Godsent Eva

Presidential aspirant lament as coalition to sack buhari collapse

2018-09-09 14:17:52

Young presidential aspirants, who recently formed a coalition to produce a consensus candidate to sack President Muhammadu Buhari next year, have lamented the collapse of the arrangement. The vision of the 13 young politicians, under the auspices of Presidential Aspirants Coming Together, PACT, to oust Buhari, died last week in Abuja when leading members of the group backed out. The convener of PACT, Dr. Thomas Wilson-Ikubese, nevertheless told Punch that Fela Durotoye, actually emerged as the consensus candidate after a mock election held in Abuja. He also revealed that several of the aspirants expressed their grievances at various stages of the process. He said one of the aspirants, Omoyele Sowore, pulled out of the arrangement because members of PACT did not support the two protests he co-organised in Abuja due to certain reason. Wilson-Ikubese said that others, who pulled out were Ahmed Buhari, Awwal Abubakar, Alkali Abdullahi, Dr. Felix Nicholas and Prof. Kingsley Moghalu. He said, “They (aspirants) said it was the turn of the North and since it was not going to the North (automatically), they pulled out. “Meanwhile, this was discussed at the level of PACT and we resolved that excellence should be the basis for our voting. “In the new Nigeria that we seek, anybody from any part of the country can become anything, irrespective of where he or she comes from. “Prof Kingsley Moghalu was there from the beginning to the end. He participated in the first and second rounds. He hugged Durotoye and congratulated him after the result was announced in the hall.” Also lamenting the collapse, a presidential aspirant of the Young Democratic Party, Toye Akingbola, expressed disappointment with the disagreement among members of PACT. He said, “I’m not a member of PACT but I am not unaware of what transpired. No matter how good a person is, no matter how fantastic these presidential aspirants are, there is only one seat and only one person can march out to give us the Presidency. “For those who have pulled out because they felt that Fela Durotoye shouldn’t have been the one to come on board, they shouldn’t have because if you knew you were not going to accept defeat, why did you join PACT?”

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Godsent Eva

Stop being a Masquerade.- PDP tells APC spokesman

2018-09-09 13:54:48

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekini Nabena, to stop being a masquerade and accept the challenge to debate with one of the Senate President’s aides on live television. According to the party, Nabena depicted as a depreciation of the standards that should be associated with the spokesman of a ruling party. A statement by the PDP spokesman in Kwara State, Tunde Ashaolu, which was sent to DAIlY POST, said Nabena had continued to embarrass the ruling party because he lacked the necessary educational or political qualifications to hold such a position. The statement reads: “People who know Nabena, are aware that he does not have the necessary pedigree, experience or qualifications to hold such a crucial position. What are his professional and political antecedents? Who knew him before he became the Acting Publicity Secretary? “This man continues to embarrass the APC and himself through his juvenile press statements and tweets. I mean, for those of us who have been at this level, even at the state level, we know that it takes a certain degree of level and clear headedness to perform effectively as a Party Spokesman. “Saraki’s aides have challenged him. He should stop being a masquerade and come out of hiding. Let him accept the challenge and tell the Nigerian people how he and his party have failed all Nigerians. He cannot continue to hide behind press statements, which are authored from Lagos for him. He should come out and give a face and verbal expressions to these statements in public. “When compared with people who have held these position as spokespersons of political parties in Nigeria like Chief Bola Ige who was Publicity Secretary of Action Group in the First Republic, Chief MCK Ajuluchukwu who served in that capacity for the UPN in the Second Republic, Prof. David Iornem and Dr. Doyin Okupe who played the roles in the SDP and NRC in the aborted Third Republic, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi who is the immediate past Publicity secretary of APC and his opposite in the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, to mention a few, where will this Nabena fit in? He is definitely a misfit. “That position is meant for achievers who have done well in their respective professions, not for an upstart like Yekinni Nabena. However, with the low level that the APC has descended to, we are not surprised that such an incompetent man with no known professional background, who claims to author indecent press statements, dripping with falsehood, is the spokesperson of the ruling party in Nigeria. “Nabena is an example of why candidates should always have deputies that are qualified, capable and good enough to replace them. When APC fielded this misfit as Deputy Publicity Secretary to assist Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, a Chevening scholar and former minister, they did not envisage that a situation may arise where Nabena will become substantive spokesperson. Look at the pitiable face of the APC public communication now. This Nabena is definitely a poster boy of his drowning party. What a shame!,” Ashaolu stated.

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Godsent Eva

EX IGP- concluded.. Saying

2018-09-09 13:49:31

On him being attacked by the former administration for refusing to do their bidding, he added, “The truth about the entire thing was that a certain political party won an election and another political party lost an election. We (the Service Chiefs and the IGP) had privileged information few hours after the election was concluded that the then President Jonathan had lost that election. Even Jonathan himself knew that he had lost the election. His Principal Secretary was in a meeting where the entire electoral process was being reviewed bit by bit. Immediately it was clear that Jonathan had lost the election, his loyalists began to plot how to disrupt the process. That was when I cautioned them to be careful so they don’t put Nigeria into flames. I suggested that they should allow the process to conclude to avoid crisis that would lead to the death of people. That was when they calmed down and began to accept defeat. “Remember that whenever things have gone wrong, the people in power choose who to see. Besides, they never believed in me. They were never satisfied with my approach to the elections. Shortly before the elections, I was queried by the Presidency for asking the State Commissioners of Police to be civil, impartial and non-partisan in their handling of the elections. “I also received a communications from some senior government officials seeking to know why I asked the CPs to be impartial and non-partisan, instead of asking them to help their party win the elections. “I was made the chairman of the election security committee and I knew the importance we attached to the election. However, I gave the directive at the regular meeting of police senior officers. But the government officials queried why I should give such directives. “They suggested that I do it individually instead of collectively. Meeting and interaction of police officers are regular exercise in the police service whether during elections or not. It is always an opportunity to constantly remind the officers of the need to be professional in their conduct.” On Tambuwal, he said, “I didn’t act alone in that saga. The then president gave us the assignment to withdraw the security details of the then Speaker. The assignment was not given to me alone. Myself and the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS) were given that assignment. “I tried as much as I could to convince the president to, at least, allow me retain the ADC of the ex-Speaker, but I couldn’t succeed. Nigerians didn’t really understood what happened at that time and that was because the information available to the public was limited. My happiness was that I never allowed myself to be used by people in the corridors of power.

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