POLITICS
APC Lawmakers in Anambra Pay Solidarity Visit to State’s Deputy Governor
The eight All Progressives Congress (APC) members in the Anambra State House of Assembly paid a courtesy visit to the Anambra deputy governor, Dr Nkem Okeke, on Tuesday in Awka.
Leader of the delegation, Dr Timothy Ifediora (APC-Njidoka 1) said it was a visit of solidarity as the deputy governor defected to the APC in spite of intimidation by the state government.
He encouraged the deputy governor to hold steadfast to his schedule till March 17, 2022 when the current administration would vacate office.
Ifediora said that Okeke’s defection to APC was a sign of commitment towards effective service delivery for improved welfare of the people of the state.
“We are in your office to felicitate with you for joining APC.
“You have shown the spirit of a statesman, God bless you,’’ the team leader told the deputy governor.
He also assured Okeke of the team’s support and determination to reposition governance in the state.
“We have to make out time to officially pay a solidarity visit to you and support you in our efforts to move Anambra forward. We are proud of you and happy that you have joined the APC,’’ Ifediora stressed.
The legislator said the APC members dumped the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) because it had swayed from its core values.
“APGA is now a party of nepotism, high-handedness, deceit and has become property of some families and individuals in the state,’’ he said.
“In fact APGA is led by an emperor. We were treated badly like strangers in the party we collectively built,’’ Ifediora said.
He added that he left APGA because of the fraudulent primaries that brought Prof. Charles Soludo as the governorship candidate of the party for the Nov. 6 election.
Welcoming the delegation, the deputy governor commended the APC caucus members for the solidarity visit even in the face of busy campaigns to different parts of the state.
Okeke said that he had wanted to join another party since he had reached his peak in APGA.
He said Anambra could not continue to be at the background in national affairs or be a lone ranger all the time, pointing out that since the formation of APGA it had not grown beyond the state.
He stated that the people of the state must begin to think beyond their limitations to greater heights.
He said that the candidate of APC, Andy Uba, is a refined gentleman with good heart to take the state to a greater level.
According to him, one does not need to be a PhD holder to govern effectively.
What is needed, he explained is a good heart, listening ear and ability to be proactive which is found in the APC’s governorship candidate.
“Our people regarded the APC as a Fulani party; that was the dummy sold to the people to confuse them.
“Are our people not serving the country under APC? Are governors from other political parties not having meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari seeking for the good of their states?
If we hate APC because of Buhari, one day he must leave the part; if we negotiate well politically and an Igbo man becomes the president, then will we call it Igbo party’’? the deputy governor queried.
Okeke said that APC would win the Nov. 6 Anambra governorship election because it is a rebranded APC.
“A party that has eight House of Assembly members, six House of Representatives members, one senator and a deputy governor cannot be said to be a child’s play,’’ Okeke said.
He urged Anambra voters to be politically wise and vote in APC candidate on Nov. 6 to leverage on the victory to dialogue on the national table for greater good of the people.
Responding to claims by the visitors and the host that APGA had failed the state, Mr C-Don Adinuba, Anambra Commissioner for Information and Publicity said that the claimants lacked figures and data to support their claims.
Adinuba said he was too busy planning for APGA’s success at the governorship election than to dissipate energy on the claims. (NAN)
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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