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Tag: All Progressives Congress

  • Supplementary Elections: APC calls for redeployment of Rivers REC

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, has called on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to immediately redeploy Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Obo Effanga.

    Issa-Onilu said in a statement that the redeployment became necessary to prevent the REC from skewing the forthcoming supplementary elections in favour of the opposition.

    He added that it was on record that Gov. Wike, through the Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Obo Effanga, engaged PDP card carrying members as Local Government Area (LGA) Collation Officers in the last poll and was capable of repeating same in forthcoming elections.

    He recalled that since the suspension of the electoral process in Rivers, Gov. Wike and the State REC, Obo Effanga, had been re-writing and doctoring unit results in Rivers State Government House to favour Wike.

    Issa-Onilu observed the proactive steps taken by security agents to checkmate a repeat of the 2015 killings and destructions, and that the report of the security saying this should be applauded by all peace loving people.

    He, however, called on Nigerians and the international community not to be hoodwinked into believing that Nigerian security agencies interfered in the electoral process in Rivers.

    “It is a misleading narrative being planted in the media to particularly blackmail the military and the Federal Government into pulling out security agents from the state,” he said.

    This, the APC spokesman said would return the state to the killing field many witnessed before, during and after the 2015 elections.(NAN)

  • We ‘ll defeat APC in all supplementary elections – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has boasted that it’s going to defeat the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in the governorship supplementary elections coming up in five states next Saturday.

    In a statement last night by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the main opposition party said that violence and manipulations by planned by the APC ahead of the polls will be resisted by the people and summarily come to naught.

    The PDP said it’s ludicrous that the APC could seek to play the victim when all material facts have established that it militarized, perpetuated violence and unleashed mayhem on Nigerians  in the elections so far held.

    The main opposition party recalled that even the recent US States Department’s Bureau reports showed that state apparatus of power was used for intimidation and electoral violence to favour the government.

    It said it’s undeterred in its “imminent victory” in the March 23 supplementary elections.

    The statement said, “In Benue, it is clear that the people have rejected the APC as clearly demonstrated even in the Presidential election. Benue state has always been home to the PDP.

    “It is incontestable that our party has the largest genuine followership in all the units, wards and local government areas of the state and as such does not need any underhand measure to secure victory in any election in the state. Our winning lead of 81,000 votes were validly delivered at the polling units and that reality will humiliate the APC as it cannot be subverted.

    “Similarly, Rivers state is an impregnable home to the PDP since 1999. The results of all the elections held in Rivers, including the state House of Assembly, showed that the PDP is in control of the state.

    “Moreover, in Rivers, the APC is a vicious interloper, which has been perpetuating violence and killings as a means to subvert and  truncate the electoral process since it has no candidate in the election.

    “In Kano, the people of the state are known to be incorruptible and had always detested leaders who are corrupt and incompetent. They have always elected governors that are acceptable to the ordinary people.

    “The corruption and incompetence of the Ganduje administration is therefore distasteful to the people and that is why they have collectively rejected the APC and rally with the PDP. All the shenanigans by the APC and compromised INEC officials in Kano will therefore be unachievable.

    “In Bauchi, the PDP has already been elected and this reality cannot be altered by the APC. INEC had already established that the APC compromised its official to declare Tafawa Balewa LGA as inconclusive and had restored the votes that were stolen by the APC. It   is imperative for APC to accept the fact that its bunch of broom has become famished.

    “In Sokoto, the people have given us the mandate. The constitution provides for simple majority of votes. The declared results show that our candidate clearly won and that is why our candidate has been mandated to go to the court to seek interpretation of the section of the constitution that deals with the declaration of results.

    “In Adamawa state, the APC is merely hallucinating and seeking ways to subvert the process. Its despicable resort to using a person who did not participate in the election to seek to use the courts to ambush the election is disgraceful.
    However, INEC had since declared that it cannot be stopped from going ahead with the supplementary election where our party is already in good stead to coast to victory”.

  • INEC won’t favour any party in Ekiti Supplementary Poll, Says REC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said the commission won’t derail from its foundational tradition of neutrality and fairness in the conduct of the  supplementary  election for  Ekiti East constituency 1 of the state.

    INEC said the election will hold on Saturday, March 23 in five polling units in the constituency , in line with the directive of the Chairman of the electoral body, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu.

    The election was suspended by INEC  on March 9, when the House of Assembly and governorship elections were held across the country, with results in other 25 constituencies already declared .

    In the election, the battle will be between Mr. Juwa Adegbuyi of the All Progressives Congress and the occupant of the seat and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Hon. Ojo-Ade Fajana.

    Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, the Acting Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti, Dr. Muslim Omoleke, revealed that INEC would by the week meet the security agencies and brief them on the need to be prepared for the conduct of the election.

    Omoleke said the commission decided to suspend elections in the polling units , thereby making the outcome inconclusive, in line with its commitment to be neutral and fair to all contenders in any election.

    “We are prepared for the election and we won’t deviate from the practice of fairness and neutrality to all political parties.

    Read Also: Supplementary Polls: INEC promises to be fair in Plateau

    ” We will meet the security agencies this week and brief them on how the conduct will look like, so they can plan their own strategies on how to deliver a free, fair and credible election on Saturday.

    “We have received materials from the headquarters and they are being kept in the Central Bank of Nigeria, the materials are under safe custody.

    “We want to assure our voters that we won’t let them down. Let them come out massively and vote and we assure that their votes will count.

    “INEC  did not disappoint in the conduct of the presidential and state and National assembly elections in Ekiti,  this also will not be an exemption”, Omoleke stated”, he said.

  • The southwest governors

    But for the timely intervention of leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the southwest before the last General Elections, the rampaging Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have ‘captured’ at least three more states in the region, in the elections and the preceding election that ushered in the new government in one of the states, Osun, last year. Indeed, what happened in Osun State in the gubernatorial election last year was a narrow escape for the APC, and, as I have always said, needlessly so. Yet, it was not that the tell-tale signs had not been showing long before the election. I remember that, as far back as August, 2014 when the then incumbent governor, Rauf Aregbesola, was reelected for a second term, I had warned in an article on this page titled “Beyond Aregbe’s victory : For the progressives, it’s time for introspection” (August 17, 2014). The result of that year’s governorship election was more emphatic than the one that ushered in the Aregbesola government in its first term, but there were tell-tale signs that all was not well.

    Lest we forget, the Court of Appeal ruled that Aregbesola had 198,799 votes as against PDP Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s 172, 880 in the 2007 governorship election. The APC governor in 2014 had 394,684 votes as against that of the PDP’s aspirant, Iyiola Omisore’s 292,747 votes. I had argued, inter alia, in that piece that “…The political leaders in the region have to learn to sell their programmes to the electorate instead of putting up a ‘know-all ‘or being arrogant or messianic in doing things. And, when, like all mortals they find they are wrong, they should not hesitate to reverse themselves. That is one sure way to keep the predators at bay.”  Two weeks earlier, (i.e. on August 3, 2014), I had argued (in my article titled “Let Aregbe do it again”) for the reelection of the Aregbesola government. The truth was; long before then, I had, like many others, been seeing the warning signs of the danger that loomed in the state.

    I wish I could lay my hands on some other write-ups where I had warned of the looming take-over of some of these states, like Oyo and Ogun; I would also have loved to quote copiously from those articles.

    But that is not necessary, at least for now. The major elections have come and gone. We can heave a sigh of relief. The worst is probably over, at least for now. Oyo is already lost to the PDP as foretold by many. Ogun would have followed the same trajectory, again but for the APC leaders’ intervention. What some of these southwest governors do not realise is that they may be the direct losers of elections, but the consequence of the loss is felt by the generality of the people of the region. Sadly, the loser in the Ogun State governorship election would have been the party’s candidate and not the outgoing Governor Ibikunle Amosun who has had his two terms. Just the same way the incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola would have lost to the PDP if party leaders had not come to his rescue at the nick of time. Yet, both Aregbesola and Amosun somewhat managed things well when seeking second term for themselves. The good thing is that Amosun has been shown that the party is bigger than him or his desire. No one would try what he did in the military era.

    It is not by accident that Lagos State is the only state that has never fallen to any other political party since the return to civil rule in 1999, of the six states in the southwest, thanks to the indefatigability and political sagacity of the man, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Yet, it is this same man that some of those who had caused the fall of their states in the region to the ‘enemy’ despise and seek to diminish in stature, after in some instances cringing to him to get into political offices. As I have always argued, I have nothing against people who might have issues with Asiwaju Tinubu. That is only natural; especially in a politically active region like the southwest. Even the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo had people who were opposed to him and whatever he stood for. But when such people happen to be the very persons that climbed on Tinubu’s back to power, it is imprudent to want to stab him in the back for selfish political gains. That is why till this moment I admire Olusegun Mimiko. He proved he was the issue when he dumped the PDP to contest under the Labour Party, won the governorship election in Ondo State and was sworn in in 2009. The only thing is that that franchise has expired, as the same Mimiko could not muster enough votes to see his senatorial ambition through.

    So, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, special assistant to the president on political matters would appear wrong to have blamed the political apathy in the region on some ‘self-sufficient elite’. Ojudu had, while reminiscing on the outcome of the presidential election, promised that the (APC would address the question of voter apathy in the region. But, if Lagos, in INEC’s record, had 5.5 million registered voters, and only about 1.5million (less than 18 percent) voted in the presidential election, it was worrisome indeed. Ojudu said, inter alia: “our leaders must do more recruitment of people into the electoral process. We must tell the self-sufficient elite to take interest in voting; this is the best way to get it right.” This is where I have issues with Ojudu, The point is; it is the political leaders themselves that are largely responsible for the apathy. Unless the governors are not part of the political leaders; then I can agree with Ojudu. Some of us had been warning of the catastrophe looming in the southwest when we saw the way some of the governors were behaving like Lords of the Manor.

    The voter enlightenment that Ojudu spoke about is only a minute part of the problem. Even when we accuse the ‘self-sufficient elite’ of not voting, the attitude of some of the governors in the region is enough put-off, even to the ordinary folks; not to now talk of the elite. The point is; the Yoruba people would always want to assert their pride. They would never want to be seen in any position suggesting being condescending to people that they supposedly put in government. When a governor talks so rudely to people and they clap for him for having such a caustic tongue; he should watch it; he would get his result on Election Day. Some of these governors just have to learn how to bridle their tongues, especially when speaking in public. People who are too big to mind their language in public need not vie for such public offices, unless they were not the ones that offered themselves to serve. In this business of elections, the elector is king.

    One should not be tired of saying it; some of the APC governors messed up big time and this was evident in the result the party got even in the last governorship and state house of assembly elections. It was clear before the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Ogun State that the candidate of the incumbent Governor Ibikunle Amosun would be trounced at the poll.

    As I had said in some of my write-ups on this vexatious issue, what I hate about some of these governors is the way they humble themselves when looking for the positions only to get there and become too big for their boots. Many of them see good press as part of their birthright. If you write a whole page praising them for doing their job, they won’t see that. The only thing they see is the one or two sentences in the full page where you criticise them; whereas their counterparts from the other regions will call to engage and thank you even if you lampooned them.

    Let the APC leaders in the southwest beam their searchlight on Ondo State before the next governorship election there. Quote me, the state is likely to go the way of Oyo State if things continue the way they are. I guess what His Excellency’s reaction would be like after reading this piece. But, that is not important to me now. What is important is not to allow the people of Ondo to take the unusual decision of wearing their caps on their navels instead of their heads. That is what we have in the southwest when the people are provoked unnecessarily.

     

  • Polls: Agbonyinma files petition at Edo tribunal

    Candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Ikpoba-Okha/Egor Federal Constituency, Hon Ehiozuwa Agbonyinma, has filed a 142-page petition before the Edo State Election Petitions Tribunal over the outcome of the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly election.

    The People’s Democratic Party candidate, Jude Ise-Idehen, was declared winner of the election.

    In the petition, Hon Agbonyinma urged the tribunal to declare him winner of the election.

    Speaking to newsmen on Friday night after presenting his petition, Hon Agbonyinma said he wants to reclaim his mandate ‘that was stolen by some dubious  characters in INEC in collaboration with of some PDP leaders and security men and women.’

    Hon Agbonyinma who insisted that he won the election said some INEC officials collaborated with some PDP leaders to perpetuate fraud by manipulating the electoral process.

    According to him, “I have always said the APC won the Presidential election for Mr. President and I won the election for Egor/Ikpoba-Okha Constituency which I contested for.

    “I had valid ground to file this petition. Nobody can steal the mandate of the people that came out to vote for me and go free. Miracle happened during my time. For someone to call me thinking he is talking to PDP Chairman to redeem the balance after he has done everything fraudulently to derail the wheel of progress. I am happy that those who perpetrated this fraud have been arrested. They have confessed and the law will take its course.

    “I won the election and we are reclaiming our mandate back. We will go through the the legal process to get our mandate. I am the winner and my mandate will be given back to me.

  • Ogun APC celebrates Abiodun’s victory

    Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State are still savouring the party’s victory in last weekend’s governorship and state assembly elections , with a party chieftain describing the development as ‘miraculous’.

    Speaking at a get together in Abeokuta, the immediate past Commissioner for Youths and Sport, Afolabi Afuape, hailed party members and supporters whose commitment, he said, brought about the victory in spite of Governor Ibikunle Amosun who threw his weight behind his preferred candidate from another party.

    “It is miraculous, we worked hard, but, he who crowns effort – the Almighty God -has crowned our effort. And I think it is the confidence reposed in our party and our governorship candidate who is now the governor-elect made this possible,” Afuape said.

    He added: “We want to assure the people of Ogun State that we will not betray that trust giving to us. Everybody can see that everyone are in a joyous mood, that shows we are happy with the change of hand. And I want to assure them once again that Ogun State will witness prosperity and rapid development during the tenure of Dapo Abiodun. The entire people of the State will not regret voting him.

    ”What our people actually want from us is very simple. Good governance in terms of security, rural road development, agricultural development, above all, good healthcare system and qualitative education. We would also give empowerment to our women and youths, we will also pay salaries as at when due.”

  • Cross River: APC alleges killing of members

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State has alleged the killing of several of its members, who refused to be compromised, during the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections by agents of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led state government.

    The party, which made the accusation in a statement by its acting chairman, John Ochala, rejected the results of the election, which saw the PDP emerge winners.

    The statement, made available to The Nation in Calabar reads, “The All Progressives Congress, Cross River State, hereby informs the general public, that, we dissociate ourselves from this rape of democracy in the name of Governorship and State House of Assembly Elections. We are all witnesses to the daylight robbery of our collective will and mandate, led by the PDP state government in active connivance with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security operatives.

    ”Despite the very responsible manner in which our teeming party faithful and supporters went about their civic responsibility, the PDP in desperation to perpetuate their evil agenda killed several of our members who refused to compromise and resisted the vote stuffing carried out by the PDP.

    ”We call on all APC members and well-wishers to remain calm and go about their lawful duties without let or hindrance while the party leadership explores all avenues within legal limits to correct this aberration.”

    Also addressing reporters in Calabar, the governorship candidate of the Young Democratic Party (YDP), Emmanuel Undie, rejected the results saying there were no elections in the state.

    Undie accused the security agencies and INEC of colluding with agents of the PDP to rig the elections.

    He vowed to pursue all constitutional means to ensure the exercise is cancelled.

    ”There were no elections in Cross River State. It was not free and fair, a lot of people were disenfranchised and there was no safety and security for the people. I personally saw SUVs filled with thugs with automatic weapons moving freely with government number plates.

    ”We witnessed carting away of materials by thugs, multiple thumb printing. There was also swapping of result sheets, hence whatever happened in the field was an exercise in futility. People only went out to waste their time. The police, who were supposed to protect law-abiding citizens, were aiding thugs against the citizens. The results were cooked up,” he alleged.

  • Aspirants lobby Buhari’s men, governors, APC leaders

    Despite a two-month window to their inauguration, some ranking senators and members of the House of Representatives have begun intense lobbying of members of the “kitchen cabinet” of President Muhammadu Buhari and favoured governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Members of the kitchen cabinet are politically referred to as “The Cabal” in view of the enormous influence they have wielded in the past four years.

    Also, some of the lobbyists have paid secret visits to some powerful leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who might play a crucial role in the emergence of principal officers.

    Those involved in the lobbying are eyeing principal offices in the National Assembly, including the President of the Senate, the Deputy President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Deputy Speaker, and other top posts.

    Most of the candidates jostling for the posts are demanding that the presidency and APC leadership should leave the election of principal officers open instead of imposing them.

    There are however fears that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) might infiltrate the rank and file of the newly elected Senators and Representatives

    Following the intrigues over these offices, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) are perfecting plans to prevent revolt.

    Also, there was a fresh plot by some party leaders to outsmart the South-West from getting the slot for the House of Representatives.

    Some leaders from North-Central have started pushing for the concession of the Speaker’s slot.

    Out of the 109 seats in the Senate, the APC has won about 65 seats with the main opposition PDP having 37.

    In the House of Representatives, the APC secured 211 seats in the just-concluded National Assembly elections, compared with PDP’s 111.

    Some of those aspiring to be Senate President are the outgoing Senate Leader, Sen. Ahmad Lawan; a former Senate Leader, Sen. Ali Ndume; the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, ex-Governor Danjuma Goje; the Chairman of the Parliamentary Support Group (PSG) in the National Assembly, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu; Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege; Sen. Teslim Folarin; Sen. Ajayi Borrofice; and others.

    In the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, is still the leading candidate except for a fresh agitation by the North-Central for the office of the Speaker.

    According to findings by our correspondent, the choice of the principal officers for the 9th National Assembly is already causing tension among Senators-elect and Representatives-elect.

    Although the President, APC leadership and other leaders of the party have not met to work out a zoning formula, some newly-elected members have started convening meetings.

    But the intense lobbying of members of the kitchen cabinet of the President and APC governors was said to have become worrisome to some APC leaders.

    The affected leaders were disturbed that the party might be divided ahead of the inauguration of the 9th National Assembly.

    A top government source said: “The truth is that no one anticipated this dimension of the intrigues barely few weeks after the elections. So far, there are indications that the jostle for these offices can be dirty.

    “Since all those interested in leading the 9th National Assembly have not been able to get any commitment from the President, they have been mounting pressure on members of his kitchen cabinet, close associates and aides to intervene on their behalf.

    “These candidates have also made some shuttles to some APC governors and leaders to intercede and recommend them to the President.

    “Some of the governors had tried to know the mindset of the President, but he was non-committal.

    “A major fear in the party is the likelihood of the infiltration of the newly-elected APC members of the National Assembly by the PDP.

    “There is a consensus that the party should avoid a repeat of 2015 hijack of 8th NASS leadership by the opposition party.”

    At the party level, findings confirmed that the National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) are perfecting plans to prevent a repeat of 2015 politics which denied the party the control of the 8th Assembly.

    A party source said: “Were it not for democracy, Oshiomhole would prefer leaders of the party stamping their feet and naming those who should lead the 9th National Assembly.

    “But the fact that the imposition of principal officers has not worked since 1999 has made APC leaders to allow for mutual consultations and agreement based on zoning formula arrived at by the party.”

    As at press time, it was gathered that some party leaders have started making a strong case for the choice of the 9th Speaker of the House of Representatives from the North-Central, preferably a Christian.

    “These leaders are keeping their game plan to their chests even though they have started consulting in order to shortchange the South-West.

    “They said a Christian Speaker from North-Central will assuage the grievances of the Middle Belt.

    “But most APC leaders believe Gbajabiamila has a very rich parliamentary background which can assist President Muhammadu Buhari to have a smoother second term in office.”

  • A mystifying and demystifying election

    During his presidential campaign, President Muhammadu Buhari suggested to the All Progressives Congress (APC) crowd that thronged his rallies in two or three states to vote their conscience. His admonition, it seems, did not fall on deaf ears in Imo and Ogun States, in particular. Analysts suggested that the president was in fact tactful in giving that admonition because the APC was divided in both states. Unwilling to take sides lest it jeopardise his own election, the president was believed to have solicited the party faithful and other journeymen who gaped in his rallies to vote him as president, and any other party’s candidates during the state elections. He got his wish.

    In Imo State, where the outgoing governor, Rochas Okorocha, demonstrated unalloyed loyalty to the president’s ambition but displayed unrestrained haughtiness towards the party faithful in the state, no one was certain the APC would go to the state elections united. Indeed, the mutually destructive and antagonistic sides were eager to pursue each other to the grave. They literally did that on March 9, 2019 when they split their votes and handed victory to a third force. Governor Okorocha planned to impose his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, as the APC governorship candidate. The party rank and file, who were loath to serve the governor and his son-in-law, revolted and took matters into their own hands and pitched tent with Hope Uzodinma, a senator. Indeed, they were willing to pitch tent with Lucifer himself if that would liberate them from what they termed the bondage of the loquacious and imperious Mr Okorocha.

    Unable to foist Mr Nwosu on the APC, and despite spending a fortune to do so, Mr Okorocha eventually secured the governorship ticket for his favoured candidate from another party, the Action Alliance (AA). That ticket failed miserably on March 9, 2019, with the Peoples Democratic Party’s Emeka Ihedioha taking the diadem. Not only was Mr Nwosu’s ambition thwarted, even Mr Okorocha’s election as a senator for Imo West on the platform of the APC now seems also threatened. The returning officer for the Imo West senatorial election, Innocent Ibeawuchi, a professor,  told the world, as he announced Mr Okorocha’s victory, that he did so under duress. Consequently, the governor is yet to get his certificate of return. In all likelihood, the whole senatorial election in that constituency, or a part of it totalling about eight local governments, might be repeated. Whenever the Imo West poll is redone, Mr Okorocha is unlikely to win, thus completing the total humiliation and demystification of an orator who started very well until power got the better of his judgement and he veered towards the mundane and the frivolous.

    But the demystification of Mr Okorocha seems to pale into nothingness compared with the humiliation suffered by the Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun. Though the Ogun governor won his senatorial election on the platform of the APC, having at one time been a senator also, his desperate attempt to install a successor, not to say the resources and emotions he heavily invested in the effort, have all come to nought in a spectacular, highly public and dispiriting manner. Like Mr Okorocha, Sen. Amosun stayed put in the APC, which he described as hated, while he pushed his favoured candidate and other supporters to another party to contest the governorship and other offices. That candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, defected to the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) to vie for the governorship. But he fell, not just to any candidate, but to the hated APC standard-bearer, Dapo Abiodun. Mr Amosun is still livid. Indeed, his fury is still incandescent. Having tried many times to profit from his closeness to the president, the Ogun governor is still shocked that that closeness has counted for nothing, despite the president admonishing the Ogun crowd at his February 11, 2019 campaign rally to vote their conscience.

    Mr Amosun may have secured the consolation goal of a senatorial seat, unlike Mr Okorocha’s path to the upper legislative chamber which is still paved with thorns, it appears the Ogun governor would have loved to lose his senatorial seat and gain the governorship for Mr Akinlade, his protégé. He had framed the governorship election as a contest of wills between him and the APC leadership. During the contentious and violent president campaign in Abeokuta less than two weeks before the February 23, 2019 presidential election, the beleaguered Mr Amosun had boasted that his APM candidate would win and thereafter, together with him, return to take over the APC. Indeed, for the governor, he and his APM crowd and other supporters were poised to put the APC hierarchy to shame after the elections. That goal may now be unrealistic. He is alleging shady electoral dealings on the part of his opponents, but the battle may really be over.

    But it is not only Messrs Amosun and Okorocha who have had their wings clipped; Governors Abiola Ajimobi and Abdullahi Ganduje may also have sung their Nunc Dimittis. Though Dr Ganduje is still bracing up for a rerun poll, the Kano electorate, if feelers are right, may have sealed the fate of the dissembling governor. In any case, whether he wins or loses, he has been thoroughly demystified. He had promised President Buhari some five million votes. He could only deliver a little over a million. Even that one million plus is suspected by some analyst to be controversial, given that figure’s deviation from the national mean. But for the governorship, he has been unable to deliver as much to himself as he coralled for the president. The reason, as Kano voters allege, is that the governor is dishonest, having been caught on camera soliciting for and receiving bribes. According to them, had there not been a definite sexing up of figures in some polling units loyal to the governor, the margin of his defeat would have been horrendous.

    The demystification of the Oyo State governor, Abiola Ajimobi, is even more dreadful and distressing. He won’t get over the defeat easily, though he has tried to put on a brave face. As recorded on this column two weeks ago, Mr Ajimobi of course lost the senatorial election. Recognising his failings and foibles, his party waded into the fray, helped him to cobble some alliances together, and attempted to placate the Oyo electorate. All the efforts were, however, a little too late. Not only were Oyo voters dead set against him, they let anyone who cared to listen know that the defeat they inflicted on him during the senatorial poll was just a foretaste of the horrifying rejection they planned for him during the governorship poll. Despite the emergency alliances, especially the one with former governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, Sen Ajimobi’s candidate, the brilliant and technocratic Bayo Adelabu of the APC, lost his local government and 27 other local governments to the PDP’s Seyi Makinde, gaining only five in the process. The APC defeat was emphatic. The ruling party lost essentially on account of Sen. Ajimobi’s politics, attitude and insensitivity. No demystification was ever so complete, and no defeat was so humiliating as one in which the senatorial and governorship polls are lost weeks apart and with uncontroversial margins.

    But what would anyone say of the crushing defeat inflicted upon Senate President Bukola Saraki who not only lost his seat by a wide margin, but also lost the governorship candidate he was backing by an equally astounding margin, and then lose a dynasty, if not an empire, through what can pass for a horrendous beating? His defeat was long in coming. When it came, however, it was a total repudiation. Messrs Okorocha, Amosun, Ajimobi and Ganduje were brutally crushed. If they are capable of recovery, the country will have to wait and see. Perhaps in one form or the other, one or two of them can attempt to stir themselves in the near future, though it will be a hard prospect indeed. But if Sen. Saraki is to bestir himself for a return to the throne, if he is to attempt any form of political recovery and reincarnation, he will need his successors to not learn anything from his fall, and for them to mistreat the electorate and inflict pain and mediocrity upon a disillusioned state. No one knows whether Sen. Saraki’s successors are capable of that precipitous decline.

    Overall, the electorate may be finding their voice and discovering the immense power in their hands. If they can secure the help of the system to continue to conduct elections that are credible, they will move to deploy that power in ways that will dispossess the political class of the false sense of security and omnipotence they have long tried to claim. Perhaps, in the short run, the electorate will misuse and mishandle that enormous power, enthroning and dethroning at will, with kakistocratic fecundity and unabated panache. But in the long run, after imbibing a lot of moderation and restraint, and being coaxed by circumstances and happenstances, they may use their voting power to deliver a civic culture. That’ll be the day.

  • How APC won Zamfara elections in 24 hours, by Yari

    Gov. Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara has attributed the successes recorded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the Feb. 23 and March 9 general elections in the state despite the party’s crisis to “divine intervention’’.

    Yari disclosed this when he fielded questions from State House correspondents in Abuja on Friday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the APC was allowed to field candidates for all the elections in the state only a week before the first day of elections (Feb. 23) when a Court of Appeal in Sokoto, Sokoto State, reversed an earlier decision of a lower court, which had banned the party from the elections.

    The Zamfara State Collation Officer, Prof. Kabir Bala of the Ahmadu Bello (ABU) Zaria, had announced that the APC Presidential candidate, President Buhari, won the Feb. 23 presidential election in the state with 438,682 votes while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, scored 125,423 votes.

    Bala also disclosed that the APC had won the three senatorial seats and the seven seats in the House of Representatives from the state in the Feb. 23 presidential and parliamentary elections.

    He said the APC governorship candidate won the state governorship election with 534,541 to defeat Bello Muhammad Mutawalle of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 189,452 while the APC also won all the 24 seats in the Zamfara State House of Assembly.

    Yari, who spoke to State House correspondents in Abuja on Friday, said he was happy with the outcome of the elections, saying that it was God that gave this political victory to the APC in the state.

    He said: “You know the turmoil that Zamfara elections put on Nigeria, disagreements upon disagreements, from the party to court and then to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which disagreed.

    ”Then, we went back to court and finally under 24 hours, we were cleared and we were back on the ballot box.

    “Only God has done this and given us the victory.

    “I am very happy with the outcome of the elections. I also want to appreciate my people, despite the fact that some people felt I was carried away by the activities at the centre, insinuating I abandoned the seat, especially with the security problem, but the people are aware of what the administration has been doing and they appreciate it.

    “Despite the daily attacks, the security agencies were up and doing and their presence in the state was well appreciated by the people.

    “They also appreciated the efforts of Mr President which took us to where we are. Like I said only God could have done it.’’

    The governor also disclosed that he had succeeded in reconciling all the aggrieved APC aspirants in the state.

    He said his pass experience as party chairman in the state, member, House of Representatives and governor for eight years had helped him to restore peace and tranquility within the governing APC in the state.

    “In my state, there were only seven or eight people contesting for the governorship position and I have said it that if I could preside over primaries where 18 people contested and succeeded, why can’t I manage eight, nine or 10 in my state?

    “I have been on ground since 1999 to date and I know the system and how it works.

    “I have been party secretary, party chairman, House of Representative and a two-term Governor, is with this experience that I was able to manage.

    “Unfortunately, there were a lot of misunderstanding between the party in the state and the national body but in the end we ended in the court and the court gave the verdict and INEC compiled.

    “Though, it came late, but if you are with the grassroots definitely everything must work well.

    “The people appreciated what we have been doing and when it came to voting, they voted wisely,’’ he added.

    Yari, whose tenure as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum would expire by May 29, expressed the hope that the forum would remain united and work in tandem with the federal government’s agenda.(NAN)