Merger: ANPP governors to stop Sheriff

by: Yusuf Alli, Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja and Emmanuel Oladesu, Group Political Editor 

Following moves by the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to split the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the governors elected on ANPP platform and other stakeholders have moved against the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party, ex-Governor Modu Ali Sheriff.
Also, anxiety has gripped Borno political leaders over the “new deal” between the PDP and Sheriff.
The leaders alleged that the ‘secret’ deal involves dropping the ongoing investigation of Sheriff by security agencies in connection with the activities of Boko Haram (Western education is a sin) – the fundamentalist sect that has killed many in its campaign to impose Sharia, the strict Islamic code.
Sheriff has been quizzed by the State Security Service (SSS) over the emergence of the sect in Borno State during his tenure.
All the ANPP governors have endorsed the merger and vowed to keep the party intact against the pressure on Sheriff to factionalise it.
A highly-placed source, who spoke in confidence, said the governors vowed to checkmate Sheriff and those being asked to form a splinter group in ANPP.
The source said: “The ANPP governors are aware of the plot by the Presidency and the PDP to frustrate the merger of four parties by destabilising the party. They have also floated counter-plans to checkmate Sheriff and others working against the merger.
“The grand plan of the Presidency and the PDP is to create a crisis in ANPP, like the case with the Alliance for Democracy (AD) where two national chairmen emerged.
“They are trying to prevail on Sheriff to split the party and at the end of the day; the government will use its might to recognise only the Sheriff’s faction of the party.
“They want to technically edge out all ANPP governors, ex-governors, senators, and members of the House of Representatives and Houses of Assembly from the party.
“We have uncovered their plan; we will not allow it to succeed. No one can break ANPP.”
It was learnt that to demonstrate their commitment, some of the ANPP governors attended Tuesday session of the All Progressives Congress(APC) with vital stakeholders like National Assembly members, to be part of the session.
The source added: “At the appropriate time, the governors will come out openly on their position.”
Another source said: “They are wooing Sheriff with a bait to grant him reprieve on the ongoing investigation of his activities by security agencies on the emergence of Boko Haram crisis while in office.
“You can now see how desperate those in the ruling party have become. The security agencies quizzed Sheriff but till today, Nigerians have not been told their findings.
“What they have offered him is a reprieve from investigation if he can destabilize ANPP because they are desperate to win the Northeast.
“Nigerians should watch this development because it is certainly irritating and insulting to play politics with the security challenges in the Northeast.
“Instead of Sheriff factionalising ANPP, we will rather strengthen the party and later the APC to effect a change in 2015.”
The Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) yesterday joined the APC.
DPP National Chairman Major General Bashir Magashi told reporters after the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja that DPP had resolved to join the merger.
Magashi said the merger had become imperative adding that: “Before now we have been talking and by the grace of God this merger will succeed and we will dismantle a government that is not fair to the people of this country.”
The DPP NEC resolved: “In view of the current political development in the country, the NEC hereby resolves that the DPP should go into the merger. A committee be set up to talk with the other parties disposed to merger with a view to negotiating for the best interest of DPP. The committee is to report back within 21 days to the NEC through the national chairman who shall thereupon summon a NEC meeting.”
At the NEC meeting were the DPP’s Board of Trustees (BOT) chairman, Gen. Jeremiah Useni, state chairmen and top members.
The merging parties are planning to hold national conventions to approve the formation of the APC, Publicity Secretary Lai Mohammed has said.
He described the extra-ordinary conventions as a critical element of the merger. Following the resolution of the parties at the conventions, which must be witnessed by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials, the party chairmen will consequently notify the electoral agency that they have merged into APC, Mohammed said.
The letters conveying the decision to merge must also be signed by the party chairmen, secretaries and treasurers. The ACN chieftain said within 30 days, INEC must respond to the collective request for merger in either a positive or negative way. If no response is forth-coming, he said, the merger instantly takes effect at the expiration of the 30 days. From that time, the participating parties will cease to exist.
TheNation

APGA division delays APC logo

by: John Ofikhenua 

With the division in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) , those waiting for the logo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will have to be patient, it was learnt yesterday.
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) spokesman Lai Mohammed said in Abuja after a meeting of some leaders of the new party that following the row in APGA, its symbol will not be in the logo of the new party to avoid litigation.
According to him, the various factions in APGA have accepted the decision of APC and sought to be allowed to report to their party.
He said: “We appreciate the fact that APGA is today divided. It is factionalised. Therefore, it will not be proper for us to take any of the symbols of APGA as part of the logo of APC, which they actually accepted.
“Their only point is that we should allow them to report back to their party that in the new logo which will be unveiled, there is no symbol of APGA because once we use the symbol of APGA, a faction could take us to court.
“And that is why we are now differing the announcement of the logo until the time when they go back to explain. Certainly, they did not work out. They went to have their own meetings, their own consultations. “
He said members at the meeting arrived at what the logo would be , stressing, “but we are delaying the announcement because of what I have just told you.”
He also noted that the new party will inaugurate the various committees it has set up next week.
“We have taken a lot of very useful decisions, consultations still continue. Various committees have been set up to be inaugurated next week. And if there is any other development, we will let you know,” he said.
Speaking on the speculation that the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) was not committed to the merger, Mohammed said the party’s Board of Trustees Chairman, Alli Modu Sherrif, attended the meeting.
He said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that is looking forward to the break up of APC, because of ego and status, will be disappointed because the constituent parties are committed to the cause of the merger.
He denied that some members of APC are already jostling for positions.
According to him, the issue of candidacy has not been tabled in all the consultations of the new party.
He noted that all the constituent parties must hold their respective conventions to seek their party’s consent for the merger.
“If the PDP is waiting for the issue of ambition or ego to divide the APC, I think they are mistaking. What I have seen in our deliberation today is the extent to which people are ready to make sacrifices, how people are ready to bend backward to ensure that this merger works.
TheNation

My resignation won’t hurt church, says Pope Benedict

A VISIBLY moved Pope Benedict yesterday tried to assure his worldwide flock over his stunning decision to become the first pontiff in centuries to resign, saying he was confident that it would not hurt the Church.
He spoke as the Vatican announced that a Conclave to elect his successor would start sometime between March 15 and March 20, in keeping with Church rules about the timing of such gatherings after the Papal See becomes vacant.
“Continue to pray for me, for the Church and for the future pope,” he said in un-scripted remarks at the start of his weekly general audience, his first public appearance since his shock decision on Monday to step down on February 28.
It was the first time Benedict, 85, who will retire to a Convent inside the Vatican, exchanging the splendour of his 16th Century Apostolic Palace for a sober modern residence, had uttered the words “future pope” in public.
Church officials are still so stunned by the move that the Vatican experts have yet to decide what his title will be and whether he will continue to wear the white of a pope, the red of a cardinal or the black of an ordinary priest.
His voice sounded strong at the audience but he was clearly moved and his eyes appeared to be watering as he reacted to the thunderous applause in the Vatican’s vast, modern audience hall, packed with more than 8,000 people.
In brief remarks in Italian that mirrored what he read in Latin to stunned cardinals on Monday, he appeared to try to calm Catholics’ fears of the unknown.
His message was that God would continue to guide the church.
“I took this decision in full freedom for the good of the Church after praying for a long time and examining my conscience before God,” he said.
The Pope said he was “well aware of the gravity of such an act”, but also aware that he no longer had the strength required to run the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church, which has been beset by a string of scandals both in Rome and around the world.
Benedict said he was sustained by the “certainty that the church belongs to Christ, who will never stop guiding it and caring for it” and suggested that the faithful should also feel comforted by this.
He said that he had “felt almost physically” the affection and kindness he had received since he announced the decision.
When Benedict resigned on Monday, Vatican spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi said the pontiff did not fear schism in the church after his decision to step down.
TheNation

APC: Discontent in APGA delays logo

By Wale Odunsi

The prolonged delay in the release of the newly formed mega party’s (APC) Logo, has been attributed to the division within the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.
This was made known by the Action Congress of Nigeria‘s spokesman, Lai Mohammed, in Abuja after a meeting of some leaders of the newly formed party.
Mohammed said that following the row in APGA, its symbol will not appear in the logo of the new party to avoid litigation. He added that the various factions in APGA have accepted the decision of APC and sought to be allowed to report to their party.
According to the spokesman, “We appreciate the fact that APGA is today divided. It is factionalised. Therefore, it will not be proper for us to take any of the symbols of APGA as part of the logo of APC, which they actually accepted.”
“Their only point is that we should allow them to report back to their party that in the new logo which will be unveiled, there is no symbol of APGA because once we use the symbol of APGA, a faction could take us to court.”
“And that is why we are now differing the announcement of the logo until the time when they go back to explain. Certainly, they did not work out. They went to have their own meetings, their own consultations.“

He also noted that the new party will inaugurate the various committees it has set up next week.
“We have taken a lot of very useful decisions, consultations still continue. Various committees have been set up to be inaugurated next week. And if there is any other development, we will let you know,” he said.
Speaking on the speculation that the All Nigerian Peoples’ Party (ANPP) was not committed to the merger, Mohammed said the party’s Board of Trustees Chairman, Alli Modu Sherrif, attended the meeting.
He said the People’s Democratic Party would be disappointed over its prediction that APC will break up since the entire parties are no doubt committed to the success of the merger.
“If the PDP is waiting for the issue of ambition or ego to divide the APC, I think they are mistaking. What I have seen in our deliberation today is the extent to which people are ready to make sacrifices, how people are ready to bend backward to ensure that this merger works.”
DailyPost

Nigerians protest against N4bn budget for Patience Jonathan mansion

A Nigerain women empowerment group, Women Arise (WA) today staged a protest march in Lagos to kick against the allocation of N4 billion by the minister of the Federal capital Territory to construct a “first lady mission house”.
More pictures below….













NaijaCenter

Why Christians, Muslims are in conflict

 by Christiana T. Alabi, Kaduna

Christians and Muslims are not living in peace because they don’t understand themselves, the founder of Peace Revival and Reconciliation Foundation of Nigeria, Pastor Yohanna Y. Buru has said.

He made this statement yesterday in Kaduna while hosting Muslims who joined their Christian brothers to break their fast which started yesterday.

“We are veiling the truth and not unveiling the truth. We are not telling ourselves the truth, we must tell ourselves the truth no matter what it will cost us, whether you are Christian or Muslim,” he said.

He said the Christians do not know Islam because the Holy Bible did not talk about Islam but that the Quran have hints about Christianity, Judaism and the Bible.

“There was Islamic civilization in this country for about 500 to 600 years before the advent of Christianity. So, I want the Muslims to know that you are the ones that will sympathize with Christians for not understanding you; you should understand with Christians for not understanding you and don’t blame them for not understanding you because they don’t know what you know,” he said.

Pastor Buru urged the two religions not to think or believe that a particular religion does not want peace, saying even animals want peace.

DailyTrust

Nigeria ‘has come of age’ – Jonathan

In a statement to commemorate the death of the former military Head 0fState, President Goodluck Jonathan has urged Nigerians to emulate the qualities of late General Murtala Mohammed as a reflection of the fact that men may die but their ideas never do.
Via a post on his Facebook page, President Jonathan listed Abuja and what he defined as the prospering democracy in the country as among the ideas of the late head of state who was assassinated in an abortive military coup on February 13, 1976.
Also, recalling Mohammed’s assertion in 1975 that Africa has come of age, Jonathan in the post noted that the victory of the Super Eagles in the just concluded continental football tourney also demonstrated that Nigeria has come of age.
The post reads in part: “Today marks the 37th anniversary of the death of General Murtala Ramat Mohammed, the great patriot who paid the ultimate price for Nigeria. I urge Nigerians to remember the life and times of this hero of Nigeria who proved the truism in the maxim that people may die but ideas never die… Today, his ideas live after him, Abuja as the Federal Capital of a united strong and prospering Nigeria and democracy thriving all over the nation. But perhaps most prophetic is his speech at the Organization of African Unity, OAU, in January of 1976 where he said “Africa has come of age”.

He added: “Almost 37 years to the day, all Nigerians celebrate our victorious Super Eagles who to paraphrase Murtala’s words proved that Nigeria ‘has come of age’. I thank God for giving us such a patriot and pray that the labours of our heroes past shall never be in vain.”
 InformationNigeria