4 Ondo ACN Leaders In Police Net For Diverting Party Funds

FOUR leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Ondo State have been arrested and detained at the Criminal Investigation Department, CID, Akure, for allegedly absconding with the money meant for governorship election of the party in the state.

Sources within the party said the suspects after collecting the money running into millions of naira fled.

Deputy Director-General of ACN campaign team in Ondo South Senatorial District Mr. Femi Johnson said this in Akure.

The suspects included a former Special Assistant to a Minister, a legal practitioner in Ilaje Local Government, one local government party chairman in the southern senatorial district and a chieftain of the party in the area.

Mr. Johnson, who however, declined to disclose the specific amount the suspects absconded with, said the leadership of the party would recover the stolen money from them.

He pointed out that the money was meant for the election in the southern senatorial district and was directly handed over to the suspects for distribution until they bolted away with it.

He however denied that he was arrested alongside the suspects, adding that the money released through him six weeks to the election, was disbursed appropriately to the accused.

Culled from Vanguard.

Gang-ups to unseat us in 2015 will fail – PDP

The People’s Democratic Party has vowed that mergers and alliances planned by opposition parties to oust the ruling party in 2015 will hit the rocks.

This came following the ongoing merger talks between two major opposition parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the General Buhari-led Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) with the aim of defeating PDP in 2015.

The National Secretary of PDP, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, told newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, that the proposed ‘gang-ups’ to unseat the party would fail.
Oyinlola asserted that such move was not a threat to the acclaimed largest party in Africa.

He avows, “We don’t think we are threatened by what we would call gang ups. In those days when the National Party of Nigeria and Nigeria Peoples Party closed ranks, it was called an accord. When the Unity Party of Nigeria and Great Nigeria Peoples Party did the same, they called it gang up.
“Honestly speaking, ganging up is an indication of some weaknesses. Why can’t a party stand on its own and contest elections if it is sure that it would be acceptable to the people? You don’t need to gang up.
“If you are ganging up then you don’t have the strength. The only true national party today that cuts across every nook and cranny of the Nigerian federation is the PDP. Gang up has never succeeded; it will not succeed.”

The party secretary affirmed that the ruling party would stick to its zoning formula at all levels, noting that it would be dangerous for the party to deviate from its policy.

It would be recalled that former Vice-President and a member of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said that zoning formula was no longer relevant to the party. On the contrary, Oyinlola maintained that zoning is still sacrosanct among its members, asserting that it is the glue that bound the different groups in the PDP together.

He said, “It is the binding glue that holds the people together and, as such, it would be politically dangerous to abandon it at this stage. That it is our binding force.
“What has endeared the PDP to people from all over the country has been the zoning arrangement. It has given hope to those in the minority that they could have access to power.
“There is an adage in my language (Yoruba) that says when a medicine is working for you, you don’t throw it away. So we will continue with the zoning arrangement because it is working very well.”
Spealking further, the party chieftain added that the Bamangar Tukur-led National Working Committee of the PDP are working round the clock to bring unity back to the ruling party.
“As you know, were it not for our differences, we would have won Ogun State. We lost Oyo State because of the differences between the Senator Rasheed Ladoja-led Accord Party and the Alao-Akala-led PDP,”he said.

The National Secretary promised that the face-off between the Presidency and the PD-dominated National Assembly over the 2013 budget oil benchmark would be resolved soon, through dialogue.

He added that the party would continue to be in control of its primaries, adding that it would not succumb to attempts by the Independent National Electoral Commission to interfere with its internal affairs.

According to him, under the Electoral Act 2010, INEC has no powers to dictate to parties on how to run their affairs.

Reacting, the Publicity Secretary, CPC, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said political alliance was part of constitutional democracy, noting that the current government in Britain is a product of an alliance.

Culled from Daily Post.

Africast 2012: Stakeholders Advocate Community Broadcasting, Local Content

Written by Muhammad Sada & Stanley Onyekwere(Peoples Daily)

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), last Monday, kicked off its 9th biennial Conference of Africa Broadcasters tagged Africast 2012, with the theme: “Content Rules” in Abuja. 

Stakeholders at the event called for proper and effective establishment of community broadcasting and more local content in programmes.

Stakeholders made up of different interest groups, equipment manufacturers and dealers as well as policy makers, communication scholars and professionals of the broadcast industry in Africa, are participating to examine broadcast agenda for Africa, provide a market place of ideas, hardware and software technologies in the industry.

Chairman, Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa, said the importance of community broadcasting as well as the role it plays in the positive development of the broadcasting sector could not be over emphaised, hence the need for stakeholders to pay adequate attention to the area.

The Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, who was represented by Hon. Leo Ogoh, who declared the conference open, pledged the support of the leadership of the house in ensuring that the necessary steps are taken to boost and upgrade the broadcasting sector.

Earlier, in a remark, Senator Enyinaya Abaribe, chairman, senate information and media committee, called on all stakeholders in the society to be careful with how things are presented on the air waves, as according to him, it influences youth negatively most often than not, and sends the wrong messages about the people to the world.

“I would have been into music, if I wasn’t a footballer” – Mikel Obi

Chelsea and Super Eagles midfielder, John Mikel Obi, has admitted that he had not forged a good career in football, he would have ended up as a musician. The former Pepsi Academy starlet, launched his record label very recently and says music is a major passion for him.

“Apart from football, music is another thing I had passion for while I was growing up in Jos. I have so much emotional attachment to music. It lifts my soul and makes me happy.

“The arrival of MMM Records (Matured Money Minds) has gone a long way to show the deep love I have for music. I want to contribute my little quota to the growth of the music industry in Nigeria.

“I’m a good song writer and singer. If I wasn’t a footballer, I would have done well as a singer or a disc jockey (DJ)”

Source:Daily Post.