Anambra guber race: APGA warns PDP over Soludo
REACTIONS have begun to trail reports in some sectors of the media that the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is plotting of The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has fired a warning to the Peoples democratic Party over alleged plot by the leadership of the ruling party to stop former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, from emerging as APGA's flag-bearer in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State.
The warning followed reports on Monday that the leadership of the PDP was apprehensive about Soludo's resignation from PDP and his movement to APGA, where he has collected form to contest the November 16 election.
According to the report, PDP leadership is already hatching plots to stop Soludo from emerging as APGA candidate in the election.
Their calculation, the reports alleged, was that with his huge profile combining with his large followership in PDP he would be literarily unstoppable.
This report has drawn the ire of a group of APGA faithfuls, Ikemba Front in APGA (IKE-FRONT).
The group said that any undue interference in the party by PDP would not be taken lightly.
The group described such plan as an affront on not only the leadership of APGA but the entire Igbo land since, according to the group, APGA is the soul and body of a greater majority of Igbo people both in Nigeria and in the diaspora.
It therefore warned the PDP to face its numerous crises and allow APGA and its members to decide who would represent their best interest.
A statement signed by its National Coordinator, Okobi Cyril Nnabuenyi said PDP leaders cannot determine for APGA when the party is also in the same contest with APGA.
'The news that PDP leadership at the highest level is plotting to influence the choice of APGA candidature in the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State is simply despicable and therefore, totally unacceptable to the entire members of our great party. APGA is in contest for who becomes governor of Anambra State from March next year when our dynamic leader Mr. Peter Obi would be concluding his tenure. To that effect, the interest of PDP in who becomes APGA candidate is in bad taste. PDP wants to ensure that APGA fields a candidate that can be easily defeated by the PDP and this will never happen,' the statement said.
Gubernatorial aspirant under Labour Party (LP) in the November election, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, has promised 'total turn-around' in the agricultural sector, as present and successive governments in the state have neglected the sector by failing to utilise the productive ability of the people.
He said Anambra people have been losers as the Federal Government loan meant for farmers has been in commercial banks for many years, without being utilised.
Ubah, who is the chairman, Capital Oil and Gas Ltd, said the non-utilisation of the funds deprived farmers the opportunity of maximising their potential and increasing their yield. 'This governmental error denied the benefit of such loans to numerous grassroots members of various Farmers' Cooperative Association whose businesses were adversely affected.
'Morale of farmers in the state is low. Our people have lost a lot of income because food that would have otherwise have been produced in the state at a cheaper cost was brought from outside the state.
Meanwhile, factional National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr. Maxi Okwu, has declared his intention to sue the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, for failing to address the issues raised in his letter to the commission.
In a letter dated August 2, 2013 and addressed to the INEC Chairman, Okwu had accused the electoral body of 'bias and fanning the embers of disunity among party members by applying double standards in its arbitration of issues affecting the party.'
Speaking with The Guardian yesterday on the fate of the letter, Okwu said that INEC was yet to react to his questions to the electoral body, warning: 'If by next week I do not hear from them, I will sue INEC badly.'
Okwu further reiterated the issues contained in his letter: 'We put them on notice of a number of proactive interventions they made in matters relating to the PDP (People's Democratic Party), which as you know, is about to conduct a special convention to fill offices in its National Executive Committee made vacant due to the resignation of the incumbents.
'Those officers resigned because INEC queried their mode of election through voice vote, contrary to mere convention guidelines of the party. We took them up further on their recent letter concerning the PDP chapter in Anambra. The letter dated July 26, 2013, addressed to the National Chairman of PDP and signed by Abdullahi A. Kaugama, seems to state the INEC position on intra-party storm vis-a-vis court orders.'
He, therefore, expressed worry that INEC seemed to be pursuing different objectives in its attention to PDP and APGA, recalling how the commission has even been thwarting his efforts to sight some of its documents under the Freedom of Information Act.