Politics

Viral Video: My campaign bus was hijacked by APC thugs- Jandor

Published

2 years ago

January 30, 2023

Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor

The PDP Governorship Candidate in Lagos, Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor), has claimed that the PDP campaign bus seen in a viral video where some hoodlums shot in residential areas of Surulere was hijacked by thugs.
He sated this on Sunday while explaining that his campaign tour has come under heavy attacks in the state.
He appealed to the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Usman Baba, to take measures to check incessant attacks on his campaign trains.
Adediran also called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to intervene in the attacks.
Adediran’s campaign train had been attacked by political thugs in Badagry, Ikorodu, Agege, Kosofe and Surulere, leaving some of his followers wounded and vehicles smashed.
It was also reported that the attack on Friday in Surulere was the third attack in succession where suspected hoodlums were said to have fired guns and destroyed some of the campaign vehicles in Adediran’s convoy.
Clearing issues around various attacks, Adediran noted that his change of campaign strategies by going to the people through his ward tours to sell himself to them had exposed him and his followers to huge threats and harassment from political thugs.

READ ALSO:

“I have constitutional backing to go everywhere to campaign for this election.
“Many of the people attacked are here because these attacks are not about me but the people, hence the account we are giving now.
“At Surulere, the moment I stepped out of the mosque, these boys came and began to shout “where is Jandor?”, and started to shoot everywhere. I quickly entered my car and we drove away.
“The thugs hijacked one of our cars. Before we knew it, all our campaign vehicles were damaged and the party secretariat was also damaged.
“We still want the IGP to take these happenings in Lagos State very seriously. Police should please live up to its constitutional responsibility of protecting our lives and property,” he said.
Adediran, who noted that his team had severally reported all the attacks to the police, said that there were video clips and pictures of the attacks.
He lamented that in most of the places, political thugs were also in the habit of harassing and dispersing people waiting to receive him.
Adediran explained that his running mate, Ms Funke Akindele, was also chased out of the Fruit Market in Kosofe by thugs while some others mounted a road block against his passage in the same council and resorted to hurling stones and bottles at him.
“We will go out there and continue with our campaign. We don’t want anybody to harass us, we don’t want to be intimidated.
“I have been speaking to the people, interacting with artisans, professional and religious groups as well as various associations and stakeholders.
“We were attacked in Badagry, Agege, Kosofe and Surulere in Lagos.
“All these happened in Lagos. Our expectation was that the Chief Security Officer of the state would have addressed the people of Lagos and condemned the attacks in its entirety. But nothing of such happened.

READ ALSO:

“We believe that they (the ruling party) actually want to use that to scare us away from embarking in the ward-to-ward tour. We will forge ahead,” he said.
Urging no one to twist the story, Adediran said that his followers could not have attacked the people he wanted to sell his manifestoes to, as was being alleged.
According to him, his team will not succumb to any threat from anywhere but will got out and engage the people at the grassroots, telling them what he would do differently if elected.
Adediran said that political actors should not resort to violence but allow the people of the state to select their leaders.
Stressing that the party had written an official petition to the IGP on the attacks, Adediran urged the police to do the needful.
Also speaking, Mrs. Aduke Akinde, a PDP leader at Iponri in Surulere, said that party members were preparing and waiting to receive Adediran and his team when masked political thugs drove in and destroyed the rented canopies and chairs on Thursday.
In her comment, Mrs Idowu Adeniyi (Iyalaya), a trader at fruit market in Kosofe, who is a PDP member, said that since the foiled attempt of Akindele to campaign in the market, the market authorities had not allowed them to enter their shops.
“Up till now, no opportunity to enter the market. We plead for help; we are being threatened since Tuesday. Our fruits, apples and bananas must be rotten now,” she said.
In his remarks, Pastor Philips Aivoji, the Lagos State Chairman of PDP, said that there were so many other attacks on PDP members in the state not reported in the media.
Aivoji, who noted that many PDP members in rural places were being threatened, said that election should not be a do-or-die affair.
“These cannot deter us. We will continue to forge ahead because we believe we are on the side of the people. We are not going to be intimidated,” he said.
Reacting to the alleged attacks in a statement on Saturday, Mr. Seye Oladejo, the Lagos APC Publicity Secretary, accused Adediran of unleashing terror on innocent residents in the course of his campaign in Surulere.
Oladejo condemned the resort to violence on the citizens of the state in the name of electioneering campaign.

Related Topics:APC thugs Jandor PDP Lagos

Up Next

JUST IN: 3 House of Reps members dump APC for PDP, meet Atiku [PHOTOS]

Don't Miss

Sowore tackles Peter Obi for accepting donation from SS2 Student

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.

READ ALSO:

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.

READ ALSO:

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.

READ ALSO:

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.

READ ALSO:

“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.