Politics

Governorship: No standing agreement between Tinubu, Makinde- APC PCC

Published

7 months ago

March 1, 2023

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Committee (PCC) says it has no standing agreement with Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State in respect of the March 11 governorship election as being speculated.

A member of the committee,Nike Ajagbe, told newsmen on Wednesday in Ibadan that there was no agreement between Makinde and Sen. Bola Tinubu, the President-elect.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ajagbe was reacting to a news emanating from the meeting between the governor and the aggrieved candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

Makinde was said to have told the aggrieved candidates, who lost last Saturday National Assembly election to APC, that he had agreement with the president-elect that he would defect to the APC after the election, which Tinubu supported.

Ajagbe said that the visit of the campaign team had nothing to do with the endorsement of the governor.

She said the president-elect was a party man who could not joke with the success of his party across the country, especially the South-West, which is regarded as his stronghold.

Ajagbe said that it was in the programme of the campaign committee to visit all the opposition governors whenever they were in their state for campaign.

She said that nobody should see such visit as endorsement, but a privilege to host a widely accepted presidential candidate.

Ajagbe said that being the governor of the state, the president-elect only visited Makinde as he did to other opposition governors whenever he visited their states.

She cited the example of the River Governor and other state governors where the president-elect visited him before proceeding on his campaigns.

Ajagbe said that was part of all the visit of the president-elect to Makinde and no agreement was reached between the campaign team and Makinde.

She said that after Tinubu left Makinde’s office he went straight to the ancient Mapo Hall to raise the hand of the party’s Governorship candidate, Sen. Teslim Folarin.

Ajagbe said people were surprised to read that the governor was claiming he had agreement with the president-elect.

She said Makinde only urged the people of the state to vote for unifier of the country during the governorship debate in Ibadan.

Meanwhile, Folarin condemned Makinde for allegedly lavishing N500 million on the aggrieved PDP candidates and other stakeholders.

In a statement, the APC governorship candidate through his Media Aide, Yekeen Olaniyi, said Makinde had demonstrated that he has nothing to offer the good people of the state than spending lavishly to please his party men.

He urged the people to vote massively for APC in the March 11 governorship election and state assembly’s election, so as to maintain the same party both at the Federal and State levels.

Feature

Dollar is now the underground currency of Nigeria’s economy – Peter Obi

Published

1 day ago

October 2, 2023

Gift Oyekunmi

Businessman and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has lamented the ‘dollarisation’ of the Nigerian economy.

According to Peter Obi, the naira has faded in significance as the use of the dollar in the country has led to unproductivity.

“Dollar has become the underground currency of our economy. It shouldn’t be. We have a currency called the naira. All the things people use dollars to do that are not productive should be removed.’ Obi told Arise TV on Monday, October 2.

“I can assure you that when you remove it, it can strengthen the currency. Today, even when you want to do party primaries, people share dollars. That is not our currency.

“There should be a stiff penalty in dealing with the issue. If people earn dollars legitimately, let them spend it the way they want. However, it has now become a means of corruption and criminality in our system.”

Peter Obi added that the country should work more on exports to strengthen the currency.

Headline

Tribunal upholds Gov. Alia’s election

Published

1 week ago

September 23, 2023

Alero Danjuma

The Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Makurdi on Saturday upheld the victory of Gov. Hyacinth Alia of the APC in the March 18 Governorship Election.

Delivering the judgment, the Chairman of the panel, Justice Ibrahim Karaye, held that the tribunal lacked jurisdiction to entertain pre election issues raised by the petitioners, Titus Uba and PDP.

Karaye, who read the unanimous judgment, stated that only the Federal High Court had the exclusive jurisdiction to entertain issues bordering on pre-election matters.

He further said the petitioners’ case was also an abuse of court processes because the same case was filed by the petitioners before the Federal High Court Abuja Division and its judgment was not challenged by the petitioners.

He said the petitioners lacked locus standi to challenge the nomination of the 2nd and 3rd respondents by the 4th respondent since they were not members of the 4th respondent.

Justice Karaye further said that the petitioners failed to prove their allegations of forgery against the 3rd respondent before the tribunal.

He said the 2nd and 3rd respondents were qualified to contest the March 18 Governorship Election and therefore, dismissed the case.

The petitioners, Titus Uba and the PDP, had dragged the respondents, INEC, Hyacinth Alia, Dr Sam Ode, and the APC before the tribunal, challenging their declaration by the INEC.

The petitioners argued that the 2nd and 3rd respondents, Gov Alia and Dr Ode, were at the time of contesting the election, not qualified to contest the March 18 Governorship Election.

They averred that the 4th respondent – the APC – did not follow the provisions of the law in the nomination of the governorship and deputy governorship candidates.

They also alleged that the 3rd respondent had presented a forged certificate to the 1st respondent, INEC, therefore, should be disqualified.

They, therefore, prayed among other things, for the nullification of their election and declare the petitioners as winners of the election, having scored second highest lawful votes.

The also contended that having not qualified to contest the election, their votes should be declared invalid and certificates earlier issued to them by INEC be withdrawn.

NAN reports that the petitioners in the suit did not challenge the result of the March 18 Benue Governorship Election but qualifications of the candidates.

However, the respondents in their counter arguments, urged the tribunal to dismiss the suit in its entirety as it was an abuse of court processes.

The respondents stated that the Federal High Court Abuja Division, had before the election, delivered judgment on the same matter which was filed by the petitioners but they did not appeal the judgment till date.

They also said that the issues raised were all pre election matter and only the Federal High Court had the exclusive jurisdiction to entertain same.

The 2nd and 3rd respondents clearly stated that since the prayers sought by the petitioners were all pre-election matters, the petitioners case was status bar and should be struck out.

They said the petitioners lacked locus standi to challenge the nomination of candidates of other political parties as they were mere meddlesome interlopers.