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Tag: 2019 polls

  • Abe: APC winning 2019 polls in Rivers needs more efforts

    Abe: APC winning 2019 polls in Rivers needs more efforts

    The senator representing Rivers Southeast, Magnus Abe, has said the possibility of the All Progressives Congress (APC) taking over the Government House in Port Harcourt in the 2019 election from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will require the efforts of all stakeholders.

    The senator urged councillors elected on the platform of the APC in 2015 and other critical stakeholders to ensure that the party’s candidates win the 2019 elections.

    Abe spoke when members of the Rivers Councillors’ Forum (RCF) of the 8th Assembly from the 319 wards of Rivers state on APC’s platform, visited him in Port Harcourt yesterday to congratulate him on his victory at the poll.

    He sympathised with the councillors on their plight, adding that the only way their neglect could be addressed was for APC to take over the seat of power in Rivers.

    Abe, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), accused the Nyesom Wike administration of short-sightedness in the distribution of the state’s resources.

    The senator said the state’s resources should not be the exclusive rights of PDP members only but for every Rivers indigene.

    He said: “The APC is not just a political party; it is an idea and the idea of the APC is justice. It means what you can do in another setting will be difficult to do in the APC. The party is a vision that Nigerians of all works of life, from every social and economic standing, came together in pursuit of its common vision. The vision was to have a better country, a fairer country, a society in which there will be justice for all. Isn’t that what we came to look for in APC?

    “We were running away from injustice. We were running away from the impunity that existed elsewhere. We decided and we felt that in coming to the APC, we would escape all those things. We cannot come to the APC and see more than what we saw before. It will not work.

    “I thank those who tried to stop you (councillors) from coming because if they did not try to stop you, half of you would not have been here. You are here principally because you want to show that you cannot be stopped and you have shown the world that you cannot be stopped. So, let me thank those who tried to stop you for making this meeting a most successful political gathering of grassroots politicians of the APC.

    “Let me say there is nothing that is going on that is so strange. I have confidence in the ability of our leadership to resolve whatever challenges or problems that may come up in the party. Those who think that if there are issues in the party, it means the party will scatter or anybody will leave, do not understand how hungry and angry we are.

     

     

  • Buhari’s worries over 2019 polls

    Buhari’s worries over 2019 polls

    DURING his two-day visit to Edo State last week, President Muhammadu Buhari made two statements, among many others, about serious issues that worried him. In a paradoxical way, however, Nigerians are equally worried about his attitude to those things that worry him. First, he expressed anxiety over the 2019 general elections. His anxiety coincided with a protest led by civil society groups and lawyers in Abuja calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, to step down for his uninspiring leadership of the electoral body and the shambolic manner nearly all the elections held under him were conducted. Said the president: “What happened in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers States disturbs me a lot. I think we should go beyond these actions. Why do we kill each other? Putting tyres on people and setting them ablaze? I have told the law enforcement agencies, if we can’t conduct an election in one state, then we should forget about 2019.”
    He sounded almost helpless. Yet he understands that the elections conducted under him have been less than satisfactory, both in terms of peaceful conduct and in terms of outcomes. The elections, despite undue militarisation, have become wars, as the Rivers State example showed. In addition, and disturbingly too, some of the elections were declared inconclusive, prompting general fears, which the president himself alluded to, that a general election could be difficult to organise and police, even when the money is available. Protesting lawyers and civil society groups indicate that the INEC chairman may not be as assiduous as he should be or nearly as competent as the public and president hoped. They want him to step down. On his own, the president seems to stop at bemoaning the situation rather than stepping in aggressively with remedial solutions that show his understanding of the problems. From the president’s grumbling, not to say his homilies on good elections, it is clear he is chary of addressing the problem.
    The second most impactful statement the president made during his Edo visit concerns his view on multi-party democracy as a concomitant of heterogeneous society. Said he: “We believe in multi-party democratic system. It is the best for us. In a country of over 450 ethnic groups, it is not easy to come together, only God can do it. We are doing our best because we have found ourselves as part of this great country called Nigeria.” The statement is truly disturbing. Not only did he fall into the same time-worn mindset of religionising every secular matter, especially things clearly under his purview and control, it is ironical that his own actions as president have vividly repudiated his preconceptions about democracy. The electorate did not vote President Buhari to surrender the issues of fairness, justice and equity to God. They assume his God, if that be it, had equipped him with the requisite qualifications to establish control and lead.
    Furthermore, he seems dangerously enamoured of a fatalistic approach to the national question that must horrify the ordinary Nigerian. “We have found ourselves as part of this great country,” he whined. But by now, he and most Nigerians should have gone beyond acknowledging geographical identity; it is important to begin affirming a national identity. Not only that, he seems to think that since Nigerians ‘have found themselves’ within the Nigerian boundary, there is nothing that can be done about it, not even to examine the geographical determinism he does not want questioned.
    What is even stranger is that for a president who acknowledges the country’s heterogeneity and the sensible solution multi-party democracy affords the elite, he has not taken a single step to introduce and entrench diversity in his government. His kitchen cabinet and especially security appointments have not reflected his conviction about democracy and diversity. Worse, given his often high-minded approach to governance and the ethical issues of integrity and honesty, it is strange that he saw nothing to be anxious about in commissioning a university established by a serving Governor Adams Oshiomhole in his hometown, Iyamho, on the outskirts of Auchi in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.

  • Why INEC must start planning for 2019 polls now, by Jega

    Why INEC must start planning for 2019 polls now, by Jega

    INDEPENDENT National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega yesterday said the commission must begin to consider reforms that will help improve the 2019 general elections.

    Prof. Jega, who spoke in Abuja at the post-2015 general elections’ retreat organised for electoral officers, said despite the global praise that greeted the elections, there was still room for improvement.

    He stressed that the success recorded was as a result of the sacrifices and energy put into improving on the 2011 general elections.

    The INEC boss said officers should take time to review the performance of the commission in the last elections and point out areas where the commission did not do well with a view to improving on such areas.

    Jega argued that for the country to continue to develop; it needs credible and good elections.

    He said: “Well-conducted elections will result in the election of good people, which can drive the process of governance very well and deliver good governance for our people. Good governance in terms of satisfying the need and aspirations of our people through the governance process.

    “So, we must continue to do our best to improve the electoral process and we cannot rest on our oars in addressing all the challenges associated with elections.”

    The INEC boss added that the success of the last general elections was as a result of the efforts and measures took by INEC’s members of staff to correct on mistakes of the 2011 elections.

    He said in spite of the accolades INEC got on the 2015 general elections, it was time to begin to reflect on areas of further reforms.

    Prof. Jega said: “Let us not waste time discussing what we did right. What we did right was good and it has helped us to have a good election in 2011 and 2015, but let us focus on what we did wrong.

    “What were those things that we shouldn’t have done, which you have observed as field officers that we did which we need to correct or improve on as we move towards the future?’’

    He was, however, full of praises for the electoral officers for their roles in the last elections, which, according to him, made the elections a success.

    He said: “We have worked very hard, tirelessly under very difficult circumstances to get this outcome.

    “Obviously, we recognise that in spite of our best effort, we have not been able to create the best and the excellent environment under

    which you are to conduct your jobs.

    “In spite of the constraint and the challenges, you have all done your best and your best this time around has been recognised as being good enough.”

    He, therefore, urged participants at the retreat to discuss measures needed to be taken to improve the electoral process as well as their welfare.

    International Foundation for Elections Systems’ (IFES) Country Director, Mr. Shalva Kipshidze, in his remark at the retreat, congratulated the commission for the successful conduct of the last general elections.

    Kipshidze said IFES was happy to support INEC’s effort to review the conduct of the elections to build on the good practices and lessons learnt as Nigeria prepare for 2019 general elections.