POLITICS
APC Decries Post Election Violence in Kogi
By Jude Opara, Abuja
All Progressives Congress (APC) has called for caution following the recent post election crisis in Kogi State.
The crisis has led to accusations and counter-accusations between APC and the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Addressing the media on Thursday, National Publicity Secretary (NPS) of the party, Felix Morka said instead of throwing the state into a needless spate of violence, those aggrieved with the outcome of the election should seek legal redress in court.
Morka, who was accompanied to the briefing by the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Duro Meseko also appealed to the aggrieved politicians to understand that the people of Kogi State deserve to live in peace.
He took a swipe at the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dino Melaye and the SDP Murtala Ajaka for their comments which he said were incendiary, provocative and capable of setting the state on fire.
Morka said, “We are concerned about the post-election events and how Kogi has been bedevilled by violence. You can’t set Kogi on fire because you lost an election. Dino Melaye has refused to challenge the result in court”.
According to the APC, the alleged call by Melaye on the opposition parties to boycott the next round of elections is a personal wish which he is entitled to.
He said, “Melaye did not even have the confidence vote for himself in the election. Dino should know that participating and boycotting election is a democratic right. He should choose wisely. But he cannot stop our democratic train from heading to its destination.
“Let me also say a few things about my former colleague and SDP candidate, Murtala Ajaka, who also refused to challenge the election.
“But in a sudden U-turn, he seemed to have changed his mind. Are we happy that we lost in Bayelsa election?
“No, we are not. But we have not resorted to any form of underhand or undemocratic efforts to try to gain back what we lost in Bayelsa and the state has continued to live in relative peace.
“We are concerned that as we speak, the SDP and the PDP have engaged in incendiary statements aimed at causing unrest in Kogi State and put the totality of that blame on our party.
“We reject this as a political party. In Delta, our candidate Senator Ovie Omo-Agege was not announced winner but he has challenged the result in court.
“The APC has enormous respect for the judiciary and the role it plays in democracy. We will leave law enforcement agents to investigate.”
On the recent attack and burning of the residence of the Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Morka said the attack was unnecessary adding that the party has charged the security agencies to investigate and fish out the perpetrators.
“We have condemned the recent attack on INEC REC and the secretary and we are happy the police are looking into the case.
“We will also implore them as we did after last week National Working Committee (NWC) meeting to properly investigate the attacks and douse tension in Kogi,” Morka stated.
Answering a question on the position of APC on the scenario where pre-filled result sheets were in circulation even before accreditation and voting, the spokesman said, “There is no flawless election anywhere in the world.
“We also called on opposition parties in Kogi to chase their cases in court and allow the police to do their job. You cannot win by intimidating the judiciary and court justices.”
Mr Martin Amaewhule (Obio/Akpor 1), the factional Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, has accused Gov. Siminialayi Fubara of planning to demolish the residential quarters of the state House of Assembly.
Amaewhule made the remark in Port Harcourt in reaction to the governor’s recent inspection visit to the assembly residential quarters.
Fubara had told newsmen during the visit that he wanted to acsertain the state of the facility for possible rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, Amaewhule described the visit as ‘unannounced and an invasion’ on the residential premises of Rivers assemblymen.
”His plan is to demolish the quarters the way he did to some parts of the state assembly complex in 2023,” he said.
The factional speaker said that the governor’s move was purely political because the Rivers assembly residential quarter was still the best in the country.
”The residential quarters were built by the administration of former Gov. Nyesom Wike in 2022.
”There’s nothing wrong with the buildings. They are in perfect condition. We have not called on the governor for any form of help.
“The governor’s undue interference is one that is unbecoming of a sitting governor who is supposed to uphold the sanctity of the law,” he said
Amaewhule further accused Fubara of always carrying out actions that were against democratic norms and principles.
”His actions show that he had declared war on all politically elected people in the state,” he said.(NAN)
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the 27 All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers at the Rivers House of Assembly can’t impeach Gov. Siminalayi Fubara, because they are no longer members of the House.
Mr Debo Ologunagba, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, said this at a new conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
Ologunagba said that the directive by the state APC chapter for the lawmakers to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor was in vain.
He said that the APC lawmakers had since vacated their seats at the House, by virtue of Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution.
“The lawmakers claiming to be APC members lost their seats after their defection from the PDP, the political party platform on which they were elected into the House.
“For emphasis, Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution provides that: a member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if … (g) being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political Party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected.
“It should be noted that Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution is self-executory. The import of this provision is that the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who defected, have vacated their seat by reason of that defection,” he said.
Ologunagba advised APC to come to terms with the fact that Rivers was home to PDP and that the people of the state were not ready to leave the party.(NAN)
By Eze Okechukwu, Abuja
Senators yesterday during plenary continued complaining about their renovated chamber, with the Senate Chief Whip, Mohammed Ali Ndume at one point describing the reconfigured chamber as a Conference Room.Recall that a week ago, bickerings about sitting arrangements led to a rowdy session which lasted for about 15 minutes, eventually forcing the Senate into executive session.
However, issues over alleged inadequacies in the Chamber once again took center stage yesterday during plenary when Senator Ali Ndume, through Order 42 of the Senate Standing rules pointed out that what was supposed to be a Chamber had been turned into a conference hall, stressing that was unacceptable. ”Mr President, I rise to make disturbing observations on this supposedly renovated chamber through order 42 that deals with personal privileges.”Since day one, precisely last week Tuesday when we moved into this Chamber that is supposed to have been renovated, there have been complaints here and there.”First was on sitting arrangements, followed by the echoing of voices by microphones that are not even audible. No voting device and the required facilities are not yet provided.”We need to correct all these anomalies for the Hallowed Chamber to be what it is supposed to be,” he said.Aligning with Ndume’s observations, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio said the observations were well noted and the point of Order upheld.He however explained to Ndume that complaints on sitting arrangements among Senators have been sorted out 99.9%, reminding him that the contract for the renovation work was not done by the 10th National Assembly.”This is not our contract and not even the National Assembly contract but that of the Federal Capital Development Authority ( FCDA), the landlord of the National Assembly Complex.”Observations on inadequacies in the renovated chamber are welcome from time to time for required perfection but what we should be aiming at in the long run is for us, as federal lawmakers, to have proper autonomy on the National Assembly Complex and not continue as tenants of FCDA,” he said.
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