Press statement from APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has insisted that the DG of DSS, Mr. Lawal Daura, is not a card-carrying member of the party, saying nothing short of producing Mr. Daura’s membership card or evidence of his membership registration will convince discerning Nigerians that he is indeed a member of the APC as alleged by the PDP.

"While it amounts to rabble-rousing and crass politicking for the PDP to have wrongly accused Mr. Daura of being a member of the APC without a scintilla of credible evidence, the PDP has weakened its argument by using the pictures in which Mr. Daura appeared with the President and the fact that he served in an election committee as evidence of his membership of the APC,” the party said in a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

”Possession of an APC membership card by Mr. Daura or evidence of registration as a party member at his ward, local government or state will be the only conclusive evidence of his membership of the party,” it said. ”Until such an evidence is produced, we are sorry we have to tell the PDP to shut up!” APC said the PDP is jittery because it is keenly aware of the kind of impunity perpetrated under the federal government it sired from 1999 to 2015.

”PDP has forgotten the saying that he who must come to equity must come with clean hands. When Mr. Mike Okiro chaired the security committee of the PDP campaign in 2011, did that prevent him from being appointed the Chair of the Police Service Commission, which is responsible for issues concerning the welfare, promotion and discipline of all police personnel, in 2013?

”When the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, was appointed into the Jonathan election committee in 2015, did he resign his appointment as head of the agency or did he automatically become a card-carrying member of the PDP?

”Did retired Col. Kayode Are not become the DG of the DSS despite being a close confidante of Gen. Obasanjo during his electioneering campaign to become President? Was this not under a PDP Federal Government? ”In any case, even in the world’s most advance democracy, United States, was a card-carrying Democrat, Mr. Leon Panetta, not named as head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by President Barack Obama in 2009?

Here in Nigeria, the APC-led FG has not even gone that far, and the PDP is blabbing. ”It is an irony that the APC-led Federal Government, which has continued to conduct the affairs of state with a strict adherence to the law, is the one being accused by the immoral, irresponsible and grossly hypocritical PDP. A party that should cover its face in shame for wasting all of 16 years in the life of our country, a party whose members should show penance by hunkering down has continued to assault the sensibilities of a decent nation. What a shame,” APC said.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary

National leader of APC, Bola Tinubu says contrary to popular opinion, he has not placed any demand on President Buhari since he assumed office. Tinubu said this while speaking to state house correspondents after breaking the Ramadan fast with President Buhari at the state house this evening

“I have no demands. If you understand what party politics and leadership is all about, it is about loyalty and commitment to the values which the leadership believes in. I believe in what the president believes in, I respect him and I stand firmly loyal to his cause. So you can go to any length of speculation that you might want, I have not responded to all of that because I understand the president and the president understands me clearly.” he said

He also spoke on the crisis rocking the National Assembly. He said he is backing what President Buhari has said on the matter

“That is an area where I am very cautious of my position and my utterances. I still want to keep my side of the interpretation or analysis to be able to achieve a resolution of the matter as quickly as possible. I am backing what the president has carefully enumerated and articulated to the party. The party is supreme. The party must have disciplined leadership and followers. The party’s process must be respected because that is the confidence and the trust of the people. However in every environment, we should have conflict, that is politics and conflict resolution mechanism would be applied to resolve all the problems so we are there. There is honour in every struggle and every competition, there must be honour in victory too.”he said

More facts have emerged on why former Lagos State governor Bola Tinubu, and former governor of Osun State Chief Bisi Akande boycotted the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party yesterday. A member of the National Working Committee (NWC) who was at the meeting said the former Lagos State governor was aware that there were plans to humiliate him and his henchmen.

“Tinubu knew that some people were prepared to fight him. He would have been humiliated by some people”, the official said.

He disclosed that the earlier arrangement was to engage him in a brawl and compel him to leave the venue of the meeting in anger.

“Those who were to humiliate him were on ground but his absence saved the day”, the APC chieftain added.

He stated that the party leadership, sensing how rancorous the meeting may be , tinkered with the idea of barring journalists from covering it.
According to him, the earlier plans were that photojournalists would be given five to 10 minutes to take pictures of the opening session and leave the scene. He said

“we tinkered with the plans of barring journalists from covering the event. We knew that anything could happen but we didn’t want to be ridiculed in the public.”

According to the source, Buhari’s men know that former Lagos State governor and his men want APC chairman Oyegun out because they didn’t succeed in “encircling the President with Tinubu’s men”.
He said “the President’s men refused to buy into the campaign that the National Chairman was compromised by Saraki. They didn’t see any evidence to that effect. Rather they believe that those who want him out were angry that that their agenda of encircling the president failed.
“They were angry that Oyegun was called up at 4am by forces from Lagos to do a dirty job. They even dropped the name of the President in all those dirty jobs. Instead of apologising to Mr President for lying with his name they are insisting that the National Chairman must go.”
He said the party should be “happy that PDP did not elect one of its own senate president. Saraki saved the party because there was nothing we would have done if they had elected one of their own as senate president. They formed a quorum, we were lucky that it did not go into their head to elect one of their own as senate president. And the mistake was because somebody in his desperation to have everything lied that the President called a meeting and took our lawmakers to a place they were not supposed to be.”
On the side of Atiku’s loyalists, it was gathered that they were against the removal of Oyegun because they were determined to cut Tinubu to size.
The source said “the other tendency which is loyal to the former Vice President does not want the structure of the party changed. It is against allowing Tinubu to take everything or call the shot in APC. It believes that the Vice President is a product of Tinubu and that should be enough for him.”
He continued “both Buhari’s men and that of Atiku worked together to save Oyegun. However, I don’t think the fight is over, it may be the beginning”.
Source: The Sun