The Nigerian Judiciary is presently experiencing a sort of crisis as it has been alleged that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Mohammed has reportedly “resigned” on health grounds.
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The Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo has downplayed the threat of Labour Party causing any upset in the 2023 elections saying that APGA was the nation’s third political force.
Soludo stated this while hosting party faithful at the Governor’s Lodge in Amawbia, Awka South Local Government Area.
He criticised those who had decamped from APGA to LP in the wake of losing in the APGA primary elections, describing such an action as a poor choice.
Soludo wondered how a party without a councillor could win elections.
Readers would recall that a one time National Chairman of APGA, Senator Victor Umeh had joined the Labour Party following his loss at primaries picking the Labour Party ticket.
Soludo said: “It is sad that the people that left had to leave. Why would one leave a party he had laboured to build? It is not good to labour in vain.
“However, they are not contesting elections. The election in Anambra is between APGA and other political parties.
“APGA remains the third in Nigeria as the country inches closer to the 2023 general elections.
“Elections are not done on WhatsApp or the internet. You have to be on the ground. APGA is on the ground here and everywhere.
“How can a party that does not have a councillor want to compete with us?
“We are strong and we are growing stronger and stand a real chance in Abia. We will compete in all places vigorously.
“We shall campaign when it starts, and by the time we enter January, we will know those that are still contesting.
“Our victory will be resounding this time but we will not take anything for granted. Anambra people will see,” he said.
Soludo said APGA would avidly contest all positions it had candidates vying.
He said in Anambra, the objective would be to win 30 seats in the House of Assembly, all 11 in the House of Representatives and three in the Senate.
Soludo said around 220 kilometers of roads had been intended for development and that all the 21 Local Government Areas in the state would observer immense rehabilitation after the downpours.
Jideofor Ogbonna
A serving senator representing Anambra North, Senator Stella Oduah (PDP) has dismissed the entry of the Labour Party into Anambra through former governor Peter Obi as its Presidential Candidate, saying that it is no threat to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Oduah stated this at a news conference during the presentation of certificates of return to 30 PDP candidates who won the party primaries for both the House of Assembly and National Assembly on Thursday in Abuja.
AT reports that 20 House of Assembly PDP candidates and 10 National Assembly candidates from Anambra North and South were presented with certificates of return.
Oduah(PDP) said that Igbos should work with a party and candidate that would win the presidency and a party that would take them to the national level.
The former minister of Aviation noted the decamping of Obi to the Labour Party was not the first time a new party would come into Anambra, adding that the PDP had always defeated them.
“This is not the first time a new party is coming to Anambra, we have nothing to fear, politics is local and what we are contesting for is to represent our people.
” Our people cannot leave what they know to what they don’t know. We are not jittery and we are more than capable to win the election for the PDP,” she said.
Speaking on the certificate of return , she said it was a happy day for them for receiving their certificates , adding that the journey was tedious, saying the supporters had done the right thing by voting them.
“We thank the delegates for voting us, the real election is coming and we are ready. We will put ourselves together to combat the opposition.
” Anambra is a PDP state, so having this solders with us, you can imagine what will happen when we put our strategy in place, the victory is ours,” she said.
The senator thanked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the PDP for a credible primaries.
She said the incumbent lawmakers among them had worked tirelessly to serve the people, adding that what the people had seen in terms of performance was a tip of the iceberg.
According to her, our people will again, see good roads and other infrastructure. We have people with capacity, the party knows that and the delegates. Continuity is what is important in legislative work.
Asked about the relationship with the APGA administration in Anambra, she said: “We will get along with the governor.”
Loveth Okoro
Anambra State residents are allegedly unhappy as a result of the huge refuse heaps all over the state which has made life miserable for them.
From Onitsha to Awka and then to Nnewi , Oba, Obosi and Ekwulobia. The story was the same as the refuse heaps were seen leaving the dumps and encroaching on the roads, causing gridlocks in these areas as well as punishing the immediate environs with its effluvium. The seasonal rains have even made it worse, leading to the floods taking the waste unto the roads.
Residents within these areas told AT that the refuse had for long been unattended to by ASWAMA the state agency responsible for waste management, this is despite the huge amount of funds voted to it and the monies collected by the state from businesses and private residents.
Mrs. Asoluka, a restaurateur in Ekwulobia, bemoaned the situation, stating that asides the possibility of such resulting into an epidemic, the presence of the refuse had much affected her business as most of her customers had started avoiding her shop owing to the pungent smell the refuse gave out. She appealed to the Soludo administration to come to their aid soon and help rid the area of the refuse which she described as an eyesore.
Efforts to reach relevant authorities for their comments proved abortive as phone calls placed to their numbers were not answered nor returned.
Kelechi Ogbu
News reaching our desk has it that a former House of Representatives, Hon.Afam Ogene has defected to the Labour Party with the intention to run for the House of Representatives seat for Ogbaru Federal Constituency.
Ogene, a journalist and publisher of News365 daily announced his intention this evening in a chat with our correspondent. Ogene placed the reason for his decision to defect.and run on the pedestal that it had been eight years since he left the House and the constituency was seriously yearning for the kind of proactive legislation they witnessed in his four year stint.
Ogene, had earlier represented the Ogbaru Federal Constituency under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance , APGA but fell out with the duo of Governor Willie Obiano and Senator Victor Umeh. He then defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
With this development, Ogene will square up with candidates of the PDP, APGA and APC.
PDP should be ashamed of failing to zone presidency to SouthEast- Eneukwu
_Imo and Ebonyi are models of good governance-Arodiogbu
_Urges Igbo presidential aspirants to unite
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the SouthEast Region of Nigeria has taken the opposition party to the cleaners accusing the party of neglecting the zone despite the level of support received from the zone.
This was the message of the Deputy National Chairman South of APC , Chief Emma Eneukwu.
Speaking at the first SouthEast APC Zonal Stakeholders meeting held in its secretariat in the SouthEast, Eneukwu described the 16 years of the PDP as years of waste as at today the party despite the fact that it benefitted handsomely from the votes of the region , failed it then and has continued to fail the zone by failing to reward the zone with the presidential ticket. He urged the zone to punish the party by voting massively for the APC which despite its poor performance in the zone had still invested heavily in infrastructure and other aspects of life.
The meeting which was well attended by party stakeholders from the five states that make up the zone saw Eneukwu charging party members to unite and shun infighting and anti party activities as well as work hard to ensure that APC wins Enugu and Abia in 2023.
In the same vein, the National Vice Chairman of the APC in the SouthEast, Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu stated that the time for change in the SouthEast Region of Nigeria had come . He stated that by looking at the development trends in Imo and Ebonyi States had qualified both states to become good governance models in the country. He stated that it was these good governance models that the Zonal Executive were committed to, and would seek to achieve this by presenting quality candidates who must go through a free and fair primaries.
He urged all party members to abide by the rules and regulations whilst vowing to invoke mechanisms of discipline to address any action that would be inimical to the party’s success.
On Igbo presidency, Arodiogbu agreed that the prevailing mood within the country was for the president to emerge from the SouthEast in order to help unite the country and reduce the various flash points of ethnic agitations, thus promising to work with the national leadership to ensure that the zone was not shortchanged by other zones which had in all instances had their fair share of producing the nation’s national leaders but were still warming up to contest again, however he called on all those contesting to work together and ensure that the zone put its best foot forward.
- _2023 Elections Tops Its Agenda
- To begin series of consultations
- Abia, Anambra and Enugu identified as critical states
- Urge Withdrawal of all cases in court_
The All Progressives Congress, APC has identified states like Abia, Anambra and Enugu as critical states vowing to put its house in order to ensure that the party records 70 percent success in the forthcoming 2023 polls.
This was the resolution of the SouthEast APC at its first Zonal Executive Committee meeting which was held in Enugu yesterday.
The meeting which commenced at about 2:30 pm saw the Zonal Executive Committee, ZEC deliberate on a number of pressing issues such as the coming general elections and the resolution of disputes within a number of state chapters.
The Zone under the leadership of its National Vice Chairman, Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu announced its desire to record immense electoral success at the forthcoming polls with the fielding of credible candidates for all positions during the general elections . To this end the Zone would begin a series of consultations with numerous party stakeholders across the states as well as sensitization programmes. One plank of such a sensitization programme would be the training of party executives from the state working committee down to the wards in order to bring a number of these party executives up to speed on present day party management techniques as well as the setting up of a Think-Tank at the Zonal level to develop the content and manuals for such training programmes.
On its identification of Abia, Anambra and Enugu as critical states, the Zone noted that since these states were presently without sitting governors, the task of ensuring that these aforementioned states comes under the APC’s orbit would require strategic planning as well as the identification of the party’s strength and weaknesses within the various states. To this end, the zone needed to begin quite early to sort out the best ways to win over such states come 2023, stating that it would leave no stone unturned.
On discipline, the zone stated that it stood with the decision of the National Working Committee, NWC of the party which had asked all aggrieved persons to withdraw their cases from the courts.
Obinna Nwanekwu, Awka
- NANS to mobilize against his ambition
- His children have long graduated from school
The nation’s student body, National Association of Nigerian Students as well as the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has berated the Minister for Labour and presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Chris Ngige for blaming ASUU for the pervading strike in Nigerian Universities describing such remarks as unbecoming of a statesman.
Ngige had made this comments while interviewed on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’.
He had reportedly stated that the industrial unrest in the universities was as a recurring decimal and went on to quote figures deemed by our fact checkers as unreliable.
These statements earned him the wrath of both NANS and ASUU who described the statements as baseless and unbecoming of a statesman.
Speaking for NANS Rt Hon Chibueze Ofole, Coordinator for NANS in Anambra described the statements as unfair to the plight of the Nigerian Student who had committed no crime but the ordinate desire to study and assist their parents and guardians who had sacrificed so much for them.
Ofole wondered if this was the same Ngige who had reduced the heavy school fees levied against students while he was Governor of Anambra State and had also made a number of achievements in the education sector, describing the situation now as worrisome.
” How can our minister, Ngige come on air and justify our suffering? This is not fair and should be condemned, the Nigerian student has committed no crime but for his or her desire to gain knowledge which can be used to better the lot of our parents and guardians who have suffered and sacrificed for them.
NANS is hereby demanding an unreserved apology from the Minister otherwise we will invoke the.spirit and the.principles of Alutarism and mobilize against the ambition of the Minister. That is should he even get the ticket of the APC, we will mobilize heavily against it, that is if we fail to get this apology. “
For ASUU, the comments largely offended most members of the academic union. For Dr. Sude Olutobi a member of the ASUU implementation committee the continuous blaming of ASUU by Ngige was in bad faith and would only extend the strike. He said: “Listening to a doctor turned politician, a former governor of Anambra state and a member of the 7th senate, Dr Chris Ngige, I discovered there is no hope for the Nigerian university students. The ASUU strike is likely to linger more than expected.”
Olutobi also challenged Ngige to tell the world which of his children was still a student in any Nigerian university as all of them had graduated, and perhaps could be a reason for the Minister’s non-chalance on the matter.
ASUU had on the 14th of February , 2022 embarked on a one month warning strike which it was forced to extend and now in its 9th week following the FG’s failure to meet a number of its demands as well as the implementation of previously reached agreements, particularly the 2019 Memorandum of Action.
*Promise to win more states in the zone
*Igbo Presidency to top its agenda
*Reconciliation ongoing with aggrieved members*
The Zonal Leadership of the All Progressives Congress in the SouthEast today held its inaugural meeting in Enugu today. The zone which is led by Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu did unfold its agenda for the party in the zone which he said had benefited much from the APC led administration at the centre and even in the states in which the party was the ruling party.
The meeting which began by 12pm saw Dr. Arodiogbu and other members of the exco embarking on a tour of the Zonal Secretariat before settling down to discuss issues affecting the party in the zone.
Speaking later to members of the press at exactly 3:30 pm, Dr . Arodiogbu assured APC members that the party was ready to help win more states in the zone and this was due to the huge benefits witnessed in the zone in terms of infrastructural development, security, commerce and agriculture.
On Igbo Presidency, Arodiogbu stated that it was cardinal on his agenda and that he and his team members would brainstorm with other stakeholders to see how the zone could unite and deliver one of its own as president.
When asked about the numerous crisis rocking the party in the various states, the zonal chairman replied that the zone was already reconciling factions and aggrieved members noting that it would continue to reach out to these party members to see how much of their interests could be accommodated, stating that the APC in the SouthEast was one family.
Also in attendance were the Zonal Secretary, Chief Itapah Azilobu , Zonal Organising Secretary, Dozie Ikedife, Zonal Publicity Secretary, Augustine Onyedebelu, Zonal Legal Adviser, Mayor Ogbonna Ernest, Zonal Woman Leader, Diyouku Uchenna and Ikenna Anyaelechi.
