Politics

Why We’re Not Happy With Governor Alia – APC

Published

5 months ago

December 10, 2023

The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue has blamed its lingering rift with Governor Hyacinth Alia on his failure to treat the party with some respect and dignity.

The party also claimed that the Governor has consistently failed to consult its leaders and carry its members along on issues, contrary to the norm.

Addressing the media in Makurdi, the three State Zonal Chairmen of the party in the state including Wilfred Uji of Zone A, James Tor of Zone B and Bishop Pinot Ogbaji of Zone C regretted that Governor Alia’s attitude towards the party had created a gulf between them.

Speaking on behalf of the trio, Bishop Ogbaji explained that the crisis was not between the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, George Akume and the Governor, but a dispute between the Benue APC and the Governor.

According to him, “the shaky relationship between Governor Hyacinth Alia and the APC started in June this year, during the inauguration of the State Assembly where the governor had preference for a candidate for the position of Speaker but could not confer with the leadership of the party, rather he allowed the party to painstakingly sit, zone the position and anoint a candidate that was not his choice.

“The end result was an embarrassing situation where stalwarts of the party were enmeshed in a shameful altercation that clearly lowered them and the party in the chamber of the Benue State House of Assembly.

“The party again nominated and spread other principal officers of the Assembly, but shockingly, the Speaker happily accepted all nomiations from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as duly endorsed by the PDP State Chairman and Secretary, however, he jettisoned the list submitted by the APC and rather announced the list that was allegedly submitted by the governor, through his Chief of Staff.

“It was a humiliating experience for the party, having to face that level of neglect in the hands of an administration we all laboured hard to plant, nevertheless, we sustained our faith in the governor and his government.

“In picking his commissioners, the Governor exercised his sole discretion without the usual tradition of directing local governments to make nominations taking cognizance of zonings and necessary political permutations, he rather made his independent choices as he found soothing but the party did not oppose him; we rather gave our full support to his action since that was his own State Executive and Security Council and he needed people he could trust.

“And when it was time for the nomination of Caretaker Committees to administer the Local Government Councils, Governor Alia threw it back to party members during the second stakeholders meeting by demanding an immediate nomination of three candidates each for the positions of Council Caretaker Chairman, Deputy and Secretary as well as Supervisory Councillors across the 23 Local Governments, demanding for 2 slots of Supervisory Councillors from each of the Local Governments.

“This was the first time a Governor would demand such from the Caretaker Council formation as against the usual one slot per local government. The party jubilantly agreed and obeyed the directive by holding meetings, and painstakingly nominating and submitting their various lists with a relieving sense of belonging.

“But quite shockingly, when the nominations were finally announced, the party was bewildered that 80 percent of the names were outside the actual nominees that were sent to the governor on his directive.

“We are not pushing to usurp or share powers with the Governor but if the governor was interested in forming a unity government, he would have simply called a general meeting of all Benue people and requested nominations from them rather than allowing APC members sweat to microzone the positions, shop for names and raise the hopes of candidates who were eventually ignored, dropped and their opponents, most of whom are members of rival political parties appointed.

“In all this misgiving and dissatisfaction, the announcement of Caretaker Committees marked the pinnacle of a noticeably sour relationship between Governor Alia and the APC in Benue State and this snowballing anger by all standards is justifiable.

“It is also trite to mention that as elders in the exco, we, the three Zonal Chairmen did not rest on our oars in seeking solutions; we have made frantic reconciliatory moves, trying to find out what the real issues were but in all our efforts, we could not get tangible issues capable of tearing the party apart.

“Our Leader, Sen. George Akume has deep love for Gov. Hyacinth Alia and in all our meetings, he has never spoken ill of the governor at any point; he has consistently admonished us to pray and support the governor to succeed, same way the governor eulogizes Sen. Akume at all times and hints of a cordial relationship between them.

“But the condition of Benue APC can best be likened to a helpless husband with a very beautiful wife that sleeps around with only his neighbours and enemies while he, the lawful husband is deprived of his conjugal rights.”

Reacting, the immediate past Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council and former APC Governorship candidate, Mr. Emmanuel Jime dismissed the allegations by the Zonal Chairmen saying, “those making the accusation are ignorant and it is without any foundation.

“In a Presidential democracy, the Governor is the Leader of the Party in his State just like any other State Governor. The tragedy of our democratic experiment so far is that most of us see politics as a meal ticket.

“Whenever an elected official chooses the path to real development, you will have the stomach infrastructure politicians attempting the distraction strategy. Benue is in dire need of a development agenda. The Governor appears to be focused on this. All men and women of goodwill must join in this all important endeavour.”
VANGUARD

Politics

Atiku Hints On Supporting Obi For 2027 Presidential Race

Published

22 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has said that if in 2027, the party decides that it is the South-East’s turn and selects Peter Obi as its candidate, he will readily offer his support.

“I have said repeatedly and I even said it before the 2023 general elections that if the PDP decides to zone the presidential ticket to the South or South-East specifically, I won’t contest it. As long as it’s the decision of the party, I will abide by it. But I contested the 2023 presidential ticket because it was thrown open to all members of the party.

“If the party decides that it’s the turn of the South-East and Peter Obi is chosen, I won’t hesitate to support him,” Atiku declared in a recent interview with BBC Hausa Service.

He added that a merger between the PDP and Labour Party is possible.

Atiku added that members of the party would decide his fate in the 2027 general elections.

The former Vice President mentioned that his recent meeting with Obi might indicate a possible alliance leading up to the 2027 general elections.

Responding to questions about the meeting with Obi, Atiku said, “It’s just a normal friendly meeting that we often have, particularly among us in the opposition parties. Such meetings are healthy for Nigeria’s democracy and in the country’s interest.”

On whether this will bring about a merger, he said, “Yes, it’s very much possible. We can merge to achieve a common goal. So, it’s possible, and nothing can stop it if we wish to achieve that.”

The former Vice President, who denied that the choice of presidential candidate might frustrate the merger discussion, said, “That’s not true. That challenge will not arise. I can tell you that the choice of who will fly the flag of the party won’t be an issue.”

On why he’s still in active politics, Atiku said, “Yes, we can’t keep quiet and watch things go wrong. People are suffering and we are committed to making Nigeria a better place.

“It means you are not tired of politics of Nigeria? Not at all. I am still in active politics in Nigeria, at least, as long as God permits.

“My age doesn’t stop the young ones from testing their fate. Everybody, irrespective of age, is allowed to aspire to be anybody in the society, politically or otherwise.”

Regarding his 2027 Presidential ambition, the former Vice President said “That would depend on the decision of my party. I can’t make any categorical statement on that. It’s the duty of the party to decide on the way to go in the next election.

“Until that time comes. Let’s just wait and see how it will turn out.

“It must not be interpreted like that. I must not be eyeing elections to have meetings with political friends and associates. Currently, we are practising democracy in this country which we fought for with our blood.”

Last week, Obi held a private meeting with Atiku and some other PDP leaders in Abuja.

Obi also met separately with former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and former Senate President Bukola Saraki, sparking speculation about a possible coalition for the 2027 general elections.

Obi was a PDP member until 2022, when he left to pursue his presidential ambitions with the Labour Party.

He finished third behind Atiku in the February 23 presidential election, which was won by Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.

Atiku blamed Obi’s departure from the PDP for his loss to Tinubu.

Analysts argued that Atiku’s 6,984,520 votes combined with Obi’s 6,101,533 votes could have secured a win against Tinubu, who received 8,794,726 votes.

Monday’s meeting marked the first public interaction between Obi and Atiku since the election.

Social media and online platforms were flooded with viral photos of Obi’s meetings with the three PDP figures on Monday.

In 2019, Atiku and Obi ran together on the PDP ticket but were defeated by former President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.

However, due to internal conflicts, Obi, who was Atiku’s running mate in 2019, left the PDP and ran as the Labour Party’s candidate in the 2023 presidential election.

Politics

JUST IN: Ex-PDP Deputy National Chair, Oyedokun Defects To APC

Published

2 days ago

May 16, 2024

Editor

A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, has resigned his membership of the party and announced defection to the All Progressives Congress.

Oyedokun, a notable personality within the political circle in Osun State and beyond, said he decided to dump the PDP after consultation with his loyalists.

He said he would be joining APC, where his experience, efforts, and leadership roles would be valued and appreciated.

His resignation letter addressed to the National Chairman of the PDP through the ward, local government and state chairmen of the party obtained late Thursday further read, “As a functional member and leader of PDP (Ward 13, Jagun/ Osi-Bale Ode, Odo-Otin South Local Government, Osun State,) whose high electoral productivity and value have been credibly and positively acknowledged in my ward, across the local council, state and country-wide for the enhancement of the fortune of the PDP, I have the honour (though with pain) in announcing the renunciation of my membership of the party on principle, having observed that the ideals of we, founding members, had been sorely contaminated.

“In taking this step which is not even without due consultation with my teaming loyalists in the PDP, I have consequently decided to shift my allegiance to the All Progressives Congress (APC) where I believe my experience, efforts and leadership roles would be valued and appreciated.”

Oyedokun’s defection to the APC is coming at the time the aspirant he supported during the 2022 Osun governorship primary of PDP, Mr Dotun Babayemi is also moving to the national ruling party.

Osun APC said on Wednesday that Babayemi and his supporters would be dumping PDP and joining the party at a rally scheduled to be held in Osogbo on Friday.
PUNCH

Politics

Poll: APC Has No Sellable Candidate, Nothing To Campaign On – Edo Govt

Published

5 days ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

The Edo State Government claimed on Monday that the All Progressives Congress, APC, has no credible candidate for the September 21 governorship election.

This was an assertion made by the Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, at a press conference in Benin City.

Nehikhare also alleged that the party is using lies and propaganda as its campaign strategy.

According to him: “The only APC strategy for the governorship election is to resort to lies and propaganda. When a party takes lies and propaganda as an election strategy, it means it has nothing to offer the people. The party lacks people with character, capacity, and intellect.”

The commissioner who took journalists through a screened shot WhatsApp chat said: “What we have here is the official APC WhatsApp platform, their own people screenshot their discussion. One of them who has a conscience asks, is this the only thing we have?”

Nehikhare, who said APC is ashamed to campaign for its candidate, noted that, as of today, nobody had heard of what the party has for the state.

“All we heard is how they are going to help their paymaster, lies and propaganda that will not help the state,” he added.

He opined that lies and propaganda are not strategies the opposition party, like APC, can use to win the September 21 governorship election.

The commissioner, who warned against misinformation and fake news ahead of the governorship election, urged media practitioners to be neutral in matters concerning lies and propaganda.

He, however, noted that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration has a lot of achievements to market and sell its candidate for the election.