured them of protection.

    He said there was no founder and joiner, adding that there is equality in the APC.

    Adetimehin urged them to continue mobilising people to the party that “is poised to lift the state and its citizenry with proactive governance”.