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2019: Nigerians may stone us if we present Buhari – APC group 

 

Some members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) from the 17 southern states of the country, said fielding President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 Presidential poll will incur them the wrath of Nigerians and cost the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) the election.
The group, which spoke at the weekend under the auspices of Southern Mandate of Nigeria (SMN), said Nigerians may stone APC members at campaign grounds, if Buhari is presented as their candidate.
National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Francis Ikonomwan, in a statement made available to journalists in Benin, Edo State, described the call by members of Buhari Support Group on the President to contest the 2019 election as “political sycophancy.”
He described members of the Buhari Support Group as a “bunch of people who do not mean well for the APC and Nigerians at large, but rather, their selfish interests.”
Ikonomwan noted that President Buhari has failed to deliver on his campaign promises and so Nigerians can no longer entrust him with the leadership of the country. He urged the President to ignore calls to re-contest the 2019 election, adding that it is not in the interest of the nation.
“We are saddened that, these people are not sensitive to the plight of Nigerians. The fact remains that Nigerians are not happy with President Muhammadu Buhari and our party, the APC.
“President Muhammadu Buhari, has not been able to deliver on his campaign promises. What has this administration to campaign with in every sector of the economy or is it the fight against corruption that has been swept under the carpet?
“Even the political leaders and people who fought for his emergence as President today have been abandoned and all lamenting.
“There is a total disconnect between the people and the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. Poverty and hunger is now the order of the day in Nigeria as we speak. It is getting obvious by day that Nigerians can no longer trust President Muhammadu Buhari with the leadership of this country.
“If APC fields Muhammadu Buhari as its presidential candidate in 2019, we are afraid that Nigerians may stone us at campaign grounds. We may just end up giving the opposition party the presidency in 2019 on a platter of gold.
“President Muhammadu Buhari’s priority now should be how to use the remaining part of his administration to deliver on our campaign promises and do the needful by not indicating interest to contest in 2019,” the statement said.


…as Oba Abu, ex-minister’s supporters clash

By Mumini Abdulkareem

Supporters of former chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Prof. Shuaib Oba Abdulraheem and that of the former minister of National Planning, Prof. Abubakar Suleiman clashed over election of delegates for the ward congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State.
The incidence occurred at Ajikobi, Okekere area of Ilorin West Local Government Area of the state.
The panel from the national headquarters of the party led by former minister of Transport, Senator Abiye Sekibo, appealed to the two leaders of the party who were physically present at the venue, to calm their supporters who engaged in a shouting match.
It took several minutes before normalcy was restored at the venue by the national officers.
It was gathered that Suleiman had refused all the overtures to have a consensus candidates preferring to go for election but was reportedly overwhelmed by the supporters of Prof Oba.
Supporters of Oba accused the former minister of planning to hijack the structure of the party at the ward level despite lacking popularity.
All efforts to speak with both leaders, last night, proved abortive as several calls and text messages to their mobile phones were neither answered nor replied as at the time of filing this report.
Speaking with newsmen after the monitoring exercise, the state Caretaker Committee Chairman, Chief Tunde Akindehin said the ward congress was generally peaceful adding that panels are already in place to look at complaints from members.
“The ward congresses will lead to the local government congress and that of the state congress. We went to few places with the panel sent from Abuja. In some wards, there were consensus and where they were unable to achieve that, they went for election.
“By the time we begin to collate the results, where there are flashes of disagreement, the committee will look into it.
“So far so good, the party members are happy because they have been looking forward to this exercise and at the end of it, I am convinced, we will have a winning PDP in Kwara State,” Akindehin added.
The full result of the exercise is still being expected as at the time the paper went to bed last night.

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