POLITICS
APC as a Party for all, Will Continue to Act on its words -Buni
Gov. Mai Mala Buni, Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) says APC is a party for all and will continue to act on its words.
The governor made this known on Wednesday in Abuja while inaugurating the party’s Appeal Committees for its recently conducted Ward Congresses.
Buni, who was represented at the event by Sen.
John Akpanudoedehe, the Secretary APC CECPC, noted that the Congresses to produce the party’s organs across the country started on July 31 and went substantially well.“However, it is expected that wherever and whenever there is a competition, of course, there is bound to be contestations,” he said.
Akpanudoedehe said that as an organisation based on rules and procedures, avenues and channels must be provided for party members who were dissatisfied with the processes.
He said that such channels were critical for members to ventilate their grievances through an internal mechanism, adding that the Wards Congresses Appeals Committee was inaugurated for this purpose.
“This party is for all Nigerians, therefore we must show, not only by words, but by concrete actions that there’s no attempt to exclude or sideline anybody in the course of the exercise.
“This is very fundamental, not only to the CECPC, but to the preservation of the very essence of the party.
“Your actions in this wise will help engender cohesion, build trust and confidence in this all important exercise.
“Today, you have been entrusted with one of the most solemn obligations of citizenship, which is to help deepen our democratisation processes and strengthen the polity,” he said to the committee members.
Akpanudoehede said members of the committee were carefully selected based on their proven records.
He said that the party trusted in its strength of character, integrity and capacity to be fair in their dealings to those who would approach them as members of the committee.
He reminded all APC members to see the party as one big family, saying that differences should be handled with the understanding that no dispute was worth the destruction of the house that was jointly erected.
Buni, while wishing members of the committee the best, said the party’s guidelines for the exercise and its Constitution shall be their guide.
“The terms of reference shall be made available hereafter,” he said.
He, however, noted that in the past days, the media space had been filled with negative commentaries on the Supreme Court judgment on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Eyitayo Jegede and Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu of the APC, in the last Ondo State governorship election.
He said this was especially by persons who should know better, but were coming out with very malicious and self-serving opinions just to play on the gullibility of the public.
He said such persons forgot that the APC was made up of intelligent, sound and intellectually proficient persons who had seen beneath their grandstanding.
“The majority judgment of the Supreme Court has strengthened the position of the CECPC and our chairman. The minority judgment serves only for academic purposes, nothing more.
“The Attorney-General of the Federation, who is the chief law officer of the federation has stated that we are on firm ground and advised that we proceed with the processes of the Congresses,” Akpanudoedehe said. (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)