POLITICS
Party Chieftain Mocks Former Senatorial Candidate over Petition against APC Chairman
…..Party Chieftain Mocks Former Senatorial Candidate over Petition against APC Chairman
From Attah Ede, Makurdi
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Benue State, Chief Martinez Ibn Tyotsumeh, on Sunday took a swipe at Comrade Daniel Onjeh, the party’s senatorial candidate for Benue South Senatorial district in the 2023 General Elections over his recent petition against the chairman of the ruling party in the State Comrade Austin Agada.
The former senatorial candidate had petitioned the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, alleging that Agada, was involved in anti-party activities which resulted in his inability to win the last senatorial elections in the Benue South axis of the State.
However, in the petition which was sighted by our correspondent in Makurdi, Onjeh alleged that the Benue State APC Chairman and his “acolytes rigged the 2023 senatorial election in Benue South” in favour of Senator Abba Moro of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).
Reacting to this development, Chief Tyotsumeh, who is a stalwart of the party in Benue, described Onjeh allegations as baseless and unfounded, stating that, comrade Onjeh who is highly respected in the party, is always in the habit of throwing blames after losing election.
Tyotsumeh in a statement he issued and made available to Daily Asset in Makurdi on Sunday, said Onjeh’s persistent blame game, targeting both the state chairman and national assembly candidates of the party for his electoral setbacks, raises doubts about the credibility of his accusations.
According to him, comrade Onjeh was at one time a gallant comrade but has now turned to ‘a pushover and cry baby and enjoined the leadership of the party to call comrade Onjeh to order before he throws the APC in Benue into chaos.
Parts of the statement read: “I have been an ardent follower of Benue State politics for a while now, not too long but long enough to witness the genesis of Daniel Onjeh and the intricacies that have played out since 2011 to date.
‘I have also noticed how Onjeh has turned into Agada’s greatest challenge since Agada assumed the role of Benue State All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman in October 2021.
“In his criticisms of Austin Agada, Daniel Onjeh has consistently attempted to present a distorted picture of rationality and objectivity. The truth, however, lies in the carefully crafted words Onjeh uses to further his unresponsive vendetta.
“We lose the essence of our humanity when we adamantly refuse to take responsibility for our actions. Onjeh’s major flaw is his tendency to assign blame to others for his failures without acknowledging the support he received from individuals like Austin Agada, Morgan Okpeh, and Joe Poxy Idoko, who played pivotal roles in bringing him into politics.
“Setting aside the claims and separating facts from fiction, Comrade Agada assumed the role of State Chairman of the APC in Benue State at a time when the state had a sitting Governor from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), 3 Senators, 7 out of 11 House of Representatives Members, and 23 of the 30 State House of Assembly Members, among others.
“Under Agada’s leadership, the APC’s political footprint in the state has significantly expanded, with notable achievements, including delivering Benue State to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, especially in a state where religious considerations heavily influence elections.
“There are two things consistent with Comrade Onjeh: losing elections and blaming others. In 2011, Onjeh was the candidate of the ACN for the House of Representatives; he lost.
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“He then proceeded to contest for Ogbadibo Local Government Chairman on the platform of ACN, and he lost that election as well. In 2015, he was the Senatorial Candidate of the APC, an election that led to a rerun in 2016.
“It is on record that in one of the major campaigns in Oju where I was standing in the scorching sun waiting for his arrival, he snubbed the party leadership and the governor at the venue, leading to his major loss. In all this chronology of his losses, Austin Agada was not the chairman, so who is to be blamed?
“If not being delusional and having the propensity to blame everyone except Dan Onjeh, how can one accuse the state chairman of an opposing party in the state of funding a senatorial candidate of the PDP, which has a Governor, and sound reasonable?
“Onjeh should have rather tried to prove if the Senatorial Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Comrade Abba Moro, paid Austin Agada. This is a man who lost his ward, and was Agada that influential to have made him loose.
…..Party Chieftain Mocks Former Senatorial Candidate over Petition against APC Chairman
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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