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‘Saraki, Ekweremadu’s elections are a nullity’

Frontline lawyer and rights activist Jiti Ogunye examines the crisis at the National Assembly. His opinion: the election of Senate President Bukola Saraki and Deputy Senate President Ibe Ekweremadu should not stand.

Since the National Assembly (NA) erupted in crisis during the “inauguration” of the 8th NA and the “election” of the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives on Tuesday, the 9th of June, 2015, a lot has been said and written about the issues in dispute in the crisis. Unfortunately, rather than subject the “election” in the NA, in particular in the Senate, on that day, to a rigorous legal examination, in order to determine the legality of that election, many of the principal actors in the NA leadership crisis or in the All Progressives Congress.

Since the National Assembly (NA) erupted in crisis during the “inauguration” of the 8th NA and the “election” of the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives on Tuesday, the 9th of June, 2015, a lot has been said and written about the issues in dispute in the crisis. Unfortunately, rather than subject the “election” in the NA, in particular in the Senate, on that day, to a rigorous legal examination, in order to determine the legality of that election, many of the principal actors in the NA leadership crisis or in the All Progressives Congress (APC) imbroglio, and a host of other interveners have been discussing the politics of the crisis and its “mishandling” by the APC leadership, who, according to these interveners, was hell bent on foisting a leadership on the NA. Many simple-minded gloaters have even reduced the serious issues thrown up by the crisis to a celebration of the “ political defeat of Bola Ahmed Tinubu”, as if that alleged defeat was all that was needed to make the aberration that occurred in the NA acceptable. In this intervention, we seek to redirect the discourse. We argue that the NA leadership crisis primarily should be discussed and resolved on the basis of enquiries as to whether there had been a violation of the rule of law and the provisions of the Constitution.

What transpired in the NA on Tuesday, 9th June, 2015 was a coup d’état. If it was merely a coup d’état by the treacherous members of the APC against their party’s choices for the offices that constitute the leadership of the NA, we would not have been bothered. We are bothered because it was also a coup d’état against the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the rule of law.

On that day, while Senator Bukola Saraki of the APC, who has confessed that, like a typical coup d’état leader, he sneaked into the premises of the NA at dawn, was “elected unopposed” as the Senate President, by 57 Senators, in the absence of 51 Senators, who were “ambushed” into a fence-mending and ranks-closing meeting that eventually turned out to be a hoax, Senator Ike Ekweremadu of the People Democratic Party ( PDP) “defeated” his opponent, Senator Ali Ndume of the APC by 50 votes to 24 votes ( with one abstention) to clinch the post of the Deputy Senate President. Instructively, the APC controls the Senate with 59 ( now 58) Senators, while the PDP has 49 Senators, meaning that 108 members ought to have congregated on the Senate Floor on the said date to constitute the leadership of the Senate. Alas, only 57 senators and 75 senators took part in the elections into the two offices.

In the run up to the “inauguration” of the NA on 9th of June, 2015, after the initial intra-party horse-trading and compromises, two blocs within the APC, keenly interested in fielding candidates and contesting available positions in the NA leadership, had emerged: The offices are that of the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker of House of Representatives and Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives. For the House of Representatives, there was the Femi Gbajabiamila and Yakubu Dogara Blocks, and for the Senate, there were the Bukola Saraki and Ahmed Lawan Blocks. To put its house in order, the APC, correctly and responsibly, in our view, conducted a straw poll amongst her elected legislators to determine the popularity and acceptability of the aspirants and adopt consensus candidates of the party for the positions. It would not have made any sense for the APC to have allowed its aspirant members to go on the floors of the Senate and the House to slugger it out amongst themselves. That is not the way a responsible party behaves. Strangely, some dubious partisans and jaundiced interveners have condemned the APC for striving to forge consensuses amongst its party members, insisting that the NA should have been left alone to self-constitute its leadership, without the input of the parties of the respective members. This position that is being laundered as the correct approach that ought to have been adopted by the APC in order to guarantee the independence of the legislature is ignorant, plain dumb and silly. At the end of the straw poll, which the Saraki and Dogara blocs boycotted and walked out of, obviously because they were in the minority and because they did not want the decision of the majority to bind them, the Lawan and Gbajabiamila Blocks emerged victorious. Consequently, the APC directed all its legislators that were to participate in the NA Leadership Elections to tow the party line and vote for the party’s candidates in the elections.

Upon realising that they did not command the following of a majority of their party members, the Saraki and Dogara blocks surreptitiously hatched a conspiracy against their party’s interest and forged a coalition with the PDP against their party choices That coalition led to the “defeat” of the APC choices in the elections, and the triumphs of the Saraki and Dogara Blocks. In the House of Representatives leadership election, Dogara scored 182 votes to Gbajabiamila’s 174 votes. Given the result of the election, it was obvious that out of the 209 APC legislators in the House, about 36 of them leagued up with PDP legislators to defeat Gbajabiamila, their “party’s” candidate for the office of the speaker, and Monguno, their party’s candidate for the office of the Deputy Speaker. Saraki, Dogara, and Lasun, all defectors from the PDP, simply reached out to their kith and kin in the PDP. And it only took the infusion of Ekweremadu for the family reunion to be complete. Blood, as we know, is always thicker than water. It was an act of gross betrayal and misconduct.

Was that act of betrayal illegal or unconstitutional? No, even if it is immoral. Section 50 (1) of the Constitution says so. It provides that “ there shall be:- (a) a President and a Deputy President of the Senate, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves; and (b) a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves”. By virtue of this provision, any member of the Senate or House of Representatives, be s/he of the majority party or minority party can be elected into any of the aforementioned positions, in so far as he or she is a member of the Senate or House of Representatives. It only stands to reason that if any legislator, regardless of the numerical strength of his party, can aspire to a leadership position in the upper and lower chambers, he or she can draw his electors from his own party or from other parties in the legislature. And any member can elect any other member of his choice to occupy any of the said positions, regardless of political party affinity or divide.

Without any doubt, the leadership tussle in the NA has shown clearly the fault lines in Section 50 (1) of the Constitution. Section 50(1) needs an urgent amendment, such that the indubitable legislative intendment of having a majority party constitute the leadership of the parliament, while the minorities parties play the role of the parliamentary opposition can become more manifest and taken out of its current state of wooliness.

We have argued that the act of betrayal of the APC insurgents is not illegal or unconstitutional, but immoral. But do we all not know that immorality, lack of integrity, opportunism and perennial power and money hunting are the hallmarks of a majority of Nigerian politicians? Lacking in scruples, values, principles and ideology, they change political parties, switch political allegiances and positions on any matter, based on their whims, caprices, political calculations and expectations, and pecuniary interests. Most of them are nothing but charlatans and political mercenaries. Lacking shame, noble comportment and decorum, but fixated on grabbing power for primitive accumulation and self aggrandizement, they do not mind dumping a “ national conscience party”, “a national salvation congress”, or people redemption movement” for “ a kidnappers party of Nigeria”, or “congress of Nigerian armed robbers “, regardless of the repugnance of such names, if the platforms give them an assurance of a short cut to power, and a shorter and surer route to the public till.

The APC that is now talking about party loyalty and supremacy, and is bellyaching about the treachery of the renegades within her ranks reeks of the vice of political prostitution, which usually is masked as patriotic expediency, political pragmatism, and free exercise of the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of association. We are, therefore, not concerned about the moral wrong that the APC has suffered in the hands of her saboteur members, who, apparently fled a leprous PDP into the APC in the belief that staying back in the PDP in the 2015 general elections was going to harm their ambitions to get elected or re-elected into political offices. It was a mutation from one party to the other for political survival. It was “change”, indeed.

As we have stated above, we are bothered because the events of 9th of June, 2015 have serious implications for Nigeria’s democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law.

It is our considered view that the election of Bukola Saraki as the Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President is illegal, unconstitutional, null and void. It is a sham. Put in another way, Bukola Saraki and Ekweremadu, are not, legally speaking, the Senate President and Deputy Senate President of Nigeria. They are impostors, who should stop parading themselves as senate president and deputy senate president. Asking Ekweremadu to yield up the office of the Deputy Senate President, as some partisans who have labeled him a PDP usurper have suggested, does not arise. De jure, he is not occupying the office of the Deputy Senate President from which he may resign. You cannot resign from an office you do not occupy. Why do we say so?

First, by their own declarations and admissions, the organizers of the sham election on the floor of the Senate on the 9th of June, principally the Clerk of the National Assembly and his cohorts, claimed that they organized that election pursuant to the Senate Standing Orders, 2015, as amended, which purportedly provided that elections into the two offices shall be by secret ballot, instead of the open ballot as provided by Orders 72 and 73 of the Senate Standing Orders, 2011. As it has now become glaring, there was, in fact, no such Senate Standing Orders, 2015. As at the time of the dissolution of the 7th National Assembly, on the 4th of June, 2015, the operative Rules of the Senate were Senate Standing Orders, 2011. Between that dissolution and the inauguration of the 8th Senate on the 9th of June, the Senate was not in existence. It was a period of interregnum. The Senate leadership of the 7th Senate went with the dissolution of that Senate. Therefore, that leadership, acting alone, or in concert with the generality of the members of the 7th Senate could not have amended the Senate Rules to produce the Senate Standing Orders, 2015. By virtue of Order 110(5) of the Senate Standing Orders, 2011, two-thirds majority of the Senate shall decide proposed amendments and such amendments shall form part of the Rules of the Senate. This purported amendment is the act of forgery that is being alleged against David Mark, Ekweremadu and the Clerk of the National Assembly, which has now become the subject of police investigation. While the crime of forgery that is alleged may lead to prosecution and conviction, if investigation establishes a prima facie case, the effect of that forged or manipulated document on the election at the Senate is stark. Being the foundation of that election, the election is rendered illegal, null and void. No senate president or deputy senate president can be elected pursuant to a non-existent or forged Senate Standing Orders.

In underscoring the nullity of the Saraki and Ekweremadu’s presidency and deputy presidency, we find it very apt to use the analogy of a familiar legal principle.

“A court can only be competent, if among other things, all the conditions precedent for its having jurisdiction are fulfilled. In Madukolu and Ors. v. Nkemdilim (1962) 1 All N.L.R. (Pt.4) 587 at 594 Bairamian, F. J, (as he then was) stated the principles which , ever since, have been accepted in successive cases in the Supreme Court of Nigeria. ‘A court is competent, he said, ‘when- (1)it is properly constituted as regards numbers and qualifications of the members of the bench, and no member is disqualified for one reason or another; (2) the subject matter of the case is within its jurisdiction, and there is no feature in the case which prevents the court from exercising its jurisdiction; and (3) the case comes before the court initiated by due process of law, and upon fulfillment of any condition precedent to the exercise of jurisdiction. Any defect in competence is fatal, for the proceedings are a nullity however well conducted and decided; the defect being extrinsic to the adjudication.’ See Skenconsult(Mg.)Ltd, &Anor. v. Ukey (l98l) 1 SC 6 at 15

• To be continued

July 23, 2015
Nigeria and Turkey’s forthcoming elections

It is election season in Turkey; in about eighteen days or so the Turks will go to the polls to elect a new prime minister – or retain the old one, Ahmet Davutoglu – for the next four years. They will also vote on an amendment to the country’s constitution which will transform it from a parliamentary democracy into a powerful presidential system. However, this transformation requires approval by 2/3rd of the country’s 550-member legislature, i.e. 367 members, to pass without a referendum or 330 with.

Leading the battle by the ruling party to retain power and change the constitution is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s ceremonial but powerful president and leader of the party, the so-called “mildly Islamist” Justice and Development Party (AKP). Erdogan has been in power since 2002 when AKP first came to power on a wave of popular disaffection with militant secularism championed by the military which had dominated the country’s politics since it first changed in 1924 from a Sultanate into a Republic under the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Erdogan has been campaigning for his AKP to win 400 of the legislative seats and, thus, to become its most powerful elected president in recent times.

The election in that country should interest Nigerians for a number of reasons. First, along with Iran, Turkey has, by some estimates, about the same Muslim population as Nigeria – around 75 million. The ratios of this number for the three countries differ – about 50% for Nigeria, 99.7 for Iran and 98.6 for Turkey – but the numbers are big making the three almost jointly sixth in the Muslim world, after Indonesia (about 205 million and a ratio of 88.1%), Pakistan (178.1m: 96.4%), India (177.29m:14.6%) Bangladesh (148.61m:90.4%) and Egypt (80.02m:94.7%).

Second, as a country that straddles Eastern Europe and western Asia in space, it is of strategic importance to the world both geographically and religious wise.

Third, for at least the last decade after AKP came to power in Turkey, the country has provided one more proof that Islam and democracy are not necessarily incompatible as some Westerners and secularists and even some radical Islamists would have the world believe. Under AKP the country has transformed into a thriving plural democracy and prospered economically into one of the most advanced in the world.

Last but by no means least of all, since at least 1998 Turkey has established its presence in Nigeria as one of the biggest outside forces for development in our education and health sectors. Today its 16 non-denominational Nigeria-Turkish international primary and secondary schools spread across Nigeria in Abuja, Kaduna, Lagos, Kano, Ogun and Yobe states – and with plans for more – are among the very best in the country. So also are its Nile University, which is part of a global network of 26 universities in America, Europe, Asia and Turkey, and its state of the art Nizamiye Hospital, both based in Abuja.

The inspiration behind these institutions is the Gulen Movement, after its founder, Fethullah Gulen, the world renowned 74-year old Turkish Islamic scholar, author and poet, who has lived in self-exile in Philadelphia, America, for decades to escape persecution from the secular civilian and military regimes that had dominated Turkish politics and society up until 2002.

The Gulen Movement, which has since renamed itself the Hismet Movement, after its founder’s pronouncement that it was rather presumptuous to have had it named after himself, has meant different things to different people. It sees itself as a social and spiritual movement which completely eschews politics but which lays emphasis on religious dialogue and even more so on education, inspired, it says, by Prophet Muhammad’s (Peace be upon him) saying that “The ink of a scholar is more sacred than the blood of a martyr” and the fact that the Arabic word “ilm” (education) is, according to experts, the second most used word in the Holy Qur’an, after Allah.

Others see the movement differently. Even though it has no formal leadership or sheikhs or structure and even though it has no ceremonies or procedures for initiation into its membership, many, including militant secularists in Turkey, see its members as closet radical Islamists who secretly want to establish an Islamic State of Turkey.

On the other hand, radical Islamists accuse it of being too open to Western ideas and creeds. It therefore, in their eyes, poses a grave danger to the Islamic renaissance in Turkey which has since trumped Ataturk’s century of secularism.

Whatever the movement is, its alliance with AKP in 2002 in their opposition to military dominance of the country’s politics and society was universally acknowledged as probably the single greatest factor in AKP’s triumph.

Sadly, that alliance has gone sour, at least since 2013, so sour that today Erdogan sees the Hismet Movement, whose members believe he has reneged on his commitment to consolidating plural democracy and transparency in Turkey and has, instead, become too self-serving, as the single biggest obstacle to his dream of becoming an imperial president.

Such is the bitterness with which he views the movement that he now calls its members terrorists and has embarked on a campaign of seeking the shutting down of their institutions wherever they exist, by labelling them as fronts for terrorism. The most recent was his call last week on the authorities on the neighbouring Muslim Albania during a visit there last week to close down the movement’s schools in the country, a call that was promptly rebuffed. Before then his country’s diplomats in our neighbouring Benin Republic had tried the same gambit with predictably the same result.

Hismet Movement is not the only one at the receiving end of Erdogan’s anger against any opposition to his dream. The media and opposition parties in the country also are. Yet, he and his party remain favourites to win the forthcoming election by a wide margin, if not by the margin he desires to turn his country into an imperial presidency under his leadership.

In the likely event that he does win, the Nigerian authorities should expect his diplomats to come calling sooner or later with pleas to shut down the Turkish-Nigerian institutions in our country because, of course, they are “fronts” for terrorism.

Good thing is, Nigerians and their leaders are simply too smart to fall for such a harebrained gambit.

May 20, 2015
‘PDP afraid of credible elections in Delta’

Olorogun O’tega Emerhor is the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Delta State. In this interview with BOLAJI OGUNDELE, he explains how the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) robbed the APC of victory during the general elections.

“I propose that, as part of measures to reposition our electoral system, wherever and whenever the tribunals upturn any election, contrary to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), either at the state, presidential or National assembly level, any authorizing officer, responsible for that election, must be brought to book”

Why is there so much rancour in the Delta State APC?

This is not unusual. Most times, when a party goes into an election in which members have invested so much with the hope of winning and they do not come out victorious, there is bound to be some recriminations. In fact, I believe in spite of what is going on, the party is in a good position. See what is going on in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the defeat of Jonathan. It is almost falling apart, with calls for the sack of its National Chairman and the National Working Committee (NWC). In Delta APC, I believe things would have been different, if I had won the governorship election. My being the rallying point of the party in the state would have automatically been above challenge. So, because the election was stolen, it is not unexpected that these issues will rear their heads. We are, however, lucky that the APC won at the centre. I believe this has moderated the potential crisis, although it has also produced its own challenges.

These crises are fallouts of the struggle for offices at the national level, aren’t they?

There is no such possibility. See, even in the run up to the governorship election, not everyone was on board with me. My winning would have helped, but not winning meant that some people will naturally go ahead of me to the national in attempt to secure their own interests, which they perceive may not be protected by me as leader of the party in the state.

Is that why such leaders were expelled?

I would say that as it relates to leaders that were expelled; it is important to see clearly the two issues that have been raised. One, whether the state chapter has the powers to expel and whether offences were committed to warrant such actions? From my own reading of the issues, it is the party constitution that can answer the question about who has the power to expel. Furthermore, the party has a legal adviser as one of its executives and I assume that this issue must have received his attention. On the offences, I believe these were clearly stated such that I do not believe there were any ambiguities. Offences do have consequences in order to maintain discipline in the party, but there is also need for due process in meting out discipline. However, I do know that there is a rapprochement currently ongoing to douse some of these conflicts. We must unite for the task ahead!

It is believed that your ministerial ambition, after losing the governorship, is at the heart of the crisis. Do you have a contrary view?

I believe the APC national leadership is putting a special dispensation in place in order to bring the three Southsouth states of Delta, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom into the APC fold. This is why the three candidates in these states where the outrageous daylight election robbery took place are being encouraged and supported to go cancel these elections at the tribunal. Now, it’s my belief that apart from competence and other qualifications, the other yardstick that may be applied to these Southsouth states would be how the potential minister can use this position to foster the party’s objective of winning these states to the APC fold. Don’t forget that the PDP also held on to these states for strategic reasons with a plan to use these resource-rich states as a launch pad for their 2019 renaissance. Under these circumstances, not to talk of my sacrifices and contributions in building the APC in Delta State, starting from my senatorial bye-election in 2013 to my governorship candidacy and elections in 2015, I wonder what disqualifies me for a ministerial appointment such that it will create a crisis as you alluded. A few ambitious people who may seek to reap without sowing will always be there, but I do not think I am the source of any crisis.

You lost the recent governorship election in Delta, but your party, the APC, triumphed at the national level. What is your perspective on the outcome?

We did not truly lose the governorship election in Delta; the PDP stole the election. Elections are only lost if they are conducted according to the rules and a winner emerged. In the election in Delta as was also the case in Rivers and Akwa Ibom, the card readers were discarded, results sheets confiscated and fabricated results announced in connivance with compromised INEC staff. A smokescreen of violence and intimidation and ballot boxes snatching were unleashed to provide cover for results manipulation. As you may be aware, we have filed our petition at the tribunal to cancel the purported elections.

People have said that the APC is not on ground and it came third in the election…

Again, the PDP always try to play smart by half. In allocating the fabricated results, they deliberately and strategically kept the APC in the third position for the reason that they wanted to send a message to our national leaders, in preparation for their eventual defection to the APC, that the current APC in Delta is not on ground. As I speak, they are strenuously working on this scheme. But, they failed ab initio when they extended this dubious scheme to Rivers State and others. Can they also claim the APC is not on ground in Rivers? In any case, in Delta, look carefully at the presidential results where they allotted only 50,000 votes to the APC/Buhari and 1.2 million to PDP/Jonathan. Prior to this election, the projections were such that Buhari will win Itsekiri/Isoko votes 80 per cent, Urhobo/Anioma votes 40 per cent. Only the Ijaw areas were projected to give less than 20 per cent. So, what happened that Buhari didn’t get even 10 per cent from these areas?

So, you believe the APC can win a rerun election in Delta?

After the Buhari win, Delta was set and ready for the APC. Delta did not want to remain in the opposition. Even, stalwarts of the PDP were with us on this and are still are. PDP knew they would not win a proper free and fair election and that was why they did not allow an election on the field, but resorted to snatching it in the air, so to speak. Under a Buhari government, a rerun, I believe, will be free and fair and in an environment of neutrality by INEC and the security forces. If Deltans are truly allowed a free hand to choose between the 16 years of the PDP misrule and the APC wind of positive change, they will definitely choose the APC.

What is the position of Great Ogboru and Labour Party in all these? He is believed to be discussing with the APC…

Ogboru invested all his political capital in President Jonathan’s re-election bid, which failed. He partnered with the PDP to try to kill the APC in Delta State and was rewarded with a second place position by the PDP in the April 11 election results. Be that as it may, we must not forget that both parties come mainly from the same stock of opposition that has always wanted the PDP ousted from the state. So, Ogboru should be free, if it is now his desire, to join forces with Emerhor. The APC will soon liberate Delta and the rest of the Southsouth.

Does this mean you are ready to work with Ogboru?

There is strength in unity of numbers and purpose, but this has to go through a process! For example, after the elections, the first person I ran into Ogboru was at the house of one of my leaders in Abuja. As I did not know his mission, I didn’t make it my business. Eventually, the said leader invited both of us to a meeting which turned out to be a meeting to get both of us to cooperate to cancel the Delta governorship election result at the tribunal. But, I get the impression from Ogboru that he continues to rate himself as the most popular candidate and appear to suggest to our leadership that he/Labour be admitted to supplant the current the APC which some assume are not on ground. In Delta, such approach aimed at going over our heads and discounting us, I can say definitely will be unhelpful. Apart from the fallacy of it, we in the APC Delta not only invested in building a strong party, but also took the risk of going against the PDP and a sitting president who is a Niger Delta son. Ogboru ran from this risk and pitched his tent with Jonathan. He cannot therefore be coming after the failure of Jonathan, with a mindset.

What should the nation expect from a Buhari government?

In the short time since March 28 when he was declared President-elect, Gen. Buhari has been an open book; what you see is what you get. He plans to run an open, transparent administration that will stamp out corruption, eliminate insecurity, improve the economy and create a new Nigeria. You can already glean a lot from his speeches to date, the inauguration and transition committee memberships he has made and actions like going out of his way to provide strategic support to the current Agriculture Minister, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, who is vying to become the Managing Director of the Africa Development Bank (ADB). Buhari will work selflessly to make Nigeria succeed.

May 19, 2015
Elections, civil wars and professors

As we approach May 29 2015,   the hand over date of the incumbent president to the president elect, there is need to watch the utterances and body language of both leaders in the interest of the transition of power from one to the other. Make no mistake about my observation here as it is patriotic and it is not that of a cynic who may be accused of seeing a cloud on every silver lining. I am not one at least for today and for the sake of this analysis. Secondly I believe that power changed hands in Nigeria on February 28 2015 when the incumbent lost for the first time in our democratic history to a challenger albeit an experienced loser hitherto. But power changed hands even more peacefully and seamlessly when the incumbent in that election, now loser, quickly congratulated his opponent as winner and the nation heaved a huge sigh of relief while the outside world clapped in both astonishment and undisguised wonder at the feat. That made May 29 a formality or a fait accompli   to look   forward to until some rumblings started coming out of Aso Rock which may be described as mere after thoughts or public soliloquys on an election that has come and gone while yielding way democratically to a change that certainly will not wait beyond May 29 2015.

What I am rambling about should be obvious by now if you have been following developments in the Nigerian news media in the last week. I am shortlisting three events only for our digestion and analysis today in line with the topic of the day which seem to pitch three incongruous issues together. But I assure you that I will show you the umbilical cord bonding them together quite easily. The first news item was the warning from the presidency to the president elect not to run a parallel government as the incumbent is still in office and not out of power yet. The second was the lamentation of Chief Rasheed Ladoja of the Accord Party   who lost in the guber election of April 11 in Oyo State and conceded defeat but is going to the election tribunal to contest the results because he thinks he has evidence that his party the Accord Party indeed won the guber election in the state. Chief Ladoja pointedly condemned the use of Professors as Election Returning Officers because they are arrogant and they are not necessarily the best for the job in the Nigerian situation. The third was the criticism of the presidential election results by the incumbent president this week. The incumbent said his Party the PDP could not have gotten the results it got in some states in the 2015 presidential election which he likened to the Nigerian Civil War on which there have been many written accounts. He condemned defectors who left his party for the victorious PDP saying such defectors will come back on empty stomach from the APC which obviously would starve them.

Starting from the issue of parallel government it is clear there is a misunderstanding from the presidency. It was reported that the incumbent will hand over only on May 29 which was later denied before the Transition teams of both sides were put together. It would appear that the denial was just a sound bite while the content of the denial is the spirit of the hand over in the presidency. That means the presidency is working as if it has just begun its tenure when indeed it should be rounding up proceedings after five years ending in electoral defeat. The sackings and appointments being announced corroborate this view. No incoming administration on a fresh mandate can close its eyes and mind to the creation of booby traps by an outgoing administration which seems to have adopted the scotched earth war strategy of Attila the Hun when he sacked the Ancient Roman Empire in those dark days of the Middle Ages. Attila’s policy was embedded in the statement he made that where I have passed the grass will not grow again. Such policy or its offsprings are not applicable or   relevant in our transition of power schedule to May 29 and that perhaps explains   why the president elect is ever vigilant on the last acts in office of the outgoing president. Just like the Communists use to say – Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and one can say in this transition saga that eternal vigilance on the part of the president elect is the price of a successful transition on MAY 29 2015. In the US where we copied the presidential system lame duck presidents use the exit period to pardon their cronies and collaborators in office on one form of punishment or another not for sackings and new appointments as we have been seeing nowadays.

On the issue of INEC using professors as returning officers raised by Chief Ladoja in Ibadan one can say that the Accord Party leader was both right and wrong. Professors are arrogant as of right because they have knowledge that is unique in their area of specialization which others don’t have. That is hardly their fault. But they are not professors in the task their fellow professor,the boss at INEC assigned them at the last elections and that too is not their fault but that of the professor that appointed them whose motive was to enhance the electoral process with the aura of prestige and integrity associated with professorship . That however did not jell as the professors as returning officers behaved like frightened chicken before the public view obviously because outside their ivory tower they were like fish out of water. They were ill equipped for the mechanical duty of announcing results which had nothing to do with their various fields of endeavor on which they can postulate confidently and even look down on their audience. At the last elections the Nigerian audience had cause and important ones at that   too, to look down on the theatrical performance of the otherwise distinguished professors who announced the election results nationwide. Please find time to look at videos of the election results announcements again and have a merry laugh at professorial nervousness and awkwardness in the process of announcing mere election results to a waiting nation. On that score Chief Rasheed Ladoja was right that that simple electoral chore was not the best to use our best brains for under the circumstances.

Thirdly on the comparison of the 2015 elections to the Nigerian Civil War I have a suspicion that the post election bad blood that crystallised into sackings and new appointments at the point of exit from power reflect a war stance based on the Attila scotch earth policy of ancient times. Otherwise an election, won or lost is manifestly different from any war not to talk of a war amongst brothers which a civil war such as ours really was. But our civil war ended on a note of the three Rs of General Yakubu Gowon namely Reconciliation   Reconstruction, Rehabilitation ,and the nation has moved on ever since. Even post election violence which the incumbent’s fast concession averted can not be likened to a war because it is a protest against electoral robbery that is allowed to stand in the face of glaring evidence. It is a political reaction outside the law that is condemnable but it is an expected reaction to perceived injustice but certainly not a war. Just as an election by any stretch of the imagination can not be called a war as it is just a simple political competition in which one party or person wins and another loses. As it happened in our nation at the last 2015 elections making us to look forward to the hand over of May 29 2015 Insha Allah Amen.

May 2, 2015
ALGON hails peaceful elections

The Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) has congratulated residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the entire Nigerians on the peaceful conduct of the just-concluded general elections.

President of ALGON, Hon. Micah Jiba, who spoke with reporters, said with the outcome of the elections, Nigerians have demonstrated that the unity of Nigeria is more than any politician’s ambition.

According to Jiba, although there were reports about pockets of violence in some states, the most important thing is that the country still remains one despite fears of national violence that may lead to separation.

“I am one of the happiest Nigerians today, because, eventually the general elections have come and gone, despite predictions of probable crises and serious post-election violence. Nigerians have proven that the interest of one prosperous nation is in our hearts. God really loves Nigeria, which is why He did not allow the prediction of Nigeria breaking up in 2015 to be a reality.

“This country has been marked for greatness and I believe that the incoming administration will work towards actualising that desired greatness for Nigeria. I must commend Nigerians who conducted themselves peacefully during the general elections. They have shown that they did not need to sacrifice their blood for anybody to be in power, because power comes from God alone.

“I also advise aggrieved politicians to work towards peace by channeling their grievances through the appropriate authorities, instead of taking the laws into their own hands. This is because all we need now in Nigeria is a peaceful co-existence that would take this country to the desired greatness that all of us have been praying for,” he said.

He further promised that ALGON will negotiate with the President-elect, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari to work together with the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that the Federal Government’s commitment to implementing the reports and recommendations of the National Conference, which include issues that affect other local government areas and the FCT is guaranteed.

April 21, 2015
GOVERNORSHIP ELECTIONS

Eight-year struggle has paid off in
Jigawa, says governor-elect

Jigawa State Governor-elect Badaru Abubakar yesterday attributed his victory to an eight-year struggle by the people.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governor-elect described the dislodgement of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through the ballot as the realisation of the dream and wish of the electorate.

He hailed the people for being steadfast and resolute in the struggle to effect change in the Nortwest state.

Pointing out that the time has come for the people to forge a common front devoid of acrimony for development, Abubakar promised to run an all-inclusive administration, irrespective of political or religious affiliation.

Speaking in Dutse, the state capital, after he was retuned as the governor-elect by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Retuning Officer, Prof. James Ayatse, Abubakar said: “The good people of Jigawa State have spoken and I have heard you loud and clear.”

Describing his election as a call to service, Abubakar expressed gratitude to God for decreeing such a historic day in the political life of the state.

His words: “To those who voted for us and to those who didn’t vote for us, and even to those who didn’t vote at all, we pledge to govern you fairly. The campaigns are over, the elections are over, so, let us unite and forge ahead.

“As you are aware, the journey ahead is enormous and challenging, but not insurmountable. The path to change will not be easy but we will laugh and cry together. But overall, we will all succeed together by the grace of Allah and the support of the great people, young and old, male and female, urban and rural.

“When we started this journey eight years ago, we moved from town to town, village to village, house to house and door to door, and we heard your cries, we saw the issues, and we felt your pains.

“Yesterday is gone, today is here and tomorrow is the beginning of a brighter future. So, be rest assured that we’ll remain steadfast and committed to building the Jigawa State of our dream”.

April 15, 2015
The sham called Akwa Ibom elections

•Govt, police: Allegations are false

More facts emerged yesterday on how the governorship election in Akwa Ibom State was allegedly rigged.

According to eyewitnesses, there was no election because there were no electoral materials, including result sheets, in virtually all the local government areas.

Several polling units had either insufficient, or no electoral materials. So, voting could not hold. The materials were either not brought to the units, or were snatched by thugs working for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the eyewitnesses alleged.

In some instances, Electoral Officers would ask the ad-hoc staff to sign for the materials, but moments later, the supplies would be snatched by rampaging armed thugs. Anyone who challenged them was either shot or attacked, it was learnt.

But the state government through its Information and Orientation Commissioner, Aniekan Umanah, said the All Progressives Congress (APC) was crying wolf where there was none.

The number of those killed remained unknown last night but a source said: “Those who tried to resist the thugs were shot instantly and killed.”

In Obot Akara Local Government Area, it was learnt that there were no result sheets. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad-hoc staff allegedly connived with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agents to either have them snatched, or not supplied.

The source said there were no result sheets in virtually all the units in Ikot Ekpene, yet results were written and announced.

In Etinang, even before voting began, all electoral materials were allegedly taken away by thugs and PDP agents. Ballot papers were allegedly thumb-printed at a popular guest house in Uyo. The police were said to have done nothing when a report was made.

The Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) deployed to Akwa Ibom was said to have “sounded like a man overwhelmed” as the people were left unprotected.

“This was very, very organised. When we raised alarm, nobody took us seriously. We did not have elections in Akwa Ibom,” the source said.

It was learnt that the state government procured hundreds of buses for thugs, which they drove round the state, snatching electoral materials.

When they got to a unit, they would shoot into the air, disperse prospective voters, snatch the materials and flee unchallenged by security agencies.

One of the thugs was said to have shot and killed himself after mishandling an AK47 rifle. It was learnt that his colleagues left his body behind and drove off.

Apparently because more of the observers would be in Uyo, materials were released on time, and accreditation began, but between 1-3pm, the thugs were unleashed, moving from one location to another, seizing materials.

All Progressives Congress (APC) chiefs received hundreds of messages reporting lack of materials or their snatching by thugs from across the state.

Contrary to the Electoral Act, collation was never done either at the ward level or local government centres.

Every centre was said to be devoid of any activity when party chiefs visited. INEC’s office, usually full of activity on election days, was in darkness at about 9pm. The gate was shut.

It was also learnt that in the units where voting took place, ballot papers were far lower than the number of registered voters, sometimes as low as 300 out of 1000.

“What happened in Akwa Ibom goes beyond election. It was like a declaration of war against the people of the state,” APC governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom, Umana Okon Umana told reporters.

“We couldn’t find any location where collation had been done. There was no collation anywhere. We challenged the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) to take us to one place where collation was taking place, but he couldn’t.

“It was a coup against our people. It’s almost like treason. What happened in Akwa Ibom is a crime against humanity. It was a conspiracy of all state agencies against the state. The thugs operated unchallenged and anyone who dared them was shot and killed,” Umana alleged.

The former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) accused Governor Godswill Akpabio of entrenching impunity in the state.

“A man like Akpabio should be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC). This was state terrorism, not election.

“I could not vote even as a governorship candidate. I don’t know why Akpabio was so desperate, or what he’s trying to cover,” Umana said.

He said he would have congratulated the “winner” had it been something close to an election in Akwa Ibom, vowing to challenge the “exercise” at the tribunal.

His party has called for the cancellation of governorship and House of Assembly election.

The APC chairman in Akwa Ibom, Dr Amadu Attai, petitioned INEC chairman Prof Attahiru Jega, listing massive violations of the law.

He said: “In areas where polling materials were received, hordes of deadly armed thugs, escorted by men in police and army uniforms, stormed the polling units and made away with the election materials mid-way into accreditation…

“In a meeting with APC governorship candidate Umana Okon Umana, the electoral officer of Nsit Ubium Local Government admitted that the election process in the area was marred by security failure which allowed PDP thugs to hijack election materials and take them to private homes for thumb-printing,” the party said.

APC painted a gory picture of killings and injuries from eyewitness accounts of party agents and others. It said two of its members were killed in Ibiono Ibom when over 50 thugs invaded the area to cart away ballot materials.

“The PDP thugs similarly killed one of our members in Nsit Ubium. Three APC supporters were also killed in Uyo. One death was recorded in Uruan. One APC member was killed in Ini Local Government Area…

“Given the widespread failure of INEC to supply election materials to most parts of the state, the rampant snatching of ballot boxes and the bloodletting by PDP thugs that characterised the conduct of the elections, we as a party hereby call for an outright cancellation of the elections.

“The results cannot be allowed to stand because they can never reflect the wishes of Akwa Ibom people,” the party said.

Before the election, a group, the Concerned Akwa Ibom State Elders, petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Suleiman Abba, accusing the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Gabriel Achong, of being partisan.

They accused him of “providing police cover to PDP thugs who invaded polling units and collation centres in the state to cart away ballot boxes and election materials” on March 28.

The group, in the April 6 petition, said: “The police were quick to arrest supporters of parties other than PDP and even ordinary citizens who dared to question the marauding PDP thugs and the high government officials who led them to polling units across the state.

“Over 100 people ended up behind barred in what was clearly well-ochestrated exercise to intimidate the public and supporters of political parties other than PDP.

“It is equally noteworthy that no PDP thug or sympathiser is in police custody despite the fact that many of them openly carried and used firearms and other dangerous weapons during the elections and in the presence of the police,” said the group.

It was learnt that a group of INEC workers, under the aegis of the Concerned Staff of INEC in Akwa Ibom State, sent a petition to Prof Jega, asking that the governorship and House of Assembly election be postponed on April 6, .

The workers alleged that electoral materials were “escorted” to the homes of PDP stalwarts instead of to the polling units.

They also alleged there were plans to reduce materials meant for areas known to be the strongholds of the APC, Labour and Accord parties.

The petitioners urged Jega to shift the April 11 election because “the indices on ground posits that there would be a serious clash between PDP and other opposition parties which may culminate in loss of many lives and bloodshed.”

Alleging that the original copies of result sheets were “handed over” to a top government official, they demanded for the redeployment of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) and all the electoral officers.

“No one should be surprised if INEC’s office in Uyo is burnt down to cover their tracks,” a source said.

But the government denied the allegations, describing them as false. Mr Umanah said: “Those things they are saying are false.”

He directed our correspondent to seek more clarification from the Commissioner of Police, even as promised to forward a “report” on the polls to our correspondent.

But no mail was received from him as at the time of filing this report.

When our correspondent contacted the state police Command through the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mrs Cordelia Nwawe, she said the police commissioner would speak on the issues “in due course.”

“The commissioner of Police will address the issues in due course and at the appropriate time,” she said.

April 15, 2015
Elections: APC wins 19 states as PDP takes seven

The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday consolidated its hold on the political landscape, winning some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) strongholds as more governorship election results were announced.

The party won in Plateau, Benue, Niger, Adamawa and Kebbi states that were held by the PDP. Besides, it retained Nasarawa and Borno states.

The PDP won in Delta and Cross River states. Its ‘victory’ in Rivers, announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday – like the one in Akwa Ibom on Sunday – is in dispute.

Results from Taraba, Abia and Imo states were declared inconclusive by the electoral agency.

In Adamawa, APC candidate Jibrilla Mohammed Bindow won with 362,329 votes. Markus Gundiri of Social Democratic Party (SDP) with 181,806 came second.

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the PDP came third with 98,917.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Dr Ahmed Modibbo, scored 32,985 votes.

APC candidate Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar won the Jigawa governoship seat. He scored 648,045 votes to beat the PDP candidate, Alhaji Aminu Ibrahim Ringim, who got 479,447 votes.

Ben Ayade of the PDP won in Cross River State. He defeated Odey Ochicha of the APC with 342,016 to 53, 983. Labour Party candidate Fidelis Ugbo scored 36, 918.

In Benue State, APC candidate Samuel Ortom polled 422,932 to defeat PDP candidate Terhemen Tarzoor who took 313,878 votes.

A one-time speaker of the House of Assembly, Simon Lalong, is the Plateau State governor-elect. He polled 564,627 to defeat Senator Gyan Pwajok of the PDR, who scored 520,913 votes.

Nasarawa State Governor Tanko Al-Makura of the APC retains his seat by defeating his closest rival and former Minister of Information Labaran Maku of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Al Makura polled 309,746 votes to Maku’s 178,983. PDP candidate Yusuf Agabi polled 119,782.

Al – Makura said: “My victory is victory for all the people of Nasarawa State. It is victory for all the people that contested with me because by their participation in this exercise they have endured due diligence in the process of democracy and I think they should also be appreciated for having faith in the system to participate in it.

“I believe all of us are working towards one goal for the purpose of taking this state to the next level for the betterment of the people of the state.”

APC candidate Abubakar Sani Bello won in Niger State. He scored 593,702 votes against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Umar Nasko with 239, 772 votes.

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima of APC polled 649,913 to beat Gambo Lawan of PDP who scored 34,771 votes.

In Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa polled 724,680 votes to beat Chief Great Ogboru of Labour Party who won 130,028 votes. Chief O’tega Emerhor of APC garnered 67,825 votes. Okowa won in 21 of the 25 local government areas. Ogboru clinched the remaining four. Kebbi State Governor-elect is Senator Atiku Bagudu, who scored 477,376 votes to defeat PDP candidate Gen. Sarkin Bello, who scored 293,443 votes.

Former Minister of State for Education and PPD candidate Nyesom Wike was declared winner of the Rivers governorship elections.

INEC Returning Officer Prof. Faraday Orumwense, said he polled 1,029,102 votes.

He said Dr. Dakuku Peterside, of the APC scored 124,896 votes. LP candidate Tonye Princewill polled 10,142 votes.

Election in Emohua, one of the 23 local government areas, was cancelled, having been marred by violence, according to the INEC officer in charge of the area.

The result showed that the PDP won 25 seats in the House of Assembly elections. The APC won a seat while the exercise was inconclusive in six constituencies.

INEC yesterday declared as “inconclusive”, the governorship election in Taraba State.

The commission ordered a rerun in some polling units.

The candidate of the PDP Darius Dickson Ishaku won in nine local governments areas with 317,198 votes. Hajia Aisha Alhassan of the APC won six local government areas, scoring 262,386 votes.

The Returning Officer, Prof. Mohammed Kyari, said since the number of cancelled votes was more than the number of the difference in votes (margin) between PDP and APC, there was need to reconduct the election in the affected areas.

Kyari said: “Since the number of the cancelled votes is more than the difference between the two leading parties, the election in Taraba State is therefore inconclusive.”

INEC said it cancelled the polls in those areas because of irregularities and pockets of violence.

The PDP is leading with 54,812 votes. The number of the cancelled votes in all the affected polling units is 127,125.

INEC said there would be rerun in Donga Local Government Area and some polling units in Chanchanji Ward in Takum “where votes were rejected”.

The rerun in Donga will hold across the entire 165 polling units, which the PDP earlier claimed to have won.

INEC also declared the Imo State governorship election inconclusive.

Returning Officer Prof. Oye Ibidapo- Obe, said APC candidate Rochas Okorocha is leading with 385,071 votes to his PDP rival Emeka Ihedioha with 306,142 votes.

According to the Returning Officer, the election was declared inconclusive because the total number of votes in areas where election could not hold was higher than the margin between the two leading candidates.

The APC candidate is ahead with 79,0529 votes. The number of votes in the affected areas is 144,715.

Prof. Ibidapo-Obe said the results could not be authenticated and a winner declared, until rerun election was held in the places were results were cancelled.

Then units are scattered across the state with the bulk in six Wards out of the 10 in Oru East local government area.

In Abia, PDP candidate Okezie Ikpeazu is leading with 248,459. APGA’s Dr Alex Otti has 165,406 votes. The election was declared inconclusive last night by Returning Officer Prof. Benjamin Ozumba.

Prof Ozumba said there were 179,224 potential voters who wre accredited but could not vote due to various reasons including violence. He said the number is higher than the difference between the leading candidate and the second placed candidate. Ikpeazu is leading Otti with 83,053 votes.

April 14, 2015
EU slams organisation of elections

The European Union’s Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) yesterday criticised the elections.

But the EU EOM returned a better verdict on the governorship election, saying: “overall, the process appeared to be more efficient with polling staff working diligently and improvements evident in the more timely opening of polling sites”.

That was the best the EU election observer mission said about the elections.

In its second preliminary statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the Chief of EU EOM, Santiago Fisas, the Mission said President Goodluck Jonathan’s concession of election defeat “may be partly attributed to the sustained efforts of the National Peace Committee which was formed to monitor compliance with the Abuja Accord and to find mediated solutions to electoral disputes”.

The EU team said INEC failed to provide “breakdown of the results, thereby precluding the checking of announced results, which risks diminished confidence”.

“INEC, till date, has not centrally published the results of the Senate nor for the House of Representatives.”

This, according to the EU, leaves stakeholders without official information on the composition of the new parliament, and instead relying on party and media unofficial compilations of results, which sometimes lack inconsistency.

Also, the EU condemned the collation of the election results, describing it “as the weakest part of the Election Day process”. According to the EU “out of the 43 collation centres on election night and in the following days, 14 were assessed as ‘bad’ and ‘very bad’. The first level of collation (at wards) appeared to be particularly problematic, with 8 out of 17 rated as “bad” or ‘very bad”.

Fisas said results in some cases did “not always arrive in sealed tamper-proof envelopes (in 12 centres not one of the results arrived sealed), results not always being displayed at the centers, mathematical errors, inconsistent checking of results, and some repeated alterations of result forms.”

According to him, “scrutiny appeared to be weak especially at the lower levels, with APC and PDP agents present only in 34 and 33 centers respectively and citizen observers only in 14 centers out of 43. In five centers visited, there were no agents or citizen observers present at all”.

The EU EOM observers did not find any evidence of systematic manipulation of results, but the available presidential results from Rivers State, however, “include only highly implausible data, such as zero rejected(invalid) ballots out of 25,174 ballots cast in Omuma Local Government Area (LGA), no difference between the number of accredited registrants and the number who actually voted in Emohua and Ogu/Bolo LGAs, and a 98% turnout in the Emohua LGA.” Such questionable data, Fisas said, warrants further investigation.

Commenting on other indicators of attempts to manipulate, the EU cited the findings of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), which stated that “turnout was inflated by at least 10 percent, with results adjusted in favour of PDP it doubted the collation in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers.”

The EU Election Observer Mission noted: “Some state representatives and candidates of the PDP and APC were seen to misuse incumbency. There were reported cases of abuse of state resources and also biased policing, as well as breaches of campaign regulations and inducement of voters. Intimidation of opponents and deployment of armed thugs reportedly occured in Rivers, Lagos, Kaduna, Ogun and Oyo states.”

Of particular concern to the EU was that religion, ethnic and sectional sentiments continued after the presidential election, including the threat of the Oba of Lagos to Igbo about perishing in the lagoon. The mission described the threats by some ex-militants and Ijaw youths in the Niger Delta as having increased the ethnic tension and sharp reactions in the social and public media.

The mission faulted INEC leadership at both national and state levels for failing to provide sufficient information on the evident problems that arose during the elections. “Thus, it is not clear in how many locations polling could not be completed for security reasons. However, during collation, it became evident that in most observed states, some polling unit results were cancelled or could not be cleared due to over-voting, vandalism or snatching of material,” the EU said.

The EU was worried that the “total number of registered voters in the declaration of the presidential election is, without any public explanation given, lower by 1.4 million than the total number of registered voters previously officially announced by INEC”.

The official presidential turnout figure provided the EU said “is calculated from this reduced number of registered voters and refers to turnout for accreditation rather than for voting. This is a significant difference, given that over 2.3 million of those that were accredited (7.3%) did not finally cast their ballot. The announced official turnout is thus 47.09 percent, with a total of 29,432,083 votes cast. This is reduction from the 39,469,484 votes reportedly cast in 2011. The actual voter turnout (as opposed to accreditation turnout), calculated from the total number of registered voters officially announced by INEC on 13 January, is 42.76 percent.

Of the 80 observation of voting, Fisas revealed that “23 were negatively evaluated. In 12 sites, there was interference with polling officials’ work, mainly by party agents. In 23 sites, ballot boxes were not sealed. Ink was not checked at all in 37 sites visited and in 25 locations ink was not applied. In 20 sites, voters never marked their ballot in secret and in 16 locations group voting was observed.”

During closing, Fisas stated, essential checks were not consistently performed. According to him, “in nearly half the locations observed, unused ballots were not cancelled, counted or recorded as required. Similarly, counterfoils of used ballot papers were not generally counted, and basic reconciliation was not undertaken. In five sites visited, observers and agents were not able to observe counting without undue restrictions. In seven sites, PU results were not posted and in four, copies were not given to agents.

The Mission will be back to Nigeria in June with its final report on the elections.

April 14, 2015
GOVERNORSHIP ELECTIONS

losers

Obanikoro…Which way forward after three failed attempts

The Minister of State, Foreign Affairs II has taken shots at the Lagos State House thrice and failed three times.

He got the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) run against incumbent Governor Babatunde Fashola in 2007 after protesting what he called the imposition of Mrs. Funsho Williams at the PDP shadow election. He lost the election with a wide margin but got compensated with an ambassadorial posting to Ghana.

In 2011, he lost the bid to clinch the PDP ticket to Prince Ade Dosumu, who eventually lost Fashola.

He again got a ministerial posting as compensation.

His conduct in the Ministry of State for Defence where he held the forte before he resigned to pursue another failed ambition remained controversial. Whistleblower Captain Sagir Koli named him as one of the dramatis personae in the plot to rig the June 21, 2014 Ekit State governorship election. Though his voice in the audio recording of the plot, Obanikoro has denied involvement and threatened court action. After losing the PDP ticket to Mr Jimi Agbaje, Obanikoro was nominated by President Goodluck Jonathan a ministerial slot to pacify him. Before he was cleared in controversial circumstances by PDP senators, Obanikoro was turned back twice from the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

He was named the Minsiter of State for Foreign Affairs II when he eventually got a portfolio in the Federal Executive Council (FEC). Between March 28 and April 11, Obanikoro suffered three defeats. He failed to win Lagos for the President his party lost the governorship election and his son, Babajide, lost his bid to represent one of the State Constituencies in Eti-Osa at the House of Assembly.

Obanikoro ‘Jnr’….

twice unlucky

Like father, like son, Babajide is fast taking after Obanikoro. He has lost two elections in the past four years. His ambition to chair the Ikoyi/Obalende Local Council Development Authority (LCDA) ended at the Local Government Election Petition Tribunal about four years ago. In a desperate bid to win Saturday’s House of Assembly election, Babajide allegedly led some of his loyalists to harass and intimidate voters who were waiting to cast their votes. He was allegedly taken away from the scene by security operatives. Babajide lost the election.

Ribadu: Between

ambition and principle

He returned from self-exile to the warm embrace of the progressives. His belief that the anti-corruption structure he left behind in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – where he was pioneer chairman – had collapsed under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration led him to the progressives’ camp. He was the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011. He lost the election to Dr. Jonathan. Before his shocking defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP, Ribadu enjoyed respect. An overture by the PDP leadership that he would become the governor of Adamawa without stress encouraged him to jump ship, a move many viewed as unprincipled. The PDP leadership got knocks from Chief Edwin Clark, who said Ribadu was imposed as the governorship candidate in the Northeastern state. Clark had warned that imposition and subversion of the people’s will, would adversely affect the electoral fortune of the ruling party. Ribadu’s PDP came a distant third in Saturday’s governorship election. The former anti-graft czar lost to the Sen Bindow Jibrilla of the APC.

Maku:Racing to nowhere

Labaran Maku resigned from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as Information Minister to contest the governorship of Nasarawa State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost out at the primary. Embittered by the loss, he defected to the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), which offered him the governorship ticket on a platter of gold. Maku defection from the PDP he once defended, shocked many. But he lost the election as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday declared Governor Tanko Al-Makura of the All Progressive Congress (APC) winner of the poll. The incumbent governor, who polled 309, 749 votes, won in 12 out of the 13 local government areas, beating the former minister to a distant second with 178, 983 votes. Maku, who won only in his Nasarawa Eggon local government area, rejected the results and described the election as a coup. He promised to take action after consulting with his supporters and critical stakeholders.

Jang: Setback for

governors’ chair

He probably must have seen Saturday’s governorship election as a fait accompli, having won the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But Plateau Governor Jonah Jang got the shocker of his life yesterday as the results of Saturday’s elections proved bookmakers wrong. Against all predictions, Simon Lalong of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 564, 913 votes to defeat Jang’s anointed candidate Gyang Pwajok of the PDP, who polled 520, 627. The choice of Senator Pwajok pitted Jang, who is Chairman of the Federal Government-backed Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), against his deputy, who felt the governor should have backed him for the PDP ticket to reward his loyalty.

Adams:The burden of failed promises

Despite failing in his promise to deliver six million Southwest votes to President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections, Gani Adams, National Coordinator of a faction of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has vowed to stay with his benefactor at all time. Adams with other PDP supporters staged a solidarity rally from the old Toll Gate at the Ojota end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway through the ever-busy Ikorodu Road to the stadium in Surulere to drum up support for PDP candidates. Adams said President Jonathan would win Lagos and parts of the Southwest zone in the general elections that ended on April 11. The President and the PDP lost in all the six states but Ekiti on March 28.

Adams forgot his supremacy battle over who controls the OPC between him and founder of the group, Dr. Fredrick Faseun. The duo found a common benefactor in President Jonathan, whose government awarded multi-million naira oil pipeline protection contracts. The Chief Reuben Fasoranti-led Afenifere also teamed up with both factions of the OPC in the failed move to deliver the Southwest to the PDP.

WINNER

Al-Makura:
Nasarawa’s man of destiny

But for Providence, Tanko Al-Makura would not have participated in Saturday’s governorship election. The incumbent governor would have been impeached by the House of Assembly last year. Emboldened by the ouster of Governor Murtala Nyako in Adamawa by their counterparts, lawmakers in Nasarawa had served Al-Makura with an impeachment notice, and urged the State Chief Judge to constitute an investigative panel on the sundry allegations they raised against the governor.

Declaring the results at the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the returning officer in the Northcentral state, Prof Abdulmuninu Ranfindadi, said the incumbent governor won the election having scored 309,746, to defeat his closet opponent, Labaran Maku of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), who polled 178,983. He was trailed by Yusuf Agabi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 119,782 votes.

Prof Ranfindadi explained that the APC candidate satisfied the requirements of the Electoral Law having won 25 percent in 12 out of the 13 local government areas of the state.

April 14, 2015