Impeachment: APC Plans to retaliate in Ekiti, Osun

•Leaders move to save Al-Makura

LEADERS of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have resolved to battle the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over ongoing moves to impeach the governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Al-Makura, as well as last week’s impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State.

The opposition party had alleged highhandedness on the part of the Presidency and the PDP, while its leaders were said to have decided on a three-way approach towards staving off impeachment against their governors.

Sources said the party had resolved to employ public sympathy against impeachment moves on Governor Al-Makura, while at the same time embark on lobby of principal PDP stakeholders. It would also mobilise media opinion against the planned impeachment.

It was gathered that the APC blamed the success of the impeachment plot in Adamawa State on Governor Nyako who was said to have failed to employ any of the stated measures.

Carrot and stick treatment for PDP
A source described the plan by the APC as a carrot and stick approach, which would see some key stakeholders attacking the PDP, while others would be reaching out to leaders of the same ruling party for soft landing.

“We cannot afford to lie low with the PDP. The plot is to paint the impeachment moves as coming from Jonathan and then secure public sympathy in favour of our party. Other than that, some strategic leaders are being asked to also reach out to leaders of the PDP to plead with them not to heat up the polity and allow the governors to stay,” a source close to the party said.

Ekiti, Osun, Sokoto targets of retaliation
But the source further said that the APC was not completely incapacitated in the unfolding drama as it would soon direct it’s governors to also target PDP interests.

Said a source; “the PDP is vulnerable in some states. They are vulnerable in Sokoto, where the deputy governor is hanging on just by the goodwill of APC lawmakers. We also have the situation in Ekiti, where we have 24 members in the House of Assembly compared to one member of the PDP. If they continue to impeach our governors, Ayo Fayose will not last one day in Ekiti.”

The source also said that the situation in Osun State was not different, adding that a PDP governor would be given the impeachment treatment, even if the party wins the August 9 election.

In Sokoto State, the deputy governor, Mukhtar Shagari, has remained in the PDP, despite the defection of Governor Aliyu Wamakko and a majority of House of Assembly members to the APC.

It was gathered that the leadership of the APC has decided to renew the order given their governors to remove any recalcitrant deputy governor to pave way for easy victory of the party in the 2015 succession war.

The APC had, in the wake of the defection of five PDP governors to its fold in November 2013, asked its governors to firm up control of their states ahead of the succession battles, while ensuring that any deputy governor that refuses to join his governor in the defection train should be removed.

Maku warns trouble makers in Nasarawa
Meanwhile, Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, warned the APC to stop unnecessary protests over the purported impeachment of Al-Makura, saying such protests might spark off violence which might consume the entire state.

He gave this warning on Saturday, while delivering his speech at the foundation-laying ceremony of Eggon House at Nasarawa-Eggon Primary school, Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

Maku, who lamented that the issue had not gone to the level of mass protests and destruction of properties, therefore, cautioned APC leaders to call their subordinates to order so as not to throw the state into anarchy, adding that if PDP should embark on protest too, the state might be on fire.

The minister then encouraged members of the state House of Assembly over the purported gross misconduct leveled against the governor, adding that due process ought to be followed, and that they ought to follow it to a logical conclusion.

Ekiti APC braces up for opposition role
In another development, the interim chairman of the APC in Ekiti State, Chief Olajide Awe, has hinted that the party would give the incoming PDP government in the state a run for its money. Speaking on how his party would provide opposition to the PDP, Awe told Sunday Tribune that his party had already laid down a foundation for successive governments in the state, saying it would “monitor to ensure that that standard is built upon.”

Chief Awe, who spoke in a telephone interview, said the APC would not envisage anything lower than the standard already set by his party, saying the “dramatis personae in government or governance should set a standard.”

He dded that “whoever is coming is expected to be a person of the 21st Century and who must be able to come before the people with a vision and a plan to improve on the standard set and also improve the Ekiti people.

“We’ve not gone to the cocoon and fold our hands. We’ve gone back to the drawing board to see what went wrong. However, we are not going to just leave the space for those who are not prepared.”

We are ready for APC members in Assembly –Ekiti PDP
But the chairman of the PDP in the State, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, also reacted to the threats of the APC, particularly concerning handling the new opposition’s majority representation in the state House of Assembly, when his party forms government in October.

“We are in tune with the people of the state including members of the Assembly,” he said.

Ogundipe told Sunday Tribune that “nobody in the Assembly is from another state and their families are from Ekiti and they all voted for Ayo Fayose,” pointing out that “the overwhelming result of the election shows that the people of the state are for PDP and they would not want their representatives in the Assembly to go against their wish.”

The PDP chairman, who also spoke on the telephone, said “members of the House of Assembly are representing the people and the people who sent them to the House to represent them will not fold their arms and watch their representatives do what they have not asked them to do.”

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Impeachment: APC Plans to retaliate in Ekiti, Osun