Forgive Akiolu,President-elect. Buhari appeal to igbos

The President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has urged the Ndigbo and other non-indigenes in Lagos State to forgive all that has been said against them and move on for the sake of peace.

Buhari said this during a rally in Lagos to address the comments made by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu.

Akiolu has been under fire since Monday when he reportedly threatened the Ndigbo in Lagos to either vote for the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, or perish in the lagoon.

The Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday asked Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola to suspend Akiolu forthwith.

However, the President-elect described Lagos as home for all, adding that the time had come for Nigerians to look past ethnicity in the general interest of peace and unity.

He said, “I admire what your governor has done in terms of mobilising revenue to sustain Lagos development. I have a lot of respect for Governor Fashola for his hard work, commitment to the state and the country. There is no doubt that Lagos is a mini-Nigeria. We are all here and it has been mentioned by previous speakers that everybody (tribe) is adequately represented in Lagos.

“So, I assure you. If you vote for the continuity of APC in Lagos, you stand to gain more. It is in your interest that you vote for the APC.

“Please when you go home tell your neighbours, relatives and even the opposition to please bury the hatchet. Let them fall in line and vote the APC.

“When we were coming in our bus, Fashola told me how Lagos State had been spending to maintain the federal infrastructure here such as buildings, roads and other institutions. I had promised before that if I won the election and became the President, I would make Lagos my priority. Governor Fashola is already holding to me to that promise so I would like the incoming governor to listen carefully and make sure he makes me honour my undertaking.”

The National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said Lagos was responsible for building the opposition and ensuring that it finally took control of the centre.

He said it would be a great injustice for Lagos to become an opposition state after working so hard to build a bright future.

Akinolu can’t speak for APC –Tinubu

Also speaking, a former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, said Akiolu was not a member of the APC and could not speak on behalf of the party.

Tinubu, who noted that he was the first Yoruba governor to ever appoint an Igbo commissioner, said the Peoples Democratic Party, having failed to win last week’s presidential elections, had been desperately trying to pull the APC into the Akiolu controversy.

He said the coordinator of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, Ifeanyi Ubah, and the PDP leader, Bode George, were only making baseless accusations against the APC.

Tinubu said, “The Oba is not a politician. His job is to accommodate all political parties whether PDP, APC or SDP. So, what did he (Ubah) go and do at the palace? Is the Oba a politician?

“To you Igbo, don’t we pay your children’s school fees like others? Or is it the palace that pays for it? When we conducted an exam and a spelling competition, an Igbo boy, Ebuka, from Anambra, came first and he became the governor for one day.

“Those that won the competition three times in a row were Igbo. Ebuka was sent to Switzerland computer school and then Obafemi Awolowo University. We did not say he was an Igbo boy and he would not enjoy. He became an executive in Oando and he is now in Canada.

“Another boy, Felix, won and went to Switzerland and OAU. We paid his scholarship; we did not deny him because he is Igbo.”

‘Suspend him now’

But the PDP said the Lagos monarch should be on suspension till after Saturday’s governorship and state House of Assembly elections in order to guarantee free, fair and credible elections in the state.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by Lagos PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani, the party said it had also alerted the security agencies to hold the monarch responsible for any attack on non-indigenes or PDP members in Lagos.

The statement read in part, “The governor is thus a conspirator in this threat to life and must also be held accountable for any violence in these elections. We have at this point been vindicated about the desperation of the APC to retain Lagos State at all cost, including the All Progressives Congress’ plan not to concede the imminent defeat on April 11.

“The positions of the PDP are coming on the heels of the now viral threat issued by the Oba of Lagos to Ndigbo that they must vote for the APC governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode, or be drowned in Lagos water.”

Despite the alleged threat to their lives, PDP urged Lagos non-indigenes and others to be part of Saturday’s voting exercise.

Monarch spoke out of anger –APC

Meanwhile, the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Lagos State, Joe Igbokwe, said in a separate statement on Tuesday that the monarch spoke out of anger.

Igbokwe urged his kinsmen not to take out their anger on the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, who knew nothing about the incident.

The statement read, “Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos is not a card-carrying member of APC. He is not a leader in the APC. He does not speak for the APC. He did not speak for Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.

“He did not speak for our national leader, Bola Tinubu. He did not speak for the incoming governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode. His Royal Highness is at liberty to speak for him and he spoke for himself only.

“Lagos APC appeals to Ndigbo not to take the statement as the position of the party in Lagos. We passionately appeal to Ndigbo not to carry the statement credited to Oba Akiolu too far so as not to put a knife on things that have held us together for more than 50 years now. If out of annoyance you throw your cap away, a mad man will take it and use it forever.”

APC wins 214 House of Reps’ seats,Now in majority

 The All Progressives Congress will firmly be in control of the 8th House of Representatives as the majority party with over 214 members.

There are a total of 360 seats in the second chamber of the National Assembly.

Figures emerging from the outcome of the March 28 National Assembly poll, show that APC members are now 214, against the Peoples Democratic Party, which has 125 lawmakers.

The statistics gives a gap of 89 between the APC and the PDP in favour of the former.

The figures, which The PUNCH obtained on Tuesday, exclude the 11 federal constituency seats in Jigawa State, where election has yet to be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

When elections for the 11 seats are conducted, the APC will possibly get additional seats, meaning that its numerical strength in the House may be well above 214 at inauguration on June 6.

Three other political parties, Labour Party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance and Accord Party, share the balance of 10 seats, bringing the total to 360.

The distribution of the figures shows that the APC has the highest membership haul from the North-West with 81 lawmakers, as against the PDP’s zero score for now.

It is followed by the South-West, where it won 47 seats compared to the PDP’s 20.

In the North-Central, the party got 41 seats and left eight for the PDP.

The APC’s performance in the North-East was 40 as against the seven seats won by the PDP.

The PDP’s strongest zone is the South-South, where it produced 52 members, compared to the APC’s three. The three seats came from Edo State.

The current majority party won 38 seats in the South-East, leaving only three for the APC in Imo State.

A further breakdown indicates that the APC did not win any seat in Ebonyi, Anambra, Enugu and Abia states.

Same goes for the South-South states of Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers and Bayelsa, where it did not produce any lawmaker.

However, the APC took all the seats in Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi in the North-West.

In its second strongest zone (South-West), it got 19 seats out of 24 in Lagos; 12 in Oyo State; seven in Osun; five in Ondo and four in Ogun.

The PDP cleared all the six seats in Ekiti State.

In the North-Central axis, APC won all seats in Kogi, Kwara and Niger states. It won eight out of 11 in Benue; six out of eight in Plateau; and two out of five in Nasarawa State.

Similarly, it amassed all the seats in Bauchi and Borno states.

But, in Adamawa, the APC has seven, the PDP (one); Gombe, the APC has four, PDP (two); Taraba, APC two, PDP (three); and Yobe, APC five, PDP (one).

At the inauguration of the 7th Assembly on June 6, 2011, the PDP was in clear majority with around 208 lawmakers. The defunct Action Congress of Nigeria had about 70 members, followed by the then Congress for Progressive Change, which had around 40 lawmakers.

Following the historic merger in 2013 between the ACN, CPC and the All Nigerian Peoples Party to form the APC, the PDP began rapidly to lose its control of the House.

In December of the same year, 37 PDP members moved in one day to the APC. More defections followed in the run up to the last elections.

It was capped on October 28, 2014, with the defection of the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, a PDP lawmaker, to the APC.

By the time the two parties went for the March 28 polls, the APC’s membership in the House had risen to above 180, while the PDP fell to between 158 and 160.

The outcome of the polls further confirmed the APC’s control of the House and positioned it to produce the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Majority Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Majority Leader of the in-coming 8th Assembly.

now that PDP has been demoted to minority or the main opposition party, the outgoing Deputy Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, described it as “democracy at play,” though he assured Nigerians that the PDP would bounce back.

Obasanjo, Buhari held a close door meeting in Lagos

The President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday held a secret meeting in Lagos.

Our correspondent learnt that the meeting which held at the Presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, lasted for almost an hour.

The meeting, it was learnt, was the first meeting the two would have since Buhari was declared winner of the presidential election on April 1.

It was learnt that Buhari and other All Progressives Congress leaders had come to Lagos for a thank you visit and to campaign for the party’s governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, but had a meeting with Obasanjo before setting out to campaign in the Orile area of the state.

A member of the President-elect’s entourage said, “Gen. Buhari and former President Obasanjo were in the inner lounge of the presidential wing of the airport where they held a secret meeting for almost an hour.

“The National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Senator Chris Ngige and many of us were made to stay at the main lounge throughout the meeting. We do not really know what was discussed but it must have been very sensitive.”

Meanwhile, the Northern Christian Leaders Eagle Eyes Forum, has said the group was not surprised that Buhari won the poll.

The group had before the election endorsed Buhari to the consternation of the Christian Association of Nigeria led by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

The CAN condemned and distanced itself from the endorsement.

Addressing journalists in Kaduna on Tuesday, Chairman of the Forum, Pastor Aminchi Habu, also said under Buhari, Nigeria would take its rightful position among the comity of nations.

Saying that they have confidence that the president-elect would steer the ship of the nation to greatness, the cleric noted that he and his other colleagues, believed that the Katsina-born-general deserved his electoral victory because he worked for it.

The chairman, specifically hailed the National Leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Senator Bukola Saraki, governors Rotimi Amaechi, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Magatakarda Wamako and Ahmed Abdulfatai for working round the clock to ensure that Buhari won the election.

“These men are not only quintessential politicians but also political strategists in their own rights and so deserve special commendation as they worked tirelessly to ensure that Nigeria change for good,” he said.

Oba of Lagos not APC spokeman, Not a party man says Tinubu

Former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has finally reacted to the anti-Igbo comments made by Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu. Tinubu said the Oba is not a member of APC and so can't speak on behalf of the party. Speaking to Punch at a rally in Iganmu today, Tinubu said;

“The oba is not a politician. His job is to accommodate all political parties, whether PDP, APC or SDP. So, what did he (Ubah) go and do at the palace? To you Igbos, don’t we pay your children’s school fees like others? Or is it the palace that pays for it? When we conducted an exam and a spelling competition, an Igbo boy, Ebuka, from Anambra, came first and he became the governor for one day.

“Those that won the competition three times in a row were Igbo. Ebuka was sent to Switzerland computer school and then Obafemi Awolowo University. We did not say he was an Igbo boy and he would not enjoy. He became an executive in Oando and he is now in Canada.

“Another boy, Felix, won and went to Switzerland and OAU. We paid his scholarship; we did not deny him because he is Igbo.”

I hope the igbos can now vote for Ambode as governor

PDP plans rigging with fake soldiers – Imo APC alleges

The All Progressives Congress in Imo State has raised the alarm over what it described as a plot by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to embark on massive rigging of next Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly  elections in the state.
Director-General, Rochas  Okorocha Campaign Organisation, Mr. Iheukwumere Alaribe, who spoke to our correspondent in Owerri on Tuesday, said the APC was aware of the PDP’s plan to manipulate the electoral process with the assistance of some military personnel during the elections.
He said,  “We know that, just like it did during the presidential and National Assembly elections, the PDP has  decided to use fake soldiers to achieve its devious motives on Saturday.
“This time, they want to make sure that no electoral materials get to the designated polling centres. They have been bringing thugs into Imo State. If you go to the rural communities right now, you will find strange people there.”
Alaribe noted that on Sunday, Catholic churches in many of the communities warned members of their congregations to avoid hanging out at polling booths after casting their votes on Saturday.
He recalled that there were irregularities during the last elections, especially in Ohaji-Egbema, Isu, Oru-East, Isiala-Mbaino and Oguta Local Government Areas, where ballot boxes and other electoral materials were allegedly carted away from the polling booths and non registered people used as ad-hoc staff by the Independent National Electoral Commission in Imo.
He added that the APC was determined to ensure the PDP did not perpetrate  such electoral malpractices on Saturday.
Alaribe stated, “If what happened last time repeats itself during the governorship elections, there will be casualties in Imo State.”
The APC campaign director added that not less than 20 members of the PDP had defected to the ruling party.
All efforts by our correspondent to speak with the Director of Media for Imo PDP, Chief Enyinnaya Onuegbu, yielded no positive results.

Olusola Oke Decamped to APC

Olusola Oke, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the 2012 governorship election in Ondo state has concluded plans to defect officially to the All Progressives Congress (APC)

It was gathered that Oke had last weekend met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his hilltop mansion in Abeokuta, Ogun state to brief him on his defection plans.

Obasanjo reportedly gave him his blessing to go ahead to quickly defects to the APC before Saturday House of Assembly elections in the state, the aide also said.

Sources in Obasanjo’s home confirmed Oke’s visit to the hilltop mansion in Abeokuta.

He revealed that Oke has already met with leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s secretariat along Oyemekun road in Akure, the state's capital while arrangement on his defection has been concluded.

Oke was said to have held a midnight meeting with the APC leaders at their office.

“Chief Olusola Oke at the late hour of yesterday midnight met with the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Isaac Kekemeke and other leaders of the party which includes Tayo Alasoadura inside the party’s secretariat.

“The meeting was a very long one because several considerations have to be put in place and mind you, Oke was at the midnight meeting with only trusted allays from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“Some of the considerations was that he (Oke) would be defecting alongside a horde supporters from to the All Progressives Congress (APC), which literary means he is coming with a whole structure to the party, and there must be room to accommodate them all”, he said.

A press conference to addressed journalists on the reason for leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has already been penned down and would be communicated today (Tuesday), the aide told our correspondent.

Tayo Alasoadura, a leader of the party and senator-elect from the Ondo central senatorial district of the state who was also at the midnight meeting made it known that “Oke is now with us”.

“Yes, I can confirm to you that Olusola Oke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is now in the All Progressives Congress (APC). We have talked and ironed out how the party would accommodate us all. He would be coming with a big structure, and there is enough room to accommodate them all.

“His defection would put heat on his formal party and is going to be a crack on their wall because more people are coming. You remembered the Deputy Governor, Ali Olanusi is now with us, and I can assure you that many more will join us in days to come”, he said.

Oke had been in a brawl with the embattled governor of the state, Olusegun Mimiko since the defection of latter to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Mimiko had dominated the party and forcefully hijacked its structure.

Governor Fayose, Deputy Blocks Ekiti Roads With Buses And Bonfires To Avoid Impeachment

To avoid getting impeached by legitimate lawmakers from Ekiti state for gross misconduct, Governor Ayodele Fayose has embarked on blocking roads leading to the state capital, Ado-Ekiti with buses, logs of wood and bonfires.

The governor initially disappeared from the state capital to avoid being served with the impeachment notice exclusively published by news media during the weekend claiming he had not seen the notice.
However, it was learnt that since losing the Presidential elections on March 28th, 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan has refused to provide military and police officers to continue the shenanigans that have propelled Mr. Faye’s impunity in the state. President Jonathan is reportedly busy packing out of the Presidential Villa in preparation for civilian life.
Overnight several parts of Ado-Ekiti were blocked by aides of Mr. Fayose, who had vowed to resist lawmakers led by the legitimate speaker of the house of assembly from accessing the state capital to commence Mr. Fayose’s impeachment. The speaker has vowed to commence and conclude the impeachment of the governor as soon as feasible.