The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ELECTION

  • Youths decry Mimiko’s position on NGF election

    A group, the Oduduwa Youth Council (OYC), has criticised the position of Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko on the controversial election of the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

    The group said Mimiko “openly acted the presidency’s script”.

    In a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Festus Omoniyi-Bello, OYC said the governor has “abandoned his home and is aligning with an Abuja power broker because of his political ambition”.

    It said the governor’s rapport with the presidency could be because of the petition challenging his election before the Appeal Court.

    The group said: “The Labour Party (LP) administration in Ondo State has brought discomfort, pain and abject poverty to residents. The people are lacking in the midst of plenty. Unemployment and non-payment of the salary of some workers have become the order of the day.”

    The group hailed Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi on his victory at the Supreme Court.

    OYC lauded Fayemi’s leadership qualities, describing him as a blessing to the Yoruba race.

    It said its members have concluded arrangements to celebrate his achievements in Ekiti State.

     

  • Mimikoand governors forum election

    Mimikoand governors forum election

    SIR: Your ‘Hardball’ of Tuesday, May 28, made a wonderful reading. In addition to General Jonah Jang and Godswill Akpabio who have been unmasked, laid bare and demystified, another person who has lent himself to be used as a cannon fodder in the whole perfidy and treachery is Dr Rahman Mimiko of Ondo State.

    I can’t understand why this individual is crying more than the bereaved. This is not the way of an average Ondo person. An average Ondo person just like his cousin in Ekiti is an epitome of what is just and true. Why can’t this man dignify himself by being neutral in the whole scheme? I hope he won’t have himself to blame much much later.

    A University of Ife (OAU) trained medical doctor behaving this way! He it was who was quoted as saying that they almost exchanged fisticuffs during the voting exercise at the governors’ forum meeting. Many alumni of that great citadel of learning would be scandalized and disappointed.

    It goes to affirm all the negative things being said about him in time past about his serial betrayals and his legendary inclination to side with unjust causes.

    This is a big lesson for us in Ondo State. It’s therefore hoped that Ondo State people are taking notes. In any case, he doesn’t need the peoples’ votes anymore since he’s no longer qualified to stand for election as governor next time. That is why he can now afford to do anything he likes including fighting a cause that doesn’t concern him.

    My appeal to the good people of Ondo State is that next time, they should be discerning enough to know who and which party to vote for;not just anybody and not just any political party.

     

    • Olu Ajayi,

    Akure.

     

  • Osun ACN raises alarm over PDP’s plan to rig 2014 election

    Osun ACN raises alarm over PDP’s plan to rig 2014 election

    RELYING on intelligence reports, the Osun State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday alleged of a plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rig the next year’s governorship election in the state.

    ACN’s Director of Publicity and Strategy Kunle Oyatomi, who raised the alarm, urged residents to remain at alert and be watchful to frustrate the “evil intention” of some unscrupulous elements,who are planning to plunge the state into crisis.

    Oyatomi said media reports on the arrest of a PDP female member in Ikirun, in Ifelodun Local Government Area, who was luring people to exchange their voter cards for Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) allocation papers and money, revealed the rigging plan of the PDP.

    The ACN spokesman said: “This is another strategy the PDP is working with, to rig next year’s governorship election in the state of Osun.

    “We in the ACN believe that what the PDP Chairman in Osun, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa was reported to have said in respect of this story is a confirmation of the fact that the PDP is not only manipulating SURE-P for patronage to party members, it is also attempting to graft the SURE-P into its rigging mechanism for 2014 and 2015 elections.”

    Oyatomi said that the PDP has distorted and bastardised the Federal Government’s employment and empowerment programme meant for all Nigerians by converting it into a monster prowling the country and using SURE-P to buy voter cards from unsuspecting citizens.

    He, therefore, warned the citizens not to surrender their political power by selling the cards to selfish and greedy people, especially the “PDP that brought the state to ruins between 2003 and 2010.”

    His words: “Your voter card is the ultimate power you have to reject bad government and install a new one through the ballot box; and this was what you did in 2007.

    “You should not sell that card for any reason whatsoever because selling it is selling yourself into slavery. Since the PDP has decided to turn SURE-P, into an election rigging apparatus, the PDP should accept the responsibility for the criminal action of people going about in the state buying Voter Cards in exchange for SURE-P papers and money.”

     

  • Jonathan approves N5.7bn for victims of 2011 post-election violence

    President Goodluck  Jonathan has approved the release of a total sum of N5,747,694,780.00 to nine states of the federation for direct disbursement to those who suffered losses of properties, means of livelihood and places of worship in the post election violence of 2011.

    Special Adviser (Media) to the President, Dr Reuben Abati said in a statement that the approval was based on the submission of the Sheik Ahmed Lemu’s panel and its adoption by the Federal Executive Council.

    Following the post election violence and civil disturbances in some states after the April 2011 elections, President Jonathan set up a Panel of Enquiry headed by Sheik Ahmed Lemu to among other things, identify the spread and extent of losses suffered across the country.

     The Federal Ministry of Lands and Housing was later  mandated to assess the reported losses and damage to properties in all affected states.

    Consequently, President Jonathan has approved the release of funds to nine of the 14 affected states as follows:

    1.      Bauchi                 –        N1,574,879,000.00

    2.    Sokoto                 –        N55,888,506.00

    3.    Zamfara               –        N93,253,485.00

    4.    Niger                    –        N433,375,875.00

    5.     Jigawa                 –        N208,667,634.00

    6.    Katsina                –        N1,973,209,440.00

    7.     Kano                    –        N944,827,000.00

    8.    Adamawa            –        N420,089,840.00

    9.    Akwa Ibom          –        N43,504,000.00

    Total                –        N5,747,694,780.00

    President Jonathan has also directed that an Implementation Committee for the disbursement of the funds to beneficiaries in  the nine states be constituted as follows:

    1.      Executive Governor  or Deputy Governor        –        Chairman

    2.    Representative of State Government                –        Member

    3.    Secretary of the Sheik Lemu Panel                   –        Member

    4.    Representative of the OSGF                              –        Member

    5.     Representative of the FMLH&UD                    –        Member

    Inspection and assessment of damages and losses suffered are yet to be carried out in Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Kaduna and Nasarawa states as modalities and further instructions for the exercise are still being expected from the state governments.

    Funds to cover the losses sustained by victims of the post election violence in theses five states will be approved and released at the conclusion of the assessment exercise.

  • LG Election: We are set for victory- ACN

    As political activities heighten among contesting parties in the April 14th 2013 election into local government areas of Edo State, the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, at the weekend vowed to defeat the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as it urged it members to massively turn out on election day.

    Leader of the party in Etsako Central Local Government Area and a lawmaker in the state House of Assembly, Hon Johnson Oghuma, gave this assurance during the official flag-off campaign of the chairmanship candidate, Hon Emmanuel Momoh, at Oghomere Primary School Ekperi.

    While addressing large supporters of the party that gathered, Oghuma expressed confidence that the party’s achievement under the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole will guarantee victory for the party as demonstrated in the 2012 governorship election in the state.

    When asked in an interview if he was not afraid of PDP heavyweights in the local government area, he retorted, “Were they not there in 2007, were they not there in 2012, were there not there in the last election? There is no PDP in this local government; this local government belongs to the Action Congress of Nigeria. Whether you are a chief of staff to the president or not, we are not afraid. We will meet in the field and we will always defeat the PDP in this local government.”

     

    Speaking to the party supporters at the venue of the rally, the candidate for the election, Hon. Momoh, promised to take development to the grassroots, pointing out that the he knows what the people want and he was prepared to provide them with what they want.

     

  • 2015 may be Nigeria’s last election –Junaid Mohammed

    2015 may be Nigeria’s last election –Junaid Mohammed

    National Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaidu Mohammed said yesterday that unless efforts are made to ensure that the 2015 general election are free and fair, it may turn out to be the last election in the history of the nation.

    Mohammed also said that the promoters of the All Progressive Congress (APC) must learn to imbibe democratic tendencies and ensure that the leadership of the party emerge through a truly democratic process and not toe the line of the PDP whose leadership are not elected, if they want the confidence of Nigerians.

    Speaking on a programme, Guest of the Week, on Kaduna based Liberty Radio monitored in Kaduna, Mohammed hit out at northern leaders whom he said are no longer of use to the north, but are feeding fat on the region while the average northern suffer in abject poverty.

    While saying that the issue of whether President Jonathan should contest the 2015 elections, he said “I would rather we subject that to constitutional interpretation by the highest court in the land; but the president does not want to subject the matter to constitutional interpretation.

    “The National Assembly are not interested, the governors are more interested in who become president after Goodluck must have been hounded out of power. As far as I am concerned, all three are making serious mistakes.

    “The only thing to do in a democracy is to subject the whole thing to constitutional interpretation and the rule of law because there can be no democracy without the rule of law. I believe that the governors in the north are making serious mistake.

    “They will be shocked by the way they will be willing to give in to blackmail. I want to assure you that the Nigerian people will continue to put pressure on them. All those people who are talking right now cannot make Jonathan president.

     

  • Low turnout as FCT records hitch-free area councils’ election

    The council elections which held in the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday recorded a low turn out, though it was peaceful.

    The accreditation of voters begun by 8.30 in the morning while voting commenced around 12.30 in the afternoon at the various polling units manned by youth corps members with complements of policemen, civil defence personnel and officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

    Many residents did not turn up at the polling booths as they claimed that they did not know the chairmanship and councillorship candidates fielded by the eight parties that participated in the election.

    The political parties included the Peoples Democratic Party, Accord Party, Action Alliance, Action Congress of Nigeria, All Progressives Grand Alliance, All Nigeria Peoples Party and Congress for Progressive Change, among others.

    Findings, however, indicated only seven parties were on the ballot paper, while APGA was missing.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Election likely in July

    Election likely in July

    INTERIM President Dioncounda Traore said his government has a plan to hold national elections on July 31.

    Paris is pushing strongly for Traore’s government to hold talks with the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which has dropped its claims for independence.

    “The Malian authorities must begin without delay talks with the legitimate representatives of the Northern population and non-terrorist armed groups that recognise Mali’s integrity,’’ French Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said.

    After months of being kept on the political sidelines, members of the MNLA said they were in contact with West African mediators who are trying to forge a national settlement to reunite Mali.

    “We reiterate that we are ready to talk with Bamako and to find a political solution. We want self-determination, but all that will be up to negotiations which will determine at what level both parties can go,’’ Moussa Ag Assarid, the MNLA spokesman said.

    Tourism Minister Yehia Ag Mohmed Ali spoke anxiously of the polls.

    He said: “We can’t wait until the war is over before we start preparing for the next elections. We’ve already started.”

    Ali, who was appointed minister in the interim cabinet of Prime Minister Diango Cissoko believes there is no time to waste.

    “Progress must be made at the political level, parallel to the military intervention,” he insisted.

    Political life in Bamako has virtually been a standstill for almost a year since the March 2012 coup, which made progress impossible.

    An interim government had to be installed to pave the way for the organisation and conduct of free and credible elections.

    But Ali is advocating the relaunch of a political process as soon as possible.

    Officials failed to make much headway with the election plans mostly because the interim government was largely preoccupied with itself.

    Early December, Cissoko’s predecessor, Cheick Modibo Diarra was literally removed from office in military putch staged by coup leader Amadou Haya Sanogo.

    The coup was seen as an indication of the weakness of the interim government.

    But since the beginning of France’s military intervention on January 11, there have been signs of progress in Bamako.

    “We are in the process of introducing biometric voter cards,” said Ali. They are all supposed to be printed by April, but there are a number of unresolved problems. “The electoral register is incomplete, refugees need to be registered,” said Annette Lohmann, head of the Bamako office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a German think tank.

  • Kogi ACN calls for council election in January

    •Slams Wada over alleged hijack of funds

    The Kogi State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday urged Governor Idris Wada to ensure that local government election is conducted in the state in January.

    In a statement in Abuja by its Chairman, Haddy Ametuo, the party said the recent ward and local government congresses of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state contradicted the position of the State Independent Electoral Commission (KSIEC), which called for the postponement of the election because of insecurity.

    The statement reads: “Our local governments have suffered enough exploitation. The state government should urgently revisit the issue of the local government election by conducting it not later than January 2013 so that these liaison officers can leave the local governments alone.

    “Their reign is full of unpaid salaries and allowances, underdevelopment, non-adherence to due process, non-transparent administration and arrogance.

    “All this is due to bad governance of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has consistently refused to impact positively on the lives of the people.”

    ACN criticised Wada for allegedly hijacking local government allocations.

    The party said the governor’s action has stalled development at the third tier of government.

    It noted that local government employees were owed backlog of salaries due to non-release of statutory monthly allocations by the state government.

    The ACN also faulted Wada for refusing to pay former political office holders their severance allowances.

    It said: “Captain Wada should leave local government allocations alone because the liaison officers/caretaker chairmen have continued to tell the public about the governor’s exploitation of the local government allocation.”

    The party explained that during the final days of the former Governor Ibrahim Idris administration, there were complaints on severance allowances of former political office holders in the local governments who served from 2004 to 2007.

    ACN said the former governor had directed that the allowances of elected and appointed cabinet members of the 21 local governments be paid.

    “It is rather unfortunate that he obdurately later ignored the payment of the allowances to the affected officers,” the party said.

    It alleged that Wada has “continued to feign ignorance” of the “ugly development even after several complaints from these victims of injustice”.

    He added: “It is the right of these former elected and appointed officers to be paid their severance allowances as provided for by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC).

    “We are, therefore, calling on Captain Wada to direct his liaison officers/caretaker chairmen to pay the people.”

  • Ghana awaits election results as polls close

    Ghana awaits election results as polls close

    • Observers hail exercise

    Ghana electoral workers tallied ballots yesterday in elections troubled by technical hitches, but which authorities hoped would ultimately burnish the country’s reputation as a model African democracy.

    ECOWAS and AU observers led by former Nigerian president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday hailed the process despite a few challenges. They called for speedy release of results to forestall rumour-mongering.

    Ghanaians had queued up for a second day in parts of the West African nation to vote after hundreds of newly-introduced electronic fingerprint readers – used to identify voters – malfunctioned.

    The decision to extend polling into yesterday was broadly accepted by voters and rival parties, easing worries the problematic poll would trigger the kind of street violence common during elections in West Africa.

    “I was happy they extended the time,” said Yaw Krampah, a 29-year-old metal worker, as he waited in line on the outskirts of the capital Accra. “But I couldn’t sleep at all – this election means so much to me.”

    Three decades of peace combined with a recent oil-driven boom have made Ghana a darling among investors who say its growth prospects contrast sharply with the economic woes of Europe and the United States.

    President John Dramani Mahama, who replaced the late John Atta Mills after his death in July, faces main rival Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who has vowed to provide free education and root out graft.

    Early tallies from polling stations point to a tight race, raising the prospect of a repeat of the near-deadlock of the 2008 elections, in which Mills defeated Akufo-Addo in a run-off with a margin of less than 1 percent.

    Hundreds of electronic fingerprint readers malfunctioned on Friday, causing some people who had waited hours to vote to burst into tears as they were told they had to come back the next morning.

    An election commission official said 1.6 percent of the country’s 26,000 polling stations had to reopen yesterday to clear the backlog, adding that officials would launch an investigation into why the machines broke down.

    “We are trying to find out what caused this situation,” said spokesman Sylvia Annor.

    Results are expected within two days with a second round possible at the end of December if no one wins an outright majority. Ghanaians are also electing a parliament, where Mahama’s National Democratic Party has enjoyed a slim majority.

    “I would like to ask the Ghanaian people to remain very calm…We are on course, and there should be no apprehension,” Mahama’s campaign director Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah told a news conference.

    “Our people should be law-abiding, they should follow the rules of the game…The electoral commission will speak, and when it speaks, we will listen,” he said.