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By Gabriel Enogholase

WARRI-- All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday, claimed that no election took place in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State during last Saturday's council polls, threatening to go to court.

This came even as members recounted how they were allegedly attacked by suspected political thugs.

While victims of the alleged attacks were said to be receiving treatment at unnamed hospitals in the state, no fewer than 30 vehicles of APC and its members were equally said to have been vandalized by the thugs.

Meanwhile, women of Gbokoda, Udo, Tebu and Aja Amita communities in Warri North, yesterday, demanded a re-run of the local government elections for them to elect their true leaders.

The women, on the platform of Women Forum, WF, in a petition addressed to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 5, Benin, and copied to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, Commissioner of Police, Department of State Service, DSS, Asaba; JTF Commander, among others, expressed total rejection of the outcome of the elections.

While declaring that no election took place in the local government, state Organizing Secretary of APC, Mr. Amorighoye Mene, described the present administration in the state as "bad and wicked," claiming that Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was not on ground in North Warri Local Government.

Mene alleged that PDP, led by a Warri Chief (names withheld) brought thugs to attack APC members and destroyed more than 30 vehicles belonging to them.

APC councillorship candidate for Abi-Ugborodo ward in Warri North Local Government, Mr. George Inowandajegha, said: "I was attacked with a machete by PDP thugs."

Another victim of the alleged attack is Mr. Siko Eyenmi, from Ogbonbiri, who is APC vice chairmanship candidate for Warri North.

See the rest here:
Nigeria: No Election Held in Warri North LG, Says APC

National chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Umeh, on Tuesday said the party is not an appendage of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Umeh spoke in a lecture titled Towards a successful 2015 election: The role of the opposition, which he delivered to mark the inauguration of the executive committee of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, in Enugu.

He made the assertion in apparent response to the South East zonal spokesman of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, who had, earlier in a keynote speech at the event, described APGA as an appendage of the PDP.

APGA is a distinct political party which cannot be an appendage of another political party, Umeh said.

However, he noted that the fact that APGA was not in power at the federal level does not mean that the party must oppose the Federal Government.

According to him, The term opposition is misleading in Nigeria we assume that once you are not in government you must be opposing government.

You must not oppose government all the time if you are not in government.

In developed countries (opposition parties) means those who are not in government but are interested in government.

Umeh accused the APC of engaging in blind opposition.

He also offered an insight into APGAs refusal to join merge with the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria and All Nigeria Peoples Party to form the APC.

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APGA is not an appendage of PDP -Umeh

National Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Ostia Izunazo, on Tuesday, said the party has no choice but to provide a level playing field for all aspirants in order to make an impact in 2015.

Isunazo said this while receiving the expression of interest and nomination forms from Dr. Leke Pitan, who is aspiring for the position of Lagos State governor, on the partys platform.

He explained that the party stood the risk of becoming weak if it fails to provide a level playing field for aspirants.

Izunaso said, The party will provide a level playing field for every aspirant it is only by so doing that the party can come out stronger.

Anything short of that will make the party weaker. We are also aware that we have competitors who are looking for what we are looking for. Our best way to beat them is to put our house in order. We dont have a choice.

While speaking to reporters shortly after handing over his completed forms, Pitan said he was not aware that anybody has been anointed to succeed Governor Babatunde Fashola.

The former commissioner said, I am not aware of anybody being anointed. I believe in the partys promise of a level playing field, it is not an issue at all.

According to him, the issue of consensus can only come up when aspirants discuss among themselves and arrive at a decision to put forward one they feel can best provide quality leadership.

Pitan said when elected, he would focus on human capital development as the cardinal point of his administration. This, he further explained will be in addition to the attention given to health care delivery and infrastructural development.

Link:
APC assures all aspirants of a level playing field

National Chairman, All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said that the future of the nation depended on the attitude of Nigerians towards choosing the kind of government that would rule them, saying that violence was not necessary to change Nigeria to a better nation.

The APC chairman spoke at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan, while delivering the 2014 Alumni Lecture, organised by the University of Ibadan Alumni Association on Friday.

His lecture was titled, Nigeria, a trajectory of dashed expectation: Looking into the future with hope.

The APC chairman warned that until Nigerians moved away from the era of sycophancy, political irresponsibility, dishonesty, moral turpitude and betrayal of public trust, the nation might not realise its greatness in many years to come.

He said, I see very bright future for us all, but a lot depends on the Nigerian people, who continue to show docility and not being able to take their destinies in their own hands. Without any resort to violence, because that, to me, is defeatist, I do believe that we as a people can achieve so much through the ballot box by easing out that party who has held on to power for a decade-and-a- half and have not made any meaningful impact in our lives.

We in Nigeria today must begin to put an end to sycophancy and political acts of irresponsibility as is presently the case in Nigeria and begin to think deeply on how to develop our nation. And this is what we do in APC.

While it remains an obvious truth that Nigeria, 54 years after, is perceived and still behaves like a toddler, there is no doubt that the country has suffered stunted growth as a result of gross leadership failure. This is exemplified by our failure, as a people, to use our huge human and material resources to galvanise development in our country, this in spite of being a leading oil producing country in the world.

At the event, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, called on the executive arm of government not to misunderstand the legislative arm in its oversight functions of budgeting and appropriation of funds in order to ensure effective utilisation of the allocation.

Tambuwal commended the UI management for sustaining quality education in the country and asked Nigerians not to lose hope for a brighter and better country.

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We dont need violence to change Nigeria Odigie-Oyegun

It is axiomatic for many progressives that solving social problems starts with collection of data, public conversation, and the development of task forces and committees to make recommendations based on these exercises. And it is inevitable that the recommendations will include new initiatives, rules, regulations, and often fees and taxes. But does it have to be that way? Can a progressive solution to a social issue like lack of housing include fewer rules and regulations and less public say over the outcome? A recent report on housing costs from California seems to point in that direction.

The study was commissioned by an array of agencies that fund and subsidize housing for people who earn below 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI), a subsidy limit set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The study is the first large scale housing development cost study intended to measure the factors that influence the cost of building affordable rental housing in over a decade. What are the factors that drive up housing costs?

It isnt surprising to hear these concerns from for-profit developers. For years, builders of market rate housing have complained that too much process, too many rules, and too many parking spaces drive up costs and therefore, rents. But it turns out that both non-profit and for-profit projects are made more expensive by these too much process and too many rules.

Neighborhood fussing over design, height, bulk, and scale drives up prices. In the case of private development the additional costs are absorbed by higher rents, while in the non-profit sector the costs are absorbed by more subsidies being consumed (since rents cant go beyond the HUD limits).For market rate projects those higher rents mean that average working people are paying their hard earned money to ameliorate the aesthetic concerns of local neighbors; in the case of subsidized housing, taxpayers are picking up the tab.

In either case, elected officials who fret about the crisis of affordable housing would do well to consider reducing these costs with less process and fewer rules, not more; but often the solution is taxes for new housing? San Diego has passed and Seattle is considering a linkage fee, really an added tax to new housing to, ironically, pay for more housing.

As I pointed out in a previous post, linkage taxes simply add to housing cost, which raise rents and reduce supply, a recipe for higher housing prices long term. The report from California was written from the perspective not of protecting profits of private developers, but out of a genuine concern about how to stretch subsidies further to build more housing. The study reveals that across the board, the compassionate and progressive thing to do is reduce the barriers to building more new housing.

Originally posted here:
Want More Affordable Housing? Make Fewer Rules