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With Obi effect over, LP will kiss the dust in Abia on March 18 – PDP *Says, Ahaiwe’s victory assured
Without Peter Obi its alter ego on the ballot this time around, Labour Party (LP), will witness a resounding defeat it never contemplated on March 11 when voters would file out to elect candidates for the governorship and state House of Assembly election.
This was the contention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, which is already looking beyond the polls to return to power in the state it has been in charge since 1999, adding that the coming election would prove to the whole world that neither the LP nor any other party held any challenge to its popularity in the state.
The ruling party, in a statement signed by Michael Nwabueze, for its PDP Governorship Campaign Council (PDP-GCC), said that Abia people were already aware that Peter Obi who made a majority of them vote for LP on the 25th of February would not be on the ballot next Saturday and would troop out to do what they had done in the last 24 years – return the party they had trusted.
It was also a day the ruling party riled against the allegation by the LP that it (PDP) had concluded plans to violently rig the March 18th governorship election, stressing that the reverse was not only the case, but that the cry was an indication of the plot the opposition party and their candidates was cooking up.
“Our attention has been drawn to a purported petition by the desperate gang of former APC members that have hijacked the Labour Party in Abia State titled: Threat by the PDP led Government in Abia State to violently rig the proposed March 18th Governorship Election in Abia State and we wish to state that it is another act of desperation by deceptive scare mongers doomed for electoral defeat.
“In the good old days, a thief will run even when nobody is pursuing him. Obviously members of the Labour Party In Abia are still living in that era, hence running even when nobody is pursuing them. They are frequently raising false alarms against others while plotting exactly the same thing.
“This has always been the character and tactics of the desperate serial losers that have currently taken over the Labour Party platform in Abia State after failing miserably, sojourning in the APC and APGA,” the statement, said, adding that it was in possession of information that the some members of the Abia LP rose from a meeting in Asokoro, Abuja, where they plotted and apportioned roles on how to rig the Abia governorship election, which included releasing a false red flag statement to the effect that the PDP and APC were planning to do exactly what they agreed in their meeting.
It also accused the party of having concluded plans to use thugs, rogue security agents and INEC officials to rig the elections, adding that it was also in possession of the details of the LP Asokoro meeting and the follow-up meeting in Okagwe Ohafia and Umuru Umuehim Nvosi Isiala Ngwa South, but had decided to ignore the plot and focus on the task of winning the election.
Alleging that LP agents working in cohorts with sundry security and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) hid behind the expected “Obi wave” in the Presidential and National Assembly polls to write election results in Umuahia North, Ohafia, Arochukwu, Aba South, Aba North and Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Areas, among others, the party, said: “Indeed they were the major beneficiaries of the criminally shambolic performance of Abia INEC officials in that election that local and international observers have disclaimed. Let it be known that we are aware of multiple rigging plots by Labour Party operatives including recruitment of militants, thugs and sundry characters from neighbouring states and have long alerted security agents to their plot and antics.
“Obviously it is only a tree that will know you want to cut it down and still stand there to wait for you. Members of Abia PDP are not trees. Conscious of the fact that any free and fair election in our state will inevitably lead to the expected landslide victory of the biggest party, by hundreds of kilometres in the state, we wish to call on INEC and security agencies to ignore the rants of a party that knows it is impossible for it to win a free and fair election in the state and take all necessary measures to conduct a peaceful, free and fair election in the state as we are determined to resist any attempt to abridge the free choice of Abia voters.”
Boasting that no other candidate contesting in the 2023 governorship election in Abia enjoys the widespread love and acceptance across the state as its Governorship Candidate, Chief Okey Ahaiwe, the party, added: “We are equally proud of our entrenched democratic credentials and structure in the state, hence have no need to employ desperate measures to take what is rightly destined to come to us as a result of our great service to Ndi Abia.”
Seriake Dickson, National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), on Wednesday showcased Peter Obi, its presidential candidate in the 2027 election, but gave a proviso – his importance would not be at the expense of the party.
A guest on Prime Time, a public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS Television, the former Governor of Bayelsa State, now Senator representing West at the National Assembly, maintained that the belief in some quarters that Obi’s entrance into the party was a favour was completely misplaced.
Instead, he argued that the opposite was the case, as it was the party that was doing its candidates a favour by giving them the opportunity to contest elective positions on its platform in the 2027 elections, a gesture that ought to be returned.
Hear him: “Don’t make it look like anyone is doing NDC a favour. No one is. Rather, the NDC and I and my colleagues are doing people a favour by granting our platform. If you are genuinely supporting Peter Obi and you are disparaging me, the leader, or the platform itself. That is nonsensical.”
Stressing that NDC had demonstrated confidence in Obi by adopting Obi as its sole presidential candidate and selecting a vice-presidential candidate without internal disputes, he said it was enough to earn its leadership the gratitude it deserved.
He added: “Nobody paid shishi. So, if a presidential candidate didn’t pay shishi to be made the sole presidential candidate and sole vice-presidential candidate, that same party cannot be the one saying that small people are underprivileged.
“I could have run. There’s no one more qualified than me. There’s no one more qualified than me to run for presidential candidate. None. There is no crisis within the NDC. Peter Obi is a cherished member of our party. On our own, we have made him a presidential candidate. Sole presidential candidate. And that counts for something. We are working well together. There’s no crisis.”
Invoking its zero tolerance on issues of security breaches, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has clamped down on aircraft and crew of the privately operated jet that landed on a roadway in the Ogwashi-Uku area near Asaba, Delta state.
Even with regulatory body for airline operations in Nigeria informed that no casualties were recorded in the incident, it still went for its sanctions in line with its sworn position of maintaining maximum safety at every point.
In a statement on Wednesday, Michael Achimugu, its spokesman said preliminary reports indicated that the aircraft conducted a missed approach while attempting to land at Asaba airport at about 7:43am.
Achimugu: Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, said: “Reports received from personnel at the scene indicate that all occupants safely exited the aircraft and were transported to Asaba by road,” Achimugu said. The aircraft had four (4) crew members on board. At this time, no injuries to passengers or crew have been reported.
“Preliminary information available to the authority indicated that the aircraft later departed the location and returned to Lagos without obtaining the required regulatory approval. Air traffic control was informed only after the aircraft had become airborne.”
Stressing that the action constitutes a violation of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) and is currently under investigation by the authority, he said the NCAA immediately grounded the aircraft upon its arrival in Lagos pending the outcome of investigations.
He added: “The flight crew have been placed under regulatory review while the NCAA conducts further inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the occurrence and the subsequent unauthorised departure of the aircraft.
“The NCAA has formally notified the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) of the occurrence and is coordinating with relevant aviation stakeholders, including the operator and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.”
Stating that the NCAA immediately suspended the operator’s permit for non-commercial flight (PNCF), he added that the authority would review all operational, airworthiness, maintenance and flight-related records as part of its statutory responsibilities and take further enforcement action in accordance with applicable aviation regulations.
Achimugu said the NCAA remains committed to maintaining the highest standards of aviation safety, security, and regulatory compliance within the Nigerian aviation sector.
Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), on Wednesday, swore to the integrity of the process that led to his picking the party’s ticket, saying it remained untainted and consistent with the wills of the members.
Against the backdrop of the insistence of Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), that he stole the ticket by corrupting the process, Atiku, Vice President between 1999 and 2007, pooh-poohed the claim.
Before the former SGF Rotimi Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State and Minister of Transportation as well as Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, former Chairman of Nigeria Economic Summit Group, both candidates in the contest for the ADC ticket, had rejected the process as flawed, even before the outcome.
Lawal, who had earlier announced his resignation from the ADC a fortnight ago and made sundry allegations of gaming the system against Atiku, had doubled down on Monday, while appearing on Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television, claiming he personally monitored the exercise and had evidence that the primary was rigged.
Hear him: “Don’t forget I was the National Vice Chairman (North-East). I was in the field during the exercise, so I have evidence. Atiku’s people are the ones trying to deny what they did. We are all human beings. We know what they did. I knew the primary was rigged at the point it was being done and the results declared.”
Regardless that neither Amaechi nor Hayatu-Deen had recanted their original position Atiku, insisted that nothing was amiss, adding that his opponents actually won in the areas of their individual popularity and stronghold.
Conveying his position through Phrank Shaibu, his spokesman, who appeared as a guest on Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television, the former VP said: “Anybody who claims rigging or irregularity in the last election should check the places and locations they won. Where are the states that Rotimi Amaechi won? If you check the figures and the margins he got there, you will know that those are his strongholds. It was not a fraudulent process.
Maintaining that the burden of proving any fraud rested on the former SGF Shaibu, Shaibu depicted his boss as the most popular among the contestants, arguing that the outcome of the event should not be surprising to anybody.
He said of the ex-SGF: “Babachir reminds me of a baby who is yanked off her mother’s breast while suckling. It is like a deprived suckling; definitely the baby will throw tantrums. He admitted on your show that his preferred candidate was Hayatu-Deen. He worked for him.”
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