POLITICS
Akpabio ‘ll be Next Senate President, Uzodinma Assures
By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
Governor of Imo State and Chairman of Progressives Governors’ Forum of the ruling All progressives Congress (APC), Senator Hope Uziria has expressed confidence that the party’s choice Godswill Akpabio will prevail and emerge the next president of the 10th Senate in the National Assembly.
Governor Uzodinma, expressed the party’s confidence during a chat with State House Correspondents at the end of a meeting with President Bola Tinubu after the Democracy Day celebration on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Uzodinma said, the committee set up by Tinubu to resolve the controversy over the forthcoming leadership race has achieved substantial progress in collaboration with the outgoing Senate President, Ahmed Lawan.
According to him, Akpabio is going there to create a win-win situation for members of the parliament. He he is not going there to be a dictator.
Governor Uzodinma describes the former governor and ex minority leader of the Senate as one who will work with his colleagues in synergy, collectively reason, plan, and deliver the dividends of democracy to the Nigerian people.
He said the Senate presidency election “is about Nigeria and not about the individuals. And he is a man too that has the track record of performance.”
Asked if the election on Tuesday is going to be a walkover having ganrnerd about 90 percent support, he said, “Substantially for a substitute consensus and by the number of people and by the efforts we have put in place, it is our hope that tomorrow it might even be a consensus event.
“But to the glory of God we pray for that and at the same time, hoping that should we go into an election, Akpabio’s acceptance as at today cuts across the political party we belong, other political parties there are also some same minds who are interested in the development and progress of Nigeria; who also understands the need to safeguard democracy as being practiced in Nigeria today, and they are in sync with our preferred candidate.
“We have done so much work to the extent that God has blessed our efforts that majority of the senators-elect are now in sync with the position of the party.
“After the event in which you all witnessed, we had a closed session with President because what is at stake is national interest, the interest of our country and how to ensure that the new president is supporter to succeed.
“All over africa, Nigeria is being looked upon that this time around we should produce a very strong president who will be bold and courageous in character. Who will be able to deliver Nigeria to our usual space of bein the leader of the continent.
“We don’t want to allow for any domestic distraction to distract him from succeeding. We are going to pledge our support, work in synergy with our senators elect to ensure that the election of tomorrow (Tuesday) will be free and fair.”
He assured that Lawan will work for the emergence of the preferred candidates of the party.
Speaking also, the preferred senate Presidential candidate, Akpabio assured of a united 10th Senate under his leadership with robust legislative debate to ensure that they meet the aspirations of Nigerians.
Akpabio assured that the 10th senate will hold public hearings before taking any decision in the interests of Nigerians, for the betterment of the country.
We will think Nigeria first, every senator irrespective of political party must come into the chambers as a senator of the federal republic of Nigeria.
So, we have a lot to do, we must assist the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to put the right policies in place by putting the right legislations in place to make sure that business thrives and create employment opportunities for Nigerians.
He further assured that every senator is important everybody is important and all political party shall be carried along.
On how he intends to pacify those who are not on the same page with him, the Senate Presidential candidate said, “in the business of politics not everybody will be on the same page. But here, we have over 90 percent of people supporting the choice of the party and I believe that even those that are not on board, I assure them that I will carry them on board.
“I won’t say anything but I will say we leave it to God almighty. But I must thank the chairman of the progressive governors forum and the governor of Imo state and former governor of Kano State and all former governors in the APC and all the governors in PDP and other political parties and even all the political parties we have visited who have shown so much support in having one Nigerian National Assembly, one Nigerian senate and a senate that will work for the good people of Nigeria. That is my pledge and I assure you that it shall be uncommon,” he said .
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)
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)
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)
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