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Tag: Adamawa

  • Court dismisses suit challenging Adamawa gov’ship election

    The Adamawa State High Court sitting in Yola has dismissed a suit asking it to nullify the governorship election in the state.

    The case failed because the plaintiff tendered documents not properly certified and because he failed to prove his case by not tendering a document that was vital for the determination of the case, the trial judge, Justice Abdulaziz Waziri, ruled Friday morning.

    The candidate of the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), Rev Eric Theman, represented by his counsel, Bar Mustapha Ibrahim, had gone before the court to allege that he was deprived the right to be voted for in the March 9 election because the logo of his party was not on the ballot paper even after he had been recognised as a gubernatorial candidate.

    But the judge said the plaintiff failed to tender the ballot paper indicating that the logo of his party was omitted from it.

    “The fundamental document that would have proved the point was never brought before this court. The burden of proof lies on the plaintiff. This burden was not properly discharged,” he said, stressing that the reliefs sought by the plaintiff had therefore failed.

    Justice Waziri advised him or any other party wishing to appeal the judgement to do so within 90 days at the Yola Division of the Court of Appeal.

    The judgment of the court came Friday morning, hours after the state supplementary gubernatorial election was concluded and Rt Hon Umaru Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) declared winner, having scored the highest votes in both the March 9 main election and the Thursday return

  • Adamawa supplementary election result collation shifts to 8pm — REC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the collation of result of the Adamawa governorship supplementary election will begin by 8 pm on Thursday.

    Mr. Kasim Gaidam, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), confirmed the development to NAN in Yola.

    Gaidam explained that the exercise would begin at the Adamawa Governorship Election collation centre at INEC state headquarters in Yola.

    Gaidam said that reports reaching him showed the election was concluded peacefully and successfully in the 44 polling units in 14 local government areas of the state.

    ” We thank Almighty God that the supplementary election was conducted successfully and the collation of the result will commenced by 8 pm today.

    ” The election results from the affected 14 LGAs and 44 polling units are on the way to the collation centre,” Gaidam said.

    The Commissioner thanked the relevant stakeholders for making the election successful and peaceful.

  • Adamawa guber poll: Court concludes hearing, fixes judgment for Friday

    The Adamawa State High Court on Thursday concluded hearing on a suit filed against the Adamawa State governorship election and fixed Friday March 29 for judgement.

    The candidate of the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), Rev Eric Theman, had gone to the court immediately after the March 9 governorship election that he was denied the right to be voted for as his party logo was not on the ballot paper for the election.

    He asked the court for an injunction stopping the conduct of a rerun already announced at the time after the main election was declared inconclusive. He also asked the court to declare the main election null and void for the same reason that he was not duly entered for the election after he fulfilled all requirements for inclusion.

    The court promptly granted his request of injunction against the rerun, which stayed until the same court lifted it on Tuesday, following which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fixed Thursday, March 28, for the rerun which was in progress as this story was filed Thursday afternoon.

    The court Thursday heard arguments for and against the originating motion seeking the annulment of the March 9 election from plaintiff and defence counsels, and adjourned judgement to Friday.

    Counsel to INEC, Bar Stephen Ibian, had argued, among other things, that the MRDD did not get to the ballot paper because the candidate did not nominate a running mate for the election. He said the necessary forms of INEC in respect to the MRDD showed that the party did not sponsor a running mate.

    “The reliefs sought constitute an academic exercise and not grantable,” he concluded.

    Defending MRDD’s motion, however, the counsel, Bar Mustapha Ibrahim, told the court that the MRDD did present a running mate to the governorship candidate but that the documents INEC was tendering had a vital page missing, which he said amounted to withholding of evidence.

    “It is inconceivable for INEC to receive form 001 (as it did) and not Form 002 because they come together,” Bar Mustapha Ibrahim said, urging the court to grant the reliefs his clients sought as the reliefs were well grounded.

    The trial judge, Justice Abdulaziz Waziri, who had been emphatic since Tuesday that the week would not end without him delivering judgement on the case, brought Thursday’s session to a close a little after 1pm, urging counsels who had not provided details of all authorities for the cases they cited in their arguments to do so by midafternoon so he would have time to conclude the writing of his judgement against Friday.

    The judgement could have a telling effect on the ongoing governorship election process. If he annuls the election, it will bring the process to zero level, although the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the election, Rt Hon Umaru Fintiri, who are parties to the case and have always questioned the jurisdiction of the court over the case, will be certain to appeal such a judgement.

  • Adamawa guber supplementary poll commences in 14 LGAs

    The Adamawa governorship supplementary election has successfully commenced in 14 Local Government Areas across the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who visited some polling units on Thursday in Yola, the state capital, reports that the exercise was moving smoothly.

    Speaking to NAN, Ms Furera Adamu, INEC Presiding Officer in charge of Mustafa Primary School polling units in Bako ward in Yola, said the election started at 8 a.m.

    Adamu said that so far, there was no problem of card readers’ malfunction, adding that electorate were turning out to cast their votes.

    “The election started at 8 a.m in my unit and so far, there is no any problem as our card readers are functioning effectively. “We have enough security operatives deployed,” Adamu said.

    At the Bako Primary School polling unit 007 in Yola South Local Government Area, the election started as scheduled.

    In Girei and Fufore Local Government Areas, the exercise was moving smoothly as electorates were casting their votes orderly and peacefully.

    Speaking with NAN, Mr Kasim Gaidam, Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state said the commission had well prepared for the election where about 358 staff engaged for the supplementary election.

    He said the election was been conducting in 14 local government areas in the 44 affected polling units and in 29 wards.

    Gaidam said areas where the elections were being conducted include: Yola South, Fufore, Ganye, Girei, Guyuk, Hong, Lamurde, Numan, Madagali, Michika, Mubi North, Shelleng, Song and Toungo Local Government Areas.

    NAN reports that there was presence of election supervisors, accredited political agents and other stakeholders

  • Adamawa APC makes U-turn, accepts to participate in gov re-run

    The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa has called on its supporters in the state to get prepared and participate in the governorship supplementary election slated for Thursday.

    Alhaji Ahmed Lawal, State Organising Secretary of the party, gave the directive on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola.

    Lawal said that the party reviewed its earlier decision to boycott the poll and had resolved to fully participate in the poll.

    He, however, said that in spite of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC)’s refusal to heed their call for a re-schedule, the APC would still win the election.

    He appealed to the APC family and supporters not to be deterred by INEC’s action, but to go out en mass to vote for the candidate of the party.

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    “Having consulted all the party stakeholders, we have resolved to participate in the supplementary election fixed for tomorrow.

    “Our earlier boycott threat was not out of fear, but to encourage participation by other political parties who had been taken unawares by the date for the supplementary election.

    “To us, we will participate and win the re-run even as INEC has refused to rescind its decision to hold the re-run tomorrow.

    “We appeal to APC supporters to come out and vote for APC massively so as to ensure victory in the election.

    “Adamawa is an APC state, and with the developmental strides recorded by Gov. Mohammed Bindow, it is a sure qualification for winning an election,” Lawal said.

    It will be recalled that the state chapter of the APC had earlier rejected the March 28 date fixed by INEC for the conduct of the supplementary election in 44 polling units in the state.

    The APC threatened to boycott the election if INEC refused to reschedule the election.

    The date was fixed sequel to the vacation of a court order restraining INEC from conducting a governorship supplementary election in the state. (NAN)

  • ‘APC may boycott Thursday’s supplementary election in Adamawa’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa has threatened to boycott the supplementary governorship election if INEC insisted on conducting it on Thursday.

    The State Organising Secretary of APC, Alhaji Ahmed Lawan, made the party position known on Wednesday in Yola.

    Lawan told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the party had rejected the Thursday’s date and communicated its position to the electoral body.

    NAN reports that INEC had announced Thursday for the supplementary election in 44 units.

    This followed the vacation of an interim injunction that stopped it from conducting the election last Saturday.

    “We are not going to participate in the election, if INEC is going to conduct it on Thursday.

    “I don’t know why INEC is rushing, as conducting this election on Thursday will disenfranchise many voters, particularly workers and students who need to go to work and schools,” Lawan said.

    The PDP Chairman in Adamawa, Mr Tahir Shehu, whose candidate (Ahmadu Fintiri) is leading with a difference of over 30,000 votes, said they were ready for the election.

    When contacted, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Adamawa, Mr Kassim Gaidam, said that the commission would hold the election as scheduled on Thursday.

    Gaidam urged all the parties involved to work toward a hitch-free poll.

  • Breaking: Court orders INEC to conduct supplementary poll in Adamawa

    The Adamawa State High Court which gave an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting the state supplementary governorship election, has lifted the order.

    In a ruling he delivered Tuesday, Justice Abdulazeez Waziri of High Court 4, also affirmed that his court has the jurisdiction to continue with the case that gave rise to the order.

    The candidate of the Movement for Restoration and Defense of Democracy (MRDD), Rev Eric Theman, had sued INEC immediately after the March 9 governorship election in the state, saying he was deprived of his right to be voted for as the logo of his party was not on the ballot paper for the election.

    He had asked for an order cancelling the election and stopping the supplementary election which INEC fixed for March 26 after it declared the election inconclusive because the margin of lead between the two leading candidates was lower than cancelled votes. The court granted the injunction stopping the conduct of the supplementary election and fixed Tuesday for determination of its jurisdiction over the case, among other things.

    At the resumed sitting Tuesday, Justice Abdulaziz Waziri lifted the order against the supplementary election but fixed Wednesday, March 27 to hear the originating motion by MRDD asking the court to nullify the governorship election conducted on March 9 on the grounds of the logo of his party not being on the ballot paper for the election.

    Reacting to the judgement, the counsel to the MRDD, Bar Mustapha, said it was perfect, as there was no point granting accelerated hearing and an order to restrain conduct of elections.

    “The main substances to our case is the removal of the MRDD party logo from ballot papers, which constitutes the disqualification from the entire election,” he said.

    The counsel to INEC, Bar Stephen Ibian, also expressed satisfaction with the ruling, especially the vacation of the order against the supplementary election.

    “We are happy over the court vacating the earlier order so that we can conduct our supplementary election in the state,” the INEC counsel said.

    The Tuesday court witnessed the joining of Ahmadu Fintiri, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well as the PDP, in the case as second and third defendants.

    Reacting to the development, counsel to Fintiri, Joe Kerry Gadzama (SAN), said, “Fortunately, we have today been made parties. She, the PDP governorship candidate Ahmadu Fintiri is now the second defendant while PDP is third defendant in the suit. This ruling came in late, it is a swift victory, but at the same time we are going to be vigilant it is not yet over.”

  • Rerun polls: Tambuwal, Aliyu, Ganduje,Yusuf, others locked in fierce battle

    After the March 9 governorship elections across the country, the polls in six states – Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Plateau and Sokoto – were declared inconclusive. In this analysis, Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI who has been monitoring the situation writes on how the elections in five states will be fought and won. In Adamawa, the governorship rerun is on hold following a court order; the supplementary poll holds today only in two constituencies for state assembly.

    THE two major parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) resorted to a war of words when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the recent governorship elections in six states inconclusive and announced later that it would conduct supplementary polls in five of the affected states today. The governorship rerun will not hold today in Adamawa because of a court order barring INEC. It will, however, hold in two constituencies for the state assembly.

    Both conventional and social media are awash with last ditch efforts by the affected parties to get an upper hand in today’s supplementary elections. The two parties have been busy with fresh campaigns, establishing alliances and heading to the courts, to secure injunctions to stop the election.

    Curiously, it is first-term governors from either the APC or the PDP that are facing serious challenge in the states where elections are scheduled to hold. The following is how the supplementary election battle in each of the states would be fought and won.

    BAUCHI

    The back and forth movement over today’s supplementary election in some polling units Bauchi State was eventually settled on Thursday, with INEC saying it will go ahead with the exercise.

    The Bauchi State governorship election was declared inconclusive, follow ing irregularities in some polling units across 15 local government areas.

    The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said today’s supplementary elections are due to be held in 36 polling units in 15 local government areas. There are 22,759 registered voters in the affected 36 polling units where the supplementary elections will be taking place today.

    In the results released so far, the PDP candidate, Bala Mohammed, is leading with 4,059 votes; having scored 469,512 votes, against 465,453 votes polled by the incumbent Governor Mohammed Abubakar of the APC.

    Results from Tafawa Balewa local government are also in dispute, after thugs attacked the local government collation centre and disrupted the collation of results.

    INEC had decided to resume the collation of results in the council, but a court ruling has  suspended the exercise in the local government, which is regarded as a stronghold of the PDP. So, the local government is not part of today’s supplementary elections.

    INEC had indicated that it would resume the collation of results of the disputed Tafawa Balewa Local Government after considering a report submitted by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi. But it had to stay action on the matter, following the court injunction. The PDP insists that the initial cancellation of the result from the local government was illegal because the returning officer did not have the power to cancel the results already collated. The party said since there were no reports of violent clashes and disruptions of voting at the polling units,  which was the only ground for the cancellation of results, the returning officer acted outside his power by rejecting the result from the council. The PDP on Thursday threatened to boycott today’s supplementary elections on the grounds that INEC has allegedly compromised the process by acceding to the demands of the ruling APC.

    It had also appointed a new collation/returning officer to conclude the collation process, after Mrs Dominion Anosike withdrew over alleged threats to her life and her family. But the decision of the electoral body was rejected by the APC.

    PDP chairman, Hamza Akuyam, said no supplementary elections should take place until the full governorship election results collation, which ended with Tafawa Balewa local government, are announced.

    He said: “Doing otherwise will be synonymous with writing a reseat examination while the main examination has not been marked.” He accused the REC in Bauchi of deliberately keeping everybody waiting at the collation centre until around 2pm when he abruptly surfaced with a court injunction halting the collation exercise.

    With the current state of affairs, the PDP is in pole position to win the election. Apart from the fact that it is leading with 4,059 votes, the results from Tafawa Balewa Local Government, which is a stronghold of the party is still outstanding. At the end of the day, the opposition party is likely to carry the day.

    BENUE

    In Benue State, with the margin between Governor Samuel Ortom of the PDP and his APC counterpart, Emmanuel Jime, INEC is conducting today’s election to fulfill all righteousness, because it is obvious that PDP has an unassailable lead.

    The supplementary election will be conducted in almost all the 23 local government areas with about 121,091 votes at stake. After the March 9 election, the PDP was leading 81,554 votes. The party polled 420,576 votes, while its closest challenger, the APC, scored 329,022. INEC had to declare the election inconclusive, because cancelled votes -121,091 — were higher than the margin between the two top candidates.

    Governor Ortom is likely to emerge victorious at the end of today’s exercise, because it will be difficult to have a 100 per cent turnout and the APC getting enough votes to cancel the PDP’s lead. The two leading political parties have been wooing voters ahead of today’s election.

    The PDP had insisted that Ortom won the election and that he should be declared winner of the election.

    KANO

    Today’s supplementary election in Kano State is a battle between former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and incumbent Governor Abdullahi Ganduje. The election is likely to determine the political future of the two gladiators. The two politicians were allies from 1999 when they were elected as governor and deputy governor respectively, up to 2015 when the former nominated the latter to succeed him as the state governor.

    But, less than two years after the election that brought Ganduje to power, his relationship with his former boss became sour and this finally led to the defection of Kwankwaso to the PDP.

    Ganduje is seeking re-election to complete a second tenure as governor, while the ‘PDP candidate, Abba Kabir Yusuf, is contesting governorship for the first time.

    This is where the real contest is. Although the PDP occupies the high ground in this contest, its lead is not enough to guarantee that it would triumph at the end of the day. The final outcome would be determined by the electors who will come out to cast their ballot today.  In the results declared so far, the PDP flag bearer leads the incumbent governor with 26,000 votes, while the votes at stake in the 172 polling units where the supplementary election is taking place are 128,572.

    The March 9 governorship election was cancelled in the affected units due to disturbances over voting and nonusage of the Card Reader machines.

    The declaration of the election as inconclusive is in accordance with section 26 of the INEC Act, because the number of cancelled votes is beyond the margin between the candidate with the highest votes and the one that came second.

    In the results released so far, the PDP candidate scored 1,014,474, while the APC had 987,819 votes.

    There is no telling who will emerge victorious at the end of the day, given the number of registered voters in the area where results were cancelled.

    Nevertheless, the PDP candidate appears to have an upper hand, with the 26,000 votes advantage he enjoys going into today’s supplementary election.

    PLATEAU

    In the case of Plateau State, today’s supplementary election may turn out to be a mere formality. Incumbent Governor Simon Lalong, who is the APC candidate, is in pole position to secure his re-election.

    While the supplementary elections in Adamawa, Bauchi and Benue seem set to go PDP way, the APC has similarly secured acomfortable lead in Plateau State.

    Other things being equal, the incumbent, Simon Lalong, seems ready to clinch a second term in office.

    So far, in the declared election result, Lalong polled 583,255 votes, while Jeremiah Useni of the PDP secured 538,326 votes. With a margin 44,929 between the two contestants and 49,377 cancelled votes, today’s election is a mere formality.

    Observers say the supplementary election is needless and a mere waste of time and resources because it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for Useni to come from far behind to level up the margin and beat Lalong. They say the odds weigh heavily to the point of impossibility against the PDP candidate, for him to defeat the APC candidate.

     

    SOKOTO

    In Sokoto, the PDP candidate, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, is clinging to a narrow lead ahead of his APC counterpart, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto. Tambuwal leads with 3,413 votes, having scored 489,558 votes, against his APC counterparts 486,090 votes.

    A winner could not be declared since the cancelled votes were more than the margin between the winner and the runner off. The number of registered voters in the area where results were cancelled are 75, 403, whereas Tambuwal is leading his APC counterpart with 3, 413 votes.

    Sokoto is another electoral contest that is too close to call. After defecting to the PDP to pursue his presidential ambition, Tambuwal lost some of his local support, especially that of the defacto godfather of Sokoto politics and a former governor of the state, Aliyu Wamakko.

    The APC draws most of its support from the influential Wamakko and many analysts did not give the PDP a chance until it managed to secure a respectable portion of the votes during the presidential election.

    The supplementary election may, however, offer the APC an opportunity to rouse itself from slumber and restrategise for a better outing.

  • Adamawa elects 2 Assembly members Saturday

    Following a court order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting the supplementary governorship election in Adamawa State on Saturday, all eyes will be on two state constituencies for Assembly members.

    Election either did not take place or was cancelled when governorship and state assembly elections were conducted on March 9 in the constituencies.

    They are: Nasarawo/Biyeri in Mayo-Belwa LGA where State Assembly election was put off on March 9 because a candidate entered for the election died days before thee exercise and Uba/Gaya State Assembly Constituency in Hong LGA where voting was cancelled in some polling units.

    The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Nasarawo/Binyeri state constituency, Adamu Kwanate, had collapsed while campaigning and died in a hospital three days to the election, prompting INEC to hold off the House of Assembly election in the constituency for necessary adjustments.

    The Commission also later announced after the March 9 election, that the House of Assembly election in Uba/Gaya was inconclusive following irregularities in certain polling units.

    Supplementary election in Uba/Gaya would take place in three polling units namely Guw 1, Kumatai and Kurmi Mayolope; while the election in Nasarawo/Binyeri would be conducted in all the 92 polling units of the constituency.

    The head of information and education unit of INEC in the state, Mrs. Rifkatu Duku, affirmed in a telephone interview Thursday night that supplementary election would be held in two state constituencies.

    “Only state assembly supplementary election will hold in Nasarawo/Biyeri state constituency in Mayo Belwa LGA and Uba/Gaya state constituency in Hong LGA,” she said.

    Twenty-three members of the House of Assembly had been elected in the March 9 with ruling APC and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) having 11 members each.

    One member was elected on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

    The state assembly has a total of 25 seats.

  • Boko Haram: We need more troops, armoured tanks, elders in Michika beg Army

    Community leaders in Michika, Adamawa, appealed to Nigerian Army to deploy more troops and armoured tanks to the town to enhance security.

    The appeal followed an attack by Boko Haram insurgents on March 18 on the only commercial bank building in the town on a robbery mission but were repelled by the army.

    Some of the leaders made the appeal during an operational visit to the town by Brig.-Gen. Bulama Biu, the acting General Officer Commanding, 7 Division of the army, and Commander Sector 1 on Friday.

    Muhammed Usman, an elder and Head of Muslim Community in Michika, said the call was imperative to fast track and revamp socio-economic activities in the community.

    He explained that additional checkpoints should be mounted in Kuburshosho Goni and Shuwa areas in the town to check future attacks.

    He also urged the army to furnish residents with means of reaching out to them when distressed, saying many locals heard the news of the Monday attack but were constrained to reach out to military authorities.

    He said: “Sometimes we hear news of the movement of the insurgents just five kilometers away from the town but we dont know how to communicate to army. There is the need for army to give us telephone numbers to call when distressed.”

    Mr Jidda Kwache, an elder and District Head of Michika, said that the deployment of more troops in the area would

    complement the efforts of the fighting troops on ground.

    Kwacha said that the last time the town witnessed any attack was in 2014, noting that the Monday attack left uncertainty in the

    minds of the people in the community.

    He added that “we thank Brig.-Gen. Bulama Biu, the acting General Officer Commanding, 7 Division of the army, and Commander

    Sector 1 for the visit to Michika to sympathise with us.

    “This visit is an indication of your firm commitment toward civic protection and restoring peace. You have restored our hopes and

    confidence to remain in our community.

    “We assure you of our total support and commitment to provide you with the neccesary support to discharge your duties.”

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    Alhaji Saidu Lawal, the District Head of Bazza, also commended the GOC and troops of the 143 battalion for responding to their

    calls to prevent the terrorist from causing havoc in the community.

    Lawal said “we need more soldiers to complement the efforts of those on ground. We also notice that the artillary and armoured

    tanks we use to have in 2014, are no more in Michika; we are appealing that those equipment be deployed again.

    “Initially, we thought the whole town will be overran by the insurgents but through the gallent efforts of your troops, the attack

    was repelled and for this, we want to say thank you.”

    Yakubu Jaha-Michika, the Commander of Hunters in Michika, appealed to the Adamawa Government to deploy more security operatives

    to the area.

    Jaha-Michika said that the state government should arm and equip local hunters to help in providing local vigilance patrol.

    The Caretacker Chairman of Michika Local Government Area, Bitrus Vandi, narrated his ordeal during the Monday attack, saying

    that the report came from Kofa, a naighbouring village.

    Vandi said that when he recieved the distress call of the impending attack, he quickly alerted the DPO and the troops commander in the town, who rushed to the scene to repel the attack.

    He added: “The insurgents stormed the town with gun trucks mounted with Anti-Air craft and motorcycle.”

    Reacting, Brig.-Gen. Bulama Biu said he was in the town to sympathise with the people on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai.

    He urged the community, traditional and religious leaders in the town to support the military’s effort to defeat Boko Haram and other undesirable elements.

    He said “security is everybody’s business and not for army alone, I, therefore, urge you to always provide prompt information on any suspicious

    activities.”

    He reiterated the commitment of the Nigerian Army toward restoring peace and dignity of the people.

    Meanwhile, a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent who visited Michika, reports that nomalcy has returned to the town as people were seen going about their daily businesses.