APC regains House majority as PDP loses 8 Reps

 Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal

The ranks of the Peoples Democratic Party in the House of Representatives further depleted on Wednesday as eight more members defected from the majority party.

Four of the defectors joined the rival All Progressives Congress, giving indications that the leading opposition party had gained the control of the House as the majority party.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance gained two of the defectors, while the Peoples Democratic Movement and the Social Democratic Party each gained one, bringing to eight the total PDP defectors on Wednesday.

All the defected legislators either cited dissatisfaction with the conduct of the party’s last primaries or divisions in its fold as reasons for their decision to abandon the PDP.

The four who defected to the APC were Garba Ulma, Zakari Ibrahim, Ibrahim Kamba and Abdulmalik Cheche.

Wilson Nathaniel joined the SDP, while Tony Madwatte and Nwogbo defected to PDM and APGA respectively.

Another member, Mr. Benjamin Aboho, defected to APGA, while Mr. Forte Dike left APGA for the APC.

Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Victor Ogene, also made his defection from APGA to the APC official on Wednesday.

By Ogene’s defection, both the chairman of the House committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, and his deputy are now members of the APC.

The APC alone gained six out of the total of 10 lawmakers who changed political parties on Wednesday.

A National Assembly official told The PUNCH that the series of defections hitting the PDP lately had raised the numerical strength of the APC to 179 members, giving it the upper hand over the former.

The official said, “As it stands today, the APC has taken over as the majority party. There are now 179 APC members, while PDP has 162. The small parties together have 19 members.

“Ten of the members belong to the SDP.”

When The PUNCH sought the reaction of the Deputy House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, he neither denied nor confirmed the figures.

Ogor merely described the loss of his party’s membership as “inconsequential.”

He reminded our correspondent that the issue of defections in the House was still before the courts.

“This issue is inconsequential because the PDP is clearly in control. The courts have said status quo should remain.

“So, we are not bothered as we are in control. Even if it is only Leo Ogor who remains in the PDP, we are in control, so long as the courts have not decided on the issue of defections”, he said.

The SDP has jumped to the third largest party in the House with 10 members.

Labour Party has about three members, APGA has three, PDM has two members and Accord Party, one.

Meanwhile, the House further amended the Electoral Act 2010 on Wednesday to make a provision to empower the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure that Internally Displaced Persons would vote at elections held during emergencies.

The amendment to the Act, which passed third reading on Wednesday, was a response to INEC’s stance that there was no legal backing for it to guarantee voting opportunities for the IDPs during next month’s general elections.

The amendment added a new clause to the existing Section 26 of the Principal Act, giving INEC powers to make provision for the voting rights of the IDPs.

It was proposed by a PDP lawmaker from Taraba State, Mr. Albert Tsam-Tsokwa.

The amendment received unanimous approval by members and was passed along with the new Electoral Act.

However, the House and the Senate will still meet in conference to harmonise any differences that may appear in their respective versions of the new law.

Like in 2007, Agbaje ’ll fail again —Tinubu

 Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

A former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, says the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, will fail again like he did in 2007.

Tinubu, who is a national leader of the All Progressives Congress, said Agbaje was not a salable candidate and was no match for the governorship candidate of the APC, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode.

The former governor said this at the Lagos-West senatorial district campaign of the APC on Wednesday.

He accused Agbaje of lacking political experience even as he said the PDP candidate cannot manage Lagos economy.

Tinubu wondered how Agbaje would be able to manage the economy of the state at a time when the country was experiencing economic hardship.

The former governor said when the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration refused to give Lagos State its allocation and the state could not pay salaries, it was Ambode, who was the Accountant-General that re-engineered the economy which led to the increase in the Internally Generated Revenue and turned Lagos into one of the biggest economies in Africa.

He said, “In 2007, we had governorship primary and Fashola won but he (Agbaje) failed and refused to accept the result. I told him to accept the fact that Fashola was more diligent and experienced than him but we told him to remain in the party and we would teach him the way but he refused.

“You see, when a toddler is trying to run when he cannot even walk properly, his mother has to guide him so that he will not fall and break his teeth. He left and joined the Democratic Peoples Alliance. The DPA presented him as its candidate but he failed, we beat him mercilessly.

“Later, he wanted to return to the party and we asked him if he would become a commissioner but we knew it was unlikely because he had even refused to be the deputy governor. Before we knew it, he had gone to join the Ebola party. God forbid that Ebola takes over Lagos.

“See where we are coming from and where we are going. They say they want to replace us in Lagos. Someone who cannot take care of himself wants to take care of Lagos. Don’t experiment with Lagos.”

Also speaking at the event, Fashola berated President Goodluck Jonathan for blaming past administrations for insecurity.

He said, “I have never said I cannot do my job because my predecessor failed. To say that you cannot buy guns because Maj. Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) failed to do so is flimsy. Our military were one of the most respected and did well in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

“Even if Buhari did not buy guns, is it the guns of 1985 that he wants to use to fight today?”

The governor said he had been able to ensure 24-hour electricity supply at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and other government facilities.

He said he was convinced that Ambode would be able to do more in other sectors.

Ambode, while addressing supporters, said if the PDP took over Lagos, it would run down the economy of the state which has been improving despite the fall in world oil prices.

He said his government would set up an employment trust fund and make loans available to entrepreneurs.

He promised to ensure a 24-hour economy and do better than Tinubu and Fashola.

Jonathan, Buhari disagree on 2011 post-poll crisis, sign pact

All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in a warm embrace with his Peoples Democratic Party opponent, President Goodluck Jonathan, at the general elections sensitisation workshop on non-violence in Abuja... on Wednesday.

President Goodluck Jonathan said on Wednesday that the post- election violence that erupted in some northern states in 2011 was not caused by electoral malpractices.

Many including 10 members of the National Youth Service Corps died in the violence that erupted after the 2011 presidential poll.

The President, who spoke in Abuja at an election sensitisation workshop on non-violence ahead of the 2015 general elections, said the fear to accept defeat was responsible for the violence.

A former Head of State and the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who also spoke at the event, reiterated the need for the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct credible poll as a panacea to post-election violence this year.

He recounted his experience of having to resort to court to challenge the outcome of the presidential elections in which he was a candidate in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

But Jonathan disagreed with Buhari on the cause of the post-election violence, insisting that election malpractices were not necessarily the cause of post-election violence.

He, therefore, charged the next National Assembly to look into the nation’s laws with a view to amending them in order to give room to parties with substantial popularity to be part of government formed by the party which polled the highest votes.

He said, “If you look at the 2011 election, we approached it better and I’m quite pleased that a number of civil society activists are here; a lot of observers are here and they did mention that the 2011 election was much better any election conducted by the country . We thank Prof. Attahiru Jega and his team.

“But even then at the end of the election there was violence in some parts of the country. In Kano, properties were destroyed, residential homes were burnt down, and business premises were burnt down. In Bauchi State, 10 young corpers that were involved in the election were slaughtered. Then we asked what led to this level of violence? The violence came when election result was being announced.

“INEC had announced results at every polling unit. The violence didn’t come up in the middle of the election. The results collated had already been announced. But as we are approaching towards the end, it was clear that maybe a candidate was likely to win and violence erupted in Kano and in Bauchi.

“We cannot say there were malpractices to favour the candidate that won because in Kano we got 16 per cent, in Bauchi I got 15 per cent of the votes – those were the least. Even in states where we got 80 per cent or more than 50 per cent, even in opposition states, there was no violence.

“So you see what leads to violence sometimes is not necessarily electoral malpractices but some other causes of violence.”

The President, who said a total of about N10bn had been paid to compensate victims of the 2011 post-election violence, again charged INEC to ensure that no eligible Nigerian was disenfranchised in the forthcoming elections.

He said failure to ensure that every Nigeria voted in the forthcoming polls was a recipe for violence.

The President said, “A number of Nigerians are complaining that they don’t have permanent voter card, what INEC calls the PVC.

“If some people don’t have permanent voter card, the assumption is that, from the beginning, INEC wants to rig election and there is the tendency for those kinds of people to go violent.

“I have been mentioning this to the INEC chairman that you must make sure that every Nigerian votes. If INEC is unable to make sure that every Nigerian votes, that is a recipe for violence.”

At the workshop where a former Secretary-General of the United Nation, Kofi Annan, was a special guest of honour and chaired by a former Secretary-General of Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the presidential candidates in the forthcoming poll signed a five-point accord for peace ahead of the general elections.

Buhari said when Nigeria returned to democracy “16 years ago, we hoped that the developed countries which went through the painful processes of stabilising their system, should learn from them rather than insisting to make the same mistake.”

He said the speeches by speakers at the event were only anchored on hope as his past experience about elections in the country had been nasty.

He recounted how his party competent agents were able to show how he was programmed to lose 40 per cent and 26 per cent respectively in two northern states in 2011.

He said, “They (the agents) compared the results against the INEC register and they put it in the computer garbage in garbage out. What came out is that the presidential candidate of that party was programmed to lose 40 per cent of its scores and when it was done in another state it was 26 per cent.”

Recalling that the cases he filed to challenge the outcome of the three presidential elections all ended at the Supreme Court, he said he spent 13 months in court in 2003, 18 months in 2007 and nine months in 2011.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, also gave an undertaking that it would not be partisan in conducting the general elections, adding that all candidates would be given a level playing field.

Anan said that Nigeria faced a critical test in the 2015 elections, apart from the barbaric Boko Haram insurgency and the falling oil price and its impact on the economy.

He stated that the success of the elections was crucial to the future of the nation and Africa, noting that chaotic elections would send a bad signal out at this crucial time.

Anan therefore challenged the stakeholders to ensure fair, free and peaceful elections, stressing that the success of the polls was not the sole responsibility of INEC.

According to him, political parties, their candidates and supporters all share responsibilities for ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.

US links rising B’Haram attacks to elections

 President Barack Obama

The United States government has thrown its weight behind the Federal Government to conduct this year’s general elections despite the fact that the country is facing security challenges.

This view was expressed on Tuesday at the US Department of States’ daily briefing in Washington.

The US government also said that the recent incessant attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents could be as a result of the approaching general elections in Nigeria.

“There has been a sharp escalation in the number of reported casualties. I think the numbers tend to be from about 2009 to 2013 – there were a little over 1,000 casualties. I mean, we’ve obviously all seen the reported numbers just this week – which we can’t confirm exactly, but it clearly shows there’s been a sharp escalation.

“It’s because Boko Haram has tended to, particularly around something like an election, used political issues or sensitivities to try and inflame tensions. We’ve seen that as one of their tactics, and that’s why it’s so important to move forward with the election, because we believe it’s important. Well, I don’t want to prejudge.

“We’ve seen successful elections go forward in places that have pretty significant levels of violence. So, we believe the election should go forward. We know there are security challenges. We do think that the election is probably a factor. As I said, we believe the election should still go forward, even in the face of this pretty horrific violence,” Marie Harf, the US spokeswoman, told journalists.

According to her, the US government will continue to assist President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in fighting terrorism, despite the fact that a training programme by the US for Nigeria’s military personnel was cancelled by Nigeria late last year.

ACF, NEF back Buhari, reject interim govt

 Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)

The Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Sule-led Northern Elders’ Forum, and the Arewa Consultative Forum, have endorsed the All Progressives Congress’ Presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, for the February election.

The NEF and the ACF in separate statements in Kaduna on Wednesday said that they would ask all northerners and indeed Nigerians to support Buhari because he was a better candidate than President Jonathan Goodluck, the candidate of the People Democratic Party in the February 14, presidential election.

According to a communique signed by the ACF National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim, the Forum noted that it was part of its policy to support northerner in any presidential election.

However, the NEF, led by a former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie,   said the group would back the Buhari/Osinbajo for the Presidency because “Buhari is a better candidate, compared with President Goodluck Jonathan in moving the nation forward.”

The elders, however, warned against any attempt to form an interim government, as being canvassed by some people in the country. They said that any design to disenfranchise Nigerians in the next month’s elections would be rejected.

While addressing journalists in Kaduna on Wednesday, the Secretary of the NEF and former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, appealed to Nigerians to support the Buhari/Osinbajo Presidency.

He said a vote for Buhari/Osinbajo would end the fear, impunity and destitution characterised by the Jonathan administration in the country.

Abdullahi said, “Our endorsement of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in the same manner all Nigerians from all parts of the country are supporting his candidature, is based on our belief that he and his running mate, Prof.Yemi Osinbajo, have the integrity, commitment and experience to resolve our security problems, fight corruption and fix our economy.”

Speaking further, the former vice chancellor said they were aware of the issue of an Interim National Government being muted in some quarters. He warned that “such illegal arrangement” should not be allowed to truncate the February elections.

Also, declaring the ACF support for Buhari in a communique signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim, after its meeting in Kaduna, the Forum warned against the alleged plan by the Federal Government to disenfranchise some Nigerians in the next election.

The ACF expressed concern over the continued insecurity in the country, particularly, in the North-East states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

The forum commended the gallantry of the Nigerian military for repelling attack of the Islamic insurgents on Biu, in Borno State.

The Northern body reiterated its call on the Federal Government to step up offensive on the Boko Haram sect and ensure that all internally displaced persons were allowed to vote.

Buhari’ll defeat Jonathan, Amaechi boasts

 Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi

AHEAD of the general elections in February, the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has expressed the confidence that Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, will defeat President Goodluck Jonathan.
Amaechi also said that the APC in Rivers State would win in the governorship, state and National Assembly elections.

The governor, who spoke on Wednesday at the APC rally at Abua Central in the Abua/Odual Local Government Area of the state, described Rivers as a satellite Nigeria, adding that the people of the state had always dictated the voting pattern of other Nigerians.
Represented at the event by his deputy, Mr. Tele Ikuru, the governor recalled how Rivers had been following the voting pattern of other parts of the country since 1962 to date, adding that 2015 would not be different.

He said, “Rivers State is a satellite Nigeria. Whatever happens in Rivers State is what will happen in Nigeria. In 1962, Rivers State voted for the NPC (Northern Peoples Congress), and the NPC won in the state and at the national level.

“In the second republic, we voted for the NPN (National Party of Nigeria) and NPN won the election in Rivers State and the national level. In 1999, Rivers State voted for the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) and PDP won in the state and the national level.
“In 2015, Rivers State will vote for the APC and APC will rule the state and at the national level. Any direction the state votes are the direction Nigeria will vote.”

The APC governorship candidate in Rivers, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, alleged that the PDP was plotting to rig the general elections in the state.
Peterside called on the people of the state not to succumb to overtures and tricks of moneybags from the PDP, who might want to buy their votes.

He pledged to run a transparent government and improve infrastructural development in the Abua/Odual Local Government Area and the state as a whole if he is elected as the governor.

Reacting to the allegation that the state PDP was planning to rig the general elections in Rivers, the State Assistant Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, described Peterside’s allegation as false.
“If Dakuku Peterside could make such a false allegation, it is a sign that he has lost the election and it is a welcome development. The truth is that the PDP is not planning to rig any election because we do not need to do that to win the 2015 election,” he said.