The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PDP

  • The shame of a party

    The Peoples Democratic Party has become a huge joke. The self-styled “largest party in Africa” moves from one crisis to another these days with most largely self-induced. The party under the leadership of Bamanga Tukur seems bent on burning the house she inhabits even when no provision has been made for a new abode.

    The latest in a series of laughable actions of the party is the suspension of Otunba Gbenga Daniel on June 27. Unlike the suspension of former governor Rasheed Ladoja of Oyo State and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Daniel’s own was done by his ward executives in Sagamu local government of Ogun State. At a press conference addressed by the chairman of the party in Ogun East senatorial district, Doyin Fakoya, Daniel was suspended for allegedly romancing with the Labour Party in the state.

    Twelve other members of the party in the same area were suspended along with the former governor to restore “discipline” to the party. Asides from standing logic on its head in hastily concluding that Daniel and the other 12 were responsible for indiscipline in the party, the so-called suspension cannot be divorced from the series of crises that have bedevilled the party across the country. We should not forget also that there are cases in court by aggrieved members of the party in the south west zone over the way and manner the former national executive committee ran the party.

    Before Fakoya and his gang turn discipline into a condiment or spice that must be added to PDP to make it a sweet-smelling soup in Nigeria, we need to take a proper look at Daniel’s antecedents as a politician and how it is debatable if anybody has worked tirelessly in raising the party’s profile in the south west. Many seem to have forgotten that this same man that has now become persona non grata headed the Jonathan/Sambo campaign in the geopolitical zone where, apart from Osun State, President Goodluck Jonathan won handsomely even when PDP lost governorship elections in some of the states. For a party which is gradually coming out of the darkness, it is incomprehensible that one of its leading lights even when it does not seem fashionable to identify with it in the zone is being hounded out of the party.

    Suddenly, he must be hounded out of a party that he is the oxygen that the asphyxiating party needs badly. His other reward is the prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), thereby wasting money and resources in establishing a fraud case against him for nearly three years now. The state chapters of PDP across the south west are embroiled in needless fights and acrimony that the national body is powerless to stop and those who can help settle some of these disputes like Daniel must be kicked out. Is it possible that there are fifth columnists that are programming the party to self-destruct?

    Ironically, other leading and high ranking PDP members that are fraternising openly with opposition parties, taking chieftaincy titles and honorary degrees from state universities, shunning state functions, and criticising the party openly at every available opportunity are waltzing around, daring the party hierarchy to do their worst. They remain brides that must be courted and kids that must be pacified with candies so as to stop crying.

    It is, however, not too late for PDP to redeem herself. Just as Gov. Aliyu Wamakko’s suspension was rescinded after the party saw the futility in embarking on such a course of action, so also must Daniel be recalled and allowed to take PDP in the south west to the Promised Land.

    By Niyi Ajibade

    Lagos.

  • Forget Imo governorship race, ex-woman leader advises PDP

    The plan by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to reclaim the governorship seat in Imo State was yesterday punctured by the former Woman Leader of the party, Nnanna Okoro, who described it as a wild goose chase.

    She flayed the party’s ambition to return to power, stating that the state is currently undergoing healing from the ills perpetrated by the past PDP-led administration.

    Mrs. Okoro, a legal practitioner and Commissioner for Community Government Council (CGC), urged the PDP leadership in the state to embrace and support the state government in developing the state which had suffered greatly under the PDP.

    Recounting her ordeal as the PDP woman leader, Okoro said that the party does not have a second chance in the state, “I had the worst experience in the PDP and my years as the woman leader exposed me to the manner of politics that obtain in the PDP”.

    According to her, “Governor Rochas Okorocha has done so well in Imo State that the PDP does not stand a chance. Recent activities have shown that the PDP cannot change and no sane person can remain in that party.”

  • PDP shifts mini-convention

    PDP shifts mini-convention

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rescheduled its special national convention for August 31.

    It will be preceded on August 24 by Southwest congress in Ibadan, the Chairman of the PDP Convention Committee, Professor Jerry Gana, announced yesterday in Abuja.

    He told reporters that the new dates were necessitated by the ongoing Ramadan fast.

    Guidelines for the Southwest congress and the national convention are to be released on Monday.

    The committee chairman added that nomination forms earlier purchased by aspirants to the various positions remain valid.

    The forms are expected to be returned to the committee 14 days before the convention.

    Meanwhile, the convention committee appears to be at loggerheads with the remaining members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) headed by the PDP national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

    Gana and the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who is the secretary of the convention committee, were reportedly denied entry into the Abuja residence of the party’s national chairman on Thursday.

    The two party stalwarts were said to have gone to Tukur’s residence for consultations on issues relating to the party convention.

    They were reportedly kept outside the gate after security men at the gate told them that Tukur was not at home and that they could not enter the chairman’s expansive premises.

    Gana neither confirmed nor denied the report, saying that as party leaders, they were not expected to be discussing party issues on the pages of newspapers.

    “It’s true that the Deputy President of the Senate and I went to the chairman’s house to see him. But we will not take issues on that because we respect our party chairman. We are not going to discuss our party issues on the pages of newspapers,” Gana stated.

  • PDP Convention: Aspirant opposes return of NWC members

    An aspirant for the position of National Women Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mrs. Chika Ibeneme, yesterday opposed automatic return of the party’s 21 National Working Committee (NWC) members.

    Ibeneme, who spoke at a news conference in Abuja, said that granting NWC members who were asked to resign automatic return would throw the party into bigger crisis.

    The PDP is preparing for a special convention scheduled tentatively for next month to fill vacant positions created by the resignation of 21 NWC members last month.

    A new guidelines released by the party threw open the contest to new aspirants.

    Ibeneme insisted that the idea of simply endorsing candidates without the popular support of the generality of members would be against the spirit of internal democracy.

    She said: “The fortunes of the PDP will be greatly enhanced to throw the contest open for all aspirants.

    “We are happy that the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who as secretary of the convention planning committee, announced that the contest will be open to all.

    “Endorsement of candidates will create problem for the party. There should be internal democracy because that is the beauty of democratic process.”

    Ibeneme noted that having been persuaded in 2012 to step down when she aspired to be the party’s women leader, she is convinced to make it this time around at the convention.

    She said, “I am in the race to be elected PDP national women leader because I know that I can do it.

    “I have what it takes to mobilise Nigerian women for the victory of the party in 2015.”

    “I am not new to leadership and I believe that I have what it takes to make the difference as PDP women leader. PDP needs people like me to mobilise Nigerians ahead of 2015 general elections.”

    On the wrangling in the party, she noted that wrangling is not new in the politics saying every thing would be sorted out in due time.

    The aspirant said that she has set machinery in motion to reach out to stakeholders in the party to cement her success in the convention.

    Ibeneme was one of the aspirants who stepped down for the immediate past PDP national women leader, Mrs. Kema Chikwe.

  • Gombe PDP chairman is dead

    Gombe PDP chairman is dead

    The chairman of Gombe State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Hon. Jack Gynako Gumpy, is dead.

    He died of renal failure on Tuesday morning at the Federal Medical Centre, Gombe.

    He was aged 72.

    The deceased hailed from Nyuwar town in Balanga local government area of Gombe State.

    He bagged a Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science from Ohio State University in United States in 1983.

    Before his death, Late Gumpy served in various capacities, including the National Assembly where he was a member of the House of Representative in the old Bauchi State.

    He also served as the Chairman, Local Government Service Commission, a teacher, headmaster, state secretary Nigerian Union of Teachers, National Auditor II, NUT and one time chairman of Centre Party, Gombe State.

     

  • Tinubu to PDP: worry about the decaying carcass in your front yard

    Tinubu to PDP: worry about the decaying carcass in your front yard

    •ACN Leader lashes out at ruling party over comment on Fayemi

    Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu yesterday urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to worry about what it called decaying carcass in the ruling party’s front yard.

    The former Lagos State Governor, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Sunday Dare, said he read with both amusement and disdain a recent statement by PDP Acting National Publicity Secretary Mr. Tony Okeke.

    The statement criticised Tinubu’s remarks while endorsing Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi for a second term.

    The statement reads: “We are neither perturbed, disturbed nor surprised at the level to which PDP can descend in order to attack perceived enemies or tormentors of theirs. But we wish to state that first, PDP needs to wash both hands before complaining that the ACN has a speck of dirt on its thumb.

    “With all the troubles facing the government and the ruling party, the acting national publicity secretary of that outfit took the time to lodge a complaint about ACN National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, exercising his right as a citizen and party leader to endorse Ekiti Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi as the party’s governorship nominee so that he might seek a second term come the 2014 election in that state.

    “The PDP voice box sounded off that it was wicked and undemocratic of Asiwaju Tinubu to state his opinion on a matter concerning the party to which Asiwaju belongs.

    “We dare say if Mr. Okeke tendered such advice to his party leaders that the vociferous man would rapidly find himself among the growing number of jobless Nigerians walking the streets due to the errant policies of his party.

    “Since we have no desire to add to the ranks of Nigeria’s unemployed, we will help the man do his job better by teaching him a bit about democracy and party politics.

    Asiwaju Tinubu is not a brick or a piece of wood. He is a person, a Nigerian citizen to be exact.

    “As such, he has the perfect right to express his opinion on political matters and to endorse whom he may endorse for the position of the ACN nominee for the Ekiti governorship.

    “In due course, Asiwaju will surely endorse who he would want for other elective positions across the country in full excercise of his fundamental right. I predict Mr. Okeke will get acute indigestion from that act as well.

    “For Mr. Okeke to complain is to suggest that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu should remain silent. As such, Okeke shows his ignorance that the Nigerian constitution has enshrined freedom of speech as a fundamental right of all Nigerians, even us in the opposition.

    “For Mr. Okeke to suggest that because Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a party leader, he does not have the right to talk about a party matter is lunacy of the first order.

    “Let us explain to him how a democratic political party works. Party leaders are entitled to express their opinion and endorse whom they like.

    “The matter does not end there. Of course, party members have the right to their opinion but this enables them to weigh the opinions of their leaders. Should any disagree, they have the right to disagree. Should anyone want to compete against the incumbent for the party ticket, they may.

    “However, now they know they will do so without the help of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Far from being undemocratic, Bola Tinubu was being transparent. He did not disguise his belief. He openly expressed it so that all will know where he stands. If you want to do otherwise, you can, but you do so knowing it will be minus his support. This is an exercise of clear decisive leadership in fledgling democracy.

    “It is a starkly different picture than how the PDP operates. That party does things in the dark so much that when they are merely in the shadows they think it is a bright light. Before attacking the ACN, Mr. Okeke should reflect on how he came to be acting national publicity secretary.

    “It was because INEC ruled the convention which selected his erstwhile superior was a fundamentally flawed exercise. It was undemocratic. The ACN has never suffered such a ruling.

    “In the end, the PDP is frightened because they know Governor Fayemi has performed impressively and that they have no one to beat him. Their only hope is to create discord in the ACN. It will not work.

    “Thus, Mr. Okeke should resign himself to minding his own house. Before complaining about the lone fly at our backdoor, he should worry about the decaying carcass in their front yard.”

     

  • PDP crisis: Court of Appeal fixes Oyinlola’s suit for Sept 23

    PDP crisis: Court of Appeal fixes Oyinlola’s suit for Sept 23

    The Court of Appeal, Abuja Judicial Division has adjourned hearing in a suit filed by sacked National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, challenging his removal from office.

    The hearing will now come up on September 23, 2013, almost a month after the PDP’s proposed Mini-National Convention.

    The national convention has been postponed to August 20.

    Although the PDP has listed Oyinlola’s seat as one of the offices to be contested for at the Mini-National Convention, it could not be immediately ascertained what the party’s attitude will be to the ongoing court matter.

    Oyinlola had written to the chairman of the special national convention of the PDP to draw his attention to the pendency of the suit before the Court of Appeal.

    He said it would be contemptuous of the PDP to attempt to fill the position of the national secretary in view of the fact that the matter is before the law court of competent jurisdiction.

    He also said it would amount to breach of the rule of law and the principles of fair play and natural justice if any step is taken by the PDP to fill the position of national secretary at the party’s national convention slated to hold next month.

    One of the legal representatives at the court said: “The matter which came up for hearing at the Court of Appeal, Abuja Judicial. Division today (yesterday) was adjourned till September 23 when the courts are expected to resume from their annual recess.

    “This is when the legal battle will begin. The significant thing is that the decision of the court will have effect on the outcome of the Mini-National Convention.

    “This is why Oyinlola is trying to call on the PDP to stay action on election of a new National Secretary because it will be subjudice to this matter.”

    In the suit, Prince Oyinlola is seeking the declaration of the Court of Appeal that he was validly elected as the PDP national secretary at the national convention of the party which held in Abuja on March 24, last year.

    The Plaintiff is also asking the Court of Appeal to set aside the January 11, 2013 ruling of Hon. Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja which nullified his election on account of a declaration that Oyinlola emerged as the candidate of the South-west PDP at its zonal convention of March 21, 2012.

    Oyinlola has asked the appellate court for a declaration that the decision of the Federal High Court is not justiceable.

    He alleged that the Federal High Court over-stepped its bounds by making some declarations which run contrary to the Constitution of the PDP.END

     

  • Tukur to Lamido:you must work for PDP presidential candidate

    Tukur to Lamido:you must work for PDP presidential candidate

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur yesterday declared that Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State would have no choice than to work for the party’s presidential candidate in the 2015 election.

    Tukur was reacting to a report credited to Lamido in which the

    Governor was quoted to have said that getting the party’s presidential ticket would not guarantee the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

    Tukur spoke in Abuja.

    He warned the governor against utterances that could heat up the system, adding that nobody should distract the President from his job.

    Tukur reminded Lamido that accredited delegates would decide who gets the party’s ticket, stressing that the people will decide who becomes president through their votes.

    He cautioned Lamido against overheating the system. The governor at the weekend said Jonathan would have to win the 2015 presidential election to make his second term ambition a reality, irrespective of the posturing by his supporters who were threatening other aspirants over his re-election.

    Tukur, who spoke through his Special Assistant, Media, Oliver Okpala, said: “It is wrong for anyone to start insinuating whether President Jonathan will emerge victorious as the presidential candidate of the PDP, “When the time for the presidential primaries is yet to come.

    As at today, the PDP is yet to conduct its presidential primary, let alone someone emerging as the presidential candidate.

    “Governor Lamido, if he is a true party man should know that he has no alternative than to support whosoever emerge as the party’s presidential candidate.

    “The emergence of the PDP presidential candidate will be decided by the delegates to the presidential primaries, thereafter, the party’s presidential candidate will face the electorate to decide who becomes the president. Not until that is done, PDP as a political party will be working to ensure that the- would be presidential candidate wins the presidential election.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • Why PDP scored zero in Osemoto

    •There was no election in Osemoto, says party

    More facts have emerged on why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored zero in one of the wards with the highest number of registered voters in the Imo Assembly rerun election for Oguta Constituency.

    Osemoto autonomous community has 2,225 registered voters and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Walter Uzonwanne, got 1,367 votes while the PDP candidate, Eugene Dibiagwu, scored zero.

    Giving details of the relationship between the PDP and Osemoto community, an indigene and the Managing Director of State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC), Henry Okafor, said there has been a history of animosity between the community and the PDP.

    He noted that the problem started in 2002 when thugs invaded the community and burn houses, killing the town union leader.

    The suspect arrested was “released” by a PDP leader in Oguta and made a councillor.

    “When this happened we protested to former Governor Ikedi Ohakim but our plea was not heeded. Thereafter, the PDP structure was handed over to a prominent chieftain and he formed the PDP executive for Osemoto without including any member of the community. This further drew the ire of the indigenes, who again reported to the PDP leadership to no avail.

    “After this, the community joined the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and in 2011 we worked for Rochas Okorocha of APGA and the PDP got zero in all the elections in Osemoto.”

    He added: “During the rerun, we continued with our protest vote against the PDP and voted for APGA and the PDP chieftains knew that they will not get a single vote in Osemoto and they fought frantically to disrupt the election but we ignored their distractions and delivered the APGA candidate.”

    Okafor said they were angry with the party for the neglect they suffered under successive PDP administrations in the state.

    He said: “Despite the fact that Osemoto has the largest oil deposit in the state, there is no single government project in the community until Okoroha became governor.

    “Today, I am the first political appointee from the community and the people are feeling the government’s impact and they showed their appreciation during the election by voting for APGA. We now have projects in the community which was not thought possible before.

    “My question is why is the PDP is crying foul? In 2011, they got zero in all the elections and during the rerun we mobilised and it was a protest vote for all the ills we suffered under the PDP.

    “Another annoying fact was that five days to the election, the PDP legal adviser, C.C Akaolisa, went on air to taunt the community by calling it a mere farm settlement and this angered the people and pitched them against the party.

    “If election holds 100 times in Osemoto, the PDP will score zero. In the community it is almost a taboo to talk about the PDP.”

    But the member representing Ohaji/Egbema/Oguta Federal Constituency, Gerald Irona, insisted that election did not hold in Osemoto.

    He said: “Osemoto’s result was written by APGA members and they allotted zero votes to PDP. How can that be, does it mean that the PDP does not have even a single member in the entire ward?”

     

  • US can’t ask for my extradition, says PDP chief

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Prince Buruji Kashamu, has said the government of the United States cannot ask for his extradition because he has not committed any offence against it.

    In a statement yesterday by his Media Adviser, Mr. Austin Oniyokor, he said: “The case referred to in the report was a case of mistaken identity in a drug-related offence which happened over 10 years ago and for which Prince Kashamu had been discharged and acquitted by the British and American courts.

    “Following his activities in the political terrain, he got information that his opponents were pressuring the Attorney- General of the Federation (AGF) to re-open the case and use his office to cause his extradition. He then went to the Federal High Court where he filed a suit to challenge such a move in view of the fact that the British and American courts had exonerated him.

    “Based on the infallible evidence before it, the Federal High Court held that the AGF could not order his extradition because he had been exculpated by the British and American courts. This was the judgment that the AGF appealed against. However, instead of looking at the merits of the case, the appellate court relied on technicalities to set aside the injunction against the AGF. It said it was not enough to rely on information from a source to file an action in court and that the source should have been made to come to court to give evidence and be cross-examined,” the statement read in part.

    Oniyokor said: “The British court, as per Lord Justice Pill and Mr. Justice Bell of the High Court of Justice, Queen Bench Division, has said he did not commit any crime.

    Also, the American Court, as per Lord Tim Workman, in the Row Street Magistrates’ Court, has said he is not a fugitive from justice. So, how can the US Government justifiably request for the extradition of a man who had been discharged and acquitted of the same allegations?’’

    In his ruling, Lord Workman of the US court said “As a result of the evidence that the Defence has placed before me and the evidence which the Government has tendered in rebuttal, I find the following facts: that the defendant has a brother, Alhaji Adewale Adeshina Kashamu who bears a striking resemblance to that of his brother; I am satisfied that the defendant’s brother was one of the co-conspirators in the drugs importation which involved Catherine and Ellen Wolters; I am satisfied that the defendant informed both interpol and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency of the activities of this group.

    “I am however satisfied that the overwhelming evidence here is such that the identification evidence, already tenuous, has now been so undermined as to make it incredible and valueless. In those circumstances, there is then no prima facie case against the defendant and I propose to discharge him.”