IMO BREAKING NEWS BLOG

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday declared his backing for aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress who opted to sue the party for being dissatisfied with its decisions.

The President said the courts remained the last option for the amicable resolution of disputes, hence he insisted that the party must allow the aggrieved members to fully explore their democratic and legal rights.

It is yet another sign of the deepening disagreements within the fold of the ruling party.

The APC has been battling post-primary election crises, amid fears that the development may rub on its chances at the 2019 polls.

The National Chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, in particular, has been pitted against some state governors, who are reported to be bent on removing him before the polls.

The party has also suffered a gale of defections across the states and the National Assembly, where there is now a real threat of losing the majority position in the House of Representatives.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, in a statement in Abuja on Monday, expressed Buhari’s backing for the decision of aggrieved members to approach the courts. The statement quoted Buhari as saying,“We can’t deliberately deny people of their rights.

“We agreed that party primaries should be conducted either through direct, indirect or consensus methods, and if anyone feels unjustly treated in the process, such a person can go to court.

“The court should always be the last resort for the dissatisfied . For the party to outlaw the court process is not acceptable to me.”

Buhari, who also cited the threat issued by the National Working Committee of the APC last week, said he did not agree with the position of the party’s leadership.

The NWC had warned,“ The party intends to activate constitutional provisions to penalise such members as their action is capable of undermining the party and hurt the party’ s interest.

“We hereby strongly advise such members to withdraw all court cases , while approaching the appropriate party organs with a view to resolving any outstanding disputes.

“In addition to this , aggrieved members are urged to take full advantage of the reconciliation committees the party has put in place .”

Former Chief of Staff to the Imo State governor, Uche Nwosu, has described the threat handed on aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to withdraw their Court actions or face sanctions by the National Working Committee of the party as an act of arm twisting and unacceptable.

The APC NWC had threatened to invoke sanctions on all members of the party who took the party to Court over the fall out of the just concluded primaries, unless they withdraw the suits. 

But Nwosu who is the winner of the October 6 APC governorship primary in Imo State, insisted that the threat of sanction will not stop him from pursuing his case to a logical conclusion and reclaiming his mandate.

He stated that before approaching the Court over his stolen mandate as the authentic APC governorship candidate in Imo state, he had first of all made concerted efforts to have the leadership of the party resolve the crisis using internal mechanism to no avail.

He disclosed that he had written several letters to the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole with the hope of bringing him to intervene and resolve the matter at the early stage but was rebuffed.

Nwosu recounted that when he discovered through credible intelligence that Ahmed Gulak was not coming to conduct governorship primary in Imo but was assigned to deliver a certain aspirant, he raised the alarm through a letter to the National Chairman but was painfully ignored.

According to him, “it is unfortunate that the National Chairman of our party is just waking up now after causing the trouble. He had all the time to have resolved the issue before now but refused to do so. In line with the constitution of the party, I had exhausted all avenues to have my matter resolved using internal mechanism but nobody came to my aid.

“I personally wrote three different letters to the National Chairman and I have the acknowledgment but he never responded to any of the letters. My first letter was to inform that Ahmed Gulak was not coming to conduct primary election in Imo, that he was coming to impose a certain aspirant but he snubbed me, the second was to complain about how Gulak absconded to Abuja to announce fake result still he didn’t respond and the last one was to tell him not to substitute my name as the winner of the governorship primary.

“All these letters were never considered by the National Chairman who went ahead to substitute my name, he had a lot of time to resolve the issue but he did nothing and now that I am in Court, I will pursue my matter to a logical conclusion and reclaim my stolen mandate, no amount of threat will make me abandon my mandate”.

Meanwhile in one of the letters made available to journalists, Nwosu had raised concern over the appointment of Ahmed Gulak as the Chairman of the APC Primary Election Committee for the State.

The said letter read in part, “I write to appeal to you Mr. Chairman to change the person of Gulak as Chairman of the committee because of his comment/boast that he is coming to Imo state to deliver his friend Senator Hope Uzodinma as APC gubernatorial candidate”.

Nwosu argued further that the letters were abundant evidence that he had followed due process in seeking redress before approaching the Court “as the last hope of the common man”.

Nation Newspaper. 

Reports have emerged about the series of meetings and lobbying that took place at the Onitsha GRA residence of Mr Peter Obi, the VeePee candidate of the PDP in the 2019 general elections, for the immediate impeachment  of the Anambra State House of Assembly Speaker. And subsequently, Governor Wille Obiano.

It was gathered by close sources that the PDP, through former Governor Peter Obi, has concluded plans to turple the smooth flow of governance in the State. According to sources,  this move is coming on the suspicion that Governor Willie Obiano will work for the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, in the 2019 election.

The meeting which took place at the instance of Mr Peter Obi, targeted 15 of the incumbent State Assembly members who were unable to secure the Reelection ticket of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the just concluded primaries.

These legislators led by the Son of a former Commissioner in Peter Obi's administration, Hon Ikem Uzozie were said to have received 10million Naira each from Mr Peter Obi. The first trench of 10million was for the mobilization to impeach Rt Hon Rita Maduagwu, who is considered to be strongly in support of Governor Obiano.

The next phase of the impeachment charade was to be targeted at Governor Obiano if they had succeeded in removing Madam Speaker yesterday.

Eyewitness reports confirmed that the 15 lawmakers headed immediately to the Onitsha residence of Mr Peter Obi after their impeachment ploy was botched by members of the house loyal to the Speaker.

Further reports have it that funds have been voted by the PDP VeePee and other opposition elements to cause serious unrest in the legislative arm that will supposedly trickle down to other critical areas of the State. According to an anonymous source, the PDP is doing this to create an inroad to Anambra where it is currently expected that Mr Peter Obi may fail in 2019 if these upsets are not put in place.

The lull in political activities in Imo State occasioned by the unavoidable absence of the commander of the masses, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu, has come to an abrupt end as the man of the moment made an unannounced entry into Owerri, the Imo State capital after a long stay in Abuja, the FCT.

Nwosu who won the governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress in Imo State has being exploiting all legal options to ensure that he is not robbed of his well deserved mandate by a dangerous cabal in the Party. 

His more than one month stay in Abuja had been expected to rob him of some of his supporters. However, his fanatical support base seems to be intact as a massive crowd of supporters came out to welcome him at the airport on his return.

Speaking to the mammoth crowd of anxious supporters, the real estate mogul turned politician stated that he remains a member of the All Progressives Congress, as he expects that the Party leadership will do the right thing by restoring his mandate.

Meantime, some of his supporters of the youthful governorship have expressed their disaffection with the ruling All Progressives Congress, as regards the handling of the primaries in the State. Most of his supporters urged him to quit the APC and declare for another political Party, from where they expect to give him their full support to realize his governorship ambition.

The Special Presidential Investigation Panel For Recovery of Public Property said, it on Sunday arrested the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Imo State,  Hope Uzodinma, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

Chairman of the panel, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla said in a short message sent to our correspondent on Sunday that the panel arrested Uzodinma, the senator representing Imo West Senatorial District, over the failure of his company to execute a contract of $12m for the dredging of Calabar channel.

According to the panel’s chairman, the contracted was awarded by Nigerian Ports Authority.

Obono-Obla said Uzodinma had been evading arrest for about a year but was arrested at about 8.20pm at the Abuja airport while arriving from Lagos.

The statement read, “This evening at about 8.20pm operatives of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel For Recovery of Public Property at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport arrested the APC governorship candidate in Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, while returning from an Air Peace P47324 flight from Lagos.

“The panel is investigating of economic sabotage against Senator Uzodinma arising out of the failure of his company to execute a contract of $12m for the dredging of Calabar channel awarded by NPA .

“He has been evading all invitations of the Panel over one year.”

The name of the governorship candidate  of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Imo state was seen missing on the list of names published by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Friday.

While that of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Emeka Ihedioha and 66 others appeared on the list, that of the APC was not on the list.

It would be recalled that both Chief Uche Nwosu who is the Former Chief of Staff to the Imo state Governor, Rochas Okorocha and Senator Hope Uzodinma have been in battles over who is the rightful candidate for the APC.

While Okorocha has insisted on the emergence of his former Chief of Staff as the governorship candidate for APC in the state, the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole has recognised Senator Uzodinma as the candidate.

This development has since festered with the contending of the matter in court. Meanwhile, INEC’s omission of APC candidate’s name on its list is however, not unconnected with the order given by the court mandating it not to publish any name for APC since the matter is still in court.