The Nation Newspaper

Tag: All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate

  • ‘Sanwo-Olu will not disappoint Lagosians’

    As Lagosians prepare for Saturday’s governorship poll, Olufunke Phillips highlights the factors that will tilt the pendulum of victory towards the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

    Before Babajide Sanwo-Olu,  the status quo had remained the same in Lagos for 19 years. Win a first term, do some pretty transformative work and win an easy second term. But, for the first time we heard a new name and beheld posters of a new candidate cropping up around Lagos.  Is this a case of the Party of Change changing someone that wasn’t delivering on his promises?

    Is this the new anointed one? Who is he? Why should we look at him? Will he be forced on us? I had my opinions. I mean, if you were in Lagos and you had not been living under a rock over the last few months, you’d probably have your own opinions too. The entire drama had played out in front of us all. The crux of it was when his opponent in the party primary the incumbent governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, had called a press conference to cast aspersions on his mental state and accuse him of past criminal misdeeds.

    That had piqued my interest. This was worth looking into. If the man that wanted to be my next governor had a case of spending fake currency then, I needed to know about it. I didn’t take those alleged accusations lightly. I think a lot of people did not take them lightly. They came from the lips of the governor but at the same time I have never believed an incumbent deserved a second term just because he is an incumbent. If you are doing a good job and the people you are serving can feel the impact, then yes, maybe a second term is in the offing but if the general populace is not happy, then you surely can not expect a second term. This is not “Buy One Get One Free” scheme we are doing here. You have to work really hard to deserve that second term.

    So, with all these in mind, the press conference was watched with a pinch of salt but was my curiosity piqued? It definitely was. I wanted to meet the man and ask him these questions face to face.  ”Ngbo sir, they say you were spending fake dollars in America? How come?” “And while we’re on that, what mental illness is it that they say you suffer from?”. These were the firsts of many questions that I wanted to ask Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

    I did a couple of posts to my thousands of followers on social media. I followed the primaries for the two leading parties in the state and when both candidates were announced, I put out a post about my interest in moderating a governorship debate between both candidates.

    Jimi Agbaje, the candidate of the PDP, to me, is like a leap year, he disappears and pops up every 4 years. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to me, though a three-time Commissioner and Special Adviser  in Lagos for more than 10years, still did evoke much statewide recognition, so I set out to find out more about him.

    First, I googled his public profile. 53 years old Babajide Sanwo-Olu, spent 16 years in the public sector and 11 in the private sector. Educated at University of Lagos, Lagos Business School, Kennedy School of Government, London Business School, his educational qualifications, public and  private sector achievements made him an interesting candidate. He was a three-time commissioner in the state ( Commissioner of Budget and Economic Planning, Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions), had done a lot of work on improving the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), had led the publication of the Lagos State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (LASEEDS) and set up of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund.

    An opportunity for a meeting finally came up. I was prepared for him to come late because you know how these politicians do. Keep people waiting because they have to attend to every issue under the sun. Waiting for a politician can be quite a tedious affair, my experience in the past had left a sour taste in my mouth. So,  I was pleasantly surprised when he was on time.

    He came into the room wearing a simple blue native attire. If you hadn’t seen his picture before and hadn’t met him prior, you might be forgiven for thinking he was one of the many people slated to attend the meeting. There were no airs around him. He came in, introduced himself and took a seat. I kept looking at him. I didn’t know what I was expecting to see but it wasn’t this man that looked simple and unassuming. He looked liked he could be your uncle. He wasn’t brash. He waited for a person to finish speaking before he responded. He didn’t interrupt. He wasn’t condescending with his answers to the questions being asked. All through these, I kept looking at his eyes and I could have sworn I saw the gears in his brain turning while he was answering questions. He looked like one of those people we used to call ‘efiko’ in my high school.

    During a period when everyone seemed relatively relaxed, someone had cracked a joke earlier and while the laughter was still wafting around the room, I asked him why the incumbent governor, his opponent during the election and a member of the same political party he belonged to,  had made those accusations against him.

    For the first time, I saw something other than warmth, intelligence, wit and smarts behind his eyes. I saw hurt. I wasn’t sure. Was the hurt because of the question, or because of the person that had levelled the accusations against him? I didn’t know but I wanted to find out.

    After Fashola, I didn’t know how much I had missed having a well-spoken orator as a governor. I know people will say “Ehen? He can speak English well and so? How does that translate to governance?” I don’t know but I daresay a governor that can express himself confidently and explain issues in a concise and deliberate manner is a delight to listen to any day and yes, Lagos has missed that. Ok, fine, I have missed that if we’re being pedantic.

    Babajide Sanwo-Olu explained these allegations clearly. He doesn’t have a criminal record, home or abroad. He doesn’t have issues with any authority in the United States. He put it on record that he has travelled out to this same America where he supposedly has criminal charges against his person four times this year alone.

    On his records as a patient at Gbagada General Hospital, he has never been admitted as a patient at Gbagada General Hospital. He has never sought treatment for any ailment at Gbagada General Hospital, nor anywhere in the world.  The one and only time he had been to Gbagada General Hospital was on a charity outreach visit where he had gone to donate equipment to the hospital.

  • ‘Sanwo-Olu will not disappoint Lagosians’

    As Lagosians prepare for Saturday’s governorship poll, Olufunke Phillips highlights the factors that will tilt the pendulum of victory towards the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

    Before Babajide Sanwo-Olu,  the status quo had remained the same in Lagos for 19 years. Win a first term, do some pretty transformative work and win an easy second term. But, for the first time we heard a new name and beheld posters of a new candidate cropping up around Lagos.  Is this a case of the Party of Change changing someone that wasn’t delivering on his promises?

    Is this the new anointed one? Who is he? Why should we look at him? Will he be forced on us? I had my opinions. I mean, if you were in Lagos and you had not been living under a rock over the last few months, you’d probably have your own opinions too. The entire drama had played out in front of us all. The crux of it was when his opponent in the party primary the incumbent governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, had called a press conference to cast aspersions on his mental state and accuse him of past criminal misdeeds.

    That had piqued my interest. This was worth looking into. If the man that wanted to be my next governor had a case of spending fake currency then, I needed to know about it. I didn’t take those alleged accusations lightly. I think a lot of people did not take them lightly. They came from the lips of the governor but at the same time I have never believed an incumbent deserved a second term just because he is an incumbent. If you are doing a good job and the people you are serving can feel the impact, then yes, maybe a second term is in the offing but if the general populace is not happy, then you surely can not expect a second term. This is not “Buy One Get One Free” scheme we are doing here. You have to work really hard to deserve that second term.

    So, with all these in mind, the press conference was watched with a pinch of salt but was my curiosity piqued? It definitely was. I wanted to meet the man and ask him these questions face to face.  ”Ngbo sir, they say you were spending fake dollars in America? How come?” “And while we’re on that, what mental illness is it that they say you suffer from?”. These were the firsts of many questions that I wanted to ask Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

    I did a couple of posts to my thousands of followers on social media. I followed the primaries for the two leading parties in the state and when both candidates were announced, I put out a post about my interest in moderating a governorship debate between both candidates.

    Jimi Agbaje, the candidate of the PDP, to me, is like a leap year, he disappears and pops up every 4 years. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to me, though a three-time Commissioner and Special Adviser  in Lagos for more than 10years, still did evoke much statewide recognition, so I set out to find out more about him.

    First, I googled his public profile. 53 years old Babajide Sanwo-Olu, spent 16 years in the public sector and 11 in the private sector. Educated at University of Lagos, Lagos Business School, Kennedy School of Government, London Business School, his educational qualifications, public and  private sector achievements made him an interesting candidate. He was a three-time commissioner in the state ( Commissioner of Budget and Economic Planning, Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions), had done a lot of work on improving the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), had led the publication of the Lagos State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (LASEEDS) and set up of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund.

    An opportunity for a meeting finally came up. I was prepared for him to come late because you know how these politicians do. Keep people waiting because they have to attend to every issue under the sun. Waiting for a politician can be quite a tedious affair, my experience in the past had left a sour taste in my mouth. So,  I was pleasantly surprised when he was on time.

    He came into the room wearing a simple blue native attire. If you hadn’t seen his picture before and hadn’t met him prior, you might be forgiven for thinking he was one of the many people slated to attend the meeting. There were no airs around him. He came in, introduced himself and took a seat. I kept looking at him. I didn’t know what I was expecting to see but it wasn’t this man that looked simple and unassuming. He looked liked he could be your uncle. He wasn’t brash. He waited for a person to finish speaking before he responded. He didn’t interrupt. He wasn’t condescending with his answers to the questions being asked. All through these, I kept looking at his eyes and I could have sworn I saw the gears in his brain turning while he was answering questions. He looked like one of those people we used to call ‘efiko’ in my high school.

    During a period when everyone seemed relatively relaxed, someone had cracked a joke earlier and while the laughter was still wafting around the room, I asked him why the incumbent governor, his opponent during the election and a member of the same political party he belonged to,  had made those accusations against him.

    For the first time, I saw something other than warmth, intelligence, wit and smarts behind his eyes. I saw hurt. I wasn’t sure. Was the hurt because of the question, or because of the person that had levelled the accusations against him? I didn’t know but I wanted to find out.

    After Fashola, I didn’t know how much I had missed having a well-spoken orator as a governor. I know people will say “Ehen? He can speak English well and so? How does that translate to governance?” I don’t know but I daresay a governor that can express himself confidently and explain issues in a concise and deliberate manner is a delight to listen to any day and yes, Lagos has missed that. Ok, fine, I have missed that if we’re being pedantic.

    Babajide Sanwo-Olu explained these allegations clearly. He doesn’t have a criminal record, home or abroad. He doesn’t have issues with any authority in the United States. He put it on record that he has travelled out to this same America where he supposedly has criminal charges against his person four times this year alone.

    On his records as a patient at Gbagada General Hospital, he has never been admitted as a patient at Gbagada General Hospital. He has never sought treatment for any ailment at Gbagada General Hospital, nor anywhere in the world.  The one and only time he had been to Gbagada General Hospital was on a charity outreach visit where he had gone to donate equipment to the hospital.

  • Breaking: Saraki loses senatorial seat

    Senate President Bukola Saraki has lost his bid to return to the Upper Chamber.

    He was defeated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dr Yahaya Oloriegbe in the battle for Kwara Central senatorial seat.

    The former governor of Kwara State polled 68,994 to Oloriegbe’s 123,828 votes.

    INEC’s returning officer for the district, Prof Olawole Obiyemi, declared Oloriegbe winner of the seat.

    Our correspondent reports that there were wild jubilations after the announcement with shouts ofOtoge renting the air.

  • Why INEC ordered rerun in Osun, by witness

    …Says PDP agreed to a rerun

     

     

    The Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal heard on Friday what informed the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to order a rerun in the last governorship election in the state.

    The State Collation Officer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the election, Adegboyega Rasaki Adeosun told the tribunal that the rerun, to which the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) consented, was informed by the need to comply with the law and to avert the disenfranchisement of many registered voters in the state.

    Adeosun said, after the collation of all the results, INEC’s Returning Officer (RO) for the state explained to parties’ representatives, at the collation centre, why a rerun was necessary.

    Adeosun, who testified as a witness of the second respondent (Adegboyega Oyetola) in the petition by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Senator Ademola Adeleke, said the RO was moved to directing a rerun because the margin between the scores of the two leading candidates was less than the number of registered votes in the seven polling units where elections were voided.

    The witness said the RO explained to all present, including the representatives of other participating political parties, including the PDP, that it would not be right to disenfranchise the large number of registered voters in the affected polling units.

    Adeosun, who was Oyetola’s 11th witness, and the only one on Friday, said the PDP, whose agent was present at the collation centre, did not object to the RO’s announcement, which informed why all representatives of all the parties endorsed the document.

    The PDP and its candidate, Adeleke are contesting the outcome of the election won by Oyetola, the candidate of the APC.

    Adeosun, under cross-examination by lawyer to INEC, Adesina Agbede, said: “At the State Collation Centre, when the Local Government Collation officers came to report Local Government by Local Government, the LG Returning Officers gave explanations on what happened at some polling units and said the results could not be finalised.

    “That led to the cancellation of the results of these polling units. At the point of aggregation of all results from the 30 LGAs, the RO of the state informed us that the number of voters in these polling units exceed the margin between the scores of the two leading candidates- the second petitioner and the second respondent.

    “The margin showed that difference is small compared with the number of the registered voters, and they cannot be disenfranchised. All the party agents were there as reflected by those who signed the Form EC8D,” the witness said.

    Adeosun said he stood by all he said in his written statement, which he earlier adopted before the tribunal.

    The witness said he voted on the day of election after he was duly accredited. He said he did not vote during the rerun election because the rerun did not take place in his polling unit.

    Earlier, at the commencement proceedings, Oyetola’s lawyer, Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN) told the tribunal that Adeosun was one of the second respondent’s key witnesses.

    Owonikoko led Adeosun to adopt his written statement and tendered result sheets from some Local Governments, through him.

    Some of the Local Government Areas are: Egebdore, Ife Central, Ejigbo, Ede South, Ede North, Irepodun, Boripe, Ayedaade, Isokan, Ilesa East, Ife East, Obokun, Ayedire and Oriade.

    While being cross-examined by APC’s lawyer, Lasun Sanusi (SAN), Adeosun   said he was trained, with others, by INEC,   before the election. He said he was trained at the state level.

    The witness said, at the training, they were shown how to correct discrepancies in recordings in the result sheets and other documents.

    He identified a copy of the INEC guideline when it was shown to him. He also read from page 12, paragraph 33 M of the guideline, which stipulates the procedure by which discrepancies could be corrected.

    On whether he noticed any discrepancies, the witness said, when he went through polling unit results that were submitted to him. “I discovered, along with the polling unit agents, that there were discrepancies in the total number of votes cast, which exceeded the total number of accredited voters. And we saw that in 85 polling units.”

    He said when the discrepancies were corrected; the correction was signed by all the representatives of the political parties, including the PDP.

    Under cross-examination by petitioners’ lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), Adeosun said he did not know who effected the cancellation in the result sheets identified as: Form EC8A, EC8B and EC8C, because he was not at the LG collation centre.

    The witness also said he was not present at all the polling units while the election was on. He said he was only at his polling unit, where he voted, during the election, but went to the state collation centre after the election.

    The witness said presiding officers from the polling units were not allowed at the state collation centre. He said it was only presiding officers from the LGs who came to submit the results.

    The witness said polling agents were not present when the decision was taken to cancel the results from the seven polling units in which rerun were conducted.

    Adeosun said he did not serve as a polling unit agent on the day of the rerun election. He said he was not at any polling unit, because his polling unit was not affected.

    At the conclusion of Adeosun’s testimony, Owonikoko applied for an adjournment. He said his client intends to call a minimum of four more witnesses, including those subpoenaed, including election observers.

    Owonikoko prayed the court to adjourn to February 5 to enable the 2nd respondent prepare its witnesses.

    Other lawyer in the case did not object to Owonikoko’s application, following which tribunal Chairman, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo adjourned to February 5 for the second defendant to conclude his case.

    Justice Sirajo, with the assurance from Sanusi (lawyer to the third respondent) announced that the APC will open its case on February 6.

     

     

     

  • Oyetola, Omisore, others pledge to solve LAUTECH crisis

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Alh. Gboyega Oyetola, Friday pledged to sustain the commitment of the state to the jointly owned Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso.

    He also said a vote for him will translate to sustenance of the achievements of the outgoing governor, Rauf Aregbesola.

    Read Also:LAUTECH crisis: ASUU resists ‘commercialization’ of education

    The APC candidate said this during the first live debate by four of the leading candidates in the September 22 governorship election in Osogbo, the state capital.

    The governorship hopefuls slugged it out at the debate organized by the Yoruba service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) at the Osogbo campus of Osun State University.

    Only four candidates participated in the debate. They are Oyetola (APC), Sen. Iyiola Omisore (Social Democratic Party, SDP), Moshood Adeoti (African Democratic Party, ADP), and Fatai Akinbade of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Sen. Nurudeen Adeleke, was absent.

    The five are the leading candidates in the election.

    When asked how he planned to address the LAUTECH problem, Oyetola said the state was performing its obligations to the institution, recalling that it recently released N1 billion to the university as part of the state’s obligation.

    He promised to sustain the culture of meeting Osun State’s obligation if elected.

    Omisore said he would facilitate a round table with the Oyo State Government and the management of the institution to take decisions on the way forward. He said he would not just lead Osun State out of the university but ensure that all thorny issues are addressed properly to allow the institution function maximally. Pulling out of joint ownership of LAUTECH would only be the last resort, he said. The institution is jointly owned by Osun and Oyo states.

    Oyetola said the state needs continuity of Aregbesola’s legacies to be able to replicate the Lagos example of development in Osun.

    In his own contributions, Adeoti promised to introduce incentives to attract teachers to rural areas. This, he said, would address migration of teachers from rural to urban areas which leaves rural schools struggling.

    To encourage transparency and prevent corruption, Akinbade promised to introduce due process in government dealings.

    All of them promised to clear salary arrears of workers if voted on September, 22.

  • Ekiti 2018: 25 political parties adopt Fayemi

    The governorship bid of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has received a boost as he has been adopted by twenty five political parties.

    Citing what they called Fayemi’s “superlative and sparkling credentials” and life-changing policies and projects during his first tenure, the parties pledged to work for his victory at the Saturday poll.

    The parties also praised President Muhammadu Buhari for reducing corruption in the Nigerian society, saying this will help in stabilizing the country economically within the next few years.

    Read Also:Ekiti 2018: Why I want to rule Ekiti again – Fayemi

    Addressing reporters on Wednesday, KOWA Party State Chairman and spokesman of the group, Pastor Ade Ogunkolade, said the decision was arrived at “in the interest of Ekiti

    Some of the parties include Action Alliance (AA), Alliance for Democracy (AD), African Democratic Congress (ADC), National Conscience Party (NCP), All Progressives Congress (APC), Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), National Action Congress (NAC), among others.

    Ogunkolade said Fayemi was the first governor to introduce free education up to the secondary level in the state unlike now when kindergartens were being mandated to pay taxes even in private schools.

    He said apart from declaring free education for pupils, that Fayemi also created avenues for employments of youths, such as the State Peace Corps, Volunteer Corps, Social Security scheme, among other policies that affected the lives of the masses positively.

    He said: “After careful studies of all these achievements, the CNPP decided to give him all the necessary supports and strongly advise Ekiti people to come out on Saturday ad vote massively for Dr Fayemi to return Ekiti to the golden age of abundance.

    “Ekiti people must not be deceived into another era of anarchy, tyranny oppression, indebtedness and deception”.

    The CNPP condemned Governor Fayose for allegedly incurring a staggering sum of N117 billion as debt as revealed by the Debt Management Office (DMO) without nothing to show for it as achievements.

    “We appeal to the federal government to deploy more policemen to the State to prevent any rigging by the PDP-led government in the state.”

    CNPP appealed to Ekiti electorate to cooperate with security agencies to make the coming election a success.