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Tag: PDP

  • Ex- PDP chief defects to APC in Ekiti

    Ex- PDP chief defects to APC in Ekiti

    Former two-term State Chairman of PDP in Ekiti State, Chief Ropo Adesanya, at the weekend defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC)‎ in Ijan-Ekiti, Gbonyin Local Government of the state.

    At a ceremony held at Ijan Ward secretariat were hundreds of his supporters were received to the party by the Ekiti South Senatorial Chairm‎an of APC, Mr Kayode Babade, in company of other party leaders across the state.

    Gbonyin Local Government Leader, who is also the Chairman of Afenifere in Ekiti State, Chief Dapo Awojolu, praised Adesanya for leading Ijan Ekiti people out of darkness to the light represented by APC.

    While urging members to always have positive attitude to their party for strength and growth, he appealed to the people to always pray for President Muhammadu Buhari to succeed in redirecting Nigeria to the path of development and prosperity.

    Babade urged members to start preparing for the local government election by organising themeslves at the unit level, saying the local government poll represented an opportunity to prove the new energy the party had gained by becoming the first opposition party to defeat incumbent government in the history of the party‎.

    Praising Ijan political leaders, including Aderemi Ajayi and Paul Abegunde for their feats in rallying members for success in previous elections in the town, Adesanya said he had abandoned PDP long time ago over thuggery,  brigandage ‎and deceit of a one-man party in the state,

    He explained that his conscience will not allow him stay in a party that exists for the pleasure of one man while Ekiti people suffer. He added that the crooked politics played by some individuals who think less about the growth and development of the youth and welfare of the elderly people was not what Ekiti people needed to grow the state in desperate need of socio-economic development for the happiness of all.

    “Ekiti people have seen enough deceit and planlessness of the PDP as exemplified by the current administration. I have my name to protect. That is why I am joining honest and decent Ekiti people to chart a new course for the development of our dear state,” Adesanya said, adding:

    “Any political association you can’t find Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Asiwaju Segun Oni, Dr Kayode Fayemi, Senator Gbenga Aluko, Chief Awojolu, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua, Ayo Arise, Senator Tony Adeniyi, Aderemi Ajayi, Bimbo Daramola, Femi Ojudu, Opeyemi Bamidele, Bisi Egbeyemi and where Babade and Taiwo Olatubosun, among several other decent Ekiti politicians are running away from, we should know that such a political party exists for motives different from Ekiti development.”

    He assured Ijan people of mass mobilisation and participation for the success of the party in Gbonyin Local Government and in the state at large, even as he urged Ijan people to be prepared for aggressive unit mobilisation and meetings to strengthen the party for future elections.

  • I won’t return to PDP, says Dogara

    I won’t return to PDP, says Dogara

    • Says people’s sovereignty greater than party supremacy

    House of RepresentativesSpeaker Yakubu Dogara  yesterday dismissed suggestion that he was planning to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He said he would not be a party to the destruction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which he worked hard with others to build.

    Dogara who was apparently reacting to claims by his opponent in the June 9 contest for the speakership, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila that he (Dogara) and some of his APC supporters in the House were preparing ground for their defection to PDP said “only a fool will believe that.”

    Exchanging views with state chairmen of the APC who visited him in Abuja, the Speaker also said that those expecting the party to collapse on account of the leadership crisis rocking the party at the National Assembly would be disappointed.

    According to him, the party can only emerge stronger from the crisis that was not strange to party politics.

    His Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan said in a statement that Dogara however warned that any move to marginalize some members in the sharing of principal offices in the National Assembly may prove disastrous for the APC in the next general elections.

    He said: “I want to discountenance this very ludicrous and laughable discussion that some of us that some of us in the house are even conniving with some people so that we can defect.

    “Only a fool will believe that. We have toiled day and night we control the government at the centre and in our states. Then we park and move to a house that we deserted before, it is even unthinkable and unimaginable that someone will make such assertions.

    “We have been through a lot but obviously it is expected as it is a new party we are beginning to know ourselves. It was expected that from the beginning we would have some kind of friction but we cannot be consumed by those frictions. I guess that is one reason why we are here today”.

    On the issue of party supremacy, the Speaker said: “It is my deepest conviction as a student of democracy I know that democracy is loosely defined as government of the people by the people and for the people.

    “In actual fact, sovereignty in a democratic regime belongs to the people. The government is for the people and the party too is for the people.

    “Absolute supremacy must be anchored on the sovereignty of our people because if we don’t pursue the interest of our people, you can guarantee the fact that sooner than later there may be no APC. “So the people must be at the centre of whatever policy we formulate or whatever directive we will give to somebody from the party must have our people at the centre of that activity otherwise the people will rebel against us and we don’t pray for such.”He said his action and that of his supporters should not be viewed as signs of disloyalty to the party, saying, “All of us contributed immensely to the building of the APC. It is our duty to ensure that the party survives. And they say it is only a mad man that will use the same hands that he used in building a house to pull it down. We are not mad, we are not fools.”

    The Speaker, however, warned that to marginalise some zones in the sharing of positions principal officers of the National Assembly would cost the party in the next election.

    “We have to extend the hands of friendship and brotherhood to them to ensure that we strengthened their position so that we can make considerable inroad into those states.

    “If we don’t do that then we should be counting our days because if Nigerians didn’t save PDP, if we mess up they won’t save us. We owe more than just passing interest in ensuring that we continue in the task of rebuilding the APC.”

    He urged the leadership of the party to place national interest above personal ambitions as he hoped to partner PDP in moving the House forward.

    “There was one judge who once remarked that there is one consideration that is even above the constitution even though the constitution of the land is the supreme law, the grand norm but the constitution does not even acknowledge it, he said that consideration is national interest. If there is no Nigerian there won’t be Nigerian constitution.

    “As long as we put this national interest forward we are not going to have a problem, we want to be in this for the long hold and not a sprint race but rather a marathon.

    “Sincerely speaking we cannot afford that APC becomes an exclusive club of certain privileged people. We must spread our hands otherwise we will diminish. And that therefore means that the work has just begun especially in states that we are not in power. “The House is always a one house, we work in such a way that we keep the house united in spite of our political party affiliations.

    “If we have divisions in the House and if that division is sharply along partisan lines, most of the instructions you will give us in form of programme that you send to us through the executive may suffer delay.

    “Our people will expect that we use our majority position to bring about leadership with cooperation from even the opposition party and deliver the promise of change.”

    The delegation was led by acting Chairman, Alhaji Umar Haruna Doguwa, who is also the Kano state APC chairman.

  • PDP insists on removal of INEC chair

    PDP insists on removal of INEC chair

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday insisted on the immediate removal of the newly appointed Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs. Amina Zakari.

    The party said information at its disposal confirmed that Mrs. Zakari enjoys “a strong relationship” with President Muhammadu Buhari and an unnamed APC Governor in the Northwest.

    National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Olisa Metuh, alleged in a statement that the unnamed governor was collaborating with APC to ensure that INEC, under Zakari, posts Resident Electoral Commissioners of its choice to Kogi and Bayelsa states ahead of the forthcoming governorship elections in the two states

    The party also alleged that there were moves to use the period of Mrs. Zakari’s stay as head of the Commission to tinker with electoral personnel and materials for the two states in favour of the ruling APC.

    “President Buhari, in appointing Mrs. Zakari, failed to take into cognizance the moral call to detach himself from the operation of the electoral body, thereby completely eroding the independence of the Commission”, Metuh said.

    He said that Zakari’s competence and performance in office were not the issue, but “her closeness to the President and some key APC leaders” smacked of nepotism and called to question the independence of the electoral body under her watch.

    According to him, “We want Nigerians to know that with this appointment, INEC has been stripped of its independence and can no longer command the confidence and respect of the citizens and all other critical stakeholders in the nation’s electoral process.

    “We however find it astonishing, discouraging and disheartening that the spokesperson of the President will address Nigerians and lie to the entire citizenry that Mrs. Zakari never had any relationship with the President or an APC Governor in the Northwest. This is the height of deception coming from the respected office of the President of our dear country.

    “We ask: is the spokesperson of the President, oblivious of the public fact that the Acting Chairman of INEC was once a staff of Afri-Project Consortium, a company well associated with the President?

    “Is he, by any means, feigning ignorance of the fact that Mrs. Zakari also worked in the past as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Social Development and later, that of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Federal Capital Development Authority, then under a current APC governor of the Northwest?

    “How much of Mrs. Zakari’s roles in the last general elections does the spokesperson of the President, who has just been appointed, know to warrant his brazen defence?

    “Even where we concede to the worn-out argument that the President has the powers to appoint any person he deems fit as the INEC Chairman, does moral obligation not demand that in doing so he should take into cognizance the sensitivity of the position? Otherwise he can as well appoint his wife or brother as the electoral umpire on an argument of merit.”

     

     

     

  • PDP stalwart defect to APC in Edo

    A former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, Barr. Kenneth Imasuangbon, on Saturday led thousands of his supporters to defect to the All Progressive Congress at Ewohinmi, Esan South East local government area of Edo State.

    Imasuangbon popularly known as “Rice Man” resurrected the PDP in the state in 2009 when he reconciled warring factions in the party.

    He was a founding member and a major financier of the defunct Action Congress.

    Speaking at the event, Imasuangbon said he was returning to his base to support infrastructural development in the state.

    He described the APC as a party for the progressive, whose vision is to among other things eradicate poverty from the land.

    He said, “I joined APC since January this year but we have not had the opportunity to celebrate it due to the elections. But thank God we are celebrating today. I wish to reassure you the people of the state that your sacrifices would not be in vain. I promised to continue to sacrifice my time, energy and resources as I have done over the years in adding value to the lives of Edo people.

    “I am indeed proud of our Edo ancestry and the laudable works being done by our governor, Adams Oshiomhole. Oshiomhole is our leader and mentor and we will continue to celebrate him for all he is doing for our people. My advice to Edo people is that we should remain steadfast in our belief in the creation of an egalitarian Edo State and that by so doing we will achieve the Edo State of our dream by the grace of God and good governance.”

    Leader of the APC in the locality, Victor Eboigbe said the coming of Imasuangbo would add value to the APC in Edo Central and the state as a whole.

     

  • Akpabio, PDP, INEC lose bid to stall election tribunal’s proceedings

    Akpabio, PDP, INEC lose bid to stall election tribunal’s proceedings

    The senatorrepresenting Akwa Ibom Southwest and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and one other have lost their bid to stall proceedings at the state’s Legislative Election Tribunal.

    The Justice Goddy Anunihun led tribunal, in a ruling yesterday, refused the prayer by Akpabio, his party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for an indefinite adjournment of all the tribunal’s activities pending its ruling on an earlier application challenging its sitting in Abuja.

    The tribunal had adjourned to yesterday for ruling on the application by Akpabio, challenging the relocation of the tribunal to Abuja and the commencement of pre-trial proceedings in the petition by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate Inibehe Okori who contested against Akpabio.

    Yesterday, Justice Anunihun announced that the ruling was not ready, but sought to proceed with the other business scheduled for the day, a decision Akpabio’s lawyer, Offiong Offiong (SAN), PDP’s lawyer, Adekunle Oyesanya (SAN) and T. Nweke (for INEC) objected to.

    The judge gave two reasons why the ruling could not be read. He said it  was not yet written and that the tribunal would await the decision of the Court of Appeal in a similar case.

    “The tribunal is yet to conclude work on the ruling. It is the tribunal’s position to await the Court of Appeal’s decision in a case referred to it from the Federal High Court for the determination of similar issue.

    “The need to defer the ruling is to avoid conflicting rulings on the same issue by different courts of coordinate jurisdiction.”

    All parties in the case agreed that the tribunal reserved the right to decide when to deliver its ruling, but with petitioners’ lawyer, Solomon Umoh urged the tribunal to begin the pre-trial proceedings, while the respondents’ lawyers urged the court to stay further proceedings until its ruling was ready.

    Offiong argued that the tribunal could not proceed to conduct any business while it was yet to rule on the application challenging it’s jurisdiction. He said since the court was yet to decide the issue of whether or not it was right for it to sit in Abuja, it could not take any further steps in relation to the petition.

    “It is a fundamental principle of our jurisprudence that once an issue of jurisdiction is raised, it must be treated first and promptly. The tribunal should adjourn the matter until ruling is delivered on the objection on jurisdiction,” Offiong said.

    He argued that since the case referred to the Court of Appeal was not an electoral matter, the appellate court’s decision might not be binding on the tribunal.

    Nweke and Oyesanya agreed with Offiong and urged the court to defer further activities in the case till the tribunal was ready with its ruling.

    Responding on point of law, Assam Assam (SAN), who took over from Umoh referred the tribunal to Paragraph 25(1) of the First Schedule of the Constitution, which requires a tribunal to hear election cases on a daily basis.

    He urged the tribunal to note that similar applications were pending before other tribunals transferred to Abuja, but that although the tribunals have ruled on the application challenging their jurisdiction, they have proceeded to conduct pre-trial proceedings.

    “Similar situation exist in other tribunals that were transferred to Abuja. While they are yet to rule on this issue of jurisdiction, they have all proceeded to conduct pre-trial proceedings. One has even given a judgment in favour of the respondents,” Assam said.

    Justice Anunihun said while the tribunal would awaits the decision of the Court of Appeal which will help it in deciding the pending application relating to its jurisdiction, it will proceed with pre-trial proceedings.

    He said the pre-trial proceeding would be conducted here in Abuja as the application was earlier heard here since the proceedings will not affect the main petition. He also noted that time was of the essence in election cases.

    Justice Anunihun adjourned to July 14 for the commencement of the pre-trial proceedings.

  • PDP zones National Assembly positions

    PDP zones National Assembly positions

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has zoned the party’s leadership positions in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

    In respect of the Senate, the position of Minority Leader goes to the Southsouth while that of the Deputy Minority Leader goes to the Northeast.

    The Northcentral clinches the position of Minority Whip while that of the deputy goes to the Southwest.

    For the House of Representatives, the position of Minority Leader goes to the South-south while the deputy goes to the Southeast.

    The Northwest zone gets the Minority Whip while the deputy goes to the Northeast.

    Announcing the party’s position on the choices on Wednesday, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the decision was taken at the party’s National Working Committee meeting.

    Metuh said it was in consonance with the provision of the Standing Rules of the National Assembly and that the party expected its members to use their various zonal party caucuses to choose individuals for the positions.

    “The party will not chose leaders for our senators. We will zone the positions and expect the senators to fill in the positions. We have directed them to note that in accordance with the practice and convention of our party, the nomination process should take into consideration ranking, gender and religious sensitivities.

    “Furthermore, it is the wish of the NWC that this exercise be concluded within one week and communicated accordingly,”Metuh added.

  • ‘PDP worst party ever’

    ‘PDP worst party ever’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government under the Goodluck Jonathan administration as “the worst in the history of Nigeria”.

    The party said the looting of government finances witnessed under Jonathan was unequalled in the history of corrupt governments in Africa.

    In a statement by its spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi, the party said: “Yet, some of the beneficiaries of this looting spree across Nigeria, especially in Osun, still have the effrontery to mock the victims by shifting blames on a government that had done its best for the people.

    “The PDP leadership in Osun State benefitted from the looted funds which would have been available to pay salaries, if the PDP government of Goodluck Jonathan did not steal such humongous sums and wasted the nation’s resources.

    “From the NNPC alone, the PDP stole trillions of Naira. The ex-minister of Finance spent billions of dollars without authorisation not to talk of other government agencies, which joined in the looting spree.”

  • PDP rejects Zakari as acting INEC chief

    PDP rejects Zakari as acting INEC chief

    The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the appointment of Mrs. Amina Zakari as the acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday, approved Zakari’s appointment in acting capacity pending the appointment of a substantive chairman for the commission.

    Zakari replaced Prof. Attahiru Jega who retired as the INEC chairman at the expiration of his five-year tenure.

    But at a news briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, alleged that the acting INEC chairman “is too close to the Presidency.”

    Metuh challenged Mrs. Zakari to state her alleged closeness to the Presidency and one of the governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from one of the states in the Northwest.

    Mrs. Zakari, who was one of the national commissioners in INEC until her new appointment, was appointed into that office by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Metuh said, “The PDP has declared the appointment of Mrs. Amina Zakari as unacceptable and demand that President Buhari changes her immediately.

    “The PDP is particularly disturbed by the development in INEC where President Buhari, who knew all along that the immediate-past INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega would be leaving office by June 30, had to wait for him to handover to one of the national commissioners only to reverse it immediately, thereby injecting bad blood in the commission.

    “The situation in INEC since the PDP government reformed and granted it operational autonomy has been peaceful, but Tuesday’s untidy overruling of Prof. Jega and appointing of Mrs. Amina Zakari as acting chairman which, we gathered was influenced by personal relationship with the Presidency and one of the new governors of the North West, ostensibly to pave the way for the APC at the electoral tribunals, has completely eroded public trust in the commission.

    “Whereas the PDP recognises the right and powers of the President to appoint the Chairman of INEC and the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), we reject attempts as in the case of the AGF to paint the process as transparent and objective when such was not the case, but brought to question the sincerity and commitment of the present administration to due process.

    “In INEC, the PDP states in unequivocal terms that we cannot, as critical stakeholders fold our hands and watch while the Presidency perpetuates actions that diminish the independence of the electoral commission.

    “Our reasons include the fact that due process was not observed in the appointment and that Mrs. Zakari has shown in the last elections that she is manifestly bias in favour of the APC. Finally, her appointment is a clear case of nepotism.

    “We ask, if they trusted Prof. Jega and commended him for conducting free and fair elections, why would they not trust him on who to hold forth in the commission until a substantive chairman is appointed, rather than appointing someone who is retiring from the commission in the next three weeks?”

    The PDP spokesman said with the prevailing record of Mr. President on appointments, it is unlikely that a substantive INEC chairman will be appointed in the next one year.

     

  • Few days old opposition not allowed – APC Scandinavia

    Few days old opposition not allowed – APC Scandinavia


    • We need each other to make Nigeria great again.

     

    The National Coordinator of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Scandinavia chapter, Ayoola Lawal, has said it is a welcoming development that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is coming on board as an opposition to the ruling party.

    According to him, as much as such it is a welcoming development of our growing democracy and for APC, ‘the PDP spokesperson should be more constructive and put on his thinking cap before making a berating statement against the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration’.

    “Trying to impress as an opposition on board is one thing, facing the reality of rebuilding, development and leadership is another.

    “The PDP in the name of an opposition party trying to pressurise PMB into acting in their paradigm ways of good governance is a political trick that will not work against this current administration.

    “The PDP government, while in authority, completely immersed the fabric of the nation in ruin and the economy in comatose but kept deceiving Nigerians and the world that all was well, which could be likened to the mega financial meltdown of the world in the recent years passed.”

    “President Muhammad Buhari pace of leading is necessitated by the current situations on ground. He is a strategist that sacrificed several years to prepare for the leadership as president-elect.

    “No individual or few days old as an opposition party can push PMB into deliberate traps and holes premeditated.

    “Sixteen years of heavy looting of the treasury of the nation, setting up the country for total failure and making it a sink ship, then turning around to be pressurising PMB after barely 31 days in office is a shame on any individual or opposition party,” he noted.

    Lawal further stated that President Buhari and the APC leadership will always welcome any real and constructive advice, as well as meaningful pressures that will be useful in meeting the justifiable expectations of Nigerians, which the party uses every opportunity to reiterate.

    He therefore maintained that: “Diarrhoea mouthed, vendetta pressure and ill-intent criticisms are not amongst the ranks. Well meaning Nigerian or party will at this stage in the annals of Nigeria be praying for PMB to get it right and take a very calculated steps rather than rampaging.

    “Nigerian is already in a dark mess caused by callous, greedy and shameless people who still has the gut to make vacuum noise in the name of opposition.”

    Thus, he prayed that Almighty God continues to strengthen the president and the APC leadership in wisdom to make the country great again. “Welcome, all to a new Nigeria of our dream,” he added.

     

  • PDP heavyweights in Akwa Ibom defect to APC

    PDP heavyweights in Akwa Ibom defect to APC

    More political tragedy may have befallen the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State as major chieftains of the party  in Essien Udim Local Government Area last Saturday officially dumped the PDP for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    A source in APC said the move may have marked the beginning of the death of PDP in the area.

    Among those said to have dumped PDP for APC include a former leader of the State House of Assembly, Hon Dr. Etido Ibekwe, former Member representing the area in the State Assembly, Hon Ndifreke Idung, former councillor and PDP Chapter Secretary, Hon Micah Johnson, former supervisory councilor for Education, Hon Emmanuel Idiong as well as Barr Ime Umossoh, younger brother to the late Hon Barr Nsini Umossoh who represented Ikot Ekpene Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.

    The defectors were formally received into the APC by a former Chairman of Essien Udim and leader of APC in the area,  Hon Barr Martins Umanah during a stakeholders meeting of the party held at his country home at Ntak Ikot Akpan, Ukana West 1 in Essien Udim.

    Addressing party faithful which included chapter and Ward executives of the area, Hon Umanah commended the defectors for their courage and patriotism at leaving the PDP which he described as a sinking ship to join the APC in salvaging the country.

    He called on APC members not to feel threatened by the growing influx of defectors from the PDP but to see the defection as a positive step towards having a united front to fight and rescue the area from the grip and bondage of the PDP.

    He added; “Do not feel threatened by the current influx of members particularly from the sinking boat of PDP. We are here to sustain the new born baby, APC, the new hope for the new Nigeria, particularly in Essien Udim. All interests shall be recognized and positively engaged in the amalgamation of various political ideologies.”

    The meeting resolved to among others bring together the various power blocks that have merged in the APC in the area, engage in serious membership drive to boost the chances of APC during the likely rerun elections and continually open its doors to more defectors and new entrants into the party.

    The party congratulated President Buhari, Vice President Osinbajo on their successful inauguration as well as the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon Dogara respectively on their election.

    The stakeholders meeting was attended by all Ward and Chapter executives as well as APC chieftains which include Hon Emmanuel Udo, Hon Etim Atakpa, Hon Aloysius Isonguyo, Rev Ubon Usoro, Hon Kelvin Josiah, Mr Effiong Atakpa, Mrs Ekaette Isong, Hon Sam Dickson, Mrs Imelda Ekpo, Mr Ime Isong, Barr Imo Akpan, Mr Uduak Ebi, Mr Imo Ibara, Mr Idiongo Martins among others.