POLITICS
North Central APC Commends Tinubu for Proposed NEC Meeting, National Convention
From Jude Dangwam, Jos
The North Central All Progressive Congress (APC) Forum has commended President Bola Tinubu for heeding their call to convene the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party towards planning for the national convention.
The Forum Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Mandung Zazzaga who was also a member of the Presidential Campaign Council in the last election explained that the NEC meeting is a stepping stone towards the convention which they have been looking forward to ventilate some of their grievances in the party, especially from the North Central region which is a solid bedrock of the party.
He stated this while speaking with Journalists on Wednesday in Jos the Plateau State capital.
The Forum’s Chairman disclosed that President Tinubu through his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila to Umar Ganduje has canvassed for the meeting to be slated for September, a move he noted is commendable.
“The President, in the letter, is opting for either September 8 or September 19 for the NEC meeting. We want to commend President Bola Tinubu for calling the NEC meeting of the APC this coming September.
“This has been our long term cry of the North Central APC so that many issues concerning the party can be addressed, and so that we can equally table our grievances from the North Central region and get it addressed before we forge ahead and intensify our plans ahead of the 2027 election.” Zazzaga noted
“So the letter calling for the meeting from the President through his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, to plan out the convention before the end of the year is a welcome development. This shows the President has listened to our call.
“Our role in APC from the North Central perspective right from the 2015 election to the 2023 election was very critical towards the success of the party at the polls.
“Hence, we will not spare any effort to pursue our cause and do things that will generally uplift the North Central zone, while we will continue to deepen our loyalty to the APC in general and continue working for the success of the party in one way or the other.” He assured
The Forum Chairman noted that beside the strong contribution of the North Central to the development and sustenance of the APC over the years, as well as the tremendous support they gave to the emergence of President Bola Tinubu as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the region has also delivered five governors for the APC out of the six states in the North Central region.
“Apart from Plateau State which is of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Kwara, Niger, Benue, Kogi and Nasarawa State is of the APC, and therefore the North Central region has made a strong statement on its achievement for the party and therefore deserves to be listened to and given its due respect and request.
“And our demand from the North Central is a well-known fact. The North Central APC Forum along with various leaders and chieftains of the APC from the region have been intensifying push for the zoning of the National Chairmanship position of the party to the region, because that position is well deserved by the region owing to its contribution and it is our constitutional right, as well as the party arrangement.
“So, after the resignation of Abdullahi Adamu from Nasarawa State, someone from the North Central region should have been picked to replace him as the National Chairman, and not Abdullahi Ganduje from the North West state of Kano.
“That is why we have dragged Ganduje to the Federal High Court in Abuja, and the judgement is coming up on September 18 just a day before one of the proposed dates by President Bola Tinubu, September 19 for the convention. So, in any case, this NEC meeting should resolve so many lingering issues in the party,” he optimistically stated
Zazzaga equally hinted that there are lots of intending prominent defectors from other political parties from the region into the party which they have been in close contact and communication with, but many are reluctant and not comfortable with the current party leadership in the country.
The APC stalwart equally commended Tinubu for handled the recent national protest, adding that the North Central APC also played a key role in making sure that violent protest was not recorded in the region as seen in some other places by engaging with youths as well as party men and women among others activities which has really paid off.
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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