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Tag: PDP

  • PDP postpones registration in Osun

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State has postponed its membership registration, earlier slated for last Monday.

    The party Chairman, Alhaji Gani Ola-Oluwa, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo that a new date would be announced.

    He said: “The party postponed the registration of members due to increased political activities. When it is time to register our members, we shall let them know because we believe membership and voters registration are vital to a successful election.

    “The PDP is not interested in disrupting the peace of the state, so it will find a suitable period to conduct its registration.”

    The registration of All Progressives Congress (APC) members continued yesterday.

    The rush observed on Wednesday at centres in Osogbo has given way to more orderly queues.

    Mr. Yemi Ojiwusi, the registration officer at Unit 19, Ward 5, Osogbo Local Government, said he registered 76 members on Wednesday.

    Mr. Issa Idowu, the registration officer at Unit 20, Ward 5, Osogbo, said he registered 90 members on Wednesday.

  • Nyako, Amaechi, Kwankwaso protest service of court process

    Nyako, Amaechi, Kwankwaso protest service of court process

    Five governors, who defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC) on Thursday, rejected the wrong service of court processes in respect of a suit filed against them by the party.

    The PDP in the suit instituted last December, seeks to sack the five governors, who defected to the opposition party.

    The governors are – Alhaji Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Abdulfatai Ahmed (Kwara).

    On Thursday, lawyers representing the governors faulted the pattern of service of court processes on their clients.

    Former Attorney General of the Federation, Akin Olujimi, John Baiyeshea, Lateef Fagbemi, Awa Kalu and Yusuf Ali (all Senior Advocates of Nigeria) told the Federal High Court in Abuja that they appeared in protest.

    Baiyesha (for Nyako) said his client has not been served and that his appearance in court was based on the hearing notice he saw on two national dailies as ordered by the court.

    “We have not seen all the processes including the originating summon filed by the plaintiff and that was why I said earlier that I appeared under protest and we have filed a motion reacting to the purported notice of hearing,” Nyako’s counsel said.

    Fagbemi (for Amaechi) told the court that he filed a notice of conditional appearance dated February 5. He said he appeared under protest due to the non-service of processes on his client by the court’s plaintiff.

    A similar case was made for Wamakko, Kwankwaso and Ahmed by their lawyers.

    Olujimi told the court presided over by Justice Gabriel Kolawole the defendants have served the plaintiff’s lawyer with their motion challenging the “purported” service of hearing notices because according to Olujimi, “It is a threshold issue and we pray the court to hear us.”

    The defence lawyers said they rejected the service because it was improper.

    The defence team also rejected the suggestion, by plaintiff lawyer, Alex Iziyon (SAN) to hand the processes to them in court for their clients.

     

  • Why morale is low in PDP – Mu’azu

    Why morale is low in PDP – Mu’azu

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, has identified lack of consultation with key stakeholders for the pervasive low morale among members of the party nationwide.

    This, he said, has caused the party to lose ground amid growing influence of the opposition. He regretted that the immediate past leadership of the party failed to make the required consultation with critical stakeholders.

     

    Mu’azu stated this on Thursday when members of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), led by the Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, paid him s courtesy visit at the party’s secretariat.

    He said, “We have taken over this party at a time when morale of members is actually very low. We have lost ground at a time when competition is going to be very interesting.

    “This is coming at a time when we have the opposition developing the skill of poaching. But I tell you all hopes are not lost.

    “What has been lacking is due consultation with regard to members, especially elders. This will be restored. Most of you have not seen me even though I am with you in spirit.

    “We are doing everything with our colleagues, in consultation with our leaders and with prayers and support, not only will we regain lost ground, we will strengthen and get back to our proper leadership position.

    “The job is tough and these are tough times. So, first thing must be done first. I assure each and everyone of you that I will come to your various homes to see you and consult with you and even pay my homage and respect.”

    Anenih expressed satisfaction with Mu’azu’s leadership style since the party chairman came on board a few days ago.

    The BoT chairman regretted that the reconciliatory efforts he initiated during Bamanga Tukur’s tenure were not appreciated, as the erstwhile chairman was one of the people that criticised him.

    “From what we have seen in the last few weeks since your election, I think Nigerians have hope now. I believe PDP has hope.

    “I also want to thank you for being a team player. Today we have a national working committee as a team and no longer as a group,” Anenih said.

     

  • Kwankwaso’s exit won’t kill PDP in Kano – Shekarau

    Kwankwaso’s exit won’t kill PDP in Kano – Shekarau

    The former Kano State governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, on Thursday said the defection of Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) will not adversely affect the party in the state.

    He gave this assurance while speaking with State House correspondents after a meeting with Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, Kwankwaso’s defection cannot kill PDP in Kano.

    He said, “His defection cannot kill PDP. Those current with situation on ground knew that the governor of Kano had long before now been out of PDP. What he is running is Kwankwasiya, a cultism kind of a group.”

    “PDP has always been there, so what we are doing is we are now joining PDP and his group has gone into APC. We shall see whether we are the ones on ground or the Kwankwasiya APC.”

    “We checked out from the APC when we discovered that some of the principal actors in the merger did not mean well.”

    Asked whether his ideology is the same with that of PDP, he said: “I have always argued that these parties are one and the same. It is all about Nigeria and Nigerians. It is all about what we do to move the nation forward. Everybody is talking about serving Nigerians.

    “We are all heading to the same destination, the only difference is that we are taking different routes. As far as I am concerned, I am just continuing to make myself available to serve humanity regardless of the platform.”

    He said that he has never been part of the clamour for a northern president in 2015 as he has always opposed rotational presidency.

    “I have never subscribed to the argument of localizing the Presidency to a particular region. If you had followed my arguments and my presentations or debates in the presidential election, I said so. My concern is what do we do to get the right leadership regardless of where it is coming from”

     

  • PDP needs prayers, says Mu’azu

    The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu has said that the ruling party requires prayers to overcome its numerous challenges and to recover lost grounds.
    Mu’azu stated this Wednesday  when the Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan and Idris Wada of Delta and Kogi States respectively paid him a courtesy visit at the party’s national secretariat.
    Said he: “We must admit that the PDP has problems. The PDP needs prayers, sacrifice, commitment to move forward. We don’t know whether it’s a sailing ship or a ship that’s about to wreck.

    “We know our party has lost some grounds so we must assess ourselves. We must mark ourselves, we must be true to ourselves, we must be sincere to ourselves and find out what is wrong.

    “Mistakes have been made that require forgiveness and correction in order to reclaim lost grounds. If properly runned, PDP will achieve a lot. We have a job to build a party that will stand the test of time”.
    Mu’azu appealed to chieftains of the party that defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to come back, saying that the party would be ready to re-admit them.
    “I want to use this opportunity and medium today to appeal to those members of our party who have decided to leave for a journey to unknown destination, to a strange land where they will never be accepted as home.
    “This is your home so come back home because our doors are wide open. I assure you that we will continue to do whatever it takes to ensure that we deepen internal democracy in PDP.
    “We are going to build after regaining our grounds to continue strengthening and deepening democracy and rule of law in our party”, he stated.
    Pledging their loyalty to the party chair, Governors Uduaghan and Wada said they have been mobilising support for the party in their states.
    The governors  said they have been able to win the support of the people in their states through human capital development in critical sectors.
  • Defection: PDP losing weight to gain strength – Maku

    Defection: PDP losing weight to gain strength – Maku

    Reacting to defection by some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to other political parties, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on Wednesday maintained that it was a good way that the PDP is losing weight to regain its strength.

    Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, Maku said those that have defected from the party don’t really have the interest of the party at heart.

    According to him, some of them are defecting to other parties because they want to stand for elections and not because they believe in the party’s ideology.

    He said: “No party will be happy to lose its members to any party because every party will wish that it is able to return all its members because your members mean that you have number. No club, no company, nobody wants to lose a member. So, it is not something you beat your chest and say you are happy when your members leave.

    “But, I have always made a point that sometimes, you need to lose weight to get strength and that’s exactly what has happened in PDP. When a number of these people are leaving PDP, I say the party will be healthier in the long run. First of all, if you look at those that have left the party, some of them are those that have caused all the headache in party. They have been the ones that attacked the party, they are very quarrelsome, they have oversized egos. Some of them cannot stay under the same roof with anybody for one week without the top blowing off.

    “A number of these people who left, if you take a look at the history of our party and look at their antecedent, you will see that they are migrants. They keep migrating from one place to another. A party needs to have members that believe in its ideology, that settle down because they believe in the party. A party is not just a market for people to stand for elections. For a number of people who are leaving, they see the party as a market for election. A number of them will come in because they want to stand for election and if they lose, they run out.”

    He continued: “Political parties, after 15 years of democracy in our country, must begin to settle down, let us know those who believe in the party. Let us know those who truly believe in the policy and programme of the party, not because they have an electoral ambition, but because they want the party as an organization that will develop society, improve its policy and improve the country.”

     

  • House shoots down debate on budget

    House shoots down debate on budget

    • Scales second reading in Senate

    THE House of Representatives has shot down debate on the N4.64 trillion budget till next week, following arguments between members.

    The Chairman and deputies of three Committees of the House, Rules and Business, Justice and Judiciary, were yesterday mandated to look into the legality of the issues raised and report to the House within 24 hours.

    The Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal stood down the consideration of the budget after tense debates from two opposing camps of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) members at plenary.

    But another disclosure from the Speaker that both the House and the Senate have agreed to postpone plenary till next week to allow APC members register, further dimed the chance of the budget being considered till next week.

    It would be the second time the debate on the N4.6 trillion budget is being put off. Last week, it was postponed to give way for the voting on the constitution amendment.

    Trouble started when Emmanuel Jimeh (APC, Benue) immediately raised a point of constitutional order after the 2014 Appropriation Bill was mentioned for second reading.

    Jimeh said the presentation of the 2014 budget was in breach of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.

    According to him, the budget was meant to have been accompanied with the details of the estimates of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Ports Authority and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC ) and other revenue generating corporations and agencies of the Federal Government.

    Section 21 of the the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 lists the CBN, NNPC, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS), National Communication Commission (NCC), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), National Agency for Food & Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC) and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) as part of corporations, agencies and government owned companies whose details must accompany the budget to the National Assembly.

    Others include the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and National Maritime Authority (now NIMASA), among others.

    Jimeh further said what Sub-section 3 of the FRA demands is that details of the budget of the listed corporations, agencies and companies accompany the budget to the National Assembly.

    “What I have and what other members are holding is a purported summary. The law requires that the estimates of these corporations and agencies be attached to the budget. The Minister has no right to give us her own summary. I want to ask what is the danger of not giving us the estimate?

    The lawmaker said if the National Assembly had put its foot down previously on the submission of the details, the incidence of the missing $10.8 billion from the coffers of the NNPC would not have occurred.

    He cited Section 11 (1,2,3) of the Act that stipulates that estimates must accompany the budget.

    “What accompanied the purported budget was a summary rather than the estimates. For instance. If the estimates of the NNPC has been submitted with the 2013 budget proposal, the House would have known where the missing $10billion is.

    “The House should not allow them reach the laws it passed and should not encourage the Executive to continue to engage in breaching the law.This particular budget has breached our law. This parliament must not encourage the President to continue to breach our law. We must not allow ourselves to do the wrong thing for the convenience of the moment. History will not judge the House well for sitting back when the law is breached.”

    But the Chairman of the House Committee in Appropriation, John Enoh ( PDP Cross Rivers) disagreed with the submission of Jimeh when Tambuwal called him to explain the issue.

    “I disagree that the estimates are in the breach.The struggle to get the Executive to comply has been long. Year in, year out, the National Assembly kept insisting. In the past two to three years, the Executive has been in full compliance.

    “The question is: are the estimates abridged or not? My colleague (Jimeh) says it is abridged, but he agrees that estimates accompanied them.

    “It becomes a different thing altogether what the National Assembly decides to do with the estimates. In the 2013 budget, it came the way the 2014 came. There is no time that in the course of passing the budget, that we said we can’t pass it because of the budgets of CBN, NPA, NNPC.”

    At this point members in support of Jimeh’s position shouted “No! No! No!”

    But Enoh ended his argument, saying that the budget of any country, particularly Nigeria, is the most important document before the parliament. “There is none that is as significant and as important as the budget,” he said.

    At this point, Tambuwal ruled, saying what Jimeh said is a valid. He said it was because of the sensitivity of the budget that he called Enoh to explain the issue.

    He appointed the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Abert Sam-Tsokwa and his Deputy, Sunday Adepoju, the Chairman, Committee on Judiciary, Aminu Shehu Shagari and his deputy, Ken Chikere, and Chairman Committee on Justice, Ali Ahmed and his deputy, Emeka Nwaogbo to examine the issues and report to the House within 24 hours.

    Meanwhile, the budget has scaled second reading in the Senate.

    The Bill has generated a lot of controversy since the Senate started its debate on January 28.

    Lawmakers, who made contributions during the final debate, included Senators Gbenga Kaka, Helen Esuene, Matthew Nwagu, Christopher Nwankwo, Joshua Lidani, Emmanuel Bwacha and Emmanuel Paulker.

    Others are Senators Zainab Kure, Nkechi Nwogu, Olubunmi Adetumbi, Andy Uba, Aloysius Etok, Babafemi Ojudu and Ehigie Uzamere, among others.

    A total of 61 Senators have so far contributed to the debate on the budget.

    Senator Adetunmbi said the greatest risk with the budget is not on the expenditure, but the borrowing to finance it on the revenue side. He lamented that it had become a recurring decimal for the Federal Government to borrow to finance annual budgets.

     

     

    He blamed oil theft and pipeline vandalism for the shortfall of revenue being experienced by the Federal Government, condemning a situation where about N3.7 billion is appropriated for the Presidential Fleet which, he said, was more than what is budgeted for the Nigerian Air Force.

    “The Senate will have itself to blame and nobody else, if we fail to look at areas of wastage in the budget and reallocate the money to areas where they will be useful,” Adetunmbi said.

    He lamented that the 2014 budget was at variance with Section 18 (2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which stipulates that the annual budget must be in tandem with the approved Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

    Senator Paulker said the Federal Government should be commended for targeting five million farmers in the budget, adding that when empowered, they will have a multiplier effect on creating the much-needed jobs in the agricultural sector.

    “This budget is targeted at consolidating on the good works this administration has done,” Paulker said.

    Senator Uzamere, while supporting the passage of the budget, frowned at the increasing local and foreign debt profile of the country. He called for adequate measures to be put in place to check the unacceptable trend.

    Senator Nwankwo supported the passage of the budget, saying the amount appropriated for the agricultural sectors was meagre compared with its potential to provide gainful employment for Nigerians.

    While Senator Etok called for more appropriation for payment of pensioners, Senator Uba sought more budgetary allocation to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enable it conduct a hitch-free election in 2015.

    Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the session, asked the Committees on Finance and Appropriation to begin work on the document immediately.

    He also asked the committees to liaise with their counterparts in the House of Representatives for areas that may need harmonisation if necessary.

    He noted that during the debate, most of the arguments centred on bloated figures, waste neglect of some

     

     

  • Fed Govt to issue N100b bond to complete Lagos-Ibadan expressway

    Fed Govt to issue N100b bond to complete Lagos-Ibadan expressway

    The Federal Government said yesterday that it was ready to issue N100 billion road and infrastructure bond for the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    Minister of Works Mike Onolememen spoke when he received the Ibrahim Mantu-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Reloaded Committee in his office in Abuja.

    He told the committee that the bond is to enable early completion of the road.

    “Government has made commitment up to N50 billion for the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, while N25 billion will be made available in 2014 and 2015.

    “This is after the mobilisation of the contractors last year by the Federal Government.

    “There are several government institutions, which are also putting up to N17 billion on that road to ensure its timely completion”, he said.

    Onolememen said the road project was not abandoned as people claimed, but that the ministry was working to deliver a good road to Nigerians.

    He added that the contract was revoked from the first Nigerian concessioner, who was awarded the contract in 2009, because he did not perform well.

    The minister said since the contract was re-awarded to Julius Berger and RCC, work on the roads had improved.

    “Federal Government terminated the first contract because the contractor did not do anything in three years, not even a kilometre, on the expressway.

    “In fact, since the contract of that road was re-awarded, work has been going on and people, who travelled on the route during the last Yuletide attested to this”, he said.

    Onolememen said the ministry would follow the ground norm of the Federal Highway Act to invest and deliver good arterial roads to Nigerians.

    He added that road is a very important infrastructure and about 95 per cent of Nigerians travel by roads, assuring that most roads would get better.

    Mantu, who led the committee to the ministry, said it was visiting and monitoring the projects carried out by the government.

    “In the last two months, we secretly constituted six zonal inspection committees, made up of our members to inspect all completed ongoing road projects.

    “We are shocked by the degree of progress made nationwide. This means the nation is getting value for its money”, he said.

    He applauded the minister for completing 2000km of 32 roads in two years.

    Minister of State for Works Bashir Yuguda thanked the committee for the commendation given to the ministry, saying it would propel them to do more than they are doing.

    The PDP Reloaded Committee decorated and presented a plaque to the minister.

     

  • ‘Ekweremadu won’t read defecting senators’ letter’

    ‘Ekweremadu won’t read defecting senators’ letter’

    The anticipated showdown at the Senate over the plan by 11 former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not happen yesterday.

    Before the Senate resumed plenary yesterday, tension was high because the defecting senators were determined to ensure that their letter, which they submitted to Senate President David Mark, must be read.

    That was not to be.

    The leadership of the Senate, sensing danger, summoned an emergency closed-door session that lasted over an hour.

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu presided over the secret meeting. Mark was said to have excused himself to attend the Council of State meeting.

    After the meeting, the door to the Senate gallery was open to reporters and other observers.

    Ekweremadu, who did not make reference to the closed-door meeting, read a couple of personal letters.

    To the disappointment of most of those in the gallery, the letter on the defection of 11 PDP senators to APC was not among those read.

    After reading personal letters, Ekweremadu signalled to Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba to read the Order Paper.

    There was no objection or Point of Order by the defection senators.

    It was, however, learnt that at the closed-door session, the defecting lawmakers were asked to attend a rescheduled meeting with Mark.

     

  • Kano Assembly Speaker resigns

    •New speaker emerges

    In an apparent move to escape impeachment, Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, Gambo Sallau, yesterday resigned.

    But he said he was still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Sallau’s resignation was announced in a radio broadcast, by the Freedom Radio, Kano.

    He said his resignation was political, but he did not confirm threats to impeach him.

    The resignation is coming 24 hours after 26 PDP lawmakers defected to APC.

    He was absent during Monday’s meeting, which was presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Ishyaku Ali Danja.

    The former Speaker refused pressures from colleagues to dump PDP for APC.

    “I, Gambo Sallau, speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, announce my resignation. Now that the PDP has become an opposition party, I will not continue to be the Speaker of the House,” Sallau said in Freedom Radio.

    He praised his colleagues, the government and the public for the support they gave him in the last two years.

    The Assembly has elected the former Deputy Speaker, Ishaku Danja, as speaker.

    Majority Leader Hamisu Chidari is now the deputy speaker. The House also elected Kabir Alhassan as Majority leader.