The Nation Newspaper

Tag: 2015 poll

  • APC to Jonathan: Courting Yoruba monarchs won’t save you

    APC to Jonathan: Courting Yoruba monarchs won’t save you

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Southwest on Monday confronted President Goodluck Jonathan with stark analysis of his last minutes move to court Yoruba monarchs ahead of the election, saying it will not secure him victory in the March 28 presidential election.

    In a statement issued by the Director of Media and Publicity in the zone, Mr. Ayo Afolabi, the party explained why Jonathan will lose in Southwest.

    According to the APC, Yoruba voted massively for him n 2011 based on their conviction that he was a better candidate but that they have been disappointed by his poor performance in governance.

    The statement reads: “The latest move by President Goodluck Jonathan to court Southwest monarchs ahead of 2015 general election has no redemptive electoral value in Southwest because it is devoid of strategic assessment.

    “The strategic question the President and his campaign managers should have tried to answer before engaging on the rash moves is: how many of such desperate and impromptu meetings were needed before Yoruba people voted for him in 2011? How much did President Jonathan spend to get Yoruba votes in 2011 and why should he think money will save him now?

    “All other regions extracted several promises from President Jonathan in the race to 2011 elections except the Southwest, which voted based on their firm convictions and commitment to justice and good governance.

    “However, despite getting Yoruba votes effortlessly, what did the region get in return? In the last five years, Jonathan’s administration has shown unbearable contempt for the region and its people and their values, especially in the attempt to adulterate their leadership values.

    “For instance, many top Yoruba people in the civil service have been the victim of Jonathan administration’s nepotism. Under no compulsion, no Yoruba person will be proud of those President Jonathan has imposed as leaders representing Yoruba people in different capacities whether as governor, minister, or party leaders.

    “From all intent and purposes, governance has stopped in Ekiti State as the governor has been functioning more as a campaign manager with the resources of Ekiti people than as a governor. Ekiti people deserve better than they currently get.

    “The Southwest APC is confident that Yoruba monarchs and voters are conscious of the implications of a Greek Gift and as the bastion of democratic justice and good governance, they will vote true to their cultural identity that loathes tyranny, corruption, and nepotism.

    In fact, activities in the Presidency in the last few weeks have confirmed that Jonathan did not realise the need for governance until it is evident that Nigerians have already embraced the opportunity of change offered by the APC.

    “Nigerians deserve better than such a President and they will use their ballot to pass a vote of no confidence on the clueless and wasteful Jonathan administration on March 28.”

     

  • Buhari rejects use of soldiers for election duty

    Buhari rejects use of soldiers for election duty

    … Says, ‘Nigeria will remain multi-religious state’

    The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, said on Wednesday in Abuja that he was opposed to the deployment of soldiers for election duty, saying it is the responsibility of the police to ensure security during elections.

    The former head of state also said he was committed to ensuring that Nigeria remains a multi religious society where every Nigerian will be free to practice his or her religion, adding that he will never support any move to either Christianize or Islamize the country.

    He spoke at different meetings with Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, a delegation of the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union Election mission in Nigeria.

    He spoke just as the UN and AU said it is expedient for stakeholders in Nigeria electoral process to know the constitutional limit for elections and ensure that they are respected.

    Asked whether he support the deployment of military during elections, he said, “no, I do not support it. It is police duty and I think there is no local government area in this country without the police.”

    At a meeting with the Catholic Bishop Conference of Nigeria, Buhari said that although he has been severally and consistently vilified and maligned, he had no personal religious agenda and neither would he support any move by anybody or group of persons to either Christianize or Islamize the country.

    Buhari , who was accompanied by his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Rotimi Amaechi and a host of other members of the party’s PCC, said he “will not condone any initiative that seeks to promote one religion over the other.”

    The APC candidate traced the remote cause of many of the challenges confronting the nation to unemployment, saying “in a country where a large percentage of the younger generation is unemployed and where no immediate respite is in sight, these challenges are prone to abound. Give them self improvement opportunities, offer them a view of a greater tomorrow and all these will be in the past.”

    He told the religious leaders that his government will pursue a well planned agricultural programme in conjunction with development of the rural areas in order to exploit the multiplier benefits of agriculture, empower citizens and curtail rural-urban drift.

    He also stated that the solid mineral exploration and exploitation would be given a boost to generate employment.

     

  • ASUU urges Nigerians to resist plans to sack Jega

    ASUU urges Nigerians to resist plans to sack Jega

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities has alerted Nigerians of alleged grand plan by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to send the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on terminal leave.

    ASUU ‎in a resolution reached at the end of a National Symposium on the 2015 elections and signed by Chairman of the union at the University of Ibadan chapter, Prof. Segun Ajiboye, asked Nigerians to be alert to the grand plan to scuttle 2015 general election.

    ASUU warned the cabals to tread with caution as the Nigerians are too sensitive to be forced to succumb to tyrannical ploy.

    “Having succeeded in using military chiefs to influence the shifting of the polls, the next plan on their agenda is to ask Prof. Attahiru Jega to proceed on terminal leave, while they bring a willing tool who will do their bidding to rig the elections in their favour,” the union said.

    While urging Nigerians to stand up and resist elements of retrogression, ASUU noted that anyone who emerges from a credible, free and fair election must be ready to implement fully the 2009 agreement reached with the union.

    ASUU which lamented the haphazard implementation of the agreement, said a purpose and focused attention on education will engender development in Nigeria.

     

  • Jonathan’s eligibility: High Court refers decision to Court of Appeal

    Jonathan’s eligibility: High Court refers decision to Court of Appeal

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has referred to the Court of Appeal the verdict on whether or not President Goodluck Jonathan was eligible to contest the next presidential election having inherited the remnant of  late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua’s tenure.

    The decision was contained in a ruling delivered on Monday by Justice Ahmed Mohammed on an application for referral filed on November 28 last year by two lawyers, Adejumo Ajagbe and Olatoye Wahab.

    Agbaje and Wahab had sued the AGF and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seeking to restrain them from allowing Jonathan to participate in next presidential election on the ground that his second term would end on May 29 this year.

    Before the substantive suit could be decided, the duo filed the application for referral, urging the court to refer the interpretation of sections 135(2)(a) and (b) and 137(1) of the Constitution to the Court of Appeal, a request the AGF objected to.

    Plaintiffs’ lawyer, Mahmud Magaji (SAN) had argued that unless the Court of Appeal first resolved the substantial issue of constitutional law raised by his clients, in relation to the effect of sections 135(2)(a) and (b) and 137(1) of the Constitution and whether a person sworn into the office of the President on two previous terms is deemed to have been elected to that office at the two previous elections, it would be difficult for the trial court to determine the substantive case.

    The AGF, in objecting the referral queried the plaintiffs’ locus standi and argued that the case was an abuse of court process because a similar case had been decided by the High Court of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which is now on appeal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

  • Oritsejafor to politicians: Don’t cause trouble, play by rules

    Oritsejafor to politicians: Don’t cause trouble, play by rules

    As Nigeria prepares for the general election, the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has urged politicians to shun any act capable of causing violence in the country.

    Oritsejafor expressed strong worry over the increasing Boko Haram attack in the country, calling on leaders at all levels to engage in meaningful intra-and-inter dialogue in order to nip the senseless killings in the bud.

    The CAN president, who spoke at a retreat organized by the National Christian Elders Forum in Abuja, said to politicians that “enough is enough.”

    He said if truly the intention of politicians is to serve the people, they should eschew activities capable of causing harm to Nigerians.

    While urging them to play by the rules, the CAN president noted that election would come and go, but Nigeria will continue to exist.

    He said,” I am puzzled about the conducts of some politicians in the country. Is politics not supposed to be service to the people? If you get into any political position, you should be there to serve the people.

    “Therefore, if the essence is for you to serve, who you are going to serve when the people you wants to serve die in the process of election. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to our politicians again that election is not a do or die affair.

    “Let us remember that election will come and go and Nigeria will remain. So let us play the game according the rules. I appeal to your conscience, to your heart. I watch television and I see how a lot of people are being maimed, killed. Let us do what is right so that Nigeria will remain one.”

    Reacting to the alleged political intolerant in the North, Oritsejafor maintained that it was wrong for anyone to prevent the other from identifying with any candidate of his choice.

     

  • 2015: FG faults foreign media on accreditation

    The Federal Government on Thursday faulted claims by foreign journalists that they were denied accreditation to cover the country’s general election.

    A statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, said the claim was false.

    She therefore advised the general public to disregard the report as false and mischievous.

    The ministry, according to Yemi-Esan, views the claim as a deliberate ploy by some politicians to smear the image of the Federal Government ahead of the elections.

    The permanent secretary explained that the government “has so far processed 300 visa applications from foreign journalists who want to come into the country for the elections.

    “Hundreds of other applications received by the ministry are being processed at the moment.

    “Those who could not secure their visas from Nigerian embassies abroad probably did not follow the due process to secure the accreditation,” she said.

     

  • PDM, Accord Party, eight others reject poll shift

    A coalition of 10 political parties have rejected the call for the postponement of the April 14 and 28 general election, saying such underhand and undemocratic tactic could plunge the country into anarchy.

    At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, the leaders of the parties expressed shock over the decision of some of the political parties to join what they described as the infamous campaign to scuttle the country’s democracy.

    The parties that formed the coalition are – the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Accord Party, KOWA Party, APA, MPPP, SDP, ADC, HDP, DPP and UPP.

    The National Chairman of the PDM, Alhaji Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, who addressed journalists at the conference, said the call for the postponement of the election was dubious and evil.

    According to him, the call had nothing to do with the preparedness or otherwise of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the election or the pace of distribution and collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).

    “We condemn in the strongest terms possible, this underhand and undemocratic tactic meant to plunge our country into anarchy, on top of the debilitating state of insecurity which has become pervasive in the land,” Ibrahim stated.

    The parties stated that there was no reason for the postponement, since INEC had maintained its preparedness to conduct the poll.

    The parties also cited the assurances by the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief Air Marshall Alexander Badeh, guaranteeing adequate security for the elections in the three Northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe that are under the Boko Haram siege.

    The parties said, “The military, led by the Chief of Defence Staff, had guaranteed adequate security on land and air for a successful and safe conduct of the 2015 general election. This ought to have settled the fears about the security of lives and property as well as of the electorate and INEC officials.

    “The governors and citizens of the three states have not complained either to the INEC or the Executive and Legislative arms of government that their citizens would be disenfranchised if elections were held in their states.

    “The call for the postponement of the general election is, therefore, a call orchestrated by one of the political parties which has continued to invest huge sums of money to ensure the elections do not hold as scheduled, out of fear of losing power for the first time since 1999.

    “Our democracy has come of age and Nigerians are ready for change, we will not allow desperation and power-mongering to scuttle it and will do whatever is necessary to defend it and ensure that the general election holds as scheduled.

    “We call on the INEC not to be intimidated by desperate elements and to proceed with its preparations for the general election as scheduled. We assure INEC we shall stand by it, shoulder to shoulder, to ensure our democracy is not undermined.

    “We urge all major stakeholders, especially well meaning political parties and their presidential candidates, the INEC and the National Assembly as well as all the security agencies in the country to stand together to ensure that the 2015 general election is conducted as scheduled and guarantee that Nigeria survives to face another general election in 2019.

    “We call on friends of Nigeria and the international community at large to stand with Nigeria in these very trying times and put pressure on the authorities to comply with the timetable of democratic elections as released by INEC.

  • Nigerians in high spirit to vote – Coomassie

    The former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, has said that Northern delegates to the conference were not party to calls for the postponement of the forthcoming elections, saying Nigerians were in high spirit to vote.

    In a statement made available to The Nation in Abuja, Coomassie also dissociated the Northern delegates from statements credited to some former delegates that the conference recommended the shift in the date of the elections.

    According to him, the conference never at any time during its sitting discussed poll postponement either during plenary or during discussions at committee levels.

    The statement reads: “It has been brought to the attention of the Northern Delegates to the 2014 National Conference which took place from March 17 to August 20, 2014 that the conference recommended the postponement or shifting of the 2015 general election as being canvassed by some delegates in a recent press statement.

    “As a distinguished delegate to the conference and also Chairman of the Northern Delegates Forum, I wish to categorically state that postponement of the the 2015 general election was never discussed either at plenary or committee sessions throughout the duration of the conference. No mention was even made during the debate on some of the recommendations of the committees at plenary.

    “It is therefore strange and unbecoming of some delegates to come out now at the end of the conference on 20th August 2014 with the submission of conference report to Mr. President, claiming that the conference endorsed the postponement of 2015 general election. This is certainly not the position of the 2014 conference, but the opinion of the canvassers who want to hide under the 2014 National Conference.

    “The Northern Delegates to the 2014 National Conference wish to disassociate themselves from this illegal statement made by some delegates who are bent on misrepresenting the good work done by the 2014 National Conference.

    “It is on record that the Conference submitted its report to Mr. President on August 21 and thereafter the President declared the conference closed. This act technically disbanded the conference, therefore delegates cannot come in any form to deliberate or issue statement on behalf of the conference.”

     

  • Benin monarch to Jonathan: God’s choice is our own

    Benin Monarch, Oba Erediauwa, on Thursday stated that the people of Benin would accept whoever God picks to lead the country after the presidential election.

    Oba Erediauwa, who spoke when President Goodluck Jonathan visited his Palace as part of his campaign rally, said the ancestors and God know who would be the next president.

    The monarch who was represented by the Iyase of Benin Kingdom, Chief Sam Igbe, called for peaceful elections and campaigns.

    He said, “God and our ancestors already know your (President Jonathan) aims, whoever God has chosen is our choice.”

    President Jonathan praised the Oba and his chiefs for sustaining peace in the country.

    The President said he was at the palace to inform the monarch of his presence in Benin for the presidential rally.

     

  • ‘Buhari not after Nigeria’s money’

    The Director General of Ibrahim Gaidam Campaign Organization, Alhaji Yakubu Sidi Karasuwa, has said the desire of the All Progressive Congress presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to rule Nigeria is not to enrich himself.

    Karasuwa, who is the APC candidate for Nguru/Machina/Yusufari/Karasuwa Federal Constituency, said there is no retired General in the Nigerian Army that is living a low profile life like the former head of state.

    “When you look around and see the low profile life that Gen. Buhari maintains, none of his contemporaries in the army is living that kind of life. Don’t forget, this man was a head of state of this country under a military regime with all the opportunities to loot the treasury but he never did.

    “In my concerned opinion, Gen. Buhari is out for a rescue mission for this country. His determination to rule this country is to correct all the wrongs that have engulf our country and not any petty reason of making money out of position of the President,” Karasuwa said.

    He added that the desperate measures being devised by the Peoples Democratic Party to shift the elections will be vehemently resisted by Nigerians and the international community.

    “The desperation of the PDP led government of President Goodluck Jonathan is a further demonstration of the huge failure of his government. I am surprised that an incumbent government is more jittery of an opposition party,” Karasuwa explained.