Television Nigerian

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it is putting together a plan to challenge the impeachment of Zamfara deputy governor, Alhaji Mahdi Aliyu, by the state House of Assembly from his position as the state’s deputy governor.

This was stated by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Debo Ologunagba, in an official statement issued in Abuja.

In his statement, Ologunagba claimed that the impeachment by the House was illegal and, as a result, void.

This violent assault on the Rule of Law in Zamfara has prompted the PDP to conduct a thorough review of the situation and to take whatever actions are necessary.

“In any case, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the people of Zamfara will not stand by and allow impunity to be imposed on the state, and appropriate legal action is being taken in this regard.”

The judiciary has previously demonstrated its capacity and ability to defend the Constitution and the Rule of Law, and as a result, our party has implicit confidence in it, he added.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Aliyu was removed from office by the House of Representatives on February 22.

This followed the adoption of a motion by the APC’s Majority Leader, Faruku Dosara (Maradun 1), at the party’s plenary meeting in Gusau earlier this month.

After the House of Representatives adopted the report of the Justice Haladu Tanko panel, which investigated allegations of cross misconduct and abuse of office against the deputy governor, the motion was introduced.

Speaking during the session, Speaker Nasiru Muazu directed Mr Clerk Saidu Anka to conduct a voice vote on the impeachment, and 22 out of the 22 lawmakers present voted in favor, leading to the deputy governor being formally impeached and removed from office.

Gov. Bello Matawalle and Aliyu were both elected to office on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but the governor later defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on June 28, 2021. After Aliyu decided to remain in the PDP, their relationship deteriorated further.

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A Pro-Northern group, Arewa Citizens Action for Good Governance, has warned the All Progressives Congress, APC against zoning the 2023 presidency to the South.

There has been reports in some section of the media that the APC has zoned the presidency to the south.

But Arewa Citizens Action for Good Governance at a press conference on Friday, in Abuja, said the news must have been orchestrated by “enemies” of the party, adding that if the party commit “the blunder” of zoning the presidency to the south, it will lose the 2023 general elections “so blatantly”.

The Arewa Citizens Action for Good Governance through its President, Alhaji Umar Gwandu said it doesn’t believe in rotation of power, stressing that “Nigeria went wrong when we focused on distribution rather than production. Our love for distribution has gone as far as saying that in a local government, Chairmanship should rotate; that is very absurd, and even stupid for anyone to conceive such thought.”

The group while describing the alleged zoning of the 2023 presidency to the South as a “gang-up against the North”, said zoning should have no place in polity as it breeds mediocrity.

It warned the APC to refrain from nursing such “ridiculous thoughts” among it’s members and move away from “this fixation about distribution to selecting or picking the best person to get the job done.”

The group said it was the turn of other regions of the North to be zoned for presidency, adding that “there are other geo-political Northern zones like the North Central, which we expect to be next in line for zoning of presidency.”

The Arewa Citizens Action for Good Governance gave the All Progressives Congress, APC seven days ultimatum to clear up the air on the “so called” zoning of presidency to the south.

“The Arewa citizens action for good governance is giving APC a stern warning, asking that the battle line does not get drawn! We are giving APC an ultimatum of seven days to clear up the air on the so called zoning of presidency to the south. We are giving them seven days, and nothing more, we hope that the air gets cleared before time runs out and that our demands are met because we all want a peaceful, and will not want to be pushed to the wall,” the group warned.

Popular Nigerian clergy, Bishop Prince Madaki, has revealed that God has anointed Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, to takeover from President Muhammad Buhari in Aso Villa, come 2023.

According to a statement he personally signed on Friday, Madaki said it would take God Himself to reverse the presidency of Governor Bello, whom he described as the “chosen one”.

Bishop Madaki, who is the President of Concerned Middlebelt Christian Forum of Nigeria, was reacting to the media report that the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) may have zoned its 2023 presidential ticket to the south, the move, if found to be true, could jeopardize the ambition of the youthful Governor of Kogi.

The clergy said the APC would be making a great mistake if they field a candidate other than Bello, pointing that it was “some of his (Bello) colleagues at the PGF that are pushing for this zoning”.

“Let me sound this and sound it well too, nobody fights God’s chosen one and succeeds. God has anointed Governor Yahaya Bello to be the next President of this country and there is nothing anyone can do about it. It is only God who can reverse this.

“Gov. Yahaya Bello will be president in 2023 and those conspiring against him are only telling God to do more for him. It doesn’t matter if he is the youngest of them all. It doesn’t also matter if he is not as rich as others. But God has chosen him.

“In the book of Judges 7:13-25, we were told that Gideon was the youngest from the poorest family of Manasseh, yet, God chose him and used him to bring down the dreaded army of Midianite and returned glory to Israel”, the Clergy said.

While eulogizing the victory of Bello over insecurity in Kogi, the Clergy also admitted that, President Buhari has done his best in fighting insurgencies, saying, “if not for a man like PMB, Boko Haram and bandits would have taken over the country since 2016”.

He stressed that, like Gideon defeated the Midianites that have been terrorizing his people, God has also called Bello to consolidate on the records of President Buhari, by dealing with the issue of insecurity once and for all and bringing insurgencies to its bearest minimum, adding that, “if he could do it successfully in Kogi, he can also do it for Nigeria”.

Describing the APC presidential aspirant as a God fearing man who would unite the country; Bishop Madaki said Bello would not steal a dime from Nigeria, “instead, he will use his energy and courage to fix some of the things that are not in place in the country”.

Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, the immediate past Senate President, has stated that Nigeria is sick and in need of a youthful, vigorous, and bright leader to lead the country out of its current security and economic crises.

Saraki was in Kaduna, where he met with former Vice President Namadi Sambo, former governors of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Ramalan Yero, as well as other PDP stakeholders, to discuss his presidential ambitions in 2023.

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He was accompanied on the consultation tour by Prof. Iyorwuese Hagher, chairman of Abubakar Bukola Saraki’s Contact and Mobilization Committee for the 2023 presidential election, and other members of the committee, including former National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, and former Kwara State Governor, Sen. Mohammed Shaaba Lafiagi.

He claimed that Nigerians must do everything possible to remove the current party, the APC, noting that the PDP has young and dynamic individuals who, if given the mandate to lead the country, might restore sanity to the system.

Saraki’s presidency, according to Hagher, will be a double blessing for the country because he is a medical practitioner who is young and active and eager to listen to citizens’ desires and drive the country ahead in all aspects of life.

“We met with former Vice President Namadi Sambo, former Governor Ahmed Makarfi, former Governor Ramalan Yero, and past and current PDP Senators,” he stated. They allowed us to come to Kaduna and address the larger house. We joined the PDP because the APC is not a party we want to join.”

Nigerians, he claims, are sick and weary of the APC, which he describes as a collection of weird bedfellows who banded together to inflict suffering on Nigerians through civilian dictatorship.

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Mr. Hassan Hyat, the PDP’s State Chairman, seized the opportunity to denounce the recent impeachment of the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, a PDP member, as well as the country’s security situation.

The All Progressive Congress Mandate Group (APC-MG), has urged party members and general public to disregard any rumour that the 2023 presidency may have been zoned to the southern region of the country.

This was, even as, the group also said the party never met to tip Senator Abdullahi Adamu as a consensus candidate for national chairmanship ahead of the March 26 national convention.

Alhaji Sani Abdullahi, National Chairman of the group, which is made up of eminent party members, in a statement on Thursday, warned against few individuals arrogating powers to themselves by trying to decide the fate of the ruling party, without recourse to the teeming party members across the country.

“The APC-MG noted with dismay, the purported endorsement of a former governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu, as the national chairman of APC and the reported zoning of the party’s presidential ticket for the 2023 General Election to to the South of the country.

“The APC Mandate Group has consequently directed the party members and Nigerians in general to disregard purported endorsement of Adamu as chairman and the zoning of APC presidential ticket”, the statement said.

APC-MG described those promoting the twin-stories of the endorsement and zoning in the media as “purveyors of fake news and merchants of lies”.

It stressed that, “the decision on the APC presidential flagbearer is something beyond Nasiru El- Rufai or Kayode Fayemi or Mohammed Badaru, who are only entitled to one vote each when it is time for elections”.

It pointed out that, “the party members would not have at any time treated Adamu as a top contender for its national leadership when he woefully failed to unite the party when he had the simple task of the Chairman of APC Reconciliation Committee”.

The Group said its assertion is based on verifiable facts that the APC did not at any time meet to take these decisions. It clarified that a group of people meeting as a “cabal” do not constitute the APC, which is founded on a recognized constitution with known organs that have responsibility for decisions at various stages.

It stated that the few members of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) that have been presenting their desire as mainstream decision of the APC have to awake to the reality that they have no right to decide for the rest of the party, since the PGF is not an organ created by the APC Constitution “and is not also the National Working Committee of the party to arrogate such powers to itself”.

“APC-MG is challenging the PGF to publish adopted minutes of any APC meeting where it was agreed that the presidency should be zoned to any region of the country as they are now championing”, while stating that “illegal agreements reached in covens cannot be allowed to supplant the democratic process that will take place at an elective party convention”.

According to the group, the system of endorsement and zoning being championed by the PGF is contrived to deny Nigerians of quality leadership and that it was evident the “cartel of state governors” are working towards personalizing Nigeria for their own selfish gains, which well-meaning Nigerians should do well to stand against at this point.

The Group warned that no one should take the party and its members for granted since the ultimate power belongs to the people and not a handful of overbearing state governors, while hinting that those attempting to hijack party would have to live with the reality of a deserted APC, should they provoke the larger population of the party to defect to a new platform.

It called on Nigerians to take interest in what is going on in the APC, “since these same governors through their proxies are linked to the process of who becomes the presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP), which would effectively see them imposing either of two candidates on Nigerians as the next president when the people, through party primaries and general elections, should be the ones to make such calls”.