Missing Ijeoma Neke Found Dead In Maryland Enugu (Photos)

Ijeoma Neke is a makeup artist with Instagram name wake_n_makeup, she was last seen on 11th November 2020 being Wednesday.

Matters Arising gathered that, Ijeoma went for home service makeup job on Wednesday 11th November 2020, and is yet to return.

On another report made to available to Matters Arising says that Ijeoma body has been found lifeless in Maryland area Enugu.

According to the report, it was gathered that Ijeoma was kidnapped, and the kidnappers reportedly pour acid on Ijeoma and dump her dead body around Maryland.


See Photos of Ijeoma Neke, As Obtained Below:

FG To Feed And Deworm Children With N142.3 Billion In 2021

In 2021, under the Home-Grown School Feeding (NHGSFP), the federal government has penned N142.3 billion to feed 9.86 million children, deworm seven million children and recount the pupils.

The proposed allocation for the NHGSFP accounts for 40.5 per cent of the total recurrent expenditure of the nation’s social investment programmes, NSIP, domiciled under the ministry of humanitarian affairs, which was established in 2019.

The proposed N142.3 billion is meant to cater to the feeding of about 10 million, deworming of seven million primary 1-3 pupils in 35 states and FCT and 60,000 out-of-school children, enumeration of pupils and training of cooks and farmers.

The National Assembly joint committees on poverty alleviation detailed this in a document exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES which the committees submitted to the Senate in October.

The ministry of humanitarian affairs also told the National Assembly that in the coming year, it would expand the NHGSFP programme to target additional five million children in conventional and non-conventional schools under the Alternate School Programme.


Also, N2.7 billion is planned to be used for the “purchase of feeding utensils, devices for capturing and aprons for cooks” for the feeding programme.

In all, the NHGSFP could gulp N145 billion in 2021.

The amount billed for the NHGSFP is a slice from the N400 billion – N350 billion recurrent and N50 billion capital expenditure – proposed to the National Assembly for the implementation of the nation’s social investment programmes (NSIP) in 2021.

2021 budget
The proposed sum of N4.04 billion has been penciled by the humanitarian affairs ministry for its expenditure in the coming year.


If passed as it is, it would be an increase of 29 per cent from the N3.125 billion budgeted for the ministry in 2020.

Only N1.2 billion of this year’s allocation had been released as of September, according to the document obtained by this medium.

Of the amount the ministry tabled before the National Assembly, it said N796.5 million would be for recurrent expenses – which includes N296.5 million personnel and 500 million overhead costs– while N3.24 billion is for its capital spendings.


“The personnel cost covers salaries and allowances of staff of the two departments moved from the erstwhile Federal Ministry of Women Affairs to the new ministry.”

Meanwhile, the proposed capital expenditure for the ministry is for 32 capital projects, comprising 29 ongoing projects and 3 new projects, the document showed.

#premuimtimes

Donald Trump Admits That Joe Biden Won The American Presidential Election

President finally admits defeat — then immediately continues spreading misinformation
Chris Riotta | Sunday 15 November 2020

President Donald Trump has finally admitted to losing the election — while continuing to spread outright lies and misinformation about false allegations of mass voter fraud.

After days of refusing to concede to President-elect Joe Biden, the president wrote in a tweet on Sunday morning: “He won because the Election was Rigged.”

The president has continued to post statements on social media that were false and even flagged by platforms like Twitter and Facebook for containing misleading information about the election.

Mr Trump falsely claimed in all-caps there were “NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS” allowed in the polling places, which is simply not true and can be easily disputed by the witness statements and video evidence of polling place observers watching the ballot count all across the country.

Before Sunday, the president repeatedly refused to accept the fact he lost the election, even as a wave of legal challenges he filed against the electoral process were notably failing in key states like Arizona and Pennsylvania, as the law firms representing his campaign unexpectedly pulled out of their respective cases.

The president almost admitted to his defeat on Friday at the White House at a press conference surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

Discussing the election, Mr Trump again claimed the vote was “rigged” while failing to provide any evidence. He also said his administration would not enforce lockdown measures to combat the novel virus that has killed nearly 250,000 Americans, saying: “Ideally we won’t go to a lockdown. I will not go. This administration will not be going to a lockdown.”
“Hopefully, the, the whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell,” he said, adding: “But I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown.”

It seemed he was finally ready to say he lost the election just a few days later, though he continued to claim that loss was the result of a rigged election — something his own Department of Homeland Security rejected when it said the 2020 election was “the most secure” in American history.

In a follow-up tweet, Mr Trump alleged Democrats “succeeded plenty” in the election due to voter fraud while adding: “Mail-in elections are a sick joke!”
However, a vast pool of research and analysis has shown mail-in voting to be a safe and effective way to cast ballots in an election without fear of rigging or cheating.

Virtually all of the president’s claims about voter fraud have been consistently debunked: his campaign falsely said a dead voter cast a ballot when an elderly woman confirmed she was alive and had voted against Mr Trump; it also falsely said military families were casting illegal ballots when in fact they were not; and it also falsely said that Mr Trump could only lose the election if there was mass voter fraud. None of this is true.

#uselection

Williams Uchemba Traditional Wedding In Anambra (Videos)


Popular Nigerian Actor and comedian Williams Uchemba has done his traditional marriage.

The former Nollywood child actor landed in Anambra state yesterday to pick up his wife and today was their traditional marriage and he is set to do his white wedding on the 21st of This month.

Williams Uchemba's traditional wedding was attended by popular Nigerian celebrities.

Watch Video Below

#williamsuchemba

Nigerians Surprised As Labour Keeps Mum On Fuel Price Increase

Despite various calls by Nigerians both online and offline that the Organised Labour should react to the recent increment in Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart have kept silent.

The increment came barely after 72 hours oil workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) declared indefinite strike over issues related to Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and other sundry issues.

Daily Trust had on Saturday reported that Nigerians are still groaning following the federal government’s decision to raise the pump price from N160 to N170, with many calling out labour leaders to take actions.


The Justification

But the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) justified the increment, saying “the slight increase in the price based on the prevailing realities of market forces of demand and supply”.

However, days after the increment, the NLC and the TUC are yet to officially react either via a statement or other means.The labour leaders neither responded to several calls nor text and Whatsapp messages sent by our correspondent.

Similarly, other journalists covering labour beat have also expressed their frustrations towards labour leaders’ non-response to calls and messages.

A journalist working with one the national dailies said, “I’ve called and sent different messages, all to no avail. I called some members of staff at Labour House, none of them responded appropriately.


#dailytrust

EndSARS: Hundreds Of Resignations By Police Officers Rejected By The IGP

Resignation letters from hundreds of officers in the aftermath of the #endsars protests have allegedly been rejected by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.

Senior officers confided in The Guardian that hundreds of policemen were ready to leave after their humiliation and burning of stations.

“There is no amount of talk that will assuage the anger of policemen. We are very angry. Many of my colleagues tendered their resignation, but they are not accepting it. The morale is terribly low. Our officers were dehumanised. Some were killed. Many of us don’t have offices anymore. Nigerians should ask us to go if they don’t need police anymore. Are we not also Nigerians? Why should we be treated like animals?” an officer fumed.

IGP Adamu had vowed to arrest perpetrators in Lagos with a view to restoring pride of the force.

According to him, 1,590 suspects have been arrested nationwide for arson and looting.

He spoke while addressing hundreds of personnel of Lagos State Police Command in GRA, Ikeja last week.

He had urged them not to be deterred by action of the hoodlums in the discharge of their duties.

Adamu implored the cops to resume work with open minds.

It was the IGP’s first visit after the nationwide demonstrations.

Lagos was epicentre of the #endsars protest which later degenerated into violence that claimed numerous private and public assets.

Six officers were lynched, 36 critically injured and 46 police stations burnt in the nation’s economic capital.

The police boss said he observed that the morale of officers had dampened in the light of the violence.

Adamu said the scale of destruction witnessed during the event called for adoption of standard protocols for public protests.

He visited some of the assets torched in the former federal capital city, including the palace of Oba of Lagos.

#guardian #endsars

Payment Platform Crisis: FG May Drop IPPIS For ASUU, Others As Opposition Grows

There were indications on Sunday that the Federal Government might adopt any payment platform developed in universities as an alternative to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Charles Akpan, who gave this indication in an interview with The PUNCH, however, gave conditions for adopting any payment platform apart from the IPPIS.

According to him, the platform must be capable of eliminating ghost workers’ syndrome and other forms of corruption in payment of salaries.

Akpan stated this as opposition to the IPPIS grew on Sunday when unions including the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, the Non-Academic Staff Union and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria said it was only suitable for the civil service.

Recall that ASUU had on March 23,begun an indefinite strike over the government’s insistence on the IPPIS, among other reasons.

Other university unions, which initially supported the payment system, backed out on the grounds that it contained many irregularities.

As an alternative to the IPPIS, ASUU had presented its University Transparency and Accountability Solution to the Federal Government. UTAS is currently being tested by the National Information Technology Development Agency, while SSANU and NASU have proposed the University General and Peculiar Personnel and Payroll System.

The President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, in an interview with The PUNCH, restated the union’s opposition to the IPPIS, saying the system would localise the university system if adopted.

IPPIS won’t allow non-pensionable appointments needed in universities – ASUU

He stated, “With the IPPIS, lecturers cannot move freely across campuses; across countries. It is a system that will not allow you to employ people from outside the country, people who are not on pensionable appointments because the IPPIS focuses only on people with pensionable appointments. Contract staff who are needed in scarce areas are shut out. Our colleagues in the Diaspora who could come and give international flavour and enrich our programmes are shut out. If you have a system that will not allow you to fit into global practices, that system cannot fit into a university.”

He explained further that the IPPIS would erode the autonomy of the university system which was established by an Act in 2003.

Ogunyemi added, “The IPPIS was designed for the civil service, which has a uniform approach to a payroll. In the civil service, they have to take permission from the head of civil service before they can employ. That is not possible in the university education because a university operates a flexible payroll system by the virtue that lecturers can come for short employment and sabbaticals.”

IPPIS has many irregularities, it gives salary of a cleaner to a registrar – SSANU

In the same vein, the newly elected vice president of SSANU, Mr Abdulsobur Salam, explained that the union initially thought the IPPIS would solve some problems in the university system, but it later found out that it added more problems.

He stated, “At the outset, we did not oppose the IPPIS because we have had issues of corruption in the university system which we thought the IPPIS would solve. Government made a request that we should key into the IPPIS and they demonstrated to us that the IPPIS had captured everything on salaries.

“But we have witnessed a lot of irregularities; salaries are not paid, the salary of a cleaner given to a registrar and outright non-payment of staff salaries when staff have been working for 10 months. It is against this background we are now having a second thought. The IPPIS has created a lot of problems than it has resolved.

Efforts to speak to the National General Secretary, Mr Peter Adeyemi, NASU, proved abortive as he did not to pick calls to his mobile phone nor replied an SMS sent to him.

However, the Chairman of the University of Lagos’ NASU, Mr Kehinde Ajibade explained that the union found out a lot of irregularities in the IPPIS.

These, he said, included arbitrary deductions, high taxation, high pension rate and delay in payments.

Ajibade stated, “What the Federal Government promised us as university workers is contrary to what we are experiencing now. It’s like the Federal Government deceived us to join the IPPIS. Our salaries were being paid on a platform before we migrated to the IPPIS. Unfortunately, when we got to the IPPIS, we discovered it was a scam. It was full of inconsistencies and irregularities that we are still battling with now.

“That is the reason we are opposing the IPPIS . Some of these irregularities are high taxation, non-remittance of some of the deductions and cooperative issues. We have submitted our list for payment. It is either it is delayed or we have to send an emissary to their office before they release our money. All these make it difficult for us. We embarked on a two-week warning strike and the Federal Government invited our leaders. Our national bodies proposed another platform as ASUU did. The government accepted our new platform and said they would look into it. That’s where we are now.

Our allowances won’t be paid if IPPIS is adopted – PENGASSAN

On his part, the General Secretary of PENGASSAN, Lumumba Okugbawa, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said, “We are opposed to the IPPIS for the same reason that ASUU is opposed to it.

“Everything that you think is good must be tested. Now if you test it and there are issues with it, of course, you won’t accept it. So there are issues with the IPPIS. It is not a perfect document.”

“For oil workers, we are also not just the regular civil servants and so all the issues about the system must be cleared before we can accept it.

“Another thing is that if you apply the IPPIS, for instance, some of your allowances as oil workers will not be paid.”

We are encouraging research, we will adopt any platform better than IPPIS – FG

On Sunday, the spokesman for the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Akpan, said the Federal Government would settle for the best payment platform in universities

He explained that the government wished to save money and would adopt any platform that could help in achieving its goal.

He said, “The aim of the IPPIS is to monitor government finances and salaries of workers and also to eliminate ghost workers’ syndrome. The government is looking to save money and remove corruption from the system.

“So, if an organisation comes up and says it have something that could help you to achieve this purpose, I’m sure government would surely consider it. So, all options are still open to the government.”

Akpan noted that the government would settle for any payment platform that is better than the IPPIS, adding that it was encouraging research and development in the tertiary institutions in the country.

Asked if the government had taken a position on the UTAS developed by ASUU, Akpan stated, “What government has done so far is to evaluate that of ASUU which is going through integrity test.

“But for the ones of NASU and SSANU, they said they just informed the government about it without presenting anything. They are working on their own. What the minister said is that if anyone had what the government could use, the government would always adopt it.

“The government is looking for the very best; if there is something that is better than IPPIS, the government would definitely fall back on it. Government is encouraging research and development in the academia.”

In a related development, a statement on Sunday by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige’s Media Office, titled, ‘SSANU extols labour minister.’ quoted

SSANU as saying it would reconsider its position if the IPPIS was updated to accommodate the peculiarities captured by the UGPPPS.

The immediate past President of SSANU, Samson Ugwoke, said this on Saturday while presenting his successor, Mohammed Ibrahim, to Ngige.

In response to Ugwoke, the minister said the Federal Government would look into the payment system as demanded by SSANU.

He, however, pointed out that any of such systems must have “ a handshake with the IPPIS and other payment systems in use by the Federal Government.”

According to the statement, Ugwoke commended Ngige for “his understanding of various challenges facing Nigerian workers operating under different unions, the patience and transparency with which you mediate, reawaken hope in us that government is committed to the welfare of workers.”

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, said only one issue remained to be resolved between the government and ASUU.

Echono who stated this in Abuja on Saturday during the professional examination for teachers, said, “The government is working very closely. We are very concerned and the President is very concerned about this protracted (ASUU) strike which, to so many of us, is unnecessary. We believe there are other ways of getting things done.

“There’s a shared acceptance of so many of the issues and we are at a point that very quickly and soon, it (the strike) will be resolved. There’s only one issue in contention.”

#punchng #asuustrike

$500m Chinese Debt Sparks Confusion In Airport Concession

FAAN former MDs, directors warn of hidden takeover

• Reps set up sub-committee

Federal Government’s plan to concession airports has run into difficulties over an existing debt and pact with China to build four new terminals at the cost of $500 million.

The “concession within concession”, according to the coalition of aviation workers’ unions, is untidy and not in the best interest of the country. Hence, this among other concerns regarding the airport concessioning should first be resolved.

A group of former Managing Directors and Directors of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) warned against a Mezzanine Clause in all Chinese sponsored projects, adding that any contravention of agreement with China on the $500m loan for the construction of the new terminal buildings may lead to invocation of the clause.

In reaction to these concerns, the House of Representatives has set up a sub-committee to interface with the Ministry of Aviation, the financial adviser (FAD) and the project delivery team (PDT) on the proposed airports concessioning. The sub-committee is to review the reports of the FAD and the PDT, which according to the House Committee on Aviation chairman, Nnolim Nnaji, fell below expectations.

Government had since 2017 begun moves to concession all the 22 airports, beginning with the big four in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano. Coincidentally, the big four are beneficiaries of a 2013 loan deal between Nigeria and China to build four new terminals for the four airports. Abuja and Port Harcourt currently use the new terminals, while those of Lagos and Kano remain yet uncompleted seven years after.

Following the recent concession approval by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the workers’ unions became more agitated over imminent job losses.

Besides, they requested for the details of the $500 million worth of Chinese loan deal to build the four terminals, especially the add-on plan to concession the terminals. Government’s response didn’t come their way.

General Secretary of National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Ocheme Aba, observed that there was no clarity on the question of a semi-concession that already exists through the Chinese loan facility.

Aba said: “Equally important is the loud silence over the issue of primacy of national security, especially at this time and the foreseeable future. They failed to situate issues within the national security architecture, the potential fact of the four foremost international gateways being held in private, most likely foreign hands.

“We hasten, though, to let it be known that we are unambiguously strewn to the national cause and the genuine interest of the workers of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). We are completely extricated from any narrow or selfish motives. Therefore, we shall remain unwavering in our stated commitment to deny this clandestine Public Private Partnership (PPP) the benefit of daylight.”

Apparently in agreement with the workers, a league of former MDs and directors at FAAN, had written a letter to the House of Reps warning of the Mezzanine clause in all Chinese sponsored infrastructure that gives the Asians right to the infrastructure, should the host country default in payment.

They held the position that it amounts to corruption to concession Chinese terminals in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu to new investors that contributed nothing to its construction.

“The new terminal buildings in these five international airports were constructed with $500m China loan. We are all now aware of the Mezzanine clause in all Chinese sponsored infrastructure by which they lay claim to the infrastructure should the host country default in payment. If Nigeria should fail to pay as and when due, China would seize the infrastructure, administer it and recover their investment.

“The most reasonable thing to do is for FAAN to administer them, collect the revenue and pay back the loan. It is preposterous for the Minister of

Aviation to propose to concession the same terminal buildings to a third party which will come to reap where they did not sow a single penny, while the debt liability will be transferred to FAAN and the Federal Government to pay. This is a classic case of corruption of the highest order, which the President has sworn to eradicate from Nigeria,” the letter read in part.

The former MDs and directors alleged that people, who are close to a sitting President, always contrive ways of fraudulently selling choice National Assets to themselves at extreme loss to Nigeria and Nigerians.

“If indeed the concessionaires are bringing capital to develop the airports, why is it that their first priority is to cherry-pick the busy International Airports and pounce on the revenue points to collect all revenues?”

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, recently told the House of Representatives that the successful concession of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja airports would lead to improved provision of infrastructure at the airports, while passenger traffic would also increase at the terminals.

Sirika said that the concessionaires would sign Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with FAAN and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to ensure that the airport operates efficiently, while the agreement would cover the runway, taxiway, security and air traffic management.

He added that only 14.29 per cent of over 8,100 workforce in FAAN would be transferred to the would-be concessionaires, while others would remain in active service.

“All other facilities at the airports will still be managed by FAAN. Our airports are national security assets. This must be kept so. The concessionaire(s) will provide the investment required to upgrade the existing terminals, take over the new terminals and maintain them over a period of time to be determined based on financial assessment of each transaction,” he said.

Prior to setting up a resolution committee to revisit all concerns, Nnaji explained that the issues flagged by the workers’ unions and ex-staffers warranted the committee’s letter to Ministry of Aviation requesting for the copy of outline business case for the concession, the Chinese loan agreement, report of the project delivery team, (PDT) and the report of the financial adviser, (FAD).

Also requested were: the assets evaluation report (AER) of the affected airports, cash flow of the airports that are up for concession in the last five years, copies of all existing concessions on the four airports, the on-lending agreement, repayment schedule and every other document pertaining to the airport concession.

He said the documents and their review would help the House to take a decision in the interest of collective good, even as he urged the stakeholders to be prepared to shift ground as necessary.

#guardian

Christian Obodo Kidnapped Again In Warri

Former Super Eagles midfielder, Christian Obodo, has been kidnapped by unknown gunmen along Refinery Road, Warri in Delta State.

Obodo, 36, was abducted by the gunmen when he stopped by to buy bananas on Sunday, the Police Public Relations Officer, Delta State Command, Onome Onovawakpoyeya, told The PUNCH.

“Obodo was kidnapped at about 5pm on Sunday around Ishaka Hotel just along Refinery Road,” Onovawakpoyeya told The PUNCH.

“He was with his girlfriend when he was abducted. They both stopped by the road to buy bananas.”

She added that no demand has been made for his release.

This is the second time the former Udinese midfielder has been kidnapped by gunmen.

The former Nigeria international was abducted by unknown gunmen on June 9, 2012, on his way to church in Warri.

But the day after he was taken, police tracked his abductors to Isoko, just outside Warri, where they found Obodo and arrested some suspects.

The 2006 AFCON bronze medallist, who described his ordeal eight years ago as a “terrible experience”, miraculously escaped from the abductors, before nearby villagers and a vigilante group, rescued him and informed the police, who trailed the abductors to Isoko.

Europe-based footballers and their relatives have been a target of kidnappers in recent years.

Ex-Eagles defender Onyekachi Apam was kidnapped by armed men in 2007, while an elder brother of former Eagles captain Joseph Yobo was abducted in oil-rich Port Harcourt before being released 10 days later in 2018.

In 2019, the father of former Eagles captain Mikel Obi was also abducted in Jos, but was rescued by police days later.

The mother of Bordeaux winger Samuel Kalu was also abducted by gunmen in Aba, Abia State last year.

She was released after spending six days in the kidnappers’ den.

#punchng

Tinubu May Lose Control Of APC In New Leadership Struggle

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC had on June 25, 2020, dissolved its National Working Committee (NWC) where Tinubu and his associ­ates had a clear majority.

They lost the battle as the management of the party structure is now in the hands of a caretaker committee and state governors who are bat­tling to reassert their control over the party’s machinery.

Although the general view is that Tinubu will run for the presidency in 2023, but he has not announced any such inten­tions.

Sources said the former Lagos State governor now ex­periences serious rivals in the party.

The divisions in the party are said to be led by the camps of Nasir el Rufai, governor of Kaduna State and Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Trans­port on one side; and deposed chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, on the other.

Other factions within the party include Kebbi State governor, Atiku Bagudu; Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi and Works Minister, Babatunde Fashola.

All the warriors are said to be modest about their am­bitions, but many have their eyes on the 2023 general polls.

“Don’t forget that an Abuja High Court ruling on March 5, 2020, which ordered Oshiom­hole to obey his suspension by his ward in Edo State, opened the fault lines of the APC pitching its governors against Tinubu.

“Tinubu is known to have installed Oshiomhole and has being his back bone, shielding him from the party’s ambitious state chief executives who see the national chairman as a stumbling block to their 2023 presidential aspirations.

“With the court ruling, be­lieved to have been procured by proxy by the governors, the stage was set for an epic battle with the national leader,” said a party chieftain who does not want his name published.

He added that the party “quickly moved to avert a power vacuum that the court ruling would have created, an­nouncing the approval of nom­inations into vacant positions in the NWC.”

The Caretaker/Extraor­dinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC warned last week that the main aim of dissolving the immediate-past NWC of the party will be de­feated if the party goes into a national convention in a crisis.

The Deputy National Pub­licity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, in a statement, said the focus of the committee is on achieving and sustaining lasting unity, peace and reconciliation in the party ahead of the planned na­tional convention of the party.

He spoke against the back­drop of a groundswell of opposition by APC members against an alleged plot to ex­tend the tenure of the commit­tee beyond December.

Also, the Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum, Dr. Salihu Lukman, on Thursday, described those op­posed to the planned member­ship registration/revalidation exercise, as political bandits who were desperate to install surrogate leaders.

In a statement titled, “Cam­paign against Membership Registration in APC: A Smoke­screen for Surrogate Leader­ship,” in Abuja, Lukman, noted that claims by some party lead­ers that the mandate given to the caretaker committee didn’t include membership registra­tion, were being dishonest.

He said, “In this age of banditry, it will appear that some of our so-called leaders are as skillful in politics as the criminal bandits ravaging our communities – towns and vil­lages. We must appeal to these so-called leaders to come back to their senses. For anybody to claim our party’s membership, not even emerge as a leader, the legal standing of such a person must be beyond suspect.

“One will expect any leader of the party with any claim of being a progressive or even democratic politician to wel­come the need to have member­ship registration/verification ahead of the APC National Convention.

“In fact, even after member­ship registration/verification, before we can satisfy that there are legal delegates for any Na­tional Convention, APC would require Ward, Local Govern­ment, and State Congresses.

“These congresses need to hold ahead of the National Convention to affirm that the delegates to attend the National Convention have the authority of party members.”

The PGF DG further ex­plained that the debate ought to be about how to conduct both the membership registration and congresses in ways that would assist in resolving the lingering leadership crisis in the party.

He, however, said, “Sadly, it would appear that it is the old challenge of ensuring that the party remained with cri­sis-prone approaches based on some tight-fisted control of par­ty structures by some leaders.

“This means, the design is not about laying a strong foun­dation for the party based on which the rules of the party are the reference point but in­stead ensuring that the party is controlled by some designated leaders whose only objective is to manipulate the process of candidate selection for elec­tions.

“These so-called leaders advocating for APC to have National Convention without going through the process of membership registration/ verification simply want to plant their surrogates as the new leaders of the party. To achieve that, false arguments are being presented that the National Convention of the party doesn’t require mem­bership registration.”

President Muhammadu Buhari, had on Tuesday gave the Buni Committee to go ahead with the registration and revalidation exercise.

The 13-member caretaker committee, headed by Yobe State Governor, Mala Buni, was given six months to com­plete its assignment, including organising a national conven­tion for new leaders to emerge and also to reconcile aggrieved members of the party.

Due to the perceived inac­tion of the committee to roll out a timetable for the con­vention, a group, Concerned Members of the All Progres­sives Congress, warned the caretakers not to stay beyond December.

It also threatened to ap­proach the court for interpreta­tion of the party’s constitution, especially the composition of the committee, which it said violated section 17 (4) of the party’s constitution.

Reacting to the develop­ments in the party, Nabena said: “It is important that the APC conducts its planned national convention to pro­duce the party’s national leadership as a united house. Otherwise the main aim of constituting the committee following the dissolution of the immediate-past National Working Committee (NWC) will be defeated.

“The planned nation­wide registration, update, revalidation of the party’s membership register will undoubtedly cement the APC’s political and numeri­cal status as Nigeria’s largest political party.

“Also, the committee has resuscitated the party’s inter­nal dispute resolution mech­anisms and has set up recon­ciliation committees for Oyo, Edo, Ondo, Imo, Ogun and Ek­iti among other states chapters with reported disputes.

The committees are already meeting with the key stake­holders in the various states and have achieved substantial reconciliation in many states.”

Nabena said ahead of the planned APC national con­vention and the 2023 general elections, stakeholders should continue to support the com­mittee’s efforts to unite the par­ty in order to make it formida­ble enough to consolidate on its national governing status and landmark achievements.

He added that the ruling party must not go into a na­tional convention and general elections in crisis.

“We should take it one step at a time and ensure that the ongoing national reconcilia­tion process being undertaken by the committee is sustained, successful and continues to yield results,” he added.

#independentng