Three PDP governors led by Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state and four deputy governors visited former President Jonathan at his home in Bayelsa State yesterday September 8th.
Showing posts with label PDP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PDP. Show all posts
PDP NOT Satisfied With Buhari And Osibanjo's Asset Declarations
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to release copies of their assets declaration forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau.
The party is describing the asset declaration release earlier today as “a deceptive window-dressing to hoodwink unsuspecting Nigerians”, and claim that the declaration is only "a mere list of some belongings of President Buhari and Osinbajo, in place of the pledge made to Nigerians by the President as candidate of the All Progressives Congress.”
The party recalled that on March 18, 2015, at exactly 5 pm, the President, in his own words, had stated to Nigerians saying, “I pledge to publicly declare my assets and liability and also encourage my political appointees to publicly declare their assets and liability.”
PDP say it has observed that President Buhari and his deputy have failed to produce copies of their declarations, detailing the exact nature and value of respective assets.
Below is PDP National Public Secretary's statement...
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement in Abuja on Friday, said
The release of a mere list of belongings falls short of credibility, transparency and anti-corruption standards as well as exposes the proclivity of the present administration for
deception.
We have noted the release of a flimsy list of belongings of President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo by the Presidency, who want such to pass as the public declaration of assets as pledged by the President. Nigerians are not deceived by this poor attempt at window-dressing designed by the Presidency to hoodwink the unsuspecting populace in a desperate bid to shore up its diminished image.
We ask, is the resort to a mere list, instead of true copies of the declaration, not a ploy to give the Presidency a window for denial in consonance with their widely observed inclination for flip-flopping, back tracking and brazen denials of their statements and
actions?
All we want is credibility, integrity and sincerity of purpose. We are not questioning how a President, who by December last year, declared that he had only N1 million in his
account, could suddenly now list N30 million in the same bank account by May 29, and after an expensive campaign; we are not yet demanding the public declaration of his assets in his wife’s name.
We are not even applauding the multiplication of his cows from 150 to 250 in a space of three months, arising from his dual and conflicting pronouncements on this issue.”
He said what the PDP and discerning Nigerians were demanding was for the President to always stand by his words and pledge.
Metuh concluded saying: "Mr. President, this is a mere list of your belongings and not a public declaration of assets in fulfillment of your covenant with Nigerians"
Olisa Metuh Suspended Over Embezzlement of Party Funds
The Anambra state chapter of Peoples Democratic Party has suspended the national Publicity secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh over allegations of Embezzlement of party funds.
In a statement released and signed by the state party Publicity Secretary Kenneth Arinze today August 14th, Mr Metuh's suspension followed a previous suspension from Otolo Nnewi Ward I, which is his party ward.
"Following the suspension of Chief Olisa Metuh by the Otolo Ward 1 Nnewi of the PDP (where Olisa hails from) and the ratification of same by the Nnewi North Local Government chapter, the State executive committee, after assessing the weighty allegations against Olisa Metuh and finding them heinous, in compliance with the PDP Constitution, hereby, ratifies the suspension and forward same to the National Working Committee (NWC)” the statement read.
Investigate APC Former Governors - PDP Challenges EFCC
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday Thursday challenged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the corrupt leaders and members of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The Acting National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, gave the challenge when he received a delegation of members PDP in the senate at Legacy House, the party’s campaign office in Abuja. Secondus, who called for President Muhamadu Buhari intervention, said that the anti-graft agency was only investigating PDP members in its anti-corruption war leaving those who served under APC.
“So far, statistics has shown that EFCC has only arrested members of our party, those who have served in previous government. “But there are APC governors and members, who have served various governments, they have been left alone. “We believe that a government that is serious with anti corruption crusade cannot be one sided or selective. It should be holistic,’’ Secondus said. He called on the EFCC to also investigate APC governors rather than targeting only PDP ex-governors and ex-ministers.
“We have seen on the pages of newspapers allegation from Lagos and Rivers states on the ex-governors. What is EFCC doing to those allegations? ” Secondus asked
The acting chairman, assured that the NWC would work with the PDP senate leadership to make sure that they were successful. Secondus said that from the inauguration of the senate to the election of the senate leadership, the NWC was pleased with the process and those elected. Also answering question on the allegation that the NWC spent 12 billion within nine months, Secondus said that the figure was not correct.
He said
“What is correct is that from the sales of forms, we raised over N11 billion.’’
“According to our party’s guideline and constitution, this N11 billion was meant to be shared among the states, local governments and the zones. “The local government will have five per cent, the states; 10 per cent, and the zones; five per cent. That means 20 per cent is taken away from that. “You are also aware that people went on assignment about 15 per cent is also taken away, the rest I can tell you was used for our campaign and elections.
“No body, no member of the NWC has embezzled any money,’’ Secondus said. He added that the Staff Welfare Association who made the allegation had apologised through its letter to the NWC. “We raise our money and we used our money, that is the correct thing,’’ Secondus added.
Earlier, Godswill Akpabio, who led the delegates, said the aim of the visit was to appreciate the NWC for endorsing decision of PDP senate caucus that led to their emergence as senate leaders.
Akpabio, who is the Senate Minority Leader, said that the senate PDP caucus unanimously endorsed the action of the NWC so far since May 29.
“We are very proud working with your committee, and today we pass a vote of confidence on the NWC under the leadership of Sencondus. “We are saying that we are behind you as ambassadors of the senate; we will do our best, positively to project the image of PDP,’’ Akpabio said.
He urged Buhari to carry everybody along in his administration irrespective of their party affiliations.
He also condemned what he described as interference of the Department of the State Security Services (DSS) in the electoral matter by detaining INEC officials only in states being controlled by PDP. He listed Akwa-Ibom, Abia and Rivers as states most harassed by the DSS while INEC officials in APC controlled states were not invited for interrogation.
“No country in the world can claim they have a democracy when it does not have vibrant and viable opposition. “So any group aiming to kill opposition party does not believe in democracy,’’ Akpabio said.
On the PDP internal crisis, between the staff and NWC of PDP, Akpabio said that the senators were happy to note that the staff had written apology letter to the NWC. Other members of the delegates include Sen. Abiodun Olujimi, the Senate Deputy Minority Whip and Sen. Philip Aduda, among others.
"APC Is a Party of Shameless and Desperate Liars" - PDP Blast
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as a party of shameless and desperate liars. The party berated the APC for sticking to its lies and empty denials despite overwhelming evidences that the new Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Alhaji Lawal Daura is an APC member.
PDP National Publicity Secretary Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on Saturday said the spate of lies chunked out by the APC and its spokesperson, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in the desperation to suppress the truth is not only reprehensible but also symptomatic of lack of character.
“When the matter first came up, the APC spokesman hurriedly went on air on RayPower radio wherein he stated categorically to the nation that he never knew or met “the man”, and that “the man” has never had any contact or dealing whatsoever with the APC as a party before his appointment as DSS Director General.
“When we came up with the newspaper advertorial sponsored by the APC wherein it announced Alhaji Daura as a member of its campaign Intelligence Committee, a very important position vested on him by virtue of his membership of the party, as well as pictures of him with other members of the committee, Lai Mohammed started singing a new tone, insulted PDP leaders as hallucinating out of poverty and asked PDP to produce Daura’s membership card and evidence of registration.
“We ask, is APC demanding that the PDP invade Daura’s house to get his personal card? Or that we should go to Daura to get the APC ward register? How on earth does the APC spokesperson want us to go and ask a man in charge of arresting and detaining people who hold views contrary to those of his party and government to give us his party membership card? How on earth can the PDP request and get the APC membership register in Daura’s ward? Who do Lai Mohammed and the APC think they are fooling? Nigerians?” the PDP queried.
The PDP noted that in his lame effort to defend his party, the APC spokesman either intentionally lied or exhibited crass ignorance by trying to equate the DSS with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Police Service Commission (PCC), or the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where a Democrat, Mr. Leon Panetta was named by President Obama as head. “Perhaps Mr. Lai Mohammed needs to constantly update and crosscheck his facts. We wish to inform him and the APC that there is a great difference between the CIA and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after which the Nigerian DSS was fashioned.
“Whereas the US FBI and the Nigerian DSS are vested with the statutory tasks of providing domestic intelligence, security service and criminal investigations among others for the state and can be equated with the British M15 and Russian FSB, all of which have their headships insulated from politics, the CIA on the other hand is vested with collecting of intelligence overseas, the same role as Nigeria’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
“Furthermore, the NOA and PCC are agencies that have no powers to investigate, arrest or detain, neither can they be used to harass, hound or intimidate. Also, we wish to remind Lai Mohammed that Mr. Mike Omeri, in writing, declined the appointment into the PDP campaign committee because of his position as Director General of the NOA. We note therefore that in drawing his comparisons, Mr. Mohammed either exhibited high level ignorance or acted ostensibly to deceive Nigerians yet again. “Severally in the past, we have exposed Lai Mohammed in terms of lies but instead of retracing his steps, he keeps on moving from one ‘lai’ to the other.
Only in May this year, Lai Mohammed nearly derailed the transition programme when he issued a false statement alleging that the APC team was being frustrated, just for the head of the APC’s Transition Committee, Alhaji Ahmed Joda to announce that there was nothing of such. “Nigerians have not forgotten how Lai Mohammed had in June 2014 issued a statement wherein he alleged that a plane carrying Kano state Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso to attend an APC rally in Ekiti was denied landing permission in Akure, only for Kwankwaso’s Director of Press Affairs, Baba Dantiye to announce that his boss was at another event in Kano and had no plans to travel to Ekiti state. “The APC spokesman should know that being a spokesperson of a political party does not mean he should be dishing out lies. He should shed his unnecessary arrogance and understand that the APC did not win the Presidential election on account of his lies and deceit. In fact, this constant falsehood has become a huge embarrassment and source of worry for responsible and respectable persons in the APC.
“Quite often, he boasts of arranging a course for the opposition. We ask, is he arranging a course in lies? For the umpteenth time, let us inform him and the APC that the PDP does not need their course on the spreading of hatred and strife with lies, propaganda and deceit. Our form of opposition is focused only on constructive criticisms while presenting credible alternatives to the policies and programmes of the present administration. “Our worry however is that the APC spokesperson has so negatively influenced some hundreds of young people who now engage in abuses as a model for effective communication and this is not healthy for the polity. We urge Nigerians to purge themselves of this poisonous mode of communication so that we can have credible and decorous political discourse in this country” the party said.
The PDP insisted that in appointing its member to head the DSS, a very sensitive security agency vested with numerous powers, the APC has annexed the Service as a tool to suppress the opposition and other Nigerians who hold views contrary to that of government, thus preparing the ground for dictatorship and a reign of terror on the people.
“No wonder we are now witnessing invasions of houses of PDP members as well as harassments, arrests and detentions of electoral officers and tribunal members in Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and other PDP state where the APC is desperate to upturn our electoral victory at all cost and by any means”, it stated. The party however restated that no amount of harassment and threats or conniving with people, whether disgruntled PDP members or staff, can intimidate, blackmail or distract the PDP from discharging its duty to Nigerians, of providing constructive and credible opposition to the policies and programmes of the present administration.
Signed: Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary
Angry PDP Workers Blast Oliseh Metuh, Claims He Worked Against GEJ During Last Election
Some PDP staff members who have been threatened with sack by the party's management following non availability of funds to pay their salaries, have come hard on the party's national publicity secretary, Oliseh Metuh for saying their public outright over their unpaid salaries and possible retrenchment is being sponsored by APC.
In a statement released today by members of staff of the party under the aegis, Peoples Democratic Party Staff Welfare Association and signed by the association's chairperson, Ngozi Nze, the workers alleged that Mr Olisa Metuh betrayed ex president Jonathan during the election campaign period because he, GEJ, refused to make him Metuh his campaign spokesperson.
They also debunked rumors that they are being sponsored by APC. Excerpts from their explosive press statement below...
“We are not surprised that the allegation will become the most fashionable means of covering tracks. wide window into the impressionable character of the man who has been in saddle as the party’s image-maker and an ominous signpost into the shallow manner the publicity of the party has been run”. We wish to state that this is a man whose conduct, demeanour and media outings have been a repulse to professionalism and a source of embarrassment to party members.
We therefore place on record that the majority of the establishment staff of the PDP are not just unrepentant members of the party who have spent over sixteen years in service; who have assimilated the PDP ethos as a way of political life but are also the repository of the party’s institutional memory whose spirit can hardly succumb to the ephemerality of power loss. Who plays anti-party you may ask? Staff members who are genuinely resisting the morally repugnant and obsessively corrupt NWC so that the PDP will survive or the likes of Olisa Metuh who has a track record of anti-party given his open endorsement of APGA candidate in 2013 Anambra governorship election, the subsequent denigration of PDP candidate and his chances on live television program less than 24 hours after the election, even as the result was being awaited?
Earlier in January 2010, Anambra governorship election, Metuh as National Vice Chairman, South East, abandoned Chukwuma Soludo, the PDP candidate while openly galvanizing support for Hope Democratic Party candidate, his friend and benefactor. The PDP did not only woefully lose in Otolo Nnewi Ward 1 of the Party’s zonal vice Chairman but came a distant third in his polling booth! What a faithful party officer! Again, we have incontrovertible evidence that the man who is PDP Publicity Secretary worked assiduously against the presidential candidate of the PDP, former President Goodluck Jonathan, in the last election in order to requite the ex-President for rejecting him as Director of Publicity of the Presidential Campaign which was given to Femi Kayode, a development which came after Metuh had squandered a whooping sum of 450 million naira media fund earlier approved for the office of PDP Publicity Secretary by President Jonathan. Last week’s controversial congresses in Anambra is another signpost to the destructive trajectory which the likes of Olisa Metuh is driving the PDP to. The chairman of the congress, Ike Abonyi, no doubt a veteran journalist is at present in Olisa Metuh’s employ as his media adviser. Another member of the committee, Collet Odenigbo is Metuh’s friend and adjutant on special assignments while the man returned as State Organizing Secretary, Sam Ben, is Metuh’s personal assistant. The process was so personalized to the chagrin of party members, especially leaders who were also illegally compelled to part with certain amount of money. As we write, the party is still waiting for the result of the congresses a week after it was held, pending when Metuh is done with his conclave of distortion and extortion. This is the same man who we reliably gathered, is surreptitiously scheming to emerge as the Organizing Secretary of the party next year. To do what? Turn the party organization into Idumota Market and institutionalize exaction, graft and impunity.
This is a man who started in 1999 as a zonal youth leader, then National Ex-officio, Acting National Auditor, Zonal Vice Chairman and now publicity secretary. It is either his umbilical cord was buried at Wadata Plaza or that he can’t survive on any other thing except the PDP. We make bold to add that the worst form of anti-party is the mindless plunder of the party resources by the NWC which Olisa Metuh is an integral part of, in fact the leader of the body’s extortion gang. Recall that the same man was the Chairman of Kogi State congresses which held last week and match it with the fact that the widely rumoured request for One billion Naira from the State governor emanated the same week. Indeed labeling the staff of the PDP could be a veiled attempt to justify the huge sum of 70 million naira which Metuh collected in July in the name of fighting the APC in the media. We wish to therefore advise him and the NWC to respond to gritty issues raised in our press briefing without which the fortunes of the party will continue to dwindle,” the workers said.
We Are Behind Toyin Saraki’s EFCC Probe - Kwara State PDP
The Kwara state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, says it's behind the invitation of the state's ex first lady and wife of senate president Toyin Saraki by the EFCC.
In a statement released today July 26th, the state chapter said it had earlier petitioned the antigraft agency over Mrs Saraki's alleged involvement in corrupt activities with some government officials during her husband's administration as governor of Kwara state. The party in the statement said Mrs Saraki's arrest and detention is long overdue
"It has become imperative to inform the members of the public that we have every reasons to believe that a petition recently submitted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kwara state chapter, is largely responsible for the invitation and eventual criminal prosecution of the former Kwara First Lady and wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Toyin Saraki.
It will be recalled that our party had sometime early this year discreetly submitted a petition to the EFCC detailing how certain individuals in high places under the past administration of Dr. Bukola Saraki milked the state dry and left the people more impoverished than they met them.
In the said petition, we carefully chronicled how state officials, including former First Lady, Toyin Saraki; former Special Adviser to the Governor on MDGs, Mr. Ope Saraki; Personal Assistant (PA) to ex-Governor Bukola Saraki, one Mr. Abdul Adama from Kogi state; a former Commissioner for Information, Mr. Tunji Morounfoye, all working in a ring, got enmeshed in a cesspool of corruption unprecedented in the history of Kwara state or any other state of the federal for that matter!
Although, we believe that the arrest and prosecution of Mrs. Toyin Saraki is long overdue, we nevertheless take solace under the fact that the long arm of the law seems to have finally caught up with her and her cronies.
We are particularly delighted that our painstaking efforts at chronicling the monumental heist that defined the eight years, almost uneventful rule of former Governor Bukola Saraki in Kwara, has not gone unnoticed. We therefore commend the EFCC for its resourcefulness and painstakingness. We pledge our cooperation with the EFCC and all other relevant anti-graft agencies to ensure that all those who knowingly looted our collective patrimony, but now walking the streets of Kwara free with their ill-gotten wealth, do not go unpunished.
“We urge the anti-graft agency not to buckle in to pressure or blackmail that is already being mounted by political jobbers over Mrs. Saraki’s invitation by the EFCC. Instead of sponsoring paid activist-for-hire to stampede the EFCC out of the prosecution, one would have thought that the most moral thing for Toyin Saraki and her handlers to do now is to allow the law to take its cause. Since the duo of Ope Saraki and Tunji Morounfoye are already standing trial for their crimes, one would expect Mrs. Saraki too to seize the moment and clear her name, instead of playing to the gallery.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we reiterate that the offences Mrs. Saraki is being accused of are criminal in nature and such offences are not known to be statute-barred. Therefore, the fact that it took over five years after Mrs. Saraki left office as Kwara First Lady before she is eventually brought before the law does not matter.
“What matters is that justice is ultimately served, especially for the sake of the hard-working Kwara civil servants, poor Kwara farmers and the promising children of Kwara who were and are still being subjected to all manners of deprivations as a result of the rapaciousness of a privileged few who could not contain the temptations to stare clear the cookie jar.”
Don't Intimidate Us With EFCC - PDP Warns Federal Government
Senators of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have warned the Federal Government against using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to intimidate them, vowing to resist such attempt.
They asked President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that some people do not use his name to misuse state machinery in fighting their perceived political opponents in the guise of waging anti-corruption war.
A statement on Friday by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, on behalf of PDP senators, read,
“As much as we are not against the anti-corruption agencies performing their statutory duties, the invitation by EFCC to the wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, clearly indicated that the threat by a group within the National Assembly to use all means to fight the National Assembly leadership is now being carried out.
“Nigerians should ask the EFCC what it was waiting for all this while before realising that it would need to invite Mrs. Saraki when she left the Government House with her husband in 2011. And why should the invitation come a few days after a senator threatened that his group would bring the senate president down?
“We also think that the same witch-hunt that the wife of the senate president is suffering now is the same thing happening to his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who the police have been disturbing. But at the right time, we will jointly make our opinion known on the harassment of our leaders.”
The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Friday said the invitation of Mrs. Toyin Saraki, wife of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was politically motivated.
However, during a media briefing in Ilorin after the state APC’s executive meeting, the state APC Chairman, Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani, described the EFCC’s invitation as a calculated attempt to dent the image of the senate president and his wife.
He cautioned EFCC to avoid being used for political vendetta.
Balogun-Fulani said,
“The EFCC’s invitation of Mrs. Saraki was a shock to the APC in Kwara State because five years after her husband left office as the governor, the anti-graft agency thought it wise to invite his wife for questioning.”
Bayelsa Senator Blast Former President, Goodluck Jonathan in New Statement
A chieftain of the APC in Bayelsa state, Senator John Brambaifa, has stated that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party will lose the December 5 governorship election in the state due to the unpopularity of the immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday at the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja, the ex-senator claimed that Jonathan was unpopular even when he was picked as vice president in 2007.
Mr. Brambaifa said the ex-president’s poor performance while in office has added to his low rating even among his own people.
“I can tell you categorically that the former president from my assessment is not popular now and he was not that popular when he was even the president”, he said.
The APC chieftain also said Mr. Jonathan was not popular because he was imposed on the people of the South South region.
“If it were the people of Bayelsa or the people of the South-south that would have picked a vice president at the time, I don’t think the people would have picked Goodluck Jonathan because he was not popular and he didn’t have the capacity to be vice president at the time he was imposed”, he said.
Mr. Brambaifa further said Mr. Jonathan’s unpopularity was proven by his inability to win a second term in office.
“If we are saying that PDP is not popular in Bayelsa state, the unpopularity and the inability to perform maximally when Jonathan was the president is likely to contribute to the unpopularity of the PDP as at now”, he said. Jonathan murdered PDP
Assessing the administration of Governor Seriake Dickson in the state, Mr. Brambaifa said the governor did not complete and commission a single project since his election in 2012.
He, however, challenged Dickson to tell the people of the state what he has achieved since his assumption of office.
PDP Alleges Threat to Life of some of its Leaders Following National Assembly Elections
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged threat to life of some of its leaders following the National Assembly elections which they say didn't go the way of the APC.
At a press conference in the party headquarters in Abuja today July 5th, the National Publicity secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh said some of the party leaders are being threatened, particularly because of the emergence of its member, Senator Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President. Mr Metuh said the present government and APC should be held responsible if anything happens to Senator Ekweremadu. Full text of his speech below...
Gentlemen of the press,
We have called you up this Sunday afternoon to address you and through you alert all Nigerians and indeed the international community of a grievous development that constitutes a major threat to our democracy and lives as individuals.
As we address you today, our democracy is facing a serious danger. We are at the verge of a quick slide into dictatorship and the personal freedom entrenched in the polity in the last 16 years by the PDP is about to be obliterated.
We wish to alert all Nigerians and the international community that there is indeed a clear and present danger of threat to the lives of key opposition leaders in Nigeria.
In the last few weeks, key PDP members have become an endangered group for playing their opposition role in providing constructive criticisms to the ruling party in their apparent lack of capacity to get organized and form a government; their interference in the activities of the National Assembly and the demand for the implementation of their campaign promises to Nigerians.
As we address you today, some key leaders of our party have been under threat since the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly which did not go the way of the leadership of the APC, particularly, the election of PDP’s Senator Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President.
The leadership of the PDP has been made aware of various threats to life and other forms of intimidation and blackmail against Senator Ekweremadu from the APC.
As you may know, the APC leaders have not hidden their bitterness and resentment towards Senator Ekweremadu whose offense is the privilege of being elected by his colleagues (APC and PDP senators alike) as Deputy Senate President in line with the Standing Rules of the Senate and the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Since President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement that Senator Ekweremadu’s election was ‘unacceptable’ to his party, the Deputy Senate President, who can only be removed by the Senate has come under threats and intense pressure from APC leaders to resign and allow a senator from the ruling party to take his position.
However, having failed to get him to resign, the APC has now engaged in heinous plots to force him out of office, a design, which totally negates the independence of the legislature and the spirit and letters of the constitution of Nigeria.
Apparently to ensure that the agenda is given an official stamp, the Inspector General of Police, acting on instructions has invited the Deputy Senate President with a view to arresting him over phantom charges as a build up to incarcerate him, create a vacuum in the Senate and pave way for the imposition of APC preferred senator to take over his position.
“We are aware that some APC senators opposed to the emerge of Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively met last week and concocted a petition accusing the Deputy Senate President of altering the Senate Rules on the process of election of the Presiding Officers, upon which the police via a letter dated July 1, 2015 and signed by the Deputy Inspector General in charge of criminal investigation at the Force Headquarters has invited him to appeartomorrow, Monday, July 6, 2015where he will be detained and put under pressure.
Apart from the fact that the Nigerian Constitution clearly guarantees the two chambers of the National Assembly the powers to regulate their proceedings without external interferences, we note that the petition by this group of senators who enjoy the sympathy of some APC leaders lacks merit as Senator Ekweremadu or any other senator-elect prior to the inauguration of the Senate and the election of presiding officers, could not have been involved in the process of producing the 2015 Standing Rules of the Senate which was strictly done by the bureaucracy under the Clerk to the National Assembly.
Furthermore, Senator Ekweremadu was not in any way involved in the process other than being nominated for the position of the Deputy Senate President and could not have been privy to the secret ballot procedure adopted by the National Assembly bureaucracy, which has been widely adjudged as transparent and credible.
Also, apart from plans to use security apparatus against the Deputy Senate President, we have information that there are instructions to certain officials at the now National Electoral Commission to alter some electoral documents and records in order to create the impression that Senator Ekweremadu did not file proper documents for the general elections to eventually pave way for his removal.
In line with the above plot, the APC has been having secret meetings with some judges and lawyers to procure injunctions to prevent Senator Ekweremadu from playing his role as the Deputy Senate President.
We are also aware that part of the plot is a conspiracy to tarnish Senator Ekweremadu’s image and open him to public ridicule. Last Monday, some APC leaders met in Abuja to perfect a plot to blackmail the Deputy Senate President by planting outlandish publications against him in the media.
The PDP hereby states and in very clear terms too that the government and APC leaders should be held responsible should any harm come upon the Deputy Senate President or any of our party leaders for that matter. We state this because information available to us indicates that there are also plans to compromise security around the Deputy Senate President to make him vulnerable and open for sponsored violent attacks.
We do hope that the era of political assassination is not about to return to Nigeria and that our nation will not descent into a draconian regime where a strike force is created to hunt key opposition figures. In this wise, we call on our citizens to note that the PDP will not consider it a mere coincidence if our key leaders suddenly become victims of terror attacks or are suddenly killed by armed robbers. This is especially as we are aware that the APC has even gone to the ridiculous extent of trailing key PDP leaders and bugging their telephone lines.
This is in addition to hiring some disgruntled PDP members, to use the guise of an ethnic solidarity to create some disturbances, distractions and disruption of the smooth operations of our party. The APC is indeed in the process of elevating violence, ethnic and sectional interests once more in our democracy and we call on patriotic Nigerians across the country to resist this dangerous design.
We are aware that President Buhari, who had earlier restated his willingness to work with anybody elected by the legislature, has been put under intense pressure resulting in his statement on the emergence of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, which is now being misconstrued by some of his overzealous party members and security officials. We therefore urge the President to bear in mind that the onus therefore lies on him to moderate the political temperature of the country by calling his overbearing party members and security officials to order.
In Nigeria, the constitution empowers each chamber of the National Assembly to choose its leadership without external interferences. Senators in their wisdom and in exercise of that power, in line with the provisions of their Standing Rules chose Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu to lead them and the constitution is clear on the process for their removal from office.
The APC should not in any way take our civility, decency and commitment to national peace and stability for granted. They should rather be thankful to PDP senators, who in their maturity and discipline stuck to the decision of our party to support Senator Saraki and restrained themselves from using their majority status on the day of Senate inauguration to take over the positions of the Senate President and that of Deputy Senate President, while APC senators were busy attending their party meeting at the International Conference Center (ICC).
APC leaders must understand that no amount of threats, intimidation and blackmail will make the Deputy Senate President to abandon the mandate freely given to him by the Senate, or compel the PDP to abdicate its responsibility as an opposition party, a role we will continue to play with every sense of restrain, civility, maturity and patriotism.
On this note, we urge all our citizens, the civil society and indeed the international community to note the development in Nigeria; the onslaught against the opposition; the eroding of personal freedom, threats to lives, disruption of the legislative activities of the National Assembly, undermining of the independence of our electoral body and other dangerous signal that the nation may be on a slide to totalitarianism.
As a party that sustained and nurtured democracy in the last 16 years, the PDP cannot fold its hands and watch but will stand with all patriots in resisting this attempt to transform our country from a democratic state where the freedom of citizens to hold personal opinions and aspirations are guaranteed, to a nation where despotism, fear, clamp down on opposition and of course the media will be the order of the day.
Thank you
Chief Olisa Metuh
Electoral body has been stripped of its Independence, we reject Zakari as acting INEC Chairman - PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it would continue to demand the removal of the Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs. Amina Zakari as resolved in its 403rd National Working Committee (NWC) meeting, despite unwarranted attacks on its officials by the Presidency.
The party said it is privy to the fact that “Mrs. Zakari who has a strong relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari and a very prominent APC Northwest governor is collaborating with the ruling party to post Resident Electoral Commissioners of its choice to Kogi and Bayelsa ahead of the forthcoming governorship elections in those states.”
The PDP also alerted of moves to use the period of Mrs. Zakari’s stay as head of the commission to tinker with electoral personnel and materials for the two states in favour of the APC.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on Saturday said “President Buhari, in appointing Mrs. Zakari, failed to take into cognizance the moral call to detach himself from the operation of the electoral body thereby completely eroding the independence of the commission.
The party pointed out that the issue at stake is not that of Mrs. Zakari’s competence or performance in office but the fact of nepotism and her closeness to the President and some key APC leaders, which calls into question the independence of the electoral body under her.
“We want Nigerians to know that with this appointment, INEC has been stripped of its independence and can no longer command the confidence and respect of the citizens and all other critical stakeholders in the nation’s electoral process.
“We however find it astonishing, discouraging and disheartening that the spokesperson of the President will address Nigerians and lie to the entire citizenry that Mrs. Zakari never had any relationship with the President or an APC Governor in the Northwest. This is the height of deception coming from the respected office of the President of our dear country.
“We ask, is the spokesperson of the President, oblivious of the public fact that the Acting Chairman of INEC was once a staff of Afri-Project Consortium, a company well associated with the President?
“Is he by any means feigning ignorance of the fact that Mrs. Zakari also worked in the past as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Social Development and later, that of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Federal Capital Development Authority, then under a current APC governor of the Northwest?
“How much of Mrs. Zakari’s roles in the last general elections does the spokesperson of the President, who has just been appointed, know to warrant his brazen defence?
“Even where we concede to the worn-out argument that the President has the powers to appoint any person he deems fit as the INEC Chairman, does moral obligation not demand that in doing so he should take into cognizance the sensitivity of the position? Otherwise he can as well appoint his wife or brother as the electoral umpire on an argument of merit.
“Whilst the PDP might not be opposed to Mrs. Zakari becoming one out of the numerous national electoral commissioners to be so appointed, we completely reject her being an executive chairman who takes major decisions in an independent electoral commission while having a strong relationship with the President and a prominent APC Northwest governor.
“Indeed, never in the history of Nigeria has there been an executive chairman of the electoral body with such strong relationship with the president of the country.
“If therefore the stance and choice of words of the Presidential spokesperson, which apparently fall short of the civility of a democratic setting, reflect in any way those of President Buhari, then there is serious question on his credentials as a converted democrat.
“Conversely, we caution that presidential spokespersons in representing the President, must note that the psychology of their personal sudden flight to political limelight should not engineer a trauma of monumental deceit to our great nation”, the PDP said.
Insisting that Mrs. Zakari must be removed, the PDP said having in the last 16 years reformed the nation’s electoral system to an enviable status that is being commended by the international community, it cannot sit back and watch too early in the day, its gradual destruction by partisan interest.
The party therefore urged Nigerians, especially key stakeholders in the democratic process “to rise above sectional, religious, gender and partisan biases and put the independence of INEC, the credibility of the electoral process and the overall interest of the nation above every other consideration in their comments and views on the appointment.”
The PDP stressed that as long as the Acting Chairman remains in office, it would not recognize the electoral body as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but as the National Electoral Commission (NEC).
Signed:
Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary
One Month After Inauguration, we are still cleaning your mess - Presidency replies PDP's Assessment
The Presidency has replied the PDP's assessment of President Buhari's administration one month after inauguration.
Olisa Metuh, the Spokesperson of PDP had in a statement released yesterday called on Nigerians to pray for the Buhari led administration, saying that it has been all motion but no movement.
In a swift reaction, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina in a statement released tonight said the new administration is cleaning the filth of the last one
“It is amusing to read what the National Publicity Secretary of the defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, considers a 30 days appraisal of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. He wants Nigerians to join hands in prayers for the government, so that things would begin to move.
What he does not know is that Nigerians had long formed such coalition. They are hands in hands, and that was what gave victory to President Buhari in the March 28, 2015 poll. They had teamed up to uproot an administration that had brought the country to her knees, and was about to tip her off the precipice. And Nigerians have resolved that never would they allow any government to divide them along regional, religious and ethnic fault lines again. The Buhari administration is naturally contemplative because there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the way PDP ran the country, particularly in the immediate past dispensation.
That is why the Augean Stable is being cleaned now, and it requires scrupulous and painstaking planning. Across all sectors, our national life was devalued, and it takes meticulousness and sure-footedness to repair all the breaches. This, the Buhari administration will deliver.
Metuh talks of people round the President conniving with bureaucrats to syphon money from the treasury. This must be deja vu, as it was the pastime of the immediate past administration, and the enormity of the sleaze will be evident when stolen money, to the tune of billions of dollars, is recovered, and returned to the national treasury soon. In the process of time, after all that is being planned by the current administration has matured, and bearing fruits, Nigerians will be able to determine who is serving them acceptably, and who has taken them for a ride. It is just a matter of time. Meanwhile, Metuh and his masters can only rue the missed opportunities to make salutary impact on the lives of Nigerians. They have a long road of regrets to travel,” the statement said.
APC Reacts to PDP's call for Fashola's Administration to be Probed(Report)
The Lagos state chapter of APC has reacted to calls by members of the PDP in the state asking the incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode to probe the administration of former governor, Babatunde Fashola.
APC reacted in a statement released by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Joe Igbokwe today June 24th. The statement in part reads
“Lagos PDP has lost it and is in a journey of self derision and ridicule. APC is not surprised that Lagos PDP continues to demonstrate traits that show it as a jesting group that has no meaningful thing to contribute to the growth and progress of Lagos.
We would have thought that Lagos PDP would, for once, be moved by moral imperatives to demand that President Muhammadu Buhari probe and punish the perpetrators of what is becoming the most horrifying economic crime done to Nigeria by the PDP mandarins especially in the past 16 years.
They are not, rather they are asking Governor Ambode to ‘probe’ the poster regime for productive and accountable governance in this republic. What a party? We want to let the lost and confused parodists in Lagos PDP know that Governor Ambode has hit the ground running just because he has a rich template of productive governance to continue with,” the party said.
"Stop Offering Excuses" - PDP to President Buhari
Below is a Press statement by the PDP...
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as evasive, diversionary and preemptive, the present government’s pile up of excuses for possible failure in delivering on its campaign promises to Nigerians.
The PDP said it is unfortunate that President Mohammadu Buhari and the APC, who were privy to the nation’s dwindling economy occasioned by global economic downturn and fall in international oil price, even before the start of the campaigns, chose to deceive Nigerians with bogus promises, only to now resort to excuses after using the promises to secure power at the center.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on Tuesday said the party notes with dismay, President Buhari’s statement on Monday that Nigerians should not expect much from his first 100 days in office on claims that he met “virtually an empty treasury and huge debts”, noting that such only underlines the fact that the present administration is really not equipped to face the challenges of governance.
“While we restate our resolve to engage only in credible and issue based opposition, we want the President and the APC to note that their plea for patience from Nigerians does not arise, because ab-initio, there has not been any indication that they are actually serious and determined to deliver on their campaign promises upon which they rode to power.
“Of course Nigerians are willing to support and cooperate with the President, but we are worried that the pictures emerging from his presidency and his party do not in any way inspire hope in the citizenry, especially as they have continued to show that theirs is ostensibly a matter of obtaining power by false pretenses.
“President Buhari and the APC must know that Nigerians did not give them the mandate to engage in frivolous excuses and pleas but to hit the ground running with solutions and quick fixes they promised during the campaigns.
We ask, is President Buhari’s statement an admission of poor knowledge of national and international economic affairs or does it underscore the lack of capacity and skills by the administration to effectively harness and galvanize resources and potential inherent in Nigeria which has already been nurtured as Africa’s largest economy and one of the fasted growing in the world.
“Even if Nigerians decide to wait endlessly, we wonder how much the President can achieve amidst the flip-flops from his presidency and cacophony of interests from his party leaders struggling to enlarge their selfish political and economic frontiers.
“How can one reconcile President Buhari’s statement with the recent ridiculous and misleading claim by APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed that this administration has achieved in three weeks what the immediate past administration did not achieve in five years?
“Since after their electoral victory, the APC and the President have continued to expose their lack of commitment towards their campaign promises.
“We recall that on May 5, 2015, twenty-four days before his inauguration, President Buhari at a meeting with APC leaders in Abuja opened the excuse galore when he expressed his nervousness to deliver in office, adducing that ‘Rome was not built in a day’.
“We also recall that in their attempt to find an escape route in one of their bogus campaign promises, the APC denied that the President ever promised Nigerians that they will end insurgency two months after inauguration but had to swallow their words after the PDP confronted them with the April 22, 2015 CNN interview where Buhari made that promise.
“Indeed, we empathize with the President knowing that the confusion and clear lack of direction in his party have not helped matters, but we urge him to rise up to the challenge, take urgent steps and disentangle himself from the selfish and unpatriotic tendencies of APC leaders, especially given the fact that Nigerians gave him a mandate for which they will continue to hold him accountable.
“Finally, the PDP restates that it is eager to see the APC and the President unveil their economic roadmap and blueprint for governance so as to enable us through robust opposition, provide credible alternatives and options for their policies and programmes in the overall interest of our dear nation”.
Signed:
Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary
Agree? Buhari’s Government has done in 3-weeks what PDP Failed to do in 6yrs - APC
The APC says President Buhari has done in three weeks what the PDP government under Jonathan administration could not do in the 6 years they were in power.
The party stated this in a statement signed and released by its National publicity secretary Lai Mohammed. Read below...
"Within three weeks of President Buhari’s inauguration, he had done what the PDP government could not do in six years: Invigorate the fight against Boko Haram by rallying a regional and global front against the terror group. Today, the US has pledged to give $5 million for the fight against Boko Haram, in addition to other material support. This is apart from the support that has been pledged by the G-7 for Nigeria’s efforts to quell the insurgency.
Thanks to President Buhari’s shuttle diplomacy, the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) that the PDP government could not bring together for all of six years is ready to deploy next month, while the President has ordered the release of $21 million to facilitate the establishment of the headquarters of the force in N’Djamena, Chad. Since assuming office about three weeks ago, President Buhari has visited Chad, Niger, Germany and South Africa, winning support and friends for Nigeria all over again and returning the country to the comity of respected nations.
Those who were put off by the PDP government’s resort to politicizing the fight against Boko Haram – even as the insurgents grew stronger – are now joining President Buhari to battle the terrorists. In no distant future, the results of his tireless efforts will begin to show.
On the domestic front, President Buhari has been handling pressing issues far away from the klieg light, and his efforts to assembly a first class team to implement his change mantra, which he is personally driving, are continuing apace.
We in the APC, and we are sure most unbiased Nigerians, are very proud of President Buhari and the vigour he has shown in governance, the kind of vigour we did not see in the immediate past administration that was presided over by a far younger man”.
"Stop Making Mockery Of Governance"- PDP To APC
Read the press statement below by PDP...
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Presidency to stop making mockery of governance with premature celebration of imaginary achievements except if the intention is to set up President Muhammadu Buhari for national and international ridicule.
The party said it was embarrassing that the APC and aides of President Buhari decided to invade the minds of Nigerians with propaganda and tissues of lies instead of assisting the President who was inaugurated three weeks ago to settle down, form a government and deliver his campaign promises to Nigerians.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on Thursday said “the nation and democrats world over were thoroughly embarrassed by the frivolous list of so-called achievements which has further exposed APC’s lack of capacity and direction as well as the inability to draw a line between propaganda by an opposition party and disseminating of credible information as a party in government”.
“How can a serious government start shouting achievements and make bogus claims on the fight against terrorism when the effort is apparently losing steam as insurgents who had already been pushed to the verge of surrender in the Sambisa forest by the Goodluck Jonathan administration are now surging back into the country under the APC-led government?
“How can a serious government shout achievement based on pledges by foreign interests, a dangerous slide towards neo-colonialism, instead of settling down to galvanize bequeathed resources and potentials that have already placed our great country as one of the fastest emerging economic and political powers in the world?
“How can a serious government shout achievement and attempt to explain away the untidy fact that after three weeks, it has not been able to organize itself even to take basics steps of conventional appointments such as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief of Staff to the President and advisers in key sectors of the economy.
We ask, is the APC celebrating that fact that due to its naivety and delays, key sectors of our nation’s economy are dangerously drifting with a perilous crippling of foreign and domestic investments including activities in the money and capital market sectors?
“Our promise has been to engage in credible opposition and provide alternatives and options to the policies and programmes of the APC-led Federal Government in the general interest of the nation, but alas, in less than one month, even with the stability bequeathed by the Jonathan administration, we have only witnessed inexcusable confusion and administrative naivety in the handling of important issues as seen in their poor outing at the inauguration of the National Assembly, unnecessary delays in the setting up of structure for the executive arm and the worrisome inability to urgently provide a national economic direction, among others.
“This is a party and government that promised Nigerians that they will hit the ground running once elected into office but what we have seen so far is a government and party that hit the ground and remained on the same spot for sheer inexperience and unpreparedness for governance.
“We therefore urge the APC to stop embarrassing the nation with premature and unsubstantiated celebration of imaginary achievements especially if they ever want to be credible and responsible people, as sincerity and not propaganda remains the hallmark of trustworthy administration.
"The APC should not by any means attempt to use its flimsy list to divert attention from its numerous campaign promises for which the people are holding them accountable.
“We wish to inform the APC that the Nigerians will not take anything short of the commencement of the payment of monthly N5, 000 each to 25 million poor citizens beginning from the end of this month; ending of insurgency by the end of July as promised by President Buhari in his April 2, 2015 CNN interview; payment of monthly allowance to discharged but unemployed Youth Corps members, free meals to school children and bringing the naira to the same value with the dollar; among other bogus promises upon which they gained access to power.
“Finally, we advise the Presidential spokespersons to allow Nigerians to judge the President as events and time will prove exactly the taste of the old wine”, the PDP said.
Signed:
Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary
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