POLITICS
Nasarawa 2023: Eggon stakeholders drum support for Sule
The Eggon stakeholders of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State have urged the people of the state to re-elect Gov. Abdullahi Sule for a second term in 2023.The stakeholders drummed their support during an inaugural meeting of Eggon Movement for APC, Nasarawa state, on Sunday in Nassarawa Eggon Local Government Area.
Dr Joseph Kigbu, former member, House of Representatives (Lafia/ Obi), said Sule deserved a second term considering his developmental strides in the state. Kigbu, who was represented by Mr Musa Magaji, the Special Adviser to the governor on Financial Services, said that Eggon people and other constituents in the state would benefit more if Sule returned to office to complete his good job. “His Excellency, Engr. A A Sule is doing well in almost all sectors of the economy in the state. “He is providing all inclusive governance. There is the need for Eggon people and other people in the state to support him beyond 2023,” Kigbu said.He commended conveners of the meeting for the initiative and urged them to embark on mobilisation and sensitisation campaign across communites in the state to actualise the Sule project. Also speaking, Mr Danladi Jatau, member representing Kokona West constituency at the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, urged Eggon nation and other people to support the second term ambition of the governor. “His Excellency, Engr. A A Sule is carrying Eggon people and other people along in his administration. “He is building infrastructure across the state in the area of road construction, health facilities and education, among others. “His Excellency’s developmental strides, purposeful lesdership and all inclusive governance attracted me and my supporters to APC.“I want to use this opportunity to call on Eggon nation and other people of the state to support Gov. Abdullahi Sule beyond 2023, to enable us enjoy more dividends of democracy,” he said.
Jatau, who is also Chairman, House Committee on Public Complaint, Petition and Security, prayed God for victory of APC at all levels. On their parts, Mr Yakubu Lawal, Commissioner for Information; Mr Adamu Adogi, a former commissioner in the state; retired Gen. A.T Umar, a chieftain of APC; Mr Vincent Anzaku, the Deputy Chairman of Keffi Local Government Council; Mr Baba Affiku and Mrs Florence Gambo, both APC chieftains, among other stakeholders, lauded the governor for his developmental strides across the state.
They promised to mobilise support for Sule beyond 2023 and urged the electorate to return the governor. In his welcome address, Mr Danlami Idris, the Chairman, Nassarawa Eggon Local Government Council, said Sule deserved a second term considering his purposeful leadership. Idris, represented by his Deputy, Mr Ben Manga, also called on the Eggon nation to rally round the governor in order to enjoy more dividends of democracy. Earlier, Mr James Manzah, Mr Monday Nanza, the former President, Eggon Cultural and Development Association (ECDA), who is the Interim Chairman of the movement, and former Administrator, Akun Development Area, respectively, who is the Interim Secretary of the Movement, said that they decided to form the movement in order to drum support for Sule and APC in the state.
They said that the governor has transformed and still transforming the state, hence the need for Eggon people and other people of the state to support him beyond 2023.They appreciated all those who came from far and near to grace the meeting and wished them journey mercies to their various destinations.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dr Joseph Kigbu and retired Gen. AT Umar were appointed as leaders (Jagabans) of the movement. NAN also reports that the meeting had in attendance Alhaji Yusuf Mada, former Special Adviser to Sule on Infrastructure; Mr Raymond Akolo, and Mr Zachary Allumaga, the Executive Secretary, Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency (NASEMA). Others are Mr Maikasuwa Audu, Personal Assistant to Sule; Alhaji Umar Galadima, the Chairman, APC Lafia Local Government; Councillors of Eggon extraction and other Eggon APC stakeholders across the three senatorial zones, among other well wishers. (NAN)
POLITICS
INEC Staff Welfare Association Warns Members Against Manipulating Election Results
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
POLITICS
Be Thankful APC Didn’t Probe Your Administrations, Okechukwu Tells PDP
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)POLITICS
LG Administration Central to Democracy in Nigeria -Nwoko
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)