…As APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole Says President Buhari Does Not Need To Change His Name To Win Votes

…Governor Rochas Okorocha Says President Buhari Has Shown Enough Love For Igbos

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the South-East people and the Igbos in particular have the right to lay claim to the rulership of this Country since they are part and parcel of the Country, adding that when the time to make such claim arises, they would support them.

The President who spoke through the Secretary to the Government of the federation, Mr. Boss Gida Mustapha at the South-East APC mega rally tagged South-East APC Rally for Buhari at the Dan Anyiam Stadium Owerri on Tuesday, July 3, 2018 said President Buhari is a true lover of Igbo people.

His words “In 2015, Igbos played bad Politics like Owelle rightly acknowledged and that Igbo people are not good starters, but when they start, they have the capacity to overtake. I assure you that the Igbo nation are ready to overtake other parts of this country in 2019,

“The election in 2019, for the Igbo nation, is an election that will determine or mar your chances. I want to appeal to you that this is not about party but about the Igbo nation, and I’m calling on the Igbo nation and brothers in the diaspora and in this land to have a paradigm shift and think seriously about their nation and position in this country,

“I have had opportunity to speak to Igbo leaders and I told them this, that the Presidency of Nigeria has always been negotiated and you can only negotiate on the basis of strength. If you’re weak, then you don’t have a chance and your position of strength will be determined by the votes you give to Buhari in 2019.

“You’re important people in this nation. You control industries, you control trade and commence. You control every facet of our entrepreneurship. I appeal to you and I urge you to bring the skills you have built in the past to bear on your political arena so that you can navigate your way to the presidency of this country through your votes for President Muhammadu Buhari,

“The choice is that of the Igbo nation. What happens in 2019 will determine the future of this country. I appeal to you, please stop listening to the stories that are being peddled. Buhari is an honest man, that cuts the entire African continent. Buhari is not a selfish man. He is not a tribalistic man, he is a man that has a vision for a true Nigeria,

“Never in the history of this country do we have the SGF and Head of Service from the same religion. But because of his dire desire to move this country forward he accommodated that. Nigeria is not a Banana republic, Nigeria is a serious country, and President Buhari is the only man that can fix this nation” he concluded.

National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said President Buhari will not have to change his name to win votes or break grounds at the Niger Bridge to win votes, adding that he will win by doing the right things and obeying his consciences as a man of integrity.

He added “Everything they said was impossible, Buhari has demonstrated that they are possible; For the first time we have seen military generals been brought on trial in advancing the anti-corruption crusade of his administration. Truth is bitter, those who are writing letters now, governed as absolute ruler for 3 years and came back for another 8 years, what did he do for the second Niger Bridge? His only dream was to take us back to Mugabe where there is no tenure ending. We thank a great Igbo man, a great Comrade Chief Ken Nnanami”.

He continued “Okorocha is a great asset to APC in the South East. I am a believer that in matters of politics, it is not like matters in the bible where we are told that we may believe without seeing. In politics you rather see before you believe. I have come and have seen people, energetic youths and intelligent women and men under the rain to show support for President Buhari. With this rally, I am assuring that our opponents who had banked on the South-East won’t sleep tonight”.

“Rochas, you have shown who owns the land, for so long we have been having the problems of People Deceiving People (PDP) when they come to the South East, the answer Azikiwe, but doing what Azikiwe did becomes a problem for them. The South East had everything going for them in terms of positions in government the President of the Senate, SGF, Finance Minister, CBN Governor etc but still they couldn’t construct or reconstruct the second Niger Bridge” he stated.

Governor Rochas Okorocha said “Igbos love President Buhari. What he is doing in Igboland has touched the Igbos. Let him know we love him. I have brought the emerging new leaders of Igboland who have come to take their rightful place and they will deliver in 2019. These might not be the usual faces you know in Politics. We are celebrating excellence. In 2015, Igbo people played bad Politics, because the Igbos never believed in Buhari but in 2019 Igbos will vote massively for Mr. President,

“To create the wrong impression that there is no APC in the South-East some of our leaders have begun to negotiate away APC and certain positions by saying vote for Mr. President and APC, and vote for another Candidate for another position in another party. This is unacceptable. There is no half support for APC. If you are supporting Mr. President, you must also support governorship and other candidates of APC. I have risen to my responsibility. Those who are aspiring for governorship and other positions should go ahead” he said.

Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Gandunje in his speech stated “This crowd here is wonderful. This crowd is from God. There are even more people outside than those inside. I am in Kano because of the crowd. I am impressed by this crowd I have seen here. I have seen a lot of development in the State. I have seen a new Owerri. Imo governor is a man of integrity. He has made Imo the heart of APC in the South-East. With this crowd the South-East has made U-turn in Politics, to be at the centre”.

Former Governor of Borno State and former National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Modu Sheriff said,        “I have seen that Igbos are happy with Buhari. If I didn’t come to Owerri, I would not have been happy. People of Imo State have impressed Nigerians. It took 2 hours to get to the Stadium from Government House. The permutation of Nigeria will change in 2019. Igbos will vote for Buhari”.

Chief Timi Sylva former governor of Bayelsa State said “I know for a fact that the South-East did some magics in 2015. The zone delivered eight million votes to PDP in 2011, and in 2015 the votes were reduced to two million and in 2019, 8 million votes will be delivered to APC in the South-East and further reduce the votes of PDP to ten votes. The present administration has done well for the nation. Those complaining are those who enjoyed the profligacy of the past. The majority of Nigerians are with APC and President Muhammadu Buhari”.

Some other APC dignitaries at the event are, Deputy National Chairman of APC, Adeniyi Otumba Adebayo, National Legal Adviser of APC, Mr. Babatunde Ogala, National Organizing Secretary, Barr. Emma Ibediro, National Auditor, Chief George Moughalu, Senator Andy Ubah, Senator Emma Anosike, Senator Emmanuel Agboti, Senator Uche Ekwunife, Senator Chris Emenike and a host of others.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he All Progressives Congress (APC) says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in no position to talk about corruption, as this would amount to a prostitute preaching sexual chastity.

Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, said this in a statement on Thursday in reaction to PDP’s criticism of Adam’s Oshiomhole’s emergence as National Chairman of the ruling party.

After Oshiomhole’s emergence, PDP had said: “Nigerians are invited to note that some of the officials preferred, particularly, the National Chairman, are individuals overburdened by heavy corruption allegations, and whose expected investigation and prosecution have been traded for a Presidential ticket for President Buhari.

“The world observed with shock how aspirants and delegates who dared to raise questions were manhandled by thugs and intimidated by security operatives.

“It is instructive to state that the APC convention directly reflects the confusion, intimidations, violations and descent to fascism, that have characterized governance in our nation in the last three years.”
But responding on Thursday, APC lamented that having been kicked out of power, the PDP still has no idea what to do three years after, instead playing the busybody and so openly advertising their ignorance of basic electoral rules will make it even more difficult for Nigerians to grant them the forgiveness that they have begged for”.

“We read with dismay, but without surprise, the statement released by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to annul the results of the highly-successful National Convention of our Party held last Saturday June 23,” read Abdullahi’s statement.

“We imagine the utter shock and disappointment the dying opposition party must have felt to see that their prediction of collapse for our party ahead of the convention did not come to pass. Unable to recover from the shock, they now indulge in ignorant whimper, calling on INEC to help them do what they are best at doing; annulling elections.

“It is quite distressing to see that a party that held power for 16 years did not know that INEC has no role in internal elections of a political party. We also wonder which position the PDP contested for at our Convention which entitles them to take it upon themselves to challenge the process. If the PDP now sees itself as an interested party in our internal elections, we would encourage them to send their petitions to the Convention Appeals Committee of our party. We however do not expect them to understand this process of internal democracy.

“It is clear to everyone that having been kicked out of power, the PDP still has no idea what to do three years after. However, playing the busybody and so openly advertising their ignorance of basic electoral rules will make it even more difficult for Nigerians to grant them the forgiveness that they have begged for.

“What is PDP’s grouse? That INEC should not recognize the new APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, as his emergence by affirmation is according to the PDP in violation of democratic requirements of direct voting by delegates. Our election guidelines provide that all Party posts prescribed by the party constitution can be filled by democratically conducted elections or by consensus, provided that where a candidate has emerged by consensus for an elective position, a vote of “Yes” or “No” is called to ensure that it was not an imposition. This was clearly adhered to in many positions, including the National Chairmanship position which was unopposed.

“But we understand PDP’s problem. They are terrified by Comrade Adams Oshiomole. They know that with him they will no longer have a breathing space. Hence the baseless allegations peddling and conspiracy theory which we are now accustomed to as part of PDP’s sorry attempt to play ‘opposition politics’.

“It is indeed ridiculous that a party whose convention was a bazaar where delegates were bought and sold with dollars could brazenly allege corruption against our Party. They should go ahead and show which governors contributed the amount being alleged to the convention. We have dealt with the issue of membership contributions in an earlier statement. We however ask this ‘new anti-corruption crusaders’ to start with the basic task of producing audited accounts. Till today, APC remains the only political party in the country to have done so. Nigerians know that PDP talking about corruption is like prostitutes preaching sexual morality. They don’t take them seriously.

“We also find it quite amusing, the PDP’s ill-informed attempt to politicise the recent poverty reports by a United States think-tank. Of course we do not expect the PDP to be aware that the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics releases report on poverty rates every year to help the work of policy planners and not to play politics. The only difference however is that such reports were never allowed seeing the lights of the day under the PDP administration. Yet, this is the same party under whose Nigeria was not able to achieve a single one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which they conveniently turned to another racket. For avoidance of doubts, we refer the PDP to a similar report by the Fitch International in 2016, which reported that which reported a “constant decline” since 2011 culminating in Nigeria’s 60% poverty rating by 2015. The challenge of poverty is a global challenge and not a competition among countries or a race for the bottom. Our party acknowledges this challenge and will continue to work hard with both local and international partners to find solutions. What we will not do is to exploit the reality of poverty to create another ineffectual “palliative” that will end up as another slush fund or “job for the boys.”

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]elta State Governor, Senator  Ifeanyi Okowa on Thursday congratulated, HRM Benjamin Ikenchuku Keagborekuzi I, Dein of Agbor Kingdom on the ocassion of his 41st birthday anniversary on Friday 29th June, 2018.
Okowa in a statement in Asaba, Thursday, signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Charles Aniagwu, commended the monarch for making Agbor kingdom peaceful and investor-friendly since he ascended the ageless throne of his forefathers decades ago.

The Governor noted that His Majesty’s ascension to the throne has brought immense development to his people noting that “Keagborekuzi is a man of reforms introduced myriad of reforms as are necessary to drive the kingdom, safe and sound, into the next millennium.

“His contributions to addressing the issues of unemployment, social deviance and value orientation among youths remains indelible leading to the establishment the Agbor Youth Learning, Development and Empowerment Centre.

“His Majesty equally instituted cultural and traditional reformes to enhance the cohesion of the kingdom, hedge up its competitiveness, raise its visibility at the national and trans-national fora, and increase its strategic relevance in the increasingly relevant traditional institution in our increasingly dynamic polity.

“On behalf of the government and people of Delta State, I warmly felicitate with HRM Benjamin Ikenchukwu I, the Dein of Agbor Kingdom on the ocassion of his 41st birthday anniversary on Friday 29th June, 2018.

The Governor joins the people of Ika Nation particularly the Agbor people in celebrating His Royal Majesty with good health, wisdom and strength to continue ruling the people of Agbor Kingdom.

Continuing; “As a bastion of culture and tradition, Dein, has played significant role in the promotion of harmony among Agbor people and their neighbours. The Governor thanked the people of Agbor for reposing confidence on the monarch as well as giving him the needed support and cooperation since he ascended the throne.

“We pray that the Almighty God will continue to give you good health and wisdom to pilot the traditional affairs of your
kingdom and offer valuable contributions to the development of our dear Delta State,” the Governor said.