APC says N11trn went missing during Goodluck Jonathan’s administration

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that about N11.02 trillion was embezzled during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The APC said further that President Muhammadu Buhari would need to recover the funds if he was to bring forth the change promised during his campaign.

This was disclosed via a statement released by National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed on Sunday, August 16, 2015.

It reads in part:

“Some instances of the looting are as follows: N3.8tn out of the N8.1tn earned from crude oil (2012-2015) withheld by NNPC; $2.1bn (N413.7bn) from Excess Crude Account unaccounted for; Department of Petroleum Resources’ unremitted N109.7bn royalty from oil firms.”

“Others are: $6bn (1.2tn) allegedly looted by some ministers of the last administration; 160 million barrels of crude worth $13.9bn (N2.74tn) lost between 2009 and 2012; $15m (N2.96bn) from the botched arms deal yet to be returned to Nigeria; $13bn (N2.56tn) in NLNG dividends mostly unaccounted for; N30bn rice waiver; and N183bn unaccounted for at the NDDC.”

APC Warns Opinion Leaders - Don’t Truncate The Fight Against Corruption

Press statement from the APC below...

The All Progressives Congress has warned against any attempt to truncate the ongoing fight against corruption under any guise, while also expressing total support for President Buhari’s determination to end the scourge of corruption in the country. In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party appealed to all Nigerians, especially opinion leaders, to ensure that their actions and utterances do not give comfort to those who have looted the commonwealth.

Top Rivers APC Members Tear Gassed At INEC HQ In Abuja (Photos)

Top members of APC Rivers state chapter led the party's governorship candidate in the April 11th governorship election, Dakuku Peterside, were tear-gassed at INEC headquarters in Abuja yesterday where they'd staged a protest to demand the release of electoral materials used during the last election for inspection by the party. See more photos as you continue...

49 PDP Senators Declare Support For Buhari

The forty-nine ‎Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers in the senate have declared their support for President Muhammadu Buhari. Speaking at a press conference at the national assembly complex in Abuja on Thursday, Godswill Akpabio, minority whip, joined 48 of his PDP colleagues to express their determination to support the president.

 However, they lamented that PDP members were being targeted in the anti-corruption crusade of the federal government.

 “The PDP senate caucus reiterates its support to M‎r President Muhammadu Buhari and his quest to bring about a greater Nigeria,” Akpabio said.

 “The PDP senate caucus, despite its formidable strength, has resolved to offer only credible opposition that would lead to the building of a better Nigeria. 

The caucus will give him all the needed support support to ensure his success as president.” 

“But the PDP senate caucus notes the crusade against corruption undertaken by the APC-led federal government and hereby declares her support to rid Nigeria of corruption.

 The caucus is not happy with the current trend that seems to suggest that the war against corruption is selective and targeted at PDP stalwarts and states.

 “The current war lacks transparency, fairness to all and appears to be aimed at political adversaries. It is on this ground that we condemn in particular what is happening in Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Abia states where election umpires are daily arrested, their families and associates hounded, and judicial officers involved in election tribunals intimidated and questioned using trumped up petitions bordering on corruption. 

“Yet, these officials were part of the 2015 elections that produced President Buhari, an election adjudged to be generally free and fair by the international community.” 

Akpabio also alleged that the Department of State Service (DSS) was being used to wreak havoc on PDP-controlled states.

 ‎”The PDP senate caucus is worried, alarmed and shocked by the recent development in our polity where the DSS is now involved in electoral matters,” he said.

 “A situation where officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers state, Akwa Ibom and Abia states (all PDP states) are daily being arrested, detained and questioned on politically motivated corruption allegations is worrisome and spells doom for our democracy unless the trend is reversed. 

“Reports reaching the caucus has it that INEC officials are being forced by the DSS to produce falsified documents to support APC candidates cases before the tribunals.

 “This is abominable and unacceptable. Mr President and all well-meaning Nigerians must intervene to preserve the independence of the tribunals and that of INEC.‎”

 While reiterating the pledge of the PDP to provide constructive opposition to the APC government, Akpabio urged the president to treat all Nigerians equally.


Thecable

Dickson,Alamieyeseigha Ordered Out of Jonathan's Meeting With PDP Board of Trustees

Bayelsa state governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, and former governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha were on Sunday ordered out a meeting former President Goodluck Jonathan held with members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) o Sunday held an emergency meeting at the country home of former President Goodluck Jonathan in Otuoke, Bayelsa State, it wades into the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party.

At the meeting, both the state governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, and former governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, were ordered out of the venue by the party leadership.

At the meeting which looked into the recommendations of the National Peace Committee for the state, the acting Chairman of the party’s BoT, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, called on all feuding members and stakeholders of the party in the state to close ranks, while also upturning the decision of the state chapter of the party to expel some prominent members from the party.

President Jonathan was said to been scandalised by the action of the party at the state level, adding that the party cannot afford a major crisis less than five months to the governorship election.

At the meeting which was held at the Jonathan country home amid tight security, some uninvited prominent persons, including those who had already defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), were walked out of the venue.

APC to PDP: Produce APC membership card of DG of DSS or keep quiet!

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has insisted that the DG of DSS, Mr. Lawal Daura, is not a card-carrying member of the party, saying nothing short of producing Mr. Daura’s membership card or evidence of his membership registration will convince discerning Nigerians that he is indeed a member of the APC as alleged by the PDP.

"While it amounts to rabble-rousing and crass politicking for the PDP to have wrongly accused Mr. Daura of being a member of the APC without a scintilla of credible evidence, the PDP has weakened its argument by using the pictures in which Mr. Daura appeared with the President and the fact that he served in an election committee as evidence of his membership of the APC,” the party said in a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

”Possession of an APC membership card by Mr. Daura or evidence of registration as a party member at his ward, local government or state will be the only conclusive evidence of his membership of the party,” it said. ”Until such an evidence is produced, we are sorry we have to tell the PDP to shut up!” APC said the PDP is jittery because it is keenly aware of the kind of impunity perpetrated under the federal government it sired from 1999 to 2015.

”PDP has forgotten the saying that he who must come to equity must come with clean hands. When Mr. Mike Okiro chaired the security committee of the PDP campaign in 2011, did that prevent him from being appointed the Chair of the Police Service Commission, which is responsible for issues concerning the welfare, promotion and discipline of all police personnel, in 2013?

”When the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, was appointed into the Jonathan election committee in 2015, did he resign his appointment as head of the agency or did he automatically become a card-carrying member of the PDP?

”Did retired Col. Kayode Are not become the DG of the DSS despite being a close confidante of Gen. Obasanjo during his electioneering campaign to become President? Was this not under a PDP Federal Government? ”In any case, even in the world’s most advance democracy, United States, was a card-carrying Democrat, Mr. Leon Panetta, not named as head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by President Barack Obama in 2009?

Here in Nigeria, the APC-led FG has not even gone that far, and the PDP is blabbing. ”It is an irony that the APC-led Federal Government, which has continued to conduct the affairs of state with a strict adherence to the law, is the one being accused by the immoral, irresponsible and grossly hypocritical PDP. A party that should cover its face in shame for wasting all of 16 years in the life of our country, a party whose members should show penance by hunkering down has continued to assault the sensibilities of a decent nation. What a shame,” APC said.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary

Photos: Evidence that DSS DG is an APC member - PDP Update

This is an evidence from PDP to show that the current DSS is an APC member. More photos below...

22 APC Northern senators Working Against Buhari

TWENTY-TWO Northern senators elected on the All Progressives Party (APC) platform have been identified as “teaming up with the opposition to work against President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling party”.

The senators allegedly teamed up with 46 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators in the Red Chamber to pass a confidence vote in the leadership of the Senate under Dr. Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu, a PDP senator.

Thirty-five APC senators were among the 81 who purportedly endorsed the vote of confidence in the principal officers of the Senate.

The Nation learnt yesterday that 22 of them are from the North, according to the list attached to the motion moved on the floor of the Senate by Senator Samuel Anyanwu.

The 22 senators are: Anyanwu, who promoted the Motion; Abdul A.M. Nyako;Isah Hamma Misau; Kabiru Gaya; Adamu Aliero; Abdullahi Adamu; David Umaru; Ahmed Rufa’I Sani; Tijjani Yahaya Kaura; Ahmadu Abubakar and Malam A. Wakili.

Others are: Abubakar Kyari; Sabo Mohammed; Dino Melaye; Abdulrahman Abubakar; Binta Masi Garba; Mohammed Goje; Muhammad U. Shitu; Salihu H. Egye and Aliyu S. Abdullahi.

The senators have been accused of working against the party on which platform they were got elected into the National Assembly.

The leadership of the Senate has been working against the position of the ruling party since inception.

It disregarded the APC’s advice that those who were shut out on May 29 be accommodated as principal officers for peace to reign.

As against legislative practice that only ranking members should be appointed as principal officers, two new senators – Godswill Akpabio and Abiodun Olujimi were named by Senate President as Minority Leader and Deputy Chief Whip on Tuesday.

An APC senator, Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara Central), who raised a point of order, was ruled out of order by Saraki, who said the senator was crying more than the bereaved. House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara bowed to the wish of the party by naming those recommended by the party as principal officers when the Green Chamber reconvened on Tuesday.

Thenation

DSS DG not our card-carrying member - APC

APC has denied the allegation by the PDP that the Director-General of the DSS, Mr. Lawal Daura, is a card-carrying member of the APC.

The ruling party called the accusation "absurd and frivolous", while it also challenged the PDP to publish any evidence it may have to back up the allegation.

APC issued a staement in Lagos on thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. Read press statement from APC below: 

 "After all, it is trite that he who alleges must prove. In the absence of that, the PDP must call another press conference to publicly apologise to all Nigerians for engaging in barefaced lies.”

The party expressed shock that the PDP had "started exhibiting all the symptoms of hallucination so soon after its gravy train derailed."

According to Muhammed, "We know that the psyche of the PDP has been badly affected by its loss of power at the centre. Even the party itself has admitted that much. That situation has now been compounded by the fact that the party is broke. It is therefore not a surprise that it is no longer able to think straight. The reality of its new situation is just beginning to dawn on it.

"But we warned the PDP early on that being in opposition is not a walk in the park. We warned that while the party was used to eating its bread with butter on both sides, it will now be lucky to even have bread to it."

The party also warned the PDP to spend more time in "patching its tattered and battered umbrella than acting as a cog in the wheel of progress of the new administration."

PDP: Buhari embarrassed Nigeria in America

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari embarrassed Nigeria by his actions and utterances during his recent four-day state visit to the United States of America.

The spokesperson of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, who addressed a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, said Mr. Buhari’s visit has been anything but successful.

Mr. Metuh said the PDP restrained itself from embarrassing the President by not raising, while he was in the U.S., issues of “harassment of citizens, interferences in the activities of the National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), total disregard for tenets of democracy, resort to sole administratorship as well as other violations which have become the order of the day in Nigeria since the inauguration of his administration”.

He said the PDP remained calm, while hoping and praying that the visit would afford Mr. Buhari and his party leaders reasonable “tutorials” on the respect and application of the tenets of democracy and fundamental rights of citizens under the rule of law.

Mr. Metuh said the PDP and all Nigerians looked forward to gains in terms of policies by the Federal Government aimed at stamping out corruption, ending insurgency and promoting economic growth, which formed parts of the publicised agenda for the visit.

“However, now that the visit has come and gone, our fear is that nothing whatsoever has been learnt or gained. What we continue to receive as a nation have been embarrassing disagreements, accusations and counter accusations, blames and denials on very important issues due to lack of tact and skill in the management of state matters by the APC-led administration.

“It is disheartening that rather than secure any sort of tangible gain for the fight against terrorism, which has lost steam under the APC watch, with insurgents, who were pushed to the verge of surrender by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and spreading into the country, we get nothing but exchanges and disagreements between the Presidency and their American hosts.

” This is not only embarrassing but also worrisome indication of crass ineptitude in the handling of international affairs on the part of the present administration,” he said.

Premiumtimes

Goodluck Jonathan Should Apologise For Bad Governance - APC

The All Progressives Congress has called on former President Goodluck Jonathan to apologise to Nigerians for the kind of “bad governance and leadership” it administered on the country during the six years he spent in office. The party also called on the Peoples Democratic Party to eat the humble pie and apologise to the people for the way it mismanaged the country for the 16 years it ruled the country, saying their apologies would be the most honourable thing to do. A statement on Sunday by the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Ondo State, Omo’ba Adesanya, noted that instead of making excuses, the PDP should be remorseful and apologetic for plunging the country into the mess it found itself.

shafaqna

Police to Question Deputy Senate President Ekweremadu Over Alleged Forged Senate Rules on Monday, July 6, 2015.

The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase,on  Sunday summoned the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, over alleged forgery of the Senate Rules on election of its principal officers, PDP, said.

This was disclosed on July 5, by the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh during a press briefing.

Metuh stated that Ekweremadu’s invitation was part of a plot to arrest and detain him by the APC-led Federal Government.

Metuh said;

“We are aware that some APC senators opposed to the emergence of Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu as senate president and deputy senate president respectively met last week and concocted a petition, accusing the deputy senate president of altering the Senate Rules on the process of election of the presiding officers, upon which the police via a letter dated July 1, 2015 and signed by the Deputy Inspector General in charge of criminal investigation at the Force Headquarters has invited him to appear tomorrow (today), Monday, July 6, 2015 where he will be detained and put under pressure,” 

He also said that neither Ekweremadu nor any other Senator-elect, could have been involved in the process of producing the 2015 Standing Rules of the Senate.

“Senator Ekweremadu was not in any way involved in the process other than being nominated for the position of the deputy senate president and could not have been privy to the secret ballot procedure adopted by the National Assembly bureaucracy, which has been widely adjudged as transparent and credible,”Metuh added.

The National Publicity Secretary of the  the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement on Sunday, that it had nothing to do with the decision of the police to invite Ekweremadu.

  

APC says "PDP can never govern Lagos"

Publicity Secretary of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Joe Igbokwe

The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress says it is impossible for the Peoples Democratic Party to take control of the state.

The APC, therefore, said it was not surprised that the Lagos State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal struck out a petition filed by the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Mr. Jimi Agbaje.

Prior to the court ruling, the PDP had hoped to upturn the victory of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and had expressed the confidence that Agbaje would ‘recover his stolen mandate’.

Reacting to the court’s ruling, however, the APC said it was obvious from the outset that Ambode’s victory would be reaffirmed.

In a statement by its publicity secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, the ruling party said that the possibility of the PDP winning the governorship race was as impossible as “a goat giving birth to a lion”.

It said the tribunal’s verdict remains a huge testimony that the people of the state know their leaders and their leaders know them.

The statement read, “The PDP in Lagos had said they did everything to win Lagos, including setting one ethnic group against the other, dishing out millions of dollars and pound sterling, unleashing ethnic militias like the Oodua People’s Congress, deploying security agencies, SURE-P outlaws and others to harass and intimidate Lagosians to succumb and surrender Lagos to them.”

“Lagos PDP failed because there is no meeting point between light and darkness, no meeting point between the serious and the unserious, no meeting point between conservatives and progressives, and no meeting point between performers and underperformers.

“How can you move a car forward by engaging the reverse gear? How can you plant cassava and hope to harvest yam? Can a goat give birth to a lion?



“The truth is that Lagos has always been in the hands of progressives since it was created in 1967 and the strong and dynamic Lagos will continue to remain in the hands of the progressives for a long time to come. Progressives will continue to strive for greater heights in raising standards not only in Lagos but the whole of Nigeria.”

While congratulating Ambode, the APC urged the governor to improve on the performance of his predecessor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

Source PUNCH