Many Ondo APC members dump party for PDP – Newstrends
Connect with us

Politics

Many Ondo APC members dump party for PDP

Published

on

Many Ondo APC members dump party for PDP

On Wednesday, members of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Ondo State announced their defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The defectors, hailing from the state’s 208 wards across its 18 local government areas, declared their readiness to support the PDP candidate, Agboola Ajayi, in the November 16 governorship election.

Ajayi, a former deputy governor of the state, along with the PDP state leadership, welcomed the defectors at the Akure town hall in the state capital on Wednesday.

During the event, Ajayi addressed the new members, highlighting the prevalent suffering, hunger, and anger in the state due to the alleged maladministration of the APC-led government. He promised that, if elected, he would offer a better alternative for the people of Ondo State, and urged the new members to collaborate with existing PDP members to secure a victory in the forthcoming election.

He said, “We are working very hard to regain the state and we need to be strategic about it in order to emerge victorious in the November 2024 election because the people of the state are looking up to us.

READ ALSO:

“As new members, I assure you of all rights accrued to the rest of our members. We will ensure that you benefit from every opportunity regarding the welfare of members without sentiments.”

In his remark, the state Chairman of the PDP, Tola Alabere, said the umbrella of the PDP was wide enough to accommodate more new members, assuring the defectors of equal treatment and fairness.

Alabere said, “I am confident that his election will mark a rapid growth in the fortunes of the state and you are welcome to join this moving train as partners to reposition the state towards development.”

Speaking on behalf of the defectors, the former APC organising Secretary in Akure South LG, Akinwande Fayinminu, said they decided to leave the ruling party due to a lack of internal democracy.

“The APC lacks internal democracy, that is why they are factionalised, since they came to power they have not integrated many members of the party. They are operating the party like an occultic group. We can’t stay in such a party any longer,” Fayimimu stated.

Many Ondo APC members dump party for PDP

Politics

No candidate can win presidential election without the North – Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

Published

on

No candidate can win presidential election without the North – Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

Former Special Adviser on Political Matters to President Bola Tinubu, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has declared that no politician can win the Nigerian presidency in 2027 without the support of the northern region.

Speaking in a video interview in Kaduna, Baba-Ahmed, who appeared alongside Professor Usman Yusuf, former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), emphasized that the North would soon define its political direction.

“In the next six months, the North will decide where it stands. If the rest of the country wants to join us, fine. If not, we will go our own way. One thing is clear: nobody can become president of Nigeria without northern support,” he asserted.

He lamented the state of the nation and urged northerners to resist divisive and deceptive politicians ahead of the next general elections.

“We want a government that understands our problems and can address them. After Buhari’s eight years, we became wiser. Now, we are in another government, and we are still crying. Is crying all we know how to do?” Baba-Ahmed asked.

READ ALSO:

Reflecting on past experiences, he said the North had suffered greatly during the Boko Haram insurgency, which affected all groups Muslims, Christians, Fulani, Baju, and others highlighting the need for unity.

“Before Buhari became president, Boko Haram was bombing mosques, churches, Abuja, and Lagos. That was a time northerners had to unite. Today, no politician can just show up and expect northerners to fall in line. Who are you?” he questioned.

He warned against further marginalization of the North, noting that continued disregard for the region would have consequences.

“If they plan to rig the election, they should be careful. It won’t be good for Nigeria. The North is watching. Elders, masses, and interest groups will soon say ‘enough is enough.’ The injustice and sidelining must stop,” he said.

Baba-Ahmed also urged the region to look beyond identity politics, stressing that competence and integrity should guide voter decisions.

“We are tired of being deceived into voting based on religion or ethnicity. That era is over. We just want a right leader let him falls from heaven, we just want someone who will solve our problems,” he said.

He concluded by asserting that the northern electorate had learned hard lessons from past choices and would approach 2027 with a new mindset.

No candidate can win presidential election without the North – Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

Continue Reading

Politics

Malami, others in CPC started plotting against Tinubu in 2024  —  Obono-Obla

Published

on

Okoi Obono-Obla

Malami, others in CPC started plotting against Tinubu in 2024  —  Obono-Obla

Okoi Obono-Obla, former special adviser on public prosecution to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, says members of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) bloc led by Abubakar Malami have been plotting against President Bola Tinubu since April 2024.

He said some members of the bloc recently criticized the president and their purported plan to dump the ruling All Progressives Congress started less than a year into Tinubu’s administration.

Obono-Obla accused Malami of initiating the plan, adding that the former Attorney-General of the Federation should not be speaking for the CPC because he is not a founding member of the bloc.

“He has no right. Malami cannot speak for CPC. He came from PDP. He had even ran for election in 2007 under the platform of PDP,” Obono-Obla.

Recounting the early days of the CPC, he said, “I was among the people who put the political association known as CPC together.

“When we went to register that association as a political party, I was among the national officers who went to INEC to register that political association as a political party. That was in 2008. He was not there.

“I became the national interim adviser from 2008 to 30th December 2010. And then the party was already registered by INEC in 2010. We were going to have our first national convention.

“So they asked those of us who were interim officers and interested in contesting in the national convention to resign, and I resigned.”

READ ALSO:

After the party was registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2010, Obono-Obla said he held the national deputy secretary in 2011, while Malami served as the party’s national legal adviser until the CPC was dissolved.

How Malami’s plot against Tinubu started

Obono-Obla revealed that some members of the CPC bloc started a move to undermine Tinubu’s government at a dinner in a hotel in Abuja.

“This thing did not start because President Bola Tinubu is not doing well,” he said.

“Last year, 28th of April, Emeka Nwajiuba, who was minister of state for education, he was also a member of the CPC merger committee.

“He’s from Imo state. He invited me for a meeting. He said, ‘Obla, come, we want to have dinner in a hotel in Maitama, Abuja, to celebrate Sallah.

“So I went, innocently. I didn’t know what they were going to do. I just went to have dinner.”

He said Malami, former CPC state chairmen, and individuals previously expelled attended the dinner.

“All those people were there, and something told me that this thing is political.”

According to him, the dinner quickly turned political as Nwajiuba and Malami criticised the Tinubu administration.

“That government was not yet up to one year in office. It was on the 28th of April, 2024. Then Malami spoke. Then the people they invited, some of them were very unhappy, they were angry.

“They said, ‘Look, we put you in government, ministers for eight years; you were very powerful.

“Somebody like Abubakar Malami, he was very powerful. ‘What did you do to help CPC as a party? What did you do to ensure that CPC is not marginalised? Why are you now coming to us?”

He said it became clear to him that the grievance was longstanding and politically motivated.

“They couldn’t say anything, and so they started planning this thing since last year. It’s not today,” he added.

Obono-Obla maintained that the recent move by some CPC bloc members against the President was planned.

“It’s planned, it’s not because the current president is not doing well. They have something that is disturbing them, and we don’t like it.”

Meanwhile, founding members of the CPCP, Farouk Aliyu, former minority leader of the House of Representatives and Osita Okechukwu, former director-general of the Voice of Nigeria, have refuted the claim that the CPC bloc within the ruling party plans to defect ahead of the 2027 elections.

The ruling party chieftains said the CPC bloc remains committed to supporting Tinubu’s second-term bid.

 

Malami, others in CPC started plotting against Tinubu in 2024  —  Obono-Obla

Continue Reading

Politics

Fayose threatens to work against Atiku in 2027

Published

on

Former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose

Fayose threatens to work against Atiku in 2027

Former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has repeated his opposition to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s presidential ambition, stating that if Atiku runs in the 2027 presidential election, he will work against him once more.

Fayose, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made the announcement in an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday.

“I publicly worked against Atiku, and I am saying for the second time, if Atiku comes again, I will work against him. It is time to learn our lesson,” Fayose said.

READ ALSO:

He blamed the internal crisis currently facing the PDP on the party’s failure to adhere to its zoning arrangement, which he claimed was disregarded in favour of Atiku’s candidacy in the 2023 presidential election.

“After eight years of a Northerner, it is the turn of a Southerner, which could involve someone from the East, South West or South South,” he stated. “Those who gave or zoned power back to the North caused all these problems.”

Fayose stressed the importance of respecting power rotation, even if informally agreed upon, arguing that the refusal to support a Southern candidate undermined the unity of the party.

“You don’t have to like a Nyesom Wike or a Peter Obi, but there should be an unwritten, respected gentleman understanding of powershift,” he said.

Fayose threatens to work against Atiku in 2027

Continue Reading

Trending