Politics

APGA Guber Candidate, Nweke Reveals How PDP Plans To Rig Enugu Election

Published

3 years ago

March 3, 2023

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in Enugu State, Mr. Frank Nweke Jr., on Friday, alleged that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has perfected plans to rig the March 11 governorship election.

Recall that the PDP suffered a heavy defeat during Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections in the State.

Nweke, who spoke to journalists at his campaign office, said he had alerted all the various arms of security agencies.

He alleged that there were plans by the PDP in Enugu State “to compromise INEC officials and adhoc staff to bypass the use of BVAS and generally disrupt the governorship and house of assembly elections in the state through the use of thugs to cause mayhem, with a view to dispersing voters at polling units in order to have opportunity to rig the elections, subvert the will of the people to achieve victory at all costs.”

He said since suffering massive losses across the state on February 25, 2023, “the PDP has held series of meetings at various locations to perfect their nefarious plans to ensure that they disrupt the electoral process, compromise INEC staff and deploy maximum violence.

“A source that attended the meetings reported that they lamented that they were falsely led into believing that BVAS was impregnable by INEC and that manual voting was impossible.

“According to them, events in Port Harcourt and some parts of the country had demonstrated otherwise, and that they must now take advantage of it by deploying sums of money to compromise INEC staff, buy votes and cause maximum violence to scare voters who do not vote for them and intimidate others into voting for them against their will.

“They have therefore resolved to buy INEC staff to sabotage the elections as described above, and also to specifically ensure that the original result sheets are neither brought to the polling units nor the ward and local government collation centres.

“Since the IREV malfunctioned last Saturday, they reasoned that they would calmly write new results when the representatives of other political parties disperse at various collation centres in the belief that results had been announced.”

Nweke mentioned a female INEC staff, who he said had for several years been the liaison between the PDP and INEC officials.

“It would appear that the relationship has been groomed for years in preparation for this election.

“We have also been informed that sums running into hundreds of millions have been exchanged over the years and through third-party agents to conceal the money trail,” he claimed.

He added that the said INEC was under obligation to do everything in her power to ensure the declaration of Peter Mbah as the next Governor of Enugu State.

“Currently, INEC maintains a secret office at a located at Independence Layout for this purpose.

“They have also reportedly recruited the security agencies into their plot. The role of the security services is purportedly for them not to show up when they start causing mayhem at polling units and collation centres until they have accomplished their wicked plans.

“Furthermore, they have secured substantial numbers of ‘election duty’ stickers and plan to use that to evade security by moving around in vehicles on which these stickers are pasted.

“They have also produced Security Systems Uniforms for thugs to disguise as escorts to INEC personnel from the point of dispatch to a pre-arranged location where rigging will be carried out using the non-collected PVCs of voters across the 17 Local Government Areas.”

He vowed that the APGA in Enugu would do all that is possible “to guarantee the safety of our people, ensure that you exercise your right to vote on March 11 and see that your vote is protected.

“We will not take lightly any plans to subvert or abuse the democratic process.”

But reacting, the Director of Communications/Spokesperson

Enugu PDP Campaign Council, Barr. Nana Ogbodo said Nweke was already giving excuses for his expected abysmal performance in the forthcoming election.

The party described Nweke’s allegations as a disingenuous effort at preemptive excuses for his expected abysmal outing in the election.

It said Nweke’s impact on the March 11 polls “ends with making preposterous conjectures, nothing that the race is clearly above his ken as he has all the while been boxing above his weight.”

The party said Nweke had only succeeded in making the ballot papers longer than necessary.

The statement read in part: “We would ordinarily not dignify Nweke with a response because his impact on the forthcoming general elections begins and ends with congesting and making the ballot papers longer than necessary.

“He is therefore only laying the formwork of excuses for his expected abysmal outing in the governorship poll.

“Nweke went into APGA ostensibly on the wrong permutation that PDP’s governorship ticket would go outside Nkanu land so he could harvest from the expected anger of the people. Unfortunately for him, events mocked at his foresight as that was not to be.

“We therefore advise Nweke to climb down from this high horse and first present himself for a popularity test in his hometown, Ozalla, before pursuing an illusionary governorship ambition.

“Perhaps, as a former Minister of Information, who defended perceived electoral deficits in the 2007 election and engaged in hot exchanges with the then Senate President, Ken Nnamani and the international communities on the conduct of the election in Enugu or as former Chief of Staff, who may have meddled with the electoral processes as he alluded in his press release, Nweke is still unaware that the Electoral Act 2022 has effectively put a stop to whatever ignoble roles he might have been playing in the past.

“We also reckon that Nweke, who has been a senior stakeholder and a major beneficiary of successive PDP governments until March 2022 when he embarked on his delusional governorship voyage on the platform of APGA will ultimately return to the umbrella after his crushing defeat on March 11.”

Politics

Ambassadorial Nominees: Ndume Asks Tinubu To Withdraw List

Published

24 hours ago

December 7, 2025

Editor

Ahead of the Senate’s screening and confirmation of the ambassadorial nominees sent to the Red Chamber by the Presidency, former Senate Leader Ali Ndume has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the list from parliament.

The federal lawmaker declared that the composition of nominees was in clear breach of the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in the Constitution.

Checks revealed that while certain states have three and four nominees, states like Gombe have no representation, while the only nominee from Yobe, Senator Adamu Garba Talba, died last July.

The entire North East state has 7 nominees in the list.

Further checks revealed that the South West geopolitical zone has 15 nominees, while the North West and South East have 13 and 9, respectively.

North Central region has 10 nominees in the list of career and non-career ambassadorial nominees, while South South region has 12 nominees.

The Senate President at plenary on Thursday formally read the list of nominees and referred it to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs for further legislative action.

The Senator representing Borno South in a statement issued on Saturday maintained that the list of nominees was in clear breach of Section 14(3) of the Nigerian Constitution which mandates that the composition and conduct of the federal government must reflect the “federal character of Nigeria” to ensure national unity and loyalty.

The section reads: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”

The former Chief Whip of the Senate admonished President Tinubu to avoid taking decision that will fuel ethnic tension and promote distrust in the country, amidst the wrong narrative being promoted by the Western world against his administration.

He said: “My sincere appeal to President Tinubu is to withdraw this list. At this critical time in the life of his administration, he should avoid missteps that could endanger national unity and promote ethnic distrust.

“I know him to be a cosmopolitan leader who is at home with every segment and stakeholders in the country.

“He should withdraw that list and present a fresh set of nominees that will align with the spirit of the Constitution on Federal Character Principle that government’s structure and operations must represent the diverse states and peoples of Nigeria.”

Politics

PDP Issues Certificate Of Expulsion To Wike, Fayose, Anyanwu, Others

Published

5 days ago

December 3, 2025

Editor

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it has issued certificate of expulsion from the party to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and other 10 members earlier expelled from the party.

The party National Chairman, Tanimu Turaki, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen after the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

The other members, according to him, include the embattled National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, the Legal Adviser, Kamarudeen Ajibade, former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose.

They also included Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa, Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah Nnanna, George Turna and Chief Dan Orbih, expelled during the party National convention in Lagos.

Turaki said that the original copies of the certificate had been dispatched to the owners through a courier service to serve as proof that they were expelled from the PDP.

“We have taken note of the fact that Nigerian law frowns on dual membership of political parties, and so we have sought to make it easy for them.

“Now that they are no longer members of our party, and now that the National Convention, which is the highest decision-making organ of our party, has expelled them, we have decided to issue them certificates of expulsion.

“So, when they go to register with other political parties in Nigeria, they will show these certificates as proof that they are no longer members of the PDP.

“By that, those parties will not accuse them of trying to belong to more than one political party,” he said.

He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies, including the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services, and other government agencies, to take note.

“Very soon, members of the society will be informed via proper disclaimers that any person henceforth who decides to do business with them, any or all of them, does so at his or her own risk.

“They are no longer members of the PDP. They have been expelled,” he added.

He added that the NWC also reviewed some of the cases filed against the party and lawsuits instituted by the party, particularly the one that related to the “unlawful and illegal” closure of the party’s national Secretariat, the Legacy House, and the Wadata Plaza.

“The brief we received from our lawyers is that we are on sound ground, and that very soon, the law will take its course,” he said.

Turaki said the NWC was prepared to be saddled with the responsibility of performing its functions as the leading opposition party in Nigeria.

“We are going to provide a credible alternative to Nigerians. We are going to provide credible leadership to Nigerians by the special grace of God from 2027,” he said.

Politics

Adebayo Adedamola Wins Osun PDP Governorship Primary

Published

6 days ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola, popularly known as FRYO, has emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for the August 8, 2026 governorship election in Osun State.

The primary election took place in Osogbo on Tuesday amid heavy security presence.

Announcing the result, chairman of the primary election committee, Humphrey Abba, stated that Adebayo secured 919 votes out of 957 accredited ballots, giving him a clear victory in the contest.

Explaining that there were 20 void votes following the withdrawal of one of the candidates, believed to be Governor Ademola Adeleke, Abba added, “The candidate that got the remaining votes is Adebayo Adedamola with 919 votes and he stands elected and returned.”

DAILY POST reports that despite announcing his resignation from the party, Adeleke’s name appeared on the ballot paper for the PDP governorship primary.

Party officials said the exercise was conducted in accordance with established guidelines, with accredited delegates participating in the voting process.

Adeleke announced his resignation in a letter dated November 4, 2025, and addressed to the PDP leadership at his ward.

On Monday, Osun PDP chairman, Sunday Bisi, had announced that the governorship primary slated for Tuesday, December 2, 2025, has been postponed due to leadership crisis at the national level.

But a faction of the party went ahead with the exercise in Osogbo on Tuesday.