News

APC Releases Timetable, Guidelines for Ward Congresses, Grants Waivers

Published

3 years ago

July 18, 2021

Eric

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has released the approved schedule of activities and guidelines for the conduct of the Party’s nationwide Ward congresses scheduled for Saturday July 31, 2021.

According to the notice signed by the National Secretary of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, purchase of nomination forms for Ward, Local Government/Area Councils and State Congresses will take place from 19th July to 28th August, 2021.

Screening of Aspirants for the Ward Party positions is scheduled for July 29th to 30th July, 2021. Ward Congresses will hold 31st July, 2021. Appeals Arising from Ward Congresses will hold August 2nd to 7th August, 2021.

The notice reads in parts:

In line with Article 11:A sub-section (i-xiii) and article 16(i) of the Party’s Constitution (as Amended), the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be organising its congresses across the 36 states and FCT to elect its Wards, Local Governments and States Officials. Only Wards and Local Government Areas stipulated in Sections 156 of the Electoral Act and in part I&II of the First Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as Amended) are recongised.

The Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the Party, in a bid to ensure open, credible and fair congresses that reflect the sanctity of internal democracy in the Party, issues a guiding regulation for the nationwide congresses of the Party. It is binding on all persons coordinating and participating in all Congresses.

WARD CONGRESS COMMITTEE (WCC)

Each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) shall for the purpose of the Party’s 2021 congresses have a committee of 7 persons who are to be selected based on their proven integrity. They shall be appointed and supervised by the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC). This committee shall be referred to as the Ward Congress Committee (WCC). The members of the committees will be posted to places outside their states of recruitment. It shall be composed of a Chairman, Secretary and 5 other members, One (1) of whom shall be a woman (where possible). The committee shall be responsible for the conduct of the Ward congress exercise in their place of posting.

The Ward Congress Committee (WCC) shall appoint 3 persons from any other part of the State other than the Ward in which they will serve (to be referred as Local Ward Congress Committee (LWCC). Who shall be responsible for the conduct of the Screening/Congress in their assigned Ward under the directives/supervision of the WCC. The WCC shall ensure that the exercise is all-inclusive

APPEALS COMMITTEE

There shall be an appeal committee for the Wards. Each state and FCT shall have a 5-member Ward Congress Appeals Committee whose members are recruited from outside their states of origin by the CECPC. They shall be responsible for the hearing of appeals arising from the Ward Congresses.

VENUE (Ward Congresses)

The election venue shall be the All Progressives Congress (APC) ward offices where they exist. Where none exists, or the existing one for any reason, becomes unsuitable, the Ward Congress Committee (WCC) shall identify a convenient and conducive venue for the congress (provided it is not a private residence or place of worship or office). The general public must be notified of the venue at least 12 hours before the commencement of the congresses.

COMPOSITION OF CONGRESSES

The Ward congress shall consist of all registered members of the party in the ward. All newly registered members from the updated 2021 Party Membership Register are eligible to participate in the Ward Congress.

BUSINESS OF THE CONGRESSES

The Ward Congress shall carry out the election of;

Ward Chairman
Ward Vice Chairman
Ward Secretary
Ward Assistant Secretary
Ward Legal Adviser
Ward Assistant Legal Adviser
Ward Treasurer
Ward Assistant Treasurer
Ward Financial Secretary
Ward Assistant Financial Secretary
Ward Organising Secretary
Ward Assistant Organising Secretary
Ward Publicity Secretary
Ward Assistant Publicity Secretary
Ward Welfare Secretary
Ward Assistant Welfare Secretary
Ward Women Leader
Ward Assistant Women Leader
Ward Youth Leader
Ward Assistant Youth Leader
Special (Physically Challenged) Leader (the position must be occupied by such a person as described)
Ward Auditor
Ward Assistant Auditor
Four Ex-Officio Members elected at Ward Congress (one of whom shall be a woman, where possible)
Five (5) Local Government Area Congress Delegates one of whom shall be a Woman (where possible).
Five (5) State Congress Delegates one of whom shall be at least a Ward Chairman and a Woman (where possible).

NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR PARTY POSITIONS

Aspirants to party positions in the Wards will be elected at the various Congresses and must be persons with the highest degree of good Character, Competence, and Capacity. They shall pay the specified fees for the party nomination form.

SALE OF FORMS (Wards)

Aspirants for the position of Ward Chairman will purchase forms at the cost of N10, 000. Forms for Ward Vice Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer positions cost N5,000. Other offices cost N2,000. All delegates will pay N1,000 for the form.

WARD LEVEL NOMINATION OF ASPIRANTS FOR PARTY ELECTIONS

(Chairmanship Aspirants shall require 1 sponsor per Polling unit within the Ward, while other positions shall require 1 sponsor from at least half of the Polling Units within the Ward)

All Female Aspirants shall pay 50% of the prescribed fees for each position.

Persons with disability shall pay 50% of the prescribed fees for each position.

All payments for purchase of Nomination Forms shall be made directly into All Progressives Congress accredited banks.
Following the purchase, the completed forms must be returned at least three working days before the conduct of the election.

MODE OF ELECTIONS AT THE CONGRESSES

a. Consensus

All Party positions prescribed or implied by the Party’s Constitution as above stated for the congresses shall be filled by democratically conducted elections at the respective congresses. However, for peace and harmony, the party encourages emergence of candidates through consensus in the first instance; provided that where a candidate has emerged by consensus for an elective position, a vote of “Yes” or “No” by ballot or voice shall be called.

b. Election

Utmost transparency is required in all elections. Therefore, in all respects, votes must be counted and results announced and recorded on the spot.

In the event of a tie in any ballot, the election for that particular office shall be repeated for the tying candidates until a winner emerges. The winner of an election shall be determined by a simple majority of total votes cast and declared winner in an open view.

Ward Congress Mode of Election;
After membership accreditation, elections at ward level shall be by open ballot. Accredited party voters shall queue behind the candidate of their choice or his/her picture or poster.

*Congresses Special Provisions*

The Ward Party Registers/Membership Registration Forms shall serve as the Voter Register, while the Registration slip serves as the Voter’s card in each voting precinct (Ward).

Aspirants contesting for any post in the party must have INEC Voters Card.

In addition to waivers granted to officers seeking re-election, Waiver is hereby granted to persons who joined the party recently to vote and be voted for, provided that their names are in the Ward Registers.

Accreditation of intending party voters for all congresses shall be conducted and approved by the respective National Congress Committees at all levels.

The Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) reserves the right to cancel any election in areas where there are irregularities or violence in the conduct of election.

The Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) is the final appeal authority in all election disputes.

Any aspirant that is indicted of any irregularity, violence or electoral malpractice shall, subject to a fair hearing, be either suspended or expelled from the party and shall forfeit his/her right to participate in any future elections of the party for any position.

The WCC shall respectively display/announce the names of candidates vying for party positions in Wards congresses and the positions they are vying for before the conduct of the election.

The National Executive Ccommittee (NEC) has granted waivers to new Members ( those who applied for such ) and also to all Officers at Ward, Local Government and State levels in line with the provision of Article 13 (4) xv, provided that no officer elected in this exercise shall serve in the same capacity beyond the maximum term prescribed in Article 17 I & ii of the APC Constitution (as Amended) a member who started or continued with litigation against the Party after the directives of NEC is not eligible to vote or be voted for in the respective congresses. Without prejudice to these guidelines, all aspirants with valid court Judgement(s) with respect to previous forms purchase are eligible to participate in the exercise .

All persons vying for the position of youth leader must be persons aged between 18-35years.

All Aspirants must show evidence of financial membership of the Party.

News

Court Vacates Order for Arrest of Fubara’s CoS, Says It’s Mere Academic Exercise

Published

17 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Eric

The Order of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja for the arrest of Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and granted by Justice Emeka Nwite on the 31st of January, 2024, has been set aside, today, 25th April, 2024.

Justice Emeka Nwite had on January 31 ordered Ehie’s arrest in connection with the burning of the Rivers State House of Assembly on October 30, 2023.

The police, in the charges, alleged that Ehie and five others masterminded the bombing of the Rivers State House of Assembly amid a plot to impeach Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.

The five others are Jinjiri Bala, Happy Benedict, Progress Joseph, Adokiye Oyagiri, and Chibuike Peter, alias Rambo.

Justice Emeka Nwite while reading the ruling setting aside the order given by the court against Eddison Ehie declaring him wanted and granting an order of arrest said it as now becoming a mere academic exercise.

The judge further granted same to the 2nd-5th Defendant/Applicant in same suit.

Eddison Ehie had a team of representation including Falana SAN, Wole Oladoye SAN, Dr Bimpe Ajegbomogun and Barr. Asmau Yakubu

Though Ehie’s name was mentioned in the counts, he was not listed among the defendants.

He said, “He was never invited by the police for anything. All that he saw was that they filed a charge; they mentioned his name in four out of seven charges for murder and arson.”

Aladedoye also argued that it was strange that the Inspector-General of Police left all the courts in Rivers State, where the alleged offences were committed, to file an application before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

“Your Lordship has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter here, “Aladedoye said.

Counsel for the other defendants, Femi Falana (SAN), said the crime his clients were alleged to have committed were state offences.

In the application it was stated that “What is disclosed are state offences; it is our submission that this court cannot exercise any jurisdiction in state offences without the fiat of the Attorney General of Rivers State.”

News

Dana Air Confirms Runway Excursion Involving It’s Aircraft, Says Passengers, Crew Safe

Published

3 days ago

April 23, 2024

Eric

The management of Dana Air has, in a statement on Tuesday, confirmed reports that one of its aircraft with registration number 5N BKI skidded off the runway at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Tuesday morning.

While expressing regret that the aircraft which flew from Abuja to Lagos, skidded off the runway in an attempt to land, it expressed relief that no casualty was recorded, stating that it had informed the Accident Investigation Bureau and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority of the incident.

The statement read, “Dana Air regrets to inform the public of a runway incursion involving one of our aircraft, registration number 5N BKI, which was flying from Abuja to Lagos today 23/04/24

“We are relieved to confirm that all 83 passengers and crew onboard the flight disembarked safely without injuries or scare as the crew handled the situation with utmost professionalism.”

“We have also updated the AIB and NCAA on the incident and the aircraft involved has been grounded by our maintenance team for further investigation.”

News

FG Mulls Review of Admission Age into Nigerian Universities

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Eric

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has hinted that the Federal government would review age requirement for admission into tertiary institutions in the country.

The minister, who pegged 18 years as benchmark for admission into universities, advised parents not to push their underage wards to higher institutions, especially university education, below the age of 18.

Mamman spoke to journlaits after monitoring the ongoing Unified Tertiary matriculation Examination, UTME, in some of the centres in Abuja.

The minister said he is not happy with the age of some candidates that applied to write the examination, noting that they are still far before required age to seek admission into universities.

He, however, applauded the conduct of the examination, describing it as peaceful just as he said irregularities where were visibly noticeable in the past, has drastically reduced.

He said: “The examination process is seamless. The environment is comfortable for students. That’s how it should be, especially with the use of technology in our affairs and the educational system. It makes life easy for everybody and seamless.

“As we know, this examination is going on throughout the country. It is being monitored everywhere seamlessly and from the report I have heard, the malpractice level is very low, just a 100 out of 1.2million.It is the use of technology that has made that happen, so this is very good.

“The other thing, which we noticed, is the age of those who have applied to go to the university. Some of them are really too young. We are going to look at it because they are too young to understand what the university education is all about.

“That’s the stage when students migrate from a controlled environment where they are in charge of their own affairs. So if they are too young, they won’t be able to manage properly.

“That accounts to some of the problems we are seeing in the universities.

“We are going to look at that. 18 is the entry age for university. But you will see students, 15, 16, going to the examination. It is not good for us. Parents should be encouraged not to push their wards, children too much.”

He hinted that beneficiaries of the Federal government students loan will cut across both higher education and skill acquisition, saying it was important that “students who are not being able to proceed to tertiary education, should be able to have a meaningful life even after secondary school, even primary education actually.”

According to him, the percentage of admission out of the registered number of candidates that applied, is “about 20 percent- universities, polytechnics and colleges of educations.”

He continued: “They are our children, our wards living with us. This is why the issue of skills acquisition is very important because, any students, who is not able to proceed to tertiary education, should be able to have a meaningful life even after secondary school, even primary education actually.

“The only solution to that is skill; by talking skills right from the time they entered school, for the primary school. Somebody should finish with one skill or another. That is part of the assumption of the 6-3-3-4 system.

“It is assumed that by the time a student finishes up to JSS level, he would have acquired some skills. If he does not proceed to senior secondary level, he would have acquired some skills that will help him navigate life and cease to be a burden on parents and society.

‘That is why skill is just the most important thing for us now. We are going to drive through the education sector for both public and private sectors, to empower the young ones.

“Tertiary education is encouraged but not every child needs to go to the university or polytechnic. It is mandatory and government is in support and there is a constitutional requirement to educate every Nigerian child up to that level of education. But with the introduction of the Student Loan Scheme, access will not be a problem.

“Parents will now be supported both for tertiary and even the skills we are talking about. That is one of the most important policies government has been able to provide,” he added.