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ADC: After failed bribery, they’re now intimidating us, Nwosu cries out!
The Federal Government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are certainly not relenting in their attempts to scuttle coalition of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), going by the testimony of Ralph Nwosu, erstwhile National Chairman of the party.
Nwosu, who had earlier claimed that the government tried to bribe him to halt the use of the political platform for the coming together of the influential politicians under the coalition arrangement, dug in on Wednesday with his story, saying he was already compiling data of those who have embarked on the mission.
A guest of Prime Time, a public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS, television network, Nwosu, informed that the failure to get their way had forced the government to become desperate and now on the mission of using the instrumentality of government institutions to accomplish the same goal.
He however vowed that no offer or inducement from the Tinubu administration would deter the party from opposing efforts to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, stressing that the government was now bribing former officials of the party to go to court against the coalition.
Hear him: “As a matter of fact, what I did at our NEC meeting was to send a signal so that the presidency and our people pretending Democrats who are on the other side, to be careful. Because they are ruining our system and we have struggled for that.
“I sent the last signal to them and so on… What I’ve said wouldn’t be new to any national party chairman, as I speak to you today… I just deliberately sent that signal. And if they don’t stay off, we are compelling them. I have a call and I have meetings and not only here in Nigeria. A couple of days,” he said, adding when pressed, “No, I will not.”
Pushing back against the denial of the government to his narrative, with Daniel Bwala, Tinubu’s spokesman, daring him to name names, Nwosu insisted that government-backed figures were working against ADC from within.
He added: “Boala, I wish you would come out and say why Elias, Godwin and Mohammed, they are doing in big hotels, being protected by government, the people paid police. They are still carrying the cards of ADC. But the government has used them to scuttle the things we’re doing.
“They have used them to go to court to say that they don’t agree with the things we’re doing. Therefore, it should be stopped. And they are being protected. We have pictures and we know where they are.
“They are now riding on SUV vehicles and they’re staying in luxurious hotels. We cannot afford that. Even me, you know, who until yesterday officially was the chairman, I can’t afford that.
“None. Because the Nigerian courts have said, come, politicians, go and sort out your problem,” he said, when asked how much of a threat these developments posed to the new ADC coalition.
“And that is why we have audaciously, and we will continue that process, to audaciously oppose anything that will make Nigeria to become a one party system under APC. It happened in Lagos, it cannot happen nationally,” he stated firmly.
Expressing his disappointment that rather than competing fairly, the ruling APC was bent derailing the coalition, Nwosu, who said that he was now a floor member of the ADC, stated: “There are people in APC who feel that if we offer this, and they feel it’s too small, we just up it… But this time they failed.”
Highlighting the party’s growing influence, he described how Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), has just requested an attrition 2.5million party cards for intending members in the North East part of the country.
“Babachir Lawal called me that they want 2.5 million membership cards for only the Northeast. Before, about two weeks ago, they bought only 500. Online membership registration has surged so rapidly that the ADC’s system had to be moved to a foreign server. Our website has moved into the Amazon… it crashed two times, and we had to move it into one of the sophisticated foreign warehouses.”
He also spoke on the refusal of some members of the party, kicking against the assemblage, particularly Dumebi Kachikwu, its presidential candidate in 2023, saying while others who were initially in his camp and were subsequently expelled had been recalled his sins were too heavy to be forgiven.
His words: “We had ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution), which our NEC organised, and we recalled those people. And in our NEC yesterday, we pardoned them of everything. But Dumebi Kachikwu… we said for him, we don’t want him anymore.
“He has been the number one agent that is collecting resources from anywhere and funding the process to derail what we are doing as far as consolidating our coalition is concerned. One of the biggest calls that the coalition has made, choosing someone like David Mark and Governor Aregbesola, critical. We’re just praying that everything will continue going well… all the ideas that the new leadership has will work out well moving on.”
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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