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Tag: Adamawa

  • Michika: Buratai hails troops for foiling Boko Haram attack

    The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has commended troops of Operation Lafiya Dole for displayed great valour in repelling Boko Haram insurgents’ attack in Michika, Adamawa.

    Buratai made the commendation during an operational visit to troops of 155 and 143 Task Force Battalion at Michika and Lassa.

    Buratai, who was represented by Brig.-Gen. Bulama Biu, the Acting General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division and Commander Sector I, Operation Lafiya Dole said the troops successfully repelled attempt by the insurgents to attack the community.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the insurgents on March 18 , attacked the only commercial bank building in the town and looted shops.

    He said that the troops displayed high sense of patriotism and gallantry in the defeat of the insurgents and prevented their robbery mission.

    “I am proud of you, The COAS is proud of you for your doggedness and commitment. We must also understand that this pure resilient, doggedness and focus must be upscale

    “We must be prepared to always put up strong offensive so that they don’t have any hiding place. The end of insurgents cannot come on it own, we must be all out and remain focused.

    “We have upscale our operations in all the Theatre and it is yielding many results. We have neutralised dozens of the terrorist and recovered many weapons in Northern Borno. There is no hiding place for the terrorist.

    “No longer remaining in defence position. How can you be in defence when the insurgents can bypass you. You must, therefore, locate them at all level and neutralised them.

    “We must always work together as formidable team and move aggressively to cut off their supply chain when we do that we will defeat them,”he said.

    The GOC therefore urged Commanders of the battalion to give purposeful leadership in other to achieve the desired goal of defeating Boko Haram.

    The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), report that the GOC who was accompanied by Brig.-Gen. Muhammed Abubakar, Commander 25 Brigade of the Army and other principal staff officers of the Division, visited the bank were the incident happen.

    Abubakar who provided more details of the incident briefed the GOC that the insurgents stormed the town around 7:20 pm but met their Waterloo by combined efforts of troops who swiftly responded to distress calls.

    “Consequently, the gallant troops, with reinforcement from 143 Battalion Gulak, engaged the terrorists on Two Front Coordinated Attacks. The insurgents were completely routed by the troops, neutralising many of them while others fled in disarray due to superior firepower,”he said.

    The Brigade Commander added that the insurgents targeted the vault and the ATM machine but were not able to access into them.

    He added that four staff of the bank is access code to the vault were also targeted in their home by the insurgents but flew away.

    “We stationed our men throughout the night to make sure secure the bank facility and handed over to the Branch Manager,”he said. (NAN)

  • UPDATED: Adamawa supplementary gov election remains on hold, court rules

    The Adamawa State High Court, which last week granted an injunction against the supplementary governorship election in Adamawa State, has extended the order, effectively foreclosing the election initially scheduled for Saturday, March 23.

    The court, presided over by Justice Abdul-Aziz Waziri, adjourned the case to March 26 for ruling after taking arguments from the contending parties at the Thursday sitting.

    Justice Waziri said the earlier order restraining INEC from the conduct of the poll in the 44 polling units in the state is pending the determination of the suit.

    The suit in contention had been instituted by the governorship candidate of the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), Rev Eric Theman, who said he was deprived of his right to be voted for in the March 9 governorship election because INEC omitted the logo of his party from the ballot paper.

    Arguing the case for INEC at the Thursday court session, INEC’s counsel, Tanimu Inuwa (SAN) said the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy had not been duly nominated as the party governorship candidate in the state.

    He said INEC form CF002 does not contain the name of the MRDD candidate, for which reason the candidate was not validly nominated.

    He said that, in any case, Election Petition Tribunal would be the proper court to entertain the case, as election had commenced before the suit was brought to the court.

    “When election processes starts, even with casting of one vote, the matter arising from the election should be referred to Election Petition Tribunal,” he said.

    He added INEC is a federal agency and if the case were to go to court, it ought to have been filed at the federal high court.

    “We would abide by court order pending the determination of the suit,” he concluded.

    Arguing against the INEC’s counsel on jurisdiction, the counsel to the MRDD, Bar Yemi Pitan, said state and federal high courts have concurrent jurisdiction to entertain the case.

    He prayed the court to order INEC to conduct fresh polls as INEC has no power to disqualify Theman from the governorship elections.

    The court is expected to rule on the arguments at its adjourned sitting of Tuesday, March 26.

    Read Also: Adamawa supplementary gov poll remains suspended, says court

    Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has once again dismissed insinuation that it is sponsoring the MRDD candidate to get the court to annul the March 9 governorship election in the state.

    The Organising Secretary of the party, Ahmad Lawal, told newsmen after the Thursday court session the MRDD candidate is an independent individual seeking the fulfilment of his right and the APC had nothing to do with it.

    On his part, the state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bar Tahir Shehu, who fielded questions from newsmen, said the party was patiently following the case because victory would still be for the PDP candidate in the March 9 election, Rt Hon Umaru Fintiri.

    “They are just delaying the inevitable. Victory will be ours,” the PDP chairman said.

    PDP’s Umaru Fintiri had polled 367,471 votes against the 334,995 votes by APC’s Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow when the election was declared inconclusive and supplementary election announced for 44 polling units.

  • FEC okays N27.4b for states affected by flooding, conflicts

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday approved N27.4 billion for intervention in states ravaged by flooding and conflicts.

    This was disclosed by the Kebbi State Governor and Vice Chairman of the National Food Security Council, Atiku Bagudu.

    He briefed State House correspondents after about seven hours FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He said that the FEC approved N18.9 billion for intervention in 14 states ravaged by flooding.

    Noting that the list of the states is not exhaustive, he said that the intervention will take the form of seedlings, fertilizers among other items.

    According to him, 163,117 beneficiaries will be covered in 14 states.

    He said that FEC approved N8.5 billion for intervention in states ravaged by conflicts.

    Among the beneficiary states, he said, included Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara.

    While 69,872 people will benefit from the intervention, he said that it will take the form of fertilizers, seedlings, feeding and accommodation.

  • We’ll abide by court ruling on Adamawa guber rerun – INEC

    The supplementary governorship election scheduled for March 23 in states where the March 9 governorship election was declared inclusive may not hold in Adamawa.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gave this indication in Yola Wednesday when it said it would abide by a ruling of the Adamawa State high court expected on Thursday, March 21.

    The Court had last week granted an injunction stopping the supplementary election but fixed March 21 for hearing of motion for the interlocutory injunction.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Adamawa State, Kassim Gaidam, said at a press briefing Thursday afternoon that although INEC had made preparation for the supplementary governorship election, the conduct of it would depend on the outcome of the court process on Thursday.

    “As a law abiding institution, we will respect the ruling of the court on the supplementary election,” he said, adding however that the commission had assembled a body of lawyers headed by a senior advocate of Nigeria to push the position of the commission on the subject of the case.

    INEC had earlier said it would not be subjected to a court process over the scheduled supplementary governorship election, which made Gaidam’s articulation of INEC’s new position surprising to many.

    A Yola High Court on March 14 restrained INEC from conducting the March 23 supplementary governorship election in Adamawa.

    The ruling by Justice Abdul-Aziz Waziri followed a request to that effect filed by counsel to the Adamawa Chapter of the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), Mustafa Shaba, over absence of the party logo on the ballot paper of the inconclusive election.

    Delivering the rulinG, Justice Waziri, held that the request had merit. “The defendant herein, INEC, is restrained … from proceeding with the supplementary election in respect of Adamawa State Governorship pending the hearing and determination, which now comes up Thursday, March 21

  • Police confirm five dead in Boko Haram attack on Michika

    The Adamawa State Police Command has confirmed that five residents of Michika died following an attack on a bank in the town on Monday night.

    Against earlier impression that the attack was the usual Boko Haram mission of causing a scare and destroying things and killing people and going away, the police command said that the insurgents, from all indications, went purposely for a raid on the town’s only bank.

    The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Othman Abubakar, who gave an update on the attack to our correspondent Thursday afternoon, said, “Five people died and the place they went to attack, that’s Union Bank, was badly destroyed. But they were unable to gain access to the strong room. They couldn’t penetrate.”

    Explaining the command’s view that the insurgents had the sole purpose of carting money away, the PPRO said, “Their motive must have been to go and get money. That would be why they went directly to hit the bank. I was made to understand that money was moved to the bank earlier that day. They must have monitored the bank and went purposely for the money.”

    Read Also: Police kill four suspected robbers, injure three in Delta

    He said the insurgents were however unable to get to the money, especially as soldiers and other security agents stormed the place and succeeded in forcing the insurgents off and seizing cars and motorcycles they used in entering the town.

    He said the five residents who died might have been victims of stray bullets as they ran helter-skelter, or directly from the guns of the insurgents as they shot sporadically to scare people off.

    “They must have died from crossfire and from the sporadic shootings by the insurgents,” Othman said.

    The attack on the bank caused much dislocation within Michika, as hundreds were scared out of their houses into surrounding bushes and mountains, some apparently not comfortable about immediately returning to their homes.

    A native of Michika who lives in Yola, Felicia Jacob, said her mother was on her way to Yola, “to rest from the horror of the deadly attack.”

  • Boko Haram attacks Michika, bombs bank

    Boko Haram insurgents have attacked Michika town in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State, razing the only commercial bank building in the town.

    The Nation gathered Tuesday morning that the insurgents got into the town about 7 pm Monday after overpowering the military formation in the town.

    Witnesses said the insurgents seized control of the town for a while, scaring hundreds of residents into surrounding bushes until soldiers arrived from Madagali following a reinforcement call from military authorities.

    Michika lies in the northern part of Adamawa State, an immediate neighbour to Madagali Local Government Area which was haunted by Boko Haram in the weeks and days to the February 16 and March 9 general elections.

    In the Monday attack on Michika, the insurgents bombed the Union Bank of Nigeria branch, the only banking facility in the town.

    Sources said the insurgents also burnt houses in Koppa village as they fled towards Sambisa with soldiers and mobilised local hunters on their trail.

    The Adamawa State Police Public Relations Officer, Othman Abubakar who confirmed the attack in a telephone interview with our correspondent Tuesday morning, said his information did not indicate any human casualty and that security agents had brought the situation under control.

  • End to herders/farmers clashes in sight – Adamawa senator-elect

    The senator-elect for the Adamawa Southern Senatorial District, Binos Dauda, has vowed to utilize all opportunities his new office will give him to end the perennial conflicts between herders and farmers that have claimed lives and properties in the last few years, especially around his senatorial zone.

    Adamawa is one of the states worst affected by conflicts to do with herders and farming communities in Nigeria and the southern part of Adamawa is the most troubled in the state and efforts by state and non-state actors over the years have failed to yield an enduring solution.

    The senator-elect who spoke to newsmen in his Yola home Monday afternoon, expressed the confidence, however, that the conflict is not without a solution and he would lead efforts to find the solution.

    He said he would work in all earnestness with his colleagues in the National Assembly, employ the expertise and facilities of government agencies, and utilise the goodwill and counsel of stakeholders back home to establish permanent peace among herders and farmers in his constituency.

    Binos Dauda who said he traversed all the communities making up the entire Adamawa South Senatorial District and identified their challenges, said he would give the people effective representation in the National Assembly when the new legislative session begins.

    Read Also: APC, PDP prepare for Adamawa supplementary poll

    “I want to convey my appreciation to the people of Southern Senatorial Zone for standing by me,” he said, adding that he would justify their support in good time.

    Commenting on the supplementary governorship election scheduled for March 23, Binos Dauda who was elected under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), said the supplementary election is a mere academic exercise.

    “They are only delaying the inevitable. No magic could be done to upturn the margin of lead by the PDP governorship candidate, Rt Hon Umaru Fintiri,” the senator-elect asserted.

    Umaru Fintiri polled 367,471 votes in the March 9 governorship election while his closest rival, Governor Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow got 334,995 votes, leaving 32,467 margin of lead by the PDP, a margin which INEC said was lower than cancelled votes in some polling units where the proposed supplementary poll is to be held and where the number of collected PVCs iis said to be 31,027

  • INCONCLUSIVE POLLS:Who wins Kano, Sokoto, Bauchi, Adamawa, Benue Plateau?

    After 9th March 2019 Governorship and State Assembly Elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared six state’s exercise inconclusive. This week, electoral body announced that it would hold supplementary elections in the affected states on 23rd March 2019. In this report, Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports on how the extra elections would be fought and won

    THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced during the week that it will on March 23, 2019, conduct extra elections in the six states where the March 9 Gubernatorial and State Assembly Elections were declared inconclusive. The affected states where the commission will be holding the supplementary polls are: Plateau, Sokoto, Bauchi, Benue, Adamawa and Kano.

    A statement on Tuesday by Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, said the commission met on Monday and reviewed the conduct of the 29 Governorship and 991 State Constituency Elections held across the country on the 9th of March 2019. The commission had declared winners in the governorship elections in only 22 states while the Returning Officers (ROs) in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Plateau and Sokoto states declared the elections inconclusive.

    “Consequently, the commission will conduct supplementary elections on Saturday 23rd March 2019 to conclude the process. Supplementary elections will also hold in polling units in all states where State Assembly elections were declared inconclusive and winners could not be declared,” Okoye said. Details of the constituencies including number of polling units and registered voters were published on the commission’s website last Wednesday, 13th March 2019.

    Expectedly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been bragging about their capacity to carry the day ahead of the March 23 Supplementary Elections to decide who will control power in the six aforementioned states. While the leadership of the APC has expressed its satisfaction with the decisions of INEC, the PDP is faulting the commission’s decision in some states like Sokoto, Adamawa and Benue.

    Both parties however vowed to win the re-run election billed for March 23 in all the states. While the APC now have control of 18 states following its victory in 13 of the 22 declared states, which is now added to the five states of Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kogi and Osun already in its kitty, the PDP can boast of 10 states, adding nine newly won states to Bayelsa State. The two parties are now poised to increase their tallies by adding more states on March 23.

     

    SOKOTO

    In Sokoto State, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of the PDP, who scored 489, 588, is leading his APC counterpart, Aliyu Sokoto, who garnered 486, 145 votes, with 3,413 votes. According to the details released by the electoral umpire, the two leading parties will on March 23, battle for 75,493 votes in 136 polling units in 22 local government areas of the state.

    Before the process was declared inconclusive, the two parties were laying claim to victory. But pundits say with over 75, 000 votes still at stake and the margin between Tambuwal and Sokoto standing at a meagre 3, 413, the March 23 election can tilt the final result of the governorship election in Sokoto state either way. “It is still too early to say precisely who will emerge the next governor of Sokoto state,” an analyst said.

    Factors being considered by pundits in putting the tag of ‘unpredictable’ on the ongoing contest in Sokoto State include the APC’s sterling performance during the Presidential and National Assembly Elections in the state and PDP’s unexpected comeback during the inconclusive Governorship and State Assembly polls. While the APC swept majority of the votes across the state in the earlier election, the PDP is leading in the latter with a slight margin.

    The presidential election results in Sokoto State showed that while President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC scored 490,333 votes, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the opposition PDP got 361,604 votes to place second. The APC also won the three senatorial seats in the state and pocketed majority of the House of Representatives seats. But during the Governorship and State Assembly Elections, the PDP turned the table and took the lead.

    Consequently, with the margin so slim and the votes to contest for quite much, Sokoto State remains a battleground ahead of the March 23 extra election. Reliable sources in the state told The Nation that the final result of the election in the state will be determined by some very local issues that are of importance to the ordinary people of the state. “The people are voting based on their individual convictions as to which of the two leaders, Wammakko and Tambuwal, can better their lots,” a source explained.

    Verdict: Battleground

     

    ADAMAWA

    Before the process was declared inconclusive in Adamawa, the PDP, with 367,471 votes as against APC’s 334,995, was leading by 32,476 votes. The candidates of the two parties have 40,998 votes to fight for. Incumbent Governor Jibrilla Bindow of the APC and his challenger PDP Umar Fintiri will be slugging it out on March 23. Convinced that it won the election outrightly on the first ballot, the PDP has been clamouring that it should be declared winner.

    On its part, the APC, realising that it has a hard task ahead of it, has been strategising on how to turn the table on March 23. But pundits say it is a herculean task that may be very difficult to carry out. With barely 41, 000 votes up for grab and the PDP already at advantage with 32, 471, in a state that was won by the opposition party during the Presidential and National Assembly Elections, the APC may be unable to wrought any magic.

    During the Presidential Election, PDP’s Atiku Abubakar polled 412, 266 to defeat APC’s President Muhammadu Buhari, his closest challenger who scored 377,488. The results show a difference of 34,778 between them. Ironically, Buhari won 11 of the state’s 21 local government areas, while Abubakar picked the remaining 10. Earlier, the PDP presidential candidate had lost his polling unit to the APC.

    The PDP had also won two, out of the three senatorial seats in the state as well as majority of the House of Representatives seats. Ishaku Elisha Cliff of the PDP, clinched the Adamawa North senatorial seat while his party man, Yaroe Binos Dauda, emerged winner in Adamawa South. The ruling party, APC claimed victory only through Dahiru Aishatu Ahmed, who was declared winner in Adamawa Central Senatorial District.

    All these facts, and more, will be trailing both the PDP and the APC as they go to polls on March 23 to decide the final winner of the obviously keen contest. However, the APC remains disadvantaged. Aside from the huge deficit the party will be struggling to cancel, renewed infighting among its chieftains may also work against its victory at the supplementary election.

    Verdict: PDP

     

    BAUCHI

    Before INEC announced that it will, next Tuesday, be resuming collation of governorship election result in Bauchi State and may declare the winner of the poll, hitherto ruled as inconclusive, the planned re-run election in the state, earlier scheduled for March 23, from all available facts, as well as emerging indications from parts of the state where elections were to hold, remained too close to call. The PDP candidate Bala Muhammed, is currently enjoying a slight lead with 4,059 votes. At the end of the inconclusive first ballot, the PDP had 469,512 votes while the APC candidate, Governor Mohammed Abubakar, got 465,453 votes.

    According to INEC, There were 139,240 cancelled votes to that were to be contested for on March 23. The voters in the affected polling units were to decide the winner of the tense governorship contest in the northeastern state. Before the inconclusive election, opinion as to which party will win Bauchi remained divided. The state, before 2015, has been a stronghold of the PDP.

    While those banking on President Buhari’s popularity in the state predicted that Governor Abubakar will retain his seat, others, citing the local politics of the state as well as some failings of the Abubakar led APC administration, coupled with the growing popularity of the opposition PDP in the last few years, said it will be easier for the opposition party to displace APC at the gubernatorial election. Not even the victory of the APC at the presidential election changed their stance.

    Though the APC won the three senatorial seats and majority of House of Representatives slots in the state, the victory of Speaker Yakubu Dogara and a host of other PDP candidates in the state provided a platform for the opposition party to rally its forces ahead of the gubernatorial and state assembly elections. The improved performance of the PDP in the inconclusive polls, according to analysts, is a result of the local issues determining the people’s voting preferences.

    But the political scenario in Bauchi state changed once again when the electoral commission announced its latest decision concerning the guber election in the state in a press statement on Friday night reportedly after resolving some issues around the result of Tafawa Balewa local government and some polling units in Ningi local government.

    INEC did not state whether by the decision, the scheduled supplementary election on 23 March has been cancelled. According to INEC, the number of cancelled votes in four polling units in Ningi Local Government was 2,533 and not 25,330 as recorded. On Tafawa Balewa Local Government election result, where collation was disrupted by armed gangs, affecting 7 out of 11 registration areas for governorship and 6 out of 11 for state assembly elections, INEC said a committee set up, has found that the results in polling units and registration areas are “available and in safe custody”.

    INEC thus decided to resume the resumption and conclusion of the collation of results of the council area for both the governorship and state assembly elections A new collation and returning officer for Tafawa Balewa has been appointed “to continue and conclude the collation process in place of the original collation officer, who withdrew from the exercise citing threats to her life and those of her family members”. The threatened collation officer was Dominion Anosike.

    While INEC says result in Tafawa Balewa will be announced after collation, the PDP claims it garnered over 40, 000 votes in the L.G.A to APC’s less than 30, 000. It is however left to be seen if the party’s claim will tally with the result INEC will come up with. Head or tail, the governorship election in Bauchi state is a straight fight between incumbent Mohammed Abubakar of the All Progressives Congress and former minister, Bala Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party.

    Verdict: Battleground

     

    BENUE

    At the end of the inconclusive gubernatorial election in Benue State, Governor Samuel Ortom of the PDP got 410, 576. His closest rival, Emmanuel Jime of the APC got 329, 022 at the close of the first ballot. Going by the result released by INEC, PDP’s Ortom currently leads the governorship contest with 81,554 votes. The two frontline candidates will be slugging out for 121, 011 votes in the affected polling units across the state.

    But analysts say it is going to be very difficult for APC, which also lost the last Presidential and National Assembly Elections in the state to the PDP, to overturn the deficit and win the supplementary election. “PDP will most likely go ahead to consolidate its lead at the extra polls on its way to finally retaining the troubled state in its political kitty till 2023,” an analyst said.

    Before Governor Ortom moved over to the PDP last year, Benue State was controlled by the APC. But following incessant face-offs between Ortom and the leadership of his then party as well as the presidency over the herdsmen/farmers clashes in the state, Ortom defected to the PDP and picked its governorship ticket. Many prominent chieftains of the APC, including Senator Barnabas Gemade, also dumped the party.

    The presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had emerged winner of the Presidential Election in the state last month. The result, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Collation Officer Prof. Sabastine Maimako, in Makurdi showed that President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC scored 347,668 vote, while Atiku scored 355,255 votes.

    Also noteworthy is the fact that during the presidential election, APC won in 10 Local Government Areas of the state, while PDP won in 13 Local Government Areas. The party also cleared all the three senatorial seats up for grab. Former Governor Gabriel Suswam emerged as the Senator for Benue North East, Emmanuel Yisa Orker-Jev for Benue North West and ex-Minister Patrick Abba Moro in Benue South.

    Majority of the State Assembly seats declared in the state are also now in the kitty of the PDP. The unexpected loss of the Benue North West seat by the APC leader in the state, Senator George Akume, disorganised the party ahead of the Governorship and State Assembly Elections. Though local issues like non-payment of workers’ salaries and lack of infrastructural amenities worked against the PDP and Governor Ortom, it appears the many killings and attacks suffered by the state decided how they voted.

    Verdict: PDP

     

    PLATEAU

    In Plateau State, incumbent Governor Simon Lalong of the APC got 583, 255 to lead Senator Jeremiah Useni of the PDP with 44,929 votes. Useni got 538, 326. The duo will be fighting for the outstanding 49,377 votes. But many analysts say the election is APC’s to win. With only 49, 377 votes to be contested for in the affected polling units, and APC already comfortably leading with 44, 929, the opposition party looks defeated already.

    Aside from its comfortable lead, the ruling APC also pocketed majority of the state assembly seats to show its acceptance across the state. The ruling party is also benefiting from the performance of Governor Lalong, which has been adjudged by many to be commendable, especially his ability to restore and maintain peace in the troubled parts of the North Central state. His relationship with civil servants in the state is also a plus for the ruling party.

    The current result of the governorship election which shows that APC is ahead of the PDP is a departure from what obtained at the Presidential and National Assembly Elections in the state. Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the PDP, won the presidential election in Plateau after scoring 548,665 votes. Atiku defeated his closest opponent, Muhammadu Buhari, of the APC, who scored 468, 555 votes. Atiku won in 11 local government areas while Buhari won in six LGAs of the state.

    Although the APC lost the state to the PDP during the presidential election and could only manage to win one of the three senatorial seats, with one declared inconclusive, observers of the politics of the state insist that APC looks good to win the governorship election in the end.

    Verdict: APC

     

    KANO

    Kano State is one of the states where supplementary election will be holding on March 23. There are 100, 873 votes to decide who wins the election. The PDP, with 1,014,474 votes, is in the lead while the APC, which got 987, 810, is trailing in second place. The margin in the scores of the two contenders stands at 26,664 votes. It is this calculation that informs the position of most pundits that the election is still very open for either the ruling APC or the opposition PDP to win.

    The turn of events in the Kano gubernatorial election is coming as a huge surprise to many watchers of the unfolding political drama, but analysts conversant with the voting pattern of the people of the Northwestern state say there’s nothing strange in what has happened. According to Istifanus Bako of the Centre for Democracy and Good Governance (CDGG), local issues are determining the ongoing voting patterns.

    Given that President Buhari of the APC recorded a landslide victory at the Presidential and National Assembly Elections in the state, many pundits have given the Gubernatorial and State Assembly polls to the ruling party without batting an eyelid. The presidential candidate of the APC, President Muhammadu Buhari, defeated his opponent, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku of the PDP, with 1, 073, 175 votes.

    The APC Presidential candidate garnered 1, 464, 768 votes, to defeat the PDP candidate, who garnered 391,593 votes.

    The APC also pocketed the three senatorial seats in the state to drive home its landslide victory at the Presidential and National Assembly Elections. Former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau won the Kano Central Senatorial seat, Barau Jibrin emerged the senator in Kano North while another former governor, Gaya Ibrahim Kabiru, claimed the seat in Kano South.

    But during the inconclusive Gubernatorial and State Assembly Elections, the tide changed as many voters opted to vote against Governor Abdulai Ganduje. Sources say the dollar scandal he got enmeshed in shortly before the general elections commenced has done a lot of damages to his popularity, especially among the ordinary people of the state. This appears to be working against him and the APC at the polls.

    The PDP governorship candidate in the state, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has expressed confidence that he would emerge winner of the coming governorship re-run election in the state. Kabir-Yusuf, who is the son-in-law of PDP chieftain, Rabui Kwankwaso, says Kano people want a trustworthy leader. This is just as Governor Ganduje promised that the PDP will be shocked by the outcome of the re-run elections.

    Ganduje said he was unperturbed by the wishful thinking and slapdash deportment of the PDP candidate considering what happened in the inconclusive election widely characterized by alleged vote buying and voter’s intimidation by the party. The two parties, sources claim, are working round the clock in the affected areas to ensure that they get the votes needed to merge victorious on March 23. The March 23 supplementary election will take place in 210 Polling Units constituting 88 Registration Areas.

    Verdict: Battleground

  • Adamawa Assembly results: APC, PDP get 11 seats each

    The governing All Progressives Congress ( APC ) and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have each won 11 seats of the 23 constituency results that have been released.

    The result sheet containing names and political parties of the 23 elected members, which was obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday, indicated that the African Democratic Party (ADC) won one seat.

    Supplementary election will be conducted in two constituencies: Uba/Gaya and Nassarawo/Binyeri state constituencies where election did not take place last Saturday.

    Election was put off in Nasarawo/Biyeri state constituency because a candidate entered for the election died just before it, while certain issues surrounding election in Uba/Gaya constituency is yet to be cleared.

    Read Also: Adamawa APC rejects inconclusive governorship election

    The outcome of the House of Assembly election as contained in the result sheet issued by INEC, showing the constituencies, elected members and their respective parties, is as follows:

    1. Demsa: Raymond Kate PDP
    2. Fufore Gurin: Shuaibu Babas APC
    3. Fufore Verre: Abdullahi Yapak APC
    4. Ganye: Alhassan Hamman Joda APC
    5. Girei: Mohammed Mutawalli APC
    6. Gombi: Kefas Japhet PDP
    7. Guyuk: Dinglok Adawa PDP
    8. Uba/Gaya (supplementary election)
    9. Hong: Wesley Barhiya PDP
    10. Leko/Koma: Abdullahi Ahmadu PDP
    11. Jada/Mbulo: Yuttisori H/Tukur PDP
    12. Lamurde: Myandasa Bauna PDP
    13. Madagali: Haruna Jikan Tikiri PDP
    14. Maiha: Isa Yahaya APC
    15. Binyeri (supplementary election)
    16. Mayo Belwa: Ibrahim Musa ADC
    17. Michika: Kwada Joseph Ayuba PDP
    18. Mubi North: Shuaibu Musa APC
    19. Numan: Mackondo Keno PDP
    20. Shelleng: Abubakar Isa APC
    21. Song: Simon Isa PDP
    22. Toungo: Abdullahi Umar
    23. Yola North: Sajo Hamidu PDP
    24 Yola South: Kabir Mijinyawa APC
    25 Mubi South: Musa Bororo APC

  • Don’t be so fast, you haven’t won Adamawa yet, group tells PDP

    A group, Coalition of Christian Youths for All Progressives Congress, has condemned the demand of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare its candidate winner of the Adamawa State governorship election.

    The PDP candidate, Umaru Fintiri, attained the lead votes in that election, but INEC declared the election inconclusive because the margin of lead was lower than the number of registered voters in polling units where voting was cancelled, following which the PDP demanded that its candidate be declared winner because its candidate’s margin of lead was higher than number of people who collected their PVCs in the affected polling units.

    Reacting to PDP’s position, however, the northern leader of the Coalition of Christian Youths for All Progressives Congress, Càleb Adamu, accused PDP of being desperate and running faster than its legs by asking to be declared winner of an election it has not won.

    “How desperate can PDP be to want to take the laws into their hands on an election that was declared inconclusive in 44 polling units across some LGAs in the State?” he said, adding that PDP could not rightly claim that it knows electoral laws than INEC.

    “They should please allow INEC to do their job,” he said.

    Caleb sided with the APC which had earlier faulted the conduct of the election in more places than the 44 units where INEC had cancelled voting, asking that the election be cancelled altogether.

    He called on INEC to do a rerun election in all the 21 LGAs in the state, lamenting that the entire process had been crooked, “with dozens of complaints and petitions submitted by political parties which participated in the election.

    Twenty nine political parties participated in the election, and by the time it was declared inconclusive on Monday morning, the PDP had attained 367,471 votes; APC 334,995; ADC 113,205; and SDP 29,785; but INEC said the margin of lead between the two leading parties: PDP and APC, which was 32,467; was lower than the number of registered voters, 40,948, in polling units where voting was cancelled.