Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the three senatorial districts of Oyo State have warned the party’s national secretariat to stay clear of its internal affairs.

They also vowed to resist any form of imposition and impunity from the national secretariat.

The PDP leaders also passed a vote of confidence in the state’s executive of the party – from the wards to state level – under the chairmanship of Alhaji Omokunmi Mustapha.

The party leaders from Oyo Central Senatorial District who passed the vote of confidence include Senator Ayoade Adeseun, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide, Chief Bisi Ilaka and Olasunkanmi Salami.

Others are: Asiwaju Adeyemi Aderibigbe, D. A. Lawal, Oladepo Oyedokun, Abiola Olaniyan, Matthew Abioye and Moruf Akinwande, among others.

A statement at the weekend in Ibadan, the state capital, by PDP’s State Publicity Secretary Akeem Olatunji, said the party leaders also affirmed former Governor Rashidi Ladoja as the party’s leader in the state.

The statement said the PDP leaders rose from their senatorial district meetings in Oyo South, Oyo North and Oyo Central, declaring that they would leave the party en mass, if PDP’s national leadership tampered with the state executive.

The statement reads: “Consequent upon the meeting of the Oyo Central, Oyo North and Oyo South senatorial districts, the meeting came up with the following resolutions.

“The party members and leadership in the three senatorial districts completely throw their weight behind the leadership of the party in Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, in his fight against imposition and impunity of whatever forms within the party.

“We dissociate ourselves from the sentiments expressed by a politician, as published in Nigerian Tribune with the headline: Ladoja Cannot Intimidate Oyo PDP. The self-acclaimed leader did not speak the minds of teeming PDP members in Oyo Central Senatorial District.

“We re-affirm our support and belief in the stewardship of all members of the State Executive Committee of the party as it presently constituted under the leadership of Omokunmi Mustapha as the Chairman.

“We associate completely with the position of the leader of our party in the state that all forms of imposition and impunity hereby rejected and should not be tolerated, no matter how little.

“Anything contrary to this will be vehemently rejected. Nevertheless, the meeting pleaded with all and sundry who are still nursing grievances as a result of the last state congresses to bury their hatchet and join the progressive train in order for all of us to ferry together to the Government House in 2019.”

The Nation 

Chief Olu Falae, National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), says his party will defeat President Buhari if he decides to run for second term.

The former presidential candidate of the defunct Alliance Democracy/All Nigerian Peoples Party declared that SDP is the party to beat.

“It is the absolute prerogative of President Buhari and his party to decide whether he should go for second term or not”, he told Vanguard

“Constitutionally, he is entitled to second term. It is his right and, if he chooses to go, it does not bother me. If he goes, it means we will meet him on the field on election day and we will defeat him.

“If he does not go, he will spare me that pain of having to defeat my good friend in the election. If his party brings somebody else, by the grace of God, we will defeat that person.”

Falae also spoke on alleged marginalisation of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the ruling APC after he had helped the party to capture power at the federal level.

“We had in the past made our position clear through our leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, that Yoruba leaders believe that part of why he is treated that way is because of where he comes from.

“We might be wrong, but that is what we believe. He is a smart guy and a politician who knows what to do to favour him at every time and every stage in his life.

“He is not a baby, he has not said he needs my advice or tutoring or mentoring, so it is unnecessary to ask for an unsolicited advice on his behalf.

“So if tomorrow Asiwaju Tinubu decides to come to the SDP, he will be welcomed. Of course yes; we were both members of the SDP before, so it will be ‘welcome home Bola Tinubu”.

On the way out of herdsmen’s crisis, Falae who has been a victim, said the authorities was acting as if dealing with the issue was impossible.

“Almost every nation on earth eats cows as we do. But you don’t go to California and run into cattle on the tarmac. You don’t even go to Ghana and find cattle in the city square.

“We found the solution at the National Conference in 2014 that free grazing of cattle is out of date, disappeared over 200 years ago in most countries and that we cannot continue to live in the past.

“Ranching is the answer, not by walking your cattle from Kano to Akure and, by the time they get here, they are all bones, and that’s why they desperately needed my maize and cassava to become fresh again so that the cows could be sold at good prices.”

DailyPost 

President Muhammadu Buhari says it is too early for him to declare his intention for the 2019 presidential election. 

The Senate and the House of Representatives have asked ministers and heads of agencies to heed President Muhammadu Buhari’s sack warning by appearing for the defence of the 2018 budget this week.

The PUNCH’s investigations showed that after Thursday’s late-night meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, relayed the outcome to key committee chairmen working on the budget.

It was gathered on Sunday that chairmen of the committees of both chambers had started sending reminders to ministers to come for budget defence this week.

A senior parliamentary source in the House said, “The chairmen were told to issue fresh reminders to heads of ministries, departments and agencies, who had been uncooperative in their attitude to the budget defence.

“They are expected to improve on their appearances, this week, before the committees to defend their estimates.

“The President seemed not to know the cause of the delay of the budget prior to the meeting.

“However, from the meeting he had with the leadership of the National Assembly, where the Senate President and Dogara were in attendance, Buhari realised that he had to caution his cabinet members.”

He stated that the committees had started sending reminders through their respective clerks.

He said, “They (the committees) are writing to the MDAs and stating clearly the information they are required to submit to the committees.”

The N8.612tn budget has been held up at the National Assembly since November 7, 2017, when the President presented it to the lawmakers.

It was learnt that Buhari, who was worried over the delay, had invited the leaders of the National Assembly to the meeting to discuss it, among other issues.

At the meeting, Saraki and Dogara reportedly blamed ministers and heads of agencies for the delay.

The government officials were said to have always given one excuse or another as the reason they were unable to appear before the committees.

The committees also complained that a few officials, who bothered to appear, were unprepared, as they did not come with the breakdown of their budget proposals.

The PUNCH gathered that of particular concern to the committees was the performance of the 2017 budget.

The President, after the Thursday meeting, had threatened to sack about 50 heads of the MDAs, who had yet to defend their budgets, should they ignore further invitations from the legislature.

Findings indicated on Sunday that many committee chairmen had started sending reminders to the ministers and heads of agencies to appear this week.

“The expectation is that they (ministers and agency heads) will take Mr. President’s warning seriously,” a lawmaker told The PUNCH.

When contacted for his comments, the Leader of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, said it was a good development that the heads of MDAs had been cautioned by Buhari.

Gbajabiamila asked them to comply with the President’s directive by coming to the National Assembly.

He said, “My advice to the (heads of) MDAs is that they should report to their various committees to defend their budgets so that it can be passed and the government can continue to function for the benefit of all  Nigerians.

“In the first place, they did not need the prompting of Mr. President to do the right thing; but now that he has, I expect them to obey.”

The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, also told The PUNCH that the outcome of the meeting had “cleared the air on who is delaying the budget.”

“This issue of the heads of MDAs not cooperating; we have been shouting it; but nobody has been listening to us.

“It is always convenient to blame the National Assembly. Now that Mr. President has intervened, we expect maximum cooperation from the MDAs so that collectively, we can pass the budget quickly,” he added.

In the Senate, it was gathered that the committees had been told to take the MDAs as more officials were expected for budget defence this week.

The Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Sunny Ogbuoji, told one of our correspondents that the MDAs would be welcome for the defence of their budgets.

He said, “They are supposed to obey the President. This is purely about the executive arm of the government and it is their responsibility. If the head of the executive gives an order, I expect that it will be complied with.”

The Senate had, on February 14, 2018, asked 63 agencies and parastatals under the Federal Government to submit details of their proposed 2018 budgets within one week.

The upper chamber of the National Assembly had lamented that while Buhari complied with the law by laying the 2018 Appropriation Bill along with details of estimates before the lawmakers, agencies of the government disregarded the law.

The lawmakers alleged that ministers and heads of the Federal Government departments and agencies were frustrating legislative work on the budget proposal.

But the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, had denied the allegation, stating that the National Assembly had enough details to work with and pass the appropriation bill.