Why APC Will Lose Even In 2019 – Senator Reveals

Chief Victor Ndoma-Egba,
leader of the Senate, has
said the All Progressives Congress (APC) has not set up structures that are required of a political party to
win elections and therefore will
not win in 2015 and even 2019.

He said APC still lacks party
secretariats in most states of the
federation, including senatorial
offices, local government
chapters and ward executives,
saying the party is only carrying
out a campaign of calumny
against the PDP.

According to him, PDP will
continue to win elections while
the APC will be defeated in all the
three tiers of government even in
2019, as it still exists only on
pages of newspapers, radio and
television broadcasts.

Victor said Nigerians will know
they are ready to win and battle
for power when they have put up
the structures required in all the
three levels of government.

"What I have seen on papers and
television regarding APC does
reflect on the actual position and
strength of the party.

"PDP will continue to win
elections in Nigeria because it is
the only political party that put all
the necessary structures in place,
right from the federal level down
to the local government ," he said.

The Senator added that Nigeria
will conduct peaceful elections
and transit to another
administration, as those who
have predicted the disintegration
of the country will realise that the
largest country in Africa is
indivisible and indissoluble.

"Nigerians have agreed to stay
together and they have seen
democracy as the best option; so
let us surmount every challenge
and become one of the greatest
countries of the world", he said.

Amaechi Has A Message For Rivers People About PDP, SEE What He Said

Gov. Rotimi Amaechi
of Rivers State has
called on supporters of
the All Progressives Congress,
APC to get ready to mobilise so
as to vote out the Peoples
Democratic Party in the state.
Amaechi made this call during a
New Year visit to inaugurate 100
motorcycles to begin the
registration of APC members in
Tai Local Government Area.

He said, "On the day of the
election in 2015, I want you (the
people of Tai) to support the All
Progressives Congress, vote out
PDP and you will get the
implementation of the UNEP
report.

"In the 2011 elections, (Tai
people) were among those who
voted President (Goodluck)
Jonathan into office and we have
nothing to show for it as
dividends of democracy. The only
way you can pay back PDP is to
vote out the party.
"PDP has the police to intimidate
us, but, I tell you as a people, in
a democracy, power belongs to
the people to choose their
leaders.

"So, you must protect the Rivers
interest because we have suffered
much in the hands of the PDP.
We all must therefore defend the
interest of All Progressives
Congress.

He explained once again that one
of the reasons why he left the
PDP for the APC was the non-
implementation of the UNEP
report by the Federal
Government, adding that it was
wrong for the Federal
Government to deprive the
people of Ogoni from receiving
their compensation and enjoy a
habitable environment.

However, the State PDP
Chairman, Mr. Felix Obuah,
dismissed Amaechi's call on the
people to vote out the party in
the 2015, adding that the PDP
would remain the ruling party in
the state in 2015.

APC Delegation Denied Landing at Gombe Airport, Suspects Governmental Plot

A chartered
aircraft carrying a delegation of
the opposition All Progressives
Congress (APC) was denied
landing at the Gombe Airport on
January 2, 2014, Thursday.

The flight which originated for
Abuja was delivering the APC
officials to Gombe for the
inauguration of the state's
interim Executive Committee of
the party.

Mr. Murtala Aliyu, the head of the
delegation and the former
Minister of State for Power and
Steel, confirmed the incident to
Premium Times in a telephone
conversation, noted that relevant
government agencies may be
behind it.

"We had almost descended
to Gombe Airport when the
pilot informed us that there
was a truck on the runway
and he cannot land, he also
told us that he does not
have enough fuel to go back
to Abuja," Mr. Aliyu said.

The pilot had no option but to
take the risk of taking an
emergency landing at Bauchi
Airstrip.

The spokesperson of Aviation
agencies, Yakubu Datti, said the
Airport of Gombe was closed for
a routine operation to check fire
tenders.

He added that the authorities
"decided to shut down the Airport
and run the trucks because there
were no scheduled flights and the
shutdown was just for a few
hours."

However, Mr. Aliyu faulted the
claim of the aviation
spokesperson, saying the
authorities should have let the
pilot know before he took off
from Abuja .

"The pilot was in constant
communication with the
Control towers and there
was no indication
whatsoever that Gombe
Airport was closed to traffic
until we got there," he said.

In his return, Mr. Datti said such
problems arise because some of
the planes being used for chatter
service are only registered
overseas and conduct 'Kabukabu'
business in Nigeria.

"You never hear a scheduled
flight have this sort of
problems," the spokesperson
noted.

He further added that aviation
authorities take issues of safety
very seriously and the fire tender
operations are ICAO
requirements.

Mr. Aliyu informed the incident
caused huge inconveniences for
the delegation: they had to use
vehicles from Bauchi back to
Gombe to appear on the
inauguration event. Moreover,
APC officials had to stay the night
in Bauchi, because the airstrip
there had no facility for night
flights.

Amaechi asks APC members to vote out PDP

RIVERS State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has asked the on supporters of the All Progressives Congress to vote out the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.

Amaechi, who made this call during a New Year visit to inaugurate 100 motorcycles to flag off the registration of APC members in the Tai Local Government Area, explained that one of the reasons for his defection from the PDP to the APC was the non-implementation of the UN Environment Programme by the Federal Government.

The governor told party supporters that it was wrong for the Federal Government to deprive the people of Ogoni from receiving their compensation even when they could not enjoy a habitable environment.

He said, “On the day of the election in 2015, I want you to support the All Progressive Congress, vote out PDP and you will get the implementation of the UNEP report.

“In the 2011 elections, Tai people were among those who voted President Goodluck Jonathan into office and we have nothing to show for it as dividends of democracy. The only way you can pay back PDP is to vote out the party.

“PDP has the police to intimidate us, but, I tell you as a people, in a democracy, power belongs to the people to choose their leaders.

“So, you must protect the Rivers interest because we have suffered much in the hands of PDP. We all must therefore defend the interest of All Progressives Congress.”

Amaechi said that the Federal Government did not care about the people of the state.

He said, “As a governor of the state, I played a vital role in ensuring that potable water was provided for Eleme and Gokana people.

“Why must our people continue to suffer this neglect and deprivation despite several attempts to remind the Federal Government to effect the immediate implementation of the UNEP report?”

But the chairman of the PDP in the state, Mr. Felix Obuah, dismissed Amaechi’s call on the people to vote out the party in 2015, saying that PDP would remain the ruling party in the state in 2015.

Obuah, who spoke in a telephone interview with The PUNCH on Thursday, vowed that the PDP would win the APC even in Amaechi’s ward in any election and maintained that the governor had no followers.

“Has Amaechi won any election before? Does he know how elections are won? He should not talk too much and wait till election period. The PDP will win even in Amaechi’s ward,” he said.

2015: My mission in the N’Assembly, by Doris Uboh – 0gunkoya

Doris Uboh-Ogunkoya, an engineer by profession, is also a politician of no mean repute. She was in the House of Representatives between 2007 and 2011, representing Ika Federal Constituency of Delta State. In this interview with RAZAQ BAMIDELE in Lagos, the political amazon gives reasons she deserves another chance to represent her constituency in the National Assembly.

Excerpts:
Between 2007 and now, a lot of water has passed under the bridge politically. What lessons has the period taught you?
I have learnt a lot of lessons. It is possible you win your elections on the field but you might not actually get your seat. My experience has been a terrible one.  Like I said, it is one that did teach me a lot of lessons, which means you must follow your votes not just at your ward level but all the way to the collation centre because if you fail to do so, a lot of things are bound to happen. Eventually in my own case, results were manipulated and that caused me my deserved victory.

Why do you want to go back to the House of Representatives and not something higher?
I will start by answering your question: why not? I say why not because everybody says we must build Nigeria but I am yet to find such people called ‘we’. I think I am not part of the ‘we’. All I am trying to do is contribute my own quota to nation building. I do not think because I was pushed off the horse once, I should stop learning how to ride a horse.  If I do that, then I will not know how to ride a horse.

I believe anything worth doing is worth doing well. I believe that the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. There might be pitfalls. But if you say because of that pitfall you go back, then you will never see light at the end of the tunnel. There are so many things to be done in Nigeria. Our education sector is lagging, as a matter of fact, any sector you want to put your finger on, is lagging. And it is only people like you and I that can turn it around. If some of us do not blaze the trail, ignoring all the pitfalls along the way, and to actually take up the mantle, then that power transformation from the older generation cannot happen. So, I want to be part of the solution and not one of the complainants that Nigeria is not good.

While in the House of Representatives, you co-sponsored the Minimum Wage Bill…
Point of correction. I did not co-sponsor the bill but I sponsored the bill all by myself. Not because other members did not want to but because a lot of people want to stay away from controversial bills.  If you look at the controversial bills, they are usually the ones that belonged to the underdogs. To me, the common man is the reason we are in the House of Representatives. We are there to represent them. The minimum wage bill was something I started and it went all the way to third reading in the House. Coincidentally, an executive bill came to meet my bill and the bills were merged together to become one.

Eventually, it was accented to and became law. I think that is the singular thing I can say I am really proud of and I will like to be given another chance in the House to even do more because we have a lot of issues in Nigeria that need to be attended to. I think it was a rather positive thing for me that I was able to stand up for what I believed in and also say this is how I feel even if it takes me being dragged on the floor of the House to have my voice heard on the floor of the House. That was what happened.

Would you say you are satisfied with the outcome of the bill?
No, I would not say I am. I think it needs to be amended. If you compare our minimum wage bill the way it stands today, to most West African countries, it is still not enough for Nigeria. They should have included how often they want the increment to be. Things like that should be included in the bill. That way, the Nigeria Labour Congress will not be coming to argue about increment because it has been embedded in the bill. But it was not done, it ended up being a one liner and I think that needs to be looked at again to serve the purpose it was expected to serve.

You served in the House of Representatives during the Dimeji Bankole era, can you tell us how the experience was like?
I think my experience is out there for everybody to know. It was good, bad and ugly but I took it all in my strides. I did not expect it to be all rosy. Dimeji Bankole led us to the best of his capacity, though to me, his best was not good enough. But he did what he could and it was an experience. Rightly or wrongly, it was an experience, I have taken it and I am learning from it.

sunnews

Video: Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi Sing Davido's 'Dami Duro'

Idika Kalu decries poor state of infrastructure in Abia

Ohafia - A former minister of finance and economic planning, Dr Kalu Idika Kalu, has said that the state of infrastructure in Abia fell short of the aspirations of its founding fathers.

Kalu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in his country home, Ohafia, that the euphoria that greeted the creation of the state 22 years ago seemed to have waned due to under-development.

The former minister also decried the lack of manpower development in the state. He said the ingenious artisans in the state, particularly in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state, were the worst hit.

"When Abia was created, I felt so proud not because I thought we should be split into so many states, but because I thought we had the potential to place Abia as one of the top states in the nation.

"As a commissioner then in the old Imo State, I remembered coming into Aba when they were opening the NTA office in the town and we had lots of designers there.

"Take for an example people in the textile and garments industry, these are people that need just a little support to get to the global stage of designing,” he said.

He alleged that "22 years down the lane, no meaningful development has taken place in the state".

Kalu added that a situation where critical infrastructures were in deplorable condition and in most cases non-existent was regrettable.

"We have not lived up to expectations and we still have a long way to go to create viable agriculture, industries and proper infrastructure.

"There is no question that we need to do a lot more and part of the problem is that we have not really had time to amplify our resources beyond the ones we know.

"Abia State had oil and gas territories which were ceded to other states. We still have a golden opportunity to look at these things radically and isolate ourselves whether as governors, senators or members of the house," he said.

Kalu said what the people needed was a system that would bring about growth, development, stability and progress.

He added that such proper steps would reduce the poverty level among the people to the barest minimum. 

- NAN 

Info Minister warns 'selfish' politicians

Abuja - The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, cautioned local politicians against fueling insecurity in the country in a bid to achieve their political ambitions.

He argued that all the security challenges in the country emanated from local politics and religious fanaticism and were in turn heaped on the Federal Government for resolution.

The Minister condemned the “generation of crisis and insecurity at the local levels for selfish political reasons which has gulped billions of Naira which could have been diverted to meaningful projects in the country.”

He maintained that the Federal Government had constantly carried out its onerous responsibility of maintaining peace and security in the country, which is a shared responsibility for governments at all levels and called on States to take responsibility by maintaining peace and security in their domains.

The Minister also noted that President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration had achieved immeasurably and had ensured the territorial integrity and security in the country through the declaration of the state of emergency in some parts of the country, improved intelligence gathering, increased procurement and deployment of new weapons.

Maku congratulated the Armed Forces for increased diplomatic activities  and for localizing insurgencies in the country adding that  the present administration has recorded heroic successes in fighting insurgencies in the country through cooperation from neighbouring countries such as Cameroon and Chad.

The Minister commended the people of Kano State for joining forces to fight insurgents in their local communities.

He called on Nigerians to support the Armed Forces to ensure the security of the country. 

He also expressed the determination of the Federal Government to ensure that Nigeria remained an indivisible and united nation, stressing that since the inception of the Jonathan administration, there has been no report of political assassination in the country.

Maku was speaking during a media event in Abuja. 

- CAJ News