POLITICS
Ekiti 2022: Oni, Olujimi, Others reject PDP Ward Congress
It was confusion galore in Ekiti on Saturday when the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) held its ward electoral congress to elect three-man ad hoc delegates across the 177 wards in the State.
According to sources, the confusion started when suspected political thugs alleged to be loyal to former Governor Ayodele Fayose were said to have invaded the hotel where the panel members sent from Abuja were lodged and hijacked materials for the exercise in Ado-Ekiti.
It was further gathered that the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Military and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) who were drafted to the venue to provide security were overwhelmed by the thugs said to have been heavily armed.
Earlier in the day, supporters of aspirants angling for the party’s ticket ahead of the June 18 governorship election besieged the hotel to protest the alleged hijack of the process by Fayose.
Addressing newsmen, some leaders of the party, including former Governor Segun Oni, Senator Biodun Olujimi, Ex-Deputy Governor Kolapo Eleka, Lateef Ajijola and Wale Aribisala, who are governorship aspirants, rejected the ward congress.
The stakeholders claimed that the Committee led by Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom state was working for the group loyal to Fayose to truncate the wishes of the majority of the party’s members and hijack the process.
Former Governor Oni who expressed regret that the materials sent to the 177 wards were allegedly hijacked, described the situation as worrisome and unfortunate, saying he never expected such an act to be associated with the PDP.
He said: “What you have seen today is laughable. And this is the standard we still are as a country. It is very unfortunate. There is nothing we can do other than to complain formally. We went upstairs and also told the acting Chairman of the ward congress panel. I believe we cannot have democracy by hijack.
”If anybody is a muscle man, he should apply the muscle to win people for the party.
“We would believe the party will take a look at what has happened. At least all spoke on our honour and if they want us to say more they can contact us.
“Each of us is a known face to even the people in Abuja. This is very unfortunate but we hope the party will find a way out of it.
“Before we were getting it right, we were talking across all divides and we believe we would end up together but what has happened today has shown that there is a big problem. Let me sound it that we politicians are testing the will of the people too much.
Also, in rejecting the outcome, Sen. Olujimi noted what she described as the sordid scenario which she recalled was a repeat of the ugly incident in 2021 which resulted in loss of lives. She further said the congress was already a predetermined exercise.
“For me, this is a repeat performance of the congress. And this was how it was on March 7, 2020. And that is what we have been fighting for on till now. And it has repeated itself. Everything hijacked and everybody compromised”, she said.
However, the Congress Panel Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, while debunking the allegations, said the committee didn’t bend the rules and did not favour any of the aspirants or factions.
The former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP also explained that the accreditation and distribution of materials were done in the presence of all the representatives of the aspirants.
“What we have done is in line with the directive we have been given from Abuja. We did distribution in the presence of the aspirants.
“The aspirants would have to wait for the appeal committee if they have issues with the conduct of the congress. Our men are on the field, so we will act on all they give to us. PDP is a democratic party and if they have issues, we have an internal mechanism to settle all our differences.
“It is not our responsibility to go and monitor congress. The aspirants brought two agents each to supervise the accreditation and distribution processes. They were part of the meeting where accreditation was done. As we speak no report has been given to us. PDP is a family and we have the mechanism to settle our differences”.
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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