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Tag: POLITICS TODAY

  • Umahi set to join APC?

    Ebonyi state governor, David Umahi is set to decamp to the All Progressives Congress (APC), latest May 29th.

    The candidate of the APC, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji disclosed this in Enugu while rejecting the just concluded governorship election in which Umahi who ran on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared the winner.

    In his words: “the information we have now is that while the governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, had acted as a mole in PDP all along, he has started making moves to ditch PDP and cross over to the APC on or before May 29.

    We are aware that the votes that enthroned Umahi were procured with the connivance of the system, a reason there are gloomy faces all over the state after the announcement of the claimed victory.”

    The senator who is representing Ebonyi South in the upper chamber told reporters that having known the antecedents of the governor, they would not accept him in APC.

    He also blamed the failure of the party in the election on the internal wrangling among the members.

    “What rather happened as all party insiders know is that the APC in Ebonyi worked so much against itself. By this allusion, I don’t indict all the members or leadership, I am actually taking about the moles among us that double dealt and made things impossible for us while they cloaked like part of us.”

    Ogbuoji commended those party members who worked assiduously for the party.

    He said: “With this, I also commend and doff my hat for those committed members and leaders of our party, APC that worked assiduously to ensure we made it big and good.

    “I want to assure you that even with the gang-up, I and the party gave a good account of the outing and made the ruling party understand that Ebonyi people can’t be taken for a ride.

    “I therefore call for consolidation and stronger bond in the party, and that none – including the candidates should despair in the face of the development of this rape of democracy.

    “Consolidating a new system takes tenacity and resolute steady effort to achieve and our great party should not relent in giving our dear state the opposition and checks we need in order to stop gangster politicians riding roughshod over our future.

    “I am aware also of those among us that desired the change we targeted to bring, seemingly worked for it but in the actual sense worked in contrary direction and deliberately frustrated the change they claimed to belong to.”

  • Dickson to Sylva: verdict of history will be hard on you

    The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has said the verdict of history would be hard on a former Governor of the state, Timipre Sylva.

    Dickson said that politicians, who desecrated the opportunities to serve and abuse state resources to lure Bayelsa youths to violence would face condemnation in the courts of posterity.

    The governor, in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, stressed that politicians buying guns for Bayelsa youths and fanning the embers of violence would have their place of rejection on history’s pages of villainy.

    Dickson was reacting to a publication in which Sylva alleged of media plot by the governor to pitch him against the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.

    The Governor said that it was rather unfortunate that Sylva descended to level of scavenging for imagined information from the gutters.

    He said that while genuine and responsible political leaders responded to real issues, Sylva continually showed that he was yet to extricate himself from the agony of excruciating rejection by Bayelsa people at the polls.

    Soriwei said that Dickson was too occupied with execution of his responsibilities as Governor of Bayelsa to devote attention to trivialities especially imagined media reports.

    He said that it was the determination of Dickson to finish his administration well and strong insisting the Sylva was one distraction which serious leaders should avoid.

    Soriwei said that Sylva’s statement was a product of blackmail inspired by the feared and anticipated consequences of hidden guilt.

    He said it was rather sad that Sylva in his desperation to prove his political relevance to his political overlords saw casting aspersions on Dickson as the only route to political relevance.

    He said: “Again, we are constrained to react to spurious claims and distractions from Sylva and his cohorts who are bent on misinforming the Nigerian public.

    “It is indeed unfortunate that Sylva has descended to the level of scavenging for imagined information in the gutters for the purpose of attacking the Governor.

    “While it is the standard for genuine leaders and serious members need politicians to respond to real issues, Sylva is yet to recover from bitterness occasion by his excruciating rejection by his own people.

    Read Also: Sylva to Dickson: you have no fear of God

    “Now that Sylva knows that a leaked audio is not emanating from Bayelsa, he may try to catch some sleep. Dickson has great plans for bayelsa and Sylva is a costly distraction no leader would want to afford.

    “The recent invectives from Sylva are a product of Blackmail inspired by consequences of some tormenting sense of guilt. When Sylva talks about conscience, Bayelsans shiver! There couldn’t have been better way to advertise hypocrisy.

    “While Sylva is worrying over the imagined consequences of a badly buried corpse, we are mindful to remind him once again that the only thing in hot pursuit of him is his shadow.

    “When he looks back, he shall find no Dickson. The Governor is miles ahead of him”

  • ADP begins ward-to-ward campaigns in Edo

    The Action Democratic Party ( ADP ) is to kick start its ward-to-ward campaigns across the three Senatorial Districts of Edo on Monday.

    The party’s candidate for the Edo-South Senatorial district, Mr Ese Owie, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Benin on Wednesday.

    Owie, who said that the ADP was poised to win all the available elective positions in the state during the impending general elections, stressed that the people have shown a readiness to change the existing order.

    According to him, “The people of Edo State now have a renewed determination to do away with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives’ Congress (APC).

    “They have now come to see a better choice in our party, the ADP, a party that has come to change their fortunes for the better.’’

    The ADP candidate noted that the essence of the ward-to-ward campaigns was to take the message of hope to the people in their neighbourhoods throughout the state.

    Read Also: 2019: ADP denies endorsing Edo APC candidates

    “While I, as the party’s Senatorial candidate will be touring all the 77 wards in Edo-South with the message, similar activities will be taken across all the entire 192 wards of the state.

    “Starting from Monday and for the next two weeks, I will going round the nooks and crannies of the 77 wards of Edo-South.

    “The message is clear, and other political parties know it, that the ADP is the party to beat come February,’’ he stressed.

    The ADP is one of the 91 registered political parties in the country.

    INEC announced on Monday that there were 84, 004, 084 voters registered to vote in the 2019 general elections.

  • Don’t underrate PDP, Yahaya Bello warns

    *How APC can win 2019 election – Yahaya Bello

    *Buhari, best President to lead Nigeria to greatness

     

    Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, on Wednesday night warned that the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is not a pushover that should be taken for granted by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in next year’s general election.

    He gave the warning when President Muhammadu Buhari hosted youth political appointees to a dinner at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, the APC must go out aggressively to market to Nigerians, President Muhammadu Buhari and the numerous projects of his government in the last three years, if it must remain in power after 2019.

    He said that the issue of perception must be taken seriously by the APC to ensure that no chance is given to the opposition to return to power in 2019.

    The governor also declared that President Buhari remains the best President to lead Nigeria to greatness beyond 2023.

    He said “All that the crooked PDP is offering Nigerians is that corruption is better than incompetence in quote. 2015 was about change, 2019 will be about progress.

    “As members of the APC, we will not deny that our party has a huge task in the 2019 general elections, the election will never be a walk-over, the PDP will not be a push over.

    “And we must take nothing and no one for granted. If we cannot defeat PDP, maybe we should not be influencers or we should not even go to politics.” he said

    He added “President Buhari is a good product we know, but we must go out to sell him to Nigerians. Perception is very critical in times like this. If we fail, God forbid, the ugly narrative of PDP will overtake the land.

    “Our score card is very rich and very rich enough. We must market the incredible accomplishments of Mr. President and of his administration to every voter and in a language he or she understands.

    “If we fail, God forbids, the adverse narrative being put out by the PDP and other propaganda machine will dominate the land and shape perception.

    “If we don’t market our product very well, a tough and progressive victory against a terrorist threat which continues to cost the lives of our brave military and law enforcement agencies will be mistaken for inactions.

    “If we don’t market our product very well, try our political exposed offenders using long extant laws which previous leaders were not willing to deploy against cronies, accomplishments will be mistaken extra-judicial measures and disdain for the rule of law.

    “If we do not put Mr. President’s achievements before our people so that they can sight it themselves, we will be agreeing with the PDP that in fighting corruption which he is offering again, is somehow better than the alleged incompetence of the APC which has accomplished everything I have enumerated above,”.

    Executive Director at the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Jasper Azuatalam, said that most Nigerians were presently disappointed with the President because he has failed to perform the magic they expected.

    He however stressed that it will be the worst things for Nigeria if power slides back to the PDP in 2019.

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    He said “The worst thing we can do to this country Nigeria, is to allow PDP to come back to power in 2019. It is the worst thing we can do to Nigeria.

    “I will likened PDP to a lion that has been put in the cage for a long time. I have interacted with their members and I know how hungry they have become because they don’t see free money as before.

    “If we lose this lion again in 2019, then Nigeria is going to walk more than 1,000 steps backward.

    “Like we always said in those days we lost elections, Mr. President will always get eleven to twelve million votes whether he operates from a party or not. That’s how goodwill we had that time.

    “But that is because a lot of people believed that by Mr. President’s integrity and his anti-corruption, he is going to do magic when he resumes office as President. That in two months, Nigeria will change. They don’t know how it would happen.

    “But the truth is that most of these have been disappointed because they didn’t see the magic. That is why we need to do the real work,” he said.

  • Ekiti Assembly confirms Fayemi’s commissioner nominees

    Ekiti State House of Assembly has screened and confirmed two commissioners-designate nominated by Governor Kayode Fayemi.

    The two candidates, Mr. Olawale Fapohunda and Mr. Oladapo Kolawole, appeared before the lawmakers at about 2.30 pm on Thursday where they were asked questions.

    Fapohunda, a lawyer, served as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice while Kolawole, a chartered accountant and tax expert, served as Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development during Fayemi’s first tenure.

    The House at its plenary also approved the request of the governor seeking approval for the appointment of ten Special Advisers.

    Speaker Adeniran Alagbada who read a letter from the governor to his colleagues at plenary, urged them to adequately look into the request for smooth runnings of government.

    Read Also: Buhari inaugurates new PH Int’l Airport terminal

    After being grilled by the legislators, Fapohunda and Kolawole were found qualified and fit for positions of commissioners.

    The duo are expected to return to their former offices and would be sworn in by the governor any moment from now.

    The lawmakers unanimously observed that both men had served the state in the past and performed creditably well.

    Deputy Speaker Olusegun Adewumi charged the two commissioner nominees to “think outside the box by attracting businesses into the state to improve the economy instead of overtaxing the people.”

    Alagbada also commended Governor Fayemi for choosing people of integrity as commissioners and praised his colleagues for their prompt action.

  • ‘Supreme court must declare saraki, others’ seat vacant’

    The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has been urged to approach the Supreme Court on the need to declare the seats of Senate President Bukola Saraki and other defecting senators vacant.

    Former Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation, Senator Ayo Arise, said the executive arm of government is empowered by law to invoke Section 68 (1) g of the 1999 Constitution to declare the seats of the defecting senators vacant.

    Speaking on a Channels Television current affairs programme, POLITICS TODAY, monitored in Ado-Ekiti, Arise said the defection of Saraki and his followers in the Senate, without a valid reason as prescribed by the Constitution are no longer members of the National Assembly.

    Arise, who was in the Senate between 2007 and 2011, and seeking a return to the upper chamber said approaching the Supreme Court would
    save the country from what he called “the ongoing defection mentality which has now become a recurring practice in Nigerian politics, especially in the build up to every election.”

    According to him, the issue at stake is far beyond individual or a group of people but rather a constitutional matter in order to move the country forward.

    The former lawmaker stressed that Nigeria will forever remain underdeveloped politically, if will fail to do what is right by adhering to the tenets and dictates of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Arise said: “Law is not a respecter of anybody and it must not be held contrary in Nigeria hence the need for the law to take its course in the latest development and set the record straight once and for all. This will go a long way at bringing sanity and sanctity into the nation’s democracy”.

    “The Supreme Court in the case between Hon. Ifedayo Abegunde and Ondo State House of Assembly and others, had unambiguously settled the issue of defections, when it defined the difference between factionalisation and fractionalisation of a political party and explained the reasons that can warrant the defection of any elected member of the National or State Assembly without suffering the consequences as stated in section 68 (1) g of our Constitution.

    “It stated that, factionalisation of a party could not have warranted any lawmaker to change his or her party but held that, factionalisation through which a Legislator can defect must be in conformity with the section 68(2) of the constitution which states that, there must be a division in the party.

    “What “factionalisation or division” means here is that, there must be a parallel executive from the national to the ward level within the affected political party before the constitutional requirements that permits defection without forfeiture of one’s seat could be met.

    “And as at today, there is no such ground in the APC to allow Saraki and others to change from the party through which they became legislators without losing their seats in the National Assembly. They could participate in a new election to fill their seats in their new parties.

    Read Also: Masari dismisses state civil service

    “On the possibility of having the INEC budget for the 2019 general elections passed into law because of the current face-off between the National Assembly and the Executive, Sen. Arise noted that, the constitution allows the President to spend up to 50% of previous budget proposal in the event of a delay in passing a current budget by the Lawmakers.

    “Therefore, the question of whether or not the passage of INEC budget could be an obstacle towards the conduct of 2019 general elections may not arise because the President can source for funds through some special intervention funds pending the settlement of the political imbroglio.

    “The most practical and legal solution is to follow the dictates of our Constitution and declare the seats vacant by seeking the opinion of the Supreme Court again if anyone is doubt that any judgment of the Supreme Court is the law of the land.

    “The Constitution also empowers the Executive arm of the government to enforce our laws.”