Politics

Kalu, Adikwuru Disagree Over PDP’s Decision To Throw Open Presidential Ticket

Published

3 years ago

May 16, 2022

Two prominent People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains from the South East geo-political zones, Chief Emeka Charles Kalu, and Hon. Dennis Adikwuru, on Saturday disagreed over the decision of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to throw open its presidential ticket instead of zoning it to the South in general or South East in particular.
The National Coordinator, Peoples Democratic Party Coalition (PDPCO), Chief Emeka Kalu, who hails from the Abia State and Hon. Dennis Adikwuru, a PDP Leader in Aboh Mbaise area of Imo State, have been very strong strategists in the party over the years.
In separate interviews with journalists over the weekend, Chief Kalu, one-time governorship candidate in Abia State, said that the PDP NEC’s action amounted to the scuttling of equity and ethnic inclusiveness, while Adikwuru, maintained that the decision was to broaden the scope of the aspiration to the presidency and to fully activate the fundamental right of individuals to seek the highest position in the land.
According to Kalu, the PDP NEC’s decision to toe the line of the recommendation of its Presidential Zoning Committee had brought a heavy downpour on the Southerners, especially the people of South Eastern Region, even as he called on the party’s stakeholders from the South to unite and unselfishly create a platform of solidarity to pick one consensus candidate from the aspirants from the region.
He said: “As the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the People’s Democratic Party on unanimous decision threw open the party’s presidential ticket where every NWC certified aspirant across the six geo-political zones are qualified to contest, it brought a heavy downpour on the Southerners, especially the people of South Eastern region.
“One would begin to imagine what must have guided the recently constituted Presidential Zoning Committee under the sportsmanship and chairmanship of Gov Samuel Ortom, Rt. Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Barrister. Aliyu Gausau, who functioned in chairmanship, vice and Secretary ship capacities a few months ago to help our great party achieve a milestone of success.
“Today, we had it on trending news that PDP has officially jettisoned zoning by creating a window where every screened and certified aspirant despite where he or she comes from is qualified to run for the party’s primaries.
“In line with the tenet of equity and frankness, PDP was supposed to have ceded her presidential ticket to South East where all contests from the said ethnic zones would be courageously testing his or her popularity in the our present day democratic settings.
“This is because the South East has been deep-rootedly marginalised, dating back from the time of Abraham and Metusellah.”
Kalu maintained that the PDP Coalition “vigorously” believed in the unity, togetherness and indivisibility of its members’ common bond as the largest party in Africa, and had politically matured beyond fluttering manipulations and gross political intimidation, knowing full well that it had been the party growing the nation’s transformation glory before it lost power to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said: “APC schemed, hatched and corruptly won election and took over power in 2015 of which the aftermath of her misrule has landed Nigeria into the dens of excruciating economic hardship.
“Here we are talking about a government of national unity while the monster pillar of ethnic bigotry and nepotism has not been crushed.”
Kalu asked: “How would Nigeria achieve a landmark success in nation building in the face of our defenseless children who are still languishing in the hands of their abductors without any formidable steps by the APC-led Federal Government towards securing their freedom?
“The cropping challenges likely to erupt and confront our great party in the face of throwing presidential ticket open, is that agitation, clamour and drives for Biafra State creation would unstoppably continue to increase on a higher degree of seriousness and determination.
“I am not affirming or portraying that if a South Easterner is not elected the next president of Nigeria that heavens will let loose, but painstakingly and deftly analysing the monumental risks of fragility likely to erupt when we have not been able to tackle the present crises plaguing the country.
“It is a pity that PDP having seen the militating bad eggs confronting Nigeria’s economic growth and national unity, still accepted the misguided inputs of some greed -trapped party stakeholders to have endorsed the presidential open ticket contest.
“We must strive to call a spade what it originally means if we actually want the desired change in our heart to manifest.
“Change is all about next level improvement in our expectations. Something that takes away twines of unbelief in man by manuring man’s consciousness towards result-oriented plans.
“In conclusion, Igbos are being cheated and swindled when it comes to power sharing and equal distributions of the scarce resources. Without any iota of doubts, PDP stands a better chance of winning the presidential election as she in turn works to uproot the jeopardising factors from its usual habitual undertakings that brings unnecessary rancour, rifts and differences among the concerned.”

Politics

INEC Denies Registering New Political Parties

Published

23 hours ago

June 20, 2025

The Tide

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has not registered any new political parties.

The commission gave the clarification in a statement on its X (formerly Twitter) handle last Wednesday.

It described the purported report circulated by some online social media platforms on the registration of two new political parties by INEC as fake.

“The attention of INEC has been drawn to a fake report making the rounds about the registration of two new political parties, namely “Independent Democrats (ID)” and “Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM)”.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the commission has not yet registered any new party. The current number of registered political parties in Nigeria is 19 and nothing has been added,” it stated.

The commission recalled that both ID and PDM were registered as political parties in August 2013.

INEC further recalled that the two were deregistered in February 2020 in accordance with Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The commission, therefore, urged the public to disregard the said report.

Politics

You Weren’t Elected To Bury People, Tinubu Tells Alia

Published

1 day ago

June 20, 2025

The Tide

President Bola Tinubu has asked Governor Hyacinth Alia to work more for peace and development of Benue State, saying he was elected to govern, not to bury people.

The President said this while addressing stakeholders at the Government House, Markudi, last Wednesday.

He also called on the governor to set up a peace committee to address some of the issues in the state.

The meeting included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, traditional rulers, and former governors of the state.

The governors of Kwara, Imo, Kogi, Plateau, Ondo, and Nasarawa states also attended the meeting.

“Let us meet again in Abuja. Let’s fashion out a framework for lasting peace. I am ready to invest in that peace. I assure you, we will find peace. We will convert this tragedy into prosperity,” he said.

President Tinubu urged Governor Alia to allocate land for ranching and directed the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security to follow up.

“I wanted to come here to commission projects, to reassure you of hope and prosperity, not to see gloomy faces. But peace is vital to development.

“The value of human life is greater than that of a cow. We were elected to govern, not to bury people”, he stressed.

He charged Governor Alia on working with the Federal Government to restore peace.

“Governor Alia, you were elected under the progressive banner to ensure peace, stability, and progress. You are not elected to bury people or comfort widows and orphans. We will work with you to achieve that peace. You must also work with us”, he said.

In his remarks, Governor Alia appealed to the Federal Government to establish a Special Intervention Fund for communities affected by repeated violent attacks across the state.

“Your Excellency, while we continue to mourn our losses and rebuild from the ashes of pain, we humbly urge the Federal Government to consider establishing a special intervention fund for communities affected by these incessant attacks in Benue State,” he said.

Governor Alia said the fund would support the rehabilitation of displaced persons, reconstruction of destroyed homes and infrastructure, and the restoration of livelihoods, especially for farmers.

He reiterated his support for establishing state police as a lasting solution to insecurity.

The governor pledged his administration’s full commitment to building a safe, stable, prosperous Benue State.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of the Benue State Traditional Rulers Council, Tor Tiv, Orchivirigh, Prof. James Ayatse, praised President Tinubu for being the first sitting President to personally visit victims in the hospital in the wake of such a tragedy.

He thanked the President for appointing notable Benue indigenes into key positions, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsev, while expressing hope that more appointments would follow.

Politics

Gowon Explains Why Aburi Accord Failed

Published

1 day ago

June 20, 2025

The Tide

Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (ret’d), says the Aburi accord collapsed because Chukwuemeka Ojukwu wanted regional governors to control military zones.

Gen. Gowon was Nigeria’s military ruler from 1966 until 1975 when he was deposed in a bloodless coup while Ojukwu was military governor of the then Eastern Region in that span.

In a live television interview recently, Gen. Gowon narrated what transpired after the agreement was reached in Aburi, a town in Ghana.

The meeting that led to the accord took place from January 4 to 5, 1967, with delegates from both sides of the divide making inputs.

The goal was to resolve the political impasse threatening the country’s unity.

The point of the agreement was that each region should be responsible for its own affairs.

During the meeting, delegates arrived at certain resolutions on control and structure of the military. However, the exact agreement reached was the subject of controversy.

The failure of the Aburi accord culminated in Nigeria’s civil war, which lasted from July 6, 1967, to January 15, 1970.

Speaking on what transpired after the agreement, Gen. Gowon said the resolutions should have been discussed further and finalised.

The ex-military leader said he took ill after arriving in Nigeria from Aburi and that Ojukwu went on to make unauthorised statements about the accord.

Gen. Gowon said he did not know where Ojukwu got his version of the agreement from.

“We just went there (Aburi), as far as we were concerned, to meet as officers and then agree to get back home and resolve the problem at home. That was my understanding. But that was not his (Ojukwu) understanding,” he said.

Gen. Gowon said Ojukwu declined the invitation, citing safety concerns.

“I don’t know what accord he (Ojukwu) was reading because he came to the meeting with prepared papers of things he wanted. And, of course, we discussed them one by one, greed on some and disagreed on some.

“For example, to give one of the major issues, we said that the military would be zoned, but the control… He wanted those zones to be commanded by the governor.

“When you have a military zone in the north, it would be commanded by the governor of the military in the north, the military zone in the east would be commanded by him. Of course, we did not agree with that one”, Gen. Gowon added.

Ojukwu died on November 26, 2011 at the age of 78.