Politics

Resign Now, APC Tells Soludo Over Failure To Hold LG Polls

Published

2 years ago

September 1, 2023

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State has asked the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to resign following his inability to conduct elections in the 21 local government areas of the state more than a year after assuming office.
Consequently, the party has urged the Federal Government to appoint a “caretaker” governor to run the affairs of the state.
It stated this in a statement signed by the state Publicity Secretary, Okelo Madukaife, on Wednesday.
Both APC and the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra have been tackling each other over the non-conduct of LG elections in the state since 2014.
Okelo pointed out that since 1999 when democracy returned to the country, Anambra State had only organised two local government elections and that was during the early days of Late Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju’s administration and towards the end of Peter Obi’s administration in 2014.
The state chairman of APGA, Mr Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, had in an interview recently, cited “litany of litigation” at the courts as the reason preventing the state from holding LG elections.
But in the statement, Okelo asked the Anambra people and the general public to critically engage APGA on the issues concerning the Anambra State local governments.
The statement read: “Evasion of issues will not cure the angst and disappointment of Ndi Anambra over the inability of the government of the day to hold local government elections, within six months as was promised in their campaign during the Anambra governorship elections in 2021.
“On the contrary, APC promised to hold the APGA government, which seems to have lost initiative so soon to account and are doing so.
“For the second time in one week, APGA chairman, Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, has failed to mention the particular suit which he claims APC has in court that has stopped the government controlled by his party from holding LG elections and no one seemed to have returned him to the brass tacks.
“He failed to allude to the fact that Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission is paying workers who do nothing and has also failed to acknowledge that as of today, ANSIEC has no board, which has a serious duty in election planning and execution.
“On one hand, Obi-Okoye cites an apex court judgment that, according to him, empowers Anambra State Government to appoint caretaker committees while on the other, he says the case is pending and no one has taken him up for the glaring contradiction.
“Interestingly, this is coming from a party who ignored specific court orders to hold its conversation without worrying about the implications, only to invoke uncited and unreferenced cases stopping LG elections.
“We are interested in saving Anambra LGs from the state government and allowing our people feel the impact of government at the grassroots rather than being treated to vocabularies from Awka. APGA can only tell a blind man that there is no oil in the soup, not that there is no salt.
“Anambra State citizens and residents are well advised to demand for 21 elected local governments that will be accountable to them and not to be schooled on dictations that seek impossible legitimacy through legality.”
He explained that whatever APGA members impose on the LGs lacks the legitimacy to be regarded, adding that neither APC nor Anambra people will offer them any recognition.
“Henceforth, the recognisable steps to register our non-recognition of those stooges from one party will become clearer.
“If Soludo insists on defending lack of democratic governments in Anambra LGs directly or in proxy, a full year after the time he gave to hold elections has passed, he should resign as governor to enable President Bola Tinubu appoint a Caretaker governor for Anambra State and later find a legal justification for it.
“Ndi Anambra should be prepared to reclaim their right to elect their leaders after 24 years of continuous rape, 17 of which have been executed by APGA,” the statement added.

Politics

INEC Denies Registering New Political Parties

Published

7 days 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

7 days 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

7 days 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.