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CNPP to INEC: Conduct fresh election for Anambra Central Senatorial District

The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to issue a certificate of return to Dr. Obiora Okonkwo as the senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial district, saying the judgement of the Federal High Court is meant to perpetually deny the people a representation in the current Senate.

But Dr. Okonkwo said the Court of Appeal never nullified the election of March 28, 2015 not did it nullify the victory of the sponsoring political party –the PDP – but merely held that Hon. Uche Ekwunife, the so-called PDP candidate for the election, was not duly nominated by the PDP.

Okonkwo is therefore asking the commission to respect the Judgement of the Federal High Court and award him the certificate of return as the curly elected senator for Anambra Central Senatorial district.

Addressing a news conference in Abuja, Secretary General of CNPP, Chief Willy Ezugwu said since the court of Appeal has nullified the March 28 2015 elections and ordered INEC to conduct a fresh election on two separate occasion, the Federal High Court has no power to reverse the decision of the appellate court.

The CNPP, he said sees the judgement as an attempt by the high court to flex muscles with the Court of Appeal, describing it as an unconstitutional anomaly capable of truncating our democracy if not nipped in the bud.

He said that the hierarchy of courts in Nigeria established under section 6(6) of the 1999 constitution is clear and unambiguous, adding that “the Federal High Court is inferior to the Court of Appeal under our constitution. The federal High Court is incapable of returning Dr. Obiora Okonkwo as Senator Anambra Central Senatorial district when the election in question is no longer alive, having been nullified by the Court of Appeal.

“The CNPP calls on INEC to bear in mind that there are about 13 other political parties preparing to participate in the court ordered fresh election already fixed by the commission to hold on January 12, 2018.

“Consequently, the CNPP urges INEC in strong terms to ensure that enemies of our democracy do not prevail in their nefarious plot to abort the conduct of the fresh election and permanently deny Anambra Central Senatorial district a representation in the 8th senate.”

However, in a letter to the commission, Okonkwo said that since the court had ruled that it is the political party and not the candidate that wins elections, he should be issued with a certificate of return since the court has already declared he was the duly nominated candidate for the election and not Uche Ekwenife.

The letter signed by his counsel, Chief Sebastine Hon SAN, reads: “we are counsel to Dr. Obiora Okonkwo, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate that won the party’s nomination to contest the March 2015 election for Anambra Central Senatorial District but was unlawfully and wrongfully denied the ticket, which ticket was handed to Chief (Mrs.) Uche Ekwunife. He is hereinafter referred to as “our client”; and we hereby wrote on his instructions.

“Aggrieved by that clearly unlawful decision of the PDP, our client took out an originating summons in December 2014, challenging the actions of the PDP. Joined as defendants in the suit were PDP, then chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Chief (Mrs.) Uche Ekwunife.

“In the course of the trial, however, counsel to the PDP and the PDP chairman; counsel to INEC and Counsel to Chief (Mrs.) Uche Ekwunife, all submitted to judgment, as per the claims in the amended originating summons and the motion for judgment filed and served on them by the plaintiff (our client). It is instructive to note that the Motion on Notice sought for consequential orders, including an order that INEC should forthwith issue our client with a certificate of return and that he should be immediately sworn in as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“In the course of the hearing on Wednesday, 13th December, 2017, all defence counsel again conceded and submitted to judgment; hence the Hon. Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court, Abuja entered judgment for our client as per claims in the amended originating summons as prayed in relief 3 of the motion on notice”.

Dr. Okonkwo also attached all documents referred to in the letter made available to INEC.

He reminded INEC that “your commission, sir, has already scheduled a fresh election into this senatorial district for 18/12018” adding that “we however, submit as follows: that the decision of the Court of appeal ordering fresh election, delivered on 7/12/2015 did not nullify the victory of the sponsoring political party –the PDP – but merely held that Hon. Uche Ekwunife, the so-called PDP candidate for the election, was not duly nominated by the PDP.

“The Court of Appeal in that decision also held that the APGA candidate, Chief (Sir) Victor Umeh, could also not be declared winner of the said election, since he did not poll the highest number of votes.

“Therefore, that the Court of Appeal did not nullify the March 2015 election into Anambra Central Senatorial District but merely held that Hon. Uche Ekwunife could not prove her due nomination by the PDP. Now that the Federal High Court in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1092/2014 has held that our client was duly nominated candidate of the PDP in that election; and in view of the settle case law that it is a political party as opposed to a candidate that wins an election, our client should, as ordered by Justice Tsoho J., be issued a certificate of return forthwith, to enable the senate leadership inaugurate him as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

December 20, 2017
Secondus charges PDP leaders to brace up for challenges

The National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ), Mr Uche Secondus, has called on all newly-elected leaders of the party to brace up for the challenges ahead, saying they were huge.

Secondus made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at the opening of a two-day retreat for the National Working Committee (NWC) and Chairmen of the PDP in the states.

He said that the time for individualistic ideology was over, and that in moving forward, all must collectively channel their energy and resources toward achieving the party’s immediate goal, which was regaining power in 2019.

The chairman said that the ability of PDP to win in 2019 had implications not just on the party, but on the country.

“It is based on this reason that we are starting on a fresh note. We must be ready to compromise on personal agenda where necessary as well as make sacrifices for the greater good of the party.

“As a party in opposition, we must be ready to forgo certain deserving privileges for the good of the party.

“The point where we are at the moment is at the crossroad where we are about to take the critical decision of which direction to go – right or left.

“Our choice should be swift, clear and unambiguous; we are going right and it leads us straight to Aso Rock,’’ he said.

Secondus said that leaders must begin to invest in the party with the aim of repackaging and eventually unveiling a reformed PDP to the Nigerian electorate so as to regain their confidence.

“We must re-define who we are in the minds of Nigerians, down to the grassroots.

“We must let the people know that we are ready to re-ignite the fire that once made Nigeria a shining beacon in Africa and the world over by returning this party to the real owners, the people,’’ he said.

He added that the actions were necessary for PDP to reclaim the territory it lost across the three tiers of government in 2015.

Secondus said that the mandate given to new leaders of the party was to rebuild and re-position the party with a view to regaining the lost power.

“The only way to achieve what we have set out to do is by bringing all our stakeholders to work together as one larger family,’’ he said.

The national chairman pledged that the NWC members would continue to promote the principles of democratic practice, progressive politics, good and effective leadership, and national interest within PDP.

He added that they would also re-strategise PDP communication channels, especially social media.

“No matter what a political party does, if it does not have effective communication, it can’t achieve much.

“PDP needs more strategic engagement to lose and unbundle any negative impression already created by the opposition,’’ Secondus said.

The Chairman of Board of Trustees (BoT), Sen. Walid Jibrin, charged the party leaders to use the retreat to discuss the philosophy and principles of the party.

“This is in fact necessary at all levels of the party as well as building a strong party identity,’’ Jibrin said.

The theme of the retreat is “Re-positioning PDP for Dominance and Electoral Victory.’’

December 19, 2017
PDP members protest lawmaker’s defection to APC

The defection of a member of the House of Representatives, Nnana Rapheal Igbokwe, on the floor of the House on Tuesday caused protest from members of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ).

The members said they were standing on a Supreme Court’s ruling that stated that any member of the National Assembly that defects to another party from his/her original party without requisite reasons should forfeit such seat.

The defection of the lawmaker representing Ahazu/ Ezinihitte Mbaise Federal Constituency in Imo State was witnessed by the Governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha, who came to give him support and encouragement.

Read Also: PDP has become regional party, says Adesanya

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had read a letter by the lawmaker, who cited crisis as the reason for his defection from PDP to the All Progressive Congress (APC).

But the PDP members cried foul, saying the defection was belated as there is presently no crisis in the party.

They claimed that the speaker was partisan and failed to act properly on the matter.

December 19, 2017
Governors approved $1bn insurgency fund – Osinbajo

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo said on Tuesday that state governors approved the removal of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to fight the Boko Haram insurgents after a national security summit organised by the National Economic Council.

Osinbajo, who chairs the NEC, stated this at the opening of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation/Secretaries to State Governments’ retreat at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said: “It was after a national security summit of the National Economic Council that governors at their forum decided to approve some money for national security.”

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other Nigerians have condemned the decision of the Federal Government to approach the NEC for withdraw of the fund to fight insurgency.

Read Also: Osinbajo: Buhari and I poorly paid

The PDP in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbodiyan described the move as alarming.

The party asked the federal government to explain the rationale behind such decision after claiming in the past that the Boko Haram sect has been defeated by the military.

December 19, 2017
APC, PDP clash over $1b cash to fight Boko Haram

The row over the $1 billion anti-Boko Haram battle fund to be withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) grew yesterday, with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peopes Democratic Party (PDP) throwing darts at each other.

The APC described the allegation by the PDP that the government planned to pump the money into its reelection as “ludicrous and baseless”.

It asked the PDP to demand for accountability in the spending of the fund rather than imputing political motives.

APC National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi said in a statement that being in opposition did not imply opposing everything before one has the opportunity to understand the issues.

Abdullahi said the NGF that approved the money had 11 PDP governors, who would not support voting money to fund another party.

He noted that the allegation that the money was meant for the APC to prosecute its 2019 campaign only implied that the PDP was accusing its governors of anti-party activity.

The statement reads: “We note the statement issued by the PDP on the issue of $1 billion approved for the Federal Government from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) for the prosecution of the war against terror.

“We also note the preposterous allegation by the PDP that the real purpose of the said $1 billion was to fund our party’s presidential activities, ahead of 2019. We find this allegation baseless and ridiculous, to say the least.

“The NGF that granted the approval has 11 PDP governors as its members. This means that more than one-third of NGF is made up of members of other parties other than the APC.

“We wonder how the governors who are not members of our party would support the decision to approve funds that were ostensibly meant to fund another party. In essence, the PDP is by this allegation accusing their governors of disloyalty or suggesting that they were bewitched into supporting the decision. It is that ridiculous.

“However, we can understand why it is easy for PDP to arrive at its ludicrous allegation. A similar approval in excess of $2 billion was granted to the PDP government when they were in power. They knew what they did with the money. It is a classic case of a serial killer, who sees even a table knife as a murder weapon.

“The PDP presided over a government that made it possible for money meant for weapons to be diverted into paying marabouts and all manner of political jobbers ahead of the 2015 election.”

The statement added: “Therefore, the PDP thinks the same thing is about to happen. They have not realised that it is a new day and President Muhammadu Buhari will not play politics with money meant to protect the lives of innocent Nigerians or allow anyone to engage in such brigandage that Nigerians suffered under the PDP.

“Another reason that PDP has given for opposing the approval was that the Federal Government has claimed that Boko Haram has been technically defeated. The military authorities have done enough to explain the need for the money. We therefore find no need to repeat the arguments.

“It appears however that the PDP does not understand that winning the peace is as important as winning the war. There is, therefore, no contradiction in saying that Boko Haram is technically defeated and saying that more weapons and training are needed for our military and the military of neighbouring countries whose co-operation is necessary to finally rid our countries of the menace of Boko Haram.”

The APC said: “We conclude by saying that we understand the pressure that the PDP is facing to justify its role as an opposition party, but they need to be reminded that opposition is not the same as opposing everything, including those things that are critical to national interest.

“We welcome PDP to play its part in ensuring that the money or any public money at all is used for the purpose for which it is intended. In this case, they can simply ensure that their 11 governors demand accountability for the money that they have joined in approving.”

But the PDP insisted that the withdrawal remained a ruse.

A statement last night by the spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said no amount of finger-pointing by the APC could justify the “fraudulent” attempt by the Federal Government to withdraw $1billion from the ECA to finance partisan activities, adding that APC’s arguments were diversionary and lame.

The PDP also maintained that the claim by the APC that 11 PDP governors were part of the approval in a meeting superintended and eminently directed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo was merely begging the question. It further underpins the manipulative proclivities of the APC government, it said.

The statement said: “The truth remains that the APC government has been caught in the act and no amount of diversionary finger-pointing will detract from the fact that it tried to use the fight against insurgents as a ruse to secure the money, which they have arranged to spend on extraneous subheads, including partisan activities.

“It is a known fact that under this APC government, monies meant for insurgency related issues in the Northeast had been diverted and that the only reasons the culprits have not been prosecuted is that they enjoy the cover of APC government.”

The PDP said Nigerians were counting the exit day for the APC-led Federal Government and no amount of propaganda will save the ruling party from the doomsday.

December 19, 2017
PDP’s move to reconcile aggrieved Southwest leaders

The Governor Seriake Dickson-led National Reconciliatory Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which was set up to resolve the dispute over the emergence of Prince Uche Secondus as the National Chairman, has been criss-crossing the Southwest. LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the chances of the committee in tackling the post-convention crisis and the chances of the party in the Southwest in 2019.

THE major fallout at the just concluded Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention in Abuja was the displeasure expressed by chieftains of the party from the Southwest that the region has been robbed of the opportunity of producing the national chairmanship position, which went to Prince Uche Secondus from the Southsouth state of Rivers.

The process leading to the convention had been perceived by Southwest PDP leaders as an affront to the Yoruba race. They argued that Secondus should not have come into the race, because the chairmanship had been ‘micro-zoned’ to the Southwest. The aggrieved chieftains buttressed their argument that since the immediate past president came from Southsouth, the region should have waited for other government positions like Speaker of the House of Representatives, if the party manages to triumph in the 2019 elections.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State added salt to injury when he retorted that there was no micro zoning and that the Southwest which had not added political value to the party should not be put in top position. Expectedly, the response drew the ire of party chieftains in the Southwest. One of the national chairmanship aspirants, Chief Bode George, described Wike’s statement as the height of insult against the Yoruba race.

He said: “The Yoruba people have been openly maligned. The Yoruba have been savaged, tormented, treated with contempt, scurried, scoffed at, humiliated and denigrated by little men whose sun will soon set.”

To analysts, with Secodus’ victory, the Southwest has been tactically schemed out of the PDP’s hierarchical structure, thus reducing it to a regional party. They argued that aspirants from the Southwest were deliberately schemed out to give Southsouth undue advantage. One of such analysts, Prince Olakunle Ademoyewa, recalled that when former President Goodluck Jonathan was in office, no Yoruba man was considered qualified to occupy the 20 highest political offices like Senate President, Chief Justice of the Federation, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Speaker House of Representatives etc. He added: “The outcome of the convention is a signal of what is awaiting the Yoruba should the PDP regain power in 2019.”

Ademoyewa said the PDP risks being perceived as a regional party as the major offices are concentrated in two zones. He said the party that is dreaming to regain power in 2019 needs not start the struggle with issues like division and contempt for a particular ethnic group.

In order to placate George and other Southwest PDP leaders, the party has raised a reconciliation committee to assuage the feelings of the aggrieved members. Can the committee succeed in pacifying the region?

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Mr Ife Oyedele, said the frontline Yoruba aspirants for the PDP’s national chairman were deliberately schemed out, because of the role the Southwest played in 2019, which led to the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari. He advised the aspirants and their supporters to read the handwriting on the wall that there is no future for them in the PDP.

Oyedele said: “This should be a wake-up call for our people (the Yoruba) in the PDP to move to the winning party, the APC, where fairness, equity and democratic principles are followed to the letter, under the pragmatic leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. During the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, the Yoruba were grossly marginalised. The Yoruba were simply left out in PDP’s skewed balancing act.

“The same political miscalculation, which cost the PDP the 2015 election, is playing out now in the party. This is an indication that it lacks the discipline and wherewithal to take over power in 2019. The party’s machinery is in the control of a section of the country and a few moneybags still bitter at the role the Southwest played in the defeat of Jonathan in 2015. Our people should not be cajoled by reconciliation moves which cannot reverse the injustice meted out to them.”

Lawyer and human right activist, Mr Monday Ubani, said the reconciliation move is an afterthought that will not yield any positive result. He said the PDP was not truthful to their zoning arrangement. Initially, the position of chairman was zoned to the South-west, but all of a sudden they changed the goal post, by saying the race is open to all zones in the South.

Ubani is very pessimistic about the result of the reconciliation. He said: “I don’t think PDP bigwigs in the Southwest will easily forget how they were schemed out by the power brokers at the convention. The Yorubas came out of the convention virtually with nothing. I don’t think they would be persuaded by the reconciliation overtures after denying them the chairmanship of the party.

“The convention has left the PDP more divided; it has weakened the party. There is no response from the Yoruba PDP leaders to the reconciliation move. The silence means a lot; it is either the aggrieved Yoruba PDP leaders have lost confidence in the PDP as a party or they perceive the reconciliation exercise as a mockery.

“Things are not normal with the PDP anymore. The northern PDP leaders have maintained silence since the end of the convention. Prior to the convention, the PDP leaders in the North had agreed that the position should go to the Southwest and they endorsed Prof. Tunde Adeniran for the job. But, the new power brokers from Southsouth changed that decision. It is not only the Southwest that felt hurt by the outcome of the convention; the North was also offended. How will the PDP get out of this self-inflicted problem is what I don’t know.”

Another civil right activist, Comrade Mashood Erubami, said the move for reconciliation would fail. He said: “Beyond the reconciliation and successful convention they are bragging about, most of them are under intense investigation for fraudulent conversion and acquisitions that are so overwhelming and many of them will not participate in the coming election, as they are likely to be convicted and jailed. Reformation of the PDP that is being used as the basis of their reunion is out of meaning and being misused.”

A youth activist and PDP member from the Southwest, Mr Iyiola Olalere, alleged that Governor Wike deployed a huge sum of money to buy over the delegates against the wish of the party and the northern leaders. He said; “They have murdered sleep and they will sleep no more. They have treated Southwest as inconsequential at the convention; Wike referred to us as a liability, saying that we did not contribute anything the party.

“But now they want to reconcile with us after they have de-robed us in the market square, they want to robe us inside the room. We shall let them know that in Yorubaland we have culture and value. The reconciliation move is medicine after death.

“We will not jump from one party to another; we shall remain in the PDP. Once beaten twice shy. This was how Jonathan’s six years in presidency relegated the Southwest to the background. The highest office the Yoruba got under the Jonathan’s administration was Chief of Staff to the President. Most Yoruba holding top positions in government ministries, departments and agencies were sacked. The outcome of the convention is an eye opener. We have learnt our lessons; we cannot be deceived by desperate politicians. We won’t stop them from coming to hold reconciliatory meeting with us, but we cannot be taken for granted.”

A PDP chieftain, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, disagreed with Olalere. Babatope said though he strongly disagreed with the outcome of the convention but ruled out the Southwest leaders leaving the party. He said: “We have contributed to the party immensely and helped hold the party 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.”

Babatope said Southwest PDP still see Wike, Secondus and others who denied the region the chairmanship slot as friends.

Ubani has ruled out the possibility of PDP winning elections in the Southwest in 2019. He said with the gale of defections from the PDP to the APC, it will be very difficult for the opposition to stop the ruling party. Former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, former Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, and their supporters defected to APC in Ibadan at the weekend.

Ubani said the defections may not be unconnected to the fall out of the convention. “The result of the convention is taking its toll on the popularity of the party and its chances in future election in the region,” he added.

To Erubami, no reasonable Nigerians will support the enthronement of a party that will foist another clueless government on Nigeria again. For the PDP to have been ousted from power, its re-election will once again pave way for misuse of power, misappropriation of budget, diversion of fund allocations for power, education, health facilities and other infrastructural facilities with more money going from the public purse into private pockets, in fact, it will be a reinstatement of spiral corruption per excellence.

He said: “The current efforts of the APC in removing and reorganising some of its policies and replacing them by new and better others will make the PDP irrelevant and given that many of the PDP chieftains are not totally exorcised of corruption and with stronger anti-corruption strategies which will make the people its vanguard, the current efforts of the PDP to come back to power will be an effort in futility.”

Erubami explained that the faults being alarmed as weakness on the part of the APC is amenable to change and could be a source of strength to bring succour to the transient pains being currently experienced by Nigerians. He said: “Unpaid salaries are being reduced drastically except in very few states, exchange rate is falling positively, efforts are on for better employment of the youths and other engaged hands while power supply is becoming better stabilised in all locations of the country with local prices of commodities falling on daily basis.”

Ubani said: “No amount of reconciliation will assuage the feelings of the people of Southwest. Nigerians will prefer the APC to continue its rescue mission, rather than allow the PDP to come and destroy the new foundation being laid by the ruling party. It will be very difficult for the PDP to win election in 2019 because Nigerians have not forgotten the havoc it wreaked on the economy which had resulted in economic hardship that people are still battling with.”

December 19, 2017
PDP has become regional party, says Adesanya

The Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Omo’ba Abayomi Adesanya, has said that the emergence of Chief Uche Secondus as the National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has turned the opposition party into a regional party.

Addressing reporters in Akure, the state capital, he said some powerful forces have hijacked the party structures from its founding fathers, with the help of his allies Secondus, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose for selfish interest.

Adesanya said: “It is on record that the singular action of President Jonathan in the build up to the 2015 general elections to impose himself on the PDP, when he prevailed on the leadership of the party to print only one presidential nomination form solely for himself, was the hammer that finally nail PDP’s coffin.

“The funeral outing took place during the just concluded December 9 convention. The former President disenfranchised other prospective aspirants from exercising their franchise in the 2014 PDP presidential primary. It is obvious to the whole world that PDP lacks internal democracy.

“It is crystal clear to Nigerians that, the “Leopard” of PDP can never change it’s spots. The so-called convention was characterised by high level of impunity, monetisation, corruption, lack of internal democracy, which have become thorns in PDP’s flesh for so long, and have inflicted so much injuries on the body polity during it’s 16 years rule.”

Adesanya said the self-acclaimed largest political party in Africa has ended up in the belly of self-centered political jobbers from the Southsouth and the Southeast.

He added: “The country needs a very formidable and viral opposition political parties for a better political development, but certainly, not the PDP.”

December 19, 2017
PDP: don’t divert attention on $1b ECA withdrawal

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also challenged the Federal Government to address issues on the withdrawal of the $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account.

It accused the federal government of trying raise fund for the partisan activities in 2019.

Spokesman of the PDP Kola Ologbondiyan in a statement said: the government had resorted to making unsubstantiated allegations against the PDP, stressing that this has only reinforced the government’s manipulative tendencies and arrogant spurn to the sensibilities of Nigerians.

The party challenged Minister of Information Lai Mohammed to substantiate his claims that the PDP was rebranding with stolen money.

The statement said, “The Federal Government has failed to address issues raised by the PDP and majority of Nigerians, including APC members, who cannot fathom how this administration would want to expend N365billion on fighting insurgents it claimed had been technically defeated.

“It is indeed appalling that rather than being remorseful, the APC Federal Government has renewed its wild allegations and cheap blackmail against the PDP.

“It is clear to all that the PDP does not have access to public funds and cannot be rebranding with stolen money. Instead, we are rebranding on the grace of the general goodwill of Nigerians who have suffered untold hardships in close to three years of APC government.”

December 18, 2017
Don’t divert attention on $1bn ECA withdrawal, PDP tells FG

The Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) has again challenged the Federal Government to address issues being raised on its decision to withdraw $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account, instead of attempting to divert attention of Nigerians.

Accusing the government of attempts to pilfer the money to finance partisan activities in 2019, the opposition insisted that explanations so far offered by the government reminded untenable.

A statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said the government has rather resorted to making unsubstantiated allegations against the PDP, stressing that this has only reinforced the government’s manipulative tendencies and arrogant spurn to the sensibilities of Nigerians.

The party challenged the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to also substantiate his claims that the PDP was re branding with stolen money.

Mohammed had, in response to questions raised by the opposition on the withdrawal of the money, accused the PDP of re-branding with stolen money.

“Such wild allegation was only intended to divert public attention from the heavy sleazes under the current administration, the latest being the moves to use the fight against terrorism as a conduit to siphon public funds for partisan purposes”, Ologbondiyan said.

The PDP regretted that the government has failed to address questions being asked by Nigerians on the rationale for withdrawing such huge amount of money to fight insurgency it claimed to have technically defeated.

“The Federal Government has failed to address issues raised by the PDP and majority of Nigerians, including APC members, who can not fathom how this administration would want to expend N365bn on fighting insurgents it claimed had been technically defeated.

“It is indeed appalling that rather than being remorseful, the APC Federal Government has renewed its wild allegations and cheap blackmail against the PDP.

“It is clear to all that the PDP does not have access to public funds and cannot be rebranding with stolen money. Instead, we are rebranding on the grace of the general goodwill of Nigerians who have suffered untold hardships in close to three years of APC government.

“While we understand the nervousness of the APC Federal Government over our rebranding and the renewed popularity of the PDP, which has signaled their inevitable death knell, resorting to outlandish allegations will not help them as Nigerians have since seen through such old-fashioned propaganda and gimmicks.

“We are however not surprised by this diversionary and deceptive approach from the APC government; a government whose officials have since become notorious for dishing out falsehood to Nigerians to cover their incompetence and corrupt tendencies.

“This is the same minister of information, who in a press conference in Abuja, in 2016, promoted allegations that 55 people stole a total of N1.34 trillion; that five former governors stole N146.8 billion; that four former ministers stole N7 billion. All these have remained unsubstantiated.

“While we challenge this Government to come clean on the issue of the $1bn Excess Crude money, we also challenge the Minister of Information to comment on allegations that the APC funded its 2015 presidential campaign with stolen public funds, particularly from Lagos and Rivers states.

“He should also waste no time in commenting on allegations of corruption against their former SGF, Babachir Lawal, the Mainagate and other heavy sleazes going on unabated under the current APC-led administration”.

December 17, 2017
PDP right to exult

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a deeply maligned political party, both in office and now in the opposition. It was maligned for all of its 16 years in office, and deeply scorned for the five or so years ex-president Goodluck Jonathan sat on the golden stool. But regardless of the opprobrium in which it is held, and notwithstanding the amperage with which the All Progressives Congress (APC) spokesmen vilify the party, it reserves the right to exult over its just concluded national elective convention. The convention was billed as the gingerly first step in rehabilitating and forgiving itself of the monstrous leadership it offered the country in the past one decade and a half. That first step reassuringly did not miscarry, despite APC spokesmen’s strange conclusions that it was a futile and undramatic first step. The convention went rather well, indeed as the APC chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, acknowledged, with the opposition party now, importantly, producing a new national chairman, Uche Secondus.

Those crying more than the bereaved over the Southwest’s loss of the chairmanship position have spoken of deliberate and orchestrated spite of the Yoruba in the party, including making hoary cultural whispers about a supposed disrespect to former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Their grumblings are misplaced. Not only is the PDP entitled to make its permutations as keenly as their leaders like in terms of the effect on their future electoral chances, there is nothing fundamentally tragic about the Southwest not playing its cards well nor its being schemed out of that important office. The party’s chairmanship has gone to the South-South, its presidential slot is zoned liberally to the North, and its vice presidential ticket is believed by some sources to be allotted to the Southeast. By some estimations, the PDP is thought to have given up on the Southwest. Whether that is a sensible option or not is not immediately clear.

As this column suggested before the convention, the PDP, notwithstanding its fratricidal and sometimes suicidal tendencies, should be encouraged to get its act together and offer a strong opposition to the monarchically inclined APC. While it is necessary to continuously cajole the ruling party into stepping up its game and operating as a strong and democratic party, it is also necessary to coax the opposition party into overcoming the dispiriting existential crisis it has battled with since losing the 2015 polls by a wide margin. In a country where political parties operate in a winner-takes-all environment, it is nevertheless a tall order to counsel losing parties to exercise restraint, and winning parties to celebrate in moderation. And in a country where institutions are not strong, but nearly always easily acquiesce to official dictations, winning becomes an obsession, and losing worse than a tragedy.

It is important to celebrate the PDP’s first tentative step at rehabilitating itself and putting behind it the deserved loss it experienced in 2015. There are indications party leaders themselves see the convention as a fillip to both the party’s reorganisation and revitalisation. The PDP fought a bitter battle to extricate itself from the unrelenting hold of the former interim chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff, a boisterous and implacable former governor, lawmaker and kingmaker. That battle almost ended in a Pyrrhic victory, with the more cerebral rump of the party barely winning by the skin of their teeth. Senator Sheriff is virtually now neutralised in the calculations of the PDP, but the party has managed in the process to acquire a few new demons it must sate in its perilous march towards the next polls.

However, some party leaders see in the party’s first tentative steps more than what neutral analysts are reading into the convention outcome. As if wars are won be evacuations, as former prime minister of Britain, Winston Churchill, disdainfully remarked during World War II, and as if elections are won by one successful convention, PDP leaders are already visualising a return to the presidency just because, by all accounts, they managed to pull off a successful convention. The reality is, however, much more staggering. While it is true that the party’s reconciliation committees will make a success of placating estranged and fractious members and leaders, since many of them really have nowhere to go and are not as peripatetic as the former vice president Atiku Abubakar, some potentially destabilising variables, some human and some operational, have already been surreptitiously introduced into the mix.

In place of a powerful, probably dogmatic and highly opinionated president calling the shots in the party, there are now a number of governors holding the bits and steering the party in various predetermined directions. The party has won a convention battle; it must now have to grapple with the nihilism and mystifying ideologies and worldviews of influential and obviously obtruding governors like Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State. Their views counted in the convention, but those views were not undergirded by stirring principles, coherent ideologies and great moral underpinnings. The party needs them, for they are indomitable fighters, and can give the ruling party blow for blow, and not yield an inch, let alone a yard; but they need to be guided by persons with far more restraint and deeper philosophies than the PDP has been accustomed to in its 16 chequered years.

Far more than a successful convention, however, the party still has two great hurdles to scale in their longing for the throne. One is the all-important need to produce a fitting presidential candidate; and the other is their extremely reluctant desire to atone for their serial misdeeds. It was easy for them to decide on a zoning formula they think would be a countervailing match for the ruling party. The APC, it cannot be gainsaid, will present President Muhammadu Buhari for the 2019 poll. Any show of opposition in the fight for nomination will remain nothing but a show. No one, not even the president himself, has offered any convincing argument as to why he and his aides ostracised his party leaders and bulwarks, but in any case, he has embarked on a rapprochement, and seems willing to bend his reedy and ungainly frame, including his tenuous philosophies, to accommodate his angry party men. He will be successful, not because he is persuasive or eloquent, or even sincere, but because the PDP still remains a poor alternative for the powerful APC men.

The PDP has noisily announced it is expecting significant defections from the APC in droves. It probably anchors that wish on the ruinous defections it suffered in 2014 that crippled their party. But times have changed, and the political environment, not to say a distressed economy, has made it suddenly perilous for anyone but the hardy and reckless to jump ship. Ex-vice president Abubakar is not the typical, calculating politician anyone might wish to emulate. For all his brilliance, accessibility and mentoring spirit, Alhaji Abubakar is first of all a fighter than a schemer, a brutal jouster not averse to biting in the clinches than a fencer adept at delivering daethly thrusts to the aortic valve. The country will in short not witness the kind of defections that hobbled the former ruling party. There will be a few movements here and there, one significant politician already fated to lose, and another fated to self-destruct, moving with their supporters perhaps cheek by jowl to the PDP. But beyond these minor tremors, nothing of any seismic proportion will occur to embarrass the APC led by a president unafraid to deploy the country’s enormous monarchical power to his advantage.

By the middle of 2018, the APC will almost certainly have concluded its campaigns and scheming, way before electing its standard-bearer or affirming his coronation. The PDP on the other hand will struggle to find an acceptable candidate, even if they fearfully cede that responsibility to the meddlesome Chief Obasanjo who is already so flattered that he is anxious to lend a helping hand. Would it be Alhaji Abubakar, the stoical ex-vice president, or Ahmed Makarfi, former Kaduna State governor? Would a choice between the two not be playing too safe when they should really be seeking ways to cut the Gordian knot and look for a bright, charismatic and visionary young politician? Despite the seeming impact of progressives in Nigerian politics, particularly taking into consideration their noise and braggadocio, Nigerian politics is at bottom conservative and even reactionary. The APC knew this, and did not wince at producing the conservative Buhari, even if it meant embalming the rubric of their ideology. The PDP knows this as well, and may be disinclined from experimenting with the revolutionary breaking of the mould necessary to take the country by storm.

Second, the opposition party needs to atone for its 16 years of ruinous politics. They have said little about this so far, and are unlikely to say anything even if they privately contemplate it. To come to terms with the disaster they created is to them, it seems, an acknowledgement of guilt, and, worse, incompetence. They will be loth to make any gesture in that direction. So far, they have equated their own dismal performance with the APC’s lacklustre governance. Incompetence, not to say savagery in governance and defilement of the constitution, is obviously not the exclusive preserve of the PDP. But whether taking consolation in the general spread of incompetence is a wise option, when the APC argues persuasively that it is bogged down undoing 16 years of PDP’s orchestrated damage, is a different thing altogether.

For now, however, the PDP can only hope that when the APC finally holds its belated convention in the first quarter of next year, it will make very heavy weather of it. It will also hope that the defections to be engendered by disagreements flowing from the convention will be of such magnitude that the PDP could profit from them. And finally, the opposition party will also hope that by organising a successful elective convention after many months of bitter wrangling, it can take that goodwill and momentum to the far bigger and more salient issue of persuading the electorate to give it a second chance.

December 17, 2017