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Tag: PDP

  • Winners and losers

    Winners and losers

    Both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prepared well for the governorship election. But, there were some principal characters whose involvement shaped the contest. These stakeholders are the winners and losers of the contest.

     

    Winners: APC

    Few months ago, the party was down in Ekiti State. During the governorship election, its candidate, Governor Kayode Fayemi, lost to the PDP candidate, Mr. Ayodele Fayose. The outcome of the poll was surprising because the governor has performed in office. The PDP had boasted that its victory meant that it was now well positioned to recapture the Southwest. But, the it is now a draw. The APC has maintained its hold in Osun, despite its defeat in Ekiti.

     

    Tinubu

    No doubt, the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s leader. The governor, who had served under him in Lagos as Commissioner for Works for almost eight years,  is a dependable and loyal party man. Tinubu played a major role in his ascension to power in Osun State.  Although Tinubu is a national figure, the Southwest is his primary base. He is the leader of the progressives in the region. When Ekiti was recaptured, it was insinuated that his sphere of influence had reduced. But, with the victory of Aregbesola, the party has received the tonic to forge ahead into 2015 electoral battle.

     

    Akande

    The elder statesman is a father figure to the progressive bloc in Osun State. In 2003, the former APC Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, lost the governorship election to former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola. It was painful to lovers of progress and prudence. Now, the second term he could not achieve or what he lost to alleged rigging has now been achieved by one of his political children.

     

    Aregbesola

    His victory can be described as the triumph of the people’s will over the federal might. The stomach infrastructure theory collapsed. Aregbesola fought for three years to regain his stolen mandate. In almost four years, he has demonstrated the brilliance of a patriot, astute administrator and performer. A week to the poll, a Lagos APC chieftain said it would be difficult for to rehabilitate Aregbesola by the APC, if he is defeated or rigged out. “He has been working and there is no evidence that he has amassed wealth. He deserves victory. I know he will win, but we must not sleep on guard,” said the legislator. With his endorsement for continuity, he has emerged as one of the undisputed leaders of Osun politics in post-Bola Ige era and the toast of the people.

     

    Adeleke

    The former governor, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, defected from the APC to the PDP, few months before the poll. He was harassed on the eve of the election by policemen who covered their faces to avoid being identified. The PDP had picked Hon. Adejare Bello from Ede, his base, as Omisore’s running mate. The former Speaker of the House of Assembly had boasted to deliver the area to the PDP. But, it amounted to day dreaming. The success of the APC in Ede has affirmed Adeleke’s stature and popularity at home.

     

    Adeyeye and his team

    Prof. Sola Adeyeye, the vocal senator from Osun Central, was the Chairman of Rauf Aregbesola Campaign Organisation. He and members of his team organised rallies and campaigns for the governor. He was not afraid of molestation by security agents. When the Acting Inspector General of Police Abba visited the state, he complained about the victimisation of the APC members. “I have signed my will”, he said, daring the security agents.

     

    Osun voters

    Osun has the highest number of urban centres and towns in the country. Across the three districts and six zones, Aregbesola is loved by the people. Although they were wooed with cash gifts and food stuffs, they voted for their conscience. They trooped out in large numbers to exercise their voting rights. In particular, they also shunned unruly behaviour. Not only did they vote for the governor, they also defended their votes.

     

    INEC

    The electoral agency also conducted a fairly credible poll. Complaints by stakeholders during the election were responded to by the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Olusegun Agbaje. Polling officers reported for duty in time. There was no shortage of polling officers, ballot boxes and papers. Unlike 2007,there was no aiding and abetting. INEC staff did not collude with security agents to abort the wish of the people.

     

    Losers:  PDP

    The greatest loser is the PDP. The party has been checkmated in its bid to recapture the Southwest. Politically, President Goodluck Jonathan may have an axe to grind with Aregbesola because he could not garner votes from the state at the 2011 presidential election. That was due to the governor’s influence. The PDP was said to have invested a lot in the exercise, in terms of logistics. The outcome of the election has shown that there is a limitation to the power of federal incumbency.

     

    President Jonathan

    When the President visited Osun State for campaign, he boasted that PDP chieftains would return to the state for the inauguration of Senator Iyiola Omisore as governor. Instructively, the President could not point to the achievement of his administration in the Southwest state in the last three and half years. He said he would speak on his achievements after Omisore might have won the poll.

     

    Omisore and Bello

     

    The politician from Ile-Ife is a veteran governorship aspirant. His ambition to rule the state started during the Abacha days. Indeed, it was said that the Alliance for Democracy (AD), which fielded Akande as its flag bearer in 1999 relied on Omisore’s structure to win the poll. In 2002, the former deputy governor showed interest in the governorship. He left for the PDP, contested the senatorial election in detention and won. He was re-elected in 2007. But, in 2011, he was defeated by his kinsman, Senator Babajide Omoworare. The PDP candidate, who emerged as the PDP flag bearer at a rancorous shadow poll, was determined to dislodge Aregbesola. Like his Ekiti State counterpart, he indulged on riding okada to rallies. He was also sighted on the street eating corn and roasted plantain. But, he was rejected by the people. Although he garnered substantial votes from his town, Ile-Ife , they were inadequate to make him governor. Before the poll, Omisore’s running mate, Bello said that he would pull the rug of Adeleke’s feet at home. But, after the close of the poll, he failed to deliver.

     

    Southwest PDP

    The crisis-ridden zonal chapter was motivated by its marginal success in Ekiti to challenge the APC to a duel in its stronghold. Its members holding important positions in the Federal Government threw their weight behind the PDP candidate. Among them were the Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro and  his Police Affairs counterpart, Jelili Adesiyan. The Chairman of the Contact and Mobilisation Committee, Buruji Kashamu, also gave a helping hand. But, the rainbow coalition could not match the APC arsenal.

     

     

     

     

  • Six injured as PDP thugs clash in Gombe

    Six injured as PDP thugs clash in Gombe

    Six people were injured when thugs loyal to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clashed yesterday at the durbar, organised in honour of Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State in Kumo.

    It was gathered that Governor Dankwambo, who wanted to attend the occasion, called off the trip following the clash.

    Secretary to the Gombe State Government (SSG) Alhaji Abubakar Sulei Bage was sent to represent him.

    Chief of Staff, Gombe Government House Alhaji Ahmed Yayari described the incident as embarrassing to the party and the Kumo, who he said are united politically.

    He decried the involvement of youths and advised to desist from violence.

    Yayari called on parents and guardians to call their children and wards to order.

    “I am assuring you, Lamido Akko that I will come with my politician brothers so that we can jointly amend the characters of the youths of this town (Kumo)”, he promised.

    Eyewitnesses said trouble started around 1:15 pm when factions loyal to the member representing Akko, who chairs the Police Affairs Committee, Alhaji Usman Bello Kumo (a.k.a. Mega) and those of the Commissioner for Education and aspirant to the same seat, Hajiya Nana Aishatu Ahmed, clashed.

    They said: “At about 1:15 pm when people were gathering at the Emir of Kumo’s Palace for the durbar, youths chanting slogans of one of the prominent politicians stormed homes of their opponents and attacked them with weapons.

    “Over six persons were rushed to the Kumo General Hospital.

    Although sources said one person died, it was gathered that no life was lost.

    The timely intervention of the police helped in restoring peace to Kumo.

     

     

  • Elechi: Speaker was never impeached

    Elechi: Speaker was never impeached

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ebonyi State chapter, said yesterday that the impeached Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Chukwuma Nwazunku, was never impeached.

    It said the issue, which led to the impeachment, was not good enough to justify it.

    Nwazunku was impeached on July 21 by 18 of the 24 lawmakers, but he described the action as illegal.

    PDP, after a meeting with the legislators, told reporters that its findings showed that the Speaker was never impeached.

    The party’s position was made known by Governor Martin Elechi at the secretariat in Abakaliki.

    He said Nwazunku remains the Speaker.

    The governor added that the decision to reinstate Nwazunku is not negotiable.

    The Minority Leader, Enyi C. Enyi, described the party’s interference in the matter as unconstitutional.

    “It is unconstitutional for anybody who is not a member of the House to interfere in its internal affairs.”

    He said no person, except a court, could declare Nwazunku’s impeachment as illegal.

  • PDP, APC supporters clash in Ife

    Supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) clashed yesterday in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

    It was learnt that PDP supporters allegedly attacked APC members, who were celebrating Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s re-election.

    Many people were injured.

    Police spokes person Mrs. Folasade Odoro said she was unaware of the clash.

    The APC urged its supporters to be calm in the face of provocation.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Kunle Oyatomi, the APC said: “Reports reaching our secretariat in Ile-Ife say the PDP has gone on a rampage against APC supporters, who were celebrating Aregbesola’s victory in last Saturday’s election.

    “Besides the physical injuries inflicted on our supporters, the PDP thugs extended their violence to Gbodo, where they attacked and damaged properties belonging to the father of the Executive Secretary of Ife South Local Government, Tajuden Lawal.

    “They also vandalised shops in Itakogun. Fortunately, we are told the police have intervened and the situation has normalised. As much as possible, we must avoid violence.”

  • Kwankwaso: Aregbesola’s re-election is lesson for all

    Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has described Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s re-election as “a big lesson for Nigerians and a success for democracy, which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should learn from.

    Kwankwaso, who spoke with The Nation yesterday in his office, said: “The election in Osun State is a big lesson to all of us. It is a success for democracy, the people of Osun, APC and those on the other side of the political divide.

    “I thank the Almighty God that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has started in the right direction and I hope it will continue to do the right thing, despite the intimidation I believe it is facing.

    “One should commend the PDP’s national leadership for congratulating the governor and people of Osun. I think that is courageous, but I do not believe they mean it. I am taking it on face value.

    “I am not surprised by the position of the party in the state, because the story they took to the Presidential Villa before the election is completely different from what was on the ground and certainly different from the outcome of the election.

    “Somebody in the system, who can read in between the lines, believes that they collected so much and wanted to justify the resources they collected.

    I advise them to see what they collected as part of the missing money well-meaning Nigerians raised the alarm about. These people should be happy that they have gotten their own share and we hope that other state party chapters will do the same during future elections.

    “The people should take as much as they can and do what they think is right on the election day. The PDP is more desperate than ever to maintain the status quo, but Nigerians want change. The ideology of our party, the APC, is to bring everybody together – Christians and Muslims, rich and poor, North and South and all other divides.”

  • I stand tall, says Omisore

    Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Senator Iyiola Omisore, who was defeated by Governor Rauf Aregbesola in last Saturday’s election, has finally spoken.

    He said: “I stand tall to assure my supporters that their efforts will not be in vain, as I have resolved to continue to provide leadership until the Osun State of our dream is realised.”

    In a statement yesterday, Omisore thanked his supporters for their votes.

    He said: “Despite the outcome of the poll, Osun people will not accept anything short of good governance and would no longer be taken for granted, as we have opened the floodgate of democratic challenge, which no force on earth can stop.

    “I shall be at the forefront as our people continue to press for the real dividends of democracy and the expansion of the democratic space in our dear state.”

    He said the PDP’s situation office was analysing the result of the election, adding that the party would make its findings public.

    Urging his supporters to remain calm, law-abiding and peace loving, he said: “I am a democrat to the core and the whole essence of our involvement in politics is the love for our people and a personal commitment to the peace, progress and development of our fatherland.

    “Our guiding principle is that Osun must not be governed in the old ways anymore and August 9 has given the demography of the change-seeking people. I appeal to my people to keep hope alive as we stand shoulder to shoulder to continue what we have started, with the objective of raising the bar of leadership in our state.”

    Quoting Theodore Roosevelt, the PDP candidate said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.

    “But who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement. And who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

    Some of Omisore’s associates, including President Goodluck Jonathan, Ekiti State Governor-elect Ayodele Fayose, former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode, have congratulated Aregbesola.

  • Yuguda hails Aregbesola

    Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda has congratulated his Osun State counterpart, Rauf Aregbesola, on his re-election.

    In a statement yesterday, Yuguda described Aregbesola’s re-election as “a victory for Osun people, who expressed their choice at the poll”.

    He said democracy is gradually getting its root in Nigeria and praised Osun people for their peaceful conduct during and after the election. Yuguda said in a democratic dispensation, votes speak louder than violence.

    He urged Aregbesola to extend the olive branch to other contestants in the election so that they can work together to improve Osun.

    Yuguda hailed the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for congratulating Aregbesola and accepting defeat in good faith.

  • Ex-senator flays govt’s scholarship

    The pioneer National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Anietie Okon, decried yesterday  the 254 names published by the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta as  the beneficiaries of the special scholarship programme for students from the Niger Delta.

    He said: “We are forced to question whether the Office of the Special Adviser on Amnesty is still representing the interest of the people of the region, given the persistent exclusivity that has become evident in the execution of the brief and mandate of the office.”

    Okon, a delegate representing Akwa Ibom State at the National Conference, reacting to the list, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to draw the attention of the Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Kingsley Kuku, to what he termed a grave and an unacceptable anomaly with its attendant capacity to undermine the intent and standing of governments and the leadership of the region.

    The office on August 1 published  a list of 254 people as the beneficiaries of the special scholarship programme for students from the Niger Delta, who passed the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and are qualified for admission into the universities.

    According to the list, of a total of 254 beneficiaries, Akwa Ibom got three; Bayelsa, 102; Cross River, three; Delta, 55; Edo, 10; Imo, 10; Ondo, 43 and Rivers, 28.

    Okon noted that it was embarrassing for a state like Akwa Ibom, the leading oil producing state, to be allocated only three; Edo State, the cradle of knowledge to get only 10, while Bayelsa got 102.

    He stressed that it was a confirmation of the narrow prismed understanding “of the dynamics of our political survival realities and an unfortunate exhibition of misplaced callous insensitivity as well as political naivety”, adding that the move was capable of  “damaging the cohesion and shared common interest of the people of the region.”

    “It is a callous act of insensitivity and political naivety on the part of the Special Adviser on Niger Delta, to posit that justice and transparency prevailed where

    only three students from Akwa Ibom and Cross River states and 10 from Edo State enjoyed the scholarship. This can damage the purpose of the intervention initiative. It makes nonsense of the call for unanimity in the area. The mindless impunity implied is as grievous as it is equally pathetic.  How can they explain this absence of rationality? It is unacceptable. I demand that those responsible for this outrage get real.”

  • ‘PDP might demystified’

    A presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Sam Nda-Isaiah, yesterday said the outcome of Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State has demystified the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) “federal might”.
    Nda-Isaiah, in a statement, said Governor Rauf Aregbesola was rewarded for his hard work and commitment to the welfare of Osun people.
    He said the APC won the election, “in spite of the criminal intimidation, unprecedented militarisation and psychological assault on APC supporters and Osun people”.
    Nda-Isaiah hailed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies for the peaceful poll.

     

  • 2015: G7 PDP aspirants insist on Ibadan consensus candidate

    2015: G7 PDP aspirants insist on Ibadan consensus candidate

    The Group of Seven (G7) governorship aspirants in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State who hail from Ibadan, the state capital, insisted yesterday on producing a candidate for the next election.

    In a communique issued after its meeting, the group explained that its insistence was based on the  recognition of the political realities in the state.

    However, the group said it has never excluded other zones in the governorship arrangements of the party.

    The group said: “We are aware of similar meetings at various zones of the state for the governorship slot.”

    The G7 emphasised that each state has its own political peculiarities.

    It said it was “concerned about winning the next governorship election and forming the next government in Oyo State and therefore encourages contributions and ideas on the best strategies to achieve the objective.”

    The group’s goal drew criticism from Ogbomoso where two other aspirants hail from. They are the immediate former governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala and Senator Ayoade Adeseun. Alao-Akala boasted that he would defeat them. Adeseun said Ogbomoso did not anoint Alao-Akala as the sole candidate. He said the members of the G7 were only exercising their fundamental human right.

    Adeseun said the decision of PDP members in Ogbomoso was to support whoever wins the governorship ticket in any of the political parties, believing that his success in the election would bring benefits to the zone.

    Members of the G7 are Dr Wole Oyelese, Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, Prof. Soji Adejumo, Sen. Teslim Folarin, Seyi Makinde and Dr. Azeez Adeduntan.