Mediaboss Marketing

Adamawa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday accused the opposition All Progressives Congress of planning to rig the forthcoming governorship by-election in the state.

The declaration, which was made by the PDP state Chairman, Chief Joel Madaki, followed the observation by the PDP about the alleged reluctance of the APC to embark on political campaign.

The ruling party claimed that the APC had instead engaged in campaigns of calumny against its candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri, who is also the state acting governor.

The PDP state chairman said except the APC had something up its sleeves, which is possibly to rig the elections, it would not be hesitating to engage with the Adamawa electorate.

He therefore called on the APC not to challenge the outcome of the polls when the verdict is out there with frivolous petitions, since it had failed to engage with the electorate fairly.

The chairmans warning came against the backdrop of campaign embarked upon by the PDP, which has entered its third day.

The party will rounding off its campaigns to the Southern senatorial zone while the APC has yet to kick start its campaigns.

The All Progressives Congress will cry wolf over irregularities in the event it looses the election, he said.

Madaki, who spoke in Demsa, stressed that the support being enjoyed by the party had nothing to do with the popularity, but because the people had seen truth in them.

While promising that the PDP would ensure a landslide victory in the October 11 election, he announced that the PDP would constitute its campaigns organs frrom the zone that would trickle down to each voting units as part of measures being taken by the party to clinch victory at the poll.

Read the original here:
PDP accuses APC of plans to rig Adamawa election

A former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi on Thursday said that he decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party to earn his respect.

Chief Ikimi, who disclosed this in Benin when he was received by the leadership of the PDP at the secretariat of the party, also noted that had implicit confidence in the national leader of the party, Chief Tony Anenih, adding that, we shall have a common agenda of working for the party in Edo state and Nigeria in general.

He insisted that he was not leaving the APC for the PDP to vie for any elective political office, saying that, I left the APC for the PDP where I shall be given my respects and my personal dignity respected.

The former minister also stated that he had consulted with his family and the National Executive Committee of the PDP before joining the party.

Ikimi said, I come here today not as a new member. I come here to be fully identified with my groups of 1999 and 2003.

In politics, the party is supreme. We came here as cooks to cook the food and share it to others. But those who came in took the food away, the plates, the pots and everything away and left the cooks with nothing.

The PDP will take over the state once again and once beaten, twice shy. I am not interested in being in a party of enemies, where a party man will plot against the party; I am at peace with all the leaders of the PDP whether big or small.

I have implicit confidence in Chief Tony Anenih and we have had several meetings and I believe we have bridged the gaps. We shall have common agenda in working for the party in the state and Nigeria.

Earlier, the Edo State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, described the membership of the former APC chieftain as boost to the party, adding that Ikimi was a prophet who had honour in his home.

Your joining the PDP is a plus for the party and a minus to the APC. As we begin to move towards the next election and, although it is said that a prophet has no honour in his home, you are the prophet who has honour at home, he said.

Read more here:
I left APC to earn my respect -Ikimi

The All Progressives Congress has condemned the attemptby the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government, working with some members of theNational Assembly, to cover up the smuggling of $9.3m to South Africa on a private plane, saying the cover-up plans willfail because the issues involve transcend Nigeria.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its National PublicitySecretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the cover-up attemptmanifested clearly at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, whenDeputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha curiously refused to entertain a debateon a motion seeking a probe of the issue that has further ridiculedNigeria in the global community.

It said the refusal of the Deputy Speaker becomes even more suspiciousamid allegations that some members of the House have each received$50,000 bribe to quash the motion.

APC however hailed its members in the House of Representatives forstaging a walk-out to protest the inexplicable decision not toallow the issue to be debated on the floor of the House, saying bytheir actions, they have aligned with the majority of Nigerians whoare eager to get to the bottom of how such a huge amount of moneycould be smuggled into another country by the Nigerian authorities,despite being fully aware of the limitation on the amount of moneythat can be taken into any country.

The party said while the Senate has already launched a probe into theissue, Nigerians would have preferred that the probe is done openly,instead of behind closed doors, so there wont be any shade of doubtabout the transparency of the investigation. It however expressed thehope that the Senate will do a thorough job to unravel thecircumstances surrounding the cash smuggling gate.

It is shocking that those who were elected by the people will failto act in the interest of the people. But then we in the APC are notreally surprised at this development, going by the antecedents of theJonathan Administration and his party, the PDP. Thank goodness,everyday the PDP and the government it has sired at the centre areshowing why they should not be voted back into office, it said.

The party insisted that the Jonathan Administration and all concernedmust come clean on the circumstances surrounding the ferrying of thehuge funds to South Africa, including why a government that has spentmillions of naira to promote a cashless policy decided to transport 90blocks of $100,000 each to another country in violation of that countrys laws.

It said, The resort to procedural error is not enough to explain thisirresponsible and illegal action, neither is it enough to explain whya duly-constituted government will behave like a rogue government oreven like insurgents who will be shopping for arms in the open market.

Fortunately for Nigerians, South Africas National ProsecutingAuthority has said the issue is still under criminal investigation, meaning all attempts to sweep the scandal under thecarpet, as the Jonathan Administration is used to doing, will fail.

APC called on all well-meaning Nigerians as well as Civil SocietyOrganisations to ensure that the circumstances surrounding thisscandal are unraveled in the interest of Nigeria and her people.

Go here to read the rest:
APC condemns alleged bid to cover up $9.3m scandal

Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun | credits: File copy

The All Progressives Congress in Ogun State has described as a wishful- thinking the purported plot by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to defeat the incumbent governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, in the 2015 governorship election.

This is coming against the backdrop of a purported plan by both the Labour Party and the PDP in the state to merge in their bid to unseat Amosun.

President Goodluck Jonathan was reported to have endorsed a working arrangement between the PDP and the Labour Party, aimed at shoring up the chances of the former to produce the next governor of the state.

However, APC, in a statement made available by its state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Sola Lawal, scoffed at the plan, saying it would not succeed. He also described it as a joke.

According to him, existing chaotic internal dynamics within the two opposition parties would end up frustrating their plan.

He further noted that both the PDP and the LP had always worked together in the state, adding that such a gang up had never produced any worthwhile result for them.

He said, In 2011, all the present members of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party in Ogun State were all in the PDP with only a sprinkling of them in the PPN, yet the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, a precursor to the APC, trounced them.

He added, Without the executive power of government in its hands, the APC pummelled the combined forces of the opposition. Now consider how much easier it will be with the superlative performance of the Amosun administration to send them to their electoral grave.

The party likened the gang up against Amosun as an exercise in futility, which has already failed before being executed.

See the rest here:
Plot to unseat Amosun, a joke APC

Is investing in New York City a bad thing? Some progressives seem to think so: Theyre looking to tax it.

The left-leaning Fiscal Policy Institute and state Sen. Brad Hoylman are pushing a new tax aimed at foreigners who have the audacity to shell out big money on city apartments.

Under the plan, the city would levy a surcharge of between 0.5 percent and 4 percent on city co-ops and condos worth $5 million or more. The presumption is that most of these units are owned by foreigners and used as pieds--terre.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) says he will introduce a pied--terre bill in the state Legislature soon. The tax is needed, he says, because foreigners arent paying income taxes but are nonetheless utilizing city services everything from our infrastructure to our police force.

Actually, if theyre not in the city using their apartments much, theyre not likely to be using many city services much, either.

So what this boils down to is out-of-town investors handing over money to the city, costing taxpayers little extra and still paying city property taxes. Why would anyone think these folks should pay more?

What Hoylman and the institute really want, of course, is the $665 million a year the tax is expected to raise from folks who dont vote here. But New Yorks sky-high taxes are already a disincentive to invest here. Adding a surcharge will only make matters worse.

Progressives dont understand that having investors spend money here boosting property values and the economy is good for the city. If they did, maybe theyd be calling for lower taxes for a change.

Continued here:
Another city property tax