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General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar

As the primaries of the All Progressives Congress draws nearer, divisions among governors and leaders of the opposition party is becoming apparent.

Investigations by Saturday PUNCH across the states on Thursday revealed a growing polarisation among party supporters over who is in a better position between the two major APC presidential aspirants to defeat President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party next year.

Former Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar are contesting for the partys ticket.

Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, is also interested in the APC ticket.

Both Buhari and Atiku have declared their intention to slug it out at the presidential primary. There are strong indications that the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, is leading a major move to ensure Buhari gets the ticket. Proponents of this school of thought believed that this claim was confirmed during Buharis declaration. Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi; and Tinubus wife, Senator Oluremi, attended Buharis declaration in Abuja.

APC governors are, however, divided over who to support between Buhari and Atiku. A source, who did not want his name mentioned, said Ameachi and three other governors at the event were in support of Buhari.

The source also said that Kwankwaso would step down for Buhari.

The Special Adviser to the National Vice Chairman, South-South of the APC, Mr. Bassey Ita, said the party recently asked members of its state executives across the regions to distance themselves from lending support for aspirants.

But there are also strong indications that Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has joined the presidential race.

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APC ticket: Buhari, Atiku divide govs, party leaders

The former Head of State and presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), said on Saturday in Kaduna that another four years of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party would spell doom for the country.

The former Nigerian leader said he was personally concerned on the deliberate plot by the ruling party to use religion and ethnicity to destroy the country.

The APC presidential aspirant, who spoke at a Northern APC Stakeholders Interactive Meeting in Kaduna on Saturday, insisted that the greatest problem facing Nigeria was not religion or tribal differences, but the deliberate plot by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party-led government, using religion and ethnicity to polarise the country for selfish gains ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Meanwhile, a competent source at the meeting, which went into closed-door after the opening ceremony, hinted that the APC might pick the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal as its presidential candidate in the 2015 election.

The source, who craved not to be named because he was not permitted to speak on the matter, hinted that the event where the trio of Buhari, Atiku and Kwankwaso could not reach an accord on who should be the standard bearer of the party in 2015,Tambuwal will be drafted in as the party flag bearer.

At the moment, they are discussing modality of receiving the Speaker into the APC, the source added.

Speaking further, Buhari lamented the militarisation of the last governorship election in Ekiti and Osun states, where a large number of soldiers and other security operatives were deployed for the election.

He argued that the move showed that the ruling PDP was desperate to hold on to power using every means at its disposal to achieve that.

According to Buhari, the abducted Chibok schoolgirls from Borno State by the Boko Haram members would have since been rescued if the Federal Government had deployed such number of soldiers in the North-East where the Boko Haram terrorists had killed thousands of Nigerians.

Saying that 2015 should be another year of concern for the Nigerians, Buhari insisted that another four years of PDP would send Nigeria down the drain.

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Another fours years of PDPll destroy Nigeria -Buhari.

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The All Progressives Congress has accused the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State of planning to deliberately cause crisis in the state with its interpretation of the ruling of the Appeal Court.

The Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the APC in Osun State, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, who said this in a statement on Wednesday called security agencies in the state to be at alert to prevent the opposition party from throwing the state into confusion.

The Court of Appeal had thrown out the appeal filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Ambassador Rufus Akeju for being incompetent.

The PDP interpreted the striking out of the appeal to mean that all elections conducted by the REC had become invalid, therefore state lawmakers and members of the National Assembly from the state should be sacked.

The statement read, Security agencies should be prepared to nip in the bud the threat to peace and security which the Peoples Democratic Party has become over the issue of the Appeal Court ruling in Akure which struck out INECs appeal against its Resident Electoral Commissioner, Amb. Toyin Akeju, from supervising the 2011 legislative elections in the state.

From competent information we have and the intelligence deductions we could make from the PDP chairman, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwas statement to forcefully stop the lawful business of the State House of Assembly, it is obvious that the PDP planned to orchestrate mayhem in the state.

Had there been a declaration, ruling or judgment on the 2011 legislative elections by the Federal High Court, Osogbo? We should ask the mischievous PDP people: what was the issue the INEC appealed against? Did it include that pertaining to the elections for which the High Court did not restrain it from conducting? In fact, the High Court refused that prayer.

We therefore appeal to the security officials not to allow illiterate people who are currently leading the PDP in the State to throw Osun into confusion.

We are particularly grateful for the response of the State Police Command which put stop to PDPs attempt to create mayhem at the State House of Assembly on Monday and we also like to emphasise that the threat to peace and security from the PDP is not over yet.

The Chairman of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, had said that the implication of the appellate courts ruling was that lawmakers produced by the election which Akeju supervised should be sacked.

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APC accuses PDP of planning chaos in Osun

The All Progressives Congress in Cross River State has expelled nine of its members over alleged constitutional breaches and disloyalty.

The nine members were said to have dragged the party before a court as a fallout of the Junes state congress of the party.

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the National Vice Chairman South-South, Mr. Bassey Ita, who disclosed in Calabar on Thursday, said the expelled members also rebuffed all appeals and attempt by the party hierarchy to ensure an out-of-court settlement of the matter.

He gave the names of those affected to include Ramsey Ndep; Chris Egbe; Innocent Eneji; James Enyam; Sam Iya; Bassey Ene Ekpo; Anthony Ekpeyong; Onen Obono and Rosemary Onah.

He said, Article 9.5 of the party constitution provides that membership of the party ceases for anyone on account of death, resignation or expulsion.

Also Article 21(D) provides that any member who files an action in court of law against the party or any of its officers on any matter or matters relating to the discharge of the duties of the party without first exhausting the avenues for redress shall automatically stand expelled from the partyand no appeal against expulsion shall be entertained until the withdrawal of this action from court by the member.

The aforementioned members had dragged the party to court alleging the June congress was fraught with discrepancies.

Ita said following the development, the national leaders of the party through the South-South zonal office issued an ultimatum dated September 2 appealing to the affected members to withdraw the litigation against the party or risked sanction.

He said the ultimatum, which was signed by the National Vice Chairman, South-South, Mr. Hilliard Eta, stated in part, I am further directed to inform you that failure to adhere to these directives will lead to full invocation of the relevant sections of our party constitution.

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APC expels nine in Cross River for suing party