[NIGERIA] Guber Poll: Leading Opposition Party APC Directs Leaders, Lawmakers to Converge in Osun State On Tuesday
The leading opposition party in Nigeria, All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked all its elected members at state and national levels to c...
http://www.africaeagle.com/2014/08/nigeria-guber-poll-leading-opposition.html
The leading opposition party in Nigeria, All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked all its elected members at state and national levels to converge on Osun State from tuesday and remain there till this weekend’s gubernatorial election, as a way of showing the party's unalloyed support for the incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
The national Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, had last Friday said he and other party leaders were relocating to Osogbo in deference to an ancient African proverb which "states that rats cannot eat the fish of the man who is awake and watchful."
According to Oyegun, all the chairmen of the party from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would attend the final public rally of the party in Osogbo tuesday and the subsequent meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) wednesday.
However, in a statement issued monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the directive also covered all political appointees in the states under the control of the APC, especially Special Advisers and Commissioners.
Also expected in Osogbo are members of the party's national executive and the national elders' caucus.
APC said it perceived the forthcoming election as a celebration of democracy and a harvest time for the party, whose candidate had worked so hard to implement his mandate and make life more abundant for the people of the state.
The party also called on its members in the state to be vigilant ahead of the poll, considering the myriad of desperate tactics being perfected by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to reap where it did not sow.
Apart from participating in the campaign rally for the re-election of incumbent governor, Aregbesola, most of the APC leaders are expected to stay back to attend a meeting of the NWC tomorrow.
It was learnt that in order to avoid a repeat of the clampdown on the entry of its prominent leaders during the election in the sister state of Ekiti, APC had adopted a new strategy by holding its rally early.
Journalists gathered that the strategy was meant to drag its leaders to Osogbo, most of whom would attend the NWC meeting and to encourage a good number of them to stay back and join in overseeing the election on Saturday.
Also, the party has raised the alarm, that about 500,000 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), which were either unclaimed, not handed over to their authentic owners or were obtained fraudulently, have been cloned by unscrupulous persons ahead of the election, with the sole purpose of rigging.
The party said in a statement issued by Mohammed that the cloned cards, mostly in the hands of persons from states other than Osun, are to be used along with the authentic PVCs issued to the electorate in Osun State during the governorship election.
APC said based on the dubious plan, unscrupulous security agents - both official and unofficial – would be at hand to brutalise, arrest and detain any agent or voter who may want to challenge this illegality.
The party therefore called on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), if it is not part of this diabolical plan to ensure that only the voters registers used to issue out the PVCs to voters up till August 4 would be used to conduct the election.
Meanwhile, the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as shameful and disgusting, the attempt by the APC to deceive Nigerians regarding its role in the deployment of officials of the Department of State Service (DSS) to the state ahead of the August 9 governorship election.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday said in turning to accuse the PDP-led government of moving operatives of the DSS to terrorise the people of the state when in actual fact, the APC governor of the state also formally requested for their deployment, the APC has again displayed “a penchant for deceit and lies for which it has become notorious.”
“Nigerians may recall that last Friday, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, issued a statement querying the presence of DSS officials in Osun state.
“We find in this statement the height of hypocrisy, especially as it is incontrovertible that it was the Osun APC governor who, in a letter dated July 4, 2014 and addressed to the Director General of the DSS, requested for the deployment.
He was said to have asked for the operatives ‘for the purpose of security and general protection ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in Osun State’ and ‘to help secure peace and make the election hitch free, as security is beefed up for the election’.
“It is therefore shocking and utterly despicable for the APC to turn round to point accusing fingers at the PDP and the Presidency when the DSS officials arrived and commenced their duties in line with the request of the governor.
“While Nigerians have continued to express shock over this act of deception, we in the PDP ask; is it a question of APC dishing out statements without cross-checking internally? Or is it a question of the party adopting lies, deceit and propaganda as ideology?
“These questions have become necessary, given that the APC has become infamous for fabrications as a means to curry the support of unsuspecting Nigerians.
“We recall a similar statement by APC in June wherein it alleged that a plane carrying Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso to attend an APC rally in Ekiti to support Governor Kayode Fayemi’s re-election bid was denied landing permission in Akure, only for Kwankwaso’s Director of Press Affairs, Baba Dantiye, to announce that his boss was at another event in Kano and had no plans to travel to Ekiti State.
“APC has since proven to be a party with little regard for integrity. This is a party that threw all sense of honour to the winds and condescended so low to lie over an issue as ordinary as the age of its 52 year-old Youth Leader,” the PDP said.
The ruling party observed that the APC has continued to trade on wild allegations against government officials and sensitive government institutions including security agencies, INEC and the National Assembly, aiming at causing cause confusion, pitching the people against the government and establishing a reign of anarchy in the country.
The party urged Nigerians to note the sustained vitriolic attacks and campaign of calumny against the legislature at the national and state levels, wherein the APC has sought to label them as corrupt, falsely accusing them of receiving millions of dollars to do the PDP’s bidding. It recalled that early this year, the APC raised an alarm that the federal lawmakers were being induced with millions of dollars to defect to the PDP, only for Nigerians to find out that it was false.
“We ask, when will these APC lies stop? We have in our hands a political party whose words and statements have suddenly become meaningless to most Nigerians. We want a credible opposition. We do not want a lying, deceitful and propaganda infested opposition. This APC ‘one-chance-bus’ filled with liars cannot lead Nigeria,” the party said.
Source: This Day
The national Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, had last Friday said he and other party leaders were relocating to Osogbo in deference to an ancient African proverb which "states that rats cannot eat the fish of the man who is awake and watchful."
According to Oyegun, all the chairmen of the party from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would attend the final public rally of the party in Osogbo tuesday and the subsequent meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) wednesday.
However, in a statement issued monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the directive also covered all political appointees in the states under the control of the APC, especially Special Advisers and Commissioners.
Also expected in Osogbo are members of the party's national executive and the national elders' caucus.
APC said it perceived the forthcoming election as a celebration of democracy and a harvest time for the party, whose candidate had worked so hard to implement his mandate and make life more abundant for the people of the state.
The party also called on its members in the state to be vigilant ahead of the poll, considering the myriad of desperate tactics being perfected by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to reap where it did not sow.
Apart from participating in the campaign rally for the re-election of incumbent governor, Aregbesola, most of the APC leaders are expected to stay back to attend a meeting of the NWC tomorrow.
It was learnt that in order to avoid a repeat of the clampdown on the entry of its prominent leaders during the election in the sister state of Ekiti, APC had adopted a new strategy by holding its rally early.
Journalists gathered that the strategy was meant to drag its leaders to Osogbo, most of whom would attend the NWC meeting and to encourage a good number of them to stay back and join in overseeing the election on Saturday.
Also, the party has raised the alarm, that about 500,000 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), which were either unclaimed, not handed over to their authentic owners or were obtained fraudulently, have been cloned by unscrupulous persons ahead of the election, with the sole purpose of rigging.
The party said in a statement issued by Mohammed that the cloned cards, mostly in the hands of persons from states other than Osun, are to be used along with the authentic PVCs issued to the electorate in Osun State during the governorship election.
APC said based on the dubious plan, unscrupulous security agents - both official and unofficial – would be at hand to brutalise, arrest and detain any agent or voter who may want to challenge this illegality.
The party therefore called on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), if it is not part of this diabolical plan to ensure that only the voters registers used to issue out the PVCs to voters up till August 4 would be used to conduct the election.
Meanwhile, the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as shameful and disgusting, the attempt by the APC to deceive Nigerians regarding its role in the deployment of officials of the Department of State Service (DSS) to the state ahead of the August 9 governorship election.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday said in turning to accuse the PDP-led government of moving operatives of the DSS to terrorise the people of the state when in actual fact, the APC governor of the state also formally requested for their deployment, the APC has again displayed “a penchant for deceit and lies for which it has become notorious.”
“Nigerians may recall that last Friday, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, issued a statement querying the presence of DSS officials in Osun state.
“We find in this statement the height of hypocrisy, especially as it is incontrovertible that it was the Osun APC governor who, in a letter dated July 4, 2014 and addressed to the Director General of the DSS, requested for the deployment.
He was said to have asked for the operatives ‘for the purpose of security and general protection ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in Osun State’ and ‘to help secure peace and make the election hitch free, as security is beefed up for the election’.
“It is therefore shocking and utterly despicable for the APC to turn round to point accusing fingers at the PDP and the Presidency when the DSS officials arrived and commenced their duties in line with the request of the governor.
“While Nigerians have continued to express shock over this act of deception, we in the PDP ask; is it a question of APC dishing out statements without cross-checking internally? Or is it a question of the party adopting lies, deceit and propaganda as ideology?
“These questions have become necessary, given that the APC has become infamous for fabrications as a means to curry the support of unsuspecting Nigerians.
“We recall a similar statement by APC in June wherein it alleged that a plane carrying Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso to attend an APC rally in Ekiti to support Governor Kayode Fayemi’s re-election bid was denied landing permission in Akure, only for Kwankwaso’s Director of Press Affairs, Baba Dantiye, to announce that his boss was at another event in Kano and had no plans to travel to Ekiti State.
“APC has since proven to be a party with little regard for integrity. This is a party that threw all sense of honour to the winds and condescended so low to lie over an issue as ordinary as the age of its 52 year-old Youth Leader,” the PDP said.
The ruling party observed that the APC has continued to trade on wild allegations against government officials and sensitive government institutions including security agencies, INEC and the National Assembly, aiming at causing cause confusion, pitching the people against the government and establishing a reign of anarchy in the country.
The party urged Nigerians to note the sustained vitriolic attacks and campaign of calumny against the legislature at the national and state levels, wherein the APC has sought to label them as corrupt, falsely accusing them of receiving millions of dollars to do the PDP’s bidding. It recalled that early this year, the APC raised an alarm that the federal lawmakers were being induced with millions of dollars to defect to the PDP, only for Nigerians to find out that it was false.
“We ask, when will these APC lies stop? We have in our hands a political party whose words and statements have suddenly become meaningless to most Nigerians. We want a credible opposition. We do not want a lying, deceitful and propaganda infested opposition. This APC ‘one-chance-bus’ filled with liars cannot lead Nigeria,” the party said.
Source: This Day
