Buhari’s popularity has dropped – APC Chairman, Oyegun

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has admitted that President Muhammadu Buhari is no longer popular like he was during the 2015 general election. “All governments worldwide in between terms lose some degree of popularity; no question about that,” he told Punch.
“We are having harsh economic times, no question about that and that does not increase the popularity of any government. It only diminishes it to some extent. What is different is that, in our case, in spite of the harsh economic realities, the people still have full confidence, trust.

“I think that is the proper word, in President Buhari, that he will do his very best to improve their lot and I think the proof of that was the reaction to the threatened strikes by the labour unions. You can see that even though people are unhappy, they refused to come out because they understood.
“They are in pain but they understood why the pain was there and they trusted the President that he was doing everything within his power to ameliorate their pain. So yes, there is a lot of grumbling all over the place, but also there is a lot of trust in Mr. President”, he added.
On internal crisis in some states, including Kano, Bayelsa and Kogi, Oyegun said APC was attending to each of them.
“In vevery case, we are making progress. Bayelsa should be concluded in a matter of weeks. Kano is basically a personality thing and we’ve got everybody to sheathe their swords for now.

“And I think that has happened. Kano has cooled off. We also have issues in Kogi State which we are also attending to. That is the only way you know a government that is in power.
“If we were in opposition, there won’t be skirmishes in these states because there would be nothing to skirmish over but since we are in power, people are still struggling for relative importance within the system with an eye on tomorrow.
“These things are normal, they are expected but we’ve developed that habit of democratic consultation and reconciliation and it is working”, he added.

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Petition security agents if any of our members are involved in corrupt practices – APC dares PDP

The All Progressives Congress, APC, on Wednesday charged the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to petition the various anti-graft agencies if any member of the ruling party is found to be involved in corrupt practices. The ruling party made the assertion in a statement while responding to the declaration by some Senators that they have withdrawn their support for President Muhammadu Buhari due to his anti-corruption fight which is allegedly selective.
The statement was signed by its National Secretary, Mala Buni.

Buni said, “If the PDP and its agents have proof of corruption against anybody, the APC advises that they approach anti-graft agencies constitutionally mandated to handle such cases instead of declaring innocence on newspaper pages and other media outlets.”
“The generality of Nigerians clamour for all looters of public funds to be brought to book. The APC assures Nigerians that the political will and sincerity of purpose of the current administration to tackle corruption remains resolute.”
The ruling party also berated the PDP senators, saying they should face their legislative business and come to terms with the reality that they cannot determine how the Buhari administration fights corruption.
“The attention of the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to a statement credited to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senate Caucus stating that the Caucus has withdrawn its support for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari over the administration’s hugely successful war against corruption,” the statement said.

“The PDP Caucus must be reminded of their primary responsibility of lawmaking and representation of their constituents at the National Assembly. The APC advises the PDP Senate Caucus not to allow political shenanigans to becloud overall national interest.
“For the umpteenth time, the PDP and their agents do not have the luxury of dictating how the current administration and anti-corruption agencies carries out its legitimate duty of investigating and prosecuting cases of corruption, as long as it conforms to the rule of law,” the statement said.

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