The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PDP

  • Lagosians must reject pdp and its ethnic card

    President Jonathan remains the most divisive president in our nation’s history. In 2011, President Jonathan openly asked non- Yoruba residents in Lagos to join forces to outvote the Yorubas. In 2015, besides the president’s nocturnal meetings with town associations where huge amount of monies allegedly exchanged hands, he appointed ex governor Obi to mobilise Igbos in Lagos. Now the Igbos in Lagos have hearkened to his call. Two weeks ago, they gave block vote to some of their kinsmen to represent some parts of Lagos whose language they can’t speak in Abuja.

    Jimi Agbaje, who has nothing to offer Lagosians beyond his ‘feeling of self worth’, has tried to capitalise on that promising to create a fiefdom for Igbo in Lagos where they will have their own King, a privilege they don’t even enjoy in their own ancestral homes because of their republican nature.

    Now they have dragged the Oba of Lagos into their game of deceit. The Oba, who is the custodian of the culture of his people, has threatened to rain causes on those who work against the interest of Lagos. PDP national body has joined Bode George, Obanikoro, Ogunlewe and Jimi Agbaje who the king claims is his cousin against the king.  There is also a Femi Fani- Kayode, who only two years ago before joining PDP volunteered to lead a battle against any group including the Igbos who dared to lay claim to an inch of Yoruba land.

    The common affliction of Lagos PDP men is opportunism. Ogunlewe and Obanikoro became senators under the dominant party in Lagos and used their ticket to cut deals with the federal government. They don’t even seem to understand that the federal and the state, by our constitution, are coordinates with neither being superior to the other since they both derived their powers from the constitution.  If you think PDP thugs who with the support of police pulled down bill boards, posters and chased motorists off the roads while brandishing broken bottles and knives were ignorant, wait for Jimi Agbaje and some PDP leading lights defend the shameful act on a national television.

    One of them, more out of mischief, in an answer to a question by a Channels Television crew retorted angrily, did Lagos state governor aspirant pay for his posters? The crooked logic is that if Lagos state enjoys a special relationship with one of its parastatal, such concession must be extended to the federal government. If we extend the argument further, then Lagos state should be able to have access to the use of one the air craft’s in the presidential fleet out of which the president sometimes deploys as many as three for political campaigns.

    Or put differently, since The Ports Authority located in Lagos is known to have always made huge contribution towards reelection of all sitting presidents since 1999, Lagos should ask for its own share or resort to self help using thugs like PDP.

    Driven by opportunism and bereft of vision, PDP has nothing to offer Lagos… Besides one or two kilometers of Lagos -Ibadan expressway constructed by Ogunlewe as Minister of Works under Obasanjo at a period it was alleged about N300 billion budgeted for road construction went in to fighting the 2003 presidential election, all we can remember him for was converting party thugs to traffic controllers, which led to clashes and chaos on Lagos road. He was also on record as supporting and encouraging Obasanjo who illegally sat on federal allocations despite court pronouncements.

    Obanikoro’s short stint as Minister of State for Defence was a disaster for Lagos in particular and other Yoruba states in general. Intoxicated by federal power under a Jonathan presidency whose other name is impunity, Obanikoro according to Governor Fashola, used soldiers to stop ongoing public work in Lagos claiming the land belongs to the federal government. He has also been accused of deploying soldiers including some hooded security personnel to intimidate opposition leaders during the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections last year.

     

    Agbaje, who has never managed anything beyond his drug shop, is ill equipped to manage a state as complex as Lagos. Lagosians should troop out in two days time to vote for a party with vision, a party with record of achievements to end the dreams of opportunists bent on playing the ethnic card to cause disharmony in Lagos.

  • Why I dumped PDP, ex-Gov Osunbor

    Why I dumped PDP, ex-Gov Osunbor

    A former Governor of Edo State, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor said he decided to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) because the PDP does not have the interest of the people at heart.

    Speaking at a rally where he formally decamped to the APC, Tuesday, Osunbor said: “sometimes in February 2012, I reflected on my journey in politics and realized that the people in my party at that time (PDP) did not have the interest of the people of Edo State in mind and that was why during that election I cast my vote in favor of the re-election of the Comrade Governor. I told all my supporters across Edo State to give their votes to him and what did we see? 18 over 18.

    “I did that because I was convinced that the Comrade Governor has the interest of the ordinary people at heart but the people in my former party, the PDP, didn’t have the interest of the common man at heart.”

    The former Governor said, “In the local government elections, I supported the ACN as it were then but and all the while I have been supporting the APC and the election of 2 weeks ago, I cast my vote for the candidate of APC and I told my supporters to vote for APC candidates. I also reflected and saw that within APC are my friends. Why should I be in exile while my friends are in APC, so I decided to come home from political exile to realign with the Comrade Governor and APC in Edo State. The government at the Federal is APC and the Government at the State is APC, what will you benefit if you vote for PDP? He asked.

    In his response, Governor Adams Oshiomhole said, “today for me is historic for several reasons. This is the first formal public display of the bond of unity, friendship and comradeship between Prof. Osunbor and Comrade Oshiomhole. I am sure you all know that I took over from Prof. Osunbor under very hostile condition and today it is to his credit, his large heart and my own purity of heart that whereas governors who smoothly change power today are at war against each other in many parts of Nigeria, in Edo State, the immediate past and the present are bonded together by the broom in a common commitment to work and sustain positive changes in our state and indeed in our great country.”

    Oshiomhole added, “Prof. Osunbor, I want to thank you for your courage and for putting the bigger issue before the smaller issue and like you said demonstrating publicly what you have always done with us privately. May God bless your decision and all those who have come with you in their renewed hope in our mission of change.

    “For me, it is a fulfillment of a long dream. Like he said, Prof. has shown a large heart. For many people, once you have a little quarrel they never forgive and politicians are worse for that and like he recalled, before my second reelection, Prof. Osunbor was there for me not secretly, he told everybody to vote for me and he made a statement that will be recorded in our history.

    “There are many who will say, ‘I will never forgive him’ but that is not Prof.  For me, your coming has not just completely healed wounds, it has strengthened us and it will make a very important mark in the heart of many of our young people who should learn the spirit of forgiveness, the spirit of downplaying personal issues and supporting the bigger question.

    He continued: “The election that took place last week has already settled one major problem that we have had in this state, the problem of political godfatherism. That is now buried forever and history will record it in our favor that together we buried godfatherism in our state and in the country. We now have a state that will be led by younger generation of leaders whose actions and interest in politics is about development. We have radically moved away from politics of exclusion to politics of inclusion. From politics of who do you know to politics of everybody matters.”

    While admitting the Professor into the APC family, Oshiomhole assured that a bigger ceremony will be held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium to receive him.

  • Edo: 5,000 PDP youths set to join APC

    Edo: 5,000 PDP youths set to join APC

    Over 5000 youths in Oredo Local Government Area who voted for the Peoples Democratic Party in the March 28, 2015 general elections, are set to dump the party for the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    The PDP youths who were led by their leaders, Victor Oviawe and David Agbonifo Wednesday stormed the office of the APC state youth leader, Comrade Osakpamwan Eriyo where they made their intention to embrace the APC known.

    The youths stated that their visit to Comrade Eriyo was in recognition of his office as the APC state youth leader.

    They urged Comrade Eriyo to use his good offices to ensure that they were properly absorbed into the All Progressive Congress as bonafide members of the party.

    Responding, Comrade Eriyo commended the youths for coming to terms with the reality on ground.

    The Edo APC youth leader stated that the APC holds the prospects for youths in the country, adding that the youths should look beyond mere political gains and think how to build a virile nation.

    He promised to carry their message to the state governor who is the leader of the APC in Edo State.

    He, however, advised the youth to ensure that they have their PVCs .

    Also , Unsettled by the victory of General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the March 28 Presidential election, more chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State are set to desert the party for the APC before Saturday’s general elections.

    Already, with about eight days after Buhari was declared president-elect, over 10,000 PDP members including governorship candidates and principal officers have defected from PDP to APC.

    Unconfirmed report has it that those to defect before Saturday include a prominent Benin chief who is a PDP caucus member and a House of Representative-elect and over 5,000 youths.

    It was reliably gathered that immediately it became clear that President Goodluck Jonathan has failed in his second term bid, prominent chieftains of PDP started talks with APC members who were considered close to Governor Adams Oshiomhole and can carry their message forward to higher authorities.

    It was also gathered that the resolve to move from PDP before Saturday’s election may not be unconnected with the desire to use it as a face saving device in the event that PDP fails in Saturday’s elections, especially as funds were not likely to come from the presidency to prosecute the elections.

    A top official of the PDP confided in Nation that President Jonathan, having lost out in the last elections may not be well disposed to release funds for Saturday’s election.

    Reports have it that inspite of expected poor funding of Saturday’s elections, some PDP leaders said they can only leave the party if the party fails to secure majority members in the House of Assembly .

  • Just Kidding, Just Killing, Just Keeling …

    For Jimi Agbaje, the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the April 11 gubernatorial election, his initials, JK [Jimi Kolawole], have become comely partisan puns … Just Kidding, Just Killing, Just Keeling …

    Just Kidding: was rascally campaign baptism, with Governor Babatunde Fashola, as probable author, pouring cold water on JK’s chances at an election many a pundit had predicted would be the closest in the state’s history.  Mr. Agbaje remains popular among a set of Lagosians; and enjoys name recognition among many others. But his albatross has always been his suspect party. Whether this mix could propel him to the Alausa Ikeja, Lagos House, after PDP’s crushing loss at the March 28 presidential election, is doubtful.

    Just Killing:  is a classical example of guilt by association.  Just Kidding mutated to Just Killing after Gani Adams’s Odu’a People’s Congress (OPC) embarked on its Lagos show of intimidation (looking back now, no more than armed buffoonery), in aid of President Goodluck Jonathan, which second-term triumph would have given JK a fillip, in his gubernatorial bid.

    Indeed, the alleged plot was, had Jonathan triumphed, Mbu Joseph Mbu, the notorious Police Assistant Inspector-General (AIG), over-seeing Zone 2 (Lagos and Ogun Police Commands), would swing into action and, should JK stumble, help muscle the vote.

    Nobody knows, for sure, if that is true.  But given Mr. Mbu’s crass partisan disposition, and rabid penchant to obey illegal orders (as he did as Rivers Commissioner of Police, CP) or gift himself one (as he did as CP, Federal Capital Territory, when he tried to ban the Chibok #BringBackOurGirls lobby, before he got over-ruled by the Inspector-General of Police, IGP),  the allegation sounds apocryphal.

    For JK, however, the OPC Lagos invasion is an electoral tragedy — for JK will end up as the electoral scapegoat.  Gani Adams is a stark carpenter, who developed huge hubris from freak fortune, which brutally exposed his pathetic starkness in politics, where he is a stark illiterate.

    By classical tragedies, Gani is too lowly to be a tragic figure — for he can sink no further.  He is also no Willy Loman, the modern tragic hero in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.  But by JK’s rather reckless empathy with some Ijaw militants’ boasts to wage war should Jonathan lose, JK’s opportunistic mind would appear in tune with the OPC atavistic braggadocio on Lagos streets.  Well, he appears set for the resultant electoral comeuppance on April 11.

    That drives the point to the last pun: Just Keeling.  To tell the truth, JK’s gubernatorial run has been a study in opportunism laced with presumptuousness.  The moment he landed the Lagos gubernatorial ticket, JK boasted he had come to “take over” Lagos; and that his party would rule for 16 years, in the first instance!  From his boast, you would think PDP had much to show as Nigeria’s ruling party!

    Then, though he craftily played down the PDP symbol in his campaign posters, he bravely “backed” Goodluck Jonathan, suggesting he had what it took to cleanse whatever electoral toxicity that came with the Jonathan name!  That was presumption at its most reckless!

    In the heat of the moment, he even got embroiled in the ethnic manoeuvring, between Lagos indigenes and residents, while he joyfully mouthed his cant of saving Lagos from “vested interests”!  The bitter ethnic undercurrent in the lost presidential election also appeared to have set JK up as a brazen face against the interest of his own people, all for crass partisan gains.

    So, JK might just keel over, now that a new political order is emerging.  It is the cruel making of JK as Just Keeling … before the final crash!

     

  • ‘PDP plots to rig Enugu election’

    ‘PDP plots to rig Enugu election’

    The House of Assembly candidates for Awgu North and South on the platform of the Peoples for Democratic Change (PDC) have alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) plots to rig Saturday’s election.

    At a news briefing in Enugu yesterday, the candidates said PDP bigwigs in Awgu had perfected plans to cause confusion with a view to rigging the elections in favour of their candidates.

    Their spokesman, Aja Celestine, urged men of goodwill, security agents and stakeholders to assist them to foil the plan.

    He said their people want change.

    “They are boasting that no matter the voting pattern, the PDP candidate, who is a  leader in the House of Assembly, will be declared winner,” Aja said.

    He added: “Please you people should come to our aide and ensure a free and fair election on Saturday.”

     

  • El-Rufai alleges PDP plans to rig

    El-Rufai alleges PDP plans to rig

    Kaduna State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has exposed alleged plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rig Saturday’s election.

    He said PDP was working to undermine Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and card reader device to ensure rigging.

    The candidate, who featured in a Freedom Radio Kaduna breakfast programme, ‘Barka da Warhaka’, said PDP is recruiting and arming thugs to disrupt the poll.

    El-Rufai alleged that the PDP-led government had imported armed thugs to perpetrate rigging, besides sinister dealings with some unprincipled Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials,  to aid their sinister motive.

    He said no one would perpetrate crisis and go free, adding: “It is not war or fight, it is supposed to be a contest. So, no one will escape prosecution if he incites crisis. The incoming government of President-elect Muhammadu Buhari will look into all cases.”

     

  • PDP laments mass defections

    THE leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lamented the gale of defections of some of its prominent members to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Following the victory of the APC at the presidential election, members of the PDP have been defecting to the APC in droves, a situation the PDP described as painful and sad.

    At a media briefing in Abuja yesterday, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said it was immoral for the members to defect simply because the party lost the presidential election to the APC.

    His words: “Defection is lawful, but it is immoral to change party because we lost the presidential election. What values and legacy are they leaving for their children.

    “We want committed members to remain in the party. Fair weather members are free to go, but committed ones will stay.”

    Metuh accused the leadership of the APC of luring PDP members, including ministers and legislators, with mouthwatering offers, with the aim of depleting the ranks of the PDP.

    He said: “Recall that we had earlier told Nigerians that the APC had no clear agenda on how to govern our dear country. Rather than concentrate on how to manage the mandate they now hold, they have resorted to seeking ways to stifle opposition and impose a one-party system and complete totalitarian rule in our country.

    “Reports reaching the PDP leadership from across the country show that the APC has been desperately seeking ways to destabilise our ranks and weaken our formations by approaching some senior members of our National Executive Committee (NEC) with phantom promises and threats ostensibly to use them to inject crisis in our fold and pave way for our elected members to cross over to APC.

    “Furthermore, the PDP has it on good authority that part of this agenda of the APC is to intimidate and harass our members, especially officials who served under our administration.

    “However, we wish to state in very unequivocal terms that the PDP leadership under the chairmanship of Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu will not condone any witch-hunt on any of our elected and appointed officers, including state governors, ministers, legislators and others who served with clean records, as such will be met with stiff resistance within the ambits of the principles of democracy.

    “We will do everything humanly possible within the rules to defend democratic principles and ethics, which we have successfully nourished in the past 16 years. On this note, we charge our members to be vigilant and continue to work with our leaders at all levels.

    “Because we are convinced that the APC lacks what it takes to sustain our democracy, the PDP is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that it returned to power in the next four years to save the nation’s democracy and re-channel our vision of a greater Nigeria.

    “The PDP strongly believes that our democratic journey got this far because of the open space our administration gave to all political players, including the APC, and we will not, even in the role of opposition, watch our nation slide into dictatorship.”

  • Gbemi Saraki, PDP youth leader defect to APC in Kwara

    Gbemi Saraki, PDP youth leader defect to APC in Kwara

    At last a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara state, Senator Gbemisola Saraki Tuesday, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

    Also, the party’s State Youth Leader, Chief Segun Olawoyin formally announced his defection to APC

    While Gbemisola announced her decision in Ilorin, Olawoyin made his declaration at a colourful ceremony in Offa, Offa local government area of the state.

    The two leaders urged their supporters to vote massively for the party on Saturday.

    Senator Saraki said she had joined the APC a fortnight ago but only needed to formalise the defection.

    She said she was humiliated by some leaders because of her identity as a Saraki offspring.

    She said: “Several friends and associates have asked me why we moved and I have responded by telling them that the reasons are not farfetched; the reason is as important as who we are as political organization. Our ideology finds roots in championing the cause of the grassroots; upholding equity and justice, and especially the vision for a meaningful and passionate leadership. We believe that a true leadership must be predicated on certain values that must be sacrosanct, which must also follow the sanctity of democratic ethos.

    “When we joined Kwara PDP, it was for the main reason of enlarging these inalienable values and re-engineering the processes of leadership through the party in order to mirror the true aspirations of Kwarans. Considering the circumstance of the party at the State level, we knew we had to work harder and make sacrifices to deliver a party that would represent the yearnings of our people.

    “However, the ensuing pattern of animosity within PDP was strongly placing our ideology on the crosshair of political attacks by elements within the party. Furthermore, the party was evidently hijacked from evolving into a political force that can accommodate the broad interests of the people but allowed to tarry to the selfish ambitions of some elements within its fold.

    “Thus, instead of presenting pragmatic solutions and workable templates for developing Kwara, the party abandoned presenting alternative policies and went on meaninglessly attacking and castigating not only the opposition, but even those within the party, especially my very self for no other good reason other than the accident of my birth; a birth of which, by the way, I am very proud of.

    “The last straw however, was the failure of the PDP to respect the place of women in politics as a basis of an inclusive template of leadership.

    “We therefore have come to the sad realization that the seeming marginalization of women in the PDP is deeply embedded in the party system and leadership and all attempts to cause a change from within have been met with brick walls and blatant prejudices against women leadership.

    “The choice was therefore clear – a constricted, backward vision of Kwara, which the opposition represents, or a bold step into the future that guarantees fairness, justice and hope. Thus, the move from the PDP into the APC was an easy decision for us considering our history with PDP and our vision for our future.

    “After wide consultations, we found in APC a platform that mirrors the ideals of our political family both in content and context especially with under the leadership of General Muhammdu Buhari.

    “We are assured in the promise of the APC for a new Nigeria. We are confident in the commitment of the President-elect to social justice, rule of law and economic posterity for all.”

    Olawoyin said that he had earlier in the day attended a meeting of PDP members set to defect to the APC.

    He was convinced the end had come for the PDP given the calibre of people he saw at the meeting.

    He hinged his decision to dump the PDP to the call of his community pointing out that while he remained in the PDP his people had consistently pleaded with him to team up with the progressives.

    “With Gbemi Saraki also coming to the APC it means the synergy between the Sarakis and Olawoyin political families will only get stronger.”

    He added that that his sojourn in the PDP was full of disappointments.

  • Ex-Niger SSG, over 5,000 PDP members join APC

    Ex-Niger SSG, over 5,000 PDP members join APC

    Former Secretary to Niger State government, Comrade Adams Erena Tuesday pulled out over 5,000 critical stakeholders in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Minna, the state capital.

    The former SSG, a former National Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and all other decampees, which include a member of the state House of Assembly, former Commissioners, local government chairmen and former PDP grassroot leaders were received at a mega rally in Minna.

    Party leader and deputy governor of the state, Hon. Ahmed Musa Ibeto, who dumped PDP last January while receiving the decampees challenged them to work for the success of the party in Saturday‘ governorship and state assembly elections.

    Ibeto assured the decampees that they will be accorded equal rights and privileges of old members as the party is known for justice, equity and fairness.

    He urged them to add value to the electoral fortunes of the party by ensuring the victory of the party in their wards and constituencies during Saturday elections.

    “We receive you unconditionally, I congratulate you all for joining the winning train at the right time, although we have won the three senatorial seats and all the house of representatives but it is not over until our gubernatorial candidate wins, am sure we will not allowed any other party to win even one councilor in Niger state”.

    Elated with the calibre of decampees, the party chairman, Engineer Mohammed Imam said their joining will strengthened and unify the party assuring them of peace and justice which will be maintained for the progress of the party.

    The party’s standard bearer, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello said the fortunes of the party had continued to increase since the coming on board of Hon. Ibeto, the deputy governor to the party.

    Bello then promised to work with the decampees without discrimination to take the state to the next level.

    The party Chairman for contact/ mobilization, Alhaji Abubakar Magaji who presented the decampees to the party described the people as ‘critical stakeholders’ from PDP.

  • April 11 Poll: Ondo PDP gives Mimiko condition

    April 11 Poll: Ondo PDP gives Mimiko condition

    Ahead of this Saturday state house of assembly and governorship elections in Ondo state, Some aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have set up a 25-man committee to meet with governor Olusegun Mimiko and table the conditions on which they can only work for the success of the PDP candidates in the election.

    The members, mainly the old PDP in the state arrived at the conditions at a meeting at the party Secretariat in Owo local government.

    ‎The old PDP wants Mimiko to involve them in all activities of the party, give them separate mobilization funds for the coming elections and he must deal directly with members of the committee they set up.

    In the meeting chaired by a Chieftain of the party, Hon. Femi Adekanmbi blamed the woeful performance of the party in the last Presidential and National Assembly Polls on imposition of candidates by Mimiko.

    He noted that during the process of the elections, old members of the party were marginalised in all aspect most especially in the mobilization of fund sent to the state.

    Adekanmbi said “We took some resolutions in the meeting, some said we should go and join APC, others said we should remain in PDP and give the governor conditions that he must recognized old PDP and a committee has been set up to meet with the governor and come out with decisions on the way forward latest by Tuesday.

    “We are going to inform the governor personally that if he wants us to remain in PDP, the old members must be respected and carried along in all activities of the party. The people also said they must be Mobilised with fund separately from that of new members and that if the governor wants his candidates to win, he not must not deal with anybody except the committee set up by them.

    “If the governor fails to meet the conditions given, he should be expecting another woeful performance from the party. As at now, series of meetings are going on by leaders of old PDP members in the State but someone like me, I refused to attend but I preferred to hold a meeting with my people in my primary constituency which is Owo and Ose.

    “It is unfortunate that governor Mimiko allowed thing to degenerate to this level. We must move on. I pray things can still be redeemable, otherwise, I have my fear. Imposition of candidates caused Jonathan the chance to lose Owo, take for instance in Owo, he went to impose somebody that was not popular.

    “They pleaded to him that he should change the candidates but he insisted that he will win and I think the people showed to Mimiko that he is not God. Imposition of candidate and the other one is finance, these are the things that worked against PDP. Nobody among the old has money to work with. They only used the token I gave them and the one from senator Bode Olajumoke which was his own personal money to work on that day.

    “It is so sad that President Goodluck Jonathan brought billions of naira to Ondo State and old PDP in Owo and Ose do not have a dime from the money. It was only the new PDP who sat on them and no one naira was disbursed for the old PDP members. So that was where the failure came from. If the governor can fulfill the condition fine, but if not, the APC here we come.”