PDP REPS DEMAND AUTOMATIC TICKETS TO IMPEACH TAMBUWAL


Aminu Waziri TambuwalAttempts by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the presidency to impeach Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, took a new dimension over the weekend as members of the party’s caucus in the House resolved not to proceed with the move unless given automatic return tickets by the party, Daily Trust learnt in Abuja yesterday.





Tambuwal had last Tuesday dumped the PDP for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and adjourned sitting to December 3, a move that didn’t go down well with the PDP and the presidency who are now pushing for his removal as speaker.


President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday, summoned a meeting of the party’s stakeholders including the national chairman Adamu Mu’azu, chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Godswill Akpabio, deputy speaker Emeka Ihedioha and House leader, Mulikat Adeola-Akande at the presidential villa where a decision was said to have been taken to oust Tambuwal.


Security details attached to the speaker have been withdrawn which prompted Tambuwal to file a legal action in the Federal High Court, Abuja on Friday.


Consequently, Mulikat was said to have summoned a meeting of the 160-PDP members in the House where she intimated them of the party’s directives on them to reconvene the House and subsequently impeach the Speaker.


Daily Trust however gathered that the lawmakers resolved during their meeting over the weekend in Abuja that the party ‘must guarantee their return tickets before they can move against Tambuwal,’ the source said.
“Very few of us are sure of returning to the House because our governors have already pencilled down those that will take over our seats, therefore, we decided that if the party wants us to impeach the Speaker, it must as a matter of necessity also give us automatic return tickets,” a ranking PDP member who asked not to be named said.


“We are also insisting that we won’t sign for the House to reconvene until the issue of our tickets is sorted out by the party,” another said.


The source said the 160 of them are billed to meet with the party’s national working committee at the Wadata Plaza in Abuja by 8pm today where they will table their request to the national chairman, Mu’azu.


Already, a text message inviting the PDP MPs has been circulated by the House Leader Adeola-Akande and it reads thus: “There will be a crucial meeting of the above caucus on Monday 3rd November, 2014 at 8pm, venue will be the PDP party secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.”


Meanwhile, Daily Trust gathered that the APC caucus in the House will this morning file a suit in the Federal High Court with a view to stopping the PDP and the presidency from reconvening the House.


One of the APC leaders in the House who spoke to Daily Trust on the condition of anonymity said they resolved to institute the legal action in order to ‘pre-empt any move by the PDP’.

MORE FLEE TO YOLA AFTER MUBI ATTACK




Some students of Adamawa State University, Mubi, stranded in the bush at the weekend, after their escape from Boko Haram attack in Mubi.Recent attacks on Mubi town and its environs have led to increased influx of people into the Internally Displaced Persons camp in Yola.

Officials of the emergency agency ADSEMA put the number of registered displaced persons at 10,496 after the Mubi attack.

Rebecca Teri, a displaced person, said she escaped from her village in Mararraban Mubi to Yola after spending some days on the road with her children. She said she does not know the whereabouts of her husband and seven-year-old daughter.

Gift Ugo, a student at the polytechnic, said they escaped to the bush and later managed to reach Yola. She said part of their school was burnt down, adding that many students were trapped in the town and may have been killed or injured. Gift said they were told that a HND student in the school was killed by the insurgents.

Umar Usman, an indigene of Gwoza in Borno State who fled to Yola, said they escaped to the hills when the insurgents attacked the Mubi police station and the emir’s palace.

A camp official said the influx of the IDPs was giving them serious concern as the facilities in the camp are being overstretched. North East Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Muhammad Kanar, urged displaced persons to register with camp officials.

Daily Trust

Dangote slashes cement price to N1,000 per bag

In a move that will raise the stakes in the rapidly evolving Nigerian cement market, leading cement manufacturer, Dangote Ce­ment Plc, has announced huge cuts in the price of the essential product.

The new price regime an­nounced by the Group Manag­ing Director of Dangote Cement, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, pegged the Dangote 32.5 cement grade at N1,000 per 50 kg bag, while the higher 42.5 grade is to sell for N1,150 per bag.

The new prices exclusive of the Value Added Tax (VAT), represents about 40 per cent dis­count on the prevailing market price of the product which is currently sold for N1,700 irre­spective of the grade, across the country.

Edwin said the move was in line with the company’s com­mitment to the nation’s need for the development of infrastructure and to boost the federal and state governments’ ongoing efforts to reduce the near 20 million hous­ing deficit in Africa’s largest economy.

“We recognize the need for an increase rapid response to the huge infrastructure and housing deficit in the country, and one of the ways of addressing the issue is bringing the price of building materials down to much more affordable levels, especially ce­ment, which is within our own control as part of our contribu­tion to the transformation agenda of the President Goodluck Jona­than administration and the at­tainment of key milestones in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” he said.

Since the commencement of the implementation of the back­ward integration policy for ce­ment in the country over 12 years ago, the local production capac­ity of the product rose from less than three million metric tonnes per annum to about 38 million metric tonnes per annum.

Ogun PDP denies dissolution claims

… Says it’ll deal with renegades

Ogun State chap­ter of the Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP) at the weekend said its State Executive Committee has not been dissolved.

The state PDP said the in­cumbent state executive under the chairmanship of Chief Bayo Dayo had legal backing to remain in office till 2016 as it emerged through the due process stipulated by the party constitution, the law of the land and validated by the Independent National Elec­toral Commission (INEC) as well as the high and appellate courts.

It, therefore, threatened to deal with unnamed “ren­egades” trying to foment trou­ble within its fold.

The party in a statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Waliu Oladipupo, made avail­able to newsmen in Abeokuta, stressed that the Dayo-led state executive had not been dissolved as being claimed in certain quarters.

It warned that, “given the peculiar circumstances of their emergence, any attempt to tamper with the party struc­tures will not just be an invita­tion to avoidable lawlessness but also illegal, ultra vires and a direct affront on the judi­ciary.”

The statement further read: “The attention of the Ogun State chapter of the PDP has been drawn to the rumour making the rounds that the State Executive Committee of the party has been dissolved.

“We wish to state without mincing words that noth­ing could be farther from the truth. The Adebayo Dayo-led state executive is intact. As we have said severally, the Ogun State PDP executive is peculiar. The Ogun State PDP executive, from the ward to local government and state levels were not just elected at validly conducted congresses; they were refined through the crucibles of the party constitution and the laws of the land and endorsed by the electoral umpire – the INEC. Put differently, they were not just elected but validated by several judicial interventions and pronouncements from the High Court to the Appeal Court.”

The party spokesman ac­cused the Special Adviser to the President on Public Af­fairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, and the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, of wanting to reap where they did not sow.

Triumphal return of Daniel to PDP






It was literarily triumphal return for the former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, (OGD), as he re-joined the Peoples Demo­cratic Party, (PDP) from where he defected to the Labour Party, (LP) about a year ago.

For over eight hours, Abeokuta, the state capital literally stood still, as PDP supporters and his teeming fans stormed the state secre­tariat to welcome him and others back into the party’s fold.

It was a hectic day for both policemen, offi­cials of the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, men and officers of the state-owned Traffic, Road Compliance and Enforcement, (TRACE) and others controlling both human and traffic movements.

Recall that Daniel ruled the state like a colossus for eight years on the platform of the PDP until things went sour with him and the leadership of the party towards the twilight of his administration.

While claiming that he remained in the PDP, Daniel’s actions and inactions pointed to the fact that he was working against the party and was accused of financing the Peoples Party of Nigeria, where his teeming supporters contested the last general elections.

But on Tuesday, October 21, 2014, dur­ing the unification rally to welcome him and several others, Daniel said he had returned to the PDP for good where he hopes to actualize the dreams of the people of the state in 2015.

Symbolically, the rally signified the end of all political differences among the various con­tending interests and groups within the party.

Prominent among Daniel’s confidants, who returned with him to PDP were governor­ship aspirants, Alhaji Sarafa Tunji-Ishola, Mr. Gboyega Nasir Isiaka and Chief Remi Bakare.

Comrade Niyi Osoba-led State Executive Committee of the LP in Ogun State including his secretary, Comrade Deji Kalejaiye among others also returned with him.

House of Representatives members, as well as those in the state House of Assembly on the platform of the PPN and the APC, who had earlier defected from their parties to PDP were also present. They included, Hon. Sunday Adewusi, Hon. Remmy Hazzan among others.

Others loyalists of the former governor across the 20 local government areas of the state including Chief Sule Onabiyi, daughter of the late winner of the June 12 1993 Presi ­dential election, Chief (Mrs) Lola Abiola-Ede­wor, Chief Iyabo Apampa among prominent former PDP chieftains also returned.

It was also a great re-union for Daniel and the chairman, Mobilization and Organization Committee of the PDP in the South West, Prince Buruji Kashamu, whose political rela­tionship strained shortly before the last general elections.

The rally which held at the state headquar­ters of the party, also attracted dignitaries, including the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole; former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye.

Others are National Auditor of the PDP, Alhaji Fatai Adeyanju; Zonal Secretary of PDP in the zone, Chief ‘Pegba Otemolu, Senator Lekan Mustapha, former deputy governors, Ahaji Rafiu Ogunleye and Alhaja Salmat Badru, former chairman of the party in the state, Elder, Joju Fadairo, former Ogun East senatorial chairman, Alhaji Agboola Alausa; former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Chief (Mrs) Titi Shodunke-Oseni among others.

Chairman, Local Organising Committee, Fadairo, in his opening remarks told the gath­ering that the rally was a child of necessity “to let the people of the state in particular and Nigeria in general know that crisis in the state chapter of the party was over”.

“God has done for us what we all thought could never happen. The inability of our party to manage our internal crisis in the build-up to the 2011 elections was responsible for the loss.

“PDP is a party with great endowments. We are now a better party to beat in 2015.W e must now embark on a journey of patience, peace and endurance. We must work together as a team for us to surmount challenges ahead”.

Bayo Dayo, in his address as the state chair­man of the party assured both the returnees and other members of the party in the state that they would enjoy equal rights.

According to him, any returnee aspiring to contest any political office would be given automatic waiver. “Our coming together today has put an end to all bickering among members. All members must remain united. PDP is a party of all without discrimination,” he said.

Adeyanju, who spoke on behalf of the national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, said the unification rally was an end to the APC reign in the state, expressing confidence that PDP would form the next government in the state.

Daniel, who could be described as the big masquerade, while delivering his speech interspersed with songs, drumming, booming of dane guns, proverbs, dances and others also said the rally had put skeptics wrong.

His words: “After we lost the 2011 gov­ernorship election, people appealed to us to settle our differences and re-unite. We thank God today we have reconciled our differ­ences.

“From today onward, PDP has taken over the reins of power in the state. The 2011 elec­tion was not won by the people in power, but we lost due to internal crisis within the party. Today’s event has signified the end of crisis in our party.

Daniel, who also used the rally to speak on the state’s debt profile, said contrary to the allegation that his government left N48bn debt, it only left N3.7bn debt in 2011.

The ex- governor also alleged that the cur­rent administration in the state had borrowed over N200bn within three years.

Daniel, also announced that the former sec­retariat of the Labour Party in the state would be handed over to the PDP and later be used as the campaign office for whoever emerges the party’s governorship candidate for the 2015 general elections.

Kashamu, who expressed delight at the unity rally said: “Despite the efforts of our detrac­tors, we are here today welcoming our brothers and sisters who either left us sometimes ago or had been on the sideline back into the party”.

Kashamu, expressed gratitude to God and party faithful for the turn of events, stressing that history was being made.”As you can see for yourself, history is being made here today. I am extremely grateful to the almighty God who has made today possible.

BREAKING NEWS! Scores killed in Yobe bombing

Several persons were killed on Monday as suspected suicide bomber detonated bomb just as Muslim brotherhood were on procession.

Earlier reports say the bomber targeted the Muslim brotherhood, adding that the bomber were among the worshippers.

Details soon