POLITICS
Insecurity: PDP Governors Pledge Support to FG
The People’s Democratic Party Governors’ Forum (PDP-GF) has pledged to support the Federal Government to address insecurity and restore peace in troubled areas of the country.
The Chairman of the Forum and Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, said this while briefing newsmen at the end of the forum’s first physical meeting held on Thursday in Abuja.
Tambuwal said that the PDP governors agreed to support the federal government initiatives in ensuring that whatever would re-establish peace in Nigeria, be it discussion, negotiations or kinetic approach.
This is a very productive meeting that review the situation of the country, the security challenges in the country.
“As governors of the PDP, we have agreed and resolved to continue to work with the federal government with the sole aim of reestablishing peace in troubled areas of the federation.
“We must not play politics with security and we must all work together to ensure that we bring back peace in our land.
“So we have agreed to continue to work with the federal government in that regard.”
Tambuwal said that the forum however appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to continue to support state governments in the discharge of their mandates.
“We are appealing to Mr President to reconsider certain measures by bringing more succour and relief to the people of Nigeria.
“He should support state governments in the discharge of their mandate, by making available resources to the States.
“This is important so that we can execute our mandate and ensure that we engender good governance and good condition of living in our respective states throughout the country.”
On PDP, Tambuwal commended the National Working Committee (NWC) initiative for constituting the National Reconciliation Committee to reconcile aggrieved members of the party across the country.
“We have received interim report from that committee. They are doing very well and we are encouraging them to continue in that regard.
“The governor’s forum is going to back their efforts strongly so that we can possibly bring back those members of our party who have left out of anger and certain situations.”
Tambuwal also said that no member of the forum was contemplating of leaving PDP for another party.
“As you can see, most if not all of the governors of the PDP attended this meeting.
“This a very clear statement that no governor of PDP is contemplating leaving the party for any other party.
“We are brothers and we have committed ourselves to the party and to ensure that we continue to deliver on our mandate to the people of our respective states.”
Tambuwal said that the governors also agreed to work together with the NWC of the party to continue with what they started.
On e-registration of members of the party, Tambuwal said the governors appealed to the NWC to immediately set up machinery in motion to actualise it.
He also disclosed that the forum set up three committees on finance, legal matters and legislative interface.
The committee on finance is being led by the forum’s Deputy Chairman and Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River; legislative matters by the governor of Bauchi, Bala Mohammed, and that of legal matters, led by Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers.
On the protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress on alleged plans to move minimum wage from executive to concurrent list, Tambuwal described the accusation by the NLC as misplaced.
He said that no governor advocated for that.
Former Senate President and Chairman, PDP National Reconciliation Committee, Sen. Bukola Saraki, speaking to journalists after the meeting, said the committee briefed the governors on its efforts to reunite the party.
“We briefed them on efforts we have made so far, what we have been able to achieve, our strategy, and how we are going to work together,” he said.
He said that the committee efforts was already yielding positive results.
“We had stakeholders that were not ready working together. Now they’re working together, they are meeting.
“We have states where we have differences. People now are coming together.”
Also in attendance were governors of Abia, Delta, Oyo, Edo, Enugu, Bayelsa, Benue, Zamfara states and deputy governor of Adamawa. (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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