POLITICS
Opposition Mounts Against Oshiomhole’s Senatorial Ambition
By Jude Opara, Abuja
The controversy trailing the senatorial aspiration of former governor of Edo state, Adams Oshiomhole in the 2023 general elections continued on Friday as hundreds of party faithful from the Edo/North Senatorial District stormed the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in protest against his ambition.
The protesters who displayed placards with different inscriptions denouncing the entry of the former labour leader into the race said they are against his ambition because with him, the APC is sure to lose the seat just as he allegedly caused the APC to lose the governorship election to the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking to newsmen, leader of the protesters who operated under the aegis of the Concerned Afemaih APC Stakeholders, Steven Asemah said there are numerous controversies and legal burden hanging on Adams Oshiomhole, especially his alleged non-credibility to participate in the ongoing APC Nomination Exercise for the 2023 general election.
Asemah said there is a subsisting judicial matter which the former National Chairman of the APC is yet to extricate himself from.
“Based on a subsisting indictment in May 14th 2020, by Justice James Oyomire(rtd) Judicial Commission of Inquiry Report which indicted Adams Alliu Oshiomhole on the gross breach of the Edo State Public Procurement Law in the N1.4billion Supply and Installations of medical Equipments by VAMED Engineering Nigeria Limited(January 4th 2015). And that on December 23rd,2015 Contract Awards of N12.2billion to A&K Construction Ltd and another N2.5billion to Sageto Ltd for Constructions of a Teaching Hospital and Senate building respectively in the Edo University Iyamho, were also fraught with breaches of the State’s Procurement laws. The Constitutionality of the powers of state governors to institute administrative or judicial commissions of enquiry within their areas of jurisdiction is no longer contentious, because powers of state governments to legislate on matters is in the residual list of the 1999 Constitution.
“Furthermore, the Attorney-General of Edo state has powers to prosecute any person accused of committing state offences, such as the indictment of Adams Oshiomhole.
“It is also a dent of credibility on Oshiomhole if he has not disclosed his aforesaid indictment in his 2022 APC Nomination and Expression of Interest Forms. Any such non-disclosure by Adams Oshiomhole will be contrary Article 7(iv) and 21.2(v) of the APC Constitution”.
The group further questioned the authenticity of Oshiomhole membership status stating that his suspension remains an unsettled fundamental issue.
“An Abuja High Court had earlier asked Oshiomhole to step aside as National Chairman of the APC pending the determination of the substantive suit. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Lower Court, and Oshiomhole stepped aside”.
They equally questioned the validity of individuals picking dual Nomination Forms within the same Nomination process of a Political Party saying it is a controversial political habit that is exposed to legal challenge anytime.
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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