POLITICS
2023: Why Ukwa-la-Ngwa people will not Vote for PDP – APGA Chair
The Chairman of APGA in Abia, Rev. Augustine Ehiemere, says the Ukwa-la-Ngwa ethnic nationality in the state has suffered untold neglect for the past 20 years under the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Ehiemere disclosed this on Friday in a statement issued in Umuahia and made available to newsmen.
The statement was issued against the backdrop of the alleged plot by the ruling-PDP to “poach“ APGA’s House of Assembly candidates from Ukwa-la-Ngwa.
He stated that APGA received the intelligence about a plot by PDP to use its candidates to sabotage the chances of APGA’s Governorship Candidate, Prof. Greg Ibe.
He, therefore, advised the candidates to resist any inducement, financial or otherwise, to lure them out of APGA.
He maintained that the plot was to offer the candidates “irresistible financial inducements” to defect to the PDP.
“According to our intelligence, their plan is to lure the affected APGA candidates with such heavy financial offers to help deliver PDP governorship candidate, Prof. Uche Ikonne, in their respective constituencies.
“They equally promised to concede the House of Assembly seats to some of them, while others would be rewarded with political appointments in the imaginary Ikonne-led government,” Ehiemere stated.
He described the experience of Ukwa-la-Ngwa people under PDP as lamentable for anybody to vote for its candidates.
He explained that the nine local government areas of Ukwa-la-Ngwa, including Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu’s Obingwa, had the worst roads in the state.
Ehiemere expressed sadness that Ukwa had nothing to show in terms of infrastructure and other indices of development, in spite of being the only oil-bearing area of the state.
He asked, “So, why should any right-thinking candidate of Ukwa-la-Ngwa extraction succumb to the PDP trap?”
He urged the APGA candidates “to refuse to be remembered on the wrong side of history.
“We urge them to stand tall as heroes of democracy and support our governorship candidate in his vision to birth a new Abia where merit will be placed above other sentiments.
“The bid to free Abia from political bondage is a divine project that should not be truncated or sacrificed on the altar of personal aggrandisement,” he added.
The APGA chieftain expressed regrets that certain politicians were desperate to continue “to use our common patrimony to hold the state down perpetually.
“Never again shall we mortgage our future and that of the unborn generation because of pecuniary interests.
“We should not allow those who have allocated to themselves the position of kingmakers to use our collective resources to buy our future.
“We must all rise to ensure that only those who have the competence to revive our economy and navigate the state out of its present economic doldrums receive our mandate,” Ehiemere stated.
He contended that PDP had brought misery to the people with the delays in payment of salaries and pensions, in addition to the deplorable state of infrastructure.
He urged the people to reject the continuation of god-fatherism and imposition which, he said, had taken the state far behind others in the South-East.
He maintained that the 2023 “is the time to vote for competence and not mediocrity.
“Abia cannot be entrusted in the hands of emergency philanthropists and overnight billionaire government contractors who are feeding fat on Abia’s commonwealth.
“The next Abia governor must have capacity and a track record of achievements, like Prof. Ibe, ” Ehiemere stated.
He described Ibe as the best among all the governorship candidates.
He said that Ibe, the proprietor and Chancellor, Gregory University, Uturu, remained “the single highest employer of labour in the state.
“Ibe has empowered thousands of our people long before now, unlike some of these emergency philanthropists,” he stated.
Reacting to the allegation of poaching, the PDP’s Acting Spokesman, Chief Amah Abraham, said that it was not true that PDP was poaching APGA candidates.
“The truth is that the Ukwa-la-Ngwa people have realised that their interest would better be served under the PDP.
“It’s not poaching. They are people who have realised their mistakes and want to return home.
“It’s called political realignments and wheel balancing.
“We engage them constructively and they are aligning themselves with the winning party.
“It’s not a matter of any inducement. They are committed to the cause of PDP,” Abraham said. (NAN)
By Mike Odiakose, Abuja
Fresh leadership crisis is rocking the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a former National Deputy Chairman of the party, Nafi’u Bala, has declared himself the new Interim National Chairman of ADC.Bala, who is also a former governorship candidate of the ADC in Gombe State, made the declaration at a press conference held late on Wednesday night in Abuja.
Bala accused the David Mark-led interim leadership of the ADC of hijacking the party through unconstitutional means and warned of impending legal action to challenge what he described as a “total surrender” of the party’s structure to external political actors. “We wish to draw the attention of all members of our great party and Nigerians at large, to the ongoing acts of political hooliganism being perpetrated by some individuals who were hitherto entrusted with the leadership of the party,” Bala said.His declaration comes weeks after a coalition of prominent opposition figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, adopted the ADC as a platform to unseat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027.The coalition arrangement was formally announced on July 2 by Ralph Nwosu, founder and pioneer chairman of the ADC, who also revealed the resignation of the National Working Committee (NWC) and endorsed an interim leadership led by Mark.But Bala insists the move lacks legal and moral legitimacy.“We are all living witnesses to the show of shame and acts of lawlessness being displayed by these unscrupulous leaders, who, without any qualm or sense of moral restraint, plunged our party into a needless crisis and leadership uncertainty,” Bala declared.He condemned what he called an unprecedented and undemocratic transfer of party leadership to “political strangers,” vowing to defend the party’s constitutional order.“The idea of mortgaging the future of our great party, by abdicating the constitutional duties and responsibilities of all elected officers of the party, to some powerful outsiders who never belong to the party, is condemnable,” he added.Bala described the internal shake-up as a “shoddily rehearsed political melodrama,” saying it would be resisted through both party mechanisms and legal channels.“In case these individuals choose to ignore our urgent calls to obey our constitutional guidelines and thus remain very obdurate and recalcitrant in their aberrant behaviour, we shall proceed with gusto to challenge these gross acts of impunity in the courts and bring them to justice,” he said.Bala emphasized that the party’s constitution clearly outlines the processes for leadership succession and that, in line with those provisions, he was now assuming the position of interim national chairman.He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to “urgently” recognise him as the legitimate leader of the party.POLITICS
Appointment of Yilwatda, Hounding of Opposition by EFCC Can’t Save Tinubu in 2027 – APC Chieftain
By Mike Odiakose, Abuja
A controversial chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has declared that the appointment Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda as APC National Chairman and harassment of opposition politicians cannot save President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
He alleged that President Bola Tinubu is having his eyes on electoral fraud in 2027 and the recent appointment of Prof. Yilwatda as National Chairman of the APC has further highlighted this.Chief Eze also noted that the sudden activation of EFCC’s attack mode against perceived political foes is highly condemnable and signposts an administration that is paranoid over the conduct of a credible, free and fair election come 2027 general elections.In a statement released to the media, Eze stated unequivocally that none of what he described as the devious plots being adopted by the Tinubu administration to retain power will come to fruition.“I wish to state that none of these acts, both unleashing the EFCC on opposition politicians and appointment of Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda as the National Chairman of APC, so that he can manipulate INEC, will save Tinubu from relocating back to Lagos come 2027,” Eze said.“The truth is that 2027 general elections are neither between APC and ADC nor any other political party, but emphatically between APC and Nigerians.“With the level of hydra-headed socio-economic and political calamities that have befallen this country due to Tinubu’s inhumane, clueless and anti-people policies, I know Nigerians will do everything humanly possible to free themselves from the circle of deaths occasioned by maladministration.”According to Eze, plans by the Tinubu government to intimidate the immediate Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), out of the coalition movement is an exercise in futility.For Tinubu to go after Malami, one of late President Muhammadu Buhari’s trusted ministers, a few weeks after the burial of the former president, according to Eze, is a sign of ingratitude and obsession to hold on to power by all means without minding whose ox is gored.“Report at my disposal is that Malami will be questioned over at least five suspicious transactions during his time in office as the AGF and Justice Minister,” Eze said.“Five of the transactions under investigation are: The mysterious payment of $496 million to Global Steel Holdings Ltd (GSHL) as settlement for the termination of the Ajaokuta Steel concession nine years after the Indian company had waived all claims for compensation.“His handling of the sale of assets worth billions of naira forfeited to the EFCC by politically exposed persons.“His role in the $419 million judgment debt awarded to consultants who claimed to have facilitated the Paris Club refunds to the states.“The strange agreement to pay Sunrise Power $200 million compensation in its dispute with the FG over the Mambilla power project; and the duplicated legal fees in the transfer of $321 million Abacha loot from Switzerland to Nigeria.”The APC chieftain stated that in as much as he is not against prosecuting public officials who are suspected to have corruptly enriched themselves while in office, making such action selective and targeting politically exposed Nigerians in opposition, to say the least, is unacceptable and stands condemned.“So, Tinubu wants Nigerians to believe and clap for him, that one of the former opposition governors serving presently in his administration as a minister is a saint, and has no skeleton in his cupboard?“I make bold to state categorically that going after Buhari’s minister (Malami) is a deliberate but calculated plot to send warning signals to leading coalition movement politicians that nobody, no matter how highly placed, will be spared by Tinubu in a bid to retain power in 2027,” Eze said.Eze contended that the strategy by sitting presidents to use security agencies like EFCC, DSS, Police, ICPC, etc. to hound opposition politicians prior to elections has become old-fashioned and no longer dreaded because of its selective aura.
By Mike Odiakose, Abuja
A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State led by Chief Emeka Beke has called on the party’s national leadership to respect and enforce court rulings affirming its status as the legitimate executive committee in the state.Speaking to journalists at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, the group urged the National Chairman, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, to recognize and act on a series of binding court judgments that nullified the alleged dissolution of the Beke-led leadership and invalidated the rival faction led by Chief Tony Okocha.
The faction cited Suit No. PHC/3592/CS/2023, filed by the party’s State Secretary, Sam Sam Etetegwung, where the Rivers State High Court presided over by Justice S.H. Aprioku ruled in favor of the Beke-led executive. The court declared the purported dissolution illegal and affirmed that the Emeka Beke executive remains in office until October 2025.“The judgment remains subsisting and binding, having not been set aside by any court of competent jurisdiction,” the faction stated.They also referenced a more recent ruling—Suit No. PHC/3859/CS/2024 (Okwu Joebrown Ndike & Ors. v. APC & Anor.)—in which Justice Obomanu invalidated the election of the Tony Okocha-led committee, further reinforcing the legitimacy of the Beke-led team.Welcoming the decision by the APC National Executive Committee to extend the tenure of all elected state executives until December 2025, the faction noted that the extension aligns with the existing court verdicts.Consequently, the group appealed to the national leadership to suspend the upcoming local government primaries being organized by the rival faction. They declared that the Beke-led executive, as recognized by law, should be authorized to conduct the exercise.“We respectfully urge the national leadership to act in accordance with these valid and binding court judgments to avoid further confusion and division within the party,” He saidReaffirming their loyalty to the APC and its national leadership, the Beke-led faction pledged to support ongoing efforts to strengthen the party in Rivers State and contribute to its success nationwide.
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