POLITICS
Kwara PDP Organizing Secretary Resigns from Position
From Alfred Babs, Ilorin
The Organizing Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara state, Dr Bilikisu Oniyangi has resigned her position in the party.
A letter dated November 24, 2023 addressed to the Chairman of the party in the state, Alhaji Babatunde Mohammed, said that she resigned from the position in the party for personal reasons.
Bilikisu before her election as the organizing Secretary in 2022 was a former Commissioner in the Ministry of Education and Human capital development during the regime of Alhaji Abdulfattah Ahmed as the governor of the state.
“I regret to inform you that I am resigning due to personal reasons.
While it was a difficult decision to make, it is the best course of action for me at this time.“Please accept this letter as formal resignation from my position as the State Organizing Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state,” the letter reads in part.
The former Organizing Secretary in a statement however said that her resignation from the party executive position had nothing to do with the prevailing crisis in the party relating to the allegation of accountability for the last Presidential election campaign funds raised by the former Youth leader in the party against the Party National leader, Dr Bukola Saraki.
“My attention has been drawn to a message circulating online linking my resignation to demanding accounts of how 2023 campaign funds were disbursed. The linkages are mere imaginations of mischief makers who are looking for a crack where there is none, and driving a false narrative.
“My resignation has nothing to do with campaign funds, but due to other engagements and assignments that require my total attention and devotion.
“I appreciate our Leader, Dr. Bukola Saraki and the entire Kwara PDP for giving me the opportunity to serve as the Organising Secretary, while also appreciating everyone that has registered kind words and goodwill towards my new assignment”, she said.
Meanwhile the PDP said that it had accepted the letter of resignation of Dr Bilikisu Oniyangi as the Organising Secretary of the party in the state.
According to a statement by PDP state Publicity Secretary, Olusola Adewara, said the state executive council had accepted the resignation of the former Organizing Secretary of the party.
“We’ve just received formal resignation notice from the state’s Organising Secretary of our party, Hajia Dr. Biliks Oniyangi, who had served the party diligently in that capacity since 2022.
“Her resignation was premised on her change of location, occasioned by a new career role, which she recently assumed outside the state.
“It is therefore important to state that her resignation from office does not affect her membership status in the party as she remains a bona-fide member of PDP in Kwara state.
“While appreciating her contributions so far to the party and democratic struggles of Kwara State, the party and its leadership have accepted her resignation and wished her good tiding in her future endeavours”, he said.
Oniyangi was the third executive member including the state party Secretary, Alhaji Rasak Lawal, the Publicity Secretary, Prince Olatunji Morounfoye to resign their positions from the party in the last five months.
While Lawal said that he resigned his position and membership of the party, Morounfoye and Bilikisu said that they are still members of PDP in the state.
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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