₦airaland Forum

[size=14pt]Aftermath Of Manipulated Ward Congress: Mass Defection Of PDP Members Into APC Imminent In Akwa Ibom[/size]

by News Editor on Nov 2, 2014

Determined to neutalise the plan by Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Obot Akpabio to impose his candidate on the state in the coming governorship election, some aspirants to political offices who felt alienated in the just concluded ward congress in the state are planning to move into the All Progressives Congress APC en masse.
Indications to this effect emerged shortly after the ward congress in Akwa Ibom during which case, the governor allegedly manipulated the process to push the names of his favourites as delegates who will elect the next political office holders in Akwa Ibom state later this months

Indications are rife therefore, that the PDP in Akawa Ibom will on Monday forwarward the names of delegates that had been compiled not elected to the national headquarters of PDP for ratification.

The State governor, had already worked in concert with the officials of PDP at the National level in ensuring the zoning of the governorship slot of Akwa Ibom to Eket Senatorial District in line with his initial plan of encouraging the State Secretary to the Government SSG, Emmanuel Udum to pick the slot.

The alienated aspirants who were interested in the National Assembly seats had complained about the alleged heavy manipulation of the ward congress election by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at the instance of the state governor

There have been reports that the ward congress in Akwa Ibom ended in fracas on Saturday, as members of the electoral panel who conducted the poll allegedly played along with the governor of the state in manipulating the process.

According to reports, the panel members who were camped in the government House on arrival released the electoral materials for the agents of the state governor, who allegedly filled in the names of the governors’ surrogates as delegates.

It was gathered that on Saturday, all the PDP governorship, senatorial and house of Representatives aspirants had mobilised to the PDP headquarters in anticipation of supervising the electoral process only to discover that fake forms on the ward congress were being distributed by the PDP’s Electoral Panel.

More of those who lost out in the ward congress election, according to reports were even governorship aspirants from Eket Senatorial District where the governorship slot of Akwa Ibom was officially zoned to by PDP, since they were equally shut out of the voting process.

A candidate who gave a vivid account of what happened in Akwa Ibom disclosed that aspirants from Eket who had all along been tagging along with Akpabio and his henchmen said it was too late for them to discover that Akpabio had no plan to make them participate in the electoral process having settled for Emmanuel Udum, his SSG.

The aspirants who were said to have been disappointed with the turn of events, according to reports have been holding joint meetings with a view to taking the next line of action, most of them having agreed never to support Akpabio in imposing a candidate on the state in 2014.

It is doubtful where the governorship aspirants in PDP would be cross-carpeting into the APC, since former Minister, Akpan Udoedehen had already position himself to take the APC governorship ticket in the state having been in control of the party since 2011 when he lost to Akpabio.

[size=14pt]APC and Its Troubled Ward Congress[/size]

12 Apr 2014

Newspaper readers would have noticed the following headlines all through the week: ‘Faction calls for cancellation of Gombe APC Ward congress.’ ‘One killed, five arrested over Bauchi APC Congress.’ ‘Disquiet in Bayelsa APC over ward congress.’ ‘Rep seeks dissolution of APC in parts of Lagos.’ Senatorial Aspirant’s House set Ablaze over Edo APC Congress.’’ ‘‘Oshiomhole Explains Ward Congress Cancellation.’’  The above are newspaper headlines days after the ward congress of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC. The story is the same all over the country. A shameful replay of imposition, manipulation, rigging and poor planning. For the party, it has been a week of trying to mend broken fences and those that are about to break.

A member of the party and representative of Ifako-Ijaye Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, and deputy chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon. Abayomi Ogunnusi, was the only notable party leader who has been ‘bold’ enough in the state to condemn the exercise. Yet, from one local government to the other, it is tales of discontent, protests, violence, imposition and open brigandage. Ogunnusi said there would be massive crisis in the party if results of the congress in some wards and local governments were not cancelled.

“The massive protests across most of the local government areas are a proof of the sham congresses held in the state. In my ward, Ward C in Ifako-Ijaiye, the congress did not hold due to fights among members over allegations that some people wanted to manipulate the polls. I personally sent in a petition over it and will oppose any result issued from that ward or any other where congress did not hold. The violence that trailed the congress is a warning that the people are no longer ready to accept rigging or manipulations of any form,” Ogunnusi had stated. 

Out of the 377 wards where congresses election were held on 5 April, the committee saddled with the responsibility of conducting the exercise declared re-run in 102 wards, slated for 10 April.

Across the state, it has been protests galore this week. A party member from Ikeja Local Government, Great Jonathan, from Ward B, who led the protest, wondered why his ward was excluded from the list of where there would be re-run when congress did not hold there.

“We sent in our petition just like others and we are shocked to see the publication this morning announcing re-run in some wards and excluding our ward. We will go to any level to protest this marginalisation,” he said.

It was a different case for Benson Adepoju, from Kosofe Council Ward F, who said their protest was for their being included in the re-run after the committee had issued them return certificate for winning in the congress. “We held congress in our ward and we received the certificate of re-runs dully signed. What is amazing today is that we saw our ward in the list of wards for re-run and no one is explaining it to us.”

Demola Doherty, a former chair of Ifako Ijaiye Local Government, said of the seven wards in the area where congresses were not held, only one was slated for a re-run. “There was no congress in any of the seven wards in the council. Based on our protest over last Saturday, they included just ward C2 for re-run which is unacceptable to us.”

In Bauchi, one person was killed during the congress in the state while in Edo State, the house of senatorial hopeful, Theophilus Okoh, was torched during the exercise. Hoodlums, loyal to those who lost out during the congress, were said to have invaded Okoh’s house around 2a.m and set the house on fire.

The cause of this entire furore, according to sources, was the fact that legacy parties in areas and states they are strong wanted to ensure that only their original members emerged party leaders. This was the cause of the crisis in Lagos and other places.

Again, this has brought to the fore the chicanery across political parties in the country. The ruling PDP is known for imposition and impunity, at least in the estimation of the APC and even ordinary observers. Now, if the APC, the only alternative to the PDP could not organise a rancour-free ward congress, it remains to be seen which change the party will offer if saddled with the responsibility of holding power at the centre.

On its part, the Peoples Democratic Party has been gloating and celebrating the controversial congress  describing the entire exercise as a huge embarrassment to democracy, the big show of shame that the All Progressives Party, APC, passed off, as ward congress.
“It is an irony that a party that daily claims it is on a mission to rescue Nigeria could not even conduct its own congress,” the PDP said.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, on Monday, gave the APC a heavy knock for the mind-boggling tales of imposition, cronyism, thuggery and general disdain for the elementary principles of democracy witnessed at the congress. The PDP said, “The savagery witnessed in the exercise which came eight months after the registration of the party, offers a glimpse into the confusion and brutality that will be the order of the day if the APC is allowed to hold power in 2015.

“A passerby would have thought the so called APC congress was a meeting of thugs as detailed hooligans took over the process on the directives of their party overlords and dealt harshly with members who dared to contest for positions already appropriated to handpicked stooges of the owners of the party. From Lagos to Borno, Rivers to Zamfara, the story is consistently the same; a tale of cronyism, thuggery, violence and general disregard for the principles of democracy.”  The PDP declared triumphantly that  the congress have not only exposed the APC as a disorganised party but also a “camp replete with political vampires ready to devour even their own.”

The party said it was now very clear to other members of the so called ‘Legacy Parties’ that ganged up with the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, to form the APC that ‘all animals are equal but some are more equal than others’.

“Not only did those from the old ACN emasculate their so-called partners, but also they did so in the most uncivilised and barbaric manner, deploying thugs, and using official state apparatus to ensure that they had their way.

In states where the owners of the party felt they could not have their way, the process was manipulated to create confusion resulting in the shelving of the exercise. For instance, while the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Lai Mohammed, was announcing that the congress would go on nationwide as planned, the APC chairmen in Rivers, Plateau, Bauchi and the FCT announced the postponement of the exercise in their state,” the PDP alleged.

According to the PDP, the situation was so bad that the congress was cancelled in Adamawa and Katsina while in Kano and Sokoto, there was no voting as both states chose their ward officials via a strange ‘consensus’ option.

“These are the ‘progressives’ and ‘democrats’ that want to rescue Nigeria,” the PDP mocked. Stating that the APC has no business in a democracy, the PDP said the opposition party should be honourable enough to commence the process of its own disbandment.

“This is the same party that called the Independent National Election Commission, INEC, names and asked for the resignation of its board over the conduct of the Anambra elections due to slight hitches experienced in that exercise. Will the APC now be honourable enough to call for its own disbandment seeing as they have experienced not slight, but massive hitches in their own congress? If the APC cannot manage its own internal affairs, how can it manage a country as complex as Nigeria?” the PDP queried.

At the end of the day, it will come down to Nigerians having to choose between the two side of a rusty coin, irrespective of how one party tries to airbrush itself from the other. There is no difference.

[size=14pt]PDP Wants Suit on Cross River Delegates Election Dismissed[/size]

15 Nov 2014

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has asked the Federal High Court to dismiss a suit filed by some members of the party in Cross River State praying for a restraining order on the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu'azu, from using the result of the ward congresses other than the hand-written results submitted by the electoral panel.

The panel had submitted a hand-written document in a plain sheet as result of the ad hoc delegates’ election from Cross River State as opposed to the results contained in the official result sheet compiled by the ward and local government collation officers across the 196 council wards and the 18 local government areas of the state.

The solicitors to the party, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) and Paul Erokoro (SAN) filed a preliminary objection to the suit, saying the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi to file the suit.

They argued that an ad hoc delegate did not have a legal right to sue the party as their responsibility was merely ad hoc .

They further contended that ad hoc delegates only constitute about 50 per cent of the entire delegates required for the electoral college for party primaries while the remaining 50 per cent were statutory delegates.

It was their contention that "only candidates have the right to sue the party. Ad hoc delegates are not candidates or aspirants."

The Senior Advocates further argued that the decision of the National Executive Committee on the ad hoc delegate’s process was final and not subject to litigation by any party member.

They further maintained that the suit was a breach of the constitution of the party and the guidelines of the party primaries.

The court adjourned the case to November 18.

After Mandela’s release from jail in 1990, he visited Nigeria, and received a $10 million campaign contribution for the ANC. There were great expectations that these developments would mark the birth of a strong alliance between Africa’s two powerhouses.

M16:
Point of correction. Alhaja Lateefa Okunnu is the mother of Justice Okunnu

anonimi:
Wetin you expect the guy to say na
And MEETing once is more than enough sef

patwilly:
Naptu why is Nyako wearing a beard? isn't it unmilitary?

DogKings:
;DWat intrested me most was the kind of cars they used! And Gen. Sani Abacha

willorie:
SUV back then ehn
u no fid compare them with the ones we have now
JEEZ! I no fid laugh

Truman155:
babangida steal bongos ikwe wife no comment

Remii:
in the middle is Prof Aliyu Babs Fafunwa