Oyegun: The WORST Mistake I've Ever Made As APC Chairman

The national Chairman of the ruling All progressives Congress, APC has recounted among others the worst mistake he had ever made as the party's chairman.

Oyegun in an interview with the Daily Trust shared that his decision to call the meeting that took place on the the National Assembly was inaugurated.

"There are lots of decisions, not just one, some of which are private. If you want to limit it to the recent past, I would say the decision to call the meeting that took place on the day the National Assembly was inaugurated."
"That was a bad mistake. I was persuaded and I agreed to call that meeting. Had it been it did not take place, we probably won’t have a PDP person there today as the deputy Senate president."
"The anger within the leadership of the party may not have turned out as strong as it became," Oyegun said

It would be recalled the that APC summoned all it National Assembly members on June 8th 2015 in a bid to pass in a bid to pass instruction on who emerges what at the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Meeting which was boycotted by Senate President Bukola Saraki and few of his APC loyalist.

Saraki's group, while other APC lawmakers were holding meeting with the party leaders, conspired with the PDP Senators, conducted election with the forged Senate Standing rule that ushered him and Ike Ekweremadu as the Senate President and the deputy respectively.

A Nation In Search Of Sanity, By Goke Butika

"Insanity in individuals is rare - but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule" --Friedrich Nietzsche

Nigeria is being stratified into two major poles- they and us. Corrupt elite class and suffering masses, the enemies of change and change agents, the gullible masses and reasoning masses. That is the graphical situation of this polity called Nigeria. It has aways been there, but with this incorruptible Sheriff at the helm of affairs, the delimitation is clear.

It is no longer news that those who benefitted from the ruin of the country yesterday, have bought their way to the highest lawmaking chambers of the country today. Obviously, they are corrupt, but by crook or hook, they are the law givers; they have the powers to make obnoxious laws that are capable of dragging the country back for decades; they could conspire to initiate impeachment articles against President Muhammadu Buhari, even if they would fail in their plot, and true to type they did not disguise about their history and capabilities to create tension in the country.

Not to fall into the pit of ambivalence, I intend to look into the conflict of forces that are competing the soul of Nigeria, and find out where the equilibrium point could be marked. In the first premise, President Muhamnadu Buhari appears to have retooled the working of some institutions. The no-nonsense Military General turned politician believes that corruption would exterminate Nigeria, if Nigeria fails to eliminate corruption on time. So, the slumbering anti-graft agencies woke up rudely, dusted their files and went to work.

Before, I used think that institutions should not be built around personalities, but now, empirical evidences have shown that institutions are nothing unless they are driven by strong personalities. With Magu as the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), the devil himself knows that the fear of Buhari is the beginning of the wisdom.

However, there is a noise out there that the war against corruption is selective; that the target is the main opposition party, the embattled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and that Buhari was out to decimate the potentialities of the politicians on the platform against 2019 general elections. So, a war must be waged against the President. Amazingly, the narratives work magic as the deprived masses are also divided on the onslaught against corruption, for legions believe that the anti-corruption fight was a mere vendetta.

If the reason must prevail, we shall interrogate issues at stake. For the latest war in the senate, the narrative of the PDP senators was that the President was out to change its leadership they freely elected among themselves. So, the merit of the charge of forgery against the Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekeremadu does not appeal to them. And because the Attorney General of the Federation is pressing charges as recommended by the investigating Police team, Buhari should prepare for war.

The questions are: was the standing order of the senate used to institute leadership of the senate forged or not? Is forgery an internal affair of the senate or a criminal act? Was an investigation conducted by the police and recommendation made to the Attorney General? Must Attorney General press charges if there is prima facie? The answers to those questions are resounding Yes.

I watched it live on television where Senator Kabiru Marafa rose with a point of order to draw the attention of the senate to the forgery, and I am in the know that Senator Hunkuyi and others had approached the court for the same issue, but now that the office of Attorney General has woken up to his duties, some senators are threatening fire and brimstone. In a saner clime, such a senate ought to have gone into history; for people ought to have sacked them from the compromised chambers the very minute they pronounced corruption as their guiding principle.

Our country is in dire strait as a result of economic and social challenges, but must we gloss over a glaring case of corruption because we want to fix economy? I do not think so. I learnt that some section of the APC senators had countered their PDP colleagues on the issue, but it is a pity that the Senate President and his few scoundrels who see themselves as APC senators are working with the opposition underground to ground the country. That is the fall-out of the notion "I belong to everybody, I belong to nobody".

What more, the corruption is fighting back, and the masses who ought to know are divided by fallacy of ignorance. They have forgotten that for every one billion naira stolen, one million able bodied men with low income would not be paid salaries. I am aghast that in this very country, EFCC are apprehending yesterday's men who had stolen and sharing billions of US dollars, and they confessed to the sprawling stealing, yet some people who do not know where the next meal will come but take solace in partisan ludo are buying into the narrative of the thieves that the anti-corruption fight is a persecution of the opposition. What a people!

I am glad that despite this economic topsy-turvy, a strong man has emerged to follow his conscience and adhere to the rule of law irrespective of the deafening noise of corrupt elite class who want to eat their cake and have it. They formed what I called "they" and i am glad that large segment of the masses and some reasonable elite have keyed into the new order, forming what I see as "us".  However, vigilance is the watch word for any progress to be made.

Another interesting scenario is that of Governor Ayo Fayose, the boy scout of Ekiti state who treats the nation to tragicomedy on daily basis. He was fingered in the stealing of funds earmarked for arms meant to battle insurgency that has held the nation by the jugular, and instead of denying stealing, he claims immunity. Interestingly, his comrades in crime wanted his matter to be forgone. And that is one of the crimes of the President.

I am of opinion that the rebirth of Nigeria that is being undertaken by Buhari and his Vice Yemi Osinbajo must be encouraged, because we are all victims, the sons of victims and the future fathers of victims-apology to Nuhu Osahion.

Butikakuro is an intercontinental journalist.

Police IG Goes Partisan, Moves To Resolve PDP's UN-RESOLVABLE Crisis As More Faction Emerges

The Nigeria's Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase has reportedly made a move to resolve the messy crisis that bedeviling the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP. The police boss has reportedly met with both gladiators, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi. The move, which could either be described as partisan, rather than peacekeeping News Punch has learnt

The PDP's crisis, which it leaders could not resolve is taking a massive toll on the party’s fortunes across the states of the federation as no fewer than 20 state chapters have become factionalised

Mrs. Olabisi Kolawole, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), yesterday disclosed in a statement that the IGP met Makarfi and Modu- Sheriff in company with the Director-General (DG) of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mr. Lawal Daura, where both men were asked to nominate four representatives each, who will meet within a week, to find solutions to the crisis rocking the party.

Noting that the Wadata Secretariat of the PDP, as well as the Legacy House remain shut, Kolawole said the meeting called for peace among the contending parties. 

Investigations have revealed that the PDP stalwarts in many states that received various sums of money for campaign during the 2015 elections are under investigation while the tussle between Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction and Ahmed Makarfi’s caretaker committee for the soul of the party have exacted a huge price on the erstwhile ruling party.

According to Saturday Telegraph, a large number of state secretariats of the party are practically deserted, as activities are either skeletal or non-existent. Apart from the lull in activities in the states, many of the employees are also being owed backlog of salaries as well as being sharply divided in their support of Sheriff and Makarfi, which has led to the emergence of factions in some states.

How the Police boss will resolve partisan crisis remain unimaginable as moves by party leaders to find a solution to the crisis have been efforts in futility. 

Already, thugs loyal to the former Borno governor yesterday took over the Wadata Plaza national secretariat of the party, vowing to unleash attack on whoever except Modu Sheriff will come to occupy the office.

PDP Crisis: Atiku, Northern Cabals FINGERED, You'll Be Shocked At This Revelations

The current crisis bedevilling the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has been narrowed down to tussle of who picks the party's presidential ticket in 2019 as the ambition of some notable Northern politicians includ­ing former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is at the root of the leader­ship tussle confronting the erstwhile ruling party, the Saturday Sun Newspaper has revealed. 

The findings, which is contrary to claims by the Senator Ahmed Makarfi caretaker committee that the ruling All Pro­gressives Congress, (APC) was in­stigating the leadership tussle in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the root of the leader­ship tussle confronting the erstwhile ruling party.

Former Minister of State Works and spokesperson of the Ahmed Makarfi team, Dayo Adeyeye, addressing newsmen on Tuesday had alleged that the APC-led Federal Government was using the former Borno State governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to destabilise the main opposition party ahead of Edo State governor­ship election and the 2019 general elections.

But it was gathered that political gladiators smarting to pick the PDP’s 2019 presidential ticket, have lined behind the factional chairmen and are now pulling the strings.

Ahead of his speculated return to the party, former Vice President and APC chieftain, Atiku Abubakar is believed to be giving moral and financial support to the Ahmed Ma­karfi committee, a creation of the party’s highest organ, the national convention.

But Atiku has denied involvement in the PDP crisis. Speaking through his media aide, Paul Ibe, the former Vice President said he remains a national leader of the ruling APC and was in no way in­volved in the leadership tussle rocking his former party.

He said: “It is ludicrous. The Turaki remains a member of APC and he is fully committed to the party and working with other stakeholders to de­liver its programmes to the people.

“What has changed to generate an interest? He has no interest in foisting any leadership on PDP. He remains a bonafide na­tional leader of APC. So, it is wrong for anyone to link him with PDP crisis.”

Saturday Sun also gath­ered that the two PDP governors in the North­east, Gombe State gover­nor, Ibrahim Dankwambo and Taraba State, Darius Ishaku are also backing the embattled former Bor­no State governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff whose national working commit­tee was dissolved at the Port Harcourt convention.

While the motive of Gov­ernor Darius Ishaku for sup­porting Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is yet to be known, Gombe state governor is be­lieved to be eyeing the par­ty’s presidential ticket for the 2019 general elections.

The Makarfi commit­tee was mandated at the Convention held in Port Harcourt to administer the party for three months and conduct a convention that will produce substantive na­tional officers for the party.

A Saturday Sun source revealed that the two known contenders are positioning themselves ahead of the na­tional convention, to enable them plant their loyalists in the new national work­ing committee that would emerge and ultimately con­duct the presidential con­vention that would produce the party’s presidential flag­bearer.

Checks by our source revealed that the PDP National Executive Com­mittee (NEC) had upheld the report of the Senator Ike Ekweremadu Post- Election Review Commit­tee which recommended the zoning of the party’s 2019 presidential ticket to the North. Honourable Inua Bwala, media aide to Senator Ali Modu Sheriff could not be reached for comments as his line was switched off, as at the time of filing this report Friday evening.

The Sun

BREAKING: Sheriff Incurs EFCC Invitation Over Diezani's Bribe For Election Spree

As if the recent unceremonious ouster from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party national Chairmanship, not enough, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has invited a factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, for questioning on the 2015 presidential campaign funds of the PDP an unconfirmed report by TheEagleOnline report suggests

Sheriff was believed to have benefitted from the funds released by the Presidency for the reelection bid of the then President Goodluck Jonathan.

News Punch has learnt from source that the EFCC, which has been inviting and retrieving huge sums voted for the 2015 presidential election from various political actors, asked Sheriff to report to its Borno State Office in Maiduguri. The invitation, it was gathered, was extended to Sheriff on Tuesday.

Our source revealed however that, there has been no official confirmation of the development by the EFCC.

But a top notch of the commission told our source that Sheriff is being expected at the Maiduguri office of the Commission.

This, the source explained, was because the funds so collected was picked up in Borno State.

Most of the funds traced to political gladiators involved in the presidential election had been picked up at the Fidelity Bank Plc branches in state capitals across the country.

The money has been traced to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deziani Alison-Madueke, who deposited $115 million in Fidelity Bank Plc, through its now sacked Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nnamdi Okonkwo.

Th money was then changed into Naira for distribution to top chieftains of the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The former Borno governor currently battling his party to remain as chairman following his sack recently.

BREAKING: Commotion In PDP Secretariat As Youths Shut Down Secretariat, Lock Out All

Following clash by pro and anti-Ali Modu Sheriff at Wadata Plaza, the Secretariat of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP earlier this morning, some youth members of the party had reportedly shut down the offices the national headquarter, thereby locking out all occupants, News Punch has learnt.

BREAKING: PDP Youth Group has shutdown the National Headquarters of PDP, locked out all occupants pic.twitter.com/w4K5kcCiMx

— APC NEWS TV (@APCNEWSTV) June 15, 2016

Related Post:  Happening Now: Pro & Anti-Sheriff Protesters Clash At PDP Secretariat, See Photos

Details soon.

PDP Crisis: 2 The Secret Powerful Forces Behind Sheriff REVEALED

The All Progressives Congress, APC and the Presidency have been identified as the secret powerful forces behind Senator Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, who are head bent and has vowed to  clinch to the leadership of the party till 2018, despite his acclaimed ouster at the Port Harcourt Convention.

The Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the party made alleged that the Presidency and the APC are stoking the leadership crisis. 

But the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday denied having anything to do with the leadership crisis rocking the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Reacting to the allegation, the APC said the PDP is suffering from the sins of the past. 

The National Secretary of APC,  Mai Mala Buni, in a statement said: “For the umpteenth time, the APC wishes to state that instead of joining issues with the baseless and laughable allegations, the APC would rather join issues that will bring about-all-inclusive development in the country.

“However, it should be put on record that the PDP foisted on them whatever crisis it is troubled with today due to its politics of imposition and other undemocratic practices which the APC abhors.

“The PDP should put its house in order rather than playing to the gallery and blaming others but themselves for their sins which have come to hunt them. Also, it is evident that the PDP has chosen to employ diversionary tactics because of its inability to produce credible candidates for the forthcoming elections in Edo and Ondo states”.

The caretaker committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of hiring “ousted” PDP Chairman Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff to destroy the PDP.

Sheriff was removed as party chairman at the May 21 botched national convention in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, where a caretaker committee was told to take charge of the party’s affairs.

But Sheriff on Monday stormed the party’s Abuja headquarters to take charge of its activities. He declared the caretaker committee as an “illegal” body and vowed to continue as chairman till December 2018.

At a media briefing yesterday, held at a private residence, spokesman of the  caretaker committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said the aim of the APC was to scuttle the chances of the PDP in the upcoming governorship election in Edo State.

Said he: “The All Progressive Congress (APC) has contracted Sheriff and his cohorts to scuttle the chances of the PDP in the Edo governorship election.

“We have credible intelligence that Sheriff had a meeting on Sunday night with an APC governor from the Northwest, where it was agreed that he would be given full security and financial support to exacerbate the crisis in the PDP with the objective of preventing the PDP from presenting a candidate for the Edo governorship election, or in the very least, to prevent the PDP from offering a serious challenge to APC whose electoral fortunes have continued to nose-dive.

“What we are however very certain about is that Sheriff and his fellow renegades are being used by the enemies of the PDP to destroy our party and to prevent it from reorganising itself so as to provide a credible opposition and alternative platform for the forthcoming Edo State gubernatorial election and the 2019 general elections.”

Adeyeye also faulted the police for allowing Sheriff and his group access to the secretariat, saying the police could hardly justify the action.

“While we are still trying to understand the role of the police in the entire saga, it is curious that the police made no arrest of the thugs who openly brandished various dangerous weapons in and around the premises of the secretariat in full glare of the police.

“It is also curious that the police claimed to be acting on ‘orders from above’ in allowing Sheriff and his cohorts to gain entry into the secretariat. If we may ask, who is the authority that issued the ‘orders from above’?, he queried.

The committee spokesman dismissed the court orders on the strength of which Sheriff took control of the party’s secretariat, saying they were non existent.

According to him, the court order restraining Sheriff from parading himself as chairman is still subsisting until the determination of the motion on notice, which he said would come up for hearing on Thursday (tomorrow).

Adeyeye continued: “The motion on notice will come up for hearing on Thursday. Only three of the members of the defunct national officers are still parading themselves but constitutionally they cannot form a quorum for any legitimate business of the party.”

Adeyeye recalled that Sheriff was not elected but appointed by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP to complete the tenure of erstwhile chairman Adamu Mu’azu, which terminated on February 14.

He pointed out that Sheriff was given an extension of three months by the NEC to organise a national convention but that his appointment was not ratified at the Port Harcourt convention.

Adeyeye said: “So, constitutionally, he has no other mandate which can extend beyond May 21, 2016. The national convention is the supreme organ of the party under Article 33 (02) of the PDP constitution.

“In the exercise of its power under Article 33(5)(b) & (e) of the constitution, the national convention removed all officers of the party and set up a caretaker committee to plan and organize a national convention within 90 days.

“The national convention of the PDP can only be called by NEC and once that is done, it is only the national convention that can cancel or postpone its proceedings.

“No individual or other organ of the party can postpone or cancel the national convention. The national convention, therefore, took place legally and constitutionally.”

The spokesman said the committee would not be distracted by the activities of fifth columnists in the party.

EFCC Freezes GEJ Ministers', PDP Chiefs' Accounts; 6 Govs Fingered Too In N23b Campaign Fund Fraud

New Telegraph - In its determination to recover all public funds allegedly used to prosecute the 2015 presidential election, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has frozen the bank accounts of some stalwarts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). International passports of some of the PDP leaders under investigation have also been seized by the anti-graft agency.

Those whose accounts have been frozen include those of some ex-governors, former ministers and PDP leaders who were said to have shared or benefitted from the N23 billion campaign funds, distributed to states, to enhance the electoral fortunes of the party.

Each of the 36 states benefitted between N450 million and N950,000 million from the campaign funds used to prosecute the 2015 general elections. New Telegraph further gathered that the anti-graft agency is in a dilemma over the alleged involvement of about six serving governors in the campaign funds. It was learnt that the sitting governors got involved either as state chief executives then, or as gubernatorial candidates of the PDP.

The commission is, however, hamstrung as it concerns the sitting governors, owing to their constitutional immunity, which does not allow for interrogation or prosecution, as long as they remained governors.

In fact, New Telegraph was reliably informed by a highly placed source, who pleaded anonymity, that all the bank accounts of a very prominent and influential leader of the party, have been frozen ostensibly because the EFCC believes so much of the disputed cash may have been channeled through his accounts.

New Telegraph was reliably informed that the account of a former Kano State Governor and Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, domiciled with one of the old generation banks, has been frozen. This development may have obstructed the payment of the ex-governor’s four-year entitlements, which were to be paid into the said account by the Umar Ganduje-led administration.

According to sources, the action of the commission is already having adverse effects on those affected, as they are unable to access funds through those accounts that have since been blocked, pending conclusion of investigations.

The action of the EFCC, which is not final in itself, is to pre-empt possible closures of such accounts, which could hamper the course of ongoing investigations. Another source also hinted that more arrests and interrogations would be made in the coming days, as there are still some states that have not been visited.

This is more so that the funds under investigation were said to have been distributed to the 36 states of the federation.“I can confirm to you that the EFCC has blocked the bank accounts of our (PDP) leaders being investigated over what they said was money used for election.

“It came to some of them as a huge shock, because they got to know about it when they made efforts to either withdraw money, or conduct other transactions from their accounts. “Honestly, it was so bad that an ex-governor of a state in the North- West, who was a minister in the last dispensation, could not have his pension paid into his only existing bank account, because of the freezing.

“He may not even travel to Mecca for this year’s lesser Hajj, because his passport has also been confiscated,” he said. On the temporary freezing of all the accounts of a leader from the South, another source said: “It is so bad that one of our respected leaders has had all his existing accounts frozen.

“We are waiting to see how this whole investigation pans out, but I know that our leaders under probe, are really in some dire straits.” Meanwhile, a former governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sullivan Chime, is expected back at the Commission’s zonal office today, where investigation into his alleged involvement in the sharing of N450 million sent to the state, will continue.

Chime, who reported first on Wednesday, June 8, was said to have made a statement, where he denied any personal involvement with the disbursement of the said amount as was claimed by Mrs. Rita Chinelo Mba, secretary to the campaign office and his former Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernment Affairs.

The commission has, so far, quizzed the following ex-PDP governors: Chief Achike Udenwa (Imo State), Senator Liyel Imoke (Cross River State), as well as Alhaji Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi (Zamfara State). Apart from the former state chief executives, operatives had interrogated a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali (Kano); a former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Muhammad (Jigawa State); Ntufam John Okon (Cross River State PDP Chairman), and retired Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (Akwa Ibom).

Also quizzed were a former Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda (Zamfara); an ex-Minister of Mines and Steel, Arch. Musa Muhammad Sada (Katsina), as well as a former Minister of State for Agriculture, Asabe Asmau Ahmed (Niger). A former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Imasuen, as well as former Secretary to the Edo State Government (SSG), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, had been interrogated in respect of the controversial cash.