Politics

Wike, PDP Crisis: ‘Mystery’ Man Who Sued Atiku Surfaces

Published

1 month ago

August 14, 2022

Editor

Amid confusion over the identity of the person who took the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, to court, a former presidential aspirant on the party’s platform, Dr Cosmos Ndukwe, has said he is behind the suit and not the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.

His clarification came following Wike’s denial that he sued his party’s presidential flagbearer.

The governor, who is currently romancing All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftains, inviting them to commission projects in Rivers instead of his PDP colleagues, said he neither went to court nor asked anyone to file a suit on his behalf.

He also said reports of the suit emanated from Atiku’s people.

Wike made the comments in Port Harcourt, Friday, during the official commissioning of some projects.

“I want to state categorically that if I wanted to go to court, I will go to court. I have kept quiet and busy delivering dividends of democracy. If I wanted to, I would have gone to court within two weeks after the primary. Because that is a pre-election matter. It is the candidate’s group doing all these. And they’re not doing him any favour. But I wish them good luck,” he said.

But it was widely reported that a suit had been instituted against Atiku, Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, and the PDP over the conduct of the party’s presidential primary.

Atiku and Wike have been estranged since the former emerged as the PDP presidential candidate and the latter the first runners-up and Atiku, instead of picking Wike as his running mate in the 2023 election, chose Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.

Prayers

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/782/2022, Wike and a chieftain of the PDP, Newgent Ekamon, were listed as plaintiffs. In the originating summons, the PDP was said to be listed as the first respondent while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was the second respondent. Tambuwal and Atiku were listed as the third and fourth respondents respectively.

Ekamon asked the court to determine eight points including whether the transfer of Tambuwal’s votes to Atiku in the primary was illegal and void.

Meanwhile, Ndukwe, a former Deputy Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly, whose name didn’t appear in the suit, in an exclusive chat with Sunday Vanguard, claimed ownership of the suit.

He said he decided to take Atiku and PDP to court for gross violation of the party’s constitution on zoning.

The erstwhile presidential aspirant argued that PDP had over the years enshrined zoning in its constitution and observed the same for equity and justice but expressed shock that the party for no justifiable reasons decided to jettison zoning in choosing its presidential flag bearer for 2023.

The former Chief of Staff to Abia State governor said he had before the primaries gone to court to challenge the refusal of the party to zone its presidential ticket to the South.

High Court

Ndukwe further explained that when the matter was decided in his favour at the High Court, the defendants appealed the judgement at the Court of Appeal which overturned the decision of the High Court.

The former Commissioner for Trade and Industry in Abia State said he decided to take the matter to the apex court for final determination.

He said the necessary parties were on Thursday served with the court processes, adding that it was likely that some people misunderstood it and attributed it to Wike.

His words: “That suit they are saying Wike went to court is my suit. Wike did not go to any court. It’s I that went to court because PDP violated its constitution.

“The matter is now at the Supreme Court. The court processes were served on the necessary parties on Thursday. That’s why they thought it was Wike”.

Ndukwe said he thought PDP had learnt its lessons on the consequences of impunity but regretted that the party still violated its constitution because of vested interest of some people.

Violation

The alleged plaintiff, who is also a former General Manager, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency, ASEPA, vowed that the party should not be allowed to get away with the gross violation of its constitution.

He argued that nobody compelled PDP to factor in zoning in its constitution, and insisted that the party must be made to obey its constitution not minding who it favoured.

“We decided to move to the Supreme Court. The apex court will hear the matter and decide within 45 days”, he stated.

“I am very optimistic that the Supreme Court will give its judgment based on equity and justice. It is a constitutional matter and nobody will violate the constitution and be allowed to go free.

“ How can PDP not obey the constitution it made for itself? Now they are claiming they are operating the Nigerian constitution that allows for freedom of association. But the question is: was the party forced to make its constitution that recognised zoning?

“ You know there is Nigerian Constitution that allows for freedom of association and you decided to make your constitution which of course is binding on you.

“ PDP agreed on zoning even when other parties were not interested in it, and the party has always respected it. You said zoning is for fairness and equity, so, why is it at this point that PDP wants to throw away zoning?

North

“The party used the same zoning in selecting its hierarchy but when it came to presidential candidates it jettisoned zoning.

“Now, every serious position in PDP is occupied by northerners. The North has the presidential candidate, National Chairman, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Where is South in all these? The South, especially South East, is totally out of the game.

“ Atiku is even thinking of picking his Campaign Director General from the West. So, where is South-East in PDP which the zone invested so much to form and incubated?”

VANGUARD

Politics

APC Plots To Shortchange Christians, Ex-SGF Lawal Alleges

Published

6 hours ago

September 25, 2022

Editor

Christian politicians in Northern Nigeria would remain steadfast in their stand for justice, equity and fair play in the 2023 political dispensation in the overall interest of the nation, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has said.

According to him, any nation or political dispensation built on injustice would crumble because justice and equity settle all other disputes.

Lawal in a statement he sent to The PUNCH in Abuja on Sunday titled, “Why we are doing what we are doing”, was pleading with Nigerians to understand the position of the Northern Christian politicians on the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 presidential election.

He said neither the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, nor his running mate, Kashim Shettima and the political party has ever seen anything wrong in their choice of same faith ticket for 2023 to make peace or assuage the feelings of Northern Christian politicians.

The statement reads, “Quite a number of Nigerians have reached out to Rt Hon (Yakubu) Dogara and I and to some of the leaders in our eminent group of Northern Christian politicians to sheath our swords and instead go for negotiations with the APC.

“I now want to respond to this. We have so far not taken the road to reconciliation because, in the first instance, neither the APC as a party nor its presidential candidate has bothered to seek us out for reconciliation even though early on, our doors were left open for such.

“We only get to learn of their views through vile propaganda in the media courtesy of their rabid attack hogs whom they have procured in abundance.

“There are of course some “Christian” turncoats and “Judases” who, driven either by moral turpitude, poverty or greed, have hired themselves out as agents and spoilers of this noble Christian course.

“To this group, I wish to recommend the study of the biographies of Judas Iscariot and Ahithophel in the Bible. Be careful to note how their lives ended.

“It seems that Bola/Shettima’s preferred approach is to attempt to counter our position through insults and sponsored fake Christian organizations in order to create the impression that there is a division within the Christendom on this matter.

“Needless to say, this tactic has failed woefully. They are now the but of jokes in church gatherings all over the country. Unknown to them Church history emphatically records that Christians are more united in terms of adversity and persecution as now being propelled by this Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC.

“This approach has also portrayed the duo as arrogant and pitiable people while also exposing them to the public as people with unimaginable deficiencies of noble character.

“The reality is that for each minute that this same-faith ticket duo have spent on their goebellsian propaganda, they have ended up spending several hours more trying to rebut the controversies that they themselves create in the process.

“Everyone, including some notable Christian haters are now inviting false “Bishops” and “CAN” Leaders to meetings. They are busy fabricating overnight “Christian” organizations that churn out falsehoods to the public.

“It is such a pity that people who intend to lead our country could descend to such low levels of morality and deficiency of conscience.

“But belying this posture is the reality of their true intentions not to have any roles for northern Christians in their government.

“The unarguable fact is that they intend to offer nothing of significance to any northern Christian in an APC government anticipated to be led by Bola and Kashim.

“The reality of their zoning arrangement is that the North East region is already out of the equation for any other posts because it has the Vice Presidency while the North Central too is out because they have the party’s National Chairmanship.

“The other key positions, the Senate President, Speaker, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chief of Staff to the President, have been zoned to the North West, South South, South East and South West regions, respectively.

“Besides, we all know that there is and will be no ranking christian Senator or House of Representatives member from the North West that could occupy the seats of Senate President, Speaker or even their deputies.

“In any case, it is an open secret that they never allow Christians to occupy such positions in the North West Zone even if there is a qualified Christian.

“Who then do they think they are fooling with this their “there are other positions in government that could go to the northern Christians” mantra?

“If Kashim Shettima worked determinedly with Bola Tinubu’s acquiescence to deny the northern Christians the Deputy National Chairman (North) position during the party’s National Convention, what magic will then compel them to give a northern Christian any significant posts in their government?

“Let us make no mistake; these guys will persecute us to no end. They are very well practiced in this.

“My dear Christians, it has been clear to us from the onset that APC, Bola and Kashim never had the intention or plan that offers the Northern Christians any sense of inclusion through any tangible roles in their government.

“Those with major political influence on them are mostly religious bigots of the hegemonist flavor and some self-centered sycophants of the evil kind.

“So instead of reconciliation which would involve offering some important positions to Northern Christians, they have decided to go for broke and ignore the interests of Christians of the north.”

Politics

LP Rejects Defecting YPP Chairman Over Corruption Allegations

Published

7 hours ago

September 25, 2022

Editor

The Labour Party in Nasarawa State has refused to accept the suspended State Chairman of the Young Progressives Party, Bishop Namo, into its fold over corruption allegations.

It was gathered that Namo was suspended by the National leadership of the YPP for allegedly taking a bribe from a desperate politician to illegally substitute the name of one John Mark, who was the party’s candidate for the Akwanga/Nasarawa Eggon/Wamba Federal Constituency, in the 2023 general election.

The move by the national leadership of the YPP could be the reason Namo declared his support for the Labour Party on September 21, 2022, and claimed that he had been received into its fold.

But the Nasarawa State chairman of Labour party, Alexander Emmanuel, during a press conference in Lafia on Sunday, said Namo will not be accepted into the party until he is declared innocent of the allegations leveled against him in the YPP.

He said, “Labour party is a peaceful-loving political party. Our members here in Nasarawa state are known as peaceful people because we do not like trouble.

“We heard that Bishop Namo was suspended by the YPP over some corruption allegations. We do not know if they are true or false at the moment, but we will only accept him into the Labour party when we are sure that he is innocent of the allegations.

“On September 21, so many people called me on phone and said they read on social media that Namo has joined the Labour Party and I told them that the information was not true because none of LP’s electoral ward or local government chairmen across the state has intimated me about such development. So, the general public should disregard that information because it is not correct.”

On the 2023 general election, the LP State Chairman said the party was prepared to take-over power both at the federal and state levels, adding that citizens of the country were tired of bad governance, and are ready to vote out corrupt politicians with their permanent voter cards.

“It is a known fact that Nigerians are tired of bad governance in the country, and we are all going to use our PVC’s to vote out bad and corrupt political leaders in 2023. So, I am optimistic that candidates of the Labour party will emerge victorious in the coming elections,” the LP Chairman added.

Politics

APC Irresponsible, Doesn’t Deserve Re-election, Says Peter Obi’s LP

Published

8 hours ago

September 25, 2022

Editor

The Labour Party has discribed the re-election bid of the ruling All Progressives Congress as an attempt to further plunge Nigeria into the abyss of economic disaster.

It said Nigerians who have been on the receiving end of this corruption-ridden administration which has visited nothing but misery on the Nigerian populace, can ill afford to queue behind the APC that has failed on all indices of governance.

National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Comrade Arabambi Abayomi, said this in Abuja, on Sunday.

He said it remains an undisputed fact that in the first four months of 2022 by the Buhari administration’s revelation through the Budget and Planning Ministry, the cost of debt servicing by “the same stealing Govt has surpassed its revenue in the 4 months under review.”

Abayomi further said, “Remarkably, the clueless and confused APC Govt spent a total of N4.2 trillion between January and April 2022 from the earmarked N17.32trillion for the whole year.

“In these same four months, a sum of N285bn was earned as oil revenue, this represents a shortfall of 60.9% of the prorated figure of N730.12bn, this is even in spite of the marked rally in crude oil prices in these four months when the Government unabashedly retarded APC Govt casually mentioned that oil production declined to let the oil revenue fall short of the projection.

“It sounds very irritating, painful and annoying to keep hearing this dying and failed APC Govt repeatedly claiming that the untenable, questionable & unverifiable oil subsidy deductions were responsible with the twin criminal excuse of the inability to increase oil production was responsible for the failure at meeting the projected target of revenue growth in the 4 months.

“The dishonest and lying APC probably forgot that in 2021 it spent N4.22 trillion on debt servicing which was an increase of 29.3% over the sum of N3.27 trillion spent for the same purpose in 2020 while the revenue only increased by a marginal 9.3 % to N4.39 trillion revenue and in the last 16months APC led Buhari Administration has spent a whooping sum of N6.16trillion. “

He further noted that the Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Mrs Patience Oniha confirmed that Nigeria’s total public debt stock representing domestic and external debt stock profile as of March 2022, stood at N41. 60 trillion and N42.84TRN ($103.31billion as of June 30, 2022. “

This, he said, if divided by 200 million Nigerians including 50 million yet unborn totalling 250m population explicitly confirmed that every Nigerian as of June 30th 2022, is indebted to the tune of N170,000 naira each.

Abayomi noted that it is worth putting on record that though its Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi has for a long at many forums held that the Govt’s borrowing must be at a statutory 5% of the previous year’s revenue but “the highly clueless and grossly incompetent APC confused and rudderless Government at every juncture ignored this wise counsel.“

The LP spokesperson enjoined Nigerians to demand the immediate resignation of the APC from the seat of Government now that it is not in doubt that it has finally ruined a substantial part of the future of Nigeria with its avoidable act of running the Country into insolvency.

He further said, “The growing cluelessness of the APC in its incompetent management of the Country’s economy is easily observed from the silly and unending oil subsidy deductions choreographed calculated scam

“One can simply ask how much it cost Dangote to establish the about to begin operation oil refinery was built at a cost of $15bn.

“The Pacific refinery in Ecuador cost $12bn with a capacity to refine 500,000 barrels per day (bpd).”

“AL ZOUR REFINERY in Kwait was built at a cost of $16bn with a production capacity of 615 ,000 barrels per day.

“ Compare the foregoing against Nigeria with two / three refineries and a refining average capacity of 1.2 million of crude oil per day, how comfortable are you fellow Citizens?

“Presently, these same thieves in Governance, APC are yet proposing #6.7 trillion to fund the carefully hidden agenda called a subsidy.

“In exchange the $6.7 trillion is equivalent to $15.6 bn This is against the 2023 Budget. However, what will blow your mind is that the Government is planning to yet borrow #11 trillion to support the 2023 Budget expenses.

“LP has chosen to advise APC to immediately withdraw all it’s Candidates from the 2023 elections and safe itself the embarrassment of repeated public lies and falsehood that has become its main character in Government.“