PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2013
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9 PDP governors into talks with APC, says ANPP BoT member From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse
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here are indications that the crises presently brewing within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)is a signal of how the biggest political party in Africa would dislodge itself even as about nine PDP Governors were already making moves to join the APC. This disclosure was made by Barrister Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Board of Trustees (BoT). Stating this yesterday after an ANPP stakeholders meeting held in Dutse, Hadejia said their meeting was primarily to intimate people at the states level on the level of discussions presently going on in respect of merger with some political parties.
Hadejia, who was also a Jigawa Governorship candidate in 2011 said the PDP is a very intolerant political party towards anyone indicating his ambition in the presidential bid within the party and would do all it could to dislodge them. “Even with the current fracas within the PDP Governors over whom to show their allegiance against 2015 is already manifesting in their utterances and the manner with which they wear gloomy faces after their meeting with the president on Monday”. “We all know the PDP”s antecedent when it comes to internal democracy and we are only giving them just six months and we believe that the party will dislodge itself by itself now with the rift between the governors, the National Executive Council and the Presidency.
“When you look at the faces of the governors after they have formed the PDP Governors Forum, you will realise that all is not well considering the fact that some of them were shielded away from expressing themselves at the meeting and I have it on good authority from one of our men already discussing with the governors that already about nine of them have indicated interest to cross carpet”, he declared. The ANPP stalwart said he was not disposed to reply to the Jigawa state governors calling them names rather to concentrate on the reply a fellow PDP Northern governor, Alhaji Babangida Aliyu. He added that whoever that ignores the APC merger is doing that at his own peril. He added further that even after the governors meeting on
Monday, the new Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Mr Godswill Akpabio, categorically stated that the formation of the PDP Governors forum was as a result of the threat posed by the APC. He said “ the merger of political parties into APC goes beyond 2015 but the fact that the country has not known peace for the last 8 years; we have come to a stage that nobody is talking about roads or electricity but people are more concerned about waking up in the morning and surviving through to evening safe and sound”, he said.. “There is no day you wake up and you don’t hear of the killings of prominent people in the country; we are talking about putting back this country on the track of progress, stability and security which is the first item on the constitution of the country”.
L-R: National Chairman, Congress Progressive Change (CPC),Prince Tony Momoh, CPC Presidential candidate, General MuhammaduBuhari, and Nasarawa State Governor, AlhajiUmaruTanko Al-Makura, during the party's stakeholders meeting on Monday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa
Democracy won't survive until LG administration is sustained, says Aliyu From Iliya Garba, Minna
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orried by the inability of some state government to conduct local government elections, Niger state Governor Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu said that democracy will not survive in the country if local government administration is not sustained. He made this known yesterday in Minna when national officials of National Union of Local Government Employees paid him a courtesy visit in Government House noted that the conduct of election into local government councils will help to embed democracy.
Aliyu affirmed that "local government is the foundation of democracy, if the foundation is bad the top will be bad' adding that if the local government is good there will be no rancor at the top". According to him, the practice whereby some governors refused to conduct local government election was against the provision of the constitution which the governors have sworn to uphold. "Our democracy is still growing we need to help to grow by removing all forms of ignorance and misinformation". He disclosed that the call for autonomy of local governments should be viewed from many perspectives saying that most of the proponents were
only looking at the financial aspect of the autonomy without considering other variables that could run down the local government structure. The governor stated that his administration had not interfered into how money in the joint local government account is shared stressing that the local government officials and relevant ministry officials carry out this assignment to the satisfaction of all. He also opposed the present practice whereby council chairmen were elected for only a two-year term saying such a mandate was not enough to perform, stressing also that local government staff with relevant
qualifications should rise up to level 17, as their counterparts in the civil service. President of NULGE, Comrade Ibrahim Aliyu has made a strong case for the autonomy of local governments in the country because most governors have turned the local government system "to a small unit in the governors' office". Ibrahim maintained that NULGE will save the local government system from the "hands of corrupt and clumsy leaders saying that presently the local governments are handicapped under the leadership of majority of the governors a situation that should not be so".
2015: Akpabio not eyeing vice president seat – Media chief From By Mike Etim, Uyo
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he Chief Press Secretary to the Akwa Ibom state governor, Pastor Anittie Ukpe, has dismissed as untrue news making round that Governor Akpabio was eyeing the Vice President Seat in 2015. Ukpe, who was reacting to a question from a journalist in a media chat in his office, said that the recent influx of northern politician, religious leaders and other stakeholders in the state capital was an indication that the governor was meeting with them to position himself for the vice president spot on 2015, said that the insinuation was untrue affirming that the governor has said he nursed Senatorial ambition. “I don’t know how the issue of wanting to be a Vice President comes about. The governor has said repeatedly that he would want to be in the senate and the issue of wanting to be a Vice President speculated by the people is arrant nonsense. It is illegal and also untrue” he remarked. Emphasizing on the significance of the governor in the country’s polity, the governor’s aide said Akpabio has become a national and a reconciliatory figure in a country that is fragmented ethnically and religiously. To this end, he pointed out that the country needs a unifying personality in the person of the Akwa-Ibom state governor which he said has given rise to why Muslims and Christian leaders and other personalities were coming to the state. He said the governor has continuously used his position as an unbiased Nigerian to forge understanding between different groups and religious bodies in the country. On grounds that most of the awards given to the governor by various organizations were cash induced, the media chief dispelled it as untrue saying if the governor were to accept all the letters and invitations inviting him to receive awards, he would not be able to do his job. On question bothering on the governor’s competence, the aide said the governor is a very competent administrator; a good team builder who has passion for excellence and a determined leader who wants to live a lasting legacy for the people of the state. Vindicating the governor from his frequent overseas and local travels which has drawn criticisms from various quarters of the state, the Chief Press Secretary explained “The governor travels first because he wants to make the state better. He travels sometimes to see models of other countries. Like his trip to Dubai was to see how he could apply the Dubai model in Akwa Ibom State”.