POLITICS
APC Group Alleges Plot to Postpone Convention
By Jude Opara, Abuja
In spite of repeated claims by the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that the much talked about National Convention of the party will go ahead in February, a pressure group within the party under the aegis of the APC Rebirth Group, has accused the CECPC of plotting to postpone event beyond February 2022.
In a statement issued on Sunday, spokesman of the group, Aliyu Audu said it had information from impeccable sources that the governor Mai Mala Buni led Committee actually planted the news reports in the media that the convention had been fixed for February 25th 2022 to hoodwink the people.
According to the group, the real plot was to use the planted February 25th date to buy more time, pretending it has no knowledge of the forthcoming bye-election; by which time it would be left with no option but to postpone the much-awaited February convention to another date.
Audu also argued that the purported February 25th date, just like many other decisions that have been taken by the CECPC was not a collective decision by all members of the committee, hence the reason it opted to plant the date in the media instead of issuing an official statement to announce the date.
The statement added: “In furtherance of the agenda to continue the extension of its six months mandate which is now running to the 19th month, the Buni-led Caretaker Committee has come up with another plot to deceive party members and buy time in order to further propagate its selfish agenda.
“The CECPC, having realized that no less than six states will be going to the polls for various bye-elections on the 26th of February, 2022, decided to plant a February 25th date in the media knowing fully well that the convention cannot be taking place at a time bye-elections in which the party would be participating will also be taking place across different states in the country.”
The pressure group equally added that instead of flaunting dates and stories in the media, the CECPC should come out with a clear position and timetable for the much-awaited national convention.
It added; “While we recommend February 19th 2022 as a feasible date for the convention that will give the APC a new set of elected National Working Committee members, we want to reiterate that any attempt by the Buni-led Caretaker Committee to move the convention any further under any guise will be resisted by all means possible.”
The group wondered why other members of the CECPC have continued to tolerate the unilateral decision making and dictatorial excesses of the chairman of the committee.
It said, “We are bringing this new plot of the CECPC to public attention, just as we have done in many other instances, in order to reawaken the consciousness of party members to the reality of Buni leadership of APC and to call on all those concerned to prevail on him not to toy with the February date for the national convention.”
While the CECPC continues to reassure that the Convention will go ahead as planned, no official date has been given, prompting the Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), Dr. Salihu Lukman to call on party stakeholders to force the Committee to organize the Convention in February as planned.
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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