Politics

2023: Kwankwaso, Yakasai, Galadima, others form new political group

Published

3 years ago

February 23, 2022

Former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, with some prominent Nigerians has formed a political movement, The National Movement, expected to transform into a political party, ahead of the 2023 general elections.

He said with the new group was formed to save democracy and rescue the nation.

Other members of the movement convened by Kwankwaso are elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai; Air Vice Marshal Ifeanaju; Buba Galadima; former minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung; Sen Prince Nweze Onu; Folasade Aliyu; Prof Rufai Ahmed Alkali; Senator Grace Ben; Senator Umale Shittu; Ibrahim Ringim; Alhaji Arre Gwaska; Chief Paul Okala; Rufai Hanga; Idris Wada; Sen Abdulrahman Abubakar, among others.

Speaking during the unveiling of the movement on Tuesday, Kwankwaso said it was a collective desire to rescue the country.

Kwankwaso, a former minister of defense, said, “For too long, Nigerians have been waiting for this day. For too long, friends of Nigerians abroad have been waiting for this day and the time is today and now. Today, 22-02-2022, all Nigerians cut across all social, religious and regions have gathered. It is our collective resolve to rescue our nation from this difficult situation.”

Kwankwaso said his friends met during the COVID-19 lockdown and resolved that a step must be taken to rescue Nigeria.

He stressed that the idea was to fight poverty and ensure the wellbeing and happiness of Nigerians.

He said, “We resolved that there must be a Nigeria first before politics. While some of us will want to contest, we must work together to rescue the country. The national movement has members in every local government area and outside the country. As a former minister of defence, I believe in the capacity of the Nigerian Armed Forces to fight this insecurity.

“We shall fight against rural and urban poverty and promote prosperity of all, and not prosperity for only a few. We shall ensure that quality social services such as education and healthcare services are made available and accessible to all Nigerians irrespective of the social and cultural backgrounds; and we shall promote and ensure the wellbeing and happiness of all Nigerians.

“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, all the above lofty ideals cannot be achieved in an atmosphere of rancour, unprecedented collective dislocation and upheavals, unimaginable banditry and kidnapping, ever-present pillaging and rampage posed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups, and indeed other equally dangerous tendencies represented by lPOB, the continued pollution of the environment in the Niger Delta, and indeed multiple separatist agitations all over the land.

“We know the origins of all these existential threats to our existence as a nation, much more to our collective development as one indivisible sovereign nation. All these are thrown up on us substantively due to lack of leadership capacity to handle them. We therefore are more than just determined to confront these threats to our corporate existence. We are ready with concrete and incontrovertible measures to pull our nation out of the doldrums.

“We cannot claim that all these challenges can be solved by brute military force. However, as a former Minister of Defence, I believe in the capacity of our security forces to confront and solve the current insurgencies bedeviling our country. We will equip and empower the military and all arms of our security agencies and provide them with effective and unquestioned capacity to reclaim our country from the stranglehold of insurgents, kidnappers, terrorists and all forms of criminal elements.

“The farmers and herders conflict also continues to represent a serious threat to law and order and to the continued co-existence of hitherto brotherly people across the country. The TNM will protect all farming communities across the country from the encroachment of herders. Similarly we will preserve the interests of herding communities by providing them with the wherewithal to practice their age-old profession in the most modern ways without having to encroach on farmlands.

“We in the TNM are also acutely aware of the agitations of many sections of our beloved country for re-structuring and re-alignment and resource control. We believe that the voice of the people is sacred; the voice of all our people, together, is the voice of God. Therefore, restructuring the corporate units of our great country is possible and doable.

“As avowed democrats we are ready and prepared to act in concert with the wishes and desires comprehensively of all our people. We will embark of massive, comprehensive, and unprecedented reform of our national life in order to improve the living conditions of all our people.”

Politics

PDP crisis: Two ex-Senate presidents lead fresh plot to oust Damagum

Published

1 day ago

December 21, 2024

Trends Admin

Umar Iliya Damagum, Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

PDP crisis: Two ex-Senate presidents lead fresh plot to oust Damagum

Two former Presidents of the Senate, Chief David Mark and Dr Bukola Saraki are leading a fresh charge aimed at removing Amb. Umar Damagum as the Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The push by Mark and Saraki has received the backing of prominent stakeholders, including the Plateau State Governor, Caleb Muftwang and other political office holders elected on the platform of the PDP.

Similarly, former governors from the Northcentral zone who served on the party’s platform have also aligned forces with the group.

Rising from a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja on Thursday night, the party chieftains resolved to produce a candidate from the zone early 2025 to replace Damagum.

According to them, the move to replace Damagum with a substantive chairman from the Northcentral, has received the endorsement of key party stakeholders from the Northwest and the Northeast zones.

Among those being projected as potential candidates to take Damagum’s seat include Mark; a former Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam; and a former House of Representatives member from Nasarawa State, David
David Ombugadu.

A communique issued after the meeting, said the stakeholders
reviewed the festering crisis in the party following the exit of the erstwhile National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu.

Ayu lost his seat to the crisis triggered by disagreements over the emergency of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 general election.

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The crisis has continued to deepen with the apparent overbearing influence of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike on the Damagum-led national leadership.

The Northcentral stakeholders argued that Damagum’s continued occupation of the office breached provisions of the PDP constitution.

The communique states in part, “The PDP’s constitution clearly states that succession of offices in the party at all levels is largely to the extent that any vacant position can be replaced by appointment from the zone, as per Section 47 (6) of the party.

“The party is guided by its constitution at all times. Therefore, the leadership of the party needs to rise up to the occasion to restore goodwill and cohesion in the party by making necessary sacrifices and compromises to restore confidence and cohesion in the party.

“It is in the light of this that the stakeholders of the Northcentral Zone appeal to the conscience and goodwill of our compatriots in other zones of the Northern region to restore the seat of the chairmanship of the party back to the Northcentral Zone to serve out its tenure.

“That the stakeholders must strive to build consensus to get the buy-in to the position of Northcentral zone.

“The Northcentral is united and will strive to preserve the PDP as a veritable platform for good governance in Nigeria.”

The meeting, which was attended by Governor Muftwang, also had former Governors Jonah Jang (Plateau), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Idris Wada (Kogi) in attendance.

Others at the meeting included the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro; incumbent PDP National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN); and a former Information Minister, Prof Jerry Gana.

Also at the meeting were former senators Tunde Ogbeha, Philip Aduda, Suleiman Adokwe, Dino Melaye, Mohammed Onawo and Peter Jiya.

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Similarly, former Ministers, Labaran Maku and Sarah Ochekpe also attended the meeting. Other stakeholders like Simon Mwadkwon, Mrs. Margaret Icheen, Mr. Raymond Dabo, Maika Jiba, and Isa Dobi were also present.

Damagum, who is from Yobe State in the Northeast zone, emerged Acting National Chairman in March 2023 following the exit of Ayu who is from Benue State in the Northcentral zone.

Damagum was the PDP Deputy National Chairman (North) before his appointment as Acting National Chairman.

By virtue of Section 47 (6) of the party’s constitution, he ought to have relinquished the seat for a substantive National Chairman from the Northcentral zone where Ayu hailed from.

The Section reads: “Where a vacancy occurs in any of the offices of the party, the Executive Committee at the appropriate level shall appoint another person from the area or zone where the officer originated from to serve out the tenure of the officer.”

Ayu was elected chairman in 2022 for a four-year tenure that should expire in 2026 before his tenure got truncated in 2023.

Several moves by critical organs of the party, including the PDP Governors Forum, the Board of Trustees (BoT) and the National Caucus to replace Damagum have been thwarted by the Acting National Chairman, allegedly with the backing of Wike.

Miffed by the development, the PDP Governors Forum, led by Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, had, a few weeks ago, directed the Damagum-led leadership to convene the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting latest by February 2025.

The NEC meeting has suffered four postponements between August and November 2024, as Damagum, who is supposed to convene the meeting has been evasive.

The power to ratify any candidate chosen by the Northcentral zone to replace Damagum is vested only in the NEC.

PDP crisis: Two ex-Senate presidents lead fresh plot to oust Damagum

Politics

PDP expels South-East national vice chairperson over anti-party activities

Published

3 days ago

December 19, 2024

Trends Admin

PDP expels South-East national vice chairperson over anti-party activities

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oguduokwor Ward, Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, has officially expelled Ali Odefa, the suspended National Vice Chairperson of the party in the South-East, following allegations of anti-party activities.

Odefa had been suspended on September 11, 2024, by the ward executives, a move that was later upheld by the Federal High Court in Abakaliki. In its ruling on November 29, 2024, under suit number FHC/AI/CS/182/2024, the court affirmed the legitimacy of his suspension.

On Wednesday, Onyeka Ovuta, the Acting Chairperson of the PDP in Oguduokwor, announced Odefa’s expulsion in a statement. Ovuta explained that the decision followed recommendations from the party’s disciplinary committee, which confirmed the allegations against Odefa.

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The party announced that Mr Odefa by the virtue of his expulsion, “ceases to be a member of the party.”

Reacting, Mr Odefa laughed off the expulsion, stating that those who announced it were “frustrated charlatans”.

He said the expulsion cannot stand because “it did not take place in the ward but in Abuja”. He said those who made the announcement against him were not ward executives of the party.

“Let them come home come and announce it. Or is our ward now located in Abuja?”

PDP expels South-East national vice chairperson over anti-party activities

Politics

INEC recognises Sylvester Ezeokenwa as APGA national chairman

Published

4 days ago

December 18, 2024

Trends Admin

APGA National Chairman, Sylvester Ezeokenwa

INEC recognises Sylvester Ezeokenwa as APGA national chairman

Sylvester Ezeokenwa has been reinstated as the national chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

Ezeokenwa was reinstated by the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday, December 17.

According to Sam Olumekun, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, the commission had been served with the judgement of the Supreme Court.

The apex court judgement with the Appeal No. SC/CV/824/2024 APGA & ANOR vs OYE & ORS was delivered on November 27, 2024.

The court ruled that Ezeokenwa should be recognised as the national chairman of the party.

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“In compliance with the judgement of the apex court, the Commission has restored Barr. Ezeokenwa as the Chairman of APGA and restored his name on our website accordingly,” the INEC commissioner said.

He also stated that the reisnstatmemt of the new chairman would automatically lead to the withdrawal of the recognition of Njoku as the national chairman of the party.

The court also upheld an earlier judgement of the appeal which did not confer any enforceable rights on Njoku.

If also awarded N20 million each against the appellaants.