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Tag: PDP

  • ‘Fayose working against Yoruba interest in PDP’

    ‘Fayose working against Yoruba interest in PDP’

    A group within the Southwest Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Oduduwa PDP United Front, has accused Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose of working against the interest of the Yoruba to clinch the PDP national chairmanship.

    A statement by the group’s chairman, Chief Babatunde Adesanya, said: “When, early this year, he went to town with all colour and noise announcing himself as a presidential aspirant, despite the fact that the position had been zoned to the North, many laughed at his action.

    “But not so. Fayose obviously harbours some grim delusions of grandeur. He wants to be Vice President.

    “He has now openly declared that he does not want the chairmanship position to be zoned to the Southwest.”

    The group added: “Fayose should know that he is positioning himself in perpetual historic damnation and utter perfidy, should he conspire against his own people and snatch the chairmanship position from us.”

    The statement urged Fayose to come back home “and align with the sons and daughters of Oduduwa”.

  • Hyat to KDSG: Sacking 22,000 teachers will create chaos in educational system

    Hyat to KDSG: Sacking 22,000 teachers will create chaos in educational system

    Mr Hassan Hyat, former aviation minister and PDP Chairman in Kaduna State, has cautioned the Kaduna government against sacking 22,000 primary school teachers said to have failed a competence test.

    “Sacking 22,000 teachers in one swoop will create chaos in the entire educational system of the state; government’s insistence on doing that is wrong-headed,” Hyat told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Jos.

    NAN reports that the state government has begun the recruitment of 25,000 teachers to replace 22,000 others that failed a competence test it carried out recently.

    Gov. Nasir El-Rufai has declared that the decision to sack them was based on government’s commitment to entrenching quality, arguing that most of those in the system were not competent and lacked basic teaching requirements.

    But Hyat, who declared government’s position as “brash and too hasty”, said that government had no moral right to sack teachers it had never trained to improve their quality.

    “Teachers require constant training and retraining to meet rising and changing demands, but there is no record to show that Kaduna State primary school teachers were ever trained.

    “A lot of them have not been promoted for decades, while some do not receive salaries regularly. That has affected morale and should worry government. Sacking them will further destroy an already bad system,” he said.

    Hyat also faulted the process through which the competence test was conducted.

    Read Also: NUT warns El-Rufai not to sack teachers

    “The integrity of the process is still being questioned. Some people have suggested that government officials that conducted the test may have been instructed on what to do.

    “I feel that the exercise would have been more credible if it was conducted by the National Teachers Institute (NTI) and supervised by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), to ensure fairness to the teachers,” he said.

    The PDP chairman said that government should have taken advantage of the presence of NTI in Kaduna to train teachers found to be incompetent, so as to improve their capacities.

    “Those said to be incompetent should be trained and not sacked because the new ones being recruited are products of those being sacked.

    “Government should have carried out a thorough assessment to determine the kind of training required by each teacher.

    “Efforts should have also been made to help those with deficiencies because there is provision for such in-service courses during holidays. A massive sack of teachers will create a huge imbalance in the system,” he opined.

    The former minister also advised government to investigate the allegations that names of dead and retired teachers were included in the list of those said to have passed the test.

    “The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has said that retired and dead teachers, as well as messengers and security personnel were among those that passed the teachers’ test.

    “Government should dig into that allegation because the NUT mentioned names of specific schools in Zaria and Igabi. Government should investigate further to ascertain the truth so as not to ridicule itself,” he said.

    Read: We will continue to support govt’s efforts at strengthening education – Kaduna Assembly

  • PDP and APC’s presidential endorsements

    PDP and APC’s presidential endorsements

    When two Tuesdays ago the power elite of the All Progressives Congress (APC) all but endorsed the unstated second term ambition of President Muhammadu Buhari, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were put in a quandary about the course and content of their own presidential ambition. The APC’s position did not come as a surprise, despite doubts about the unanimity of that hurried and ambiguous endorsement. This column, like many other analysts, had suggested that the president would be almost unanimously endorsed at the right time, but only after a perfunctory show of opposition within the party. Alas, the column exaggerated the political ethics of the ruling party, and set great store by its ability to adhere to due process. After a short propaganda blitz and a hastily conducted presidential charm offensive barely lasting a week or two, APC governors and party hierarchs have seemed to reconcile themselves to the president’s second term ambition.

    But it is not the APC’s depressing approach to politics that should concern anyone today; the paramount national concern should be the response of the dithering PDP. Until the APC gets its fingers burnt, the party is unlikely to learn the right lessons about internal party democracy devoid of subterranean influence peddling and muscling. On the other hand, having got its fingers seared, if not completely cut off, by its serial misapplication and abuse of the constitution and the rule of law over 16 years of formidable display of power and egregious blunders, the PDP should not need a reminder how not to play politics or take the electorate for granted. The APC is hard of hearing; the next few weeks, and its reading of and reaction to the APC’s abrasive moves, will determine whether the PDP’s decade-long deafness has been mitigated by its two-year despondency out of power.

    The PDP is in a desperate position. It did not expect the socially awkward and politically inflexible President Buhari to moderate his rigidity and begin to court alienated party faithful. But flattered by his attention and puzzled by his newfound gentility, the ruling party has begun to warm up enthusiastically to the president. The PDP had counted on the seething discontent within the ruling party to unleash a massive and steady stream of exiles to help the opposition assemble a corps of cantankerous, formidable and goal-oriented party activists. Unfortunately, that stream is now unlikely to be activated, at least not on the scale and angles counted upon by PDP leaders when they began to frolic with their Euclidean axioms early this year. Then they also hoped that either his health or the economy would be immune to all the palliatives known to man or to any government. Instead, and as if by a celestial conspiracy, both the economy and the president’s health have responded quite well to every shot administered in their arms.

    Now at a crossroads, the PDP appears to be contemplating very limited options in responding to the APC’s brusque and early presidential choice. For, undoubtedly, except the earth shifts from its orbit, President Buhari will before the end of next year be anointed as the ruling party’s presidential candidate. As this column suggested some two weeks ago, there would be no one of courage or charisma in the party able to successfully unhorse the president, nor to even oppose him with the troubling effervescence and pluckiness expected of a vibrant party. So, the PDP must now somehow find the Achilles’ heel of a ruling party so steeped in the martial classics of politics that it has managed, at the risk of slow and ungainly movement — even no movement at all — to cover that heel with impenetrable armour.

    The pressure on the PDP is inordinate. It had expected that true to his amorphous political ethics the president would resist playing presidential politics, not to say covet the party’s anointing, before the middle of next year. Instead, the wily but sometimes underestimated Presidential Buhari has stolen the PDP’s thunder by kick-starting presidential politics early in the day and presenting his party with a fait accompli. Their instincts tell them that the APC will engage in the democratic pirouettes of nominations and primaries, but they also know that the outcome is as certain as it is incontestable. They know, this time by common sense rather than instincts, that they must produce their own deus ex machina to counter the terrifying advantages of the ruling party, advantages accentuated by a president who is neither queasy about using or even misusing his powers, nor weighed down by the philosophical considerations that pervade and fetter the application of democracy and the rule of law.

    The PDP will, therefore, likely rest its response and challenge to the APC on two major planks: encourage rebellion in the ruling party; and seek a unanimous and countervailing candidate of their own. The planks may be inadequate, but the opposition will hope they work, for the party is painfully short of sensible and practical options. Fortunately for the PDP, the APC has really never looked like a political party, either in theory or practice, operation or in inspiration. It has seemed more often like a clumsy menagerie of grumbling and quarrelsome individuals bonded together by the single and feral desire to corner power and influence. Moments after they took office, they turned on one another and began tearing themselves to pieces. And for more than two years, they have neither administered their party like a political association with a common purpose and ideology nor infused their government, the society and the economy with the change ethos they lavishly and furiously sang about before the polls.

    But whether the rebellious within the APC will break out in open rebellion is not quite clear. They will of course not mind the encouragement from the PDP, and will appreciate the prophecies of their kept seers nudging them on to navigate the treacherous rapids and tangled skein of Nigerian politics. However, given the extreme caution associated with many top Nigerian politicians, they will wonder whether it makes any sense to stare down the barrel of a gun in the hands of a former army general who is not afraid to use weapons, indeed who exhibits a brutal delight in using them. Their past knowledge of staring down the barrel of a gun in the hands of the more democratic but less resolute ex-president Goodluck Jonathan will be of no use.

    For instance, it is widely speculated, though without concrete proof, that both Senate President Bukola Saraki and ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar are aggrieved and not too disinclined from leaving the ruling party. Assuming analysts can defend the illogic of these top APC politicians leaving certainty for uncertainty, they must still try to rationalise why Dr Saraki would jeopardise his plum legislative office in the light of what former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, endured when he defected from the former ruling party in October 2014. If he remains in the APC, Alhaji Atiku will certainly not get the party’s presidential ticket for the 2019 poll; but he is at least still respected in the party, and all the battles against him and his economic and political interests appear to be fought with pulled punches. Should he defect, particularly to the PDP, and assuming he does not get dizzy from his Tarzan-like leaps and foraging between political parties which he has mastered over the years, there is still no proof he will be offered the presidential ticket. Indeed, it is hugely unlikely.

    It will in fact take a major turn for the worse in the APC, including a complete abandonment of the unconvincing rapprochement embarked upon by President Buhari, to provoke the kind of exodus being read into the politics and manoeuvres of both Dr Saraki and the former vice president. There are many disgruntled politicians and leaders waiting in the wings in the APC, poised to take a fateful leap in the dark. But after suffering in silence for so long, and after being half-heartedly courted by the president’s  yes-men, the disaffected APC politicians may be in no mood for further punishment and ostracism. They may be tempted to stay put in the party and push and jostle for either influence or position. Their options are sadly severely limited.

    As for their plan to counter the APC’s political fluidity by seeking a less acrimonious primary to elect their standard-bearer, they face even far worse options and outcomes. With their chances of emerging as the presidential candidate on the APC platform eliminated by the president’s physical and political rejuvenation, aspirants within the ruling party will likely swallow hard and keep their peace. But with the same presidential chances wide open within the PDP, it is hard to see the candidature fight waged with pizzicato calm. They will fight like big cats, and they will fight bitterly and possibly to the death. Before the middle of next year, anyone in the APC who still harbours presidential ambition, and who cannot wait till 2023, will have defected. They will carry with them the same maddening urgency that drove them away from the ruling party.

    There is a third plank the PDP has obstinately refused to consider, and it is a plank without which any other plank or calculation is bound to miscarry. What the PDP really needs to do is not to scheme so frenetically and desperately for the presidency as it is doing, but to thoroughly reform itself, rejig its ideological and existential platforms, atone for its malodorous politics and unethical financial shenanigans which nearly bankrupted the country, and discover brilliant, charismatic and untainted politicians whom it must forcefully thrust forward as a breath of fresh air. Instead, as the battle for the party’s national chairman position indicates, the old and tainted politicians of decades past still have the party by the jugular and are unwilling to loosen their hold on the party. President Buhari and his APC can be beaten fair and square, and should in fact be made to sweat for every stray vote likely to come their way in 2019. But until the PDP comes to terms with its dismal and enervating past, a past filled with unpleasant and inconsequential achievements and dark forebodings, it is hard to see them beating something with nothing.

    The consolation to the PDP, as hated as it appears to be, is that the APC is merely a half, if not less, of that mythical ‘something’ on account of the many policy and appointment miscarriages enacted by the Buhari presidency. If the PDP can take and use nearly all the remedial steps suggested to it, and in addition make an issue out of President Buhari’s inability to run an inclusive government or propound inclusive ideas and policies for all parts of the country, there is a chance they might make political hay. After all, the president is only now acknowledging, albeit very grudgingly, that he would be minded to take a second look at his lopsided appointments, visit the Southeast which he had all but ostracised as a secessionist enclave, and encourage those who see him as a sectional, sectarian leader to look closely and dispassionately again. There is in fact enough issues for a revitalised and sanitised PDP to successfully campaign on, if it can summon the discipline and thinking.

    Every patriot must encourage the PDP to do what is right, clean up its act, and offer the country a sound and vigorous opposition as well as cobble together a great and uplifting political alternative to guarantee and defend democracy and the rule of law. The Buhari presidency has been run with messianic fervour as though it is a theocracy that brooks no opposition, and his ministers and aides have spoken in the most appalling and caste-like pejoratives about the PDP especially. Unlike his aides, however, the president seems to have met his epiphanic moments in both his dreams of a second term and his uncharacteristic overtures to politicians he had previously disdained. If the PDP is not to come to grief in 2019, if they are not to futilely hope that the APC would implode and hand the presidency over to them on a platter, then it is important they seek out their own moments of self-discovery, at least sometime early next year, where the future is transfigured before them, not in the spooky silhouettes their mediocrity has accustomed them to view life and interpret politics, but in the transcendental images their founding fathers, particularly the G-34, were enamoured of and had envisioned for them.

     

     

     

     

  • Three injured as APC, PDP supporters clash in Bayelsa

    Three injured as APC, PDP supporters clash in Bayelsa

    Three persons were at the weekend injured in Twon Brass, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State following a bloody clash between supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the area.

    It was gathered that guns, cutlasses and other weapons were used in the free-for-all that unsettled the council.

    Persons involved in the violence were said to be loyalists of the APC House of Assembly member, Israel Sunny-Igoli and the newly- appointed Caretaker Committee Chairman of Brass, Victor Isaiah.

    It was learnt a decision of the council to impose curfew in the area to address the problems of insecurity triggered the violence.

    The decision to impose curfew and stop suspicious gatherings of youths was said to have angered APC members, who perceived it as a deliberate attempt by Isaiah to frustrate a Christian programme organised and sponsored by Sunny-Igoli.

    A source claimed trouble started when Isaiah stormed the area in the company of armed security operatives and some youths.

    ýSunny-Igoli, the only APC member in the House, described the incident as an attempt by Isaiah to intimidate the people of the area.

    But it was gathered that Sunny-Igoli and Isaiah, were immediately summoned for an emergency meeting by the Commissioner of Police, Asuquo Amba.

    The council chairman, Isaiah, said five of Sunny-Goli’s men involved in the brazen assault on the community had been arrested by police for illegal possession of five rifles.

    He alleged Sunny-Goli violated the curfew and later claimed he was not consulted before the decision was taken.

    He claimed while he narrowly escaped the attack, five of his aides were not lucky as they received machete injuries.

    He added that the injured were receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital.

    Isaiah called for the cooperation of security chiefs to restore law and order in the island.

    Confirming the violence, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Asinim Butswatý, said a detachment of armed policemen has been sent to restore peace in the troubled area.

    Butswat confirmed Amba met with the lawmaker and the council boss to douse tension in the council.

    Others present at the meeting held at the Police Commissioner’s office were the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, ýChief Bomo Sparrow-Jack; the Deputy Police Commissioners on Operations, Administration and Investigations and the Chairman of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC),Central Zone,  Tari Porri.

    Butswat said: “The meeting was fruitful and all parties agreed to go and discuss with their supporters in Brass LGA.

    “The Police Command has also deployed detachment of armed Mobile Policemen to the area.”

  • PDP: Fresh worries as factions return in states

    PDP: Fresh worries as factions return in states

    Aftermath of the recent congresses in some states confirm return of factionalisation in many state chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan

    THE crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken a fresh dimension as the party’s chapters in many states have returned to the inglorious era of fictionalisation following the controversies that trailed last week’s congresses to elected new leadership for the party at the state level. In most of the seven states where elections held, the congresses returned factional leaders for the embattled opposition party.

    The party, which is preparing for its elective National Convention, where a new national leadership is expected to emerge and replace the current Caretaker Committee, held congresses to elect State Executive Committee members penultimate Saturday. But following the state congresses, many of the state chapters now have at least two factional Executive Committees laying claim to the leadership of the party in such states.

    Determined to end the leadership tussles within the chapters in the affected states, Senator Makarfi had, following his pronouncement as the authentic leader of the party by the Supreme Court, ordered the dissolution of the executives at the ward, local government and the state levels and appointed caretaker committees that were to conduct fresh congresses within three months.

    While the national leadership kept its promise by urging the Caretaker Committee to conduct elections as promised and promptly released a timetable for the ward, local government and the state congresses, the outcome of the processes in the affected states is a far cry from Makarfi’s expectation. According to a reliable party source, the former Kaduna State governor is hugely displeased by the renewed leadership crisis in some of the states.

    “It is unfortunate that the PDP, which is struggling to reposition itself ahead of the 2019 General Election, is being dragged into a new round of leadership tussle by selfish politicians. The National Chairman, Senator Makarfi, who has made a lot of personal sacrifices to see that PDP ends all forms of crises, is hugely unhappy with the development in Ogun, Adamawa, Oyo and other states.

    “Following the decision of the national leadership to have new congresses in these states, we expected our leaders in these states to be selfless and put the interest of the party over and above all forms of personal and group interests. But it appears this wasn’t the case. What we have on our hands now are factions in states where energy, money and other resources were deployed last weekend in search of unity and peace,” he said.

    Meanwhile, The Nation gathered that the leadership of the party is determined to nail the renewed crises in the bud before they spread to other states. According to party sources, there is specific fear that the fictionalisation of the party in Ogun and Oyo state poses a serious threat to the unity of the party in the South-West where one of the gladiators in Ogun State, Senator Buruji Kashamu, is a self-declared zonal leader of PDP.

    “As a political party that has learnt a lot from its past mistakes, we are not taking the developments in these states lightly. We are not unmindful of the possible effect of these on the zones as well as other states. In the South-West for example, we are worried that the renewed leadership tussle in Ogun State can further divide the PDP in the entire zone. Nobody can ignore Senator Buruji Kashamu or former Governor Gbenga Daniel in the South-West,” he explained.

    The Nation learnt that at a meeting at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja during the week, leaders and chieftains of the party from across the country expressed concern over the development and called for urgent actions from the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee so as to prevent the situation from further degenerating.

    “The leadership of the party understands the danger posed by these developments and is making prompt arrangements to ensure that things do not get out of hand. We are preparing for our national convention and so, we cannot allow any form of renewed intra party crisis to dampen the fast soaring morale of our teeming party members across the country. These developments will be addressed promptly,” an aide of the National Chairman of the party said.

    Renewed confusion

    In spite of a court order restraining it; the congress in Ogun State, which was conducted by officials of the PDP National Caretaker Committee and monitored by men of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), held. The chairman of the state congress committee, Eddie Olafeso, chaired the exercise which went without hitches.

    A total of 31 leaders were elected as the new state executive committee members with Mr. Sikirulai Ogundele emerging as the chairman. Ogundele, who addressed newsmen after the exercise, commended the organisers for the peaceful conduct, saying that it was devoid of rancour. He gave assurance that he would run an open administration and reach out to all aggrieved members of the party to reunite and strengthen PDP in Ogun.

    Speaking at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, venue of the congress, Ogundele said “I wish to thank the Almighty God that has made it possible for us to have a very successful state congress. My emergence, no doubt will bring all aggrieved members with one grouse or the other back to the party and I see this congress putting an end to the problems of PDP in Ogun.”

    However, hardly had the new executive committee moved into the state secretariat after their election that Bolaji Adeniji, spokesman of the Bayo Dayo-led factional executive, loyal to Senator Kashamu, described the election of Ogundele and others as an act of impunity of the highest order. He promised that the Ogundele-led executive would be dislodged from the secretariat in a matter of hours.

    According to him, there is still a subsisting Federal High Court order of 2016, which gives the Bayo Dayo-led group a four-year tenure, stating that the Kashamu-backed executive would remain in office till 2020. And true to his words, the newly elected state executive committee members were ordered out of the secretariat same day by men of the Nigerian Police while the Bayo-Dayo faction took control of the building.

    Adeniji contended that the Ogundele-led executive, as a product of an illegal congress, cannot enjoy the support and loyalty of the members of the PDP in the state. According to him, a magistrate court had ordered that the congress should not take place. He described the earlier takeover of the secretariat from the Bayo Dayo-led executive as “an invasion by a dissident group in the Ogun PDP”.

    Similarly, the Adamawa chapter of the PDP conducted its State Congress to elect new executives penultimate Saturday and Tahir Shehu emerged as the new chairman, while Alhaji Abdullahi Prambe emerged the Secretary. Others elected are Alhaji Hamza Bello as Organising Secretary, Altine Inuwa as Women Leader and Sam Zadock as the Publicity Secretary.

    Speaking after taking the oath of office, Shehu thanked the party delegates for electing him and extended the hand of fellowship to all members. He promised a renewed move to reclaim the state and federal governments for the PDP. The new party chairman said he and the other new executive committee members will work hard to reposition the party in the state.

    “Today we have conducted our state congress and you have graciously elected me and my colleagues to lead the party for the next four years. We wish to assure you that we shall not betray your trust. Be rest assured that we shall abide by the constitution of our great party and also allow for level playing ground for every bonafide member,” Shehu said.

    But a faction of the party has rejected the new leadership and vowed to conduct a fresh congress if the national leadership of the PDP fails to cancel the congress and order a fresh one. Prominent leaders of the party in the state alleged that the election of the Tahir Shehu-led executive committee was manipulated from outside the party to favour the interest of some few persons.

    A former Special Assistant to Vice President Atiku Abubakar and a chieftain of the party, Dr. Umar Ardo, while submitting a petition to Adamawa State PDP Congress Appeal Panel in Abuja, said the new executive committee is unacceptable to the majority of the members of the party in these state. He pointedly accused Atiku Abubakar, who is currently a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of manipulating the emergence of Shehu and others.

    “The congress was nothing but a lackluster contraption that has no standard rules and guidelines, no judicial legitimacy and is an utter disgrace to the PDP. It is an open secret that the members of the caretaker committee connived and simply sat down and distributed the party offices amongst themselves. I have just told you that he (Atiku) called me to say that I should make sure certain persons get these positions.

    “No election took place in Toungo, Ganye Mayo Belwa, Demsa, Numan, Shelleng, Yola North, Yola South, Mubi South, Michika and Madagali local government areas. Caretaker Committee members representing these local government areas simply sat in their rooms and drew up their lists and submitted as elected executive and were admitted,” he claimed.

    Two PDP chieftains, Jacob Ayetoro and Omokunmi Mustapha, on Saturday, emerged as factional state chairmen of the PDP in Oyo State from the two parallel congresses held in Ibadan. This was after leaders of the two factions of the party in the state met for several hours in an effort to hold single congress to produce state executive officers. Following their inability to agree on the modalities for a unified congress, the two factions later opted for separate congresses.

    The faction that has former House of Representatives leader, Mulikat Adeola Akande, former Senate Deputy Whip, Senator Hosea Agboola and ex-governorship candidate, Seyi Makinde, as leaders, held its congress at Baptist Secondary School, Oke Ado, where Jacob Adetoro was elected as the State PDP Chairman, Segun Ogunlade, as the Vice Chairman and Wasiu Adeleke became the State Secretary of the party.

  • PDP, APC need rejuvenation for Nigeria’s democracy to be strong — Obasanjo

    PDP, APC need rejuvenation for Nigeria’s democracy to be strong — Obasanjo

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says both the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) need to be rejuvenated for Nigeria’s democracy to be strong.

    Obasanjo made the observation when he received one of the PDP national chairmanship aspirants, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, on Saturday in Abeokuta.

    The former president remarked that both the ruling and opposition parties need to be strengthened for the country’s democracy to be salient and strong.

    “I have also said that the two parties that are there, the one in government and the one in opposition are both wobbling parties.

    “I still believe that the two wobbling parties can still be made strong. They can,’’ Obasanjo said.

    He re-emphasised that he was no longer interested in partisan politics in Nigeria.

    He said that he left PDP when he discovered that the party had been destroyed beyond what he could be associated with at that point.

    Obasanjo said there was no reason PDP should not have ruled Nigeria for 50 years as believed by some people, but that the party caused its own problem.

    “That has happened in some other countries like Germany, where a party runs the affairs of the county for decades, but of course, that is not the history in our own case.’’

    Obasanjo said that those who destroyed the PDP were still in it and that they would not leave until the running of the party was taken over by determined, selfless, upright, and honest people.

    “If we are just saying PDP has a crisis, which is self-made and that the Supreme Court had resolved the crisis for us, we are just deceiving ourselves.

    “The Supreme Court has taken a right decision as an apex court should, but as a party, only that cannot help you to do it all.’’

    He prayed for PDP to get its national convention right, saying the chairmanship of the party was very important.

    “I had four PDP chairmen under in eight years.

    “So, I know what it takes to have a good or bad chairman for a party,’’ Obasanjo said.

    He advised Dokpesi to use his media assets well for the interest of the country to avoid and correct past mistakes.

    Obasanjo, who said that he and some other Nigerians work hard for the success of the party and the county, advised PDP to manage its success.

    Speaking earlier, Dokpesi, the founders of Daar Communications, said he was in Abeokuta to seek the prayer and blessings of Obasanjo in his ambition of becoming PDP national chairman.

    He said that anyone aspiring to be national chairman of a political party must consult with the former president.

    “I am much aware that you are not interested in patrician politics but you are the father of the nation.

    “You are much committed to the unity, stability and continue the existence of this country.

    “You have dedicated all your life to the building of this country.

    “Therefore, anything that is good for this country is a matter of interest to you,’’ Dokpesi said.

    He said that PDP would continue to plead for the forgiveness of Obasanjo for its trespasses and transgressions.

    Dokpesi stressed the need for both the ruling and opposition parties to be strong “even as 2019 is fast approaching’’.

    He was accompanied to Abeokuta by Sen. Yisa Braimoh and PDP governorship aspirant in Delta State, Dr Esther Uduehi. (NAN)

  • Ogun 2019: Daniel’s aide, 50 others leave PDP for APC

    Ogun 2019: Daniel’s aide, 50 others leave PDP for APC

    Ahead of the 2019 general elections in Ogun State, former Special Adviser to ex – Governor  Gbenga Daniel, on Youth and Sports, Raheem Ajayi has left the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP ) for the ruling All Progressives Congress,  APC
    50 other PDP leaders and members also joined him in defecting to APC
    Ajayi popularly referred to as Baglo, said he and others had elected to team up with the APC following the party’s resolve to field an Ogun West man in the 2019 gubernatorial election.
    They were received into the party by Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Chief Tolu Odebiyi and Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Suraj Adekumbi, at an elaborate event at the Imasayi wards of the defectors in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State last Friday.
     Ajayi who lamented that no Yewa – Awori person has been elected Governor of the state since its creation, 42 Years ago, said it’s reassuring that APC is determined to help the zone break the jinx in 2019.
    “My primary aim of getting involved in political process especially in Ogun State is to better the lots of my people. Part of which is getting one of us, a Yewa-Awori man elected the Governor of the State.
    “The Party that that has assured us of that is the APC, especially when my former party has demonstrated otherwise.
      ”It has become not only expedient but  imperative  at this very critical time of our life  as a people to support such a party which will make our 42 year political struggle a reality.
    “Since the creation of our dear state, no one from Ogun West has been elected Governor whereas  Ogun East and Central have produced two Governors each at different times. APC has decided to zone the governorship slot to Ogun west, that’s why I am joining the party,” Ajayi said.
    He hailed Amosun for his achievements, saying the Governor had redefined governance in Ogun State as well as open support for the actualization of Ogun West 2019 governorship agenda.
    ”It is glaringly obvious for everyone the success recorded in the state under the administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun. He has redefined governance in our dear state.
    “He has turned the state around in terms of legacy  infrastructures, security of lives and properties and attraction of massive investments,” Ajayi said.
    Also speaking, one of the leaders  and a front line Second Republic Councillor, Chief TS Akinleye, lauded Amosun for the declaration of support for Yewa – Awori in 2019.
    Chief Akinleye also added that they will support the candidate of the party as long as the person is from Ogun West.
    In welcoming the new members, the Speaker Adekunbi noted that he was happy that Ajayi, a former student leader, was teaming up with APC to make Ogun West Governor a reality.
     Chief of staff to the Governor, described the coming of Raheem Ajayi to APC as a proof that ‘Ogun west is going to the 2019 race with a united house’
  • Ogun 2019: Daniel’s aide, 50 others leave PDP for APC

    Ogun 2019: Daniel’s aide, 50 others leave PDP for APC

    Ahead of the 2019 general elections in Ogun State, former Special Adviser to ex – Governor Gbenga Daniel, on Youth and Sports, Raheem Ajayi has left the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Also joined in defecting to APC were 50 other PDP leaders and members.

    Ajayi popularly referred to as Baglo, said he and others had elected to team up with the APC following the party’s resolve to field an Ogun West man in the 2019 gubernatorial election.

    They were received into the party by Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Chief Tolu Odebiyi and Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Suraj Adekumbi, in an elaborate event at the Imasayi wards of the defectors in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State last Friday.

    Ajayi who lamented that no Yewa – Awori person has been elected Governor of the state since its creation, 42 Years ago, said it’s reassuring that APC is determined to help the zone break the jinx in 2019.

    “My primary aim of getting involved in political process especially in Ogun State is to better the lots of my people. Part of which is getting one of us, a Yewa-Awori man elected the Governor of the State.

    “The Party that that has assured us of that is the APC, especially when my former party has demonstrated otherwise.

    ”It has become not only expedient but imperative at this very critical time of our life as a people to support such a party which will make our 42 year political struggle a reality.
    “Since the creation of our dear state, no one from Ogun West has been elected Governor whereas Ogun East and Central have produced two Governors each at different times. APC has decided to zone the governorship slot to Ogun west, that’s why I am joining the party,” Ajayi said.

    He hailed Amosun for his achievements, saying the Governor had redefined governance in Ogun State as well as open support for the actualization of Ogun West 2019 governorship agenda.

    ”It is glaringly obvious for everyone the success recorded in the state under the administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun. He has redefined governance in our dear state.

    “He has turned the state around in terms of legacy infrastructures, security of lives and properties and attraction of massive investments,” Ajayi said.

    Also speaking, one of the leaders and a front line Second Republic Councillor, Chief TS Akinleye, lauded Amosun for the declaration of support for Yewa – Awori in 2019.

    Chief Akinleye also added that they will support the candidate of the party as long as the person is from Ogun West.

    In welcoming the new members, the Speaker Adekunbi noted that he was happy that Ajayi, a former student leader, was teaming up with APC to make Ogun West Governor a reality.

    Also the Chief of staff to the Governor, Chief Odebiyi described the coming of Raheem Ajayi to APC as a proof that ‘Ogun west is going to the 2019 race with a united house’

  • Chairmanship: PDP in dilemma over aspirants on trial

    Chairmanship: PDP in dilemma over aspirants on trial

    Ahead of the December 9 National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), some key leaders of the party met yesterday to weigh the options on four chairmanship aspirants who have cases with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The leaders, which include some ex-governors, members of the Board of Trustees, ex-ministers, and state chairmen, were concerned that any national chairman with corruption case pending before a court or the anti-graft agency could be distracted from providing vibrant leadership.

    They were considering whether or not to prevail on delegates to go for “candidates without investigative issues.”

    They resolved last night to prevail on PDP leaders, governors and delegates to go for a “less controversial figure” like the All Progressives Congress (APC) did when it voted for Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

    The aspirants with challenges are ex-Governor Gbenga Daniel; High Chief Raymond Dokpesi; Sen. Rashidi Ladoja and Prince Uche Secondus.

    Two of the aspirants are presently on trial for alleged stealing of public funds, bribery, fraudulent conversion of public property and false declaration of assets; another was arraigned in connection with $2 billion arms cash from the Office of the National security Adviser while one is still under probe for allegedly receiving 23 choice vehicles from a business associate of ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

    A top source at the session, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said: “The party has a dilemma at hand. Four of our good aspirants who can lead the party are having corruption-related cases in court or with EFCC.

    “As a matter of fact, three of them have been arraigned in court. The fourth leader was detained by EFCC over how oil receipts were diverted to the purchase of 23 vehicles for him.

    “A business associate of ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who operates a private upstream oil and gas company, confirmed that the accruable revenue was used to buy the said vehicles.

    “The fraud was uncovered in the course of going through the Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) with the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).

    “We met to weigh the options because all these cases will certainly divert the attention of any of them from the core duties of coordinating the party.

    “Some of the aspirants dismissed the corruption allegations as non-issues but the party will not be happy to see its chairman either going to jail or remanded in prison.

    “We felt in politics, we must put all factors into consideration. But the aspirants are determined to take the risk because they have not been convicted.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “Our leaders are of the opinion that the reputation of the party is greater than that of any party leader or aspirant.

    “The alternative is to go for any underdog with less issue. He who comes to equity must do so with clean hands. This is the time for frank talks. It is left for our governors and other organs of the party to buy into this option or not. We know that APC is waiting in the wing for our option.”

    Meanwhile, one of the aspirants, Prince Uche Secondus (who is a former Deputy National Chairman) yesterday said nobody was out to impose him as the national chairman of PDP.

    Secondus made the clarifications in a statement through Taiye Garrick from his campaign organisation.

    He said rather than wait for any group endorsements, he has been “campaigning day and night across the six zones, selling our redemption messages to PDP delegates.”

    The statement said: “Our attention has been drawn to news reports alleging clandestine moves by some powerful forces to impose Prince Uche Secondus as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.

    “We want to categorically declare that there is no iota of truth in the reports. Our candidacy depends on endorsement and votes of delegates at the forthcoming national convention.

    “We want Nigerians and members of the party to note that the position of National Chairman was zoned to the Southern region comprising of three zones. Prince Secondus has every legitimate and legal rights to aspire for the office of National Chairman.

    “We also want to put on records that since launching his ambition, Prince Secondus has been reaching out to delegates across the 36 states, seeking their votes and presenting his agenda for revival of the party ahead of 2019.

    “Throughout this period, no member of Board of Trustees has openly endorsed him as they have done for some other candidates.

    “No state governor has openly endorsed him so far even though some aspirants claimed support of some governors. Where then is the plot to impose Secondus?

    “Just recently, some members of Board of Trustees openly endorsed some aspirants. The Secondus Campaign Organisation did not raise any eyebrow.”

    Secondus said he has not been banking on endorsements.

    The statement added: “Rather than wait for any group endorsements, we have been campaigning day and night across the six zones, selling our redemption messages to PDP delegates.

    “We urge all aspirants to get ready for the National Convention and stop game of distractions.

    “The delegates assembled will cast their votes for an aspirant of their choice in the full glare of the public. Nobody can impose any aspirant in a free and fair contest.

    “We also want to affirm that Prince Secondus remains the most qualified for the chairmanship going by his antecedents before and after the crisis that nearly killed the party.

    “He is bold and pushful alongside with his great blueprint to return the PDP to power in 2019.

    “The forthcoming convention is our great opportunity to complete the redemption started at the Port Harcourt mini convention.

    “We must elect real committed party members into the upcoming National Working Committee.

    “In this clarion call, we urge delegates to support Prince Secondus, the man of undiluted loyalty, unflinching determination for PDP revival and unparalleled qualification for PDP leadership.”

  • I will return party to people, if elected- Gbenga Daniel

    I will return party to people, if elected- Gbenga Daniel

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairmanship aspirant, Chief Gbenga Daniel, on Friday promised to bring back the party to the people, if elected at the Dec 9 convention.

    Daniel spoke with newsmen in Jalingo while on a campaign tour.

    He said that alienation of the people by taking away their power to make decisions was responsible for all the party’s woes.

    “Our coming here physically to speak with our people one on one is something unique and part of what we are going to do to return this great party back to the people.

    “The motto of the PDP is Power to the People, but over the years, it does appear that power has been taken off the grassroot, and that is the cause of our disaster in the last general election.

    “ We are going round, restoring hope, talking to our people, sensitising and giving them the real situation that, now, power has come back to them,” the aspirant said.

    Daniel expressed optimism that he would win the chairmanship election, having previously contested and won two governorship elections in Ogun State.

    “ Most of my friends and colleagues competing were appointed officers; they did not contest and win elections, and I am sure that will be looked at when the time comes.

    “But more than anything else, we have a good party with popularity nationwide, and we are ready to correct the mistakes of the past,” the aspirant said.

    Daniel had earlier met with the State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Haruna Manu, and other government officials on his arrival.

    NAN