Politics

Atiku, G-5 reconciliation collapses, PDP presidential candidate dumps Makinde for Adeleke

Published

2 years ago

December 19, 2022

Nyesom Wike and Atiku Abubakar

The hope of a truce between Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and the aggrieved five governors before next year’s poll has collapsed.

A crucial meeting in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, between the two sides, which their representatives described as final, broke down following irreconcilable differences.

After the talks broke down, the presidential standard bearer decided to look beyond the aggrieved governors and their allies.

Atiku has replaced Oyo State governor Seyi Makinde with Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke as the Coordinator of his Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) in the Southwest.

A proposal by Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, who represented Atiku, that the yearnings of the G-5, otherwise known as the Integrity Group, will be taken care of after the election, was rejected by the governors, led by Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.

At the meeting were Samuel Ortom (Benue), Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu).

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The Adamawa governor had pleaded with his colleagues to make a further sacrifice by focusing more on the election instead of insisting on their conditions for a truce.

The G5 governors and other allies, who had insisted that the national chairman, Senator Iyiocha Ayu, should resign, stood their ground, saying that their core demand was non-negotiable.

Ahead of the presidential primary in Abuja, Ayu had promised to step down if a northerner was picked as flagbearer.

However, the chairman, who reneged on his promise, was backed by Atiku who explained that the provisions of the party constitution on the choice and removal of the chairman should be followed.

A party source said that Wike, who spoke on behalf of G-5, said they would neither participate in the PDP presidential campaigns nor lend any support for Atiku in their respective states ahead of the poll.

According to the source, pleas by Fintiri and other party leaders to the aggrieved governors to sheath their swords and retrace their steps fell on deaf ears.

Also, both sides are bracing up for the reality that PDP will go into the election as a divided house.

The source added: “Both sides, those representing Atiku and the G-5, tended to believe that that may be the last reconciliation meeting aimed at resolving the conflict.

“The only concession that Fintiri could guarantee on behalf of Atiku was that the five governors should wait till when the candidate wins before the national chairman can resign.

“As usual, G-5 rejected the proposal and maintained their ground that Ayu should go.”

Following the breakdown of what looked like a final peace move, the former vice president has decided to continue with his campaigns across the country without the involvement of the Integrity Group.

He has reached out to his old allies in the five states, particularly those who are not on the same page with the aggrieved governors and drafted them to his zonal and state campaign structures.

The change of mobilisation tactics by Atiku has further pitted him against Makinde, Ortom, Ikpeazu, Ugwuanyi and Wike, who have turned the heat on chieftains being recruited by Atiku into his campaign from the respective states

In the Southwest, Atiku has dumped Makinde and opted for Adeleke as regional coordinator.

The source said: “Alhaji Atiku is bypassing Governor Makinde. He has appointed Adeleke as Southwest Campaign Coordinator. Adeleke will coordinate activities in Southwest from Ibadan, Oyo State capital.

“He is also wooing his old friends and other chieftains who are fanatical supporters of the PDP across the six states.”

On what is likely to be Makinde’s next step, the source said: “Governor Makinde is campaigning for a second term.

“He is consolidating his PDP base.”

When contacted, PDP campaign spokesman declined comment.

The Nation

Related Topics:Adeleke Atiku Featured G-5 Makinde

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Politics

Factional Obidient movement planning to dump LP – Chieftain

Published

2 days ago

January 15, 2025

Trends Admin

Factional Obidient movement planning to dump LP – Chieftain

The Coordinator, Obidient Youth Ambassadors, Meche Oswald, has revealed plots by a factional Obedient Movement within the Labour Party (LP) to float another political platform.

However Oswald said their exit would not affect the party in any form due to the strong forces behind the Labour Party Directorate of Mobilisation and Integration (DMI).

The coordinator, in a statement, said with the current happenings in the Obidient Movement, the true intention of those who kicked against the establishment of the DMI had been made public.

In June 2024, the Labour Party created the Directorate of Mobilisation and Integration and appointed Marcel Ngogbehei as the director general.

Since its creation, the directorate has been able to coordinate the support groups in the party, commanding about 75 per cent loyalty from the groups across the country.

Recently, the directorate set up state and local government coordinators with the aim to strengthen the party’s grassroots structure ahead of the 2027 elections.

And each of those state and LGA structures is said to be continuously recruiting, spreading like wildfire.

“The Labour Party platform in 2027 will boast of massive numbers of volunteers willing to work and support the Party’s candidates across board,” Oswald added.

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He said with DMI’s extensive grassroots presence in every community across Nigeria, it would be extremely challenging for the factionalized Obidient movement to promote any other political platform.

He said the DMI’s strategic and innovative approach had undoubtedly raised LP’s banner as a force to reckon with within the political environment.

Oswald said, “The strong forces behind DMI are, in fact, young formidable members of the Obidient movement, and this poses a significant threat to a faction of the movement who have concluded arrangements to exit the Labour Party for another one that will favor their individual goals.

“I am particularly impressed by the foresight of LP Chairman, Barrister Abure, and DMI Director-General, Marcel Ngogbehei. The reports rolling in from various states are loud and encouraging.

“DMI is a child of destiny and a testimony to visionary leadership. Great leaders have the ability to foresee the future and prepare accordingly; this is exactly what Marcel has done.

“Every malicious attempt to bring LP to disrepute has been effectively neutralized, leaving the gang of traitors confused.

“They have been fighting tooth and nail to see that the directorate is rendered inoperative because they feel it rivals their goals.

“Instead of coming up with strategic ideas on how to make the faction under their control work, they are preoccupied with dirty plans of how to bring someone else down.

“I have never seen such a level of callousness being exhibited by humans against others; even animals have a level of soberness.

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“We are all witnesses to the numerous complaints that almost weighed down the party. In fact, someone emphatically said the party is dead.

“Why, then, are certain individuals unhappy that the party they declared dead has now fully resurrected with total reinvigoration?

“The DMI dares to challenge the obstacles on the way of LP, igniting the flame of an intellectual youthful movement that has taken up the challenge to lead in this liberation struggle.

“This is the dawn of a new era. We should celebrate the birth of the indomitable spirit of DMI, forged in the crucible of struggle. Since its inception, the DMI has not wavered in its mission to fight for the true emancipation of the Nigerian people.”

He urged the youth league to stand as the vanguard of the national democratic revolution and keep charging forward.

Factional Obidient movement planning to dump LP – Chieftain

Politics

Omo-Agege pledges support for Tinubu, says he remains committed APC member

Published

2 days ago

January 15, 2025

Trends Admin

Former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege

Omo-Agege pledges support for Tinubu, says he remains committed APC member

Former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has said reports of his plan to dump the All Progressives Congress (APC) and team up with former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, to float a phantom new political party is shocking.

Omo-Agege, in a release issued by his media adviser, Sunny Areh, said the story is a product of allegation journalism with no iota of truth.

He stated that associating his name with the political group Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, is said to be working on, is a clear case of fable without any basis whatsoever.

“In the weird publication, it was alleged that Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Deputy President of the Senate in the 9th Session, is scheming to abandon the All Progressives Congress (APC) to team up with Mallam Nasir el-Rufai to float a phantom new political party, is not only shocking but idiotic,” he said.

Omo-Agege, flag bearer of the APC in the 2023 governorship election in Delta State, affirmed his APC membership, noting that President Bola Tinubu will not be deterred or distracted by reactionary forces determined to keep the people in perpetual penury.

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He said, “Having led the APC to its best ever performance in the 2023 general elections in Delta State where the party won two of the three senatorial seats and Senator Ovie Omo-Agege was narrowly cheated from coasting to victory in the Governorship election, he will do better in 2027.”

While urging the APC faithful to disregard the hatchet job, he said the perpetrators have resorted deploying blackmail and subterfuge to sabotage the APC.

“Let it be known that as the leader of APC in Delta state and having taken it through a record showing in the 2023 general elections, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege remains irrevocably committed, steadfast and primed to the task of completing the job of rescuing the state from the serial failed administrations in 2027.

“Together with other progressive forces, he will steer the state to true prosperity and take her away from the trajectory of missed opportunities, failed policies and incorporated corruption to the path of development as a frontline oil producing state in the Niger-Delta.

“Already, our dear President’s reform agenda for re-tooling Nigeria’s economy to a productive one is bearing fruits and the people are testifying to the renewed hope of all facets of the population.

“President Tinubu will not be deterred or distracted by reactionary forces determined to keep the people in perpetual penury,” Omo-Agege’s stated.

Omo-Agege pledges support for Tinubu, says he remains committed APC member

Politics

Tinubu is first real politician to become Nigeria’s president – PDP leader

Published

2 days ago

January 15, 2025

Trends Admin

Segun Sowunmi

Tinubu is first real politician to become Nigeria’s president – PDP leader

Segun Sowunmi, former spokesman for ex-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, has declared President Bola Tinubu as the first true politician to ever ascend to the presidency of Nigeria.

In an appearance on TVC News, Sowunmi compared Tinubu’s political career with that of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, and Goodluck Jonathan, claiming that none of them could be considered “real politicians.”

Sowunmi explained that while Obasanjo and Buhari were military men and Jonathan rose to power due to unforeseen circumstances, Tinubu’s success in politics places him in a unique position.

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He stated: “Obasanjo and Buhari couldn’t call themselves politicians because they were soldiers. Jonathan couldn’t call himself a politician because he came in over the misery of others, but Tinubu is a politician.”

Sowunmi also spoke on the challenge faced by the opposition under Tinubu’s leadership.

“In the present dispensation of the APC, President Tinubu-led federal government, the first thing we need to accept and which we are accepting now is that our work is cut out for us,” Sowunmi added.

He concluded by stressing the need for fresh, quality minds to rethink the dynamics of democracy and opposition in Nigeria, especially in light of Tinubu’s political experience.