Politics
Halt Tinubu, sack Keyamo to prove you’re serious about credible polls, PDP tells Buhari
Nothing short of the immediate arrest and prosecution of Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over alleged corruption and soiling his hands in drug business and the sacking of Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, will satisfy the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Only by doing so, would the government in power and its agencies would prove that President Muhammadu Buhari’s vow to enthrone a credible electoral process, was not an empty talk, Daniel Bwala, spokesman for the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PDP-PCC, maintained on Sunday, few days after the APC made a similar demand over former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar the candidate of the main opposition party.
Bwala, who said the demand was based on drug proceeds allegedly forfeited by Tinubu in the US and other corruption allegations against him, told reporters: “On the eve of the presidential elections in Lagos, two cash-laden bullion vans were seen on his premises located at 26 Bourdillon Street, Ikoyi which was ostensibly for vote buying.
“When journalists asked him about the bullion vans, Tinubu again responded by saying that it was his money and he was free to spend it whichever way he liked. Tinubu said: ‘Even if I have money to spend in my premises, what is your headache?’
“A group of forthright activists including Ariyo Dare-Atoye and Deji Adeyanju wrote a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on October 25, 2019, calling for the investigation and prosecution of Tinubu for breaching the Money Laundering Act after publicly admitting to sharing millions of naira on the eve of elections.
“In fairness to the EFCC, its current Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, while he was the head of the Lagos office of the EFCC, wrote a letter to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). In the letter marked CR/3000/EFCC/LS/Vol4/322, dated November 6, 2020, Bawa requested Tinubu’s asset declaration forms.
“Since Tinubu emerged as the presidential candidate of the APC, the EFCC has kept mum on the issue while Ariyo who wrote the petition has unfortunately died. We, hereby, call on the EFCC to provide an update on this matter. Besides, Tinubu had in 2011 been charged before the same Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over allegations that he illegally operated 10 foreign accounts during his term in office as Lagos state governor between 1999 and 2007 but was discharged based on a technicality.
“Danladi Umar, the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal admitted on March 24, 2016, in the case of FRN vs Bukola Saraki that he discharged Tinubu in error. ‘On the discharge of the former Lagos state governor by the tribunal some years ago simply because the CCB failed to fulfill the condition precedent, we have since realised that we acted in error in discharging Mr Tinubu on that ground and we have since departed from that error,’ Umar said.
“It is therefore important for both the CCB and the EFCC to revisit the case since Tinubu was never acquitted.”
Bwala added that Tinubu does not enjoy immunity while calling on the EFCC, NDLEA, police, attorney-general and Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest and prosecute him.
The party also called for the immediate sacking of Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, by President Muhammadu Buhari on the ground that the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is using his position as a minister to “intimidate” opposition candidates.
Referring to the suit filed against the Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC), by Keyamo, last Friday, Bwala, said such a move from his cabinet, was not consistent with the President’s vow consistently to ensure a free and fair electoral process.
Keyamo, who had vowed to ensure that Atiku paid fully for his alleged crimes, also joined the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Conduct of Conduct Bureau (CCB), to compel them to prosecute Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the PDP over corruption allegations.
But Bwala, who insisted that the move smacked of impunity and intimidation, said: “Keyamo is using the official privilege and powers of that office to intimidate the agencies of the government including going to court and filing a case against the agents of the same branch of government to which he belongs.
“This is happening at a time when the President told the world that he is going to deliver a free and fair election. We call on the president to sack the Minister of State for Labour and Employment forthwith for using an official position funded by taxpayers’ money to interfere with the conduct of free, fair, and credible elections.
“We also call on the President to read the riots act to agents of the government from interfering with this election. Any effort to intimidate opposition is an effort to interfere with the conduct of peaceful elections.”
A legal tussle is in the offing to determine the fate of the June 20 by-election to fill the vacancy in the Enugu North senatorial district at the National Assembly, following the decision of the Labour Party (LP) to challenge the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to exclude it from participating.
INEC had approved the participation of only three political parties for the exercise to fill the vacant seat left by Okey Ezea, who died last year, to the exclusion of scores of others including the LP under whose platform the former Senator won the seat in 2023.
Ken Asogwa, spokesman of the party, who gave the update on the next line of action, said LP had already approached the Federal High Court, Abuja, to challenge the decision on the ground of wrongful exclusion, saying that the party was deeply disturbed over INEC’s action, especially the reason it gave for it.
Asogwa, who conveyed the decision through a statement on Monday, wondered how its candidate would made to pay for the ineptitude of INEC itself, which failed to carry out its constitutional responsibility.
Stressing that the party complied with all statutory requirements and procedural guidelines, but was still denied access to upload the particulars of its candidate on INEC’s nomination portal, the statement, added: “Up until the close of the submission window on June 2, the party made several efforts, including formal protests and correspondences to the commission, seeking the resolution of the issue, but these efforts yielded no positive result
“The party fulfilled every legal and administrative obligation required under the Electoral Act and INEC’s extant regulations in the nomination of its candidate. Labour Party finds it difficult to understand the basis upon which it had been excluded from an election in which it had a legitimate and undeniable stake.
“It is both disturbing and deeply concerning that the head of Elections and Party Monitoring (EPM) in Enugu State reportedly justified his refusal to transmit the report of the Labour Party’s primary election on the ground that he was out of town on the day the exercise was conducted.
“This excuse is untenable and raises serious questions about the discharge of official responsibilities. Labour Party cannot be made to suffer the consequences of an official’s absence, negligence, incompetence or dereliction of duty.
“Electoral processes and the constitutional rights of political parties cannot be subjected to the convenience or personal circumstances of individual officers. If the officer was unavailable, it is incumbent upon him or INEC in Enugu to ensure that appropriate arrangements were made for the monitoring and reporting of the exercise.
“INEC should not be penalising a political party that duly complied with all statutory requirements. The Electoral Act only requires political parties to duly notify INEC of their primaries. The party complied fully with this statutory requirement. The legality and validity of the exercise cannot be vitiated by INEC’s absence, as neither the Electoral Act nor the commission’s regulation made its physical presence a mandatory condition for the conduct of a party primary election.”
Expressing confidence in Joash Amupitan, INEC Chairman to do the right thing, he however called on the commission investigate the actions taken by its staff members in Enugu and take decisive action against anyone found culpable.
His words: “Electoral institutions derive their legitimacy from public trust and every effort must be made to protect the integrity of the electoral process. It would amount to a grave injustice for Labour Party to be denied the opportunity of presenting a candidate in an election convened to fill a vacancy created by the death of one of its serving senators.
“Such an outcome would not only undermine the rights of the party and its supporters but it tends to diminish the democratic choices available to the people of Enugu North senatorial district in the coming by-election.
“As the party places its confidence in the impartiality and wisdom of the Nigerian judiciary, it urges all its members and supporters in Enugu North and across the country to remain calm while the matter is being determined by the courts.”
A conciliatory Atiku Abubakar, in magnanimity with victory, extended the olive branch to Rotimi Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, the pair he defeated on Wednesday night to clinch the ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for next year’s presidential election.
He appealed to both men never to abandon the party ahead of the election, scheduled for January 2027, but to close ranks to ensure victory for both party, Nigeria as a country and the people currently under the bondage of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Extending the olive branch shortly after being handed the party flag, officially declaring him as the candidate, he said: “I therefore appeal to all those who feel aggrieved to come back to our party and close ranks with the rest of us. In particular, I invite Chief Rotimi Anechi and Alhaji Muhammad Hayatu-Deen to join me in this fight to save our democracy and our country.
“As I said previously, there are no winners and no losers. Our people look up to us for leadership and I am ready to lead,” he said.
He added that he would work with other aspirants and stakeholders to build the party ahead of the general election.
“I shall work with you all to continue to build our party. I will campaign with you and if Nigeria’s leaders demand it, govern with you to build a country that works for all of us.”
The appeal is coming hours after both Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State and former Minister of Transportation and Hayatu-Deen, former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), rejected the result, even before it was announced, citing what they described as manipulation of the voting process, with Hayatu-Deen saying he would not attend the announcement of the result.
Regardless, Atiku, Nigeria’s former Vice President between 1999 and 2007, said he truly humbled and excited to lead the party into the next elections, adding that he was particularly excited by the party’s demonstration of internal democracy despite the position of naysayers.
Hear him: “I must state at this juncture that this is not the time to celebrate. No one was defeated because we are one party and we all need to recognise the fierce urgency of the moment.
“Therefore, we have to unite, as we pledged before this process, to work to pull our country and our people out of the destructive grip of a corrupt, incompetent and polarising APC government.
“I thank the primary elections Committee for organising peaceful, free, fair and transparent primaries. I thank the various leadership organs of our party, the various stakeholders, and volunteers for their hard work and dedication and all our party members and supporters for their efforts, patience and conduct during the process.
“With the primaries behind us, the real hard work is about to begin. We have to prepare to campaign hard to win the next general elections in order to begin the difficult process of rescuing our country and its long-suffering people from this government.”
“I will not be attending the announcement of the ADC Presidential Election Results today. I am concerned by reports from across the country of widespread vote rigging, some of which I myself observed, and will therefore be taking advice on my next steps.”
These were the exact words of Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, one of the presidential aspirants of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), with which he cast a slur on the ongoing presidential primaries of the party, hinging his position on reports of fraud trailing the exercise.
Hayatu-Deen, a second timer in the search for the nation’s number one job, ran against Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former Vice President and Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation.
In a statement on his assessment of the exercise which began on Monday, the renowned economist Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), used his X platform to convey his dissatisfaction with the process.
The ADC which said the collation for the exercise would take place in Abuja had urged aspirants, party leaders, delegates, and members to conduct themselves peacefully and uphold party unity.
Bolaji Abdullahi, its spokesman, who described the exercise as a defining moment for both the ADC and Nigerians seeking a credible political alternative, maintained that it remained committed to internal democracy and a transparent leadership selection process.
“The ADC remains proud to stand today as the only truly democratic party in Nigeria because it is the only political party whose choice of presidential candidate is determined through open primaries,” he said adding that the conduct of aspirants and party members during the exercise would reflect the leadership culture the ADC seeks to promote.
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