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Suspected Hoodlums Set Gombe PDP Campaign Office Ablaze

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By Idris Umar, Abuja

The campaign office of Mohammed Barde, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the 2023 governorship election in Gombe state, has been set on fire.

The office close to the Presidential Lodge of Gombe Government House was reportedly set ablaze by political thugs in the early hours of Monday.



Details of the attack were sketchy as of the time of filing this report, but the PDP has blamed it on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).


In a statement issued by Junaidu Usman Abubakar, Deputy Director-General of Media, Atiku/Dan Barde Campaign Management Council, confirmed the attack, saying properties were destroyed.

“There was an attack on the building housing the Barde Campaign Organization in the early hours of today by political thugs, suspected to be that of the sinking APC, setting ablaze the building and destroying properties.


“The cowardly attack on this edifice, one of many in the last months further affirmed the present governments stand on violence and destruction, a threat to the fragile peace of the state, which must vehemently be rejected by all and sundry.

“The PDP governorship candidate, Alh Muhammad Jibrin Barde has on different occasions rejected violence and political thuggery, stressing the need to engage the resourceful Gombe youth in a meaningful pursuit.

“The good people of Gombe state are hereby prompted to reject this act of oppression on the ballot comes 2023. The Barde agenda rests on securing the lives and properties of the people, equal opportunities for the youth and women, rapid infrastructural development and providing a level playing ground for the opposition devoid of any undue oppression,” he said in the statement.

However, when contacted, Director General, Press Affairs to Governor Inuwa Yahaya, Ismaila Uba Misilli, said the PDP was just looking for cheap publicity.

Misilli said the opposition was in no way a threat to APC, wondering how the governor could have given such order as alleged by Barde.

“There’s no any reason that the governor or any critical stakeholder in APC would instruct someone to attack the PDP campaign office. PDP is not in any way a threat to the APC because the party has consolidated its hold on the state.”

“The governor is a law-abiding citizen, and he cannot instruct or allow someone to break law and order in the state. The PDP is just looking for a way to get cheap publicity and sympathy by torching its campaign office and blaming it on the government.

“APC has no reason to do that when we are 100% sure of a landslide victory in the forthcoming election.”

Police Public Relations Officer in Gombe, ASP Mahid Mu’azu Abubakar, said investigation had been launched and moves were being made to arrest the perpetrators.

Despite the Peace Accord signed by politicians, there has been an increase in violence in the buildup to the 2023 elections.

it could be recalled that the torched PDP campaign office was vandalized in August and properties were also destroyed.

POLITICS

INEC Staff Welfare Association Warns Members Against Manipulating Election Results

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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)

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POLITICS

Be Thankful APC Didn’t Probe Your Administrations, Okechukwu Tells PDP

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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)

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POLITICS

LG Administration Central to Democracy in Nigeria -Nwoko

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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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