Fallout Of G-5 Governors Defection To APC: We Will Decide Next Step - Tambuwal By: Donald Ojogo, Bayo Oladeji, Chibuzo Ukaibe, Bode Gbadebo, Igho Oyoyo, Abu Nmodu, Midat Joseph, Mohammed Ismail, Anayo Onukwugha on November 28, 2013 - 3:38am Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Waziri Aminu Tambuwal yesterday disclosed that lawmakers will collectively decide the fate of the new alliance between the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and the leadership of the “new PDP” led by the G-7 governors. Tambuwal spoke as Senate leader Victor Ndoma-Egba said defection is a serious matter regulated by legislative procedure, adding that senators involved in the deal would have to notify the Senate in writing. Special adviser to the speaker, Imam Imam, told LEADERSHIP that it was left for affected lawmakers to activate necessary procedures for defection. “Lawmakers will decide collectively if or when to defect. They have their internal process if they decide to cross-carpet. Let’s wait and see whether they can activate the process or not,” he said. At Wednesday’s Senate plenary, the political party sitting arrangement (opposition and ruling) remained unchanged. The senators of the nPDP led by Senator Bukola Saraki sat in their prior allocated seats (with the mainstream PDP). Other presumed nPDP senators evaded queries on their defection or not. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said they would be observing political developments before taking any action. Senator Ndoma-Egba said the defection of the erstwhile PDP governors to the APC had not affected the PDP caucus in the Senate. No senator, Ndoma Egba said, had formally informed the Senate of his defection. “It is a significant development, though regrettable. It will certainly come with impact. But I believe that PDP is resilient enough to overcome whatever the impact will be. “PDP has always faced major challenges. If you will recall, in 2003, it was not G7, but G19. But, in spite of that, PDP still overcame the challenge and went forward to win. “We also had a situation in 2007, where a sitting vice president defected and we still won. We have always faced challenges. But we have to exert energy to ensure that ranks are closed to prevent similar situation. “All l can say is that, on matters of party unity, there should be a keener sense of urgency. I won’t deceive myself that it will be easy. That was why l told you earlier that we have to develop a keener sense of urgency on matters of party unity,” he said. On the possible alteration of the leadership of the Senate, the Senate leader said defection was beyond being shown on the television. “If you are defecting, you have to formally write the parliament. As at now, there is nothing close to that, no communication yet,” he said. Senator Simeon Ajibola (Kwara, PDP), who was formerly bandied as a member of the nPDP, also spoke on the merger: “When they were bandying the news that 22 senators, including me, were in nPDP in the Senate, 10 out of the 22 were not with them, and there is no way we can be said to be with them in the so-called merger. Merger or no merger, by 2015, Nigerians will know the grassroots politicians and the paper tigers,” he said. But Senator Abubakar Umar Tutare (Taraba, PDP) expressed fears: “This is a very big threat to PDP. I am a PDP man and I want PDP to understand that this is a threat to them. They should reconcile and call all those aggrieved governors, sit with them and resolve their differences. This is going to have a big effect on PDP in 2015. If you look at the states that are involved, these are states having the highest population in this country -- Lagos, Kano and Rivers -- and they are all defecting to the APC; so this is a threat. I have been in PDP since inception and I have never defected. I have contested severally and lost and I didn’t leave PDP. For his part, Senator Ajayi Boroffice (APC, Ondo North) also said it was difficult to categorically state the specific number of senators that had actually defected from the nPDP to the APC. He said, “The Senate has a specific rule on cross-carpeting. We cannot state categorically that certain numbers of senators had left one party to another until they write a formal letter to the Senate leadership.” APC now holds balance of power - Tinubu A leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Lagos State governor, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, yesterday outlined the implication of Tuesday’s merger of the “new PDP” (nPDP) with the APC, saying the development meant that Nigeria’s political landscape has changed for good, with the scale and balance of power tilting in favour of the opposition in Nigeria. According to him, many areas abound which the new PDP and APC alliance would unveil, even as the perception alone of having so many governors working together in one party and platform would help spur Nigerians to start sharing ideas, values that will build their confidence in the electoral process. This, he added, will ensure that “one man, one woman, one vote should be the order of the day”. Tinubu, who stated this in an Interview with Aljazeera yesterday afternoon in Abuja, noted that the merger would also strengthen the confidence of other democratic observers around the world, even as he urged citizens of the country to be rest assured that help and hope were already on their doorsteps. He said: “Nigeria’s political landscape has changed. It will change forever and change for good. The scale and balance of power is tilting and changing to the opposition. We are moving from imperialism to proper democracy. “This development will start reshaping the landscape of politics in this country forever. Not for us only, but for generations unborn, and the future of this country to take its position as a leader in Africa. And not just a well-populated country that is big but directionless. “Nigeria has tried in the past to achieve stable democracy. Like other African countries, we have had our share of military rule and a bit of democratic rule. But we are blessed with human and material resources which have not been harnessed for the welfare of the mass of the people in this country”. Tinubu expressed dismay that “the belief in one power mandate of a particular political party has systematically encouraged corruption, lack of care, lack of focus on the primary things that will develop this country”. Noting that the country has long been deprived of the sophistication, honesty, trust and transparency required in electoral process, Tinubu observed that Nigeria had been a country where the balance of power had always been tilted in favour of the incumbency. While it is common knowledge that Nigerians have never seen a group that will have a common focus as well as put patriotism as the cornerstone of their guiding principle, he stated, the new opposition which added another feather to its nest with the merger of a faction of the ruling party will put people at the forefront of their cause in participating in politics. “Never has there been a group that will focus on the welfare of the Nigerian citizenry and fight corruption and waste in governance. There are many areas that this new APC alliance and effort will unveil. We will ensure that we have credibility in the voting system, the character, commitment of our people – the value that you want to pass the torch to the coming generation on democracy. PDP moves to expel Baraje, Oyinlola, others The Disciplinary Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has recommended the expulsion of former secretary of the party Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former chairman of “new PDP” Alhaji Kawu Baraje, and former deputy national chairman of “new PDP” Sam Sam Jaja. The committee, headed by former minister of transport Umaru Dikko, however, recommended that the suspension of Alhaji Ibrahim Kazuare be extended for one month in order to ascertain whether or not to expel him. The committee further directed him to appear before them on December 10 to plead his case. Oyinlola, Baraje, Jaja and Kazure were suspended by the PDP on November 11 over anti-party activities. Oyinlola and others refused to appear before the committee yesterday. But while addressing the press on behalf of the chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the PDP, former minister of transport Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a member of the committee, dispelled insinuations that their recommendation for expulsion were premeditated, noting that the expelled members refused to appear before the committee when invited. He also noted that the committee was “not aware” of a law suit in court instituted by Oyinlola and others over their suspension. He further said their recommendation is open to ratification by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP. Your anger was misdirected, Tukur tells defected G-5 govs The national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday reflected on the defection of some of the G7 governors to the APC and said it was misdirected anger taken too far. Tukur who expressed shock said that dialogue with President Jonathan was still open. Tukur is currently in China on the invitation of the government of the People’s Republic of China. I remain in PDP - Oyinlola Former governor of Osun State Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was among the defectors on Tuesday, has however made a U-turn. A statement issued in Abuja yesterday and signed by his principal secretary, Femi Adelegan, disclosed that Oyinlola remains the national secretary of the PDP and will continue to lay claim to his legal and valid status as the national secretary of the party. Why I left PDP - Amaechi Rivers State governor and chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has said the state has suffered neglect under the administration of President Jonathan. The governor also said he joined the Chief Bisi Akande-led APC along with five other governors and the members of the Abubakar Baraje-led “new PDP” with the overall interest to protect the people of Rivers State. Amaechi stated this on Tuesday evening while speaking to journalists at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, shortly after his return from Abuja where he participated in the merger talks and subsequent merger between the Baraje-led group and the APC. He, however, said despite his defection to the APC, he still holds President Jonathan in high esteem and has no personal quarrel with him. “I respect his office, respect him as a person, and respect the fact that he’s older, but then as elected governor of Rivers State, I have the responsibility to lead Rivers State. If you look at what is going on, the federal government is not able to fund the states anymore. They say oil theft, but oil theft is not enough reason for which we cannot fund ourselves,” he stated. Nyako may contest presidency under APC Adamawa State governor Murtala Nyako may be gunning for the plum office in the land under the auspices of the APC if feelers from the governor’s camp are anything to go by. The governor, while responding to questions about whether they felt betrayed by the actions of the governors of Jigawa and Niger states by backing from the merger with the APC, said the two governors told them that they were not yet ready to join the merger. “One of them said ‘by the grace of god I shall join you in January’,” he said. The reason some of them may not be in a hurry to join the APC may be connected to the fact that they may not be interested in contesting for elective positions in the party as INEC has stipulated a time frame within which any candidate seeking elective position under the party should join it. “If you want to contest, you have to join the party before the day elapsed but the date given to APC is very close and if I did not enter it means I am not interested in contesting elections under the party.” Defection of 5 govs to APC excites ACF The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday expressed excitement over the defection five governors from the ruling PDP to the APC. The governors -- Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Abdulfattah Ahmed (Kwara) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) -- and members of the “new PDP” this Tuesday defected to the APC. The northern apex socio-cultural organisation in its reaction said the defection is democracy in action, which allows players to change their political strategy towards declared goals when the need arises. Anambra election: APC leaders insist on marching on INEC The APC has announced it will stage a peaceful procession to INEC headquarters in Abuja tomorrow to protest the outcome of the Delta Central senatorial district bye-election and the “inconclusive” Anambra governorship poll. In a statement issued yesterday by its interim national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party vowed to proceed with the march, despite the illegal move by the police to stop it. ‘’We are doing this as a patriotic service to the nation because INEC as presently constituted is not capable of organising a free and fair election again in Nigeria. If the commission is not checked, its incompetence and conniving acts could plunge the country into chaos of unimaginable proportions,’’ it said. APC explained that ahead of the march, it wrote a letter to the FCT police command to inform it of the planned procession and to request police escort to forestall a possible hijacking of the march by sponsored hoodlums. ‘’To our dismay, however, the FCT police commissioner did not only turn down our request for police escort but also cheekily advised us to restrict our activity to holding a press conference within our party headquarters to convey our grievances to INEC . ‘’We reject this very patronising directive from the partisan FCT police command and hereby state that, in exercise of our constitutional rights, the leadership of the APC will go ahead with its planned peaceful procession on Thursday, the 28th of November, to express our dissatisfaction with the corruption-ridden INEC and to pass a vote of no confidence on the commission,’’ the party said. It said the police should not mistake its letter to the security agency as a request for permission to stage the procession, since the law has said no such permission is required. ‘’When we wrote this letter, we were quite aware of the ruling of the Appeal Court affirming the decision of Justice Chinyere of the Abuja Federal High Court in the case of All Nigeria Peoples Party v Inspector-General of Police (2006) CHR 181 which said, inter alia: ‘If as speculated by law enforcement agents that breach of the peace would occur, our Criminal Code has made adequate provisions for sanctions against breakdown of law and order so that the requirement of a permit as a conditionality to holding meetings and rallies can no longer be justified in a democratic society.’ ‘’Being mindful of the position of the law on this issue but as a law-abiding and a patriotic political party, we nonetheless in our said letter asked the police to provide us with escort during the procession, in line with international best practices. That the police turned down this request speaks volumes about its disdain for the rule of law. ‘’We will not be deterred by the blatantly partisan police, who have missed another great opportunity to affirm their neutrality and respect for the rule of law. We will use this march to prove the point that we shall not condone a police command, however partisan or corrupt, abridging our constitutional rights. ‘’While we shall do all in our powers to make Thursday’s procession to INEC as peaceful as possible, Nigerians and the entire world should hold the FCT police command responsible for any breakdown of law and order that may be occasioned by their unprofessional, partisan and illegal action,’’ the APC said. Give us evidence, Jega tells civil society groups The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has called on civil society groups and Anambra State election observers to come out with evidence that could assist the commission in prosecuting election defaulters. Jega, who reiterated that the Anambra election was characterised by a lot of irregularities which led to its failure, stated that the only way to correct the irregularities is to bring the people who were involved in marring the election to book, saying that the commission would not spare anybody found wanting for one offence or the other. According to Jega, who made this known in a Situation Room dialogue session with some members of civil society groups, said that one of the most difficult things in election is that, when an election is done, even though there are isolated irregularity, once return is made and the winner takes it, nobody cares to go back and investigate what went wrong. “How do you address those lapses? We are saying that, with Anambra State, we are going to do it and we will do it thoroughly and meticulously and we will not spare anybody that is found to do anything fraudulent during the election. So, the challenge is really to build this partnership, get us information, give us the evidence. Many of you who were in the field, you may have seen things and documented them. “Give us those evidence and we will use them to ensure that we will do a very good enquiry and we will have a good result that can add value to our refinement and improvement of the process. In our country, on one hand, nobody is given the benefit of doubt. If people say you are a thief, everybody thinks you are a thief, until you can prove that you are not a thief.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 04:09:26 +0000
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