We will never hang Buhari's portraits in our offices – PDP

The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh in a telephone interview with a PUNCH journalist stated that the party will not hang the official portrait of President Muhammadu Buhari at the party’s‎ Wadata House national secretariat, located at Zone 5, Abuja.
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Albeit the portraits of the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan have been removed in their offices, Metuh was certain APC didn’t hang the latter’s before his defeat on March 28 and so do not feel the need to hang Buhari’s.‎

“We will never hang his portrait in this office, because President Buhari is not known to our party. He is not a leader of our party and therefore we will never put his portrait here. We are a political party, very partisan and therefore, we are not going to hide that.” 


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“Can you find out if the APC had the portrait of former President Jonathan in their office before he was defeated? That is just it.”

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Reacting to the statement,  APC National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Lai Mohammed, said, “This is ridiculous and we have no comment. Let Nigerians judge the PDP on this matter.”

President Buhari's US trip fruitless – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the recent US trip of President Muhammadu Buhari as a fruitless venture. 
At a media briefing in Abuja on Sunday, the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said events after Buhari’s visit to the US indicated that neither the President nor his party, the All Progressives Congress, had learnt anything from the trip.
“Now that the visit has come and gone, our fear is that nothing whatsoever has been learnt or gained. What we continue to receive as a nation have been embarrassing disagreements, accusations and counter-accusations, blames and denials on very important issues due to lack of tact and skill in the management of state matters by the APC-led administration.

“It is disheartening that rather than secure any sort of tangible gain for the fight against terrorism, which has lost steam under the APC watch, with insurgents, who were pushed to the verge of surrender by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and spreading into the country, we get nothing but exchanges and disagreements between the Presidency and their American hosts.

“This is not only embarrassing but also a worrisome indication of crass ineptitude in the handling of international affairs on the part of the present administration.”‎

He urged the government to settle down and face the business of governance and the fight against insurgency with every sense of seriousness, especially given Buhari’s promise in his April 2, 2015 CNN interview to end the scourge two months after his inauguration.
The All Progressives Congress in its reaction described the PDP’s attack as a beer parlour gossip.

”Today’s statement is the most tortuous yet by the PDP and, honestly, sounds more like a compendium of beer parlour gossips and side talks than a serious criticism of a sitting government,” 

”To be in opposition does not mean you have to constitute yourself to a nuisance by rushing to the press with all sorts of hot air statements. It is the quality, rather than the frequency, of your interventions that makes you relevant as an opposition in a democracy,” The party said in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

APC alleges PDP is behind Rivers political killings

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has berated the State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for allegedly sponsoring political killings in the State, and rushing to court to stop the sitting of the Commission of Enquiry set up by the State Government to investigate the killings.

 

“The news of the suit brought by Rivers PDP before Justice H. A. Nganjiwa of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt seeking to restrain the Commission of Enquiry set up by the Rivers State Government to investigate the political killings in the State did not come to us a surprise as we have been consistent in identifying PDP as the sponsor of these despicable murders. In reality, the suit is nothing but a self-indictment by the Rivers State PDP, which has by so doing erased any reasonable doubt that it is behind the political violence in the State that has sent close to 100 innocent APC members to their untimely grave,” Rivers APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, said.

Ikanya, however, expressed disappointment that the revered Justice Nganjiwa fell for PDP’s antics by granting the restraining order sought by the murderous party.
“We hold Justice Nganjiwa in high esteem and we wish to appeal to him to vacate this restraining order at the next adjourned date to enable the Commission of Enquiry do its work. We are talking of human life and we respectfully appeal to His Lordship not to create an escape route for murderers to get away with their atrocities,” Ikanya said in a statement issued in the state capital, Port Harcourt.
He expressed confidence that Rivers PDP’s desperate efforts to evade justice and to subvert the will of Rivers people and heighten insecurity, kidnapping and other criminal activities through the instrumentality of the court would eventually fail.
Rivers APC sympathised with the people of the State over their present ordeal, as the State is today back to the era of insecurity, kidnapping and killings due to the desperation of PDP to capture power at all cost. “All these are evils which the APC Government of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi eradicated, only for them to be brought back by the Rivers State PDP leadership. We appeal to the good people of Rivers State to endure this sad development for the few months PDP will be in power before it is kicked out through legal means,” the statement said.
“The good people of Rivers State, particularly the survivors of those murdered in cold blood by PDP agents, can be assured that this evil party can only delay justice but cannot stop the avenging of the shed innocent blood. On our part, we are determined to ensure that justice is done in this matter and people who do not meant well for our State are not allowed to govern us no matter the conspiracy of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the outgoing PDP-controlled Presidency,” Rivers APC added.
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Oyo PDP Gubernatorial candidate removes transformer donated to community after losing

He apparently hasn’t recovered from the defeat. The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Teslim Folarin, has allegedly ordered the removal of the transformer he donated to Sabo community after losing at the polls last Saturday.
The Seriki Hausawa of Ibadanland, Alhaji Ahmad Dahiru Zungeru revealed this development at his palace in Ibadan few days ago.
“Folarin donated a transformer to Sabo community and it was placed around our central mosque. One of his aides, Basiru Maiborno, brought it to us. But yesterday morning, I received a call that Maiborno has taken back the transformer. Later in the day the transformer was returned back but we refused it and asked his aide to return it.” He said.
Although Maiborno a former councillor in Ibadan North denied it saying it was removed with a view to keeping it in a safer place. “It was not because Folarin lost in Sabo that we removed the transformer.
He continued, “I got the information that some hoodlums wanted to steal the transformer, which was why I removed it. Folarin does not know anything about it. Senator Folarin is a man of his words,” Maiborno concluded.

Rivers APC set to receive 10,000 PDP defectors

Arrangements have reached an advanced stage by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State to receive about 10,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who have indicated interest in joining APC. Rivers APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, disclosed this in a statement issued Tuesdayin Port Harcourt.
Rivers APC is pleased to welcome these patriots in advance and to assure them that they have a found a home in the party of liberation. We are happy with their decision that Rivers State must not be allowed to play opposition politics in the incoming Federal Government of General Muhammadu Buhari and have fixed Friday, 10th April, 2015, to formally receive them at the APC State Secretariat at Forces Avenue, Port Harcourt,” Ikanya said.
He described the decision of the mammoth crowd of PDP members to defect to APC as equivalent to the breaking of PDP’s backbone in Rivers State. “With this development, it would be safe to say that Rivers State PDP Leader and gubernatorial candidate, Chief Nyesome Wike, is now a commander without troops. 

Wike is irreversibly on his way to political oblivion and his fate shall become sealed on April 11 when he will be trounced by our governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, during the governorship polls,” Ikanya added.

PDP issues a statement on Oba of Lagos' hate comments

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has released a statement on the hate comments made by the Oba of Lagos against Igbos in Lagos.

“The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) condemns in the strongest possible terms the emerging height of political recklessness in Lagos and Ekiti states ahead of Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections and calls on all Nigerians to stand up against such anti-democratic tendencies.

The senseless and unpatriotic impeachment move against Governor Ayo Fayose by out-going APC state legislators and the barbaric death threats on non-indigenes in Lagos by the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu if they vote for the PDP candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje ascend to a height of unruliness that should not be accommodated.

The PDP totally and unequivocally rejects the flimsy and unsubstantiated allegations concocted by the APC legislators against Governor Fayose. We state in very clear terms that we will stand with him and bear our full weight in defense of the mandate freely given to him by the people of Ekiti state.


We invite all lovers of democracy and the international community to note the antics of APC and the deliberate plot to destabilize the polity even when it is yet to assume power.
In the same vein, it is indeed most unfortunate that a royal father of the status of the Oba of Lagos should attempt to drag the revered traditional institution into partisan politics to the level of threatening innocent Nigerians with the view to prevent them from freely exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right.

Our response to the Oba of Lagos is that he cannot play God and can never be God. God owns the universe and every part of it and can never share His glory with any human no matter how highly placed. We therefore call on all Nigerians in Lagos state; all Igbos, Hausas, Yorubas and people of other tribes; all northerners and southerners; all Christians and Muslims to turn against this unpatriotic stance, by coming out enmasse to vote for the PDP candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje on Saturday.

Undoubtedly, this anti-Nigeria position reminds of the 2013 inhuman and callous arrest, detention and eventual ‘deportation’ of non-indigenes by the APC-led government of Lagos state and confirms fears that the APC is indeed on a mission to destroy our national unity, balkanize the nation and obliterate the personal freedom Nigerians enjoy today.

Already, the APC has started terrorizing supporters of the PDP with vows to make life unbearable for them when it eventually assumes power. Our investigation reveals that many of our prominent supporters have been marked. The process has already started with threats to the life, family and business of the Chairman of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah for supporting PDP candidates and helping non-indigenes win some Lagos seats in the National Assembly on the platform of the our great party.

Indeed, if this threats on a duly elected state governor and innocent Nigerians constitute the picture or foretaste of the order of the day when the APC finally assumes power at the center, then the nation is in serious danger. However, the PDP states in very unambiguous terms that Nigerians would not accept such under any guise whatsoever.

This is more so because in the last 16 years, our citizens from all walks of lives have seen civility and decorum under the PDP-led administration and would not accept any attempt by anybody to institute a reign of terror in the country.

We therefore urge General Muhammadu Buhari as the leader of the APC to call his members and supporters, particularly in Lagos and Ekiti to order; especially bearing in mind that it was the peaceful atmosphere and the level playing ground nurtured by the PDP-led administration that created the room for his emergence at the presidential polls.

Our country cannot at this moment afford to slide into anarchy, reign of terror and deliberate schemes to divide the people for selfish political reasons.

The PDP will completely resist all anti democratic forces from any quarters. We therefore charge Nigerians, especially those in Lagos and Ekiti states respectively to stand up fearlessly and reject the unpatriotic stance of the Oba of Lagos and the undemocratic move to dismantle the mandate given to Governor Ayo Fayose by the people.

Signed:
Olisa Metuh‎
National Publicity Secretary‎

Bode George on Buhari's victory, "I'm going on exile".

Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Bode George is about to make good his promise of proceeding on exile if the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Maj-Gen Muhammudu Buhari (retd) wins the presidential election.
Speaking shortly after PDP’s defeat, the chieftain said he has no business staying in the country since their plans of restructuring the economy have been thwarted.
“What will I be doing here? I can decide to go and live anywhere. Look at everyone surrounding him (Buhari). “So, I am not joking about it, what will I be doing here? At 70, what will I be doing here?

 All we have been doing to restructure the country has been lost. We have been trying to ensure balance in the polity but all that has gone. What else will I be doing here?”

Governor Rotimi Amaechi's deputy defects to PDP

The deputy to Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Mr Tele Ikuru has defected to opposition party, People’s Democratic Party. Ikuru in a statement today described the All Progressives Congress Party as one founded on deception and falsehood.

“My dear People of Rivers State, I bring you honest and sincere greetings. Today, I address you out of the fullness of my heart. 
Recall that in December 2013, out of extreme loyalty to my boss and friend, I joined the APC, along with other then disillusioned Rivers People.

“Ever since, as the true nature and motives of APC are unveiled, I have continued to twist and turn in extreme mental and emotional agony. The more I struggle to 
belong, the more the Rivers man in me rejects the APC.

“After carefully studying, interacting and analyzing the leadership of the party, I have come to the sad conclusion that the APC is a party of rebels, insurgents and anarchists, clothed in robes of pretence and deceit. APC is a party founded on deception and it thrives on unholy propaganda and falsehood.He said.

I Can Die For PDP: Toyin Aimakhu reacts to backlash

Actress Toyin Aimakhu has reacted to negative comments targeted at her after proclaiming that she can die for her favourite party, PDP few days ago.
The fair-skinned thespian made the statement during President Goodluck Jonathan’s meeting with some 5,000 youths on March1st, 2015 at the Eko Hotels&Suites, Lagos.
 In a press statement released today,Toyin who was the compere of the event tagged “Meet The President” stated that she was only being sarcastic that it is pathetic for anyone to take her word seriously.

Our country has given its citizens the right to freedom of speech and right to vote and be voted for, I’m most definitely not an exception. As of 1999, Nigeria has about 29 political parties, allowing every citizen to choose at their own free will. It is then left to us not to undermine the decision or choices of others as it is loathsome. 

We live in a world where people take pleasure in bringing other people down. I feel obliged to address the matter of me dying for the PDP. 
Firstly, no one is dying for anyone and the last time I checked only Jesus had died for us with no strings attached or money promised to his family when he’s gone. He died to save us all. Having pointed that out, I will like to say, I will not , in any way, for no reason whatsoever, die for a person or a political party. 
Secondly, I personally feel it is pathetic for anyone to take my word literally when it was simply a joke. As a successful Nollywood actress, it is not unusual for people in my line of work to use the phrase ‘ha baba, walai mo love yin gaan mo le ku fun yin ni sir’ with smiles on their faces. 
This was me, just doing my job as a host of the event, trying to be funny, which by the way, worked. It is absurd to take my word out of context. 
Furthermore, my choices, should however in no way be a channel for condemnation. Celebrities and public figures, just like every other people, are allowed to campaign, vote and support whomever and however we please. 
As many great political parties we have, we cannot vote for them all. It is a one man, one vote society. I love everyone as best as I can, most especially my fans ,make your choice, respect the choice of others, let it be, and most especially, do not allow the choice of others affect yours. 
In conclusion, let’s try to help others grow and support them. Don’t let the success of others make you feel resentment against them or envious, simply learn from them and strive to do better. 
I wish everyone safe, free and fair election.” She wrote.

"We expelled Obasanjo"- Ogun State PDP

Whose report should we really believe? Chief Olusegun Obasanjo voluntarily resigned from the party, PDP claims he was expelled for indulging in anti-party activities. The reports are so conflicting.

Bayo Dayo, the Ogun State chairman of the People Democratic Party has however cleared the air. He told journalists today, “the totality of the executive, leaders and members of PDP family in the Ogun hereby state categorically as from today Monday 16 February, 2015, Obasanjo Aremu Olusegun stands expelled and excommunicated from the party thereby losing all rights previous, privileges and respect of our teeming party members.”

Dayo added that Obasanjo’s ward sent him a letter 4 days ago to express concerns at his “anti-party activities” and “uncomplimentary utterances” targeted at President Goodluck Jonathan.

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