I’ll join PDP where I have friends – Ikimi

A few weeks after he left Nigeria’s main opposition party,
APC, Tom Ikimi has stated that he would join the
mainstream ruling party where he has ‘friends’.

Mr. Ikimi dumped the APC after being denied the national
chairmanship of the party and after bitter squabbles with
some leaders of the party, including Bola Tinubu. The Edo
politician then accused Mr. Tinubu of hijacking the APC.

On Monday in Benin, Mr. Ikimi said that he is ready to
ensure that Edo is included in the mainstream states in the
South-South region in future.
He addressed journalists shortly after arriving Benin Airport
from Abuja.
He said that what was in the future for the state was greater
than what had been seen so far, adding that he was back
with the Federal Government.

He also said that there was no reason to be at logger head
with the Federal Government as development in his native
land of Igueben, Edo State, was done by the Federal
Government and not the state government.
He further said that he had had talks and discussions with
the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Tony
Anenih.

According to him, it is time to make peace with his kinsmen
as well as time for him to gravitate to a party where he has
friends.
Ikimi said it was a good thing that the nation had two
dominant political parties, the APC and the PDP, stressing
that it was time for people to decide where they belong.

He said that the decision to leave the APC was not for witch
hunting or for vendetta, but was quick to add that the APC
was a party where leaders witch hunt one another.

The former APC leader said he was back home for final
consultation with his people, and that the wait won’t be long
before bringing to the awareness of the people the party he
was pitching tent with.

Earlier, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who led some other PDP
chieftains to the airport to receive and welcome Mr. Ikimi,
said that they had come to identify with him and to tell him
that they would not allow him to be disgraced.

Mr. Ize-Iyamu said the reception was in solidarity with one
of their own and to let him know that the people of the state
still believed in him and trust him.

He expressed the hope that the PDP would win future
elections in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that those who
welcomed Mr. Ikimi were Lucky Igbinedion, former governor
of Edo; Lucky Imasuen; Tony Omoaghe; and Evelyn Igbafen.

Northern Elders Tackle Jonathan over Silence on Revelations By Australian Negotiator

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has decried what it
described as the continued silence of President Goodluck
Jonathan over the allegation by the Australian hostage
negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, that former Governor of
Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and Lt. Gen. Azubuike
Ihejirika (rtd) are the financiers of the outlawed Boko
Haram sect.
They called on the president to investigate the duo.
The Secretary of the forum, Professor Ango Abdullahi, who
spoke while briefing journalists in Bauchi yesterday, said:

“The claims of Davies are serious enough not to be merely
repudiated, therefore Jonathan owes Nigerians the duty to
address these grievous allegations.’’
The forum, according to Abdullahi, expects a full scale
investigation, and if necessary, prosecute the persons
involve in escalating the mayhem caused by the insurgents
as the issue must not be swept under the carpet.

“The silence of the presidency on this matter is likely to be
construed as full acceptance of all the disturbing allegations
made by Davies with the rapid territorial gains in vast areas
of Nigerian soil, and what appears as imminent fall of key
cities and towns to the insurgents,” he said.
Abdullahi lamented that “there is no going back in our
commitment to reverse these creeping disasters when the
military have indicated neglect and abuse their political and
professional leadership.”
The forum urged Jonathan to immediately overhaul the
leadership of the military to arrest the barbaric killings of
innocent citizens.

It also called on the president not to concede any territory
currently under the grip of the insurgents.
The elders charged Nigerians to support a re-organised and
better equipped military to defend the country including far-
reaching measures to enable Jonathan win the war in no
distant time.

The forum noted with dismay the so-called inauguration of
Board of Trustees BoT of the forum when the principal
actors were players in the Jonathan re-election bid and
described them as’’ faceless people behind the so-called
Northern emancipation.’’

It also challenged Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to be up and doing in ensuring a
comprehensive voters’ registration exercise in the country,
and pointed out that the recently conducted elections in
Osun and Ekiti States, and the Niger States by-election
showed its biased position clearly .