Politics

APC, PDP Post-Primary Crises Hit States

Published

3 years ago

June 2, 2022

The contest by politicians for party nominations is expected to be a family affair, as members of the same political leaning seek tickets to represent the party at the general poll. However, the last primary elections conducted by the two major political parties in the country have been anything but civil. In some places, deaths were recorded from the violence witnessed during the primaries while parallel exercises were held in other places.

In Lagos State, two aspirants – Wale Oluwo, a former commissioner and Mr Abdul-Ahmed Mustapha, a former permanent secretary in the state – were prevented from attending the governorship primary election at Mobolaji Johnson Arena (Onikan Stadium). The chairman of the APC Electoral Committee/Returning Officer in the state, Alhaji Adamu Yuguda, said the aspirants were disqualified by the APC screening committee, thereby leaving incumbent Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the sole aspirant in what was expected to be a three-horse race.

The aspirants, who got the nomination forms for a whopping N50m each, are calling for the cancellation of the exercise. They were screened on May 14 but were not informed of their disqualification until the primary exercise on May 26.

In the PDP, it was not better either as four of the six governorship aspirants withdrew before the commencement of the exercise over accusation of doctored delegates’ list. One of the aspirants who withdrew from the race and PDP governorship candidate in 2011, Ade Dosumu, has moved to the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

The Lagos State chapter of PDP urged the party’s National Working Committee to cancel the House of Assembly and House of Representatives primaries conducted by the party.

The PDP chairman in Lagos State, Phillips Aivoji, who addressed a news conference alongside other state executives and party leaders in Ikeja, said the ad hoc delegates’ list brought by the electoral committees for both primaries were compromised.

The party produced two governorship candidates in Ogun State while the third contestant, Jimi Lawal, has demanded for another primary to be conducted.

Lawal threatened legal action if the party failed to investigate the allegation, cancel the primary and order for another, pointing out that the delegates list used at the primary was fake.

A former member of the House of Representatives from Remo Federal Constituency, Oladipupo Adebutu and the 2019 spokesman of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Organisation, Segun Showunmi emerged at the two primaries.

Adekunle Akinlade and Biyi Otegbeye, who contested the APC governorship primaries in Ogun, faulted the delegates’ list and the appointment of Wale Ohu as the chairman for the exercise, thus rejecting the poll that returned Gov. Dapo Abiodun as the candidate of the party.

In Osun State, supporters of a former governor of the state and Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, are calling for the cancellation of the national/state assemblies primaries over alleged malpractices.

Following the crisis from the conduct of PDP primaries in Ebonyi State, the NWC of the party approved the cancellation of all the party’s primaries in the state.

Over voting was recorded in Oyo South Senatorial rerun primary election of the APC. A total of 489 votes were cast, whereas the number of delegates was 488.

Assassination, thuggery, victimisation

A member of the House of Representatives from Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/Iwajowa federal constituency, Honourable Shina Peller, who contested for Oyo North senatorial ticket of APC, said there was a plot to assassinate him during the primaries in Oyo State.

Peller, who lost the ticket to Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, accused the governorship candidate of the party in the state, Senator Teslim Folarin, as the alleged mastermind of the attempted assassination plot.

Although Senator Folarin has denied the allegation, pointing accusing fingers at Gov. Seyi Makinde of plotting to malign his integrity, the spokesman of Oyo PDP, Akeem Olatunji, has urged security agents, especially the police, to investigate the senator over the alleged assassination attempt on Peller’s life.

The first lady of Ondo State and APC senatorial aspirant for Imo East, Betty Akeredolu, was forced to withdraw from the race over allegations of intimidation by the leadership of the party in the state.

“This decision has become necessary following brazen irregularities, use of force and intimidation meted out on my person and supporters,” she said.

Disruptions of the exercise were also witnessed in most of the states in the region. Some of the disruptions led to deaths and injuries.

No fewer that three persons were killed during the conduct of the primaries in Lagos. In a viral video, thugs were seen engaging in a free-for-all wielding weapons at Ikotun-Igando Local Council Development Area secretariat during the APC House of Representatives primaries in the area.

In Bayelsa, Michael Isaiah, nicknamed ‘Tompolo’, was reportedly shot dead at the PDP’s primary for Constituency One in Ogbia LGA.

In Delta, gunmen shot sporadically at the venue of the primaries in Isoko constituency, forcing party members, delegates and security operatives to scurry for cover.

In Ibadan North-East/Ibadan South-East Federal Constituency for the House of Representatives, some of the aspirants said hoodlums chased them away from the venue of the primary election at Orita Aperin area of Ibadan.

In Osun, delegates were allegedly abducted, according to PDP South West Zonal Youth Leader, Seyi Bamidele, who contested for the Boluwaduro/Ifedayo/Ila Federal Constituency.

“The whole exercise has been marred with anomalies. Some delegates that were to vote in the House of Assembly primary for an aspirant for Ifedayo State Constituency PDP ticket held at Iya ni o se Hall, Oke Ila were abducted. They were later released after the exercise had been completed,” he said.

Media scholar and political analyst, Dr. Tunde Akanni blamed the desperation of politicians on the desire for accumulation of material gains from the office, instead of service to the people.

“Money is the root of all evils; I dare echo philosophers. In other words, if candidates believe in truth and fairness, they are not likely to subscribe to heavy monetisation as we witnessed. The simple signal from the spectacle of shame we call primaries is that they’re all too ambitious to mortgage the rest of us, indeed, foreclosing any future for the country. It’s therefore up to us all to rediscover our traditional values which never attached so much importance to money,” he said.

DAILY TRUST.

Politics

VIDEO: How Peter Obi Betrayed Me – Kenneth Okonkwo In New Interview

Published

2 days ago

June 14, 2025

Editor

Veteran actor and ex-spokesperson of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has accused former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, of betrayal in the wake of internal party disputes.

In a viral interview with Symfoni which started trending on Saturday, Okonkwo, who officially exited the Labour Party in February 2025, revealed that Obi went against his advice and returned to support the embattled Julius Abure-led faction of the party, despite alleged warnings.

According to him, Obi was misled by LP executives who claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission had recognised them.

He said, “Any politician that knows what he’s doing cannot be betrayed by another. If there is anybody that betrayed the other, I can say it emphatically that Peter Obi betrayed me.

“The Julius Abure-led LP members lied to Obi that the Independent National Electoral Commission had accepted them and Obi surreptitiously went back to them but I told him: ‘Sir, you have made a public statement on integrity and even if INEC has accepted them, that is not a criterion for you to go back and start dealing with them because they have shown that they are not democratic. If you go back to them, they will destroy your political career and everything you have said about integrity will die.’”

He said that despite privately urging Obi not to align with a group he described as “undemocratic” and “agents of the government,” Okonkwo said Obi went ahead to publicly endorse them.

“I told Obi that these people had become agents in the hands of the government to destabilise him. What they did was absolutely illegal and unconstitutional, I told him that if he went back to them, I wouldn’t join him in doing so.

“Thereafter, I called all the people that were in the inner circle and told them the same thing about what Obi was trying to do. I told them he wanted to go back with the Abure people and if he did, I wouldn’t go back with him because I do not swallow back my words.

“And after saying all those things, within like 72 hours, Obi went back to Abure’s office to publicly endorse them and while he was there talking to them, one of the leaders in that executive sent me the video to mock me that the person I was fighting for against them has come to their office to endorse them.

“It was when INEC dissociated itself from Abure that Obi came out to start acting neutral but I told him he could not be neutral and something had to be done,” he added.

The Labour Party has been embroiled in a prolonged leadership crisis, with opposing factions laying claim to the party’s national structure.

The Abure-led faction has faced allegations of financial mismanagement and anti-democratic practices, which critics say contradict the party’s reformist image.

Okonkwo, a known loyalist of Obi’s political ideology, cited these irregularities as his reason for quitting the party earlier in the year.

Watch video below:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1933867577651925202https://twitter.com/i/status/1933867577651925202

Politics

Amaechi Slams Tinubu’s Policies In Fresh Outburst

Published

3 days ago

June 12, 2025

Editor

Former Minister of Transportation and two-time governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has asked the coalition opposition to kick President Bola Tinubu out of office if Nigeria is to escape its deepening economic crisis.

In a no-holds-barred interview with the BBC, Amaechi, a founding member and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, lamented the country’s deteriorating condition and signalled his willingness to help forge a new opposition coalition to rescue the nation.

“People are dying. People are starving. I myself am feeling the effects of hunger,” he said, painting a grim picture of life under the current administration.

Amaechi’s statement comes in the wake of the APC’s recent endorsement of Tinubu as its sole presidential candidate for 2027, a move Amaechi openly questioned.

While reiterating his loyalty to the party, he warned that fidelity to a political platform should never come at the cost of national conscience.

“If the government is failing the country, you don’t just go along because you’re in the same party. You know that’s not right,” he stated emphatically.

Though he stopped short of confirming a 2027 presidential bid, the former minister said the option remained on the table.

“Certainly, I believe I can make a meaningful contribution,” he added, hinting that his political journey may not yet be over.

He spoke of widespread poverty, spiralling food insecurity, and daily tragedies that now dot the national landscape.

Reflecting on his years as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Amaechi lamented that the number of out-of-school children then pegged at 10 million, had since ballooned.

The economic hardship, he said, had also deepened insecurity.

“The Boko Haram insurgency is not just a religious crisis. Many of those involved are driven by desperation and hunger,” he asserted, linking terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping to a broader socioeconomic collapse.

Amaechi’s declaration added momentum to an emerging political realignment.

Talks were already underway among key opposition figures, including Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, as they explored the possibility of a unified front against Tinubu in 2027.

Even ex-Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and once a key Tinubu ally had signalled interest in backing an opposition alliance.

But as opposition forces stir, the ruling party continues to absorb defectors, prompting fears of Nigeria drifting toward a one-party state, a scenario Amaechi warned could undermine democracy and silence dissent.

“We’re thinking that if we come together and win the election, the country will certainly witness change,” he said, suggesting an urgent need for a credible alternative.

Politics

UNN Best Graduate Wins £33,000 Com

Published

3 days ago

June 12, 2025

Editor

A student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka’s with the overall best graduating CGPA of 4.98, Chizoba Ejiofor, has secured a fully funded Commonwealth scholarship.

Education advocate and tech entrepreneur Alex Onyia, who made this known on social media on Thursday, said he had taken responsibility for supporting Ejiofor after the university failed to award him the promised N50,000 prize for academic excellence.

“I have a good news. A very good news. You remember Chizoba Ejiofor, who graduated as UNN overall best graduating student with CGPA of 4.98, that UNN refused to fulfill the N50k price promised to him?

“I took him up as a full responsibility. We started working tirelessly together since last year to secure a fully funded scholarship, and today we have the good news,” Onyia wrote.

Onyia revealed that Ejiofor was awarded a fully funded Commonwealth scholarship, valued at over £33,000. The package includes tuition, flight tickets, and monthly stipends.

“This is fully funded scholarship from Commonwealth. Over 33 thousand pounds in scholarship, flight tickets and monthly stipends inclusive. No one can describe how happy and fulfilled I am today,” he added.