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Tag: INEC chair

  • 80m voters ‘ll decide 2019 polls—INEC chair

    The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, yesterday said the will of voters will determine the outcome of the next general elections.

    He also said the number of voters in the country has hit about 80million mark although it could be higher before the next poll.

    He confirmed that there will be no electronic voting in 2019 but technology will be deployed to make the process credible.

    He said the nation has 68 political parties at present with 138 applications still pending.

    Yakubu, who made the disclosures in a paper at the ongoing 67th World Congress of the International Press Institute (IPI), said 2019 general elections are the most deliberately well-planned in Nigeria so far.

    He said: The 2019 general elections will involve the largest number of registered voters in our history. We are currently inching closer to 80 million voters although the nationwide voter registration exercise is ongoing. The figure will certainly rise above 80 million registered voters.

    “The largest number of political parties will field candidates in the elections. There are 68 political parties at present. However, with 138 applications from associations seeking registration as political parties, the number is set to rise higher. The political parties will contest in elections into 1,558 national, state as well as local constituencies in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja).

    “From the statistics of new voter registration nationwide, youths will play a far greater role in the elections and processes thereof in 2019 than in previous elections.

    “There is also increasing determination by marginalized groups such as women, youths and Persons With Disabilities (PWDS) for greater participation that ever before and we are working with these groups to facilitate their full participation in the electoral process.

    “Clearly, the 2019 general election is the most deliberately well-planned election in Nigeria so far. We have formulated, validated and published the Strategic Plan (2016-2021), the Strategic Programme of Action and the Election Project Plan with the full participation of all stakeholders and development partners.

    “As we are planning, we are also test running our plans. We have been fortunate to have conducted more off-season elections than any commission in the history of our democracy: re-run elections (by court order following successful litigations), bye-elections and end-of-tenure elections.

    “So far, we have conducted elections into 180 constituencies, the last one about three weeks ago (Ibarapa East State Constituency in Oyo State) and the next one in three weeks (Ekiti governorship election scheduled for July 14, 2019).

    “Each of the elections we have conducted so far is a remarkable improvement on the previous one in terms of preparations and outcome, ranging from the deployment of personnel, functionality of technology and the speedy collation, transmission and declaration of results.

    “There is also a remarkable reduction in pre and post-election litigations challenging the outcome of the elections. Most remarkably, elections are won and lost irrespective of incumbency at state level.

    “I want to assure this congress that the will of the Nigerian voter will continue to prevail. Nothing but the votes cast by citizens will determine the outcome of elections”.

    Yakubu said although there will be no electronic voting in 2019, INEC will deploy in technology in the process.

    He added: “Turning to the use of technology in elections, we shall continue to deepen its deployment until such a time when we can fully automate the entire process. There will be no electronic balloting in 2019, but technology is already being used in many aspects of the processes.

    “Electronic voting should be the ultimate step in a chain involving five processes: electronic voter register, accreditation, balloting, collation and transmission of result.

    “At present, the commission has a more robust voter register than at any time in our history. Accreditation of voters (and storage of accreditation data) is also electronic while we are piloting the electronic collation and transmission of results.

    “What remains is to bring these processes into a voting machine to complete the chain. I am confident that full automation of our electoral processes is only a matter of a short period of time.”

    He assured the Nigerian media and international ones that they will be fully involved in the electoral process.

    He said the forthcoming elections will further underscore the maturity of our electoral democracy.

    He said: “To enhance our transparency, we have been working very closely with stakeholders, including the media.

    “At the moment,the INEC has accredited correspondents from 85 media organizations to cover our activities all-year round. The number is growing and our doors remain open to all, We hold regular quarterly meetings with the media and other stakeholders.

    “I have no doubt that the 2019 general elections will be the most widely covered event in Nigeria. The Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) has regularly conducted election debates involving candidates at national level.

  • Southern Forum, Middle Belt leaders seek removal of INEC chair

    Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum yesterday called for the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), claiming that next year’s elections may not be free and fair.

    The group said “the bug of nepotism and sectionalism that this administration is renowned for has also eaten up the leadership of the commission.”

    Those at a news conference in Abuja on behalf the group are:  Chief Edwin Clark, representing the South-South, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, South-West, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, South-East, Air Commodore Dan Suleiman, Middle Belt and Air Commodore Nkanga Idongesit (South-South), among others.

    Ikanga, Chairman of Pan Niger Delta Forum, (PANDF) who read the group’s position said retaining the service chiefs who ought to have retired and keeping Yakubu as INEC boss is suspicious.

    Ikanga flayed Minister of Defence Mansur Dan-Ali for suggesting that states that have enacted the anti-open grazing law to scrap it, describing it as an obnoxious directive.

    The Forum admonished the Federal Government to arrest the killer herdsmen instead of shielding them.

    The PANDEF leader said, “The shielding of Fulani killer-herdsmen remains the strongest flashpoint of invitation to chaos and anarchy in our country as people would not continue to fold their arms forever as they are being killed with government unwilling to lift a finger in their defence.

    Commenting on the police invitation to the Senate President,Bukola Saraki over the April 5 Offa bank robberies, the forum frowned on what it called the media trial of the senator, insisting that the police threw away professionalism by their conduct.

    “While we recognize and defend the right of the police to investigate crimes and interrogate anyone linked to such no matter their status, we are miffed at the conduct of the police throwing professionalism overboard by conducting media trial of the Senate President and a sitting governor without having proper investigation of the serious criminal allegations,” it stated.

    The group commended President Buhari for according June 12 its rightful place in history, adding that the gesture would truly count “when we begin to re-enact the true spirit of June 12 by holding free, fair and peaceful election as a norm and not accidental occurrence in our country.”

    The Forum demanded the release of Leah Sharibu from Boko haram custody

  • We’ll probe alleged under-age voting —INEC chair

    We’ll probe alleged under-age voting —INEC chair

    Allegations of underage voting in last weekend’s local government election in Kano State will be investigated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said its chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, yesterday.

    Speaking in Lagos, the INEC boss said that INEC would study the sequence of elections recently adopted by the National Assembly for next year’s polls, ahead of a firm decision on the matter.

    He said an INEC  national commissioner will, next week, lead a team to Kano State for an immediate and comprehensive investigation of under-age voting which has gone viral on the internet.

    “The eligibility for registration as a voter in Nigeria is clearly defined in Section 12 (1) of the Electoral Act.

    “This includes citizenship, residence and the attainment of the mandatory age of 18 years.

    “Recent reports of violations by under-age persons following the local government elections in Kano State are deeply disturbing.

    “It is true that the State Independent Electoral Commission had requested from INEC, a copy of the voter register. I can confirm also that a soft copy of the register was made available to the State. The voter register in Kano State is the one used for the 2015 General Election.

    “In July 2016, INEC used the same register to conduct a State Assembly bye-election in Minjibir Constituency which has 78,210 registered voters spread across 126 polling units clustered in 11 Registration Areas (Wards).

    “In that election conducted by INEC, no single incidence of under-aged voter was recorded. What therefore, happened in the last local government election conducted by the State Electoral Commission? Was the voter register actually used or not?

    “We wish to assure Nigerians that the matter will be fully investigated. A National Commissioner from INEC will lead a team to Kano next week involving technical staff of the Commission drawn from the Voter Registry (VR), Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the Electoral Operations (EOps) Departments for an immediate and comprehensive investigation.

    “We will share the findings of the investigation with Nigerians. I wish to assure Nigerians that going forward, we will interrogate the voter register nationwide in order to purge it of any possible ineligible registrants.”

    On National Assembly’s amendment of the order of 2019 elections, he said that  INEC is still guided by the order of election released in January, 2018.

    He however, said the latest amendment to the electoral laws would be studied by the commission for appropriate action at the right time.

    “Our position at the moment, is that the current timetable and schedule of activities released on January 9, 2018 is consistent with the powers of the Commission under existing laws. We will study any amendments to the existing legal framework and take appropriate action within the ambit of the law,” he said.

    On the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, INEC boss said that between July and December 2017, some 3,978,682 citizens were registered afresh nationwide.

    He also revealed that 135,127 unclaimed Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were collected; and 166,073 requests for transfers and 334,086 requests for replacements of PVCs were recorded.

  • Osinbajo, INEC chair meet in Aso Rock

    Osinbajo, INEC chair meet in Aso Rock

    Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday met behind closed doors with the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmud Yakub, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    It was not clear whether discussions at the meeting only bordered on Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State.

    At the end of the meeting, efforts to speak with Yakub on the updates of the poll failed.

    He avoided reporters.

  • Anambra poll: Parties sets record, as 37 field candidates

    Anambra poll: Parties sets record, as 37 field candidates

    The November 18 governorship election in Anambra state will be setting a national record in number of political parties participation, it was learnt.

    According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 37 political parties have fielded candidates for the election which is just 45 days away.

    There are 48 registered political parties in the country.

    The number of parties notwistanding, INEC Chair, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said the commission is prepared for the election.

    He also noted that apart from the unprecedented number of parries that will be participating in the election, there were no court cases on party candidacy neither is there any party that has fielded two candidates.

    INEC Boss also revealed that electronic transmission of results will not be possible in the Anambra election.

    He however said the innovation will be put to use in the coming Ekiti and Osun polls.

     

  • Resign, PDP tells INEC chair

    Resign, PDP tells INEC chair

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders in Ondo State yesterday condemned Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for “shoddy” preparations in the November 26 election.
    It faulted the curious removal of its candidate’s name, Eyitayo Jegede, from the list.
    At a meeting, the party declared that INEC deviated from the Electoral Act and charted an inglorious path to foster on the party a preconceived agenda.
    In a communique by its Secretary, Oyedele Ibine, the party said: “We condemn the rush of INEC to conduct the election on November 26 in view of the fact that it constitutionally still had up to January 2017 to conduct the election.
    “This attitude did not allow our party to campaign, particularly after we won in the Court of Appeal on November 24, barely 48 hours to the election.
    “We, therefore, call for the resignation of the INEC chairman and national commissioners as it is obvious they are ill equipped and grossly incompetent.”
    The stakeholders passed a vote-of-confidence in Governor Olusegun Mimiko and the judiciary.

  • ‘INEC chair should resign over Abia tax judgment’

    ‘INEC chair should resign over Abia tax judgment’

    Mr Ben Onyechere, a former Special Adviser to Second Republic Vice President Alex Ekwueme, has said Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, should resign for his silence on the commission’s role in the Abia State governorship impasse.

    Last month, INEC issued a Certificate of Return to Dr. Uche Ogah as governor of Abia State, following a June 27 judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which ousted Dr Okezie Ikpeazu.

    Justice Okon Abang held that Ikpeazu submitted false information about his tax records to his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for its governorship primary in December 2014.

    Ogah polled the second highest number of votes in the PDP primary.

    But Onyechere argued that the commission’s “activities”, following the judgment, portrayed it in bad light.

    He said: “The chairman of INEC has, through the activity of his subordinates in the Abia tax issue, cast aspersions on the integrity of his commission as much as on himself.

    “The silence of the chairman in this matter is not golden because he cannot be exonerated from the actions of the commissioner who must have sought his consent before embarking on such a controversial mission, which can be regarded as a time bomb in the state.”

    The former political aide said INEC Commissioner in charge of the Southeast, Ambassador Lawrence Nwuruku, carried out Justice Abang’s order with “rocket speed haste,” despite the fact “that it was served a notice of appeal prior to the issuance of a certificate to Ogah.”

    He added: “It is not enough to gloss over the issue as the chairman seems to be doing in a matter that is adjudged to be suspicious by the public.

    “The confirmation or admittance by the commission that it was served a notice of appeal prior to the issuance of a certificate to Ogah is more than enough reason to retract its action and apologise to the people of Abia and their governor.”

    Onyechere urged INEC not to “hide behind the smoke screen of an order of a lower court against the superiority of appellate courts of this country”.

    The former vice president’s aide noted that Prof Yakubu’s “action or inaction” was suspicious.

    He said: “There is more to the way and manner they executed Justice Abang’s order than meets the eyes of curious observers. As such, he should tow the path of honour and resign.”

     

  • INEC chair demands a reversal of public perception of electoral processes

    INEC chair demands a reversal of public perception of electoral processes

    Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Yakubu Mahmood, has charged Heads of Publicity Units and Voter Education of the Commission on the need to reverse public perception about electoral processes and law.

    Mahmood who was speaking at the backdrop of the criticism that trailed most of the elections conducted by the commission,  “To our discomfort, and in spite of the fact that our laws provide for inconclusive elections – and indeed they are not peculiar to this Commission – Nigerians assume that inconclusive elections are bad”.

    The INEC Chairman made the call yesterday at the opening of a three-day workshop on Strategic Communication and Review of Voter Education Strategies for Heads of Department (VEP) and Public Affairs Officers (PAOs) at the Newton Park Hotel, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja.

    Professor Mahmood decried the negative perception in the public domain on inconclusiveness of elections. He argued that scant regard is paid to the fact that inconclusive elections are brought about by violence, over voting, and the fact that as elections become fiercely contested, the margins become narrower.

    “Our Voter Education and Publicity Officers must be proactive in appreciating developments such as these and explaining them to the satisfaction of our stakeholders. Issues such as inconclusive elections should not be allowed to develop into public image spectres that hound the Commission,” he said.

    Underscoring further the important role of the Publicity Officers to the success of the Commission, the INEC Chairman said: “as the Commission earnestly prepares for the conduct of the 2019 General Elections, you are crucial in selling our mission, vision and core values to all our stakeholders. To accomplish the above ennobling goals, you certainly need to fashion out a number of enviable strategies or methods”.

    On his part, the Chairman, Information and Publicity Committee (IVEC), Prince Solomon A. Soyebi, said the timing of the workshop was apt as the Commission had started early to plan for the successful conduct of the 2019 General Elections and the Strategic Plan 2017-2020.

    He said: “If the Commission were to deploy the best electoral strategies and best technologies in the conduct of elections, its efforts will come to nothing if its stakeholders are not robustly enlightened and educated”.

    Prince Soyebi stressed that the Commission was not resting on its oars in training and retraining its workforce with a view to bringing it in tune with the dynamics of time and urged participants to use the opportunity presented by the workshop to equip themselves with the latest communication skills that would enable them discharge their onerous responsibilities.

    The Director Voter Education and Publicity Department, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, said: “the workshop is coming at a time when public attention is fully on the Commission and its activities and when there is the urgent need to communicate effectively to various stakeholders”.

    He challenged the participants thus: “You are expected to defend the position of the Commission on all issues concerning the electoral process. You are expected to be abreast of the developments in the Commission and new techniques of communication so as to speak and write from an informed position”.

    The workshop is the first in the series of three (3) zonal workshops to be held in Abuja, Kaduna and Lagos with the support of International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).

  • Anambra PDP: Court orders INEC Chair Yakubu to appear for trial on contempt charge

    Anambra PDP: Court orders INEC Chair Yakubu to appear for trial on contempt charge

    •Threatens to order his arrest if he shuns court on Thursday

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu to appear before it to answer to contempt proceedings pending against them.

    Justice John Tsoho gave the order yesterday in his ruling on arguments on whether or not the presence of INEC and its Chairman was necessary for the court to determine the contempt proceedings initiated against them by Ejike Oguebego and Chuks Okoye – chairman and legal adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State.

    The judge rejected arguments by INEC and Yakubu’s lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), that the nature of the contempt proceedings against his clients was civil and could be determined without their presence.

    Justice Tsoho said whether civil or criminal, contempt proceedings are always quasi-criminal, which required the presence of the alleged contemnor in court for him/her to be heard on whether or not the order of committal should be made.

    Relying on Order 9 Rule 14 of the Judgment Enforcement Rules, Justice Tsoho said it was the duty of the court’s registrar to issue and serve forms 48 and 49 on a party in disobedience of court’s order for him/her to attend court, failing which a bench warrant may be issued against him/her to attend court and show cause.

    “I hold that the alleged contemnors are under obligation to appear before this court to show cause why an order of committal should not be made against them,” the judge said.

    Justice Tsoho, who directed the alleged contemnors to present themselves in court on Thursday (July 7), said a bench warrant would be issued for their arrest if they refused to attend court on the next adjourned date.

    Oguebego and Okoye, who are suing for themselves and on behalf of other members of the Executive Committee of Anambra PDP, accused INEC and Mahmood of refusing to obey the December 5, 2015, judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, delivered by Justice Evoh Chukwu.

    Justice Chukwu had, in the fifth order as contained in the judgment, restrained INEC, its agents, among others “from accepting or receiving any delegates list or nominated candidates that may emerge from the congresses or primaries conducted by the caretaker committee set up by the 1st defendant (PDP) for Anambra PDP, except those that emanate from the plaintiffs.”

    Bothered by INEC’s alleged refusal to comply with the judgment, particularly the fifth order, Oguebego and Okoye initiated contempt proceedings against the INEC chairman at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

    On May 20, Justice Tsoho granted an order ex-parte for substituted service of  processes in relation to the contempt proceedings, including Form 48, on Yakubu.

    For service on the INEC boss, Justice Tsoho directed the plaintiffs to serve the court processes, including Form 48 on “an adult person, staff or official at the Legal Department of INEC at No. 436 Zambezi Crescent, Maitama, Abuja, being the usual place of business of the 2nd repondent (Yakubu).

    As it affects INEC, the judge ordered the services of all processes, including Form 48, “by delivering or leaving same at the Legal Department of INEC, the commission having refused to accept service of same from the bailiffs of this court.”

    The Form 48 issued by the registrar on March 31, 2016, is a notice of consequences of disobedience to order of court.

    It states: “Take notice that unless you obey the directions contained in the order of the court, attached to this Form (in particular, the fifth order, restraining you from acting on any list of nominated candidates for the PDP in Anambra State in respect of legislative seats for the 2015 general election, except those that emanated from the plaintiffs), you will be guilty of contempt of court, and you will be liable to be committed to prison.

    “Take further notice that if the INEC continues to disobey this order, you, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, will be held liable for contempt of court and liable to imprisonment.”

  • Much ado about acting INEC chair

    Much ado about acting INEC chair

    President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) chose to exercise his constitutional power to appoint as Acting Chairman of INEC, Mrs. Amina Bala Zakari, who has been a national commissioner of the electoral institution, serving along with former Chairman Attahiru Jega. In doing so, Buhari didn’t think that he was setting in motion a whirlwind of controversy.

    No sensible person would think that a simple appointment of an acting chair could be that controversial because not everyone appreciates the pervasiveness of political calculation in the mental orientation of politicians. What will a politician be without a sustained engagement with serious political calculation? Assume X is the appointee, what can we expect in political gain or loss? What else matters, seriously?

    Ought a politician to think in terms of the experience of an appointee? Or why should a politician concern him/herself with the integrity of a candidate for a position? Or with the qualification and singular merit of an appointee? What do all these matter when politics is the be-all and end-all for a politician and must therefore be the gauge for the measurement of executive actions?

    If therefore PMB was taken aback by the noise from PDP about their rejection of his appointee for the acting INEC chair, it is probably because he isn’t a politician in the sense in which it matters to typical politicians.

    It bears reminding ourselves about the genesis and revelation of the whole story. Professor Jega took his well-deserved bow. Of all groups and parties that his tenure impacted, it was only the PDP and their supporters that disapproved of Jega’s performance in 2015 after they had hailed his performance from 2011 to 2015. That marks them out as the most pathetic flip-floppers of the year.

    Recall that some of their intellectual vanguards had even tipped Jega for the presidency before he became their most hated villain. Does it bother then that their despised villain is acclaimed internationally and has just been announced as a recipient of the 2015 Charles T. Manatt Democracy Award?

    On his exit, Jega had handed over to one of the national commissioners, Mohammed Wali, in the same manner that a minister would hand over to a permanent secretary (PS). Does that confirm the PS as acting minister? Does that hold back the hand of the president from appointing a minister or a different acting minister?

    The ministerial analogy is not perfect, but you get the drill. Jega would be the first person to confirm that he didn’t appoint an acting chair of INEC because he knew that he had no authority to do so. The one who had the authority made the appointment and chose who he wanted for the position, pending the appointment of a substantive chair. How can anyone question his authority?

    There was indeed a precedent under a PDP president. When Acting President Goodluck Jonathan directed Maurice Iwu to proceed on pre-disengagement leave in 2010, there was a tussle over who was to serve as acting chair. Philip Umeadi stepped up in what many considered as self-appointment before the presidency directed Maurice Iwu to hand over to Solomon Soyebi, who was the longest serving national commissioner at the time. That was how Soyebi became the acting chair until Jega’s appointment as substantive chair.

    To be fair, no one, not even Mr. Metuh, has questioned the authority of the president to appoint an acting chair. But they question his authority to appoint a particular candidate, in this case, in the person of Mrs. Zakari. But why? Isn’t she qualified? No she is. Doesn’t she have good character? Well, she does. Doesn’t she have integrity? If she doesn’t she wouldn’t have been appointed to serve as national commissioner by a PDP President in the first place. But what exactly is problematic about this woman?

    To politicos like Mr. Metuh, who operate in the Machiavellian world of partisan political calculation, Mrs. Zakari cannot be trusted to be independent because they have traced her genealogy to Buhari. In fact, Mrs. Zakari is Buhari’s daughter, they alleged. Therefore, PDP has vowed to reject any election conducted under her watch. While 13 other political parties applaud the President’s choice, PDP gave it a thumps down.

    How do we approach the matter? Who is right? Who is being funny here?

    I had read about PDP’s position on this matter the first time it broke. Then a few days later I read that there was an internal conflict within the party with its deputy publicity secretary distancing the party from the position of his boss, Mr. Metuh. Then, of course, the party’s NWC decided to wield the big stick, threatening the deputy with suspension because he had had the courage to call out the publicity secretary on what appeared to be a false alarm.

    Mr. Metuh made a case for his position not just in print media but also on television. I think that it was on Channels TV that I saw his most vigorous defence of the party’s position. He claimed that Buhari’s appointee was really the President’s daughter; and that it is never done.

    For Metuh, the President’s action smacks of nepotism and worse. Besides appointing his “daughter” into such a sensitive position, the argument appears to go; the president’s party stands to gain from his action. Metuh’s main concern was that Mrs. Zakari will be an APC sympathiser because of his relationship to Buhari.

    When I heard Metuh suggest that nowhere in the world would a President give such a sensitive appointment to a blood relation, I was shocked. Surely, Metuh knows that in other climes people are not worried about blood relationship; they are worried about the integrity of the appointer and the appointee.

    President J. F. Kennedy appointed his younger brother, the son of his father and mother, Robert F. Kennedy, as the Attorney General of the United States and heaven didn’t fall. But what political office could be more sensitive? Yet no one cared about the false alarm that the opposition is eager to raise here. They cared about the qualification and integrity of the appointee.

    Mrs. Zakari was appointed National Commissioner in 2010. Since no one has accused the PDP president, who appointed her, of giving her the appointment on account of a relationship between them, I can only assume that he looked into her background, her qualification and character, and concluded that she was fit for the job.

    For five years, the woman did the job to the best of her ability and worked with other commissioners to give the country the freest and fairest election in the history of the country to date. If there is anything in her record of service in the last five years that is of concern to PDP, that is what the party ought to bring up and share with the public. This silly talk about family relationship only diminishes the intellect of the accuser more than that of the accused.

     More substantively, it also turned out, as the coalition of political parties in support of the appointment of Mrs. Zakari had taken great pains to reveal that the acting chair was the most senior in terms of time served at the commission. And the fact of her gender, which the President pointed to as a plus, cannot be brushed aside, which is why women groups have also expressed their full support. Does the PDP really want this battle?