Politics
Kalu, Adikwuru Disagree Over PDP’s Decision To Throw Open Presidential Ticket
Two prominent People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains from the South East geo-political zones, Chief Emeka Charles Kalu, and Hon. Dennis Adikwuru, on Saturday disagreed over the decision of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to throw open its presidential ticket instead of zoning it to the South in general or South East in particular.
The National Coordinator, Peoples Democratic Party Coalition (PDPCO), Chief Emeka Kalu, who hails from the Abia State and Hon. Dennis Adikwuru, a PDP Leader in Aboh Mbaise area of Imo State, have been very strong strategists in the party over the years.
In separate interviews with journalists over the weekend, Chief Kalu, one-time governorship candidate in Abia State, said that the PDP NEC’s action amounted to the scuttling of equity and ethnic inclusiveness, while Adikwuru, maintained that the decision was to broaden the scope of the aspiration to the presidency and to fully activate the fundamental right of individuals to seek the highest position in the land.
According to Kalu, the PDP NEC’s decision to toe the line of the recommendation of its Presidential Zoning Committee had brought a heavy downpour on the Southerners, especially the people of South Eastern Region, even as he called on the party’s stakeholders from the South to unite and unselfishly create a platform of solidarity to pick one consensus candidate from the aspirants from the region.
He said: “As the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the People’s Democratic Party on unanimous decision threw open the party’s presidential ticket where every NWC certified aspirant across the six geo-political zones are qualified to contest, it brought a heavy downpour on the Southerners, especially the people of South Eastern region.
“One would begin to imagine what must have guided the recently constituted Presidential Zoning Committee under the sportsmanship and chairmanship of Gov Samuel Ortom, Rt. Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Barrister. Aliyu Gausau, who functioned in chairmanship, vice and Secretary ship capacities a few months ago to help our great party achieve a milestone of success.
“Today, we had it on trending news that PDP has officially jettisoned zoning by creating a window where every screened and certified aspirant despite where he or she comes from is qualified to run for the party’s primaries.
“In line with the tenet of equity and frankness, PDP was supposed to have ceded her presidential ticket to South East where all contests from the said ethnic zones would be courageously testing his or her popularity in the our present day democratic settings.
“This is because the South East has been deep-rootedly marginalised, dating back from the time of Abraham and Metusellah.”
Kalu maintained that the PDP Coalition “vigorously” believed in the unity, togetherness and indivisibility of its members’ common bond as the largest party in Africa, and had politically matured beyond fluttering manipulations and gross political intimidation, knowing full well that it had been the party growing the nation’s transformation glory before it lost power to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said: “APC schemed, hatched and corruptly won election and took over power in 2015 of which the aftermath of her misrule has landed Nigeria into the dens of excruciating economic hardship.
“Here we are talking about a government of national unity while the monster pillar of ethnic bigotry and nepotism has not been crushed.”
Kalu asked: “How would Nigeria achieve a landmark success in nation building in the face of our defenseless children who are still languishing in the hands of their abductors without any formidable steps by the APC-led Federal Government towards securing their freedom?
“The cropping challenges likely to erupt and confront our great party in the face of throwing presidential ticket open, is that agitation, clamour and drives for Biafra State creation would unstoppably continue to increase on a higher degree of seriousness and determination.
“I am not affirming or portraying that if a South Easterner is not elected the next president of Nigeria that heavens will let loose, but painstakingly and deftly analysing the monumental risks of fragility likely to erupt when we have not been able to tackle the present crises plaguing the country.
“It is a pity that PDP having seen the militating bad eggs confronting Nigeria’s economic growth and national unity, still accepted the misguided inputs of some greed -trapped party stakeholders to have endorsed the presidential open ticket contest.
“We must strive to call a spade what it originally means if we actually want the desired change in our heart to manifest.
“Change is all about next level improvement in our expectations. Something that takes away twines of unbelief in man by manuring man’s consciousness towards result-oriented plans.
“In conclusion, Igbos are being cheated and swindled when it comes to power sharing and equal distributions of the scarce resources. Without any iota of doubts, PDP stands a better chance of winning the presidential election as she in turn works to uproot the jeopardising factors from its usual habitual undertakings that brings unnecessary rancour, rifts and differences among the concerned.”
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed, through a second reading, a bill seeking to retain immunity for the Office of the President and remove immunity from the Vice President, the Governors and the Deputy Governors.
The bill was one of the 42 considered and passed through the second reading stage during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja.
Sponsored by Hon. Solomon Bob (Rivers PDP), the bill is seeking the amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to guard against abuse of office and to ensure transparency in governance.
The long title of the proposed legislation read: “A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to qualify the immunity conferred on the President, remove the immunity conferred on the Vice President, the Governors and their deputies, in order to curb corruption, eradicate impunity and enhance accountability in public office and for related matters.”
Key amendments include changes to Section 308 of the Constitution, which currently grants immunity to the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.
The proposed bill will amend subsection 3 to ensure that immunity only applies to the President and the vice president when acting as President under Section 145 of the Constitution.
Additionally, a new subsection 4 will be introduced to make the immunity clause inapplicable if the office holder is acting in an unofficial capacity, engaging in actions beyond the powers of the office, or involved in criminal conduct.
“The bill seeks to foster transparency and strengthen the fight against corruption by making public officials more accountable for their actions, both in and out of office.”
“Section 308 of the principal Act is amended by:(a) substituting a new subsection (3) as follows: “(3) This section applies to a person holding the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President only when acting as President, in line with Section 145 of this Constitution.
Creating sub section (4) thereto as follows:”(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall be inapplicable where the person to whom this section applies is acting in an unofficial capacity or where the conduct of the person is beyond the powers of his office or the conduct is criminal in nature.
“This Bill may be cited as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Act 2024.
The bill is currently awaiting further debate and consideration by the National Assembly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has written to notify Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, about the petition by constituents seeking her recall from the national assembly.
INEC said it has also received the contact details of the petitioners.
“Pursuant to section 69 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I write to notify you of the receipt of a petition from representatives of registered voters in your constituency seeking your recall from the senate.
“The notification is in line with the provisions of clause 2 (a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
“This letter is also copied to the presiding officer of the senate and simultaneously published on the commission’s website. Thank you”, the letter read.
The letter was signed by Ruth Oriaran Anthony, secretary to the commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Wednesday, INEC said it has now received the updated contact details from representatives of petitioners seeking to recall the senator.
In the statement, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, said a letter notifying the senator of the petition has been delivered to her official address, copied to the senate presiding officer, and published on the commission’s website.
“The next step is to scrutinise the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to ascertain that the petition is signed by more than one half (over 50%) of the registered voters in the constituency. This will be done in the coming days.
“The outcome, which will be made public, shall determine the next step to be taken by the Commission. We once again reassure Nigerians that the process will be open and transparent”, Mr Olumekun said.
Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The allegation came in the wake of seating arrangement related altercation between Senator. Akpabio and the Kogi Central senator at the red chamber
She was subsequently suspended from the senate for six months for “gross misconduct” over the incident.
The constituents behind the recall move also accused her of “gross misconduct, abuse of office, and deceitful behaviour”.
The senator has denied wrongdoing and called the recall effort a “coordinated suppression” of her voice.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the second reading of a bill to upgrade the Lagos State 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs ).
The bill, was sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers.
The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Accommodate the Thirty-Seven (37) Development Area Councils of Lagos State as Full-Fledged Local Government Areas, Increasing the Total Number of Local Government Areas in the Federation to Eight Hundred and Eleven (811), and for Related Matters (HB. 1498),”
Once fully enacted, Nigeria’s total number of LGAs will rise from 774 to 811, with Lagos overtaking Kano and Katsina, which currently have 44 and 34 LGAs, respectively.
Proponents of the bill argue that granting full LGA status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people. The 37 LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 when he was governor of Lagos State.
However, it’s worth noting that the Lagos State House of Assembly has been working on a bill to replace the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas.