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Tag: Uche Nwosu

  • Only unpatriotic Nigerians will call for power shift to the north in 2027-Nwosu

    Only unpatriotic Nigerians will call for power shift to the north in 2027-Nwosu

    A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Chief of Staff to the Imo Governor Uche Nwosu has described any political leader or group calling for power shift from the south to the north in 2027 as unpatriotic.

    He also dismissed the gang-up by Coalition of opposition politicians led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Malam Nasir El-Rufai against the second term aspiration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as unfair and unjustifiable.

    Nwosu, who spoke on Saturday in an interactive session with reporters in Abuja, insisted that Tinubu deserves a second term in office based on the power shift arrangement between the South and North since the return of democratic dispensation in 1999.

    “I am solidly for the South serving its 8 years. It is unfair for anybody to say that the South should not complete 8 years. We have President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the south now, while should we at this point in time be talking of moving the power to the north.

    “President Buhari just finished 8 years. It is justifiable that the south must complete its 8 years before talking of power shift.

    “Those agitating for that power should go back to the north are been selfish. Whoever is supporting north to take power at this point in time is not patriotic and not a true Nigerian,” Nwosu insisted.

    Admitting that coalition by political elements is a normal phenomenon in politics, he however said the Atiku-led coalition  experiment died on arrival. 

    Read Also: Nigeria’s progress hinges on governance over politics, stakeholders declare at Advocate lecture 

    He predicted that the move will not affect the electoral fortunes of the governing APC in 2027.

    The 2015 Imo governorship candidate faulted those criticising the present administration of non-performance, arguing that 2 years was grossly inadequate to have a reasonable assessment of any administration. 

    He however maintained that President Tinubu has been able to record inroads in socio-economic and infrastructural developments in the country in less than 2 years in office. 

    On the ongoing gale of defection by members of opposition political parties to the APC, Nwosu said the development should not be seen as surprising and debunked insinuations that the country is heading towards a one party state ahead of the 2027 general elections. 

    He maintained that the defection cannot change the country’s multiparty status in view of the fact that opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) still have governors and other elective offices in the country.

    He decried the spate of insecurity in parts of the country but noted the situation predated the present administration. 

    He stressed the need to boost community policing which involves the active participation of traditional rulers, the youths and critical stakeholders to keep the peace in the entire 774 local councils of the country.

    “The government need to find a way to end it. To cure a disease , you must identify the root cause of the disease first. I suggest we need community policing which will involve all the rural communities in the country. At this level the traditional rulers will be the head with helpers from the youths. 

    “These are the people who have the information about their localities and so they should be able to secure it with the active involvement of security agencies. Besides , we need to secure our borders with the help of the communities in those locations as well. I am happy the President met with the security chiefs and the national security adviser (NSA) to proffer a lasting solution to the menace.”

  • Nwosu to Ihedioha: focus on governance

    The Imo State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Uche Nwosu, has urged Governor Emeka Ihedioha to unfold his programmes for the people instead of embarking on a “wild goose chase”.

    Nwosu, who was reacting to claims by the governor that his predecessor, Rochas Okorocha, did not do a proper handing over and so he was finding it difficult to take off, admonished the governor to jettison the excuses and focus on his campaign promises of rebuilding Imo.

    According to him, the people are not interested in endless streak of excuses. He maintained that the actions of the governor assuming office “showed that he is not serious and does not seem to have any cut out plan or blueprint for governance, except the desperation to grab power”.

    Nwosu said: “The people did not vote for him to start chasing shadows. For the time he will stay as the governor, he should unfold his plans and programme for the people. No one is interested in excuses, what the people want is performance and nothing less. The people want concrete statement on what the programmes of the government are, what the government intends to do and how it would deliver dividends of democracy to them, and not embarking on a mission to pull down Rochas Okorocha.

    Read Also: Imo Assembly mandates Ihedioha to probe Okorocha

    “Suspension of local government chairmen and their councillors, dissolving the recently-inaugurated members of boards of government agencies and parastatals, and scrapping of recently established tertiary institutions, is definitely a wrong way to start for a government that wants to make headway. One would have expected that by now, the governor should have engaged the civil servants and tell them what he has for the workers, as well as taken up from where his predecessor stopped.

    “The acrimonies that could arise from these actions are hardly what Ihedioha needs at this time, he should rather consolidate on the achievements of his predecessor, and that is was what Imolites want to see. He should concentrate on the business of governance.

    “If I were the governor today, I would face the business of governance knowing that there is job to do.”

  • Support Buhari to end killings, Nwosu urges Nigerians

    As Nigeria battles the mounting insecurity in the Northern parts of the country, the governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in Imo State, Uche Nwosu, has warned against politicizing the situation to advance any form of political interest.

    He rather enjoined Nigerians to jettison all forms of sentiments and rally round President Muhammadu Buhari to end the current security challenges across the nation.

    Nwosu who advised Nigerians to come together irrespective of political and religious affiliations and support the “concerted efforts” of the present administration to tackle the security challenges, noted that it takes collaboration between the people and the government to effectively surmount all forms of criminality.

    According to him, President Buhari has so far shown commitment in addressing the security issues in the North East and other parts of the country and should supported by every Nigerian.

    In his words, “Nigerians should assist the Federal Government and the security Agencies to remedy the situation. The problem we have in Nigeria unlike other developed countries is that people see security issues as solely the business of the government and security agencies. As citizens we should assist the government to fight insecurity by providing useful information and being patriotic”.

    Nwosu added that, “This is a phase we are passing through and I believe in the capacity and ability of President Muhammadu Buhari to secure this country. We must pray for our country and our leaders. People should not politicize the security challenges; rather all hands should be on deck to tackle the problem”.

    Meanwhile, reacting to the vote of confidence passed on the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by 75 political parties on the conduct of the 2019 general elections, Nwosu said that the electoral umpire performed well in terms of preparation and logistics.

    Nwosu however submitted that the efforts of the Commission to conduct credible election was sabotaged by the adhoc staff engaged to handle the election proper.

    Read Also: Common man is Buhari’s priority, says Osinbajo

    He insisted that the decision to engage university Professors and lecturers as Presiding Officers was the greatest mistake made by INEC during the 2019 elections.

    He therefore advised against the use of adhoc staff in future elections, adding that “one of the best ways to strengthen the electoral system is for the commission to permanently do away with auxiliary staff and recruit more Staff instead”.

    Nwosu added that, “I want to advise INEC to stop making use of adhoc staff. These adhoc staff was the ones who compromised the last elections. They can take bribe and compromise the system because they know that INEC can neither query nor sack them.

    “The permanent staff know that they can be dismissed if found guilty of any wrongdoing and as a result, tread with caution during elections but the  adhoc staff come with predetermined mindsets which is just come and collect money and compromise the process because they know that INEC can neither query or sack them. This is not good, INEC should recruit enough people so they can have the enough manpower to conduct and supervise the elections without involving outsiders.”

  • Imo guber: we’ve made alarming discoveries – Nwosu

    The Imo State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the just concluded election,  Uche Nwosu on Thursday described the level of irregularities uncovered in some Local Government Areas during the governorship election as alarming.

    He noted particularly that what transpired in the four Council Areas of Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu Mbaise, Ezinihitte and Ngor-Okpala was unhealthy for the nation’s democracy.

    Nwosu who recently got the nod of the Tribunal to inspect election materials, stated that he is confident that he will reclaim his “stolen mandate”.

    According to him, “My mandate will be reclaimed,  Emeka Ihedioha never won the election,  we have gotten the leave of the Tribunal to inspect the sensitive materials used for the election and what we saw is alarming and a lot has been revealed, the illegitimate declaration will soon be reversed.

    Read Also: I’m leaving behind a viable, secured Imo – Okorocha

    “If you subtract the bogus votes the PDP candidate allocated to himself in the three Mbaise LGAs and Ngor-Okpala you will notice that I actually won the election but Ii have faith that the Tribunal will do the right thing and annul that election”.

    Nwosu also blamed the irregularities on the ad-hoc Staff, especially the University Professors and lecturers who he said compromised the governorship election.

    He called for a review of the use of these academia in subsequent elections, describing their alleged complicity on electoral fraud as a huge threat to the nation’s democracy.

    According to him, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Emeka Ihedioha never won the election, as according to him, he never met the constitutional requirements to be declared governor-elect.

     

     

  • Court strikes out suit restraining INEC from issuing certificate of return to Ihedioha

    A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri on Friday struck out a suit restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from issuing certificate of return to Imo governor elect Emeka Ihedioha.

    The court also ruled that post- election matters belonged to the election tribunals.

    Candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the March 9 governorship election, Mr Uche Nwosu had gone to court to get an order restraining the court from issuing a certificate of return to People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s Emeka Ihedioha.

    READ ALSO: ‘INEC should withhold Ihedioha’s Certificate of Return’

    Nwosu had argued that Ihedioha did not meet the required 25 per cent of the votes in 18 out of the 27 LGs in Imo.

    Striking the matter out, Justice Tijjani Ringim held that post election matters are to be handled by the election tribunal.

    Ringim said that “the quest for justice must be in line with the constitution. Post- election matters belong to election tribunal “.

    INEC had on March 11 declared Ihedioha winner of the election.

    Ihedioha had polled a total 273,404 votes to defeat Nwosu who came second with 190,364 votes.

    NAN

  • Imo: AA demands arrest of INEC Returning Officer

    Following the outcome of the Imo State governorship election, the Action Alliance (AA) has called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Returning Officer of the governorship election, Prof. Francis Otunta.

    Otunta who is also the Vice Chancellor of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, declared the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Emeka Ihedioha as the governor-elect

    The Director General of AA candidate’s governorship campaign organization, Chidi Ibe, who addressed a press conference in Owerri, alleged that the Returning Officer “collected three million dollars to do a hatchet job in Imo state”.

    According to Ibe, “despite the glaring fact that the PDP’s candidate, Emeka Ihedioha did not meet the constitutional requirements, the Returning Officer went ahead to declare him the governor-elect because of the money he collected”.

    He added that, “the governor elect did not make the constitutional required two-third in at least 18 out of the 27 Local Government Areas of the state”.

    Read Also: Nwosu vows to reclaim mandate in Imo

    He said that the declaration of Ihedioha as the winner of the election was “a mockery of our democracy.”

    Ibe called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Independent Corrupt and other Practices Commission to quickly investigate the Retuning Officer.”

    He said “I call on EFCC and other anti-graft agencies to investigate this retuning officer who came to Imo state to undermine the law. There is a rumour making the rounds that he collected three million dollars to declare the PDP candidate the winner.

    “The PDP candidate only made two -third in twelve Local Government Areas while our candidate, Uche Nwosu made two-third in 21 LGAs. The law is very clear on this. There ought to be a rerun between the two leading candidates”.

     

  • Nwosu vows to reclaim mandate in Imo

    The Imo State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Uche Nwosu, has said the declaration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Emeka Ihedioha, as the governor-elect, did not meet constitutional requirements and therefore unacceptable.

    He vowed to challenge the results in court, saying the declaration violated provisions of the Constitution.

    According to him, INEC did not comply with the guidelines when it announced Ihedioha winner of the election. He reiterated that Ihedioha didn’t meet the constitutional requirement of 25 per cent spread in at least two-third of the number of local government areas where the election held.

    He said: “The law is clear on the requirements for declaring somebody winner in an election. The law requires that to be declared a winner, you must have the mandatory spread of 25 per cent win in at least two-thirds majority. In this case, two-thirds of the 27 local government areas of the state is 18, and Ihedioha had 25 per cent spread in only 12 council whereas I have in 15. So it’s clear that INEC has compromised.”

    Nwosu added that INEC disregarded its guidelines by recognising the non-use of Card Readers in Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu and Ezinihitte councils, the stronghold of Ihedioha.

    “It is a clear INEC guideline that where a card reader was not used, and accreditation done manually, such results should not be recognised. But in this case INEC violated its own guideline by accepting the results from the three councils,” he added.

    Nwosu hoped to get victory at the court.

  • Ihedioha declared Imo governor-elect

    Former Deputy Speaker and governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Emeka Ihedioha has been declared the winner of the keenly contested Imo State governorship election by the State Returning Officer,  Prof. Francis Otunta.

    Ihedioha polled a total number of 273404 to defeat his closest rival and candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Uche Nwosu.

    The candidates of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and All Progressives Congress (APC), Ifeanyi Araraume and Hope Uzodinma scored 114676 and 96458 votes respectively.

  • Nwosu to INEC: don’t declare a winner yet

    The governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) Uche Nwosu has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withhold the declaration of the winner of the election until the constitutionally outlined provisions are fulfilled.

    Nwosu, who addressed journalists via a telephone chat, noted the leading candidate, Emeka Ihedioha, to be declared a winner must have met the mandatory 25 percent votes in at least two-third in the number of Local Government Areas where the election held.

    According to  him: “The constitution is clear that for a candidate to be declared a winner he must have the mandatory 25 per cent spread in at least two-thirds of the number of local government areas in the state.

    “In this instance, the candidate of DP did not meet this requirement as he scored the mandatory spread in only 12 whereas it should be 18.”

    Read also: Borno gov- elect pledges security, rebuilding, resettlement

    Nwosu also alleged widespread irregularity in the three local government areas of Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu and Ezinihitte.

    He wondered why the three local government areas could return such huge numbers in an election marred by voter apathy.

    The AA candidate said: “This result is totally unacceptable and I am calling on INEC to declare the election inconclusive and arrange a fresh election within seven days as stipulated by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

    He also frowned at the conduct of INEC officials, who he alleged colluded with the PDP candidate to inflate the figures in the three contentious local government areas.

  • AA candidate Nwosu votes, upbeat on victory

    The governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in Imo state, Uche Nwosu, has expreased satisfaction over the conduct of the governorship and House of Assemly election.
    Nwosu who cast his vote, alongside his wife at his Eziama Obire Polling Unit 004, at exactly 9.48am, said he is certain he will defeat other candidates in the keenly contested election.
    The AA candidate also expressed satisfaction over the security situation,  adding that though the state was politically charged, the security Agencies were on top of the situation.
    According to him, he was expecting large turnout number of voters unlike in the last election.
    Nwosu said ‘I am satisfied with the voting process.you can see I voted with my wife. So far the Card Readers are working well. I will win, Action Action will form the next government in Imo”.