POLITICS
Kwankwaso, Serial Presidential Election Loser—Ganduje
From Jude Opara, Abuja
The rift between the National Chairman of the ruling – All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje and the Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso is yet to be over as the APC boss has mocked his former ally as a serial presidential election loser.
Ganduje spoke on Tuesday night at the National Secretariat of the APC, while receiving the Bauchi state NNPP governorship candidate in the 2023 election, Sen.
Dauda Jika who formally returned to the APC.The immediate past governor of Kano state also blamed what he termed as ‘selfish interest’ as the bane of Kwankwaso, insisting that such attitude would continue to stand between him and his presidential ambition.
He further said that Kwankwaso’s inability to maintain a principled stand in party politics over the years was another factor that made the former Minister of Defence a perpetual loser.
He described the decision of Jika to return to the ruling party as a step in the right direction and noted that the former NNPP flag bearer in Bauchi state by now must have realized that joining the ‘Kwankwasiyya’ and the NNPP was a mistake.
Ganduje who received Jika with the entire NNPP structure in Bauchi state, said “when I got the news that you were coming to see me in my house to discuss the way forward, I knew I was meeting a very formidable politician in the person of Senator Jika who is a household name in Bauchi state.
“He is returning to a party that is very progressive and focused when we look at where he was coming from. He is coming from a party that used to be a decent party and highly respected but was later hijacked and polluted by the Kwankwasiya group.
“We are happy that the original NNPP is taking back its proper position and leaving the Kwankwasiya group deserted and thrown out completely.
“The Kwankwasiyya group headed by the former Kano state governor was forced to go into a sabbatical leave for eight years before it found its way back to Government House in Kano.
“The Kwankwasiya head who wears a red cap is the person who prefers to be a king in hell than be a servant in paradise. He specializes in deceiving people. He was first in PDP and came back to APC when it was formed. That was when the nPDP merged with the legacy parties to form the APC.
“Instead of staying in APC because of his ambition, he decided to leave APC after failing to pick the presidential ticket to go back to the PDP. He could not stay there again when he failed to pick up the ticket.
“He still went on his own to contest the presidential poll and was defeated twice. He is a professional contestant for presidential elections and would remain a professional failure. He loves himself so much. I am happy you have dumped the red cap. It is a very sensible action that you have taken.”
The APC boss promised the returnees of inclusiveness in the affairs of the party as part of an ongoing effort to reposition the party ahead of the 2027 poll, stressing that the party regretted its performance at the just concluded general elections in Bauchi state.
The National Chairman also promised to storm Bauchi very soon to receive other teaming members of the NNPP and said he would personally burn all the ‘Kwankwasiya’ caps at the time.
Addressing newsmen after the ceremony, the former NNPP candidate said his decision to return to APC was informed by the wishes of his teeming supporters in Bauchi state and not because of Kwankwaso.
“My dumping NNPP for APC has nothing to do with the presidential candidate of NNPP. I have no issue with Kwankwaso. The interest of Bauchi State informed my returning to APC,” he said.
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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