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Tag: Southsouth

  • Southsouth governors unite for region’s development

    Southsouth governors unite for region’s development

    Southsouth governors yesterday resolved to work with President Bola Tinubu to improve the standard of living of the people of their zone.

    They also reiterated their determination to address the socio-economic challenges of the oil and gas-rich zone.

    They said after a meeting in Benin, Edo State capital, that it had become very expedient for Southsouth to redefine its place and roles in the economic development of the country.  

    The meeting held under the  BRACED (Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta) Commission elected  Governor Godwin Obaseki as chairman. 

    Governors Douye Diri (Bayelsa), Sim Fubara (Rivers) and  Umo Bassey Eno  (Akwa Ibom)  attended the meeting.  Bassey Otu(Cross River) of Cross River State was absent.

    Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State was represented by his deputy, Monday Onyeme, at the meeting that also had all the commissioners of budget and planning of the six states in attendance.

    Obaseki, who read a  communiqué after the parley, noted that the meeting was held at a  time Nigeria was facing enormous challenges.

    He said: “It is against this background that the Southsouth region must redefine its place and roles in the economic development of Nigeria and for the benefit of our people.

    “The director-general of the commission made a presentation, briefing the members on the works done by the commission since it came into inception, especially in the areas of agriculture, power, education, environment and sports.

    “The council members spoke of the compelling need to collectively accelerate the development of the states and affirmed their support for the imperatives of the Southsouth economic cooperation and integration, as a practical step towards the creation of a zone of economic development.

    “The council resolved as follows:

    · “to foster regional economic cooperation and integration, to achieve sustainable development, through the development of a strong regional economy for the collective benefits of the people of the Southsouth and invigorate the process of regional economic cooperation and integration.

    Read Also: Southsouth governors meet in Benin Thursday

    “to establish and inaugurate the BRACED Business Council. This council will endeavour to forge a closer partnership with the business council and utilise it to provide an improved business climate to attract businesses and investors into the region.

    “ “to collectively engage the Federal Government on the development of key infrastructure in the region, particularly roads, rail development and the decentralisation and rehabilitation of seaports in the region, as well as management of security in the country at large.”

    *“ to engage the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to ensure its activities benefit the BRACED states.

    *to direct the Commissioners of Environment and Attorneys-General of states to meet on climate issues affecting the states, particularly mangrove swamps.”

    The Southsouth governors also called for a closer and more cordial relationship with other zones for the creation of economic corridors. 

    They pledged to work with and support one another for the purpose of improving the well-being and welfare of the people of the zone. 

    The governors directed the director-general of the BRACED commission to implement the decisions taken and report back to the council before their next meeting in March. 

  • African Church crisis: Southsouth provinces sack Southwest bishops

    The festering leadership crisis in African Church has deepened with the sack of bishops from the Southwest from its Southsouth provinces.

    It was learnt that Bishop James Bamidele from Ekiti State, who was at Four towns, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, and Archbishop A. A. Odufuwa, formerly of the Calabar Province, have been removed.

    A member of the church, who spoke in confidence, said other Southsouth states, including Edo and Delta, have also sent packing their bishops of Southwest origin.

    The source, who addressed reporters in Uyo at the weekend, also said provinces in Edo and Delta states threatened a breakaway from the Western provinces of the church.

    Cross River and Rivers provinces have also indicated their plan to secede, if the current primate is removed.

    Penultimate week, the Primate of the church, Dr. Emmanuel Udofia, returned to Uyo. The cleric was allegedly being harassed by church leaders in the Southwest to end his tenure. He is also said to be threatened with sack, if he fails to vacate office by May, when he will be 60.

    But Southsouth members of the church noted that a new law could not have been applicable to Udofia who assumed office through the old constitution.

     

  • ‘Only Bayelsa has cardiovascular lab in Southsouth, Southeast’

    The only functional cardiovascular laboratory in the Southsouth and Southeast is in the Bayelsa Specialist Hospital (BSH), Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, it was learnt yesterday.

    Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Dafe Emmanuel, who stated this, said since the hospital was inaugurated, the lab had been servicing patients from the 11 states that make up the zone, as well as from other parts of the country.

    According to him, a similar laboratory at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, has been non-functional the last three years. The one in Akwa Ibom State has also not been functioning.

    He said: “In the Bayelsa Specialist Hospital, we have a functional cardiovascular laboratory which serves the whole of Southsouth and the Southeast. This is the only functional cardiovascular lab in these regions.

    “Other cardiovascular labs working in Nigeria are the three in Lagos and one in Abuja. The one in Abuja serves the whole of the north and it is privately run. In Enugu State, the Federal Government tried to establish one but it never worked.

    “There is one in Akwa Ibom State established by the former governor which has been shut down in the last three years. There is one coming up in Owerri, which is privately driven. So, these are the only functional labs. Only about five functional cardiovascular labs are in Nigeria; this is how terrible it is. No wonder people die every day.”

    Dafe boasted that the efficiency and proper management of the laboratory has led to its success story.

    The Community Chief Executive Officer (CCEO) of BSH, Cynthia Oye, said though the hospital is state-owned, it is being managed by a private organisation, Oyesis Global Network.

    According to her, the hospital was also equipped to undertake other critical health procedures other than cardiovascular cases, adding that BHS was effectively handling stroke and kidney cases through state of the art machine.

  • Poll: Group alleges presence of killer squad in Southsouth, Bayelsa

    The Niger Delta Peace Movement (NDPM) has alleged suspicious presence of special gunmen in uniform with resemblance of special killer squad in the six states òf the South-South geopolitical zone including Bayelsa State ahead of the Governorship and House of Assembly elections.

    The Secretary-General of the NDPM, Jephtah Akedi, said that the suspected killer squad could be working for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to intimidate the electorate and deliver the geopolitical zone to the party.

    Akedi alleged that the deadly squad comprising 130 men was in a mission to execute acts of repression against the citizens during the period.

    The NDPM Scribe stated further that his organisation got reports that some military officers had displayed unprofessional conducts and could be working with the suspected killer squad.

    Read also: Man accuses landlady’s son of causing wife’s miscarriage

    He said that the NDPM was worried that the some military officers were planning to execute a special election game plan in the South-South.

    Akedi added that since the deployment of a particular senior military officer in the region, he had issued unlawful orders to his subordinates to compromise the election in favour of the APC.

    He stressed that it was important to remind the Nigerian public that some military officers played illegal roles in Bayelsa killings.

    Akedi called on the Chief òf Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, to check the activities of his officers on election duties to avoid tainting the service with political bias during elections.

    He said that it would be wrong for the Army to be dragged into the political dispute through the collusion of men in the corridors of power and senior officials of the service.

  • Southsouth… Where art the huge votes?

    In 2015, the Southsouth was dominated by the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, is an indigene of Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. He had huge votes from the region. But in the February 23 presidential election, the Southsouth could not return huge figues for PDP candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. In this piece, BISI OLANIYI, OKUNGBOWA AIWERIE, NICHOLAS KALU, OSAGIE OTABOR, BASSEY ANTHONY, and MIKE ODIEGWU x-ray why the huge votes suddenly disappeared.

    Rivers:

    Rivers State politics was dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), until November 27, 2013, when the then incumbent governor, Rotimi Amaechi, now Transportation Minister, defected to help midwife the All Progressives Congress (APC). The aim was to defeat Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, of the PDP, who was president.

    The 2015 polls witnessed so much violence. Many APC members were either  killed or  injured before, during and after the elections, with the state becoming “Rivers of Blood” and many voters were disenfranchised through massive rigging, thuggery and violence.

    During the 2015 presidential election in Rivers, the total votes cast was 1,584,768, with APC getting 69,238, while PDP got 1,487,075. In 2019 in the state, the total votes cast was 666,585, with APC getting 150,710, even after 72,000 votes in Emohua LGA was unconstitutionally removed, and PDP getting 473,971.

    The Coordinator of APC’s Presidential Campaign Council in Rivers, Pastor Tonye Cole, declared that the era of bogus electoral figures was gone in Rivers state.

    Cole said: “Gone are the days when political thugs would hijack electoral materials and allocate hundreds of thousands of imaginary votes to their party. The results from the various units, wards and LGAs (in Rivers State) confirm these and further highlight the depth of rigging and manipulation of the 2015 elections that APC as a party had complained about.”

    Wike, through Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Emma Okah, who doubles as the Director of Information and Communications of Rivers PDP Campaign Council, however, claimed that Rivers people massively voted for PDP candidates in 2015, but security agents prevented them from repeating the feat during the 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections.

     

    Delta:

     

    The results of the presidential poll in Delta show that the PDP garnered  594,068 of the valid votes in the election, while the APC had 221,292 votes.

    Although Delta has 2,719,313 registered voters for the elections, only 891,647 persons were accredited to vote. The figure represents 50.61 per cent of the registered voters in the state.

    The overall election results showed that the APC had an impressive showing, scoring 221,292 compared with its performance of 48,910 during the 2015 presidential election. The APC’s showing during the 2019 presidential and National Assembly polls represented a 63.79 percentage increase.

    On the contrary, the results announced by INEC last week showed that the PDP in Delta  state performed poorly, judging by its performance in 2015, when it secured 1,211,405 votes at the presidential election. The PDP regressed with a 34.19 percentage decrease after it polled 594,068 in the 2019 presidential polls.

    The APC’s impressive showing in last weekend’s election in Delta has been attributed partly to the  unity driven campaign launched by the party’s 2015 governorship candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, as well as the political clout of the incumbent, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege in Delta Central Senatorial District.

    The performance of the APC, in spite of the factional crisis in the party makes the increase more remarkable.

    The presence in the APC of former two-time PDP governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was the Delta South senatorial candidate of the party in the election, might have contributed to the increased number of votes scored by the party.

    Unlike in 2015, when the PDP won all the federal constituency seats in Delta state, in 2019, the party won nine seats, with the APC’s Francis Waive securing the Ughelli/Udu federal constituency seat.

    Also in 2015, of the three senatorial seats, the ruling PDP won two seats: Delta South and Delta North, while Senator Omo-Agege of the Labour Party (LP) won Delta Central seat, before he defected to the APC.

    Senator Omo-Agege repeated the feat in 2019 by clinching the seat for a second time, defeating his closest rival, Ms. Evelyn Oboroh, PDP, in a keenly-contested race. The PDP won two senate seats: Delta North and Delta South.

    In 2015, the contest was a three-horse race, involving Great Ogboru (LP), Ifeanyi Okowa (PDP) and Olorogun O’tega Emerhor (APC), but in 2019, the race has been between the APC and PDP.

    A chieftain of the PDP, Mr. Frank Igwebeze, attributed the poor showing of the PDP in 2019 to the order by Buhari for ballot box snatchers to be dealt with ruthlessly, saying the common man in the rural communities in Delta state feared the worst and decided to stay away.

     

    Cross River:

     

    There was a time in the present democratic dispensation, when the ruling PDP in Cross River State always thrashed any opposition at the polls. The PDP always scored figures ridiculously higher than any closest rival in any electoral contest in the state. This was a scenario that even played out even in the elections in 2015.

    A look at the result of the presidential election in 2015, and looking at the situation as it is today, shows a lot of factors have played out. The results in 2019 showed a marked difference from how election results used to be in the state and this has raised questions: Were the results bogus in the past? Are we getting more realistic results today? Does this mean votes are actually counting today more than they used to be in the past?

    In 2015 in Cross River state, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP scored 414,868 votes, while Muhammadu Buhari of the APC got a paltry 28,368 votes. The APC had, however, gone ahead to be winners in the presidential elections in the country. In 2019, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP got  295,737 votes to beat Buhari, who came second with 117,302 votes. This is despite the fact that elections did not hold in some wards in areas like Bakassi and Boki. Also, the elections for the entire Etung was also cancelled.

    At this point, it would be pertinent to point out that a major factor to this development could be the political configuration in the state today, as against how it was in the last four years. Largely responsible for this was that there was no strong opposition in the state at any point before 2015.

    All political heavyweights in Cross River then were members of the PDP, who had political structures across the state.  So, it was always a smooth ride for the PDP in any election. In fact, then, politicians only fought to secure the tickets of the PDP.

    In the buildup to the 2015 elections, and even in the aftermath, so many spats arose within the PDP that led to the eventual exodus of political heavyweights across the 18 LGAs of the state. A good number of these heavyweights are in the APC. Some of such top politicians are: Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, Senator John Owan-Enoh, Prince Bassey Otu and Dr. Alex Egbona, among others.

    So, when the elections came around again in 2019, it was a different ball game. This time round, it was not exactly an underdog situation for the opposition APC in the state, as the contest was more like a clash of titans. So, results from the polls, especially in areas where the APC leaders came from, showed a marked difference. In fact, many of the APC stalwarts won elections in their areas. At best, there were hardly cases of landslide winnings by the PDP, as it was in the past.

    For APC politicians who had mobilised their people to come out and vote, the presidential candidate of the party (President Buhari) benefited from the goodwill they enjoyed with their people. For example, in the February 23 elections, a lot of voters went for the politicians they know and in the same vein voted for every candidate of their party on the ballot. This turned out kindly for the presidential figures. People who went out to vote their National Assembly members of the APC, who campaigned vigorously, ensured they voted for the APC on all the ballots to avoid mistakes. This scenario, it was observed, played out more in rural areas than urban centres. This could account for the sharp increase for the numbers of the main opposition, APC, in the last elections.

    In contrast to this is also the sharp drop of the figure for the PDP. From over 400,000 votes in 2015 to less than 300,000 votes in 2019 seems a long way. This has made people believe that given that the PDP was in charge of everything in the state at the time and given that rigging was more a menace then than it is now, that figures for the ruling party were always inflated beyond proportion. Now, this may prove a bit difficult as the opposition in the state has also developed muscles and can match the PDP squarely in pretty every department, as far as elections are concerned.

    The better fortune of the APC in Cross River state created more committed members and this has led to improved vigilance of the party’s agents and members on election day in the state. This is because irrespective of the fact that the party polled 117, 000 votes, it could still have been possible for the PDP to inflate their own figures and still leave a wide gap between the two figures, but the opposition’s vigilance from the polling units to the various collation points by agents of the party for the presidential election, it was difficult to try to inflate the figures.

    Also, it was realised that some of the developmental projects of the Federal Government might have boosted the APC’s chances in the last elections. For instance, the rehabilitation of the Calabar-Ikom-Ogoja federal highway, which is the main artery of the state, thereby reducing travel time and stressful trips, might not have gone unnoticed. These infrastructural developments are the things the ordinary people saw and many might not have been vocal enough to voice them out, but they registered in the minds of a lot of people. Such supporters might not have been vocal enough, because of the antagonism that goes with being a supporter of President Buhari in Cross River state, but only waited for the polls to make their statements.

    In fact, there are those who believe the APC could still have had a better outing than it did in the last elections, if not for a couple of factors. The first is leadership tussle in the party in the state, which is believed to a great extent, hampered the chances of the party’s candidates. Again making it worse was the abrupt announcement by INEC on the eve of the presidential and National Assembly elections that the APC would have no candidates in the elections in the state. This led APC’s candidates in the elections to frantically try to reach out to their people that they were still in the race, but again there were those who believed that if not for the strange announcement by INEC, that APC could even have recorded far above the number of votes the candidates of the party had.

    Going into the March 9 governorship election, with votes now counting, the Ben Ayade-led PDP government will have an uphill task to remain in Government House, Calabar.

     

    Edo:

     

    It was not a defeat the APC in Edo State had expected during the conduct of the 2019 presidential, and National Assembly elections. The results showed the PDP reinforcing its dominance of Edo politics, just as it did in 2015.

    In 2015, the PDP won the presidential election with a margin of defeat of 78,400 by scoring 286,869 votes. It won in 15 LGAs, while the APC won only in three LGAs. The APC had 208,469 votes. For the National Assembly election in 2015, the PDP won two senatorial and five House of Representatives’ seats, while the APC had one seat in the Senate and four seats in the House of Representatives.

    During the February 23, presidential election, the reverse appeared to be the case, even though the PDP won the election with a margin of 7,849 votes. The PDP won in eight LGAs and had a total 275,691 votes, while the APC won in ten LGAs and had a total of 267,842 votes.

     

    Akwa Ibom:

     

    In the 2015 presidential and National Assembly elections, the influence of the PDP, which was the government at the centre, indicated how each of the political parties fared in the elections of that year in Akwa Ibom State.

    The towering influence of the then governor of the state, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who was an ardent and strong pillar of the PDP and Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, also affected the results of 2015 elections.

    Fourteen political parties participated in the 2015 presidential and National Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom State.

    Of these political parties, only the APC, which emerged from an alliance of political parties, was the  contender against the PDP.

    The total number of accredited voters in Akwa Ibom in 2015 was 1,074,070, of 1,644,481 registered voters.

    The result of the presidential election showed that the PDP polled 953,304 votes, while APC came a distant second with 58,411 votes.

    The margin of victory for the PDP over the APC in the February 23, 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom  narrowed significantly, giving a clear indication that the APC is stronger now than it was in 2015.

    PDP’s candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, polled 397,831 votes, while President Muhammadu Buhari of APC got 175, 429 votes.

     

    Bayelsa:

     

    In 2015, Jonathan won Bayelsa, his home state by landslide. He had 361, 209 votes in the state. Buhari only scored 5,194 votes. Statistics from INEC showed that of 605, 637 registered voters in the state then, 384,789 persons voted in the election.

    But field monitoring gave an indication that the figures were merely allocated to the parties in favour of the PDP.  Without strict implementation of the card reader in the election, it was easy for PDP leaders to depend on the use of incidence forms to allocate votes in various polling units.

    Observation showed that the PDP leadership, enabled by its state government, circumvented all the electoral procedure to deliver bogus figures to their kinsman and President. The breakdown of the results in the eight local government areas gave no chance to APC to even score up to the 25 per cent of the constitutionally required votes.

    For instance, in Ekeremor Local Government Area, while Jonathan scored 61,507 votes; Buhari trailed from behind with 374 votes. In Yenagoa, Jonathan, 45, 429, Buhari, 462; Ogbia, Jonathan, 50,754, Buhari, 214; Sagbama, Jonathan, 41,221, Buhari, 361; Brass, Jonathan, 31,312, Buhari, 1,968 and Southern Ijaw, Jonathan, 78,898, Buhari, 856.

    In the National Assembly election conducted simultaneously with the Presidential poll, the APC candidates only contested for formality. While their PDP candidates posted bogus figures and were declared winners of their districts and constituencies, the APC contestants were left to lick their wounds.

    But the scenario changed dramatically in the just-concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections. The strict electoral procedure adopted by INEC to conduct the polls made it a Herculean task for any party including the party at the centre to allocate results. Each vote was largely contested for and mostly persons who came out to cast their ballots were counted by the commission.

    Though there were controversies in some local government areas such as Nembe and Southern Ijaw following suspicion by the state government and the PDP that APC members manipulated the results in those areas, the general performance showed a drop in the number of voters when compared to 2015 elections.

    Despite an increase in the state voter population from 605,637 to 923,182, the total number of votes cast in the just-concluded presidential election was still less than the votes recorded in 2015. In 2015, 384,789 voted in the election. But in 2019, 335,859 cast their votes.

    Also the margin of difference between Buhari of the APC and the PDP candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was a remarkable departure from the 2015 election. According to INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Zana Akpagbo, Atiku polled 197, 933 votes to beat Buhari of APC who scored 118, 821 votes. It is a difference of 79,851 votes compared to 356,015 difference between votes between Jonathan and Buhari in 2015.

    A breakdown of local government performance also showed that unlike in 2015 when Buhari won no council, he was declared the winner of two councils in the state in 2019. For instance he won in Southern Ijaw scoring 47, 627 votes to beat Atiku, who got 41627. In Nembe, Buhari scored 31, 811 votes to win Atiku, who got 7,167.

    Other local government results did not show the kind of wide margins between the two parties in 2015. In Kolokuma-Opokuma, Atiku got 16,040 while Buhari scored 3,938. Others are Yenagoa, Atiku, 37,676, Buhari, 7,483; Brass, Atiku, 15,936, Buhari, 15,936; Sagbama, Atiku, 30,122, Buhari, 7,949; Ekeremor, Atiku, 21,856, Buhari, 21,857 and Ogbia, Atiku, 27,506, Buhari, 5003.

    There was also a close contest between the National Assembly candidates of the PDP and those of the APC. Beyond all expectations, INEC confirmed that candidates of the APC won two seats in the House of Representative and one in the Senate.

    But the Bayelsa State government and the PDP believed that the former Governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, INEC and security agencies manipulated the results to favour the APC especially in Nembe and Southern Ijaw.

    The governor rejected the votes saying they were allotted to Buhari, and other candidates of the APC in Nembe Bassambiri and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas òf the state.

    Dickson said what happened in Nembe and Southern Ijaw was a blatant violation of the rights of the people to elect their leaders and representatives.

    Dickson said further that a former Governor òf the State, Chief Timipre Sylva, an oil surveillance Contractor, David Lion, and officers and men of the Nigerian Army commandeered materials to non-designated locations and held electoral officers hostage to allocate fake figures at gunpoint.

    He said that it was the height of absurdity for INEC whose staff had admitted and spoken out against the abduction and violence in the area to brandish a purported result for the seven wards of Nembe Bassambiri and Constituency 4 of Southern Ijaw.

    According to the governor, Army Officers and men under their command compelled collation officers at gun point to concoct figures from non-existent votes that were never captured by card readers.

    But the APC in Bayelsa condemned efforts of Dickson to discredit results of elections in some wards in Southern Ijaw and Nembe local government areas of the state.

    The party dismissed as groundless Dickson’s statement against votes garnered in the state by President Muhammadu Buhari and APC candidates.

    The party in a statement signed by its Publicity Secrtary, Doifie Buokoribo, also rejected an attempt by Dickson to equate himself with Bayelsa by claiming the state condemned votes polled by APC.

    Buokoribo stressed that Dickson was not Bayelsa, and that the state was neither Dickson nor a political party.

    He advised Dickson to explore the democratic option of seeking redress in the courts if he had any grievances about the poll results, instead of plunging into the realm of reckless and enflaming statements.

  • Southsouth joins race for Senate President

    As the race for the leadership of the Ninth National Assembly begins, different geopolitical zones are advancing reasons they should produce the next Senate President.

    Before the elections, there were speculations that former Akwa Ibom State Governor Senator Godswill Akpabio was being considered for the position, but the former Minority leader was not re-elected.

    A source said under the current arrangement,  the Northwest occupies the position of President, the Southwest takes the position of the Vice President,  the Northcentral and the North East are occupying the position of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    He said: “If you look at the current arrangement, the Southeast is occupying the position of the Deputy Speaker, even though he is not a member of the APC, while the Southwest again has the position of Deputy Speaker.

    “In all these, it is only the Southsouth that has not been accommodated as they have been completely alienated. There was the argument in 2015 that there was no ranking Senator from the Southsouth. Now, there are two ranking Senators from the zone. They are Francis Alimikhena and Ovie Omo Agege.

    “The Southsouth should be allowed to produce the Senate President, while the Speaker should go to the North Central. The position of Deputy Senate President should go to the Northeast, while the Southeast takes the position of Deputy Speaker.

    “It is their thinking in the Presidency that since the President is from the Northwest and the Vice President from the South West, the four senior principal offices in the National Assembly should go to the other four zones. in other words, nobody from these two zones should be in contention for these positions.”

    The source said unlike 2015 when the President did not secure 25 percent in majority of the states in the Southsouth, President Buhari was able to muster the required 25 percent in almost all the states in the zone.

    He said:  “There is no way President Buhari can finish an eight year tenure of two terms without the Southsouth occupying any of the six senior positions in government. That will be grossly unfair to the zone. So, the thinking is that the Senate President should come from the Southsouth.”

    Ranking Senators from the Northcentral and North east are already eyeing the position of Senate President with Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan among the top contenders.

    It is not however clear what process will throw up the next Senate President, but a senior member of the National Working Committee (NWC) told The Nation that the party has learnt from its mistakes of 2015 and would  get involved in the process of selecting the leadership of the National Assembly.

  • Ohanaeze, Afenifere, Southsouth groups endorse Buhari

    LEADERS of ethnic socio-cultural groups yesterday endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term, urging Nigerians to vote for him in the Saturday election.

    “We hereby endorse President Muhammadu Buhari as the consensus candidate of our coalition and without any fear of contradiction, we state that he will win the presidential election overwhelmingly on February 16,” the group said.

    The groups are Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere, Middle Belt Coalition of Progressives (MCOP), Oodua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC) and Niger Delta Alliance for Justice.

    Ohanaeze Ndigbo Secretary Uche Okwukwu, a lawyer, who addressed reporters in Lagos on behalf of the coalition, called on the international community to respect the will of Nigerians as they exercise their freewill.

    He said the outcome of the poll is important to Nigeria and the rest of the world, adding that it has a particular implication for the stability of Africa.

    Okwukwu said the importance has made it compelling for the country to organise a peaceful, free, transparent, credible and violence-free election.

    Lamenting that the conservative People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ruined the economy through corrupt practices for 16 years, he said its legacies are the widening gap between the rich and the poor, frustration, social dislocation and unemployment.

    He said: “We must prevent the return of our country to the inglorious years of reckless corruption and unbridled rape of public resources. Nigeria should not return to the dark era of brigandage.”

    Okwukwu described the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the party of change, adding that its leaders, including President Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, have exhibited courage in the face of political tribulations.

  • Southsouth, Southeast rulers worried about insecurity

    Traditional rulers from the Southsouth and southeast have exptressed concern over insecurity in the country and about a free, fair and violence-free election.

    Arising the second Consultation Meeting of National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN) South-South, South East Chapter in Benin, the Edo State capital, the monarchs noted that if “the local community is saved, Nigeria is saved.”

    Chairman of the Second Consultation Meeting of the Southern monarchs, HRH Edmund Daukoru, the Mingi XII Amanayanabo of Nembe Kingdom, said the meeting was convened to consider the security situation with the elections around the corner.

    “This period is usually tensed and as traditional fathers, we felt we should get together and look at the matter from the grassroots point of view. Being that we have at many times look at it from the holistic national point of view but we felt that such brand of skills required quite some injection of money to get implemented.

    “So this time we changed the tactic and said we should look at it from a practical and local point of view because if our local community is saved, Nigeria is saved. So this is a complete departure from the past when we always focused on the problems from a very high level.

    “But now we are talking about community security at the local government level, at the level of our respective kingdoms and the senatorial districts that is where our concerns rest now,” he said.

    The theme of the meeting is ‘Ensuring a violence-free 2019 general elections in our zones and kingdoms: the role of traditional rulers’, he said, “We have made sure that the recommendations we arrived at this meeting does not require much money but require something that we as traditional rulers do every day and can implement by just applying a bit of more of our own time. But close to elections, we need to rededicate ourselves to what we already have been doing and draw up a sort of check list by engaging with local authorities and stakeholders.”

    HRH (Dr) Appolus Chu, the Ebere Emere Okori, Eleme of Eleme Kingdom, Rivers State; HRH (Dr) Appolus Chu, (event sponsor) said the meeting was a platform where the traditional rulers from the South-south and South East came together to speak with one voice on the policies that would be made in the interest of the nation.

     

  • Southsouth to get more by supporting APC, says presidential aide

    THE Southsouth region stands to benefit more infrastructural growth, if it chooses to support the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a presidential aide, Senator Ita Solomon Enang, has said.

    Enang, who said the Southsouth would not go far by being in the opposition, spoke at the weekend in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, during a solidarity rally in his honour and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Managing Director, Mr. Nsima Ekere. Ekere  is also APC governorship aspirant.

    Enang said winning in Akwa Ibom State was a task that must be accomplished, adding that the APC would use the oil-rich state as a gateway to other Southsouth states, ‘hence the need for massive support for President Muhammadu Buhari and the strengthening of APC in the state”.

    He noted that with Akwa Ibom State being in the forefront of entrenching the party into other Southsouth states, the region would witness massive turnaround in infrastructure.

    “Akwa Ibom shall be the launching ground. From here, APC shall launch to conquer Rivers, Bayelsa, Edo, Delta, Cross River and other states of the South,” he said.

    Former Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio described Governor Udom Emmanuel-led administration as a non-performing government.

    He added that with Ekere as the state’s governor, Uyo would be great again.

    Ekere said when he is voted in, he would rename the Ibom International Airport after former Governor Victor Attah.

    He noted that all those who had toiled for the state, whether alive or not, shall be recognised by his government.

    The governorship aspirant, who decried the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) campaign, which, he said, tended to poison the people minds against him, maintained that he would serve a single term, if elected.

    He thanked the people for their solidarity, particularly the Akwa Ibom elders, who bought the party’s governorship nomination form for him.

  • APC targets Southeast, Southsouth take over

    As the campaigns for the 2019 General Elections gather steam, our state correspondents in the Southeast and Southsouth zones report on the new schemes put in place by All Progressives Congress (APC) to win in the two zones

    SINCE 1999, Southeast and Southsouth political zones have remained strongholds of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But since 2015, when former President Goodluck Jonathan, who flew the flag of PDP for re-election, lost the presidential election to President Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressives Congress (APC), the politics of the two zones have witnessed dramatic changes.

    Today, as the country prepares for the 2019 elections, APC boasts of many prominent members who are bent on ensuring that the party, which performed abysmally in the two zones in 2015, will become APC controlled zones even as they evolve fresh strategies that will give victory to APC’s presidential candidate.

    The specific plans in the various states differ even as various states have different political leaders at the helm affairs. The overall impact of the activities of the various teams is a pointer to how the 2019 elections would be fought and won in 2019.

    C/River APC: A house at war with itself

    SINCE the commencement of the present democratic dispensation in Cross River State, never has the opposition been in such an advantaged position to take over power in the state as it has today.

    Given the widespread feeling of disaffection with the present Peoples Democratic Party-led government within the political class and the masses in the state and the fact that the party at the federal level, for the first time, is the opposition, and also for the first time there is an array of political gladiators across the state within the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), political analysts are skeptical to assume, as they would normally believe, that the ruling party would easily retain its position in the state.

    In a paradox of sorts, it appears the only thing standing between the opposition and taking over the state next year is not the ruling PDP, but the APC members themselves.

    At the moment, the party is embroiled in a bitter in-fighting that is threatening to consume the soul of the party and give the ruling PDP little or nothing to worry about as they look to extend their dominance in the state next year.

    Signs of trouble within the APC in the state became obvious in January this year, when the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Usani, was indefinitely suspended and recommended for expulsion to the national leadership by the then executive council of the party in the state led by Sir John Ochalla.

    Usani, a former chairman of the party in the state, was accused of indiscipline. Ochalla had alleged that Usani was into organising illegal meetings, which was not in the best interest of the party, even after several efforts to reconcile their differences. Ochalla, who was with the National Vice Chairman, Southsouth, Ntufam Hillard Eta, told reporters that Usani’s aim was to install a state chairman of the party that would do his bidding. It was alleged that the minister’s aim was to set himself up to run for the governorship of the state on the platform of the party.

    In a swift reaction, the decision to indefinitely suspend Usani, from the party was described as nullity and cheap blackmail by some executive members.

    A communiqué signed by the then State Organising Secretary, Ekpe Owan Ayang; Legal Adviser, Lazarus Undie and others accused Eta of being behind the development and also went ahead to declare that Ochala and Eta have been suspended.

    They said there was no resolution by either the State Working Committee or the State Executive Committee of the party to suspend the minister from the party and no allegation was raised or was pending against him.

    The minister himself said he was not aware he had been suspended from the party.

    However, on February 24, in a special state congress, conducted by a five-man screening/election committee, led by Mohammed Indebawa, which held at the party’s secretariat in Calabar, Mr. Godwin Etim-John, a loyalist of Usani, emerged as the chairman of the party. Etim-John polled 56 votes while Dr. Mathew Achigbe got 36 votes to come second.

    However, a suit filed by one King Edom Vincent Odey, among other things, sought an order setting aside the directive for the holding of the special state congress, in which saw Etim-John emerged. Usani, who was an observer at the congress, said he was not aware of any court injunction.

    Besides, the issues of an injunction against the congress that brought Etim-John, Achigbe, who rejected the exercise, had accused the party’s National Chairman then, John Odigie Oyegun, and National Organising Secretary then, Senator Osita Izunaso, of compromise.

    Addressing reporters at the time, he urged the National Leader of the party, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to intervene and save the party from imminent collapse before the 2019 General Elections. Achigbe said what transpired at the congress was illegal and would be challenged to a logical conclusion.

    Achigbe said the congress defied Article 25 of the APC constitution, which states that at least 14 days’ notice should be given before the conduct of a congress. He also alleged that even suspended members of the party, including Etim-John, were allowed to participate in the congress. He alleged that the congress was not even witnessed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as provided for in the 2010 Electoral Act as amended.

    After much ado, another state congress for the election of a party Executive Council was organised on May 19. This was again rejected by Achigbe and some major stakeholders of the party in the state.

    The new state congress, which was conducted by Hon Useni Adamu, saw the new executive emerge through voice votes at the Cultural Centre Complex, all unopposed.

    The congress, which was boycotted by these stakeholders, again saw the emergence of an Etim-John led executive council. The stakeholders, who boycotted the exercise, accused Usani of manipulating the entire process to have his way. They accused the minister of quarantining the congress committee to do his bidding.

    Those who accused the minister include former governor, Dr. Clement Ebri; National Vice Chairman Southsouth, Hilliard Eta; Senator John Owan-Enoh; Hon Cletus Obun; Prof Eyo Etim Nyong; Hon Venatius Ikem; Hon Paul Adah; Barrister Utum Eteng; Chief Ernest Irek; Mr. Odey Ochicha; Dr. Chris-Valentine Eneji, among a host of others.

    The stakeholders led by Ebri, who addressed reporters after the exercise, accused Usani of trying to destroy the party in the state. They demanded that a “proper state congress” be held.

    Usani had dismissed these claims, saying the congress was legitimate having been endorsed by the national secretariat.

    However, about a week later on May 27, the group made up of those who boycotted the earlier exercise had gone ahead to conduct another state congress in Calabar.

    The exercise this time was conducted by the National Vice Chairman, Ntufam Hillard Eta, who said they used lists of delegates from the ward and local government congresses conducted by the chairman of the Congresses Committee, Major General Umar (rtd).

    The exercise was to hold at the Ikot Ansa Town Hall in Calabar, but the venue was barricaded by dozens of armed policemen. It was later held at the premises of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital.

    The new 36-member executive council, which emerged at the State Congress, through affirmation, had Dr. Mathew Achigbe, as chairman.

    Speaking at the end of the exercise, Achigbe said there was no other legitimate executive council of the party in the state.

    However, the Etim-John group described the congress that produced Achigbe as a nullity. Both groups with two secretariats in Calabar, the state capital, held that they were the legitimate executives of the party. The Achigbe group had gone ahead to obtain a court injunction restraining Etim-John from parading himself as the chairman of the party.

    In the heat of the crisis, the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Frankland Briyai, had recognised Etim-John as the chairman during a stakeholders meeting on the conduct of the by-election for the Obudu State Constituency of the Cross River House of Assembly which was slated for August 11, 2018.  Loyalists of the other group had accused INEC of compromise. But reacting to this, the Secretary of the Etim-John faction of the party, Chief Francis Ekpenyong, said INEC’s position had settled the issue, as they were the legitimate party executives in the state.

    Ekpenyong had said that INEC had laid to rest the matter at the stakeholders meeting, when the Resident Electoral Commissioner informed everyone that the state chairman of APC in Cross River State is Godwin Etim John.

    According to him, the injunction obtained against them was a motion exparte, which by law had expired on its own in 14 days, which had long expired.

    But with the National Convention of the party that saw Comrade Adams Oshiomhole emerge as the National Chairman, the two state executive councils were dissolved by the national secretariat and a date fixed for a new state congress.

    Etim-John had dragged Oshiomhole, the secretary of the Convention Committee, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, and the party to court over grievances about the conduct of the convention. They were aggrieved that they were marginalised.

    On August 22, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, inaugurated a new executive council, led by Dr. Mathew Achigbe. The Etim-John group boycotted the exercise.

    The executive council was inaugurated after being elected in a state congress conducted by a five-man congress committee led by Mr. Henry Idah Agbom and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). They emerged through voice votes.

    Oshiomhole, who was represented by the National Vice Chairman, Southsouth, Ntufam Hillard Eta, said it was the wisdom of the National Working Committee to dissolve all the state executive councils and elect a new one to move the party forward in the state.

    Despite the fact that Oshiomhole swore-in the Dr. Mathew Achigbe-led State Executive Committee at the party’s National Secretariat on August 28 in Abuja, the Etim-John faction still insists it remains the authentic executive council of the party in the state. The faction said the congress was an illegality given that there was an injunction from an Abuja High Court stopping the exercise.

    Agbom, a lawyer, had in a response to a query by our reporter denied knowledge of such injunction.

    At the moment, it appears all is settled with the swearing in of Achigbe as the chairman of the party, but a closer look will reveal that the problem of the party is far from over. Despite having a majority of the political heavyweights across the state in its fold, the brawl within the APC in the state is threatening to destroy the party. The fear is that the party may be spent dealing with its own internal crisis rather than preparing to wrestle power from the ruling PDP.

    Both sides keep saying there is no division in the party, but it is very clear the acrimony within is far more dangerous than any external aggression. Also, both sides keep accusing the other of working with the ruling PDP to run the party down. Concerned party members have continuously called on both sides to bury the hatchet and move forward united, but by all indications, there is no letting up by either side. It is apparent the APC may break their own pot with their own hands even before they begin to prepare the meal.

    “If all the APC in the state speak with one voice, they have a very good chance of flushing out the PDP. All the top political players across the state are now in the APC, but there is a lot of acrimony and discord in the party. If the APC can set aside their differences and work together, there is a very good chance Cross River would be an APC state from next year.

    “But the first step to solve a problem is even acknowledging there is a problem. This is something both factions have not even come to terms with yet and it is likely to destroy the party. A fight from within is more dangerous than a fight from outside. If nothing is done to bring everyone together, despite the new exco and the array of political gladiators within the party, they will definitely crumble and there is no way they can win anything with such infighting,” a political observer noted.