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Tag: YPP

  • Tension mounts over arrest of YPP supporter

    Tension mounts over arrest of YPP supporter

    Tension is rising in Anambra State following the arrest of Mr Chigozie Omile, a staunch supporter of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) governorship candidate, Sir Paul Chukwuma, by security operatives.

    It was gathered that Omile was apprehended over a WhatsApp message in which some “powerful names” in the state were allegedly mentioned. His arrest and subsequent detention at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Awka have generated unease within political circles as the November 8 governorship election approaches.

    Sources told The Nation that Omile was arrested on Tuesday evening by operatives of the SCID at his shop located in Main Market, Onitsha. The arrest reportedly followed a petition concerning the content of a social media post he allegedly shared.

    However, details surrounding the petition remain unclear, as neither the identity of the petitioner nor the specific content of the message has been made public.

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    Some political observers suspect that the arrest may be politically motivated, given Omile’s open support for the YPP candidate.

    Efforts to reach the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Tochukwu Ikenga, were unsuccessful as he was said to be attending a high-profile meeting at the time of filing this report.

    However, a senior police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the development, assuring that the command would handle the matter with fairness.

    “Yes, the case is before us, but I have not seen the suspect yet. I will look into it and ensure justice is done,” the officer said. “The command stands for justice, and once the truth is established, justice will prevail.”

    Further findings revealed that a top government official had earlier complained about Omile, which reportedly triggered his arrest.

    As political activities heighten ahead of the election, Omile’s arrest has sparked concerns among opposition supporters, who allege attempts to intimidate voices sympathetic to the YPP.

  • Communities rise for YPP candidate

    Communities rise for YPP candidate

    People of Omambala, comprising  communities in Anambra North senatorial zone, were at the weekend  thrilled by the coming of the  governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Sir Paul Chukwuma Otuocha.

    It was during the Omambala  Day festivities. Members of  Nteje, Umueri, Aguleri, Umunya, Nando, Umunya Anam communities  among others attended the ceremony.

    Chukwuma, who hails from Umueri, Anambra East Local Government Area, was the toast of the people with his   programmes, especially agriculture.

    Read Also: Anambra 2025: YPP candidate tackles APGA government over killings, kidnappings

    Chukwuma displayed some dancing skills during the ceremony  and spoke  Igbo proverbs that captivated the audience who went into frenzy.

    The reception was a clear verdict  that the people have fully embraced the YPP.

     Chukwuma told the people that the time had come for a change in Anambra State,. He described the ruling party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA as a total failure.

  • JUST IN: Two YPP lawmakers join Labour Party in Abia

    JUST IN: Two YPP lawmakers join Labour Party in Abia

    Two members of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) in the current 8th Abia State House of Assembly have dumped the party to join the state chapter of the Labour Party (LP).

    The lawmakers from the Osisioma local government area of the state, Hon. Iheanacho Nwogu of Osisioma North State Constituency and Hon. Fyne Ahuama of Osisioma South State Constituency joined the party officially on Tuesday, May 14, during the plenary.

    Our correspondent reports that their party suspended the lawmakers over anti-party activities.

    Their letters to defect to the Labour Party were read by the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Emeruwa.

    In their explanations, Hon. Nwogu who until his resignation was the Deputy Whip of the House, and Hon. Ahuama pledged their total support for Alex Otti’s led administration hinging on the fact that the “Labour Party is founded on the tenets of justice and fair play.”

    Read Also: Ondo poll: YPP offers free nomination form to ex-students leader

    Also, during the Tuesday plenary, the Judicial Service Commission nominees were screened and cleared.

    The speaker, who disclosed that thorough legislative tinkering had been done, hinted that the same would be conveyed to the executive for further action.

    Those cleared include Barrister K.S Chibuzo Irobi, Fynecountry Maduforo Iyioku, Professor Chukwu Udensi and Ogbonna Moses Emeka.

    The plenary was adjourned to Wednesday, May 15, for further legislative business.

  • Ondo poll: YPP offers free nomination form to ex-students leader

    Ondo poll: YPP offers free nomination form to ex-students leader

    The Young Progressives Party (YPP) has offered free nomination form to John Akinmurele, a former students leader, as its sole aspirant in the forthcoming Ondo State governorship election.

    Akinmurele, a former President of Students Union Government, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo state, was given both Nomination and Expression of Interest forms at no cost to him.

    Presenting the forms to the aspirant at the party Headquarters in Abuja, the National Organising Secretary of the party, William Moses said the decision to offer the platform free to the aspirant was taken by the YPP National Working Committee (NWC)

    He said being a young man with integrity, high pedigree,  cognate experience and leadership quality the party gave Akinmurele the platform to realise his political ambition.

    Moses said the decision was in line with the party’s notion for “a generational shift in leadership; a revolution that would be driven by highly cerebral, mentally progressive and young innovative leaders without greed”.

    He said all the criterias and qualities the party required for leadership were found in Akinmurele and they had no doubt that he would make the party proud in the forthcoming polls.

    On his part, the aspirant expressed gratitude to the party NWC for its magnanimity adding that the development caused him a mixed feelings of excitement and commitment.

    “It is a challenge to me, to justify the huge confidence reposed in me; It will make me to go into the election with full commitment to win and to start a paradigm shift in the governorship of the state.

    “I can assure you that the paradigm shift in our political landscape had already begun with this development.

    “While other political parties are selling forms to aspirants at outrageous amount of N50 million, if a political party offers a nomination form free of charge to an aspirant, it is a signal that our democracy is developing

    “We are getting to what it entails to build a credible political leadership,” he said.

    Akinmurele said he is aspiring to govern Ondo state on the heels of courage and to let the people of the state  know that they had suffered enough of bad governance.

    According to him, his campaign slogan is “Iya yi to” meaning the people’s suffering is enough and has come to an end.

    “A state with the longest coast line in Nigeria,  vast arable land, untapped second largest bitumen deposit in the whole world, palm trees with other economic trees and arable produce, yet, my people wallow in abject poverty.

    “A state that should be the pride of the country; But unfortunately,  where we are today is unacceptable. We cannot afford to remain at the bottom of the ladder,

    ‘That is why I am telling the people of Ondo State that, “iya yi to” enough of this suffering,” he said 

    Akinmurele assured that, with his emergence, “end has come to poverty,  hunger, starvation, poor infrastructure, delayed salary payment, maternal and child mortality.

    “End has come to oppression and suppression, bad governance, intimidation, indebtedness and hopelessness in the state”. 

    Read Also: Ondo 2024: ZLP, YPP, PRP others to field candidates

    He added: “I am coming with the message  of hope and a brighter Ondo state. I represent the new generation, the youth demography. 

    “I am coming with the energy of the youths and I will be the pride of the elders and the inspiration of my colleagues, the youths. I am coming to turn Ondo state around”.

    Akinmurele from Ilutitun, Okitipupa Local Government Area is a security expert with Masters Degree in Legal Criminological and Security Psychology.

    Before going into private business he had worked in the Department of State Services (DSS) for 13 years where he voluntarily resigned.

  • Ondo 2024: ZLP, YPP, PRP others to field candidates

    Ondo 2024: ZLP, YPP, PRP others to field candidates

    The Zenith Labour Party, Young Progressives, and Action Alliance have notified the Independent National Electoral Commission of their decision to field candidates for the November governorship election in Ondo State.

    Other political parties to contest the polls besides the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition People’s Democratic Party are Accord Party, Action Alliance, African Action Congress, African Democratic Congress, ADC, African Democratic  Party, ADP and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Peoples Party, Boot Party, Labour Party (LP) New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) National Rescue Movement, Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, Social Democratic Party, and Youth Party

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    Ondo Resident Electoral Commissioner, (REC) Mrs. Oluwatoyin Babalola, said the political parties have notified the electoral body of their intention to conduct the party primary.

    Babalola who spoke at a meeting with representatives of political parties in Akure, said the meeting was an opportunity to engage with political parties on the upcoming party primaries.

    She said the political parties were responsible for ensuring the success and integrity of the processes leading to the polls.

    The Ondo INEC REC urged the parties to adhere strictly to their guidelines, rules, and regulations outlined in their constitutions as well as all electoral laws in the conduct of their primaries next month.

    Babalola advised the parties to entrench the principle of internal democracy in the conduct of their primaries to avoid tension, division, and pre-election cases.

  • Rerun: INEC declares YPP winner of Reps, state Assembly seats in A’Ibom

    Rerun: INEC declares YPP winner of Reps, state Assembly seats in A’Ibom

    The Young Progressives Party (YPP) has won the Ikono/Ini federal and the Ibiono Ibom state constituency rerun election in Akwa Ibom state.

    The election which was conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday, February 4, witnessed pockets of skirmishes.

    In the results announced Saturday night by Nabie Jude, Collation Officer for the Reps rerun, the YPP candidate Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo polled a total of 24,050 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Dr Glory Edet, who got 17,232 votes for the Ikono/Ini federal constituency.

    Nabie Jude declared: “Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo of the YPP having satisfied the requirements of the Law is hereby declared the winner”

    Similarly, Godwin Ayi, Collation Officer, announced Moses Easien, also candidate of YPP, as winner of the Ibiono Ibom State constituency rerun polls also held Saturday.

  • JUST IN: YPP’s candidates floor Soludo’s APGA in Anambra rerun  

    JUST IN: YPP’s candidates floor Soludo’s APGA in Anambra rerun  

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the two candidates of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) winners of the re-run elections in Anambra state.

    The re-run elections were for the Nnewi North, Nnewi South, and Ekwusigo federal constituencies and the Orumba North/South federal constituency.

    Both elections were held on Saturday, February 4, along with others throughout the states involved in the rerun in the country.

    INEC declared Hon Peter Uzokwe the winner of the Rerun Election for Nnewi North, Nnewi South, and Ekwusigo federal constituency On Saturday night.

    The results showed YPP with 25,518 votes and APGA with 25,412 votes.

    Also, in Orumba North and South, Princess Chinwe Nnabuife of YPP was returned as the winner, having polled 14416, while the former lawmaker Ezenwankwo of PDP, scored 13087

    The YPP candidate won with a 1329 margin in the Orumba North and South federal constituency.

    Though Senator Ifeanyi Ubah had dumped YPP for the All Progressives Congress (APC), it was a battle of strength between him and the governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo’s All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA

    INEC declared the areas inconclusive in 2023 after an Appeal Court had deducted some figures after the February 25, 2023 elections based on some irregularities.

  • YPP collapses into APC in Akwa Ibom in solidarity with Akpabio

    YPP collapses into APC in Akwa Ibom in solidarity with Akpabio

    • Declares support for Tinubu’s style of governance

    The Young Progressives Party, (YPP), which pulled a huge upset in Akwa Ibom State during the 2023 general elections, on Friday, collapsed its structures across the state into the All Progressives Congress, (APC), in a rare demonstration of solidarity with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

    According to a statement by Akpabio’s media office, in Abuja, the governorship candidate of the party, Senator Bassey Albert, deputy governorship candidate, retired AIG Asuquo Amba, State Executive Committee of the party led by the State Chairman, Mr Nyeneime Andy, its Elders’ Council, chapter and ward officers and the entire executive council of the Akwa Ubok Abasi campaign organisation numbering over 10,000 paid a solidarity visit to the Senate President at his country home in Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government Area, and declared their support for President Bola Tinubu.

    YPP was formed barely seven months before the 2023 general election, and was the fastest growing party in the state.

    The party scored the second highest number of valid votes cast in the 2023 governorship election, won two seats in the House of Assembly and one in the House of Representatives elections, according to results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

    Presenting the position of the party during the solidarity visit to the Senate President, the Eket senatorial district candidate of the YPP in the 2023 election, Mr Ephraim Inyang-Eyen, said the members of the party unanimously agreed to join the APC.

    “We have come to tell you that the time has come for us to make necessary adjustments for the growth of Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria. “We have come with a message of solidarity to you. The last time a person from the South-South zone occupied the position of the Senate President was about 44 years ago. We are determined to stand by you and support you.

    “We are satisfied with the economic policy of President Bola Tinubu. We are determined to stand by you and strengthen your hand so that you can achieve more.

    “We have come wholeheartedly to pledge our solidarity. We have come to make fundamental commitment. After the Supreme Court judgment, we came to a decision and the right decision was that we should support the APC.

    “We have come with the totality of the YPP family in solidarity. This solidarity is not words of mouth, it is total. Today, YPP in Akwa Ibom State has become APC. We have come to submit that you lead us,” he said.

    Mr Inyang-Eyen was Commissioner for Works, and Chief of Staff to the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State.

    Similarly, the State Chairman of YPP, Mr Nyeneime Andy, said members of the party are very pleased with policies of the Tinubu’s administration.

    Andy said after the rerun election in Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency and Ibiono Ibom State Constituency, candidates of the party in the two legislative houses will officially defect to the APC.

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    “Politics is like a football match, you should know that there will always be a time for transfers. So this is time for transfer. The YPP is very happy and pleased with the way President Bola Tinubu is running the affairs of the country, that is why our party members said we should take them to APC,” Andy said.

    In his remarks, the governorship candidate of the YPP in the 2023 election, Senator Bassey Albert, said the party joined the APC to support President Tinubu and join hands with the Senate President to ensure that Akwa Ibom is not divided.

    “I am a son you sent out and I have come back with a lot of sons. I aspired because I knew that the Akwa Ibom State you built is not the Akwa Ibom we have today. I saw my aspiration as an opportunity to restore the lost glory of Akwa Ibom State.

    “We are here to join hands with you (Senate President) to ensure that Akwa Ibom State is not divided. We have come to submit totally to your leadership. We believe and feel strongly that we are safer in APC. After the rerun our members in the House of Representatives and House of Assembly will join us here.”

    Senator Albert emphasised that he is not joining the APC to seek election. “I am not here to contest any election but to support you to deliver Akwa Ibom State to APC.”

    Responding, Senator Akpabio, acknowledged the growth of the YPP and the capacity the party demonstrated during the 2023 governorship election. He lauded them for coming out openly to commend Tinubu’s style of administration, policies and programmes aimed at improving the well-being of Nigerians.

    “From nothing, you built a recognised political structure in Akwa Ibom State that propelled you to somewhere. Thank you for openly acknowledging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is leading the nation in the right direction. I tell people, if you can see good governance in Asiwaju, why don’t you join them.

    “This is a very uncommon move, you are not joining us because there is an election tomorrow. You are joining us because you have seen good governance.”

    Akpabio said the APC will provide equal opportunity to all of them.

    The YPP structure was received by the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Stephen Ntukekpo.

    Ntukekpo said he has been mandated by the National Chairman of the APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, to direct all members of the APC to vote for the two candidates of the YPP during the rerun election in Ikono/Ini federal constituency and Ibiono Ibom State Constituency scheduled for next month.

  • Anambra polls: Court orders investigation, prosecution of senator-elect, returning officer

    A FEDERAL High Court sitting in Anambra has ordered the investigation and prosecution of senator-elect, Ifeanyi Ubah of the Young Progressives party (YPP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) Returning Officer.

    The order followed the application of an order of Mandamus brought by Chris Uba of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in suit No, FHC /AWK /CS/29/2019 before Hon Justice I B Gafai, yesterday in Awka, Anambra State.

    The court also ordered INEC to, within 14 days, conduct or cause investigation into the criminal allegations of the applicant.

    Again, “where it considers it inexpedient to prosecute through its legal officers, consider at its liberty, the appointment of the applicant’s solicitors in this suit for the purpose of such prosecution.”

    Other reliefs being sought by Uba, include:

    Order of Mandamus compelling the 1st  Respondent (INEC) to prosecute the 2nd  Respondent (Prof M N Umenweke -Returning Officer) for the offence of delivering or causing to be delivered to the 3rd Respondent a false declaration of result/return to the effect that he won the election to the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to represent Anambra South senatorial District in the senate even as he knew that the said election was still inconclusive.

    A further Order of Mandamus compelling the Respondents to prosecute the 2nd  and 3rd  Respondents for announcing or publishing a false result to the effect that the 3rd  Respondent had won the election held on the said 23/2/2019 even when they both knew that the said election was inconclusive and from which no genuine result had thereby been generated.

    Alternatively, and where it be in expedient or impossible for the 1st Respondent to undertake the prosecution, an Order of Mandamus compelling her to issue out an authority to any Counsel in the law firm of the Applicant to undertake the prosecution on the 1st Respondent’s behalf.

  • Majority power

    With 65 senators-elect, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is clearly the majority party in the Senate.  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has 42 and the Young Progressive Party (YPP) has one. The APC is also the majority party in the House of Representatives with 223 seats. The PDP has 190 and other parties have 10.

    So there should be no confusion about which party should get the leadership positions in the upper and lower chambers of the Ninth National Assembly. Specifically, the President and Deputy President of the Senate, as well as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, should be APC legislators.

    It is curious that there are those who think this clear situation is not so clear, or not clear enough. For instance, PDP spokesman Kola  Ologbondiyan said in a statement: “The PDP… does not only have a constitutional say in the process of the emergence of the leadership of the Ninth National Assembly, but will, as a matter of constitutional right, field candidates into presiding offices of both chambers, if need be.”

    Also, a former President of the Senate and PDP member, Senator David Mark, said to journalists at his residence in Otukpo, Benue State: “The election of the President of the Senate also translates to the selection of the chairman of the National Assembly because the person who emerges as the President of the Senate automatically becomes the chairman of the National Assembly. Nobody should interfere in the selection of President of the Senate. The senators should choose amongst themselves who should be their leader not based on number of political parties that won elections into the chamber.”

    That was Mark’s response to the question whether the Senate President should come from the ruling party, or the party that is the majority party in the Red Chamber. Mark, a retired Nigerian Army Brigadier General, was President of the Senate from 2007 to 2015 when his party was in power and the majority party in the Senate.  Now he thinks numerical strength does not matter, but it did when he was at the helm of the Senate.

    The outgoing Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, had created an abnormal situation with Saraki, then an APC member, and Ekweremadu of PDP controversially combining to lead the Senate.

    Surely, that era of political absurdity is gone, and only absurd politicians would imagine minority party members in leadership positions in the Ninth National Assembly.