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Tag: PDP

  • PDP condemns House fracas

    PDP condemns House fracas

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned Thursday’s fracas in the chamber of the House of Representatives, describing it as a show of shame and national embarrassment.

    The party said the development, which involved lawmakers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called to question the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC to democracy, unity and the stability of the country.

    According to the PDP, the row was a direct consequence of President Buhari’s lack of democratic credentials to rein in his party to respect the independence and sanctity of the legislative arm of government, as enshrined in the nation’s constitution.

    A statement on Thursday by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh said “the barbaric attempt to physically assault a duly elected Speaker and seize the mace, the authority of the House, was a direct attack on the Nigerian parliament which embodies the supremacy of the people and our freedom as a democratic nation”.

    The party said what Nigerians witnessed in the House on Thursday clearly underscored the fact that the APC has exhausted its excuses and has now imported its internal contradictions into an independent arm of government as a way to further cover its lack of ideas for governance.

    The PDP said intelligence available to it showed that the brawling APC lawmakers “ostensibly acted on instructions from the Presidency”, adding that it was an obvious indication that President Buhari was largely an interested party whose involvement is beyond mere body language.

    The statement also added that the dishonourable conduct by the APC lawmakers was an act from a script and that it did not come to it as a surprise, “given that they are bred and nurtured under a political platform that lacks discipline and thrives on violence as an unwritten manifesto”

    “We state unequivocally that the onus lies on President Buhari to ensure that all democratic institutions are harnessed for effectiveness, a responsibility he has apparently abdicated by allowing his personal interest to instigate division in the parliament, a tendency that poses great threat to the survival of our democracy and the stability of the nation,” the PDP said.

    The PDP noted that the continued confusion in the APC-led government was a confirmation of its earlier stand that the APC lacked the capacity and democratic discipline to effectively steer the ship of nation and face the challenges of governance at the centre.

    “If a party that has since March 28, 2015 when it got its victory, about 90 days ago, cannot resolve a basic issue of selecting its leadership in the National Assembly, clearly, their competence for national governance comes to question,” the PDP stated.

    The PDP however, applauded Speaker Yakubu Dogara for his comportment, especially his statesmanly remarks after the unfortunate incident and urged him to continue to display maturity and not yield any ground in his duties to protect the independence of the legislature.

    Finally, the PDP commended all its members (past and present) in the House of Representatives for what it described as “their maturity and dignifying conduct” in line with the ideals of its founding fathers on democracy built on peace and unity.

  • Ekiti: Tribunal rules against application on card reader printout

    The Ekiti State Election Petition Tribunal has dismissed the application of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Ekiti Central senatorial candidate Gbenga Olofin seeking the release of the printout of the card reader used for the election.

    Olofin and the APC are challenging the election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Mrs. Fatimat Rasaki in the March 28 National Assembly election conducted in the senatorial district.

    Other defendants in the case are PDP, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Resident Electoral Commissioner, Nigeria Police Force, Inspector General of Police and Nigerian Army.

    APC candidate claimed in his petition that the 1st Respondent (Mrs. Rasaki) was not duly elected by the majority of votes cast.

    Olofin also averred that the election and return of the 1st Respondent is invalid by reasons of corrupt practices and non-compliance with the provisions of Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

    Tribunal Chairman Justice A. N. Erhabor who delivered the ruling at the panel’s sitting on Wednesday said the APC candidate’s prayer failed because the petitioners did not cite any authority backing their request.

    Justice Erhabor also held that the petitioners did not adduce any cogent reason for the application to be granted by the three-man jury.

    The tribunal adjourned sitting on the petition to June 26.

    Reacting shortly after the tribunal rose, counsel to the petitioners, Femi George, said the ruling would not affect the substantive matter before the tribunal.

    George explained that the “card reader printout sought is just infinitesimal compared with the avalanche of evidence available to prove that the senatorial poll was marred by irregularities.”

    Ekiti Central APC spokesman Tai Oguntayo expressed dismay with the ruling wondering why INEC objected to the application to compel it to produce the printout of the card reader used for the election.

    Oguntayo said; “Although the ruling will not have any serious effect on the deluge of evidence we have to challenge Mrs Raji Rasaki’s victory.

     

    “We still believe that if INEC is not hiding anything, it should not have objected our application for the print out.

    “The print-out was produced by INEC in Rivers and Benue States where startling revelations had emerged.”

     

  • We are preparing to unseat PDP in Bayelsa – APC

    We are preparing to unseat PDP in Bayelsa – APC

    All Progressive Congress (APC), Bayelsa State chapter, Wednesday said it was preparing itself to sweep the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) out of power in 2016.

    The party’s state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Panebi Fortune, said the PDP was already dead and had accepted defeat following the exodus of prominent politicians out of the party ahead of the election.

    Fortune who spoke in Yenagoa also dismissed insinuations of internal crisis in the APC following the suspension of some party members accused of anti-party activities.

    “What happened was that we discovered that some expelled members of the APC were recruited and paid huge sums of money by the PDP to cause problem in our midst.

    “One of the expelled members, Richard Kpodo deceived some APC members to use them for the purpose of creating crisis among us. We discovered on time and acted fast by suspending persons known to have met with Kpodo.

    “As expected, these persons formed what they called the Integrity Group to fight back. They embarked on a failed jocular mission of issuing a statement saying that they have also suspended some members of the State Working Committee (SWC) including our able Chairman, Mr. Tiwe Oruminighe,” he said.

    He said the statement was laughable as no group or organisation has the power to suspend members of the party apart from SWC.

    “It is a huge joke. We really do not want to dignify these people with our response. But as an individual after reading the statement I laughed because the people sounded like comedians,” he said.

    He asked members of the party and persons willing to join the party to disregard the activities of the group insisting that the people behind the group were sponsored by the PDP government.

    “The APC is intact. We are one family and we are working with one purpose of seizing power from the clueless PDP to better the lots of Bayelsans. We are, however, bent on ensuring party discipline,” he said.

    He said a disciplinary committee had been set up to further probe the activities of the suspended members and to review their punishment.

    Fortune said if found unrepentant, the suspension could be converted to expulsion adding that the party would not allow anybody to sow a seed of discord within its fold.

  • PDP to Buhari: no to excuses

    PDP to Buhari: no to excuses

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as “evasive, diversionary and preemptive”, the present government’s “pile up of excuses” for possible failure in delivering on its campaign promises to Nigerians.

    The party was reacting to statements by President Muhammadu Buhari that the last PDP-led administration left an empty treasury.

    In a statement yesterday by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party said Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) were privy to the nation’s dwindling economy.

    According to the PDP, the economic crisis was triggered by global economic downturn occasioned by fall in international oil prices, even before the start of the last electioneering campaigns.

    The party accused Buhari and the APC of choosing to deceive Nigerians with bogus promises, only to now resort to excuses after using the promises to secure power at the centre.

    The PDP said it noted with dismay Buhari’s statement on Monday that Nigerians should not expect much from his first 100 days in office.

    The statement said such claims only underlined the fact that the present administration was really not equipped to face the challenges of governance.

    The PDP said: “While we restate our resolve to engage only in credible and issue-based opposition, we want the President and the APC to note that their plea for patience from Nigerians does not arise, because ab-initio, there has not been no indication that they are actually serious and determined to deliver on their campaign promises upon which they rode to power.

    “Of course, Nigerians are willing to support and cooperate with the President, but we are worried that the pictures emerging from his Presidency and his party do not in any way inspire hope in the citizenry, especially as they have continued to show that theirs is ostensibly a matter of obtaining power by false pretenses.”

  • Lagos APC berates PDP

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State yesterday berated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for asking Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to probe his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola.

    It said the PDP lacked the moral latitude to make such call. The party said the renewal of the ruling party’s mandate on April 11 was evidence that Lagosians wanted continuity.

    The APC reminded the PDP that it was the mismanagement of the economy under its watch that made Nigerians reject it at the polls.

    In a statement, the party’s spokesman, Joe Igbokwe, said no amount of mudslinging will warm the PDP into the hearts of residents who have pitched their tent with the APC since 2009.

    “For a party that believes in hauling hollow, laughable and tendentious gossip to stay alive, the PDP in Lagos seems to have accepted the fact that it is an irredeemable bad product, Igbokwe said in the statement.

    He said the call for Fashola’s probe by the PDP was not only unfortunate but mischievous.

    The statement reads: “Lagos PDP’s call for Governor Ambode to probe former Governor Fashola for some inchoate and laughable reasons shows that Lagos PDP has lost it and is in a journey of self derision and ridicule.

    “We are not surprised that Lagos PDP continues to demonstrate traits that show it as a jesting group that has no meaningful thing to contribute to the growth and progress of Lagos.”

  • PDP to Buhari: Stop offering excuses

    PDP to Buhari: Stop offering excuses

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as “evasive, diversionary and preemptive,” the present government’s “pile up of excuses” for possible failure in delivering on its campaign promises to Nigerians.

    The party was reacting to revelations by President Muhammadu Buhari that the last PDP led administration left an empty treasury, occasioned by unbridled corruption, impunity and mismanagement of public resources.

    But in a statement issued on Tuesday by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party said Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) were privy to the nation’s dwindling economy.

    According to the PDP, the economic crisis was triggered by global economic downturn occasioned by fall in international oil prices, even before the start of the last electioneering campaigns.

    The party accused Buhari and the APC of choosing to deceive Nigerians with bogus promises, only to now resort to excuses after using the promises to secure power at the centre.

    The PDP said it noted with dismay, President Buhari’s statement on Monday that Nigerians should not expect much from his first 100 days in office over claims that he met virtually an empty treasury and huge debts.

    The statement said such claims only underlined the fact that the present administration was really not equipped to face the challenges of governance.

    The PDP continued: “While we restate our resolve to engage only in credible and issue based opposition, we want the President and the APC to note that their plea for patience from Nigerians does not arise, because ab-initio, there has not been any indication that they are actually serious and determined to deliver on their campaign promises upon which they rode to power.

    “Of course Nigerians are willing to support and cooperate with the President, but we are worried that the pictures emerging from his presidency and his party do not in any way inspire hope in the citizenry, especially as they have continued to show that theirs is ostensibly a matter of obtaining power by false pretenses.

    “President Buhari and the APC must know that Nigerians did not give them the mandate to engage in frivolous excuses and pleas but to hit the ground running with solutions and quick fixes they promised during the campaigns.

    “We ask, is President Buhari’s statement an admission of poor knowledge of national and international economic affairs or does it underscore the lack of capacity and skills by the administration to effectively harness and galvanize resources and potential inherent in Nigeria which has already been nurtured as Africa’s largest economy and one of the fasted growing in the world.

    “Even if Nigerians decide to wait endlessly, we wonder how much the President can achieve amidst the flip-flops from his presidency and cacophony of interests from his party leaders struggling to enlarge their selfish political and economic frontiers.

    “How can one reconcile President Buhari’s statement with the recent ridiculous and misleading claim by APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed that this administration has achieved in three weeks what the immediate past administration did not achieve in five years?

    “Since after their electoral victory, the APC and the President have continued to expose their lack of commitment towards their campaign promises.”

     

  • PDP governors stategise ahead of meeting with Buhari

    PDP governors stategise ahead of meeting with Buhari

    Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) met last night to fine tune strategy ahead of today’s enlarged meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari over the prevailing cash crunch.

    The meeting, which started shortly after 9 pm was still on as at the time of filing this report at 10.55 pm.

    Although details of the meeting remained sketchy, sources close to the governors said they were seeking to harmonise their positions with their counterparts in the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    At the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) last Wednesday, the governors resolved to demand payment for the various federal projects executed by the various states but the Federal Government was yet to pay.

    Addressing reporters after the NGF meeting, Chairman of the Forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari, said the state governments needed the money to enable them pay the backlog of salaries owed workers in their various states.

    Yari said some of the states were being owed between N10 billion and N50 billion, adding that there would be no reason for the states to seek bailout from the Federal Government if they debts were paid.

    This is coming in the backdrop of President Buhari’s announcement on Monday that the last PDP administration left an empty treasury.

  • Iroko vs Osoko    

    Iroko versus Osoko — that is the latest inanity in the plate of the South West Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Ayo Fayose, the excitable Ekiti governor, seems to have issues with Segun Mimiko, the opportunistic Ondo governor, over Mimiko’s election as chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum, which a newspaper promptly reported as “a fresh crisis …” in South West PDP.

    Hardball is not quite sure, what it was: reporters’ penchant for combat to spice the news?  The customary hyperbole to achieve news raciness?  Or just a question of cliché in news reportage?

    Whichever, a Fayose/Mimiko clash is certainly no crisis; and even if it were, it is certainly a crisis on nothing but inanity — and how can excitement on inanity be “crisis”?

    But make no mistake.  Hardball would not be bothered however Osoko and Iroko clobber each other.

    The one is an ever excitable vacuum, eternally in search of the empty noise to distract the polity; his own unique way of seeking relevance by playing the nuisance.

    The other is an ever meticulous power schemer, the ultimate Machiavelli; and poster boy of power for power’s sake.

    Both, in Hardball’s humble opinion, are bad for the polity.

    Still, for the sake of public good, it is necessary to put the records straight.  Fayose claims Mimiko’s emergence didn’t follow due process.  How?  Because, he claims — and indeed, that claim is true — Mimiko just defected to PDP, from Labour Party (LP) last year.

    And so what?  Didn’t Mimiko earlier in 2007 defect from PDP to LP, after earlier betraying his old Alliance for Democracy (AD), simply because he didn’t get the party’s 2003 gubernatorial ticket?  Of course, the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) has reportedly promised to look into Fayose’s grouse.  Well, let them!  A chronic Post-Power Withdrawal Syndrome (PPWS), laced with idleness, is a terrible combo.  Better be busy with Fayose’s inanity than engage in costly national political mischief!

    Still, the PDP NWC had better take itself seriously by not taking Fayose’s seriously.  The Osoko’s diagnosis is simple: an infantile megalomania that assumes that, after staging an Ekiti political comeback, every power and principality, in PDP and beyond, must bow at his grubby feet!

    The same infantile megalomania, that made Osoko declare himself South West PDP leader, over and above former President Olusegun Obasanjo (no Hardball role model!), thus precipitating the old man’s untimely retirement from politics and peculiar self-promotion as “statesman”.

    The same infantile megalomania that made Fayose throw all decorum to the winds, in his morbid death wish for President Muhammadu Buhari, passing as electioneering adverts in Fayose’s troubled soul.

    Now that the Ekiti APC legislators and their potent threat of impeachment have been vanquished, it is the same infantile megalomania that spurs Osoko, like a wild horse, to challenge the Iroko’s chairmanship.  With nothing to offer, this dubious campaign is as good a nuisance bit as any other!

    But here lies the bitter truth — the Yoruba bit about being fun to cheer a lunatic display, even if no one is happy his offspring is the looney pulling the stunt.

    The long and short of Fayose’s suspect campaign is that he considers himself, as self-named  “South West PDP leader”, more qualified to clinch Mimiko’s diadem.

    But even after subversive cheer of Fayose’s daily display of how not to be a governor, it must hurt the Osoko that even his PDP peers cannot tolerate his gubernatorial rascality outside Ekiti borders!

  • Will PDP go under in Niger?

    Will PDP go under in Niger?

    For 16 years, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ruled in Niger State. But, the party lost its grip on the state in the last governorship election. JIDE ORINTUNSIN takes a look at the fate of the party.  

    With the advent of democratic rule in 1999, the people of Niger State stuck to the mainstream politics. So, it was with ease that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) swept all the elected offices in the state.

    Like a colossus, the party dominated the political space for 16 years. Attempts by Peoples’ Redemption Party (PRP) in 2003, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2007 and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011 to displace the PDP failed.

    The opposition only won few seats in the House of Assembly. Except for Chanchaga Federal Constituency that has been controlled by the opposition since 2003 and Bosso/Paikoro, Kontagora/Wushishi/Mashegu and Borgu/Agwara Federal Constituencies that also succumbed to the pressure in 2011, the PDP-controlled six of the 10 federal constituencies for 16 years. The party also dominated the upper chamber of the National Assembly during the same period.

    But, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Tsunami at the recent general elections terminated the 16 years of uninterrupted reign of the PDP. The larger-than-life status of the party was reduced to the rubble.

    The PDP-led administration of former Governor Mu’azu Babagida Aliyu apparently lost its bearing, prior to the general elections. Aliyu’s government failed to build on the solid structure bequeathed to it by the Abdulkadir Kure Administration. Aliyu inherited three senators, nine House of Representatives members and an overwhelming control of the state assembly. But, his eight-year rule plundered the goodwill. During the period, the state was hijacked by a cabal.

    The result was that the party not only lost the governorship to the APC, but it also lost almost all the seats in the House of Assembly; it managed to retain only two seats.

    Observers say the PDP has itself to blame for its poor performance at the polls. Aliyu’s imposition of a governorship candidate on the party and his selfish senatorial ambition, they say, was the albatross that paved the way for the humiliating defeat.

    This development led to mass defection of members to the APC. Former Deputy Governor Ahmed Musa Ibeto, and over 300 elected and appointed officers of Aliyu’s administration dumped the PDP for APC before the election, thus signalling the gradual demise of the party.

    Analysts say the performance of the party at the last election was an indication of peoples rejection of the party in the state.

    Ibrahim Rogo, a Kontagora based political analyst said the electorate over the years have shown their dissatisfaction for the party and its candidates. He said: “The steady progress of the opposition in successive elections in the state was a build up to the political misfortune of the PDP. The last election demystified the larger-than-life posture of the PDP and it was a statement that the party may be going into extinction in the state.

    “The people are tired of the bogus programmes of the PDP that are not socially relevant to the people, especially in the last eight years. The fate of the party in the state will be determined at the next local government election.”

    For James Ndakogi, it will be too early to bid the PDP farewell from the state. He argued that the victory of the APC should not be seen as a death sentence for the PDP.

    His words: “The performance of the PDP at the last election should not be taken as its death sentence. The party may not be enjoying the level of acceptance and support it had in the last 16 years, but this development does not mean that the party is about to fizzle out.”

    Deputy Chairman of PDP in the state, Mr. Tanko Beji, was emphatic that the party will bounce back in 2019. He refused to accept the verdict that the party is dead.

    Beji, a legal practitioner, who co-chaired the party’s post-election assessment committee in Niger State, along with Senator Nuhu Aliyu, said the defeat of the party was a wake-up call and an opportunity for it to look at the avoidable mistakes that were committed with a view to correcting them.

    The PDP chieftain was optimistic that the party will bounce back. He said: “We are strategising; we are looking at the mistakes made. Very soon, we will make public our plans to revamp the party and reposition it for the task ahead. We are sure the future of our great party is bright, because the last election was a Buhari election and people are now wiser and their eyes clearer.

    “We are optimistic that PDP will bounce back in Niger State and in the country in general.”

    Going by the political antecedents and culture of being with the party at the centre, the fate of the PDP in Niger State looks bleak.

  • APC, PDP bicker over Osun finances

    APC, PDP bicker over Osun finances

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has linked the delay in payment of salaries and pension to mismanagement of the national economy by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government.

    The party blamed the Goodluck Jonathan administration for wasting national resources in its “desperate bid to return to power”.

    At the party secretariat in Osogbo, the state capital, the Chairman, Gboyega Famodun, said since the drop in the oil revenue and various wastages of the PDP, the federal allocation accruing to the state has drastically reduced.

    Famodun said the highest statutory allocation to Osun State was N5.5 billion in February 2013 but has now dropped to N466 million in April.

    He said: “As at the time the APC came on board in November 2010, workers’ emolument was N1.4 billion but today it is N3.6 billion, following the increase in minimum wage in 2012.

    “And the truth is that Osun is not the only state affected by delay in workers’ salaries. About 23 states have similar problems. Before this crisis, workers were paid before the 25th of every month.”

    But the PDP spokesperson, Prince Diran Odeyemi, in a statement, said: “It is shameful that APC is concocting lies to cover profligacy, gross financial mismanagement, ineptitude, corrupt and inflated contract award processes.”