- Say APC best vehicle for political progress
- Appeal Court clears Sylva for Bayelsa guber poll
- Diri tasks security agencies on peaceful election
BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU AND BRIGHT JACOB
The All Progressives Congress erupted in jubilation on Tuesday as opposition members joined the ruling party from the New Nigeria Peoples Party and the People’s Democratic Party.
The former national chairman of the NNPP, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali and its governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Senator Sulaiman Othman Hunkuyi, joined the APC.
Also, the governorship candidate of the NNPP in Benue 2023 elections and ex-national legal adviser of the party, Prof. Bem Angwe, alongside 23 others from the NNPP and the PDP have defected to the APC.
The APC national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje received the defectors into the ruling party on Tuesday,
Alkali, who spoke on behalf of the defectors, said they joined the APC because it is the ruling party, adding that the party was the best vehicle for political progress in Nigeria.
He said, “Today, we have all decided to move forward with the APC. In our view, with the new mood in the country, both His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu and the new leadership of the party under your able and distinguished chairmanship, both of you veteran politicians, APC has shifted the gear and you have also opened a new page in the history of party politics in the country that is more welcoming and more accommodating.
“The good news we are bringing to you and to the APC today is that we are here just as representatives of the multitude of hundreds of thousands of our supporters, friends, associates and well-wishers within the NNPP and PDP nationwide who were earnestly waiting for this historic day.
“As the events of today come to an end, we shall all go back to our respective states, local government areas and our wards to commence the mop up operations to ensure that no one is left behind in this great journey of salvaging our nation. This will happen and APC shall be celebrated under your excellency’s watch,” he said.
In his remarks, Ganduje said the NNPP has been hijacked and polluted by what he termed an association called Kwankwasiyya, and pledged that the defectors would be given a level-playing field and carried along in the scheme of things in the APC.
Appeal Court clears Sylva for Bayelsa governorship poll
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has given the APC candidate for the Bayelsa State governorship election, Timipre Sylva, the nod to contest in the November 11 poll.
An Abuja Federal High Court had on October 9 disqualified Sylva from the contest following a suit by a member of the APC in the state, Demesuoyefa Kolomo.
Kolomo in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/821/2023, had asked the court to determine whether Sylva was qualified to contest in the election, having occupied the office of governor of Bayelsa from May 29, 2007, to April 15, 2008, and May 27, 2008 to Jan. 27, 2012.
Ruling, Justice Donatus Okorowo held that allowing Sylva to contest again would breach the provisions of the 1999 constitution, having been sworn in twice and ruled for five years as a governor of the state.
The judge also said Sylva would spend more than eight years in office if allowed to participate in the election and eventually win.
Citing the case of Marwa vs Nyako at the Supreme Court, Okorowo noted that the drafters of the country’s constitution stated that nobody should be voted for as governor more than twice.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, Sylva appealed and asked the court to set aside the judgment by the lower court.
In a unanimous decision by a three-man panel on Tuesday, the court held that the litigant who initiated the suit that led to Sylva’s disqualification lacked the locus standi to do so.
The court, however, set aside the judgment of the high court and awarded a cost of N1 million against the respondent, Kolomo.
Sylva storms APC national secretariat, confident of victory
Consequently, Sylva said on Tuesday that he was back in the race to win the election.
The former Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, stated this during a visit to the party’s national secretariat after his victory at the Appeal Court.
He said he challenged the nomination of former governor Seriake Dickson after the PDP primaries that produced him (Dickson) in a court but was told by the Judges that he had no business challenging the outcome of the primaries because he was not part of it.
He wondered why the same scenario played out in his nomination as the APC candidate for the forthcoming polls and the court granted the prayer of someone who was not a party to the primaries and had no stake.
“I thank God our judiciary has done the right thing. I have never doubted the capability of the court. That was why I didn’t give up when the court of first instance gave the judgment which the Appeal Court has today upturned. Now that I have recovered my ticket, I am sure of victory because Bayelsans are yearning for me and here I am to free them from the bondage.”
The one-time governor of Bayelsa state accused the PDP of sponsoring some renegades who claim to be members of the APC to cause confusion in the party because they are afraid.
“Even the Judges wondered how a member of a political party would go to court to stop his party from fielding a candidate in an election. The person who took me to court is not a member of our party, that’s certain. He wasn’t a party in the primaries, he did not ask the court to give him the ticket of the APC. His prayer was that APC and I should be disqualified, that APC should not have a candidate. All that played out was Esau’s hand, Jacob’s voice but we have overcome and victory is ours.”
Diri tasks security agencies on peaceful poll
However, the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has restated the need for security agencies to ensure that the conduct of the November 11 governorship election in the state was peaceful and credible.
Diri stated this on Tuesday when he received the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, the Commander, Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe, Rear Admiral E. O Ferreira, and other senior military officers in Government House, Yenagoa.
He urged the military officers not to allow anybody or group of persons to engage in acts capable of undermining the electoral process.
A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, quoted the governor as saying that the government will support the security agencies to prevent violence and ensure a peaceful election.
He said, “Bayelsa is a flashpoint. So you have to do everything within your powers to ensure that we do not give room to those allegedly sewing military uniforms and plotting to impersonate military officers to undermine the election. As a government we will give you every support to ensure that we do not lose one life.”
Diri, who also stressed the need to strengthen the country’s democracy, noted that all institutions, particularly the military, must collectively work to build viable democratic institutions.
“There are institutions that make democracy tick and one of them is the military. Listening to you, we have hope that the military will be up to its task to make democracy stronger and much better in the coming years,” he said.
He also admonished the political class not to take democracy and the people for granted, but to see themselves as having a duty to serve the interest of the people and not as masters.
“Whatever position we find ourselves in this democratic experiment, we must see ourselves as those who came to serve and not to be the masters.
“Since we assumed office, we have been preaching peace. So this election means so much to us and we will need the security agencies to be on top of their game,” he added.
Earlier, General Musa gave assurance that the off-cycle governorship elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo States would be peaceful and credible in line with the directive of President Bola Tinubu.
Musa said he and his team were in the state to assess the security situation and to ensure that Bayelsa was secure and protected ahead of the November 11 election.
He warned anyone planning to perpetrate violence to steer clear of the elections in the three states and cautioned security agencies against acts that would compromise the polls.
Also, he said security agencies have the president’s directive to bring to an end acts of criminality, including sea piracy, illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism to ensure that oil production output increases to boost the national economy.
“I have come with a very powerful team. We want to ensure that the state is fully secured and well protected so that Bayelsa will continue to develop. As Bayelsa develops, l am sure the rest of the South-South will develop and Nigeria too.
“Last week, we held a meeting with the National Security Adviser, the INEC Chairman and other stakeholders on the need to conduct credible and peaceful elections. For us, that is a marching order.
“Within us, if anybody wants to sabotage the election, l want to assure that all security agencies are going to be very watchful of our conduct. If any of the security agencies stains the election, it is going to stain all of us and we are not going to allow that. Prior to the election, a number of steps will be taken to ensure that everywhere is calm and everybody is allowed to come out and vote. The era where people will use violence to intimidate voters and snatch ballot boxes is gone.
“We want to warn those who think it is their birthright to perpetrate violence during elections that henceforth it is not going to be business as usual. Any member of the armed forces caught compromising the election risks a court-martial,” General Musa warned.
