Get the latest Codewit World News: Nigeria News and information on the latest top stories, business, sports , Nollywood and entertainment headlines, and analysis from Codewit Nigeria News
The Niger State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the state House of Assembly of being an appendage of Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu.
The party added that the suspension of a member of the assembly representing Kontagora I Constituency, Muhammad Nuradeen Umar, was doing the governor's bidding.
The APC said Umar was suspended when he was not given fair-hearing. According to a statement signed by the party 's Publicity Secretary, Jonathan Vatsa, and made available to THISDAY in Minna yesterday, it stated that the action of the assembly had further confirmed to the people of the state that the members had been reduced to mere rubber-stamps who are serving the interest of the executive. The statement further stated that "the assembly would not have acted with the swiftness it did if Aliyu‘s interests were not touched in the said interview granted by Umar.
Our party considered and supported the fact as clearly stated by the member that Governor Aliyu’s big projects were on paper. Let the members search their conscience and they will know that what has been going on in the state is nothing but deception."
The APC accused the state assembly of closing its eyes to the recklessness of the executive.
"We have witnessed instances where money was appropriated for a project and the fund released but the projects were not executed. Examples of these were when N500 million was paid out for a five -star hotel and the work was not done. The only explanation we got was some lame excuses from the governor that the owner of the company that suppose to do the work had an accident.
"Money were released in various Memorandum of Understandings MoU of Private Public Partnerships (PPP) projects signed by the executive still non of the projects saw the light of the day.
The statement also accused members of the assembly of building hotels rather than protect the interests of the electorate who voted them into office. "We have the records. The members may prefer building hotels and guess inns all over Minna than protecting the rights of the down trodden members of the state, as the state resources were digitally pilfered.
“The whole situation is suspicious because the assembly hurriedly suspended Umar without hearing from him. The assembly members being the representative of the people, and all equal representatives of the people should know that the members deserved the right to be heard before suspensions.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Following the recent order given by Plateau State Government to its appointees and civil servants to shun any invitation by the state House of Assembly in connection with the assembly’s investigation of financial misappropriation allegation levelled against the government, a lawmaker has warned that any of such persons that fail, refuse the invitation risks arrest.
In a statement, the lawmaker said: "Any civil servant, under the employment of the Plateau State government, who after having been summoned by the Plateau State House of Assembly to attend a session of its committee investigating allegations of financial impropriety against any government official in the state, fails, refuses or neglects to do so definitely does so at his or her own risk.
“Such a defaulting staff is liable to being arrested, if not prosecuted, without any recourse whatsoever to the governor of the state.”
But a source from the government, however averred that “the government is determined to stop any probe on the basis of an unsubstantiated petition which has no aim other than to rubbish the government and in the long run, the House of Assembly."
He added that the guideline for submission of petition was never followed and the manner in which the petition was being handled by the assembly smacks of nothing more than blackmail.
Speaking further, the government aide said it was common sense that if in five years the government received slightly above N200 million, the cumulative receipts should have been in the range of N5 billion and wondered where the N50 billion figure emanated from.
On the government circular directing appointees and civil servants not to answer any summon by the assembly, he said government was not lawless but was only following a court order in that regard. He said: “In addition, the governor has personally written the EFCC to probe his administration as a clear sign that he is not afraid of any scrutiny.”
He also said both the executive and the legislature are one and the same government working for the good of the people except for some elements bent on causing disaffection between the two.
But citing Section 129(1.d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Lawmaker said, the section provides for the issue of a warrant "to compel the attendance of any person who, after having been summoned to attend, fails, refuses or neglects to do so and does not excuse such failure, refusal or neglect to the satisfaction of the House of Assembly or the committee, and order him to pay all costs which may have been occasioned in compelling his attendance or by reason of his failure, refusal or neglect to obey the summons and also to impose such fine as may be prescribed for any such failure, refusal or neglect; and any fine so imposed shall be recoverable in the same manner as a fine imposed by a court of law.”
He added: “Further to the foregoing, under sub-section 2 of the same section of the Constitution provides that a summons or warrant issued under this section may be served or executed by any member of the Nigeria Police Force or by any person authorised in that behalf by the Speaker of the House of Assembly of the State.”
The Lawmaker said, “Until now, many people have always been confident that Governor Jang would gladly jump at the slightest opportunity to present himself for any investigation, especially by the state legislature or the anti-corruption agencies so as to proudly showcase his fiscal discipline and financial integrity and to prove his critics wrong.
He said, “an incorruptible leadership needs not fear any investigation to the extent of interfering with it through draconian directives. Since his assumption of office in 2007, such investigations have been very rare in the House. The world is watching as history now beckons on the legislative arm of the state to stamp it foot and act decisively.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has said he will not be distracted by the “impunity and disregard for the rule of law” by some lawmakers in the state House of Assembly in the onerous task of bringing development to every part of the state.
Speaking on Tuesday when he inspected the stormwater master plan project in Benin-City, the state capital, Oshiomhole said: “Like they have told me, between now and December, we will lay asphalt on Upper Siluko road; it will be six lanes and between then and the middle of next year, we will put street lights on the road.
“Let me assure you that all those people fighting in the House of Assembly, trying to cause trouble and who want us to bring government money for them to share, we will not give it to them. “We will use the state money for the Edo people. And with your prayers, we are not afraid. We know that for as long as we work for the people, the devil has failed.”
Some of the residents in the Upper Siluko road area who responded, hailed the governor for the massive drainage system and road network in the areapromising to stand firmly behind him as they have seen the good work his administration has done.
One of the residents who spoke, Mrs. Nonye Umezurike, said: “A savior has come to us, we are very happy. For many years now, petty traders in the area were finding it difficult to earn a living, but God has come to our aid, he has answered our prayers through the governor. I know that after his tenure, his successor must also work for the people because Oshiomhole has set the precedent.”
The governor had earlier inspected the storm water project at Ewah road and said the contractor would be asked to raise the height of the water barrier to prevent the spillage of floodwater on the roads. He said that became necessary after he was told by residents of the area of the high volume of water that passes through the channel.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and his predecessor and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, have been alleged of siphoning funds meant for the local government areas in the state to finance this weekend re-election bid of Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Taofiq Gani, who said his party had a grapevine information to buttress the claim in a statement yesterday, alleged that the chairmen of the 57 councils in the state were compelled to contribute N25 million each from their May, federal allocation or source it from the banks to support Fayemi.
A large sum of the money which sums up at N1.425 billion was alleged to have been transferred into the personal account of Fayemi, using a new generation bank.
"The PDP is thus accusing Fashola and the APC of stealing Lagos funds to prosecute election in far away Ekiti State, consequently calling on relevant anti-corruption agencies to commence necessary probe and arrests.
"We are concrete sure of our facts that N25 million has been contributed by each of the 57 councils in Lagos State to support Fayemi's wishful re-election," the PDP insisted.
But in a swift reaction, the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, denied the allegation.
"They do not have anything to say rather than to continue to make insinuations and innuendos. Ekiti State is capable of handling its own affairs without anybody intervening from anywhere.
"The only thing that connects us to Ekiti is that it is an APC state. Allow PDP to express itself, we are in a democracy. We are not funding Ekiti State but the only thing we are doing is to support our APC members there, that is all," Igbokwe stated.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
In this interview with journalists, the Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Shema, fielded questions on the state of the nation and development in his state. Zacheaus Somorin presents the excerpts:
Can you confidently say Katsina is an investment destination? Without doubt, Katsina State has grown in leaps and bounds since I came in as governor. We are very focused on the need to open our doors wide. There is no serious economy in the world that can hope to grow and prosper at the pace we hope to grow and prosper without partnering the private sector. That is why Katsina offers tremendous opportunity in the field of agriculture, soil mineral development, livestock development and other critical areas of infrastructure, education and health.
What are your strides in the sector of agriculture sector said to engage about 75 per cent of the population? Absolutely, agriculture engages about 75 per cent of our population. And because of the importance of the sector to our economy, you can’t depend on rain-fed agriculture. We are establishing some kind of synergy between rain-fed agriculture and irrigation. Consequently, you can grow crops from the first day of January to December. When it’s chilly winter in Europe, you can come to Katsina and grow practically anything under the sun.
We have five major dams. It is yielding result as we have moved from about 1, 000 cultivation per hectare to more than 13, 000 hectares in the last five years. On top of that, we invested hugely in terms of training, extension services, chemicals, seeds and fertilizer.
Of course we established the Shongai farming initiative which is a partnership with some farmers in Port Novo in Benin Republic. This initiative is aimed at creating young farmers, who not only engage in agriculture produce but also in the utilisation of the produce to provide employment for teeming youths in Katsina State and to indeed unbundle the chain of the activities in the agricultural sub-sector and livestock development.
Attached to that closely is the issue of how we can drive production and the agro allied section. We also create market opportunity, market potential for farmers so that at the end of each farming season, we buy off their produce. We buy the produce at competitive prices so that the farmer would not lose on the investment he has made that year. We now sell the produce to our consumers at subsidised prices. In that pattern, you can see that the farmer does not lose and the consumer equally has access to controlled prices. Besides that, Katsina is the largest reserve for cotton in Nigeria.
The produce is usually in large quantities. What are you doing in the areas of storage and preservation? Preservation is critical in dairy and dairy products because without preservation, the entire agricultural process would be in trouble. We have to teach farmers how to preserve their produce and large crop growers and developers how to process and preserve milk. That is what the Shongai initiative is all about.
And we are trying to get into partnership with a foreign firm to re-energize what we used to have in Ronki grazing field, where we have a diary facility to see how we can make it an effective facility for use by our cattle rearers because the market for diary products in Nigeria is quite large.
The transportation of cattle from up North to the South is a big challenge. Are you doing anything about it? Transportation of agriculture produce poses a challenge like any other product in Nigeria because our means of transportation remains the roads and the cost of petroleum products keeps going up. But with the ongoing development of the railway by the federal government to move goods in large quantities, in the next couple of years when the railway system is very well established, the cost of transportation of goods will simply come down.
But in Katsina State, what we have tried to do is to have infrastructure on a massive scale so that the farmer can have access to road to bring his produce to the market. As I am talking to you, we’ve done over 52 roads and rural feeder roads spanning over 2000km to enable people move their produce from the hinterland to the mainland or to the central market. And we are reaching out to some Chinese companies to see how we can establish a local rail in Katsina State.
Any young graduate who is keen about farming has to deal with the issue of land and access to credit facilities. How are you dealing with those two issues? Our intention is to get land in abundance and ensure that most of them can cultivate. All the young boys and girls we are training under Shongai in the three senatorial locations in Katsina, when they come out, will be given pieces of land to settle on the type of production they have learnt and they want to pursue in terms of agriculture activity.
What is the impact of your education policy? Education is number one tool for breaking the cycle of poverty. When I came into office in 2007, I left no one in doubt that my number one priority is education. Without education, no nation can progress; no nation can hope to move to the level of development or success they need to. That is why we unbundled the problems around education and we made sure education is free from primary to secondary. Government pays WAEC, NECO, NAPTEC and SSCE fees. And we felt there is a challenged group, which are the young girls. They have little or no opportunity to go to school and, when they do, poverty remains an issue for the parents. So we came up with a strategy and set up a special department called the Girl-Child Education and Development Department.
I appointed a Special Adviser who is doing a great job. We went out to establish one girl-child school per LGA, which of course attracted young girls in the 34 LGAs of the state who are doing pretty well. And then we introduced the conditional cash transfer grants. We are working with donor agencies like UNICEF, USAID and others and this conditional cash transfer grants are meant to assist mothers and the kids to stay in school. Stipends are given to the mother every term and the same stipends are given to the girl to stay in school.
Why is it conditional cash transfer? They have to remain in school to receive this stipend from government and donor agencies and of course, the apparent increase in the number of children that go to school in Katsina is not only because of free education but also the additional facilities. We built over 200 new secondary schools, we expanded our primary schools, we hired more teachers, we bought more teaching aids and equipment and we introduced bus services in some of the LG headquarters to convey our students at 10 naira per drop.
We improved the salary of our teachers because you know they say you can afford to have a school without a classroom but you can’t afford to have a school without a teacher. We increased the salaries of our workers in tertiary institutions I think twice at the end of my first tenure.
You cannot run away from giving quality education to the people. The nation, not only Katsina, needs to put together strategic education development plans for the next 40 years in order for us to break our people from the cycle of poverty.
How do you relate your policy in education, especially girl-child education to the growing insurgency in the country? Job creation is a critical tool to break insurgency. My understanding of the insurgency we are experiencing in Nigeria today is that it came from the fact that Nigeria has about five serious challenges that we must face head long: electricity, unemployment, drug addiction, transnational crimes, and indeed the flawed electoral process which brings about perceived injustice. It is a sad story that a beautiful country like Nigeria with tremendous human and material resources and which should be the most dynamic business destination in the world is the one suffering from terrorism.
Being the largest economy in Africa today, the growth rate is about 7 per cent. Yet, we are facing challenges. Insurgency is a recurrent issue in Africa not just in Nigeria. But here in Nigeria, what the leaders and all of us must do is to work as members of one family. In Katsina, when I became governor, a group of people came to visit me and called themselves non-indigenes and this is what Nigerians call themselves in their own land when they don’t live abroad and I queried them.
There is no reason a Nigerian living in any corner of this country should feel like he is not living in his home or country, that nationalistic feeling; that collective feeling should be there in us. Nigerians must come together. The insurgency we are seeing today, I think we have to tackle it headlong. Our traditional leaders, the clergy, political leaders, we must put our heads together.
Look at the enormous support Nigeria is getting from the international community. The world is a common platform now against Boko Haram. No responsible government will sit and watch the Chibok girls kidnapped without doing something. I feel grieved personally; it is inhumane to cart away young girls, who are struggling to acquire education, struggling to write their exams. You can see the effect of the wicked act.
The entire world is coming together now to find the kidnappers but Nigeria too must rise to the occasion and do what is right. We must cleanse our institutions; it is not about individuals. Our institutions must work and they must work effectively to ensure that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.
We have had crises before in this country; we have had challenges on security – Aguleri/Umuleri – it was crisis between two factions; Ife/Modakeke was a crisis between two factions; the Maitatsine crisis, even the Niger Delta militancy. What is critical is that our institutions must be made to work responsibly in order for us to restore peace.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
No fewer than 25 political parties are jostling for the number one position in Osun State as the August 9 governorship election in the state approaches.
However, based on the document obtained by THISDAY yesterday from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, all the candidates are qualified to contest in the election as they had all furnished the electoral body with their credentials.
The document signed by the Administrative Officer of INEC in the state, Mrs. Augusta C. Ogakwu, noted that 13 of the candidates including the incumbent governor of the state, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), tendered their secondary school certificates in contrast to others that submitted their degree certificates.
The flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PPD) and the major challenger in the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore, is the only candidate that submitted a PhD certificate to INEC.
Meanwhile, INEC in the state said in compliance with section 3 subsections 3, 4 and 5 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), it had since Monday, June 16, made public credentials of all candidates contesting the gubernatorial poll.
In a release signed and made available to journalists in Osogbo by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the state INEC, Mrs. Tadese Adenike, the personal particulars submitted to the electoral body by all the candidates had been displayed at the office of the commission and its 30 local government offices. The statement however, urged members of the public to scrutinise the documents with a view to questioning the authenticity of the credentials where necessary under the law.
It further charged any citizen of the state who has any claim or doubts the originality of the documents submitted to INEC by the candidates to approach the court of law.
The statement read: in part: "In compliance with section 31 subsections 3, 4 and 5 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), Osun State, on Monday, June 16, 2014, displayed personal particulars of all candidates contesting the August 9, 2014 gubernatorial election in the state.
"By this act, members of the public by law, have the opportunity to scrutinise the documents submitted by candidates as pasted by INEC. "Any person who has any claim to question the information given by these candidates should approach the court of law. General public please note."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Youths yesterday took over the venue of the inauguration of the newly elected national executives officers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja for more than 30 minutes, protesting against the choice of the party youth leader. The inauguration ceremony, which got underway after the initial disruption, had some prominent leaders of the opposition party in attendance .
However, two of the contestants for the office of the chairman of the party, Chief Tom Ikimi and a former Governor of Borno State, Senator Modu Sheriff, were conspicuously absent.
Also, most of the governors on the party's platform were not in attendance. Just before the ceremony was to commence protesting youths stormed the Sheraton Hotel, venue of the event, in their numbers , wearing a T-shirt bearing the photograph of the controversial youth leader, . Mr. Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo.
For more than 30 minutes, the national leaders of the party, including General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), were held hostage while the inauguration programme was partially disrupted as two different groups of youths suspected to be supporters of the national youth leader clashed with another youth group which was opposed to his election over what they called inconsistency in his age.
The event, slated for 11a.m. however, had to be delayed till 11: 40a.m. when the Organising Secretary of the party, Osita Izunaso, intervened, pleading with the protesters that their grievances would be looked into and resolved. Since his election as the national youth leader last Friday, there has been controversy over the real age of Jalo.
Speaking on the issue of some aggrieved party leaders who may have stayed away from the inaugural ceremony yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, said every leader of the party was invited to the event.
He said the party was aware of some of its members who are aggrieved over the election during the convention but that it had commenced measures to reconcile them.
"I will tell you that every member of the party, every leader was invited to the inauguration, some excused themselves while others are not even in the country. I know the issue that have been agitating peoples mind is that as a fall out of the national convention where definitely some people did not achieve their goal, how will that affect our party, especially talking about people like Ikimi and Sheriff.
"Honestly our take is that these people are very committed to our party and we do not believe that a minor issue of the convention election will be enough to push them out of the party.
"In politics, like life, there is conflict management and I am happy to say that from Saturday, the new chairman has been going round meeting these aggrieved persons in a hope that in a couple of days time, all matters would have been reconciled. We do not claim to be perfect but we conducted a convention which we believed was free, fair and transparent.
"In the process, one person will have to emerge but what we did not do is that we did not shut out any person. Even when there were single candidates we did not do affirmation, we still went ahead with the election," he said.
On the issue of the over-aged youth leader, Muhammed said: "We should not allow emotion to becloud our sense of judgment. The youth leader was born on April 13, 1971, and we challenge anybody who has a contrary information to come forward. The father of Jalo is alive, the birth certificate is with us and as at the time we went for screening there was no age limit for who can be youth leader in APC." He said the APC would not be ashamed to apologise to Nigerians if the party finds out that it was misled, adding that so far, no one had come up with any contrary information
The party spokesman said all the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could say was that the youth leader contested the House of Representatives in 2011 and that he claimed he was 49 years.
"We are not going to be bullied by anybody. We are very transparent and very open, anybody who has his birth certificate which is different from the one we have let him come forward," he said.
The natural publicity secretary said an amendment had to be made on the floor of the convention after which he was cleared.
"Now there are two schools of thought, the amendment that was made on the night of the convention, was it for future elections or the present ones? These are the issues I believe we are going to sort out but two things are very clear, he never lied about his age and secondly as at the time he contested he did so under the constitutional provisions and guidelines of our party. If there are issues, we will look into them, " he said.
Meanwhile, while performing the inauguration, the former interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, said the APC has become a truly pan-Nigerian political party that has now given our long-suffering people hope. "Hope that this democracy will indeed survive. Hope that the dividends of democracy will not continue to elude the people. Hope that Nigeria will not become a one-party state. And the hope that our country will soon join the comity of developed and truly democratic nations.
Akande, who was flanked by top party leaders, including Buhari, Senator Bola Tinubu and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, described the newly-elected National Executive Committee (NEC) as products of transparent, credible and rancour-free process.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
In this interview with Ojo M. Maduekwe, a leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in Lagos State, Chief Campbell Umeh Nzekwe, who also doubles as the Senior Special Adviser on Contact and Mobilisation to APGA’s National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, spoke on the crisis in the party and President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 re-election bid. Excerpts:
There is constant crisis in your party APGA. Who orchestrated it and what is the leadership doing to stem the tide? People always think that APGA has crises; no we don’t. The issue is that there are people who are causing confusion due to their personal interest. When such people want something, then they will instigate a crisis. The problem we are having now in court with Mazi Okwu, it was purely former governor Peter Obi who created it. Reason was that he wanted to appropriate the nomination of his successor in office. He felt that Victor Umeh would not have agreed to his idea of a successor.
Because of this, Obi then instigated a crisis to remove Umeh as APGA National Chairman. Obi went and instigated a certain party member from Enugu State, Chief Okorie to file a suit against Umeh as an individual and not as a party because APGA is not in the summons. In doing that, without knowing what the outcome would be, the Enugu High Court now dismissed the entire executive instead of removing one person. The court ruled that the election that brought in the executive was not properly conducted.
Umeh refused the judgement and went to Appeal Court. While the case was in Appeal Court, both stay of execution and the main appeal, Peter Obi went and invited Mazi Okwu, who is the Chairman of Citizen Popular Party (CPP) in February 2013 to come and head APGA as interim National Chairman, while the case was pending in the Appeal Court. Then on February 8, 2013, the Court of Appeal ordered a stay of execution on the Enugu High Court judgment pending when it would hear the appeal.
While this was on, Obi and Okwu purportedly went to Awka and conducted what they tagged a convention the same day the judgment was given and produced Mazi Okwu as the National Chairman of APGA. This is the confusion. The question now is: that what platform did Mazi Okwu come in? This is a man that the Supreme Court has upheld his expulsion on March 25, 2011, with that of Chekwas Okorie and their group.
In all this time, has Obi done anything to quell the situation? The day the Appeal Court in Enugu dismissed that case, Obi came to make peace and asked that the party forget. This is a man who refused all entreaties, even from the Bishop, saying that the court would decide. When the Court of Appeal decided on our side, he called a meeting with everyone and we agreed to make peace so as to be able to sustain the Anambra government. Obi called for peace because he saw Chief Ifeanyi Ubah of Capital Oil coming to Umeh to run for governorship under APGA.
When we agreed to peace, we also settled Mazi Okwu. Okwu’s demand is that he wants to run for the governor of Enugu State under APGA. The party agreed but Okwu is saying that Obi must agree in writing to finance his election. Mazi Okwu is now using the court as a bargaining chip. The problem now is between Okwu and Obi and not Umeh. One thing you should know is that Umeh has never filed a case against anyone, neither has he been a plaintiff in all of the suits filed to contest the chairmanship of the party. Also, APGA under the Umeh leadership has not gone to court to sue any of its members.
While we are awaiting for the court to give us the go ahead to continue with our party activities, APGA remains one big united family. In fact we are the most stable and grounded party in Nigeria. It is like a movement. APGA is known to be synonymous with the Igbo people; it is an Igbo identity. Any Igboman who is in another party, went there for greener pastures. Someone like Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha who is in the APC, has an unstable political career; he is a political wanderer, almajiri and nomad.
But there are those who believe that APGA is an extension of the PDP? People are misinterpreting the whole thing. Take it from this angle: PDP was registered in 1998 and they were controlling the whole of the South-east. APGA was registered in 2002 and I can tell you that during the preceding election in 2003, we won all the states but, Obasanjo in his way rewrote the result in Abuja and announced his version of the winners. APGA won other states but it was only Peter Obi who challenged that action, spending three years to recover the stolen mandate from PDP.
What I am saying in essence is that, just like any Yoruba man who doesn’t respect the late Awolowo is a bastard, any Igbo man knows that we don’t have any other political leader than the late Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, who remains our father. And so, any Igbo man who doesn’t respect him is a bastard. There are those who because of what they will eat do not mind joining another party but if one believes in the transformation of his people, then he must go to his people’s root and for the Igbo man, it is Ojukwu. There is no political structure for the Igbo man to negotiate with at the centre except APGA.
Are you aware that APGA’s tendency to recede to the PDP is the reason people think it is an annex of PDP? It is due to this crisis that APGA is having but in 2015, it is going to be different. Our stand now in APGA, as a movement and regarding the Igbo race is that we are telling PDP and President Jonathan to forego vying for the governorship, senate and House of Representative positions in the South-east and in exchange, the South-east will support the PDP and President Jonathan for the presidential election. Any person in PDP from the South-east should sacrifice his ambition in other to save President Jonathan.
We want what happened in 1979 between the NPP and NPN Accord to repeat itself. That year, NPP won the whole South-east and Plateau State. Both parties then went to the national level to form an accord where NPP produced Chief Umeh Ozoke as the Speaker of the House of Representatives while Joseph Waya was Senate President under NPN. What we are saying is that PDP should subsume all their interest in the South-east in APGA in order for them to have 100 per cent vote from the South-east for the president.
We do not want what happened to South-west in 2003 where the Afenifere AD supported Obasanjo and he (Obasanjo) now asked them to vote for PDP forgetting that the bandwagon would also affect the governors. It was the support they gave Obasanjo that now flushed out the AD governors except then governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu. APGA is trying to avoid such a scenario.
With the Okwu faction unwilling to renege, wouldn’t this affect APGA’s political fortunes in 2015? The Appeal Court is expected to give judgment soon and we are hoping it would be in our favour because Umeh remains the authentic APGA chairman. We are trying to respect the court because, ordinarily, Okwu has not taken over from us. The stay of execution is a mere declaration; there is no order for Okwu to take over the party. What he (Okwu) is doing now is just parading himself as chairman and INEC cannot do anything because of the stay of execution from the court. So this won’t affect APGA.
Also, the 2015 election would be about negotiation. If the PDP refuses to negotiate with APGA, like I earlier said, the APC would come and negotiate with APGA because they are watching how things unfold. If APC sees that negotiating with APGA would increase their chances and votes, they will do it. It is about what one can get to achieve their ambition. Most elections all over the world are won on agreement; it is give and take.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The newly-elected National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has been advised to avoid acts that are capable of labelling it as serving special interests.
A chieftain of the party and the earliest presidential aspirant on the party’s platform, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, who gave the advice in a congratulatory letter to Oyegun yesterday, also urged the party leadership to shun favouritism, cronyism, corruption and temptation which he said are what are negatively affecting the fortunes of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to him, the APC NEC must not only be transparent and fair to all parties in its dealings, it must be seen to be transparent and fair to all, upholding its founding principles and the party constitution at all times and that “it must not only claim to be different; it must earn its stripes by the independence, boldness and integrity of its actions.”
He also enjoined the party leadership to stick to their long history of hard work, service delivery and a deep commitment to progressives’ ideals for which they are known.
In his views, going by the “callous misrule of the PDP over 15 years” and the deep desire for change across the country, the APC could not have a made a better choice than the person of Oyegun, noting that his emergence as the party’s chairman is both a challenge and an opportunity.
“It is a challenge because those who voted for the NEC under your leadership and millions of our party members want change; they hope that you and your team can bring about this.
“It is an opportunity because Nigerians across party lines are fed up with an incompetent and clueless government; they hope our party will be the alternative platform. We can offer and, more important, put into action, forward-thinking policies that are pillars of a truly effective government under your leadership,” he said.
The Leadership Newspaper publisher-turned politician who has been critical of the policies of successive administrations, expressed optimism that the APC can turn around the current tide of hopelessness in the country and opportunity, stressing that “we can take our country back from the grip of joblessness, corruption and mindless violence.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress from Anambra, Chief George Muoghalu, spoke to journalists on the new face of terrorism in the country, including the alleged Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the party and how the APC has fared in terms of internal democracy. Onyebuchi Ezigbo was there. Excerpts:
Are you worried that some of your party leaders are accused of fuelling insecurity through their comments? I do not agree with you that APC has politicised the issue. I agree that the country appears to be on a standstill on account of the security challenge. For me and a lot of people, the issue of security is not about partisan politics. I look at the security challenge as a national concern that involves everybody.
For instance the Chibok Kidnapp is very heart rendering and worrisome. I am happy that when General Muhammadu Buhari spoke about it, the presidency even acknowledged that a statesman has spoken. So, for me, insecurity is beyond partisan politics; it’s about the survival of the Nigerian nation. That was why I felt very bad when the PDP national publicity secretary tried to trivialise such a very important national issue.
But I am worried and praying like a lot of Nigerians, who are concerned and we will do whatever we can to support government on this issue of security of lives and property which we know is the primary responsibility of government.
Do you think the extension of emergency rule in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno was justified? The truth of the matter is that the state of emergency we have in place now, to the best of my knowledge, is intended to allow the government have a leeway to expand its security network and send in more military personnel. But considering the point where we are today, I am happy that the president has called for international assistance. So it is not about state of emergency but about government investing more in intelligence and supporting the personnel on the ground so that their moral will be high.
What is your perception of Nyako's controversial memo to the president? The truth about it is that when somebody at that level raises such issues, my thinking is that we should really not look at who wrote it but at the content of the memo and see to what extent we can address the issues raised. Communication might be a problem because the way I present my issues might be different from yours. People present views in manner peculiar to them.
Most of the people condemning the governor now might not have read the memo in detail. Maybe they just saw the headlines or issues that have political consideration. There are some issues there that we ought to look at and see to what extent it can be beneficial to the nation in the fight against insurgency.
Can you give instances of such issues? It is not in my place to point those out now. The letter was written to a particular set of people and it is my expectation that they should not be guided by political considerations. We are talking about insecurity and it involves all Nigerians. The other day it was Nyanya Park, so it could be anywhere tomorrow and anybody can be affected. These attacks in Abuja show that we never can say who will be next. So we need to look at our security issues devoid of political considerations.
But his memo appeared to have deepened ethnic tension when he accused Jonathan of committing genocide against the north? You may be right to some extent and wrong to some extent. When somebody is angry, you may express yourself in a manner that when somebody is reading it, he does not find it right. While I will not sit here and tell you that everything about the memo is right, I can tell you that in the light of the challenge we are facing, there maybe issues in that letter that maybe of national importance and assist the security agencies one way or the other.
Don't forget he is a retired general, onetime deputy chief of defense staff, a sitting two-term governor and an experienced war general. My advice is that the entire memo should not be treated based on one or two paragraphs.
Some members of your party have threatened to leave if a Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket is bought into? Why I have not bothered myself talking about that issue is because people are free to express their interest and ambition. It is not a party position. The party has not decided.
What if it happens? We will cross the bridge when we get there. There are people who want to be president and vice-president. There are people looking to be officers in the party and these things are not wished into existence. These are things that will happen. The convention was not about the presidential candidate of the party. It was about putting the party leadership in place because it is a bottom to the top situation, starting from the ward, local government, state and finally the national. Then we know that the party is fully in place.
Once that is done, then we move to the next stage of determining the presidential candidate and I am certain that the party will be conscious that we are in a religious pluralistic society. We are conscious of the average sensibilities of Nigerians; of their wishes because we want to win election. The essence of presenting candidates is that it will help us win election so that what we have been preaching will be put on the table for Nigerians to see.
One of your leaders, Shekarau has defected. Also in Adamawa and Edo state, we had some APC members leaving the party, citing lack of transparency during the congress. Is this not a threat to the party? I am not speaking for the Edo government or party, or the Kano government or the party or any of these people. But having had the privilege of serving at the highest level of the party for quite some time, there are processes you cannot alter as an individual. One of those processes as at today is that governors are the leaders of the party in their states. Now, I expect that the process of who becomes what is laid down by the national congresses committee. There is a team put in place by the party to handle issues of congress and what I expect a party leader to do is that if you are not happy with the process or what is happening, you protest to this committee through the appeals committee to express your worries.
And I am certain that these worries will be addressed. One problem that you cannot easily address is the problem of ambition. If I have an ambition and I know that Mr. A's presence in this particular place is inimical to my ambition and I don't want to see reason and follow due process, there is no way I can remain there. It is natural. So in that situation, you can't control peoples’ ambition. You can't tell them the limits on which they can operate. More so this is a democratic dispensation; they might want to freely express themselves.
So, as people are leaving, some people are also coming in because people want to go to where they feel their ambition will be accommodated but the important thing for APC as a party is that we stick to our rules and what the constitution says, of one man one vote and internal democracy.
Once we stick to that, when the person leaving gets to where he is going to and finds out that what he is looking for based on his ambition is not realisable, he will go back to the same place he left, realising now that if he follows due process, he can realise his ambition if not now, in the nearest future.
The impression in the South-east, rightly or wrongly, is that APC is more of a party that is a marriage between mainly northern and western politicians? It cannot be a sectional marriage. In the South-east today, we have an APC governor in Imo State. Some say he won on the platform of APGA, but before then, there was no APC. There was ACN, APGA, CPC and ANPP. All these parties existed and people used the various platforms to actualise their individual ambitions. So the time came for us to say let's use these platforms to create a viable alternative for Nigerians to see.
But you were defeated in Anambra? No way. I don't want to talk about the Anambra election because the issue is at the tribunal. But the truth of the issues is now playing out today. The realities are playing out. Do free and fair election, we will win any day and time because you are talking of the coalition forces of acceptable people. What we did was to bring our individual followership to form a formidable platform. I ran for governor in Anambra State in 2003. I am the face of ANPP in Anambra State. And I came with my people into APC. Ngige is a sitting senator, he came with his people into APC; he was a governor in the state who was adjudged to have done very well.
Umeh has said there is no way Okorocha would retain Imo State? That is his wish and he is entitled to it. Tell him I said so. It is his wish. Just as I am wishing that we form government at the centre and win 35 out of 36 states. That is my wish. If you ask me to declare it I will, probably give PDP two states. What we are asking for is INEC to give us a level playing field and sincerity of purpose. Let the security agencies see themselves as Nigerians and serving the nation. They should not see themselves as members of any political party either the one in government or out of government. They should see themselves as unbiased umpires who will drive the process of bringing into place credible leadership in Nigeria
When Jega was appointed, the legacy parties hailed his emergence but suddenly the APC is singing a different song. What changed? A lot may have changed. Jega came into INEC with a bank of credibility; there is no doubt about that. He was a known national civil right leader, we knew that. A lot of things can change. Someone who was priest before can decide to be a pagan now. It is a matter of choice. A catholic priest protested the law of celibacy after being celibate for 30 years.
A lot may have changed that is why we have born again Christians. They are Christians; they were not pagans. They got to a point they felt they were not doing things right and became born again. A lot of things may have changed. But I still want to give him the benefit of doubt. I believe you cannot refuse a meal until you open it. Anambra State was a total charade they have offered explanations, promises here and there that it won't repeat itself. I am sceptical, worried but I still give him benefit of doubt.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
