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Tag: PDP

  • Eight aspirants jostle for Niger PDP’s ticket

    Eight aspirants jostle for Niger PDP’s ticket

    Eight aspirants are jostling for the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State.

    They include the Deputy Governor, Ahmed Ibeto; Commissioner for Works Mu’azu Rijau; the Chief of Staff, Umar Nasko; Wushisishi Local Government Chairman Saidu Abubakar Wushishi; and four other party members.

    Governor Mu’azu Aliyu disclosed this yesterday in Minna, the state capital, at the opening of the State Investment Climate Summit.

    He said Ibeto and Rijau had given him their letters of intent and Nasko was still consulting.

  • ‘PDP’ll be fair to all aspirants’

    ‘PDP’ll be fair to all aspirants’

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman in Edo State Dan Orbih has assured that the party will be fair to all aspirants during the forthcoming primaries.

    He said: “This is to ensure our party produces the right candidates who would represent the state at the national level next year.”

    Orbih gave the assurance at the party’s secretariat in Benin City when the National Coordinator of the PDP Reloaded, Richard Lamai, declared his senatorial ambition.

    Lamai said :”My ambition is driven by the desire to provide a visionary leadership for the people of Edo North so that the abundant human and natural resources of the area can be harnessed for development.

    “Edo North is witnessing lack lustre representation at the Senate, this is what I want to change and that is why I’m in the race.”

  • PDP changes its decision on Sambo

    PDP changes its decision on Sambo

    •’He’s part of a winning team’

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) changed its position yesterday on the fate of Vice President Namadi Sambo.

    At a briefing on Sunday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, was equivocal on whether the automatic ticket given to the President by the party also covered the Vice President.

    He said the party ceded the power to choose a running mate to the President.

    The party’s National Executive Committee’s endorsement of Jonathan was silent on Sambo.

    But Metuh, in another statement yesterday, said Sambo was part of the “winning team”.

    Said he: “There is no doubt whatsoever that the Vice President has the implicit confidence of the President.

    “The PDP is therefore very pleased that they are working together in actualising the transformation agenda to the popular acclaim of Nigerians and the international community.

    “We wish to place on record as well that the 66th NEC meeting of our great party, which endorsed President Jonathan as the sole candidate of the PDP for the 2015 general elections, responsibly reasoned and anchored this decision on the outstanding performance of the Jonathan presidency of which Vice President Sambo is an integral part.

    “This motion, which was unanimously endorsed by NEC, left no room for any form of speculation, as Senator Jim Nwobodo, who seconded it, expressly hailed both the President and his deputy for lifting the banner of the PDP very high, while  praying the NEC to approve the motion.”

    Metuh also attempted to modify his earlier statement that Jonathan had yet to communicate his acceptance of the party’s unanimous endorsement of his candidature.

    “This statement is to clarify obvious misinterpretation arising from the party’s  position at the world news conference yesterday, where it averred that the President was yet to accept the sole presidential candidacy offered by its NEC”.

    Metuh’s statement, however, did not state categorically if the President had communicated his acceptance to the party.

  • Imo PDP reconciliation meeting deadlocked

    Imo PDP reconciliation meeting deadlocked

    •Ararume urges equal opportunity for aspirants

    The meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Integration Committee aimed at reconciling the governorship aspirants in Imo State to reduce their number ended in a stalemate yesterday.

    The committee, led by a former National Chairman of the party, Ahmadu Ali, held a closed-door meeting with the over 22 aspirants.

    But the major contender and House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha was absent.

    A party chieftain, who attended the meeting but spoke in confidence, told our reporter that the committee raised concern about the number of aspirants and set up another committee, headed by a member of the Board of Trustee (BoT), Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu.

    The source said there was no agreement between the Ali-led committee and the aspirants, especially on zoning and a consensus candidate.

    According to him, zoning, which was in favour of Owerri, did not go down well with former Governor Ikedi Ohakim and Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, who are both from Okigwe zone.

    On the absence of Ihedioha at the meeting, the source said: “Ihedioha did not boycott the meeting as being insinuated. He sent a representative because he could not attend, due to other party engagements. I can tell you authoritatively that he was in touch with the state officials of the party on the meeting and even donated a new bus to the youth wing of the party.”

    The source dispelled the rumour that Ihedioha might be adopted as a consensus candidate.

    He said: “Even though Ihedioha is one of the front runners, all the aspirants will be given a level-playing field. Nobody has been adopted. That was not on the agenda of the meeting.”

    Ararume said the meeting did not threaten the ambition of the aspirants.

    He said: “The meeting is not going to jeopardise any aspirant’s ambition. Rather, the intention is to make the people work together to make the party move forward.”

  • APC floors PDP at tribunal

    The Election Petition Tribunal sitting at Magistrate Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has upheld the election of the Chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council, Alhaji Abubakar Giri of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 16, 2013, council election.

    In a unanimous judgment, the Chairman of the three-member tribunal, Justice Binta Mohammed, said the chairmanship election held on March 16, 2013, was conducted in a substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.

    According to her, the election conducted across the 10 wards of  Gwagwalada Area Council where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 11, 323 votes and All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 11, 525 votes was in order.

    “In view of the foregoing, the petitioners failed to substantiate their claims. This petition, therefore, lacks merit and is hereby dismissed,” she said.

    The Chairmanship candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muspha, had filed a petition, through his counsel, Chief Karina Tunya (SAN) before the tribunal challenging the declaration of Giri as the duly elected chairman of Gwagwalada council by INEC.

    The PDP had contended that the election conducted at Kofar-Gida and at Giri Kpeseli polling units of Gwako Ward was not in compliance to the Electoral Act as contained in the INEC guideline and election manual for 2011and alleged gross irregularities.

    But counsel to the respondent, Chief Ologun Orisha (SAN) represented by Barrister Samuel Zhibiri, described the judgment as a sound and well-researched one, adding that the judgment was very articulate and apt.

    However, counsel to the PDP, Chief Karina Tunya (SAN), disagreed with the judgment of the tribunal, saying the tribunal had failed to properly evaluate and analyse all evidences tendered before it.

    “Documents that are supposed to be rejected were admitted. So, we will definitely appeal the tribunal’s judgment,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the chairman of the council, Alhaji Giri, who spoke with reporters after the judgment, said the judgment has proved that he truly won the March 16, 2013, chairmanship election of the council. He was accompanied by his predecessor, Alhaji Zakari Angulu-Dobi, FCT APC Chairman, Alhaji Usman Abdulmalik; Secretary of the council and Alhaji Usman Yahaya.

    He said: “My victory at the tribunal was not only for me, but also for the entire residents of the council. I call on members of the PDP in the council to join hands with my administration to move the council forward.”

  • PDP’s reward for Jonathan

    Just like the experiences in the past regimes in Nigeria’s history, President Goodluck Jonathan is not only being asked to contest the 2015 Presidential election, but he has also been declared sole Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).,

    The PDP Governors’ Forum and the Board of Trustees (BoT), on Wednesday last week, followed by the National Executive Committee of the party on Thursday endorsed him as the sole presidential candidate of the party.

    Jonathan was said to have delayed declaring his ambition to run for re-election because he was busy brainstorming and marshaling out strategies to deliver his 2011 campaign promises to Nigerians.,

    The lingering security challenges, the abduction of the over 200 girls from Government Girls’ Secondary School Chibok in Borno State and the recent importation of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) into the country, among other issues, were said to have robbed the President the right atmosphere to declare his ambition before now.

    The Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, had, a year ago, challenged him to make his intentions known to Nigerians latest by October, last year.

    But now, almost a year after the call and few months to the February, 2015 election, Jonathan has accepted the sole candidacy offered him by the party.

    Before the President accepted the sole candidacy, many rallies have been held in several parts of the country pushing for his continuity in office.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), and other stakeholders in Nigeria, have, however, consistently faulted the PDP rallies, which they said were against the provisions of the Electoral Act.

    The rallies, they claimed, were giving the ruling party undue advantage and preventing a level playing field for all prospective candidates of the various political parties.

    They had called on the ruling party to wait till the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gives the go-ahead for political campaigns to begin.

    The PDP had denied embarking on campaigns for the 2015 general elections as the rallies were said not to be selling specific candidates to Nigerians but only providing avenues to receive new members to the party.

    Many unions and organisations in the past one year, genuinely or out of eye-service or strategising for what they will get from the government, have also pledged their support for Jonathan’s continuity in 2015.

    Some groups in the North have, however, insisted over the years that Jonathan signed a bond to run for only one term which is expected to end next year.

    According to them, power should return to the North in 2015 in accordance with the bond.

    But the Presidency had denied the existence of any bond and maintained that Jonathan was entitled to run for a second term in office in line with the 1999 Constitution.

    At the BoT press conference in the Presidential Villa, which announced Jonathan as the party’s sole candidate, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu had claimed that the BoT’s action was a reward to Jonathan for his hard work and giant strides in transforming the country and properly steering the ship of state.

    He said: “You must remember that consensus building is also part of democracy. For us in the PDP, we believe that the BoT is the conscience of the party.

    “So, if the BoT has agreed to endorse Mr. President as the candidate of the party, what we are simply saying is that we are persuading every member of the party to accept that position.

    “So, we are not going to force any person, but we are making a strong statement; we are persuading our people strongly to accept this position for the reasons earlier mentioned. It is also important for us to know that we need to reward hard work, we need to reward commitment, we need to reward achievement and we need to reward performance.”

    Just as in the past, some registered political parties may soon toe the line of the ruling party by endorsing Jonathan as their sole candidate.

    Even with all these endorsements, the period leading to the PDP convention and primaries will show if all PDP members planning to run for the Presidency have shelved their plans, or will slug it out at the convention or quickly move to the opposition parties before the door is shut against them.

  • 2015: Sambo part of winning team – PDP

    2015: Sambo part of winning team – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has decried attempts by a section of the media to cause rift between President Goodluck Jonathan and his Vice, Namadi Sambo, ahead of 2015 general election.

    A statement issued in Abuja on Monday by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, expressed the party’s implicit satisfaction in the working relationship between Jonathan and Sambo.

    It restated the overwhelming confidence of the party in a winning team that had transformed Nigeria in less than four years in spite of challenges.

    ‘‘There is no doubt whatsoever that the vice president has the implicit confidence in the president.

    ‘‘The PDP is, therefore, very pleased that they are working together in actualising the transformation agenda to the popular acclaim of both Nigerians and the international community.

    According to the statement, the 66th National Executive Committee meeting of PDP which endorsed Jonathan as the sole candidate of PDP for 2015 presidential election, anchored it on outstanding performance of the “Jonathan presidency.”

    The statement said further that vice president Sambo was an integral part of the “Jonathan presidency.”

    ‘‘This motion, which was unanimously endorsed by NEC left no room for any form of speculation, ‘’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the party as saying in the statement.

     

  • Jonathan to determine Sambo’s fate

    Jonathan to determine Sambo’s fate

    •PDP cedes power to pick running mate to President

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has given President Goodluck Jonathan the power to pick his running mate after his endorsement by all the party’s organs.

    Vice-President Namadi Sambo’s fate is hanging in the balance —going by this decision.

    The endorsement by the governors, the Board of Trustees (BoT) and the National Executive Committee (NEC), forecloses a Presidential Primary amid speculations about the fate of Vice President Namadi Sambo.

    There was no mention of the Vice President by the organs while endorsing Jonathan.

    But yesterday, the party said Jonathan is free to determine Sambo’s fate.

    National Publicity Secretary Olisa Metuh at a news conference in Abuja yesterday warned party members against what he described as “unhealthy speculations” regarding the choice of Jonathan’s running mate.

    Metuh said: “The President is yet to communicate his acceptance of the endorsement to the party and the nation.

    “We should wait for the President to announce his running mate instead of jumping the gun. I believe the incumbent Vice President enjoys the confidence of the President”.

    A number of prominent chieftains of the party, particularly some serving governors from the Northwest zone, are believed to be jostling to edge out  Sambo.

    The general perception within the party is that Sambo’s electoral value in his Kaduna State base has continued to diminish at an alarming rate, a situation which they believe could adversely affect the party’s electoral fortune in the zone.

    Also, the leadership of the party has given its members nationwide the go ahead to attend the plethora of pro Jonathan rallies, ostensibly being funded by volunteer groups.

    Only last week, the party banned its elected officials from attending such rallies, apparently to detach the leadership from the sponsored rallies.

    Metuh who announced the lifting on the ban also said the party would undertake a nationwide project tour, starting from today.

    According to him, the tour, which would also cover insurgent-ravaged Yobe and Borno States, is meant to showcase the achievements of the party at the local, state and federal levels.

    “Indeed, there is no state, local government or ward in Nigeria that has not been positively affected by projects executed by PDP governments at federal, state and local government levels.

    “Such projects abound in non-PDP states and many Nigerians erroneously give credit to the opposition, which they eagerly accept.

    “Also, in states formerly controlled by the PDP, such as Edo, Rivers, Nasarawa, Kano, Sokoto, Kwara, among others, the opposition parties, now in control are laying claims to our projects.

    “This tour will ‘recover’ our projects claimed by the opposition and return the credit to the PDP.

    “We therefore urge all Nigerians to be part of this laudable project as we catalogue our collective successes under the PDP-led administration.

    “In this regard, we wish to state that as we embark on our performance tours, we will no longer focus on answering to diatribes of the opposition.

    “Our answer to such is that we meet at the polls in 2015. All members of the party are by this directed to comply accordingly”, Metuh said.

     

  • Tinubu’s return exposes PDP lies, says APC

    Tinubu’s return exposes PDP lies, says APC

    The grand return of former Lagos State governor and national leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu after a three-week vacation in London has further exposed the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a party of gossipers and false fabricators, who live on chasing the wind, the Lagos State APC has said.

    In a statement yesterday by the Publicity Secretary of the party, Joe Igbokwe,  the APC said it is shameful that the PDP, which was “hallucinating” about taking over an educated, enlightened and sophisticated state like Lagos should thrive on gossips and lies about the health status of Asiwaju Tinubu.

    Igbokwe said the PDP tried to con Lagosians by manufacturing lies and gossip about the health status of Tinubu.

    “How good it is to debunk lies, how wonderful it is to counter mischief? How sweet it is to disprove rumour and false fabrication than the arrival of a hale, agile and spotless Asiwaju to Lagos the very day Lagos PDP released their usual nauseous gossip insinuating that Asiwaju is ill? It goes to expose their minds as that of hollow and clueless gossip and vendors of lies,” Igbokwe said.

    He also described as satanic the allegations by the PDP as published in some national newspapers that Lagosians were paying the medical bills of Asiwaju. “The party manufactured an illness for Tinubu when there was none and went further to con stories of Lagos tax-payers paying illusory bills for a concocted hospital bill paid by imaginary tax-payers.”

  • ‘PDP candidate must stop propagating falsehood’

    ‘PDP candidate must stop propagating falsehood’

    The All Progressives Congress has appealed to the media to be careful about the falsehood by the state’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Iyiola Omisore, to allegedly manipulate information to distort facts about Osun politics and the August 9 governorship election.

    Its Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, in a statement yesterday, said that it was disturbed by the repetitive falsehood of Omisore in the last three years over  Rufus Akeju.

    The APC said Omisore had been lying against Akeju and the APC that the former ambassador was a protégé of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and had bias for Tinubu’s political affiliation; first for the ACN and now for the APC.

    The party said: “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has refused to accept Omisore’s allegations against Akeju, except Omisore can substantiate them with incontrovertible evidence in the court of law.

    “For three years now, Omisore has avoided the court, yet he keeps propagating falsehood in the media, believing that Nigerians generally, and Osun people in particular were so unintelligent that they can hardly distinguished truth from falsehood.

    “The insult on the intelligence of Nigerians has to stop. And only the media can stop it.”

    It stated this yesterday while reacting to Omisore’s allegation that Prof. Attahiru Jega has redeployed Akeju to Osun to frustrate PDP’s petition at the tribunal.

    Omisore was reported to have addressed reporters in Osogbo last Saturday, alleging that the purpose Akeju was returned to Osun by Jega was to ‘stultify, scuttle, frustrate and hinder the process of inspecting the electoral materials used for the August poll by installing obstacles to slow or hinder the PDP’s efforts to inspect the materials.

    But the party said Omisore tried to further play on the intelligence of everybody by rehearsing a dead event when he referred to a so-called Federal High Court injunction, preventing Akeju from parading himself as Osun REC. The INEC immediately appealed that ruling.

    “But the PDP, in a strange move, went back to the court to withdraw the case. That move by the PDP surprised the judge who had adjourned the matter sine die since 2010 till date

    “In effect Akeju stands vindicated until proved guilty of allegation against his integrity by Omisore and the PDP.

    The APC therefore challenged Omisore to show Nigerians and the world through the media what contrary judgment he had to show that Akeju was compromised.