POLITICS
Edo 2024: PDP Risks not Having Candidate over Irregularities – Aspirant
Chief Anselm Ojezua, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant for the upcoming Edo election, has said that the party risked not producing a candidate for the election over irregularities.
Ojezua, a lawyer said this in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said that this was based on the irregularities that marred the primary election of the ad-hoc delegates two weeks ago, where some of them were not allowed into the venue of the election.
Ojezua said that the development would be bad for the outgoing governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki given his past disputes within and outside the party.
The former APC state chairman said that it was at the meeting that he and other aggrieved aspirants convince the PDP appeal committee on the illegalities perpetrated.
“The Appeal Committee met us and it was at that meeting that we were able to convince them that what happened was a sham.
“The chairman of the Appeal Committee confronted us with the result sheets which we were seeing for the very first time, which we should have seen before the exercise but it never happened.
“It never happened because the National Organsising Secretary of the party, Alhaji Umar had sent those materials directly to the Edo Government House”, he said.
He also said that the chairman of the election committee, Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu State turned himself into an observer rather than the supervisor of the election.
According to him, the process was ongoing before the chairman of the exercise came in the following day.
“They had distributed these materials on the 3rd and the chairman appeared midday on the 4th and inspected two locations and expressed satisfaction.
“ I said that he misconceived his assignment, rather than being the one to conduct the election, he came to observe and after observing, he made a comment.
“But he forgot that it was his responsibility to meet with us even before the process started. It was his responsibility to deploy the officers that were given to him to work with.
“All these were done in his absence before he arrived.
“Even when he arrived, he was made to sign result sheets as if he were the one who conducted those elections concurrently in 192 locations.
“We pointed out those anomalies to the Appeal Committee and they were quite surprised.
“Again they were also shocked that there was no stakeholders’ meeting before the commencement of the process.
“That is why we said that the process was compromised even before they started,“he said.
Ojezua added that all the results from the 192 wards were signed by the chairman and his secretary.
“In view of that the PDP stands the risk of not producing a candidate based on the irregularities.
“I can tell you with confidence that should they not allow common sense to prevail, PDP will end up not having a candidate in this election.
“The governor knows the right thing to do. I am holding him accountable because he is the leader.
“Let him take note that he has an opportunity to do so but in the event that he doesn’t do so, let him take full responsibility for whatever happens”, he said. (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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