Archive for the ‘Progressives’ Category

Buhari will inherit a sick economy, says el-Rufai

The All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, said the presidential candidate of the APC, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), will inherit a sick economy when elected as President in the February.

El-Rufai noted that he would inherit a bankrupt state if eventually elected as the chief executive officer of Kaduna State in the February 28 poll.

The former minister of the Federal Capital Territory spoke at an Organised Private Sector interactive session on Tuesday in Kaduna.

He said the state was reeling under domestic liabilities totalling N106bn owed to various sources.

He argued that most of the money received or generated is used to settle debts, adding that about N700bn was wasted in the past seven years in the state, a situation he described as most unfortunate.

El-Rufai noted that the nation was presently passing through an economic crisis as it was in 1983.

General Muhammadu Buhari will be inheriting a broken economy like he did in 1983, just like I am going to likely inherit a bankrupt state when we take over power, he said.

Speaking on his manifesto, the governorship candidate said if elected into office in February, he would, among other things, develop human capital, ensure a free and compulsory education for the first nine years for all children in the state as well as fix schools and improve on teachers training.

He said he would ensure that the salary of teachers were higher than any civil servants in the states workforce.

Other area that would receive his attention, el-Rufai said, was the security of lives and property of the people of the state.

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Buhari will inherit a sick economy, says el-Rufai

APC alleges fresh plot to scuttle Feb elections

The All Progressives Congress has said it has uncovered a fresh plot by those it called anti-democratic forces to use the courts to postpone or scuttle next months general elections.

APC called on the judiciary to protect the nations democracy, urging Nigerians to repudiate the desperadoes and their allies who are behind the plot.

In a statement in Lagos on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the APC said after the efforts to stop its presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), failed, those the party described as anarchists had perfected plans to use the courts to stop the elections at all cost.

It alleged that the case instituted at a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, seeking a declaration that Gen. Buhari lacked the requisite qualification to contest the February 14 presidential election, was the first in a series of court cases to be instituted to stop the polls.

We are not surprised at this, because these desperadoes are so predictable. They are following the footsteps of the infamous Association for Better Nigeria, which helped to annul the 1993 elections and which threw Nigeria into a crisis from which it has yet to fully recover, over 20 years later.

We can only appeal to the judiciary not to become a willing tool in the hands of those who will stop at nothing to scuttle the elections, just to perpetuate their firm grip on power, APC said.

The party argued that President Goodluck Jonathan was afraid that if the elections would hold as scheduled, he would lose to Buhari by a wide margin.

APC said, An ally of presidential aide Doyin Okupe has revealed that President Jonathan will rather have the military take over than hand over to the APC candidate. Though Okupe has made a tepid denial, the revelation has exposed the thinking and the desperation within the Presidency, ahead of the elections.

We are also aware that up till this moment, the President has yet to repudiate the ex-militants in the Niger Delta, who have threatened the countrys very existence if he(Jonathan) is not re-elected, as if elections are won by fiat.

When this is added to ongoing moves to depopulate the North-east, which is an opposition stronghold, using scare tactics, one can see that this presidency and the PDP are as terrified and desperate as they can be.

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APC alleges fresh plot to scuttle Feb elections

PDP presenting failed politicians Senator

January 27, 2015 by Kamarudeen Ogundele, Ado Ekiti 4 Comments

The All Progressives Congress for Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Amb. Gbenga Olofin, has accused the Peoples Democratic Party in the State of presenting failed politicians for the 2015 general elections.

Specifically, he said, the ruling party was fielding candidates that had failed the people as members of the House of Representatives in the recent past for the National Assembly election.

Speaking with journalists in Igede Ekiti on his ambition, Olofin urged the Ekiti electorate to reject the PDPs candidates to protect the respect being accorded Ekiti as the Fountain of Knowledge.

According to him, Governor Ayodele Fayose has been the one campaigning for her challenger, Mrs. Fatima Raji-Rasaki, having realised that she has no confidence to face the masses.

He maintained that it would be difficult for someone who did not contribute to any debate in four years as a member of the House of Representatives to represent the state as a Senator.

Olofin said, All they rely on is the power of incumbency in Governor Ayodele Fayose and they will be disappointed.

The incumbency power will fail them because the people are moving away from what it used to be in the 80s and even till 2007, when elections were being brazenly manipulated by the ruling party.

The voice of the masses and the peoples conscience , including that of electoral institutions are beginning to come into play in deciding who we vote for.

When the PDP was even secretly seeking poll shift, INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, came out boldly and said no to poll shift. This confirmed the sincerity in the electoral system apart from the technology that has been reducing rigging.

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PDP presenting failed politicians Senator

PDP plans to use court to stop polls

National Publicity Secretary, All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Lai Mohammed | credits: File copy

The All Progressives Congress said having failed to convince Nigerians to accept the postponement of the February elections, the Peoples Democratic Party had set in motion plans to shift the polls by ensuring that the APC presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was disqualified.

The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this in a statement on Tuesday.

It said the case instituted at a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, seeking a declaration that Buhari lacked the requisite qualification to contest the February 14 presidential election, was the first in a series of court cases to be instituted just so that the elections would not hold.

The statement partly read, We are not surprised at this, because these desperadoes are so predictable. They are following the footsteps of the infamous Association for Better Nigeria which helped to annul the 1993 elections and which threw Nigeria into a crisis from which it has yet to fully recover, over 20 years later.

We can only appeal to the judiciary not to become a willing tool in the hands of those who will stop at nothing to scuttle the elections, just to perpetuate their firm grip on power.

The party said President Goodluck Jonathan was aware that if the elections went ahead as scheduled, he would lose to Buhari by a landslide.

It said the threats issued by those close to Jonathan that they would not accept the outcome of the election, should Jonathan lose, was evidence that the President was not prepared for transparent elections.

It said, An ally of presidential aide, Doyin Okupe, has revealed that President Jonathan will rather have the military takeover than hand over to the APC candidate. Although Okupe has made a tepid denial, the revelation has exposed the thinking and the desperation within the Presidency, ahead of the elections.

We are also aware that up till this moment, the President has yet to repudiate the ex-militants in the Niger Delta who have threatened the countrys very existence if he is not re-elected, as if elections are won by fiat. When this is added to ongoing moves to depopulate the North-East, which is an opposition stronghold, using scare tactics, one can see that this Presidency and the PDP are as terrified and desperate as they can be.

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PDP plans to use court to stop polls

Political violence: APC seeks UN, AIs intervention

The All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has called on the United Nations, Amnesty International and other relevant international organisations to intervene in the continued attack on its members.

The state APC said while some of its members had been killed as a result of political violence allegedly unleashed by the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, many of its faithful had sustained serious injuries following the attacks.

Speaking during an international press conference in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, the State Chairman of the APC, Dr Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, also urged humanitarian and democratic organisations to put in place a high-powered election monitoring network in the state.

Ikanya explained that such measures would help to avert bloodbath, which might cripple the already weakened economy of the state, adding that an acceptable election outcome was possible in Rivers only if the exercise was free and fair.

He stated that a free and fair election would not be possible if the current spate of violence, highhandedness, intimidation and terror was not halted.

We call on Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, relevant organs of the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union and the United Nations to immediately commence independent inquiries into the gruesome attacks and killings in Rivers State.

We call on these and other humanitarian and democratic organisations and institutions to set up a high-powered election monitoring networks, teams and processes to monitor the elections in Rivers State to avert unnecessary bloodbath which may cripple our already weakened economy.

An acceptable electoral outcome is possible in Rivers State only if the elections are truly free and fair. There cannot be free and fair elections if the spate of violent high handedness, intimidation and terror is not halted.

As the 2015 general elections approaches, the scale, magnitude and intensity of the orchestrated violence against members of the APC is assuming a frightful dimension and this necessitated that we cry out to the Nigerian and international community, the state APC chairman added.

Ikanya maintained that thugs allegedly hired by the PDP attacked and killed APC members under the watchful eyes of the police without any arrest.

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Political violence: APC seeks UN, AIs intervention