₦airaland Forum

Money rituals?

May God rescue our nation from these political jobbers who are only interested in bleeding our economy to a state of Severe Anaemia.

A growing number of politicians are making moves for a realignment of political power in Nigeria towards a new political party, THISDAY has learnt. This is amid crisis in the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and conflicting interests in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

It was gathered that discussions among politicians from the two leading parties towards the floating of a new party started in earnest some months ago, and it was fast gathering momentum. Insiders said the new political move had the support of some serving governors from both the APC and PDP, key principal officers of the National Assembly, and some aggrieved political leaders across the six geo-political zones. A former senate president, Ken Nnamani, is being prevailed upon to act as the arrow-head of the emerging party, it is gathered.

Nnamani announced his resignation from PDP on February 6, saying, the party had abandoned “the path of its noble vision and values”. He was elected Senate President in 2003. In his statement titled, “PDP, the Burden and My Conscience,” Nnamani said he was fed up with the state of things in the party. But said he was quitting “without any iota of bitterness.”

He stated, “I do not believe I should continue to be a member of the PDP as it is defined today. This is certainly not the party I joined years ago to help change my country. I do not also believe that the PDP, as it is managed today, will provide an opportunity for me to continue to play the politics of principles and values, which I set for myself as a young man on leaving graduate school and working for a large multinational in the United States in the 70s and 80s.”

Nnamani did not announce an intention to join any political party, but he promised to remain politically active.
A former Senate Chief Whip, who chose not to be named, confirmed the emerging political moves. He said, “Go and talk to many political elites across the country today, you will hear and confirm huge frustration among them. Nobody seems to be happy with what is happening in the APC and the PDP. And some of us have come to a conclusion that there is urgent need to have a new and credible platform to save this country.

“You will be shocked to know that the agitation for a new political platform is more pronounced in the North, in spite of the fact that we currently have a sitting president from the North. It shows how frustrated people are in the country today.”

Another enthusiast of the emerging political grouping, who is a prominent leader of APC, also told THISDAY in confidence, “The hope that things will change for the better, with President Muhammadu Buhari in power, is being dashed by the day. As I speak with you today, the soul of the APC is gone. Go to the national secretariat of the party, they will tell you.”

It was learnt that some desperate efforts recently by concerned leaders of APC to iron out things among themselves were frustrated by the political hawks around Buhari, who are already strategising for 2019.

“What you are likely to have in the coming months is a congregation of old PDP members in the APC pulling out to form a formidable political party with some progressive-minded members of the present PDP,” the APC leader said last night in Abuja.

The special caucus meeting held last week by APC was said to be part of the measures to halt the tide of disenchantment, which promises to seriously threaten the ruling party. Very little was achieved by the meeting following the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari, who was unavoidably absent. But another meeting is being contemplated for this week, where aggrieved APC members would be expected to table their grievances before the party and the government.

Many APC members are said to be calling for the removal of the national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, citing poor leadership. It is suspected that the replacement for Odigie-Oyegun would come from the North as part of a grand plan to put the president in a position of comfort as far as party administration is concerned. But that is expected to meet with resistance, as party leaders from other parts of the country are likely to oppose the idea. Generally, many leaders of the party are said to be unhappy with the current status of the party and the government, having been shut out of the decision-making process, despite their commitment to the success of the party.

One of the problems believed to be delaying the manifestation of the idea of a new party, according to the promoters, is the question of the personality around which the party will be built. They want a personality that would sell, like Buhari did, for the APC.

Indications of how the politicians are readjusting towards the eventual formation of a new party are clearer in PDP. The party has lurched from one crisis to the next since it lost the general election to APC last year. The high turnover of PDP national chairmen since the election is symptomatic of the crisis within.

Adamu Muazu resigned under pressure as PDP national chairman on May 20 last year, accused of leading the former ruling party to a devastating defeat at the polls. He was replaced by Haliru Bello, who was appointed acting national chairman on May 25 last year and was sacked on February 10 this year. Bello was succeeded by the PDP deputy national chairman, Uche Secondus, who worked in acting capacity until February 16, when he handed over to the newly-appointed national chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff. Sheriff’s appointment has been enmeshed in controversy.

Though, PDP says it has resolved its leadership crisis following an agreement to let Sheriff run the affairs of the party for three months, until the national convention, when a new national leadership of the party would be elected. There are fears that PDP may come out of the national convention more divided than it went in. This is due to the very huge likelihood of a clash between the PDP governors, who were the main force behind Sheriff’s emergence as national chairman, and other groups and interests in the party that had opposed his choice.

In recent times, some prominent PDP members have resigned from the party without joining other parties, in what is seen as a strategic move to help nurture the expected new political platform. Besides Nnamani, Samuel Ogbemudia and Dalhatu Sarki Tafida have recently left PDP, but did not defect to other parties.

In APC, the National Assembly has been the main theatre of war. Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara won their positions last June against the wish of the party, in connivance with PDP legislators. Sources say Saraki’s current trial by the Code of Conduct Bureau may prepare the ground for the consolidation of the moves towards a new party. Both Saraki and Dogara belong to a bloc within the party, the New PDP, which believed they needed to be compensated for their contributions to the victory of APC.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/index.php/2016/02/28/with-crisis-in-pdp-discordant-interests-in-apc-politicians-realigning-for-new-party/

Old news

CRISIS looms in Otukpo the political seat of the Benue South senatorial district, as plots to assassinate former Senate president, Senator David Mark, ahead of the Saturday, February 20, 2016, rerun election for Benue South, has been uncovered.



Nigerian Tribune gathered that police said to be attached to the convoy of the state deputy governor, Mr Benson Abounu, fired several gunshots into the residence of the former number three citizen around 10.30p.m, on Sunday.



The media director of Mark, Dr Adakoleh Elijah, who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune on phone, on Monday, said the same police escort on the convoy of the deputy governor, had earlier in the day, shot at Marks’s family house along Enugu road in Otukpo.



Though no reason was given for the unprovoked attack and no arrest made so far, Elijah said shells were recovered from Marks’s house, shortly after the police shot at the house.



He explained that the shells were the exhibit taken to the Divisional Police Officer in Otukpo, where complaints were lodged.



When contacted, the state police spokesman, ASP Moses Yamu, said he was yet to receive any brief concerning the incident.



But in a swift reaction, the press secretary to the deputy governor, Mr Ede Ogaba Ede, said nothing of such nature happened, saying, “there was no shooting at the residence of Mark, and such information has not been brought to the knowledge of the deputy governor.”



He added that nothing could have warranted such provocation on the former senate president, which he described as “unwarranted and mischievous”, adding that should anything happen to Mark, his men should be held responsible.



It will be recalled that former Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, had raised the alarm a few weeks ago about the plot by elements in APC, that had listed many of the supporters of Mark for elimination, in a bid to win the rerun scheduled for this Saturday.



Meanwhile, a press statement issued by Media Assistant to Mark, Paul Mumeh, on Monday, noted that following the threat by APC stalwarts in the state to unleash terror on the PDP men in the zone, Senator Mark had alerted the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase of the plot by the APC stalwarts in Benue to assassinate him.



While reacting, the state chairman of APC, Comrade Abba Yaro said it is PDP that has vowed to import thugs from Niger/Delta through Enugu to Ogbadibo, saying, “we are ready for anything, we will give them thugs for thugs if they do not want free and fair electionhttp://tribuneonlineng.com/they-want-to-kill-me-mark-alleges

Corruption is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation's progress.

Saraki ought to do the needful, hence he will be politically 'neked'.

Corruption is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabric of Nation progress.

Senate President Bukola Saraki has made fresh moves to reach out to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, following the Supreme Court judgment on his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

The Supreme Court had on February 5 ruled that Saraki’s trial should continue at the CCT. The apex court had affirmed the propriety of Saraki’s trial at the CCT on 13 counts of false asset declaration.

In the 13 counts initiated by the Federal Government, Saraki was said to have made false asset declaration in his forms at the Code of Conduct Bureau as a two-term governor of Kwara State.

The CCT had on Friday said Saraki’s trial would resume on March 10.

It was reliably gathered that since February 5, Saraki had been making moves to indirectly reach out to Buhari and Tinubu.

A top government source, who confided in SUNDAY PUNCH, said Saraki could not reach out directly to Buhari on the matter because he knew the President’s disposition to such issues.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that the Senate President resorted to sending emissaries to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo when Buhari was on a six-day vacation and Osinbajo was the acting President.

The delegation was reportedly led by the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume.

The source said the Vice-President made his position and that of the President clear to Saraki’s emissaries.

He said, “Saraki knows the kind of person the President is and I think he won’t approach him directly on this matter.

“But yes, I can tell you that he is reaching out indirectly.

“He sent emissaries to meet with the Vice-President when the President was on vacation and the Vice-President was on the chair in acting capacity.

“The emissaries had met with the Vice-President under the cover of the developments about the 2016 budget.

“In the process, they put the issue of Saraki forward.

“Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, however, made it equivocally clear to them that the two issues could not be mixed. He told them that the issue of the budget was different from the trial of Saraki.”

Ndume had on Tuesday led some of his colleagues, including Dino Melaye, Abdullahi Adamu and Monsurat Sumonu to meet Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

At the end of the closed-door session, Ndume told State House correspondents that the meeting reviewed some developments in the polity, including the issue of the 2016 budget currently before the National Assembly.

While saying that it would not be a new thing if people read meanings into their visit, Ndume had claimed that his delegation did not discuss Saraki’s travails with the Vice-President.

He was however quick to rise in support of the Senate President when his opinion was sought on the calls by his colleagues in the Unity Forum that Saraki should resign.

“Are you saying that the Senate President should be convicted before the trial? In our constitution, you are considered innocent until proven guilty,” he had said.

For Tinubu, it was gathered that Saraki had reached out to not less than 10 opinion leaders and clerics to visit the APC leader at his home in Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Saraki and Tinubu fell out in June last year when he defied the directive of the APC and became the Senate President under controversial circumstances.

The Senate President further ensured that Tinubu’s preferred candidates were denied principal offices at the Senate.

The former governor of Lagos State subsequently broke all communication with Saraki, describing him in an open letter as an ‘indisciplined and disloyal man who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party in soul.’

Another reliable source told one of our correspondents that Tinubu was not interested in Saraki’s latest peace moves.

He said, “Access from Saraki’s camp has been blocked. Tinubu has been disappointed in every way. It was the party that picked Ahmed Lawan. He was not Tinubu’s initial candidate but he did it all the same.

“So, he has decided to (wash his) hands and will not say a word again regarding Saraki.

“Efforts have intensified since Saraki’s recent CCT trouble but Tinubu has been out of the country. He has been in Guinea for the last five days.

“We have been informed that Saraki is working with a team of people in Ilorin that will storm Lagos. Top leaders there including Muslim clerics are being put together to visit Lagos and mediate on his behalf but Tinubu is not interested.”

He added, “There is no deal to be made anymore. Saraki never conceded anything. He did not give any of our people any principal position. He then went ahead to increase the number of Senate committees by fiat just to placate those that have been following him to court.

“Every concession was denied. The approval of ministers had nothing to do with Tinubu. It was purely between him and President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Tinubu has moved on. He has been visiting African countries, supporting other democracies in West Africa.”

“Saraki should go and get good lawyers. As you can see, attempts to remove the CCT chairman did not work. Attempts to stop the trial at the Supreme Court have also failed.”

All attempts to reach the spokesperson for Tinubu, Mr. Sunday Dare, proved abortive as he did not respond to repeated telephone calls.

Saraki meets Buhari regularly — Aide

When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuf Olaniyonu, said on Saturday that his principal had been having regular meetings with the President in recent times on national issues.

Olaniyonu, who spoke with one of our correspondents on telephone cited the most recent when both leaders jointly hosted the German President at the Aso Rock villa on Thursday night.

Saraki’s spokesperson however, said the regular parleys between Saraki and Buhari were purely on issues of national interest.

He said, “These two gentlemen hold two critical arms of government and they need to meet regularly to discuss issues of national importance.

“The issue of budget is there, insurgency and the economy generally. How can anybody think the Senate President will be seeking audience with the President on the issue of the CCT when there are serious national issues calling for attention?”

When asked if Saraki would reach out to the President, Olaniyonu said, “No comment.”

Before his recent moves to reach out to the President and Tinubu, Saraki had been facing renewed opposition from the Senate Unity Forum led by Senator Ahmed Lawan.

Lawan was supported for the senate presidency by the APC leaders and some party senators, while Saraki got the backing of all Peoples Democratic Party senators and some APC senators to emerge as senate president last year. Last week, the Lawan faction regrouped in a bid to force Saraki to resignhttp://www.punchng.com/cct-trial-saraki-reaches-out-to-buhari-tinubu-again/

Trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on 13 counts of false assets declaration is to resume March 10 before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Our correspondent confirmed that the CCT ‎issued hearing notices and served same on parties to the case on Friday.

This followed a letter written on behalf of the Federal Government by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), intimating the tribunal of the recent judgment of the Supreme Court validating the ‎trial.

It was learnt that Jacobs sent the letter with a copy of the Supreme Court’s judgment attached to it to the Danladi Umar-led CCT on Monday.

The Head, Press and Public Relations of the CCT, Mr. Ibraheem Al-hassan, confirmed to our correspondent that the tribunal issued and served hearing notices on the parties on Friday.

“We have issued and served the hearing notice today,” Alhassan saidhttp://www.punchng.com/sarakis-cct-trial-begins-march-10/

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has written the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), seeking a review of the June 21, 2014 governorship election and the prosecution of those accused of manipulating the poll.

The party which described the alleged poll fraud as “extraordinary shame of the nation and unprecedented in Nigeria’s electoral history,” maintained that the action of those indicted amounted to serious breach of the Constitution and Electoral Act.

In the petition endorsed by APC Chairman in Ekiti, Olajide Awe, a copy of which was made available to reporters in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, the party said the alleged fraud was a “criminal manipulation of the electoral process” insisting that all the personalities indicted must not go unpunished.

Awe contended that the review of the matter had become imperative in national interest and to prevent a cycle of politicians that could seize the reins of government through treason.

He said the petition which was the third to be forwarded to the office of the AGF was precipitated by the recent confessions on Channels Television by the Peoples Democratic Party secretary in Ekiti, Dr. Temitope Aluko, published and broadcast on other electric and print mediahttp://thenationonlineng.net/ekitigate-apc-writes-agf-demands-review-of-guber-poll/

This Wole Olanipekun is one of the best if not the best lawyer in Nigeria. He handled Tinubu's case at the CCT, he won. The same day, he went to defend GEJ against BUHARI at the Supreme Court following 2011 presidential elections, he conquered. In this political dispensation, he stood in for Ambode, Ajumobi and Wike. He succeeded.
Watch out

February five (5) Loading

retepmurt:
If your Leader falters, correct him.
If he stumbles, help him to his feet.
If he is of no use, POLE-AXE him.
It's high time David Mark was Politically pole-axed

pole-axe ke? David Mark, abeg make u step down on. It seems people are angry.

Former Senate President, David Mark, has come under mounting pressure to pull out of the February 13 Benue South senatorial rerun.

Ten groups, under the aegis of the United Idoma Citizens, on Sunday, called for Mark, who has been a senator since the return of democratic rule in 1999, to step down.

This comes barely one month after 10 other groups, under the aegis of the Conference of Idoma Pressure Groups, asked the senator to step down.

The UIC, in a statement by its coordinator, Sunday Ogbe, said it was time for Mark to step aside, having served as the political leader of the Idoma for sixteen years.

The group listed several abandoned projects by Mark, including the construction of Oweto Road, a dam in Otukpo and the University of Medical Sciences.

“Should this be a credit or a discredit since these projects are either nonexistent or levels of completion are still below 30 per cent?

“Why has Mark chosen to return to the Senate as a floor member, having served as the number three man in the nation for eight years.

“Mark’s 16 years in the Senate is a complete disaster. His achievements were only seen on the pages of newspapers and blogs.

“As the number three man in the nation for eight years, his kinsmen back home had no portable water,” the UIC said.

According to the group, the roads in Mark’s constituency are in deplorable condition and those the federal government paid for were not executed by his recommended contractors.

It added, “It is sad, yet shameful, that Mark is asking for votes from Idoma people he betrayed.

“He has been using the creation of Apa State as a gimmick to hoodwink our people.

“He promised to use the last drop of his blood to create Apa State; now the story has changed.”

The group described the former Senate President’s style of politics as divisive of Idoma West versus Idoma North.

It further accused Mark of supporting some purported Idoma elders, who asked the Federal Government to sack the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Air Vice Marshal Riku Morgan.

“We thank the Senator for his 16 years of ‘disservice’

to Idomaland and request that he kindly give way to the young and progressive Daniel Onjeh of the All Progressives Congress,” the UIC added.

http://www.punchng.com/rerun-pressure-mounts-on-david-mark-to-step-down/

Ekiti state!! 10 kings, 10 years.

Leader of the Social Democratic Party and former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, has said he has yet to return to the All Progressives Party.

He, however, said talks are ongoing to ensure his reconciliation with the APC.

Osoba defected from the APC in the build up to the 2015 general elections and co-founded the SDP.

The former APC chieftain spoke against the background of his current noticeable hobnobbing with chieftains of the ruling party.

Osoba on Saturday told our correspondent on the telephone that talks were in top gear between him and the top echelon of the APC on what he called “an amicable reconciliation.”

When asked if he had returned to the APC, Osoba replied, “No, no. But there is an ongoing discussion between us but there is no final decision yet. I believe that the good cause of the Yoruba and the nation will give us the grace to come to an amicable reconciliation.”

The ex-governor told our correspondent that the split between him and the other progressives prior to the 2015 general election was nothing personal.

He said the issues which led to his departure from the APC were being discussed and addressed in the ongoing talks.

Osoba noted that he had been a progressive and remained one; which was why he had not crossed to the conservatives.

He said, “They (his grievances) are part of what we are discussing. We are discussing the implementation of our constitution. It has been a major issue and we are discussing it.

“There was nothing personal about the whole thing. There was nothing personal amongst us. It was only issues affecting progressivism. I am still a progressive; that is why I won’t go to the conservative rank under any circumstance.”

The SDP chieftain, however, declined comments on the N100m allegedly given to the National Chairman of the SDP, Chief Olu Falae, by a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih, which was alleged to be part of the $2.1bn arms procurement fund diverted by former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, (retd.).

On what will be the fate of the SDP should his current talks with the APC become successful, Osoba said, “The SDP remains, because the party has elective members at all levels of legislation in the country. There are state assembly members and members of the House of Representatives.

“Virtually by law, the SDP remains a party. The Independent National Electoral Commission cannot deregister the SDP. But I don’t want to comment further on that.”

The ex-Ogun governor debunked insinuations that his supposed return to the APC fold was in preparation for the 2019 general election, saying it was too early to make such prediction and move.

He said, “The government is less than one year old and none of us is God. One must not predict tomorrow not to talk of predicting 2019http://www.punchng.com/i-am-reconciling-with-apc-osoba/

The support base of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State faces depletion as leaders and members of his party, PDP, in the state have perfected arrangement to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

50 of them, according to reliable sources in Ado-Ekiti and Osogbo, met with Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State in Osogbo, Wednesday, where they told him that they were in the Osun State capital to indicate their intention to join APC. Coming to Oshogbo, one of the sources said, was in consideration of Aregbesola as the serving APC governor closest to Ekiti.

Speaking on the Wednesday meeting, one of the PDP leaders, who spoke under strict condition of anonymity, told Sunday Vanguard that Fayose had run Ekiti PDP like his private estate and so did not deserve to continue to have them with himhttp://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/50-ekiti-pdp-leaders-set-defect-apc/

Chelsea, wa fe ku lale yi.

Obafemi ABOBAKU

FG temporarily shuts down Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, to re-organise and re-define the rules of engagement, says Health Minister Isaac Adewolehttp://www.leadership.ng/news/483829/fg-shuts-federal-medical-centre-owerri.

Heaven will not fall if you are removed.

Há

You are welcome back sir
Many of us are yet to be paid our salary
And make sure we are paid December salary before Christmas.
May change not take us from fire to frypan or verse versa
Once again, you are welcome

Chelsea win comes once in a month like a menstrual period.

dockokwus:
Dont allow Leadership newspaper give u heart attack When the real results start coming in o! Leadership is shamelessly pro pdp and have thrown basic tenets of journalism to the dogs.
Think about it, if their projections are correct,y didnt they post some of d results?
Even some of the results posted by other partisan outfits show a close contest,so where did Leadership get its comfortable lead for pdp?

The last time I checked,the publisher of leadership Newspaper was a chieftain of APC.

Federal workers are sure of getting their salaries paid next week.
Provided computers are not crashed again.

Kogi state needs political 'bailout'.

APC

Nawa o

Aspirants have Started running to the media to champion their course.
This stalemate is going to be a long running battle and the Supreme Court will have the last say.
Faleke doesn't have to contest for this primary, his contest will be in the court of law and i see him winning this contest eventually.
Unless he is prevailed on by the APC leaders not to pursue his aspiration.
My concern is even if Faleke doesn't approach the court, other aggrieved political parties will go to court and eventually Faleke may still be pronounced as the governor of Kogi state by the Supreme Court.