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DIASPORA PDP MEMBERS LAUNCH PDP DIASPORA INITIATIVE IN STYLE.

Diaspora PDP Members Launch PDP Diaspora Initiative in Style
POSTED BY PDP DIASPORA INITIATIVE 07 AUGUST 2018 NEWS
For Immediate Release
Houston, Texas, USA
August 6, 2018

Diaspora PDP Members Launch PDP Diaspora Initiative in Style

It has happened as planned! The PDP Diaspora Initiative (PDI), a US-based registered non-profit organization, was officially inaugurated during a gathering of members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Houston, Texas, USA on Saturday, August 4, 2018.

“I thank everyone that contributed in one way or another to the huge success of PDP Diaspora Initiative’s inauguration,” PDI Founder and National Chair Hon. Victoria Pamugo said in a public address to the members.

“I can feel the energy in the room tonight as we have our members from Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Texas, Michigan and other places in attendance,” Hon. Pamugo said.

The event was attended by PDP members from several parts of the USA, as well as other countries such as Canada. It was a happy reunion for many members who have not met before.

PDI has its members in all parts of the world, establishing its chapters in countries including Austria, Canada, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.

Speaking to the mandate, mission and vision of the organization, PDI National Publicity Secretary Dr. Chidi Igwe said the organization was formed:

to take concrete actions to achieve social, economic, civic and political transformation in Nigeria;

to champion, support, promote and pursue principles that will encourage Nigerians in diaspora to actively participate in civic, social, economic and political development of Nigeria;

to educate, sensitize and inform Nigerians in diaspora on the need of getting involved in programs, projects and activities that will improve the standard of living and means of livelihood of Nigerians;

to organize and take concrete actions to ensure that only officials that will replicate what we all enjoy in the United States and other advanced economies in the form of dividends of democracy are elected into positions of authority;

to educate the Nigerian people of their civic responsibilities, such as participating in the electoral process by registering for PVCs and casting their votes to elect their own leaders;

to be the voice for the voiceless by promoting social advocacy, expanding educational and literacy opportunities and supplies for all Nigerians, especially the less privileged;

to hold our leaders accountable, participate in campaigns aimed at encouraging Nigerians to vote for political candidates that will deliver on their promises;

to promote good citizenship and patriotism;

to promote issues concerning women, children and youth in Nigeria and other countries where issues concerning them are relegated to the background;

to establish strategic partnerships with other organizations, governments and parastatals that will be beneficial in achieving our mandate, mission and vision; and,

to solicit and raise funds to help in achieving our objectives and in the furtherance of our mission.

“The energy is high,” a member, Mr. Ike Onyia said. “I see class and distinction ... I see numerous victories at the polls ... I see PDP taking back A*o Rock,” Mr. Onyia said.

“Our inauguration came with a lot of excitement, that will last in our memories for a very long time. The event was spectacular and one of its kind,” PDI National Organizing Secretary Mr. Leonard Ozoagu said.

Some of the highlights of the eventful evening was the swearing in of PDI officers, including its national leadership and management team, state and city coordinators.

“You have been empowered to be the face as well as servants of this great organization,” Hon. Pamugo said.

“PDI is all about transparency and accountability. We are here to make sure things are done the right way. And the only way we can achieve our objectives is by everyone pulling together,” Hon. Pamugo said.

“We are a hands-on organization and, through your service, lives will be changed in Nigeria, schools will be built, health care will be provided, job opportunities will be created, and above all, we will bring a responsible government that will care for the people rather than their personal pockets,” Hon. Pamugo said.

The event concluded with joy and merriment as both members and officers are pumped up for the great task of making Nigeria a better, safer and stronger country for everyone.

“It was a night filled with laughter, hugs, photography, videos, assorted food and drinks. Our master of ceremony Chief Jude Ozoagu was off the hook. Music was all you can dance. The oath of office …, you needed to have been there,” Mr. Ozoagu said.

For more information about PDP Diaspora Initiative, its objectives, events and activities, please visit www.pdpdiasporainitiative.com.

Signed:

Chidi Igwe
National Publicity Secretary
PDP Diaspora Initiative

BUHARI'S UNDISGUISED WEAPON TO WIN NIGERIA.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s party may be wracked by defections and his battles against corruption and an Islamist rebellion under fire, but he has one crucial advantage in securing re-election: incumbency.

The 75-year-old leader is going to need all the tools available to repeat his 2015 victory -- the first time an opposition party won power at the ballot box in Africa’s biggest oil producer. At his disposal, analysts say, is a record with some policy successes, as well as the state power to reward or punish.

Muhammadu BuhariPhotographer: Pool/Bloomberg
Buhari “seems prepared to deploy the institutions of state to his advantage,” said Clement Nwankwo, executive director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre in the capital, Abuja. “It’s kind of a plan to beat people into line.”

Buhari -- who was briefly Nigeria’s military ruler in the 1980s -- will be fighting against perceptions the country hasn’t gotten any safer nor less corrupt during his tenure. A promise to shatter Boko Haram’s northern Islamist insurgency may have been partly fulfilled, but inter-communal violence has replaced it as Nigeria’s deadliest threat. Nigeria’s corruption perception ranking soared this year despite a much-touted war on graft.

Buhari is benefiting from a recovering economy with rising crude prices after a 2016 recession triggered by the sharp fall in the price of the commodity that is the country’s main export. Foreign-exchange reforms by the government have helped to stabilize the naira. Inflation decelerated for the 18th straight month in July as food prices climbed at the slowest rate since March 2016.

Improved Economy
“Oil output has been fairly steady and prices are better than anticipated,” said Antony Goldman, West Africa analyst at London-based PM Consulting. “Economic fundamentals are better than when Buhari was elected.”

When the head of the Senate, Bukola Saraki -- Nigeria’s third-most powerful politician -- joined more than 50 APC members in leaving for the opposition People’s Democratic Party over the past month, the reaction was swift. First his home was blockaded; days later security officers barred entry to the legislature itself. It’s an exodus that Buhari needs stemmed if he’s to keep afloat a party with a campaign machine spanning Africa’s most populous nation of almost 200 million people.

The PDP said the move was an attempt to smuggle in Buhari loyalists and remove Saraki, who’d adjourned sittings until late September. Amid public outrage, the government and APC condemned the deployment as unconstitutional and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who’s acting head of state while Buhari’s overseas, dismissed the state security chief.

‘Damage Control’

“It was a crucial act of damage control by the acting president,” said Nwankwo.

Saraki said he’s considering challenging for Buhari’s job in the coming vote on the platform of the PDP, as the country needs a business-friendly leadership that is currently lacking.

Buhari’s war on corruption gives him a way to coerce his opponents, according to Cheta Nwanze, an analyst at Lagos-based business advisory, SBM Intelligence.

Buhari signed an executive order in July empowering him to freeze the bank accounts of those implicated in graft investigations. The opposition says that it will be used to punish defectors, undermines Nigeria’s courts and violates the principle of presumption of innocence.

Critics point to the case of Benue state Governor Samuel Ortom. Shortly after he left the ruling party for the PDP, the Buhari-controlled financial crimes agency moved in to freeze Benue state’s bank accounts, citing a corruption investigation. Ortom’s office has asked why the probe only happened once the governor had left the APC.

‘Concrete Achievements’
Buhari has other elements in his favor. Amaka Anku, an Africa analyst at Washington D.C.-based risk advisers Eurasia Group, pointed to national railway lines and a metro system in the capital completed during his first term.

“Buhari will have concrete achievements to point to on the campaign trail,” she said.

The president may also get a boost from the opposition’s disunity. Still to name a presidential candidate, the PDP has at least a dozen would-be contenders.

While former President Olusegun Obasanjo -- a powerful voice -- is campaigning against Buhari’s re-election, he’s also, due to long-standing differences, opposed to the candidacy of his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar. A northerner, like Buhari, who may be able to win support on the incumbent’s home turf, Abubakar is widely seen as the only challenger proposing coherent policies.

“Compared to 2015, the president has lost some support, but the challenge for the opposition will be to win that support,” Goldman said. “The PDP is still in search of a personality to unite the party.”

WANING SUPPORT IN NIGERIA'S NORTH POSES VOTE RISK FOR BUHARI.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid is facing a growing challenge as members of his party defect to the opposition and support diminishes in a key region that’s stood by him politically for 15 years: the north.

Home to about 40 percent of the West African nation’s voters, Nigeria’s North East and North West regions have long been Buhari’s bedrock -- he carried them in three failed bids for the presidency, before gaining enough supporters elsewhere in 2015 to win. Now, defections from the ruling All Progressives Congress have spread to prominent northerners, casting doubt on whether he can secure the 13 states’ backing in February’s ballot.

Muhammadu BuhariBRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
“The perception is that he has more ‘automatic votes’ than anybody in the vote-rich north,” said Amaka Anku, head of Eurasia Group’s Africa practice. The defection of a key governor last week shows “it may be possible to overcome that edge after all.”

Buhari, 75, was the first opposition candidate in Nigeria’s history to win power at the ballot box. Elected on a pledge to fix a declining economy, fight corruption and improve security at a time when Islamist group Boko Haram had killed thousands of people, he’s facing trouble as the ruling party’s bitter internal rivalries take a toll.

Important Allies
The top official of Sokoto state last week became the first governor from the 13 key territories to defect, joining others from Benue and Kwara in the separate North Central region. Governors are important allies for a Nigerian presidential candidate due to “their ability to deploy all the resources to win votes,” according to Habu Mohammed, head of the political science department at Bayero University in the northern city of Kano.

The loss of such backing may not be the only problem for Buhari, whose record for the past three years is disputed. Critics say his war on graft has been selective and lost credibility -- Nigeria dropped 12 places on Transparency International’s corruption-perceptions index this year -- while recovery from 2016’s economic contraction has been sluggish, with inflation still over 11 percent.

Insurgency, Bandits
Although Boko Haram’s reach in the northeast has reduced under Buhari, attacks continue and the humanitarian situation remains dire, with many schools closed and at least 3.7 million people needing food aid, according to the United Nations. Bandits in the north’s Zamfara state have also killed more than 300 people this year, and a conflict between crop farmers and herdsmen in North Central is now proving deadlier than the battle against the Islamists.

Whether Buhari can again carry the north may depend on his linchpin: Kano state. It provided 1.9 million votes, or about 12 percent of his 15 million nationwide total in 2015.

“Kano is a vote bank,” said Idayat Hassan, executive director of the Abuja-based Centre for Democracy and Development in the capital, Abuja. Even there, the defection of two former state governors, each with a significant following, shows Buhari “has lost political clout,” she said. “He might win Kano, but not by as many votes as he got last time.”

The deputy governor of Kano, Hafiz Abubakar, resigned on Sunday. In a letter to his boss, governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, he said his office had been disrespected. Abubakar didn’t say whether he was leaving the APC in the document, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg.

Parties Merged
In Nigerian presidential elections, a candidate needs a majority of overall votes and at least a quarter of ballots in 24 of the country’s 36 states to win without a runoff. Buhari’s northern base was boosted in 2015 when the Action Congress of Nigeria party, which has a strong following in the southwest, merged with Buhari’s then-Congress for Progressive Change to form the APC.

Ayisha Osori, an Abuja-based independent analyst, estimates Buhari’s northern base vote at about 12 million. “He’s lost a lot of the additional 3 million that he won in the last election -- young professionals, people from the South West and North Central,” she said by phone.

Among the recent string of ruling-party defections have been its spokesman and Senate President Bukola Saraki, Nigeria’s third-highest ranking politician.

All the same, no one’s ruling out an APC victory in 2019. The main opposition People’s Democratic Party is “still perceived as the party that brought the country into its current situation and also a party that’s been associated with corruption,” Mohammed said.

PDP Plans
The PDP, which has yet to name its presidential candidate, intends to field a northerner to try and prevent Buhari winning as much of the area’s vote as he did last time, its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan said in a March interview.

The APC now faces the task of winning back the favor of voters over the next eight months -- which may not be easy.

On the streets of Kano, textile trader Ghali Tanko says he’s voted for Buhari every four years since 2003. Next time, he isn’t so sure.

“I had a belief that he could turn the country into a role model, do a lot of work in health, roads and education,” Tanko said. “But I didn’t see that in his three years.”

BREAKING NEWS!
ANOTHER GOVERNOR HAS LEFT THE APC PARTY, THIS TIME IT IS GOVERNOR AMINU TAMBUWAL OF SOKOTO, SAYING PRESIDENT BUHARI HAS FAILED NIGERIA.

Tambuwal dumps APC, says Nigerians must vote out ‘ineffective’ Buhari
August 1, 2018Sani Tukur
Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state has decamped from the ruling All Progressives Congress to the main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party.

Mr Tambuwal, who is believed to be nursing a presidential ambition, called on Nigerians to vote out President Muhammadu Buhari in next year’s election.

He said Mr Buhari has been “ineffective” as president.

Mr Tambuwal said he decided to leave the APC because President Muhammadu Buhari has failed the nation and should be voted out in 2019.

Read our earlier report below:
Barring a last minute change of decision, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state is set to dump the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Tambuwal left the PDP to join the APC in 2014 as part of the “new PDP” bloc.

His defection is expected to be a part of Mr Tambuwal’s presidential ambition.

Mr Tambuwal is a close ally of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state who is arguably the leader of the PDP at present after his loyalists emerged leaders of the party in its December 2017 national convention.

Political associates of Mr Tambuwal told PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday that an event where the governor will formally announce his defection is currently underway at the Sokoto Government House.

They said the government house is already filled with PDP supporters from across the state in anticipation of the announcement of formal declaration of defection later today.

More inHome
Buhari embarks on 10-day London vacation, transfers power to Osinbajo
Nigerian govt speaks on Saraki’s defection from APC
UPDATED: 12 Sokoto lawmakers abandon Tambuwal, declare support for Buhari
10 grievances Tambuwal listed against Buhari’s administration
APC speaks on Tambuwal, Saraki, Ahmed’s defection
“We gathered that supporters of the governor have been invited from across the 23 local government areas to come to the Government House today, and they are here in large number because each local government brought at least three buses of supporters,” a source said.

We also gathered from another source within the government that Mr Tambuwal planned to announce his defection last week but came under pressure from some of his loyalist who still want him to remain in the APC.

A source, who was privy to the development, told us that Mr Tambuwal convened a meeting of some top government functionaries and supporters last week and “allowed a free discussion on why he should defect or not”.

The source said Mr Tambuwal made it clear he had to leave because of what he referred to as the “betrayal by some of the APC leaders in the region”.

“As soon as it became evident members of the new PDP have become targets of the current administration despite their huge support for its success in 2015, it was resolved that members of the new PDP from Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states should take a collective decision about their political future,” the source said.

“The leaders from the region including the governor’s predecessor, Aliyu Wamakko and former Kebbi state governor, Adamu Aliero, suggested that governor Tambuwal should be the coordinator and face of the new PDP decision from the region”.

“However, the governor was shocked to realise that after pushing him ahead, the other leaders decided against the collective decision taken and left him in limbo, that made him realise what game is being played and he decided to take his future into his own hands,” he said.

Another source at the meeting also told us that it was resolved that a small committee be set up to find a way out and to report back on today.

“From all indications, that committee has nit made any serious headway and the governor will leave the APC with his loyalist today,” our source said.

A spokesperson for the governor could not be immediately reached for comments for this story.

BUHARI DOES NOT BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY, THEREFORE HE SEES NO REASON TO OBEY COURT ORDER.

When a Nigerian high court ruled this month that a former national security adviser should be freed on bail, it was the sixth such judgment since his detention in 2015. Authorities haven’t obeyed a single one.

For critics of President Muhammadu Buhari, he’s picking and choosing which judgments to comply with, a stance that stirs uncomfortable echoes of his days as a military ruler in the 1980s. His government defends his actions as necessary to combat graft in the oil-rich West African country of almost 200 million people, a pledge that was key to Buhari’s victory in a 2015 vote -- and now to his hopes of re-election next year.

Muhammadu BuhariPhotographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
“There is no constitutional basis whatsoever for disobeying a court order,” said Ernest Ojukwu, a professor of human rights and criminal law. “This is about impunity.”

Buhari, 75, has complained that judicial niceties are getting in the way of his graft war. After ousting an elected government on New Year’s Eve in 1983, he ruled by decree, combining executive and legislative powers. Military tribunals were set up to try allegedly corrupt politicians, some of whom were sentenced to hundreds of years.

After Buhari’s overthrow 20 months later, almost all the sentences were quashed by the courts or nullified by his successors. But through his actions he began to acquire the anti-corruption reputation that helped get him elected three decades on. The next vote will be in February.

High-Profile Detainees
Arguably the most high-profile detainee is Sambo Dasuki, once a security adviser to Buhari’s predecessor Goodluck Jonathan. Charged with offenses related to money laundering and diverting money supposed to be used to buy arms to fight Islamist militant group Boko Haram, Dasuki has been held for three years as bail orders, including from an Economic Community of West African States court, have been ignored.

He’s not the only one. A leader of Nigeria’s Shi’ite community, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife have been held by state security forces since 2015, also in defiance of court orders for bail. Prior to his arrest, Nigerian troops are alleged to have killed more than 300 of his followers and buried them in mass graves in the aftermath of clashes between some Shi’ites and soldiers accompanying an army chief’s convoy.

The treatment has extended to journalists. Jones Abiri, based in the southern city of Yenagoa, was arrested by secret police in July 2016, accused of involvement in the sabotage of crude oil pipelines by militants in the Niger River delta.

Visits Denied

Abiri was arraigned last week and taken back into the custody of the secret police after failing to meet “stringent” bail conditions, his lawyer, Femi Falana, said in response to a text message. His hearing is scheduled to begin on Aug. 2, he said.

Before the arraignment, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists had expressed concern that the reporter hadn’t been seen in public, charged nor allowed visits from lawyers or family members.

Contacted on the cases and allegations, Justice Ministry spokesman Salihu Othman Isah referred to a July 19 article published by Premium Times, in which minister Abubakar Malami was quoted as saying that it was in the public’s interest that court orders to grant Dasuki bail were ignored.

Buhari recently signed an executive order that empowers him to request the seizure of assets linked to ongoing criminal investigations or trials, a move critics say is unconstitutional and meant to undermine the courts. The Justice Ministry has defended that order as needed to consolidate the gains made in the war against corruption.

“It gives the executive the power to clamp down on corrupt individuals and their ill-gotten acquisitions,” ministry spokesman Isah said in a response to questions sent by text message. He dismissed criticism, saying “it’s corruption that is fighting back.”

‘Usurping’ Powers
The main opposition People’s Democratic Party has accused Buhari of seeking to “usurp” both legislative and judicial powers in order to target his perceived opponents.

He “wants to change our democratic governance to a military regime, in line with his lamentation that the fight against corruption will be better under a military regime than under a democracy,” the party, which lost power in 2015, said in a July 6 statement.

The refusal to heed the courts, “is consistent with the government’s disregard for the judicial system,” said Chidi Odinkalu, chairman of the human rights council of the Nigerian Bar Association. “The executive simply ignores orders it doesn’t like.”

AT LEAST 39 POLITICAL PARTIES HAVE TEAMED UP IN A HID TO UNSEAT PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI IN THE UPCOMING 2019 ELECTION.

NIGERIA
Nigeria: Opposition mounts against Buhari's re-election bid
At least 39 political parties have teamed up in a bid to unseat President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 election.

by Fidelis Mbah
10 July 2018
Opposition parties in Nigeria have come together to form a political coalition aimed at preventing President Muhammadu Buhari from winning a second consecutive term in next year's elections.

Thirty-nine registered political forces, including the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) and a splinter group from within the ruling party, signed an agreement late on Monday to form the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP).

Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP spokesperson, described the parties' teaming up as a bold statement to demonstrate the "feelings of Nigerians" about Buhari's government.

"More parties will still join the coalition and we will bring up a candidate whose capacity will trounce Buhari's incompetence in governance," Ologbondiyan told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

"We are a nation of 185 million people. No alliance can be 'so many'. Nigerians have already reached a consensus to source for a new president on the platform of the rebranded and repositioned PDP," he added.

But the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) dismissed the move, saying the efforts to unseat Buhari would fail.

APC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi insisted the party remains united.

"We once again reiterate the commitment of our party to address real grievances of our genuine members. We call on them to take advantage of this opportunity while the windows for reconciliation are still open," Abdullahi said in a statement.

"We are confident that no level of gang-up can make our government under President Buhari to waver in its promises to Nigerians to rid our country of corruption and improve the quality of lives for our people," he said.

Nigerians will vote in general elections scheduled for February 2019 [File: Reuters]
Internal rift
The formation of the new coalition comes as Nigeria witnesses one of its biggest political re-alignments in recent years.

This has not spared Buhari's APC, as a major block within the ruling party broke away days ago to join forces with the opposition.

The splinter group of disaffected APC members led by Buhari's former ally, Buba Galadima, criticised the president's three years in power as "a monumental disaster".

"After more than three years of governance, our hopes have been betrayed, our expectations completely dashed. The APC has run a rudderless, inept and incompetent government that has failed to deliver good governance to the Nigerian people," Galadima said in a statement.

Opposition
In 2015, Buhari secured 53.9 percent of the votes to become the first opposition candidate in Nigeria to defeat an incumbent at the ballot box. His victory over former President Goodluck Jonathan prompted spontaneous celebrations among supporters across the country.

The president has huge grassroots support. He is also known as one of the few leaders in the country's history who has been tough on corruption.

In April, 75-year-old Buhari announced his plan to seek a second four-year term, despite concerns about his age and health - last year, the president spent several months in the UK where he received treatment for an "undisclosed "health challenge".

But Buhari's intention to run again did not go down well with some of his political allies, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo who joined the opposition alliance against his candidacy.

The CUPP is expected over the next few months to present a common candidate to run against Buhari. Atiku Abubakar, 71, a former vice president and erstwhile Buhari ally, is the most prominent figure so far to have announced his intention to run in 2019 under an opposition platform.

But some political analysts said it's too early to assess the CUPP's chances, raising concerns about the objectives of those opposing Buhari.

"Do the persons involved in this process represent the best our country can offer? I have my doubts because we have seen same persons manage our affairs since 1999 and their ideas remain the same," said Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu, a journalist and political commentator.

"They lack ideologies that would build societies. Their ideas are ego-driven," added Uchegbu.

'Not too young to run'
Buhari is the oldest person to lead Nigeria since the transition to civilian government in 1999.

In May, he signed a new bill into law that reduced the minimum age for political offices to encourage youth to run for public office. For the presidency, the minimum age was brought down to 35 from 40.

Still, youth activists believe the system is still skewed towards political veterans.

"Same old politicians are aligning and forming coalitions to clinch or retain power in 2019; where does this leave the youth?" Chioma Agwuegbo told Al Jazeera.

"It leaves youths in the political parties making coalitions and making their voices heard like the other members of their party," she said.

Boko Haram has been largely reduced to su***de bombings and intermittent attacks [File: The Associated Press]

Ahead of his election in 2015, Buhari promised to tackle Boko Haram - an armed group that has carried out a deadly armed campaign for over a decade - as well as fight corruption, revive the economy and provide jobs.

Some of the areas occupied by Boko Haram have been recovered and the group has been largely reduced to su***de bombings and intermittent attacks.

Corruption remains a big problem in Nigeria, perceived by many as the root of the country’s poverty.

Attacks in the oil-rich Niger Delta and resurgence of separatist sentiments, which flared up during early days of Buhari's tenure, have calmed.

There are concerns, however, over clashes between nomadic herders and farmers which have claimed the lives of hundreds and displaced thousands, as well as question marks about whether Buhari is fit to run again given his heath.