APC Seeks Dialogue With PDP on Violence-free Polls-Omololu Ogunmade, Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and Sheriff Balogun in Abeokuta

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Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, national chairman of APC

•   Ruling party loses six senators to opposition party, three to allied parties

Worried by growing incidences of pre-election violence, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked for a parley with the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on how both parties and indeed the electoral process can run smoothly without violence.

The APC spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday in a statement noted that the desire for the parley derives from a meeting held last May.

In the statement, the party said such a meeting would send a powerful message of zero tolerance to violence to the supporters of both parties as well as other parties and indeed the entire people of Nigeria and serve to douse the tension that is building up ahead of the elections.

It said the call is a follow-up to the practical steps that had been taken by the party (APC), dating back to May 2014, when it first wrote to the leadership of the PDP calling for such a meeting.

''Following up on a meeting of representatives of both parties in Washington, DC, US, April 7-8 2014 under the auspices of the CSIS Nigeria Election Forum, at which it was agreed that a joint meeting of both parties be convened to discuss and agree on the crucial issue of a Code of Conduct for the campaigns and the elections, we wrote a letter to the PDP suggesting a bipartisan meeting to address the issue.

''We have since been following up on the letter, the latest effort being on December 28th 2014, when we again called for the holding of the bipartisan meeting. Apart from its reply to our initial letter, the PDP has not responded to our peace overtures till date,'' APC said.

The party, however, said that whether or not the PDP signs on to such a meeting, the APC - as a peaceful party - would continue to educate its members and supporters on the need to eschew all forms of violence before, during and after the election.

APC restated its pledge to continue working for violence-free polls next month, even though the opposition party had been at the receiving end of a series of grave acts of violence in recent times.

''It is common knowledge that our supporters were shot at while travelling to Port Harcourt for the inaugural presidential campaign on January 6th 2015. The police even prevented those of them who were hospitalised and treated for gunshot wounds from being discharged.

''Also, our office in Okrika was bombed on January 11th 2015. Another major incident is the burning of the Jonathan campaign buses in Jos, which is a PDP-on-PDP violence in the wake of the intra-party crisis in Plateau after an apparently unpopular candidate was rigged in as the party's governorship flag-bearer in the state. The APC had nothing to do with the Jos violence, even though the PDP has tried to spin it in order to portray our supporters as being behind it.

''Even then, our presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, moved fast to condemn the violence in Jos. On the contrary, neither President Jonathan nor any of his party leaders has condemned the shooting of our supporters and the bombing of our office in Okrika,'' the party said.

It said only the PDP could benefit from acts of violence, because it does not want the forthcoming elections to hold, having seen the handwriting on the wall, adding: ''We suspect that is why the party has been cold to our persistent calls for a meeting of the leadership of the two major parties to avert violence.''

APC said as a party waiting in the wings to assume office at the centre on the strength of the votes of Nigerians next month, it could not allow violence to scuttle the will of the people.

The party also expressed curiosity at the escalating Boko Haram crisis in the North-east, saying it fits perfectly into the strategic plan of the PDP to depopulate areas where it is not popular ahead of the elections.

It said, however, that Nigerians would reject violence and vote en masse to bring about the much-needed change in the country, instead of the continuity of insecurity, poverty, corruption, bad economy, impunity and bad leadership which the PDP is clamouring for.

Obasanjo Charges Candidates on Corruption, Economy, Infrastructure
Aside the issue of violence, former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday tasked the two leading presidential candidates -- President Jonathan of the PDP and General Muhammadu Buhari of the APC – to make the issue of security, corruption and security top their agenda.

Obasanjo had, at different times, played host to both presidential hopefuls on Monday when they variously stormed Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, in furtherance of their presidential campaigns.

The former president and President Jonathan had recently exchanged some brickbats, with the latter declaring that “some statesmen are mere motor park touts”, in a veiled reference to the former president who had earlier attacked him on the mismanagement of the Nigerian economy.

Obasanjo while addressing the Buhari/Osinbajo campaign train that visited him at his Hilltop residence, Abeokuta, told the team that “I will just beg all of you who are contesting to add economy, corruption and security on your agenda.”

He said: “For all political parties that are trying to woo us to vote for them in the coming election, let's go away from red-herring, let's go away from trivialities, let's face issues and tell the people of this country what we will do to deal with these crying problems of our country.”

He continued: “Having said that, I will also say that while a party must be a microcosm of a nation - and in a nation you will have near saints, devils, rapists, armed robbers etc., and so a good party must have all these in them.”

He therefore said that what matters was that when that party has to go into government, it must look for men and women of character.

“And we have them in all parties; we have them throughout the nooks and crannies of this country. Again I wish you well as you go around,” he added.

Buhari, who spoke earlier, said he would not come to Abeokuta in whatever capacity without calling to pay his respect to the former president.

According to him, “We have been going around three fundamental issues: security, economy, corruption. This vicious circle is what the APC is determined to break.”

He said without security, there is no way the country can settle down not to talk of living in it, adding:  "So many people, educated and uneducated, some said up to 60 per cent, will say Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gun powder."

While speaking on corruption, he said his party believed that if they are able to stop corruption, a lot of resources would be available to invest in infrastructure, get the factories to reopen, get jobs, and get goods and services.

"So, security, economy, in terms of employment, production, manufacturing, goods and services, and then agriculture will again give impetus to employment," he said.

He added: "We have to be systematic and work to make sure that the vast land we have is cultivated not only to produce food, but to produce raw materials for agro-allied industries, which used to be very viable but which we allowed to die because everybody has concentrated on getting oil money. Now the oil money is dwindling rapidly; I think we better come back to our senses."

He however said: "This is what we intend to do and this is contained in our manifesto. We are not going to be inflexible the way some people accused us of doing it."

"We are going to be dynamic as we go along and that's why I said we are here to seek your understanding and your support, in spite of the political card you hold," he added.

Meanwhile, the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation has praised the Nigerian president for joining world leaders in denouncing the senseless killing of 19 French citizens in Paris in his statement on Tuesday, January 7th.

The campaign organisation, however, said in a statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, that the same level of compassion and empathy should be shown to Nigerians who have suffered similar tragedies at home.

"Nothing less should be expected of any leader worthy of the name. Our request to Dr. Jonathan is that he forgot to do the same for the families of Nigerians senselessly killed in Baga, Borno State where 150 as confirmed by the Spokesman of the military high command or 2,000 as claimed by the local council chairman. Nigerians are equally deserving of such soothing words of compassion and empathy.

"These victims of violence are not mere statistics. They are human beings. One dead Nigerian is as good as 150 or 2,000. We urge Mr. President to look inward and bring succour to his own people,” he said.

PDP Loses Nine Senators to Other Parties
But while both parties explore the possibility of a violence-free election, the ruling PDP may have suffered a knee-jerk jolt as nine of its senators have defected to opposition parties like APC, Labour Party (LP) and Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA).

The defections are fallout of the PDP primaries of last November in which many of the serving senators lost their re-election bid.

They alleged that PDP was hijacked by their state governors in collaboration with the national leadership of the party.

Some of the senators, who had been warmly received by the opposition parties, had been handed governorship and senatorial tickets respectively in their states.

The senators are Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi Central), Barnabas Gemade (Benue North-east), Bassey Otu (Cross River South), Mohammed Magoro (Kebbi South), Ita Enang (Akwa Ibom), Nurudeed Abatemi-Usman (Kogi Central), Saidu Alkali (Gombe North), Helen Esuene (Akwa Ibom South) and Ahmad Zanna (Borno Central).

While Bagudu is now the governorship candidate of APC in Kebbi State, Otu is the senatorial candidate of LP in Cross River South, while Abatemi-Usman is the senatorial candidate of PPA in Kogi Central.

In the same vein, a former National Chairman of the PDP, Gemade, has picked APC senatorial ticket in Benue North-east following the insistence of Governor Gabriel Suswam to fly the PDP flag in Benue  North-east senatorial district at the April 14 election.

Also Zannah and Alkali emerged senatorial candidates of APC in their respective senatorial districts, while Enang who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business and Esuene also left PDP for APC in protest of Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio's alleged decision to deny them a level playing field in the senatorial and governorship primaries in the state last year.

However, the duo did not defect to APC to seek elective positions but rather in expression of their grievances over the alleged shoddy conduct of PDP primaries in the state. Esuene is one of the aggrieved 22 governorship aspirants in the state who rejected the outcome of the governorship primary in which Emmanuel Udom was declared winner.

This recent development has further altered the configuration of the Senate.

With the defection of 11 senators from PDP to APC on January 29, last year, APC's ranks in the Senate swelled, although PDP still retained its majority in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

The configuration of the Senate at the time was altered to PDP – 61, APC 44; LP – three and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) – 1.

But the defection of six senators from APC in recent times brought the number of APC senators down to 38 while the number of PDP senators rose from 61 to 67.

In the same vein, the three LP senators -- Akinyelure Patrick Ayo, Boluwaji Kunlere and Joshua Dariye dumped LP for PDP.

Besides, Senators Ayo Adeseun (Oyo Central), Solomon Ewuga (Nasarawa North) and Chris Anyanwu formerly of APGA also joined PDP.

On the other hand, while three other APC senators from Ogun State, Adegbenga Kaka (Ogun East); Olugbenga Obadara (Ogun Central) and Akin Odunsi (Ogun West) had left the party for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), another senator, Femi Lanlehin (Oyo South), left APC for Accord Party. Therefore, the current configuration of the Senate is PDP - 58; APC - 45; SDP -3, Accord -1, PPA- 1 and Labour - 1.

Culled from Thisday