POLITICS
State of Emergency: APC, PDP Trade Blame in Zamfara
The Zamfara chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the call for the declaration of a state of emergency in the state by the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
This was contained in a statement issued in Gusau on Sunday by the State PDP Publicity Secretary, Haliru Andi.
Andi said that the call for a state of emergency in the state was ‘deeply disrespectful to the entire people of Zamfara.
’He said that the call for a state of emergency was unfounded and deeply disrespectful to the resilient people of Zamfara.
He further said that the successes of Lawal’s administration against banditry have been seen clearly resulting in a direct impact.
“Therefore, Gov. Lawal’s steadfast approaches, refusing to engage in reconciliation with criminals have yielded positive impacts.
“The PDP administration in the state led by Lawal has taken significant steps.
”They included the establishment of Community Protection Guards (CPG) and the creation of a Security Trust Fund to support conventional security forces.
“Gov. Lawal recently distributed vehicles to enhance the operational capabilities of our security agencies, demonstrating his unwavering dedication to this critical issue,” he said.
Andi further said that the APC’s allegations were nothing more than desperate propaganda.
”At no point did former Gov Matawalle express a willingness to collaborate with Governor Lawal in addressing insecurity.
“We urge the APC to focus on genuine issues affecting Zamfara rather than resorting to baseless accusations and distractions,” he added.
“Gov Dauda Lawal remains resolute in his commitment to transforming the state and will not be deterred by the opposition’s unfounded claims.
“The people of Zamfara deserve better, and this administration is dedicated to delivering on that promise,” Andi added.
Recall that the state chapter of APC had on Saturday called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state considering the lingering security challenges facing it.
The call was contained in a statement issued in Gusau on Saturday by the State APC Publicity Secretary, Yusuf Idris.
Idris said: “We are appealing to President Bola Tinubu to enforce a state of emergency in the state over insecurity.
“People of Zamfara have lost confidence in the ability of the administration of Gov. Dauda Lawal to deal with the security situation in the state.
“The Zamfara APC chapter commended the ongoing onslaught on bandits and terrorists in the state by the military in the North-Western states under the coordination and supervision of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.”
According to Idris, the ongoing military operations in the North-West as directed by Tinubu are certainly yielding unpredictable unprecedented results.
He added, “Bandits’ leaders and their gangs have been subdued by the current development of the Federal Government’s fight against banditry.
“This is very impressive and needs to be sustained at all costs so that the region will be free from all forms of criminality.
“As a party, we observe with dismay how the Zamfara Government is trying to sabotage the ongoing onslaught through his media campaigns.
”This is to distract the effort of the federal government under the coordination of the Minister of State for Defence.
“We have observed that Lawal as the Governor of the state has never in any way supported the military operations in the state in terms of logistics.”
Idris recalled that the military had recently warned him to steer clear from their activities and efforts.
The publicity scribe said that calling on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on Zamfara was necessary so as to spoil the ‘mischievous plan’.
Idris said, “This need is highly desirable so that the operation can go unhindered and the security operatives can go into the state without the governor and government of Zamfara politicizing the manhunt.
According to him, he did so even before the situation escalated to when the acts of banditry, kidnappings for ransom and other heinous crimes became a daily affair, decrying, ” but the governor failed to comply.
”The president, concerned by the general outcry, directed Matawalle to lead the Defence Headquarters with the CDS to embark on full operation in fight against insecurity in the North-West.
“The Minister and his fighters had effectively carried out the onerous task, decimating the criminals, their leaders and camps.
”They have been receiving accolades from all over the world except from Gov. Dauda Lawal and his team who are not happy with the onslaught being handled by Matawalle.
“The governor is now, as usual, turned to politicising and indirectly fighting Matawalle.”
This, Idris claimed, was by revisiting his earlier accusations that Matawalle had embezzled Zamfara’s money.
According to him, Lawal has been claiming that Matawalle left nothing for his administration.
Idris added, ”As well as buying airtime at some media outlets to claim being the one coordinating the fight alongside the military without any recognition of the minister.
“In his TV interviews, Gov. Lawal sarcastically asked, “who’s Matawalle, i am dealing with the Minister of Defence, Badaru, National Security Adviser and the President and I don’t need Matawalle.
“When in reality, it’s Matawalle who was charged with the responsibility which saw the elimination of the most dangerous bandit, Haliru Sububu giving confidence to Nigerians that the others too will soon follow by meeting their Waterloo.
“We are not surprised because a governor who can grant approval of over N1.3 billion as alleged, to sponsor terrorism, denied the act.
”But he immediately redeployed all the Directors of the state Ministry of Finance, whom he believed were the ones who leaked the memo and still denied despite the redeployment letter in circulation, cannot be given public trust.”
Idris alleged that it was the same Lawal who budgeted over N19 billion for his wife’s kitchen, but kept recalling allegations against his predecessor, Matawalle.
He added, ”When he cannot give account of the billions released to the state by the Federal Government in cash and grains as palliatives.
”These were distributed by the Governors of other states to their citizens but have remained a mirage in Zamfara..
Idris added that the efforts of Matawalle in the fight against banditry when he was Governor in Zamfara were far ahead those of Lawal.
According to Idris, all the Emirs, Islamic scholars and all major critical stakeholders in the state contributed immensely in all the meetings and strategies on how to end banditry.
Also, they were highly accommodated for better results that were achieved at the end.
POLITICS
INEC Staff Welfare Association Warns Members Against Manipulating Election Results
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)
POLITICS
Be Thankful APC Didn’t Probe Your Administrations, Okechukwu Tells PDP
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)POLITICS
LG Administration Central to Democracy in Nigeria -Nwoko
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)