Archive for the ‘Progressives’ Category

Missing $20bn riddle

Mallam Lamido Sanusi

The All Progressives Congress advertorial on page 20 of The PUNCH of Monday, April 7, 2014, is highly commendable. Nigerians should not keep silent on issues directly or indirectly affecting us. We should clearly express our views and demand our rights. We should not fold our arms and watch as the so-called rulers ruin our future.

The inappropriate silence and inaction of the President on this issue and which, perhaps, led to the suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, probably indicate he knows something about, along with some other people at the helm of affairs, the disappearance of the said $20billion oil money. Not $20million, not N20billion. Twenty billion dollars!

Considering the salient facts raised in the said advert, Nigerians really should not leave the matter alone. We should ask questions when our leaders are not doing the right thing. They should be held accountable for their actions.

Lekan Ola,

Osogbo, Osun State,

lekanjoda@yahoo.com.

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Missing $20bn riddle

Lagos APC members protest ward congresses

Some members of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, on Wednesday stormed the partys secretariat, protesting a publication that excluded their wards in the ward congress re-run elections in the state.

The protesters, who came from various wards across the state, were seen chanting songs, displaying placards, demanding justice and fair play from the party.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the re-runs publication, which was carried by some national dailies, was accredited to the Dr Garuba Abari-led APC Congresses Committee.

According to the publication, the party has fixed re-run congresses in some wards in the state.

Out of the 377 wards where congresses were held on April 5, the committee declared re-run in 102 wards, slated for April 10.

It will be recalled that disagreements, controversies and protests had trailed the ward congresses, resulting in the committee scheduling the re-run in areas where elections were considered inconclusive.

However, Mr Great Jonathan, from Ward B, Ikeja Local Government Area, who led the protest, told NAN that his ward was not included for the re-run even when congress did not hold there.

We sent in our petition just like others and we are shocked to see the publication this morning announcing re-run in some wards and excluding our ward.

We will go to any level to protests this marginalisation, he said.

Mr Benson Adepoju, from Kosofe Council Ward F, said their protest was for being included for re-run after the committee had issued them return certificate for winning in the congress.

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Lagos APC members protest ward congresses

Progressives battle, Harper smiles

Now that was a speech. Thomas Mulcairs words to his federal council Sunday were surely music to Stephen Harpers ears. The Prime Minister should send the NDP Leader a bottle of gin.

The truculent Mr. Mulcair picked apart Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, portraying him as a silk-stockinged, Tartuffian lightweight. He didnt actually cite Molires theatrical comedy about the pious charlatan, but he might as well have.

The problem is, Justin Trudeau will never know what middle-class means, Mr. Mulcair intoned. He just doesnt understand the real challenges that families are facing. Never has. Never will.

The bearded former Liberal took time to remind one and all that he grew up cue the school-of-hard-knocks schtick in a family of 10. They had to scrap to make do. Mr. Trudeau? Well, he was at 24 Sussex Dr., surrounded by maids and Downton Abbey footmen.

There was also a suggestion in the speech that the young Mr. Trudeau is in over his head just like those Conservative attack ads say.

To be sure, the NDP Leader took a run at Mr. Harper as well, zeroing in on pensions, health care and the much-scorned Fair Elections Act, which he said will be a focal point of the next election campaign. With it, he said, the Conservatives are trying to rig the next election in their favour.

But the bulk of the campaign-style oration was aimed not at the governing party, but at boy blunder, as some Tories like to call Mr. Trudeau. It was the kind of talk that progressives who dream of defeating Mr. Harper dread. It signals a fevered fight between the two major opposition parties, one that drags both down while allowing Mr. Harpers Conservatives some breathing room.

Mr. Mulcair has little choice but to target the Liberals because, as polls repeatedly reveal, Mr. Trudeau is a grave threat to the New Democrats prospects particularly in Quebec, where the NDP won a stunning 59 seats in the last election. Mr. Harper need not worry about Quebec. He has just five seats to lose there and is capable of re-election simply by virtue of his strength in Ontario and the West.

Mr. Mulcair, once a rather slick lawyer, portrayed himself as a kitchen-table guy. Thats the place where you get to know Canadians, he said. But that feel for the population is also something youve had to experience yourself, that you have lived or havent lived. And if youve got no connection to it other than a line in a speech that somebody else has written for you, well then of course its going to sound hollow.

The heated rhetoric marked a new stage of aggression for Mr. Mulcair. Some might suggest that with an election likely still 18 months away, hes starting to sound a little desperate. That is not a good idea, because hes already seen by many as being too aggressive and power-hungry to begin with.

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Progressives battle, Harper smiles

Well work with Amaechi to sack PDP Sylva

Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Timipre Sylva | credits: File copy

A former Governor of Bayelsa State and leader of All Progressives Congress in the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, has assured that the APC will work with the Rivers State Governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, to flush out the PDP-led federal Government in 2015.

Sylva stated this when he led party executives and supporters of the APC in Bayelsa State on a courtesy call on Amaechi at the Government House in Port Harcourt.

The former governor said they were in Rivers to show solidarity with Amaechi, adding that though President Goodluck Jonathan hails from Bayelsa, the majority of the people from the state were frustrated with his (Jonathan) administration.

We of the APC in Bayelsa State have decided to come to you (Amaechi) to show solidarity, to tell you that not everybody in Bayelsa State is against progress, not everybody in Bayelsa State is an enemy of progress, that you also have a family in Bayelsa State that identifies with you all the way and we will stand with you all the way.

When the time comes for us to sweep away the government of the day at the national level, Bayelsa people will stand by you and be in the vanguard of sweeping away this government that has brought only misery to the Niger Delta.

The APC is the platform for progress. You (Amaechi) are an epitome of progress, not only in the Niger Delta but in Nigeria. Everybody that comes to Rivers State will bear witness to what you have done, to your commitment and we will stand by you and we will continue to support you, Sylva said.

He described the APC as a better alternative to the PDP and added that the APC had provided a credible platform for progressives to come together and sweep away the corruption and ineptitude of the current administration at the federal level.

The former governor pointed out that Jonathans presidency had opened cracks in the unity of the people of the South-South geo-political zone.

He said, Today, we in the Niger Delta have the presidency of this country, but what has this brought to us? It has brought divisions; in fact, put a crack in the unity of the Niger Delta.

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Well work with Amaechi to sack PDP Sylva

Leaders of Progressives and Socialists meet

Source: Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Aleksandar Vui said after meeting with Ivica Dai that he "does not want a partisan government," but "wants to unite Serbia and enter difficult reforms."

"We do not want to form a partisan government, our goal is to unite Serbia and go into difficult reforms, and to make Serbia the leader in the region," said the president of the SNS party and the country's future prime minister.

Dai, Serbia's outgoing prime minister and leader of the Socialists (SPS) arrived at the SNS headquarters on Tuesday for talks about a new government, which he said focused mostly on the economy. Ministerial positions have not been discussed, he said.

"We are ready to take on our part of the job - that Serbia does not miss an opportunity, but to step on in a bigger stride," Dai was quoted as saying. He then added that "not a single mistake was made during the current cooperation in the government when it comes to the road along which the country is headed," but that now there was an opportunity to "go into the economy."

Pointing out that the SPS-PUPS-JS coalition "positively assessed" its cooperation so far with Vui and the SNS, Dai stated that his cabinet's results were "good" - and would be "evaluated as significant also in the decades to come."

"Serbia has changed its image and today the worst talk about Serbia is taking place precisely in Serbia. Now it's time for Serbia to end the tradition of missed opportunities," the outgoing prime minister was quoted as saying, and adding: "We reiterate our desire and express our political will that Serbia does not miss the opportunity and that it develops."

The purpose of today's meeting, said Dai, was for Vui to propose a plan, while it did not concern "past times, but the future."

Speaking after the meeting, Vui also said that it was for the most part dedicated to the economy. He reiterated that "there would be no increase in the public debt," but said that Serbia would "get significant and major infrastructure projects, and that in ten or so days concession contracts will be signed for big jobs in that area."

Dai was accompanied by deputy leader of the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS), Milan Krkobabi, President of United Serbia (JS) Dragan Markovi Palma, and SPS officials arko Obradovi and Dijana Vukomanovi.

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Leaders of Progressives and Socialists meet