POLITICS
APC National Chairmanship: Considering Malam Isah Yuguda’s Factor
By Mohammed Muktar Umar
In every human society, there exist people with extraordinary blessings. Whatever they do, it reflects back on the society in good shape. Such people are rare in this contemporary world, hence it takes a society long time to have them.
Bauchi State and Nigeria at large is lucky to have one of these people, which among them he stands out to be pre-eminent.
He’s widely referred to as man of all, Malam Isah Yuguda.He was born on 15 June 1956. He was first elected in 2007, under the platform of the All Nigerian People’s Party. Yuguda was re-elected governor on 28 April 2011 as the Executive Governor of Bauchi State.
Before becoming a governor, Malam Isah had worked at the Federal Mortgage Bank, Bauchi Area Office as a Mortgage Manager, between (1981–1984).
He moved to the Savannah Bank, working as a Credit Manager in Sokoto (1986–1987) and then as a Manager in Abuja (1987–1991).He served as a two term minister of Aviation and Transportation. In terms of devotion to duty, Malam Isah Yuguda does his work efficiently and effectively to the best of his ability.
He is a true hero of democracy, during his tenure as a governor, Yuguda ensured dividends of democracy to every nook and cranny of Bauchi State. His passion for his people is extraordinary. It was during Isah that Bauchi became one of the most peaceful and enjoyable states in the country.
Job creation and the welfare of civil servants was at its peak. Poverty alleviation programmes among others were implemented when he was at the helm of affairs of the state of Bauchi.
Yuguda, is an idol to protégés, whose topmost priority is to ensure that he nurtures young capable hands that will rise and shine beyond his generation and the youth who will be good ambassadors of society. He always takes an avid interest in financial support that’s why his track record in youth empowerment in Bauchi State is second to none.
The APC as a party which came to power after the 2015 general election has played a vital role, though faced with different challenges to the extent some view the party as the root cause of challenges affecting Nigerians. But as it is now, the APC is taking lead in receiving decampees from other political parties, including Yuguda.
For a party to have good manifestos and to be well recognized, it needs good and well oriented politicians like Isah Yuguda who has an international and national connections and his ability to turn out things positively, is what makes him different.
Malam Isah Yuguda, a congenial, affable, humble, lighthearted and broadminded person, is the one man to be at the helm of APC affairs it must progress.
If not Yuguda then who can play politics at this dangerous stage and make the people truly believe that the APC is a helping hand to them? If not him, from the North-East, who has the capacity to run a party affairs at the moment election is coming closer? Do we in the North-East have anyone better than him in terms of political strategy and wisdom?
Isah Yuguda fits in, let him serve, he is the best at the moment. We hope the pendulum will swing towards him.
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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