Headlines
Atiku Tasks PDP Members on Reclaiming Party’s Lost Glory
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has called on leaders and stakeholders of the party to reflect on prevailing challenges and come up with strategies that will enable the PDP to take its dominant place once again.
Atiku gave the charge in Abuja on Thursday at a reception organized for returning and newly elected governors on the platform of the party.
“We have a number of challenges. We started as a dominant political party in 1999, but since then, we have been receding. It is time to take stock and find out why we are receding and how we can make sure that our position as the leading political party in the country can be regained.
“This is a very important challenge that requires a whole day seminar so that we can as a party regain our eminent position in the country,” he said.
The former vice president also urged party leaders and members alike to be hopeful of the favourable outcome in the presidential election petition.
“We all know that the PDP did not lose the last election. We should be determined and focus on retrieving our mandate that has been stolen,” Atiku said.
Earlier in his opening address, acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagum, said Nigerians are resolute in seeing justice done to the petition filed by the PDP at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
“The only solution for the common man is to have a just adjudication in the election petition,” he said, stressing that issues affecting the party were being addressed by the National Working Committee.
Also speaking, former Vice President and Chairman of the occasion, Namadi Sambo, called for togetherness, lamenting the Ill treatment being meted out to some PDP members, particularly in his home state of Kaduna.
“What is happening in some states today is very unfortunate. What is happening in Kaduna State today where people are being suspended from the party without due process, is worrisome.
“I want to seize this opportunity to publicly ask the acting National Chairman to look into what is happening in Kaduna State because all the ingredients for trouble and problem in the party are taking place,” he said.
Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, described the event as a moment of joy, “a moment for learning and support”, adding that “the mandate freely given to our party and candidate will be restored by the court”.
Speaking on the theme, “Good governance at the sub-national level: Issues, perspectives, expectations and outcomes”, the keynote speaker, Mudal Lawal, tasked the returning and governors-elect to put emphasis on performance management, fiscal performance indicators, fiscal resilience and devolution of powers.
He also urged the governors to prioritize appointing the right people into offices, stressing that with the right appointees, policies and programmes of government would run with ease.
“Appoint the right people. You must be resilient in your ability to meet operational costs with your Internally Generated Revenue. Equally important is a robust monitoring and evaluation system,” he said.
Lawal further enjoined the governors to be prudent in the management of resources, noting that debt to service ratio is becoming an issue of governance in public administration in the country over the past couple of years.
At the event were newly elected Governors of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, his Plateau and Zamfara States counterparts, Caleb Mutfwang and Dauda Lawal; Taraba State Governor-elect, Agbu Kefas as well as Peter Mbah of Enugu State.
The Rivers State Governor-elect, Simi Fubara was absent at the event.
Meanwhile, PDP G-5 boycotted the reception event organized for new and returning PDP Governors.
The event put together by the PDP Governors Forum was expected to bring together for the first time, Atiku and Governors Nyesom Wike, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu and Seyi Makinde of Rivers, Enugu, Benue, Abia and Oyo States respectively.
The five governors allegedly worked against the PDP in the February 25 presidential election, a development that contributed in part to the defeat suffered by the PDP.
None of the five governors sent a representative to the well-attended event or word explaining their absence.
The Punch
The Presidency has dismissed claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments were directed at the political situation in Rivers State or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s constitutional decisions on the matter.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency described the reports as a “gross misrepresentation.”
The statement clarified that Vice President Shettima’s remarks at the public presentation of a book by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), were misconstrued by some online platforms and individuals.
“These reports have distorted the Vice President’s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda,” it stated.
“They twisted his account of how the administration of former President Jonathan considered removing him as Borno Governor during the insurgency to falsely link it with current events in Rivers State.”
The Vice President, who spoke at the launch of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block in Abuja on Thursday, was said to have referenced the past solely to commend Adoke’s professionalism while in office, and to reflect on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution regarding federal and state relations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal.
“This action was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time, with the governor facing a looming impeachment and the State Assembly complex under demolition,” Nkwocha clarified.
The Presidency insisted that the action taken by President Tinubu in declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Governor was fully in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which authorises such measures when there is a breakdown of public order requiring extraordinary intervention.
According to the statement, the President’s proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, confirming the legitimacy and constitutional propriety of the decision.
“The action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr. Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the governor’s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading,” the statement further noted.
Nkwocha also stressed that Vice President Shettima’s comments were delivered extemporaneously and intended to underline the importance of public accountability and historical documentation.
He referenced the Vice President’s mention of past public servants, including Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to illustrate principled leadership.
“His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu’s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation,” the spokesman stated.
The Vice President, the statement added, remains in “loyal concert” with President Tinubu and is committed to implementing all constitutional measures necessary to safeguard democracy and uphold order across the country.
Concluding, the Presidency called on media organisations and political actors to desist from misrepresenting public remarks for sensational or partisan purposes.
“We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” Nkwocha said.
Headlines
Akpabio Relieves Natasha of Committee Chairmanship Position, Appoints Akwa Ibom Senator As Replacement
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has replaced suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora/Non-Governmental Organisations.
In her place, Akpabio named Senator Bassey Aniekun Etim (Akwa Ibom -East).
The Senate President, who made the announcement on the floor in Abuja on Thursday, did not give any reasons.
The committee position had remained vacant since March when the Senate suspended the Kogi-Central Senatorial District lawmaker for six months for flouting the Senate’s rule on the seating arrangement and seat allocation.
The suspended lawmaker, at a point, chaired the Senate Committee on Local Content before Akpabio reassigned her to the Committee on Diaspora/NGO, shortly before she ran into trouble with the Senate over her conduct on seat allocation.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2024 governorship election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit. It upheld the earlier judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
