PDP Caucus Meeting: Our Party Will Attract People Like Magnet - Jonathan

National Expanded Caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party​, PDP,​ met in Abuja Monday night​, ​​with an agreement to rebuild the party​ as it prepares for its national convention. 

It was the first gathering of members of the party since the Supreme Court sacked the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led national working committee ​last Wednesday.
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In attendance were former President Goodluck Jonathan; ​Chairman of the party’s National Caretaker Committee, Makarfi​ ​and Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Ayodele Fayose.
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Speaking, ​Jonathan told the gathering, which included Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu; a former President of the Senate, David Mark; and governors of Rivers, Taraba, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Gombe states​,​ that a strong party would attract the people.

Jonathan said, “First thing to do is to build the party because a strong party is the key to expansion. A strong party acts like a magnet and will attract all the people. Nigerians still believe in the PDP.
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”​So many people including non-politicians were happy at the PDP victory in Supreme Court.”

The former President insisted that the PDP remained the largest party that could unite the country.
He ​said​ that his presence was to appreciate members of the PDP, adding that the party passed through some challenges and came out of them peacefully.

In his remarks, Makarfi commended the members of the party for “being unyielding in their faith on the judicial system.”

He said members of other political parties were already planning to defect to the PDP, but said he would not mention their names and where they would be coming from.

“This hall will not contain us by the time they start to come back to the PDP. I will not tell you who they are or where they are,” the former governor of Kaduna State said.
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In his remark, Fayose said: ​“The APC must die so that the PDP can rise. Old change will give way for a new change. Now the coast is clear, all the party leaders should go home and work for the PDP.

“If this party must win, get Nigerians’ confidence restored, our leaders must go home to boost the party.

“If this party must return to power, we need to get the confidence of Nigerians.”

By Wale Odunsi

Tinubu Hosts Federal Lawmakers In Lagos

Bola Tinubu, All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader, has charged federal lawmakers to come up with legislation that would help in promoting the country’s diversity.

Tinubu spoke when the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu led Senate and House of Representatives Committee on the review of 1999 Constitution on a visit at his residence in Lagos on Saturday.

He said: “I urge you to continue to work for the unity of the nation for our diversity to be meaningful.

“I promise to be available to render any assistance by providing suggestions and ideas that can foster a greater Nigeria.

“Do not allow excuses turn you to the house-of-do-nothing

 “The country is not in a panic mode because of the way you have given effect to the executive constitutional requests”.

Tinubu also urged the legislators to take another look at some of the items in the exclusive federal list, which he described as too loaded.

According to him, this will pave the way for the practice of true federalism in the country.

Earlier, Ekweremadu said the visit was to honour Tinubu as a prominent leader and a former Senator.

The deputy president of the Senate described him as a man of “great expertise in the art of governance and law-making”.

He added that the lawmakers would always be ready to learn from his wealth of knowledge.

By Wale Odunsi

Supreme Court PDP Judgement: No Victor, No Vanquished - DSP Ekweremadu

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, says the Supreme Court judgment on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leadership crisis, ushers in a new dawn of peace, reconciliation, and recovery for the party.

Reacting to the apex court’s verdict on Wednesday, Ekweremadu said it was a no victor and no vanquished situation for individual party members, but rather a collective victory for the entire party faithful and the nation’s democracy.

He said: “I am happy that the Supreme Court has brought this protracted leadership tussle to an end today. There is no victor and there is no vanquished, but a collective victory for our party and the nation’s democracy. No democracy can prosper in the absence of a virile opposition or under the extreme hardship Nigerians have faced over the past two years. Citizens deserve a viable alternative. 

“The ruling party has indeed profited from the prolonged power contest, not just in terms of defections, but also in the unchallenged degeneration of democratic values, rule of law, electoral practice, and the economy because the PDP has been too distracted to keep them on their toes.

“But, it is heartwarming that calm is returning after the storm. I salute millions of our party faithful and Nigerians who stood firm to weather the storm for their courage and loyalty, and sincerely appeal to those who left for one reason or the other to return to our big political family.

“Importantly, I call on our party leadership and elders to immediately initiate an all-inclusive peace, reconciliation, and rebuilding process to reunite everybody under the big umbrella and reinvigorate the biggest party in Africa to bounce back to the rescue of the suffering masses of Nigeria come 2019”.

By Yemi Itodo

OsunWest By-Election: INEC Has revived Our hope In The System – Ekweremadu

The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has congratulated the winner of the Osun West Senatorial District bye-election, Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on his victory, describing the poll as “a glimmer of hope for the nation’s electoral system.”

Reacting to the outcome of the election, Ekweremadu said, it was not only victory for the PDP, but 

also more importantly, a victory for the nation’s democracy.

He said: “I congratulate the Senator-elect, Ademola Adeleke, and our party faithful in Osun State in particular on this symbolic victory.

“For our party, it shows that working together as one big family, we can always show strength, achieve great results, and surmount every obstacle in rebuilding the fortunes of our party and restoring good governance to the country.

“It also appears the Independent National Electoral Commission is beginning to get it right in reviving hope and confidence of the people in the potency and sanctity of the ballot box. We will tread the path of cautious optimism, watching and believing that sanity is beginning to return to the electoral system, once again”.

Ekweremadu commended the people of Osun West for their vigilance and peaceful conducts during the election, saying they not only voted, but also ensured that their votes counted in a peaceful atmosphere.

He expressed confidence that the Senator-elect would provide robust and quality representation as his late brother, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, had done in the past.

By Yemi Itodo

Nigeria Needs To Be Restructured - DSP Ekweremadu

Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, says Nigerian Government must be trimmed so that it can function effectively.

He also called for the decentralisation of the Police and establishment of State Police.

Ekweremadu spoke in a chat with newsmen on Monday.

His words: “We believe that the Federal Governemnt as presently constituted is too begin and we need to adjust it. In a situation where you have in the concurrent list only about 16 items, most of the other things are in the exclusive list.

“It doesn’t make sense: so we need to find a way of trimming the Federal Government to the benefit of the component states so that some of these issues don’t become federal issues and that is the idea of federalism.

“We are looking at that: things like arbitration, agriculture, environment and such issues. Some of these things should go to the concurrent list and even Police”.

On State Police, he said: “We cannot decentralise the police now because some people are still opposed to it but i think it is beginning to make sense that you cannot be able to deal with our security situation in Nigeria except we change our security architecture.

“There is no place in this world where there is a federal system, has a unitary tyoe of policing which we have now and that is why we will continue to get it wrong in solving our security problems.

“It is not going to work until we change the architecture of our policing: a federal state as big as Nigeria must have to adopt a decentralised police.

“This means that in Sokoto they will create their kind of Police, in Kano they will create their own: the kind of Police that will work in Kano may not necessarily work in Enugu”.

The DSP added that fear of abuse by state government can be addressed by creating a commission that can monitor the police, like the NJC monitors the judiciary.

By Wale Odunsi