Politics

Ondo Crisis Worsens, Assembly Demands Aiyedatiwa’s Resignation

Published

2 years ago

November 29, 2023

The Ondo State House of Assembly has warned against violating the resolutions of President Bola Tinubu’s meeting with the members of the House and other stakeholders over the lingering political crisis in the state.

The House held its first plenary session on Tuesday after last Friday’s meeting with Tinubu in Abuja.

At the end of Tuesday’s plenary, the Speaker of the Assembly, Mr Olamide Oladiji, disclosed that, as part of the resolutions reached at the meeting with Tinubu, the deputy governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, was asked to write an undated resignation letter and submit it to the President.

The Speaker said the President appointed him (Speaker), the Secretary of the Ondo State Government, Mrs Oladunni Odu, and the state Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Ade Adetimehin, to monitor compliance with the resolutions.

Oladiji, who read the resolutions on the floor of the House, warned all the gladiators and stakeholders against violating the resolutions of the meeting.

The Speaker said, “For the avoidance of doubt, let me present to the good people of Ondo State, the resolutions reached after the meeting of representatives of the Ondo State House of Assembly, the State Executive Council members, members of the National Assembly from Ondo State and the state Chairman of the All Progressives Congress with His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the leadership of our great part, that all parties shall embrace peace, that status quo be maintained by all parties, that all impeachment proceedings be terminated forthwith, and all court cases withdrawn by all parties.”

Reading further, he said the resolutions also included “that there will be no dissolution of the State Executive Council, that an undated letter of resignation must be written and signed by the deputy governor and submitted to the President, that the party leadership and structures remained intact, that the House of Assembly leadership remained intact and that Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa continues to perform the functions of office as deputy governor.”

The speaker noted that the lawmakers were acting based on the mandate given to them by their constituents.

“We, as elected representatives of the people, have only acted within the precinct of the mandate freely given to us by our constituents. We have demonstrated courage when the occasion demanded it. We asked questions when there was cause for us, to do,” the Speaker stated.

During the plenary session, 51 members of the Interim Caretaker Committee for the 18 local government areas of the state as well as the Local Council Development Areas, who had been screened by the Assembly, were approved, following the request of the Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

The PUNCH reports that there was a heavy presence of security operatives around the Assembly complex while the Tuesday session lasted.

All efforts to reach the deputy governor on the telephone were not successful as his phone line indicated busy while the text message sent to him was not replied to at the time of filing this report.

But one of his political associates, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Aiyedatiwa was not pleased with the decision of the Assembly as it was against the resolution reached at Friday’s meeting

“You can see that the deputy governor was not in the state yet. He is waiting for the House to declare him the acting governor before coming. But I don’t know what will happen next on the matter because the House has not kept its own part of the ‘deal’.

“The status quo they are talking about is for the deputy governor to be acting as the governor and that is what I expected the speaker to read today but he didn’t put that in his speech. Let’s see what happens next.”

Politics

2027: Drama As Two ‘ADA’ Emerge In INEC’s List Of 110 Party Registration Bids

Published

42 minutes ago

June 26, 2025

Editor

Two political associations seeking registration as political parties have submitted identical acronyms to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

According to Vanguard, the first is the All Democratic Alliance, ADA, being promoted by Chief Akin Ricketts and said to be one of the special purpose vehicles that the anti-Tinubu coalition is seeking to use as a platform in the 2027 general election.

While the Ricketts ADA is 109 on the INEC list, the other ADA, Advanced Democratic Alliance, is 110, the last one the list unveiled by the electoral umpire.

This second ADA has Alhaji Ahmadu Suleiman as Protem Chairman and Zipporah Pius Miracles as Secretary.

The Ricketts ADA has its national headquarters at Ground Floor, UAC Complex, Plot 273 Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun Street, CBD, Abuja, FCT.

Suleiman’s ADA has its national headquarters at 1 Frandriance Close, Off Oda Crescent, Off Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja.

Ahead of the 2027 general elections, no fewer than 110 political associations have written to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, seeking registration as political parties.

Politics

Damagum Is PDP’s Problem – Ex-Benue Gov Suswam

Published

12 hours ago

June 25, 2025

Editor

Former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, on Wednesday declared that the acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Umar Damagum, is the problem of the party.

Suswam, who insisted that Damagum is not a leader, said the party has been drifting downwards since he assumed the role of acting National Chairman.

Featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today, the former governor said, “There is no integrity in the leadership of PDP, I’m happy that Wike said it.

Politics

Confusion In PDP As NWC Counters Damagum, Rejects Anyanwu’s Reinstatement

Published

13 hours ago

June 25, 2025

Editor

The National Working Committee, NWC, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has dismissed claims that the party’s 100th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for Monday, June 30, 2025, has been postponed.

A statement signed by key members of the NWC on Wednesday also denied reports that Samuel Anyanwu has been reinstated as the party’s National Secretary.

The NWC said the statement comes in response to a press briefing earlier in the day by the Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum.

DAILY POST reports that Damagum had announced the postponement of the NEC meeting and said Anyanwu is to resume as National Secretary.

Rejecting Damagum’s declarations, the NWC said his pronouncements were contrary to the resolution of the 99th NEC meeting, which scheduled the next NEC session for June 30 and referred all matters concerning the National Secretary’s office to that meeting.

“The pronouncements by the Acting National Chairman have no foundation as no organ of the Party (including the NWC), individual or group has the power to cancel, overrule, veto or vary the resolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC),” the statement read.

Citing Section 31 (3) of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017), the NWC emphasized that NEC is the highest decision-making organ of the party after the National Convention and that its resolutions are binding on all members and organs of the party.

The NWC described the announcement regarding Anyanwu’s resumption as “misleading” and reaffirmed that the matter remains under the jurisdiction of the forthcoming NEC meeting.

The statement was jointly signed by Deputy National Chairman (South), Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, Acting National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo, National Treasurer, Ahmed Yayari Mohammed, National Auditor, Okechukwu Obiechina Daniel, and National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, among others.