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A group within the All Progressives Congress, Justice Forum, says 70,000 of its members in the South-West have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party.

About 3,000 defectors who converged on the Salvador Towers in Surulere, said they left the APC because the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had abandoned them after they helped his party to win elections.

Speaking with journalists at the event, the leader of the group, Chief David Abidakun, explained that the members were from across the South-West and not Lagos alone.

He noted that the group was one of the major founding groups of the Alliance for Democracy and later became the most populous group in the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria that merged to form the APC.

He said, We are not counting the number of people here but our membership. We have a membership of over 70, 000 in the South-West and all of us will join the PDP in our various states in the South-West after the formal ceremony

We believe that the PDP is the place to be and so we have decided to be part of the winning team.

The Deputy Chairman of the PDP in Lagos, Chief Sikiru Apena, who received the defectors, promised to treat them like old members of the PDP.

When contacted, however, the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Lagos, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said the defection was meaningless, describing it as the biggest joke of 2014.

Igbokwe, who said the crowd at the venue was rented by the PDP, described the event as a charade.

He said, It is of zero consequence. Those that defected have no weight. They have no strength, no finance and no training to make an impact. It is the biggest joke of 2014. It is a rented crowd. You know when you give people about N2, 000 each, they will come for any event.

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Weve mobilised 70,000 members to PDP Group

The All Progressives Congress in Osun State on Wednesday said Senator Babajide Omowarere won the Osun-East senatorial district primary in the state.

This was contained in a statement signed by the state Chairman of the party, Prince Gboyega Famodun.

Senator Babajide Omoworare, the incumbent senator, won the partys ticket both at consensus primary and general affirmation held on December 9, 2014 at the Nelson Mandela Park, Osogbo, the APC said.

The party expressed concerns over misrepresentation and wrong impression being created by an aspirant, Sola Lawal, who claimed to have won the primary.

The party also dismissed the claims being peddled in certain quarters that Governor Rauf Aregbesola imposed Omoworare.

The party said, On December 3, 2014, in line with the guidelines and timetable set for the primary of the party, screening exercises were held to scrutinise the credentials of the aspirants with a view to determining their capacity and the correctness of their records to fly the partys flag.

On the said date and at the screening committee stage, there was no primary. The process and stages that brought up candidates for various offices on the APC platform in the state were uniform and there was no ambiguity as to how they emerged.

The stage being referred to by the said aspirant is just a screening exercise and not sufficient as stipulated in the partys constitution to serve the purpose of a properly defined primary, which was finalised on December 9, 2014 at the Nelson Mandela Park, in Osogbo.

From the result of the exercise conducted for Osun-East senatorial district, Senator Babajide Omoworare won at all levels and has been issued the necessary documents to proceed as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Osun-East senatorial district. We implore anyone spreading falsehood and disparaging the party, our candidate and the governor to desist from such a diversionary exercise.

We also implore the general public to disregard any discordant tune, disregard all unfounded claims, remain focused and vote for our carefully chosen candidates of character and integrity flying the APC flags, including Senator Babajide Omoworare. The APC remains committed and focused to give the best of people-oriented and impactful democratic governance to the people of Osun and Nigeria in general.

See the rest here:
Osun APC reaffirms Omoworares victory

Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)

The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Wednesday said that though Nigeria is a rich nation, its people are extremely poor due to bad governance.

He also promised to involve serving and retired military generals to devise an effective strategy to crush insurgency in the country, if elected as President in 2015.

Buhari, in his Christmas goodwill message signed by the Director of Communications, Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Dele Alake, expressed displeasure at the security challenges in the country and the poor state of Nigerian roads.

He said his administration would focus on how best to make the condition of living of the common man the index for the assessment of our policies and not the amount of billionaires our administration would have made.

Buhari felicitated with Christians in the country as they celebrated Christmas, assuring Nigerians that they would have better reasons to celebrate the festival if he is elected in 2015.

He said, On my part, I intend to initiate consultations with serving generals and those who have served our country and distinguished themselves on the battlefield across the world to work out an alternative and effective strategy to crush this insurgency within the shortest possible time if elected president on February 14, 2015.

I have said that I live the life of a pensioner. I share the burden and anxiety of majority of our poor, powerless people. I have offered myself on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, the party of change, because I desire to give back to a country that clothed, fed and trained me to be what I am today. Our people are poor. But our country is rich.

The former Head of State, who berated the President Goodluck Jonathan administration over rising poverty in the country, said, In a nation where a few individuals could raise N21bn because they wanted to make their friend President, millions of citizens, who truly own the resources being accumulated by a few, are left to suffer in sorrow, tears and blood.

Buhari said while many Nigerians travelling towards the eastern part of the country would encounter the failed promises of the Second Niger Bridge; those travelling through the South-West would have to bear the gridlock on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Excerpt from:
Ill meet other generals to draft anti-terror plan Buhari

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola | credits: File copy

The All Progressives Congress in Osun State on Wednesday accused the Federal Government of impeding the development plans of the state government by reducing the states federal allocation.

In a statement signed by the partys Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy , Kunle Oyatomi, the APC said Osun State is being made to suffer because the state stood up to the Federal Governments tyranny and voted against the PDP in the last August 9 governorship election.

The party said, The last federal allocation paid to Osun State was the least in the whole of the federation and was less than a third of what the state used to receive in the first half of 2014. Between June and October, this year, the federal allocation paid to Osun fell from over N3.8bn to less than N1.3bn. But the states salary profile alone is N3.6bn every month.

The Federal Government has not offered any plausible explanation for this drastic drop, leaving room for reasonable speculation that the PDP is taking its pound of flesh in reprisal for the defeat it suffered at the August 9 governorship election in the State of Osun.

In this season, when people are celebrating the great advent of Jesus of Nazareth, the Federal Government, led by a so-called Christian, is entertaining himself with the agony of Nigerians who are miserably suffering under the massive corruption of the PDP that has left our economy comatose.

The APC called on the citizens of the state to exercise courage, fortitude and perseverance as they celebrate the Christmas festival.

The party added, There is hope that divine change will occur to end this needless suffering that is sweeping across Nigeria under the PDP-led Federal Governments utter mismanagement of the countrys finances.

No matter the economic terrorism of the Federal Government and the PDP, the people of Osun shall remain unbowed to the evil economic might of the PDP-led Federal Government, which they are currently using to strangulate workers in the State of Osun.

The party, therefore, encouraged the people of Osun to take heart and be joyful nonetheless for as the birth of Jesus brought hope to mankind, so will the defeat of the PDP in next years elections usher in a new era of progress and efficient management of the countrys economy.

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FG punishing Osun with reduction in allocation APC

I was amused to see the news that Vermont has decided to abandon their attempt to be the first US state with a truly single payer health care system. Amused because there are people like myself (and thoroughly libertarian economists like Mike Munger) who do think that a single payer system would be better than the current mess that is the US health care system. This isnt because we know all that much (or at least in my case it isnt) about the details of health care systems, its because we know something about economics and incentives.

Heres the news out of Vermont over that single payer system:

Believe it or not, there really are liberals disappointed that ObamaCare does not involve more taxation and central planning of medicine. So be grateful for the state laboratories of federalism and in particular Vermont, where the purest progressive progressive version of ObamaCare has imploded.

Last week, in a reversal that deserves more attention, Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin announced that Vermont would no longer create Americas first statewide single-payer health system. Vermont was seeking a waiver from the Affordable Care Act to abolish whats left of the nominally private insurance market by 2017, but Mr. Shumlins budget gremlins concluded the plan was too expensive and would damage the state economy.

Too expensive there should be taken to mean everyone had conniption fits when they saw what theyd have to ask the voters for in increased taxation. But heres the bit that has me wondering whether theyre mad up there or merely Progressives:

There are only 14 hospitals, and providers are already divided into nonoverlapping service areas meant to reduce competition.

Theres confirmation of this is this report from the Robert Johnston Foundation:

Vermont is divided into non-overlapping service areas, which reduces competition among hospitals, mental health agencies, and other health care organizations.

What? No wonder health care is expensive there (second most expensive in the country I believe). Therere arguments in favour of state provision of health care, of state financing of it (that single payer, as opposed to single provider) just as there are advantages to having markets and competition in both. The net balance can be argued over: but its insane to go to all the expense and cost of ensuring that youve still got multiple private sector providers and then insist that they dont compete with each other. Thats to entirely throw away all and any of the advantages of having private sector involvement at all.

See more here:
Are They Actually Mad In Vermont Or Just Progressives?