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PANDEF knocks PDP over 2023 presidential ticket, insists on southern president

April 7, 2022 No Comments

Apex Niger Delta sociopolitical group, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has condemned the decision by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to throw open its 2023 presidential ticket instead of zoning it to the Southern part of the country, while insisting that the next president must come from the South.

The group described the move by the main opposition party as throwing away it’s best chance of toppling the APC in the 2023 general election.

In a statement signed by PANDEF’s National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson on Wednesday, the group claimed that the decision by the party’s Zoning Committee led by Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State which arrived at the decision, was ill-advised and acted on a planned script.

It is an awful decision and there will be consequences. But we are not utterly surprised at the development,” the statement said.

The outcome was predictable; there were evident-pointers that this would be the conclusion.

“Governor Ortom’s Committee has a script and they have played it out with due deference to some patriots that were in the Committee.

“The level of desperation and political debauchery being demonstrated by some political stakeholders is deplorable and quite disappointing.

“Regrettably, we are in a society where it seems anything goes. We will await the conduct of the presidential primaries by the parties to assess the choices that would be presented to us.”

Politics

Wait till 2031 for another shot at presidency,’ PANDEF tells Northern politicians

October 15, 2021 No Comments

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) on Thursday told politicians from the Northern part of the country eyeing the Presidency in 2023 to wait for another eight years in the national interest.

The PANDEF National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson, disclosed this in a statement in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

He said it is unthinkable that the North would contemplate retaining the presidency beyond 2023.

The quest for power shift has continued to dominate public discourse in Nigeria with just 18 months to the country’s next general elections.

President Muhammadu Buhari will complete his eight-year tenure in 2023.

Robinson said: “Everyone has the right to take part in the governance of his/her country; to vote and be voted for. But it is equally fundamental to uphold the indispensable principles of fairness, equity, and justice. Without these, there can be no overall peace and progress.

“PANDEF avers that it should be, therefore, unthinkable that the North should contemplate clutching onto the presidential seat in 2023 at the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s two tenures of eight years.

“Nature abhors injustice; the sun does not rise in the east and set in the east.

“We consider declarations by some individuals and groups, now, suddenly opposing the extant practice of rotational zoning of political offices, particularly that of the presidency, as unpatriotic and self-serving.

“Given the multi-faceted heterogeneity of our country, Nigerians should be critically concerned, not only about the credibility and competence of those aspiring to occupy the highest office, but also, where they come.

We must conscientiously ensure that zoning, especially for the office of President and Governors, is very well maintained.

“Besides, PANDEF firmly affirms that no zone of the country is in want of men and women of noble character, acumen, competence, and integrity, to lead Nigeria at this crucial time.

To say, suddenly, only in 2021, that the presidency should be open to all zones in 2023 amounts to moving the goalpost in the 87th of a 90-minute game, implying that somebody from Daura, Katsina State, can, again, become President of Nigeria in 2023, within the present mood of the country.

“The North would have completed the statutory eight years by 2023; it is, therefore, only reasonable and fair that power should rotate to the South, as has been the case for twenty-two years of the Third Republic!

“Whether the person would emerge from the South-South, South-East or South-West is a matter of different configurations entirely.

“Northerners who hunger to become President should wait till 2031.

Political stakeholders need to demonstrate pristine, honourable, and patriotic etiquette of civility to whittle down the thick tensions, arising from the all-around dissensions and alleviate the pain, suffering, and unpleasant conditions that the vast majority of citizens are facing.

“Reckless political machinations, to arrogate power to one part of the Country will only worsen the ensuing debilitating state of affairs.”

Politics

PANDEF tags Matawalle’s comments as ‘irresponsible’

April 11, 2021 No Comments

The Pan Niger Delta Forum has criticised comments attributed to the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, claiming that southerners in the region were attacking northerners, describing the remarks as “irresponsible” and “unfortunate.”

This call was contained in a statement issued on Saturday, by the PANDEF National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson.

Robinson said the comments from Matawalle were “preposterous” due to the delicate nature of the polity.

The statement read, “It is rather most unfortunate that the governor of Zamfara State, Mr. Bello Matawalle, would make such an irresponsible statement.

“We’ll ignore that of northern elders because the nation is used to their unguarded utterances but for a governor to make such a reckless declaration is completely preposterous.

And it conveys how awful the nation’s political leadership has deteriorated, where self-seekers are thrust into hallowed positions, instead of patriots who would pursue national concord, particularly, at a moment like this when the country is facing daunting socio-economic challenges”.

The PANDEF spokesman argued that with the country in a state of tension, such comments were not expected of anyone, much less a leader like the governor.

“Nigeria is on the edge of a precipice, no one can tell what will come next. What is expected of leaders across the country now, especially the elite, is to rise to the occasion and build bridges of understanding, and not to reduce themselves to ‘local wildcats,’ fanning the embers of discord and hatred to aggravate the already precarious situation”.

Politics

PANDEF cautions N’Delta militants against violence over alleged marginalisation

February 25, 2021 No Comments

The Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has cautioned militants under the auspices of the Supreme Egbesu Liberation Fighters (SELF) to jettison violence under the guise of the alleged marginalisation of the region.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that the SELF in a viral video posted on Tuesday by Africa Independent Television (AIT), complained that “no meaningful progress has been made” with the Ogboni clean-up project “because the Nigerian government has decided to place politics against the meaningful development of our people.”

According to a masked member of the group: “After accepting the amnesty pact, to date, there are no schools, no potable water, no light, no hospital and access roads for our people to enjoy.

We are coming to destroy all your infrastructure in Abuja and Lagos. As a group committed to giving total liberation to our people, we will destroy the oil facilities both onshore and offshore in no distant time, we will be seen to be crippling the Nigerian economy.”

However, PANDEF, led by a former Federal Information Commissioner, Chief Edwin Clark, said even though it is in support of the issues raised by SELF, it abhors violence.

This was contained in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson on Wednesday, February 24.

According to PANDEF, the issues raised by SELF are ”true” and in line with its calls for attention to be given to the youths of the Niger Delta.

It said: “We had said the youth will run out of patience and that things cannot continue the way they have been going on. How can we explain that the region that produces the revenue for the country …is one of the highest in the unemployment rate in the country? And you know of the population in the Niger Delta, about 50 percent of the people are under 30.

“As it were, we are sitting on a time bomb. These young men are unemployed, there are no jobs.

The region is degraded economically. What we have today is a story of the struggle for survival because there are no jobs, livelihoods have decimated, our communities, our waterways, and our environment have been degraded. And then, you see resources from the land making billionaires every day out of an industry that operates in our backyard.

“While the military has become forces of intimidation and oppression in the Niger Delta, intimidating our young people, carelessly and unnecessarily destroying our communities on flimsy excuses, no community in the NorthEast or Northwest that the bandits and terrorists are marauding and ravaging have been destroyed by the military.

But as a responsible organisation, PANDEF would denounce any act of violence because the adverse effect will be more on our people. We will continue to assuage our youths. They have every right to be angry in the face of these inconsistencies.”