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APC Crisis: Governors, Ministers Plotting More Surprises For Buhari – Galadima

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Two days after some aggrieved chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) launched the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC), its chairman, Buba Galadima, has declared that the mother of all shocks is underway for the ruling party.

This is as he accused some people around President Muhammadu Buhari of reeking in corruption. He claimed that more surprises will follow in the coming days. In an exclusive chat with Saturday Sun, the Yobe-born politician, who is an old ally of President Buhari, said, governors and some serving ministers who are members of APC, will soon join its fold.

He said that the renouncing of the party by some chieftains in Kwara State will be replicated in several states soon. He however did not state the specific day such will take place.

On Wednesday, at a well-attended press conference in Abuja, leaders of the new breakaway party, said they had the support of all the legacy parties that formed APC even as they refused to rule out that Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, as well as other aggrieved members will soon join them. At the press conference, Galadima, said some chieftains of the party were compelled to take the new step because the APC has derailed from its original plans and vision.

Speaking with Saturday Sun, he said: “I can tell you that we have more surprises coming. The shocker is such that it will take APC and its leaders by surprise. This is something I can confirm to you. You remember what the leaders of APC in Kwara State told Saraki to lead them out of the party? That will happen in more states. More states will follow suit and it will be like that going forward.

“Some governors and other top government officials in this government are going to be with us at the right time, they will openly align with us. Just wait and see how things will unfold in the coming days and weeks.”

Also speaking on a morning show on African Independent Television (AIT) yesterday, Galadima said he will disprove those who have dismissed his influence.

He said: “I want to make an observation because people on the other side of the divide said that some of us are inconsequential hired machineries who he will not loose sleep over our actions. I want to state unequivocally for the world to know that there is no man with integrity, character and impeccable honesty from the other side more than me.”

Emphasising his incorruptibility, he said, “For those that know me from 1959 when I started school to date, I have never been found with anything even those that tried to destroy me could not destroy my character and integrity.

“I also want to say that we know all those opportunists who live in opulence and who cannot account for some of the palatial palaces they have built through the wealth of the people. May I also add that those who hired them for a particular purpose will live to regret because they have brought in the scenario of Pharaoh and Moses.”

Back to the crisis rocking APC, he declared that the problem within the “APC did not start from the election tussle of the National Assembly because for me that was democracy in action and once legislators are appointed, they put aside their political differences and work as one unit to produce laws for the good governance of the country and also as an arm of government to provide checks and balances to the excess of the government from whatever party the president comes from.

“The real problem of the APC started because those of us who are founding members of this party, those who made life sacrifice, those of us Nigerians with impeccable patriotism that came together because of the slide then and decided to submerge and subsume our interest to form the APC.

“I should boldly say that I was one of the nine signatories that formed the APC and nobody can delete that history. We never see the faces of all these opportunists I am talking about. They never appended their signatures then yet they are reaping from where they did not sow. “Because they have no history of why the APC was formed, what we suffered and what we did to protect entrenched interest, they started doing things that were not envisaged by the founding fathers of the APC.”

He maintained, “The crisis has been on but it took different dimensions when the tenure of the immediate national officers was expiring. Different interests started resurfacing and through to it, all the ideals for which we formed the APC were thrown to the dustbin. Those of us who are patriotic, who have made sacrifices to bring about the formation of this party cannot sit idly and watch them destroy our sweat. “ He argued that the current crisis is the worst the party has experienced . He said “this is the beginning of what you call crisis. I should say that I am glad that Nigerians of all walks of life have shown solidarity with us.

“And for those who could not lose sleep, I wonder why they went cap in hand, kneeling down before the members of National Assembly. I want to say that as at today, if I give directive to the National Assembly to impeach anybody for constitutional infraction, it could be done because I have that majority in the National Assembly.”

On his problem with President Buhari, he explained “I don’t have any problem with Mr President but I assisted him since 2002. I have made more contributions than even himself in becoming the President of Nigeria. Maybe I should tell the world that because of him, I have suffered intimidation, arrests, questioning about 38 times.

“Not only that, I was detained in an underground prison, chained hands and legs and tried for treason because of him. All these people around now were the people fighting us then. Some of these people were receiving money from the government of the time during elections in conducting fake research and using their positions as members of the trade union to say that the election was conducted fairly but today they are Buhari people. I am shocked.

“There is nothing happening except that I just saw him during a world press conference, an elder statesman and former president said that he does not need my vote, my supporters, my families and those that interact with me. He never mentioned any reason and I dare say that I have more integrity and more honest than any person in this country.”

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Edo PDP opposes suspension of LG bosses by state assembly, says ‘It’s unconstitutional’

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo says the suspension of all the chairpersons and their deputies in the 18 LGAs of the state is “unconstitutional”.

The chairpersons and their deputies were suspended on Tuesday by the Edo state house of assembly for two months over alleged misappropriation of funds.

Blessing Agbebaku, the speaker of the house, said Monday Okpebholo, governor of Edo, had written a petition to the assembly regarding the chairpersons’ refusal to submit the financial records of their LGs to the state government.

In a statement, Anthony Aziegbemi, chair of the PDP in Edo, said the “illegal” suspension is a disregard to a supreme court decision that affirms the autonomy and independence of local governments.

“How can the governor direct the State Assembly to suspend democratically elected chairmen of the 18 local councils for insubordination when these elected officials enjoy autonomy and independence as enshrined in the constitution and are not subordinates of the governor, the state assembly, or any other arm of government?,” he said.

“We are also aware that the chairmen and their vices were not even given the opportunity to be heard in their detence and were suspended unheard on watery trumped up charges, in total disregard to the constitution.

“We want to restate that the constitution remains supreme, and any attempt to undermine its provisions or disregard the judiciary and its rulings is not only illegal but also a direct attack on democracy and the rule of law.

“The speaker of the Edo state house of assembly and the entire assembly have clearly overstepped their constitutional mandates with this illegal action and we urge them to immediately reverse its decision, in respect to the rule of law and democratic governance.”

Aziegbemi said the suspended officials should report to their councils on Wednesday and carry on with their normal duties.

Also speaking on the issue, Anthony Ehilebo, a PDP chieftain, said Okpebholo has no legal backing to request the financial records of the LGAs.

“In fact, the governor and the assembly members are in contempt of the supreme court,” Ehilebo said when he appeared on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme.

“The purported suspension of the local government chairmen by the state assembly is as absurd as the president asking the national assembly to suspend state governors because they refused to submit statements of accounts to him.

“This is a witch hunt. The LGA chairmen are all PDP members.”

The lawyer said the suspension “is unknown to law and will be ignored”.

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Ex-sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi resigns from PDP

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Bolaji Abdullahi, a former minister of sports and youth development, has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He disclosed his intention to resign in a letter dated December 16 and addressed to the PDP ward chairman in Ubadawaki, Kwara state.

Abdullahi confirmed the development to TheCable on Monday.

The ex-minister also said he is yet to decide which political platform to pitch tent with.

“The decision of what to do and where to go will be taken in the future that’s left to God,” he said.

In the resignation letter, Abdullahi said he reached the “difficult” decision after days of reflection and introspection.

“I write to formally resign my membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” the letter reads.

“I have had ample time to reflect, and I have come to the difficult conclusion that this is the only tenable option for me at this time.

“Mr. Chairman, please permit me to express, through you, my gratitude to the leadership of the party for the opportunities that I have had to serve the state and the country on its platform, and for the great moments we have shared.”

Abdullahi was the PDP candidate for the Kwara central senatorial district election in 2023. He lost the race to Salihu Mustapha of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

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PDP debunks inviting Jonathan to contest 2027 presidency

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it has not extended an invitation to former President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the presidency on its platform in the 2027 election.

Speaking with BBC Hausa, Ibrahim Abdullahi, deputy spokesperson of the country’s main opposition party, said no ticket has been issued to the former president.

Abdullahi said the party has many eligible people who can contest for the presidency on its platform, adding that a recent interview he granted was interpreted to mean that Jonathan he asked to run on the PDP platform.

“The report that PDP has issued its presidential ticket to former President Goodluck Jonathan or invited him to contest the 2027 presidential election is not true,” he said.

“What happened is this, I had an interview with a journalist where we discussed some issues.

“But in the course of the interview, he mentioned President Jonathan, asking about our opinion of him, because there are reports that he is being urged to run for the presidency.

“I responded by saying that he (Jonathan) is eligible to contest the election, because he is a Nigerian and has the right to do that by the provision of the law, and he still has one more term left.

“So, there is nothing wrong about him contesting the presidential election because he is eligible in the face of the law.”

The deputy spokesperson said the ticket would be given to someone who has shown interest in running for the presidency.

Jonathan, then in the PDP, lost the presidential election to former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

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