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Tag: PDP

  • Senate may have stormy session today

    Senate may have stormy session today

    A MEETING slated by Senate President David Mark with 11 the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) failed to hold yesterday.

    The failure of the meeting heightened tension in the Upper Chamber as senators return to plenary today.

    The Senate leadership failed to read the letter by the defecting senators informing the Senate of their decision to change parties on the floor as expected last Thursday.

    Senator Bukola Saraki raised the issue under qualified privilege but Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who presided, said he did not have the letters with him and that he had been informed of a meeting slated for yesterday.

    It could not be immediately established why the meeting failed to hold as at press time yesterday.

    A source, however, said the meeting had been rescheduled for today because Saraki, the leader of the defecting senators, returned late yesterday from Ilorin, Kwara State.

    One of the defecting senators told our correspondent yesterday that the only way to prevent a turbulent session today is “if the Senate President decides to read our change of party letter submitted to him last week”.

    The senator, who spoke in confidence in Abuja, explained that though Mark had initiated “a meeting with us, no matter the outcome of the meeting, our letter must be read”.

    Insisting that “there is not going back meeting or no meeting”, the senator added that “some of us have seen the so-called meeting as a ploy by the leadership of the Senate to buy time”.

    He said: “What is anybody going to tell us at the meeting? They have been talking about the matter being in court. There is a fact that there is no court order stopping the Senate President from reading our letter.

    “They have also said that no reference should be made to the matter in the Senate because the matter is in court. We know that all this is gimmick to frustrate our efforts to move to our desired party.”

    The senator also faulted the argument that the letter could not be read because it was signed by a group.

     

  • 302 Rivers councillors to join APC

    302 Rivers councillors to join APC

    No fewer than 302 councillors across the 23 local government areas of Rivers State are set to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The planned defection is to show solidarity to Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

    The Chairman of the National Councillors Forum of Nigeria, Rivers chapter, Lesor Nwigbaranee, announced this yesterday in Port Harcourt.

    He said the defection was a result of the fact that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was a sinking ship, .

    Nwigbaranee said the expulsion of their leader (Amaechi) and the continued crisis in the state were indications that the PDP was grinding to a halt.

    He said: “The 302 councillors cannot afford to put their fate in a torn and tattered umbrella.

    “The defection is not only about the councillors, but the teeming grass-roots supporters of the PDP, that give a sense of invincibility to the party in Rivers State.

     

    “By the time the process of defection is concluded, it will be obvious that the PDP will no longer be the winning party in Rivers State, because the orientation of Rivers people will change for a long time. Nobody will say again that Rivers people are traditional PDP voters.”

     

     

  • ‘I’ll make Ekiti food basket’

    A former Nigeria’s envoy to Canada, Ambassador Dare Bejide, has promised to make Ekiti Sate the food basket of the nation, if elected the candidate and governor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the June 21 election.

    In a statement yesterday in Ado-Ekiti by Abiodun Bamiteko, the Director-General of the Dare Bejide Campaign Organisation, Bejide said he would bring several agricultural schemes that would ensure food security to the state and other parts of the country.

    The politician noted that agriculture was the bulwark of Ekiti’s economy, contributing about 90 per cent to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

    He said it was regrettable that such a pivotal sector had been neglected.

    Bejide said he would invest heavily in the production of revenue-yielding tree crops, such as cocoa, oil palm and kolanut through public-private partnership.

    He said: “My government will make agriculture more attractive and profitable to our youths. This will not only provide employment but will also help in alleviating poverty among our people through multiplication of small scale industries based on products in every part of Ekiti State.

    “We will give credit facilities to youths to pioneer a strong and focused commercial agriculture. We are going to organise our farmers into groups and cooperative societies to enhance massive food production that will attract investments to our state.”

     

  • Don’t choose inexperienced candidate, Fayose warns PDP

    Don’t choose inexperienced candidate, Fayose warns PDP

    Former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against selecting an inexperienced candidate for the 21 June governorship election.

    Fayose spoke yesterday at his campaign office in Ado-Ekiti during a meeting with PDP chairmen from the 177 wards.

    Urging members to present him as the party’s flagbearer, he said: “PDP needs someone with experience like me to defeat Governor Kayode Fayemi.”

    Fayose hailed the restructuring initiated by the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, saying it would improve the party.

    He said: “I am the first PDP governor in this state and there is no aspirant with better credentials than mine. I am seeking your cooperation to confront the All Progressives Congress (APC) like the Biblical King David, who unseated King Saul.

    “The PDP administrations, I mean mine and that of Mr. Segun Oni, never borrowed, but the APC administration has plunged the state into debt.”

    Fayose said he would not desert the party, if he is not picked as its standard bearer and urged members to work for the PDP’s success in the election.

    The ward chairmen pledged their support for Fayose.

  • I’ve nothing against Utuama, says ex-minister

    Former Minister of State for Education and Delta State governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, has denied having anything against Delta State Deputy Governor Prof. Amos Utuama (SAN).

    He said he was not against his ambition in next year’s elections, adding that he was only interested in protecting the interest of the indigenes.

    Gbagi said in Lagos that it was lamentable that people were blowing out of proportion, his advice that a septuagenarian should allow youths to aspire for the Delta governorship.

    He said it was sad that people were alleging that he said he had Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in his pocket.

    Disclosing that Utuama was his Law teacher at the University of Lagos after reading Criminology and managing companies, he said: “I don’t have any problem with Prof. Utuama. I only said I know him to be between 71 and 73. The Utuama I know will not say he wants to contest for governorship at 71. They are taking the matter out of proportion. Utuama told me he won’t contest. As my benefactor, I did not expect him to lie to me. As my Law teacher, I did not expect him to lie to me. It is sad that people are fabricating stories that I said Governor Uduaghan is in my pocket.

    “I can’t say my last son, who is eight years old, is in my pocket, let alone a man, who has ruled a complex state like Delta for eight years.”

  • Whose budget

    Whose budget

    Against the background of the directive by the leadership of the All Progressive Congress to its members to shun the consideration of the 2014 Budget, our Sunday columnist, Idowu Akinlotan, aka Palladium, had in his usual inimitable style, submitted that the directive by the party was not only wrong-headed, but would at best, supply a cheap alibi for a document that has hardly ever worked, and one which for all practical purposes, is designed to fail.

    He simply couldn’t understand why the party would want to be blamed for the farce that was presented in the name of the national budget.

    I beg to disagree. I do not accept that simply because money bill is involved, Nigerians cannot be persuaded of the need to appreciate the larger governance issues which underlie the directive. In any case, what the experience of the last 14 years has taught – at least as far as the budget and the budgeting process is concerned – is the need to shun all pretences about the exercise as anything but farcical.

    What the APC has done may seem to many as no more than a mere fly in the ointment at this time – an unwelcome distraction to those whose egos are threatened; it seems to me as not just a symbolic but a necessary step to halt the steady descent to fascism. In due season, it might well be part of the effort to locate the budget conundrum within the larger conversation on the polity. It is therefore not a question of settling for a half loaf when there are no guarantees that the loaf on offer is not laden with toxins.

    Now, to Budget 2014. I have tried to scan through the 1820-odd pages of the 2014 appropriation bill with planned expenditure of N4.642 trillion of which N3.53 trillion is for recurrent and the balance of N1.1 trillion is for capital spend. Perhaps, if we hadn’t been at this ritual in delusion to the point of making it our lifestyle, we’d probably just ask our lawmakers to do whatever they please while we move on with our lives. Unfortunately, it seems that not a few Nigerians still live in the delusion that the PDP budget would perform the magic that the previous years’ couldn’t hence the uproar.

    No doubt, a lot has been written about the profile of the national budget as been out of sync with the demands of an economy that is said to be rapidly modernising. As it is, no longer is the need to pretend about the virtual regression of the exercise into a placebo. Even if we veer off the annual mismatch between recurrent and capital estimates, we are still left with the bizarre assumptions, the in-built entitlements and layers of earmarks that leaves little imagination as to whose interests the document is supposed to serve.

    I look at the provisions for the Presidency for instance. At this time, we are supposed to have gone past the need for the 11th super jet for the Presidential fleet for the Big Man under whose watch the economy is said to be growing in leaps and bounds, and yet have left far more people at the margins. How about adding the purchase of canteen/kitchen equipment expected to gulp N131,750,000?

    By the way, there is a minor provision for massaging bed – N2.1 million.

    This year, the Vice President’s kitchen will also wear a new look with N8 million equipment earmarked in the budget. Also provided for is a state of the art laundry equipment expected to cost taxpayers N23 million. Never mind that the State House Clinic, designed to deliver first aid before sick officials get evacuated abroad also get N105,731,002.

    You think the Presidency’s officials don’t read? There is provision for library books and equipment that comes to a princely N10,740,600. This year, computer software acquisition at the seat of government would take a chunk of N105,670,000; this is different from the a provision for the upgrading of accounting packages for the State House headquarters in Abuja, Dodan Barracks and Marina for another N50 million. And if I may add another, the Hyperion Enterprise Performance Licence (the public sector budget planning software) on which the nation would also spend N55.67 million.

    So much for their love for e-governance.

    To be honest, I couldn’t resist the thought that the service-wide votes earmarked for software acquisition and licences would actually suffice to start our local Silicon Valley. My little arithmetic actually put the annual spend on them to be in multiples of billions; amounts that could be retained not only to boost local software development efforts, but to kick-start the revolution in the sub-sector.

    This is what officials who are more often than not, vendors for foreign software firms would rather ship abroad in dubious acquisition and licensing fees!

    I guess it’s no longer fruitful to press the point that whereas a comparatively lean Presidency would get N33 billion in allocation, and the National Assembly N150 billion, the works ministry, whose business is to fix our pot-hole-infested roads is allocated a mere N128 billion (the capital estimate is actually N100 billion).

    The same goes for the Police commands in the 36 states and the federal capital; they are supposed to make do with N292 billion of which a huge chunk of N285 billion goes for recurrent expenditures.

    While the ‘paltry’ vote for the works ministry answers to the question of why the Lagos-Ibadan expressway may not be fixed despite the fanfare of its flag-off by President Goodluck Jonathan, the police capital vote, which comes to a mere N6.7 billion would seem at the heart of all that is wrong with the police institution.

    The issue, in the circumstance, is hardly one of making sense of an exercise so revealing of the crass opportunism of our rulers. Rather, it is whether we should dignify a process that has become everything that a disciplined exercise should not be.

    That, to me is the crux of the matter. Today, despite the denials, we know that the economy is in deep trouble. Unfortunately, that has very little to do with the global price of crude; neither is the nation currently experiencing insecurity on such a scale as to threaten oil production. We are simply told that the nation cannot pump enough crude to fund its budget – no thanks to oil thieves said to hold the nation by the jugular. End of the matter. As if that is not bad enough, the nation’s finance minister, has been issuing all manners of waivers and concessions to party hacks and all manners of men.

    Never, it seems, has the nation’s economy known this scale of aided fall.

  • ‘We need Diaspora voting in 2015’

    ‘We need Diaspora voting in 2015’

    The leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), South Africa chapter, Bola Babarinde, spoke on the prospects of the party in the 2015 elections and the agitation by Nigerians in the Diaspora for voting rights. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE met him.

    Could you compare politics, party system and governance in South Africa with the Nigerian experience? Are there similarities?

    Nigeria was one of the main hubs. The leadership of African National Congress (ANC) looked up to Nigeria during the dark days of apartheid. Our own dark days may be the military regimes that plunged the country into recession . Politics in South Africa and Nigeria are similar in that we have the frontline political party, ANC, in South Africa and the PDP in Nigeria. While the ANC is formed on a strong political ideology and it has a focus, I doubt, if the same can be said of the PDP in Nigeria. The ANC has survived for over 100 years, but I am not sure, if the PDP will survive that long going by the internal crises that is rocking the party in recent times. While the ANC took the issue of service delivery and fulfilling promises to the people as very important, the PDP is rather self-serving and mainly serves the leadership of the organisation. That is why everybody must jostle to be in the leadership position in the PDP. Also, the ANC will allow youth to thrive and have a vibrant ANC Youth League that contributes meaningfully to the political happenings in South Africa. Our own leading political party lacks such ideas and the PDP only takes pride in recyling the leaders of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. I wonder how the statement, “the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow” will ever be realised, if this continues. I laughed when I see that a man who was a governor in 1983; the former Chairman of the PDP, was recently given the herculean task of reviving the National Railway Corporation. I guess a man in his 80’s should be given a task of sitting pretty well in his retirement home enjoying himself with his grandchildren and giving meaningful advise to politicians.

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was on a five-month long strike and the comment credited to the Senate President, David Mark, was that the people that represented the Federal Government in the original negotiation possibly did not read the document completely before they signed it irresponsibly. I looked at the document and checked the profile of the representatives of the Federal Government in the negotiation. While I do not know the age of all members, I saw many highly respected industrialists and retired professors and top civil servants in the eight-man committee and I know that the retirement age is 65. The youngest is the Executive Secretary of Education Trust Fund (ETF). Now, tell me, how will you realistically expect a 70 year old or more to sit and be reading a 51-page highly technical document, when he should possibly be having fading eyesight, relaxing with the grandkids and reading newspapers? Serious business must be taken seriously. A single look at the 2014 budget will tell us in which direction the country is facing.

    How can corruption be tackled?

    Corruption happens in all political realms, but what is done about it differs. In South Africa, people have a total belief in the “Office of the Public Protector (OPP)”, who investigates and gives credible opinion and possible prosecution on all matters. In Nigeria, although we have similar organisations in ICPC and EFCC, I ,if people have the same level of trust in these organisations. Such offices are not in name, but in actions. The lady heading the OPP in South Africa has won many awards locally and internationally for her work and has stood against the ANC government many times. She recently investigated the financing of President Zuma’s house using public funds and gave a damning preliminary report. Although some people in South Africa went to the court to stop her releasing her final report, she went to defend the people in court and won the case. The full report will be out in public space any time from now. I doubt, if anybody in the EFCC or the ICPC can try such feat in Nigeria. Well, our organisations are not independent in the first instance. We need a strong unbiased independent anti-corruption body like it exists in South Africa, which can call the bluff of anybody.

    Our opposition parties also need to borrow a leaf from the Democratic Alliance (DA) of South Africa. It is a competent opposition to the national government and control the Western Cape Province. The has won the best-run government in recent times and this award is given annually by the ANC government. That is political tolerance in action. The DA also serves as gadfly pestering the ANC government in any anti-people project or proposal. For example ,the e-toll issue and increase in electricity tariffs, amongst others. There are other opposition parties and each of them has its ideology and belief. I doubt, if such opposition parties exist in Nigeria. Little wonder, people cross back and forward and backward. I have seen a person that cross-carpet about five times to become a governor in Nigeria.

    What value does your chapter intends to add to the parent APC?

    First and foremost, there is no need to duplicate political parties, if we have the same ideology. The APC-SA and other diaspora bodies share the views of the APC mother body back home. We believe strongly in voters’ education. We know that an enlightened mind is a great weapon and such is needed to defend democracy. What I have found particularly interesting about South Africans is that even the very uneducated knows his/her political right and will do anything to defend it. We need to mobilise people to stand up for what they believe. Diaspora voting is another area that we are pushing for and I believe that the parties in Nigeria and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are already working on its realisation. We will also be pushing strongly for internal democracy at all levels for our party in Nigeria. If a person is denied his right to be elected and he perceives it as unjust, he will carry the burden of being cheated and that is not good for a viable opposition. Everyone should be pushing the same goal of replacing the dysfunctional government. We want to see an APC that is a model to other parties in Nigeria.

    What is your understanding of the philosophy, ideas and manifestos of the APC as the main opposition party?

    Honestly, it should be understood that while the party philosophy should remain fairly the same, the ideas and manifestos will be constantly changing to meet the need of the people we are here to serve. I believe that the philosophy of the ACN is to provide a credible and viable alternative in good governance, which is serving the people and impacting directly on the lives of ordinary citizens of Nigeria. The ideas will be to create and sustain good governance, to maintain and improve on the current infrastructures, and to create and promote enabling environment for local and international businesses to thrive so that employment can be created for our people. The current manifesto focuses on quality and affordable education, enhanced, affordable and accessible health care system, social services for women, children, aged and the disable (Medically and Physically Challenged), infrastructural development, creation of enabling business environment for investors, encouragement of sustainable private-public partnership, unbundling and decentralisation of public water system.

    What were the inherent pitfalls of the ACN, ANPP, and CPC, which should be avoided by the APC?

    The pitfalls of the political parties in Nigeria are many. But I must quickly point out that you exclude the PDP in the list above. There is the absence of basic ideology, keeping promises to the electorate and internal democracy.The people-oriented programmes and sincerity of purpose are not there.There is so much corruption in our political space. Service delivery should be the focus and this will leave little money in the hands of those who want to be corrupt and somehow, they will leave this political space, if they cannot steal money meant for the public good.

    How is your chapter tackling the challenges of harmonisation and membership registration?

    On the question of harmonisation, it will be good to wait for directives from the mother body in Nigeria. Whatever the leadership of the party suggests will be followed by all state and diaspora chapters. We will await the directive because we believe strongly in the leadership of our party.

    What is your assessment of the Jonathan Administration?

    Unfortunately, I will be speaking from the position of an opposition and our politicians mostly try to make irrelevant salient and valid opinion from the opposing camp. The current administration possibly has its strong points, including less interference in the job of the INEC to conduct free and fair state elections, the privatisation of the energy sector, although I strongly suggest that this should be monitored critically as no man will build his house and leave the critical supplies totally at the hand of an outsider.

    Corruption is not tackled at all and the leadership of the PDP in the National Assembly alluded to this fact. Although, the Finance Minister and the Coordinator of the Economy has rolled out many superb figures of our economic performance, the ordinary people continue to groan under the weight of a more unfriendly economy. Our economic gains should reach the poor and the unemployed.

    Ahead of 2015 polls, what are the challenges that will confront the APC?

    As previously mentioned, a strong ideology is a major challenge. We need to work on it and the value system, otherwise, the political hijackers will infest and invade the party and make a mess of the founding principles. Focus and direction are needed, ahead of 2015 general elections. We also need tolerant party leadership on issues of internal democracy, proper grassroots electorate education and careful selection of party representatives who have ideals in the different positions to be contested for between now and 2015.

     

    Can APC dislodge the PDP in 2015?

    It is very possible. Prior to the advent of the current democratic dispensation, the people wanted an alternative to the military rule. The PDP appeared to have the national spread at that time and it quickly arranged a national structure and hijacked the political space by stifling the other role players. Somehow, in Nigeria, the government at the central can coerce, intimidate, force and arm-twist the oppositions into subjection. In fact any surviving opposition in Nigeria needs to be given a thumbs-up. I believe that 2015 is the year of new things for Nigeria.

    What are the condition for free and fair election in Nigeria ?

    The umpires must be umbiased. Strict adherence to “checks and balances”. Utilisation of modern technologies to conduct and monitor election as was done in Ghana and Kenya recently. Electorate education. Stiff penalties for offenders in electoral malpractices and frauds. There should be no intimidation and the use of state apparatuses like the military and police.

  • Dangers of mixing politics with religion

    Dangers of mixing politics with religion

    Please stop anti Jonathan and anti PDP. Your Muslim party APC will fail woefully in Osun and Ekiti. Idiot

    I got this from a reader with telephone number 08067661180 in response to last week’s edition of this column. The reader did not sign it for reasons best known to him or her.

    I was thinking about the upcoming National Conference and the modalities for the proposed confab as spelt out by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim when this SMS came in. That President Goodluck Jonathan would have so much influence on who gets chosen as a delegate was of so much concern to me that I was alarmed when this supporter of the President and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) quoted above, chipped in the issue of religion as we move towards the next round of general elections beginning with the Osun and Ekiti States gubernatorial polls later this year.

    It is no longer hidden that one of the campaign strategies of President Jonathan and his handlers in their bid to retain power post 2015 presidential election is to present him as not just a Christian, but a Christian candidate, who would represent and protect Christian interests better. And in doing so, the opposition is to be presented as representing Muslims and Muslims’ interest and as such most likely to be against Christians and Christians’ interest if voted into power.

    Even though nobody in Jonathan’s camp is ready to admit this, the 2015 presidential race is gradually panning out to be like that and the presidency is happy to shape it that way.

    Ordinarily this like this don’t bother me but the way and manner and intensity with which the President’s supporters like the reader quoted above are using religion to define their candidate and divide the voters is beginning to cause concern among well meaning Nigerians.

    Recently a former member of the PDP who served as a Minister in the Obasanjo presidency and now a member of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) revealed that some church leaders are already subtly campaigning for President Jonathan by branding the APC as party of Muslims. For the record, that former Minister is a Christian.

    And in matters that concern this government and this presidency, some Christian leaders have been speaking in such a manner as to suggest that Jonathan is their own and any criticism of him and/or his actions is against Christians and Christianity.

    The issue of faith has never really played any significant role in the politics of this country especially when it comes to choosing our leaders until now. When late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa became Prime Minister in the first republic, I don’t think Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was chosen as the ceremonial President because he was a Christian, like wise President Shehu Shagari did not pick Dr Alex Ekwueme as his running mate in 1979 because he is a Christian.

    I think the choices then were based purely on geographical consideration. The north had always been going into alliance with the east in national politics/elections and because the two regions are heavily populated by Muslims (north) and Christians (east), whoever would come out from such arrangement naturally would belong to different religion.

    And to test that Nigerians place little premium on the religion of their leaders, two Muslims, one from the south west and the other from north east were voted president and vice president on June 12, 1993 before the election was annulled. And when President Olusegun Obasanjo was being brought in 1999 ostensibly to placate the Yoruba for the denial of their son Chief MKO Abiola of Nigeria’s presidency in 1993, nobody said he should not come in because he is not a Muslim like Abiola. And I believe the choice of Obasanjo’s running mate in Abubakar Atiku was due more to political pragmatism than his religious leaning.

    When Jonathan was paired with President Yar’adua in 2007 for whatever reasons, those who brought them had other motive and consideration than religion. And as was the case in the past, Jonathan running with Vice President Sambo was more of geographic/ethnic balancing than any other consideration. Even though after the Abiola/Kingibe aborted presidency the presidential pairing had always been Christian/Muslim or Muslim/Christian, no candidate or presidency has been seen, portrayed or act as representing a particular religion the was Jonathan presidency is. And I believe it is share mediocrity and incompetence to hide under religion or ethnicity to ask for support for public office especially the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    By portraying him as a Christian candidate, Jonathan’s handlers and supporters are not just setting a bad precedent but also alienating the Muslims who ordinarily would want to vote for him. Islam and Christianity are well rooted in Yoruba land, south west Nigeria and are about evenly spread among Yoruba. The bulk of Jonathan’s votes in 2011 came from Yoruba land, meaning he got votes from both Christians and Muslims from the south west in large numbers. And in those states in the north where his PDP won, the Muslims there voted for him. So, if anybody now wants to present everybody opposed to Jonathan or the opposition party as Muslim or Muslim leaning just to paint them black before Christians and secure Christians votes for him in 2015, then they are not being fair to those Muslims who voted for him in 2011 and are still likely to vote for him if he became a candidate in next year’s election.

    Most important however, they are not being fair to this country. If they love Nigeria they would not pander or be pandering to religious sentiments. In those countries where the people have not risen beyond religious sentiments, anything religion has always brought crisis especially when there are sharp disagreements. Lebanon is a good example of how religion mixed with politics can destroy a nation. There are unarguably more Lebanese outside of Lebanon than within, not just because of the small size of their country but also the seemingly unending sectarian violence that has almost turned the once beautiful country into ruins, the fact that the Lebanese are mainly Arabs notwithstanding.

    Those nations that have developed and making waves in the world today have no room for religious considerations or sentiments, whatever they do are always based on what is best for their country, their people and humanity in general. Why should our own be different?

    Those who want to turn Christians against Muslims or vice versa in Nigeria because of Jonathan’s presidency or anybody’s ambition will not succeed by the grace of GOD. And President Jonathan also has to be very careful and he should rein in his supporters especially those fanning the embers of religious and ethnic divisions. The President knows them; he should call them to order. While awaiting his choice of delegates to the National Conference, it is hoped that his choice(s) would be guided by the best interest of Nigeria. Even though I have my doubts about his conference and to what use he wants to put its reports, I wish his and the 492 “wise” men and women best of luck.

     

     

  • On the defection of Shekarau to PDP

    On the defection of Shekarau to PDP

    SIR: The defection of a former Kano State Governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau from the All Progressives Congress, APC, to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, though very unfortunate, is nothing to worry about. Shekarau, just like President Jonathan, is a lucky politician whose relevance is overstated. While Jonathan rode to power through luck and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Shekarau rode to political stardom through the back of Muhamadu Buhari.

    In 2003, the people of Kano, just like during the 2011 presidential election, overwhelmingly voted for Buhari. During the electioneering campaign, Buhari categorically told his lieutenants in Kano to vote for Shekarau, a relatively unknown politician in the ancient city as governor. Fortunately for Shekarau, Presidential and Governorship elections took place the same day.

    Buhari, as one may recall, won Kano for his All Nigerian People’s Party, ANPP. He also delivered the Government House, Kano to ANPP, sending Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso out of office.

    As preparation for the 2007 elections gathered momentum, Kwakwaso signified his intention to return to power. Skekarau, knowing the gargantum structure of Kwankwaso, spawned an intricate web of high wire intrigues against him by hurriedly setting up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to probe his administration. The commission, within a month, came out with a controversial report banning Kwankwaso from holding public office for 10 years.  The report, without being thoroughly debated upon by the members of the state House of Assembly, was gazetted.

    Dissatisfied with the report, Kwankwaso dragged the state government, commission members and Kano Assembly members to court. Kwakwaso was then in Abuja, serving as Minister of Defence. His purported indictment made the re-election of Shekerau as Governor in 2007 a walkover. With Buhari as presidential flag bearer of the defunct ANPP, Shekarau was re-elected with a wide margin.

    In 2011, having had his integrity cleared by a court of competent jurisdiction, Kwankwaso declared his intention to return to Kano Government House. By this time, Shekarau, because of his presidential ambition, had used the instruments of state to hijack the ANPP structure from Buhari. The angry Buhari left ANPP with his teeming supporters for Shekarau to form the defunct Congress of Progressives Change, CPC.

    In 2011, Buhari, just like Shekarau, contested for the Presidency, scoring about two million votes in the ancient city of Kano. Shekarau, as the then incumbent governor of Kano, scored less than 500, 000 votes for his ANPP. Kwankwaso, then as the PDP governorship candidate, mobilised more votes for President Jonathan, the presidential candidate of the PDP in Kano than Shekarau did for himself and his party. When the presidential results were released, Buhari of the CPC came first; Jonathan of the PDP came second while Shekarau, the incumbent governor, came third. Shekarau also failed to retain Kano governorship seat for his party, the ANPP.  The ANPP of Shekarau also lost 75% of the National and State Assembly seats in Kano to the PDP.

    Now that Shekarau has left the APC he helped nurtured to the PDP, all one canwish him is good luck.

    Interestingly, Shekarau did not say that he left APC because Kwankwaso is not performing; rather his wish is to be placed above Kwankwaso, the man he succeeded as governor and the incumbent governor in the party. That is impossible. The general public might wish to note that Shekarau defected to PDP without most of his defunct ANPP members. Alhaji Gwarzo, the only Senator elected on the platform of the ANPP in 2011 has pledged his loyalty to Kwankwaso.  The few ANPP House of Representatives members in Kano have endorsed Kwankwaso as their leader.

     

    • Maxwell Adeyem Adeleye,

    Magodo, Lagos.

     

  • We want to build multi-party democracy – Buhari

    We want to build multi-party democracy – Buhari

    Former Head of State and Presidential candidate of the defunct Congress for Progress Change (CPC) in the 2011 Presidential election, Major General Muhammadu Buhari has said that the mission of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is to ensure that proper multi-party democracy is established in the country.

    Speaking on Kaduna based Liberty radio on the forthcoming membership registration of the APC, Buhari lamented what he called insecurity and management of the Nigerian nation, adding that the APC intends to properly secure and manage the nation since Nigerians are now well aware of their rights and what they expect from government.

    The former Nigerian leader, who has contested the Presidential election on three different occasions noted that it was because of his belief in multi-party democracy that he went to court to challenge the outcome of the previous elections, adding that the nation’s electoral system will thrive better when people come and go.

    He said “we have been to court three times in 2003, 2007 and 2011 not because we were convinced that we were going to win. We went because we want to make sure that this multi-party democracy takes firm grip on Nigerians. If we can come and go, the system will be strong enough to guarantee security for this country and guarantee prosperity for this country. This is our objective.

    “All we are fighting for is to have proper democracy. What I mean is that whatever people say, whether they reflect briefly on it or not, Nigerians are now well aware of their rights and what they expect from government. In APC, we have reduced it to two your security sound management.

    “We have to secure this country and manage it properly. I think people have suffered enough, they are now prepared to listen and I believe they are listening and are cooperating. We have been convinced that since 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed without a shot being fired that multi party democratic system is superior. But elections must be free and fair.

    “Like I have said, we have to properly secure and manage this country. You cannot deny citizens their rights to express their own opinion or you allow some people to brazenly threaten the cooperate existence of the country and instead of inviting them and asking them to explain themselves to the nation, they are given a ride in Presidential jets.

    “When others do it, you go and lock them up or you harass them. That is not the way to do things. For example, when the seven governors decided to break out from the PDP and we went and visited them; five of the governors took the risk. One of the governors still have problem with the police, his children were arrested, the bank officials that transacted business with his children were locked up.

    “Those are children of governors. You can imagine what will then happen to children of ordinary Nigerians. There is this problem of insecurity in the land, both physical and material which the All Progressive Congress is about to whip out God willing.”

    nation