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Tag: Inec

  • PDP to Buhari: present your certificate to INEC

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to show proof of his vaunted integrity by presenting his academic documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and put to an end his certificate saga.

    The main opposition party also urged President Buhari to fulfil his obligation like other presidential candidates, by presenting his certificate, if he has any, instead of bugging the commission with affidavits.

    A statement yesterday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, accused the President of seeking ways to short-circuit the system, instead of complying with set rules.

    The party said while its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has submitted his educational and other relevant documents to INEC, President Buhari has continued to insist that his secondary school certificate was with the military authorities.

    The statement said: “Indeed, a situation where President Buhari has been dodging the certificate issue raises huge questions of integrity, which demands that he makes available his credentials, or apologise to Nigerians, if he has none, so that the nation can move ahead.

    “President Buhari knows by now that Nigerians are no longer interested in his claims in an affidavit wherein he stated:  ”I am the above-named person and the deponent of this affidavit herein. All my academic qualification documents as filled in my Presidential form, APC/001/2015 are currently with the Secretary of the Military Board as of the time of this affidavit”.

    The PDP maintained that integrity strictly demands that President Buhari, particularly as the Commander-in-Chief write to the military authorities directing them to forward his claimed credentials to INEC, as requisite evidence of compliance with a key requirement for election into the Office of the President, under Section 131 (d) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

  • INEC will not suffer difficulties on budget, electoral act amendment delay –Chairman

    Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has assured that the commission would not suffer any difficulty in conducting 2019 general elections due to the delay in the passage of its budget and amendment to the Electoral Act.

    Yakubu expressed the hope while fielding questions from newsmen on Friday in Abuja.

    He explained that there were no discrepancy between the figure of N189.2bn the commission submitted to the executive and what the National Assembly appropriated for the commission.

    He said that INEC had discussed with the Ministry of Finance on the disbursement of fund for the elections and it was confident that the commission was not going to suffer any encumbrances in that respect.

    On procurements that required long term, Yakubu said that INEC had initiated the actions, as contracts were already awarded in line with the provision of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, as money would only be paid for work done.

    “We have awarded those contracts that we needed to award for procurement we needed to make before the elections.

    “Basically, the sensitive materials, ballot boxes, smart card readers, the permanent voter cards, the voting cubicles and components for the enhancement of card readers.

    “Our hope is that by the first week of December all these components will be delivered to the commission.

    “The election is holding on Feb. 16 and March 2, so, we don’t hope to suffer any difficulties in meeting these requirements in the conduct of the elections.

    “Other items of the expenditure will come close to the elections. For instance, payment of the ad hoc staff will be done February next year, not earlier.

    “Engagement of transporters for electoral logistics will be done next year not this year.

    “So, we should be able to meet these entire commitments base on the appropriation by the NASS and also the cash flow discussion we had with the ministry of finance.

    “We don’t expect to suffer any inconvenience in that regard.

    “Election is a sovereign responsibility and we must say that the government of Nigeria has responded to proper funding of the 2019 general elections,’’ the chairman said.

    On delay in the amendment of the Electoral Act, Yakubu said that the commission would also not have difficulties on implementation, if the amended electoral Act is signed into law.

    He said that INEC had worked closely with the National Assembly over the last three years on improving the legal framework for the conduct of elections; both the constitutional and the Electoral Act.

    Yakubu said that many of the provisions in the bill passed by the NASS last week were actually based on the recommendations from INEC.

    “In our discussions with the NASS we have been preview to some of the provisions in the draft bill and we took a proactive step.

    “We took some of the new provisions and assumed that eventually these provisions will be passed and assented to.

    “We started looking at the possibilities of introducing regulations and guidelines, in case these provisions become laws, what can we do to implement them?

    “I want to say that we have gone really far with these. If tomorrow the bill is assented to there are provisions that we immediately implement. But there are provisions that we cannot implement simply because of time.

    “For instance, full blown electronic voting; it is impossible because of the time frame available to the general elections, which is 112 days to make provision for electronic voting in the 2019 general elections.

    “ So, we are aware of the provisions, we have worked closely with the NASS and also we made some draft regulations and guidelines.

    “In case some of the provisions become laws we will have no difficulties in implementing them. So we have been proactive,’’ said the chairman.

  • Buhari’s Chief of Staff, INEC Chairman meet in Aso Rock

    The Chief of Staff (COS) to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari, on Friday met behind closed doors with the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu.

    Read Also: Nigeria can’t blindly sign agreements, Says Buhari

    The meeting, which was held at the COS office, lasted for about thirty minutes.

    He didn’t speak to journalists when the closed doors meeting ended.

     

    Details Later...

  • CYAD organizes election for pupils of Primark Int’l Academy

    Inculcating and educating our children in leadership and parliamentary processes will not only sanitize our political and electoral space, but will also cause these children to make impacts in their generation and various constituencies in the future.

    This was made known by the founding President of Children and Youth Awareness Development (CYAD) Foundation, Mrs. Temilola Odetola, at the Children and Youth Democratic Electoral Model (CYDEM) program, organized for the pupils of Primark International Academy on Friday in Abuja.

    The program which saw the active participation of pupils in the election of their prefects, was reminiscent to the democratic, open and transparent processes of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    According to Mrs. Odetola, “CYDEM is a program that is initiated to give voters education from the cradle. It is one created to inculcate democratic virtues in our children.

    “It also aims to help children have parliamentary consciousness from childhood.

    “The program was approved and started in 2009, and is well represented in 20 states of the country.

    Read Also: 69 percent out-of-school children in north – UNICEF

    “We hope that this program will lead to the death of voters apathy in the nearest future. This program is in line with what the government approved – the ‘not too young to run’ bill; which has now become a law.

    “Our intention is to prepare the children to give better leadership to their own generation. The idea is that once these children attain youthful ages, they can begin to cause generational change in their various constituencies either as councilors, senators or even governors.”

    Concerning the level of acceptance and challenges the organization faces, Odetola explained that the acceptance is so high that their major challenge is in both human and financial capacity to expand the program across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Although, INEC approved and supported the program with a sum of six million Naira in the year 2009, however, the organization is yet to receive further support from any other government agencies and ministries.

    “We implore the government to come in and look into the CYDEM project ad assist us. We can have it institutionalized in such a way that it helps to not only educate the children about electoral values, but also inculcate leadership, moral and ethical values in our children.

    “We also set up children parliaments within the school. We teach them parliamentary activities and how to take parliamentary decisions that will affect their fellow pupils positively.

    “We hope that CYDEM plus will be sponsored and accepted by the government; we can call it Junior INEC, to prepare the children for the ‘not too young to run’ law. This way we can even provide employment for thousands of youths,” she said.

    One of the parents present at the program, Mr. Jolaiya Taiye Moses, said that: “It is a welcome development which will make the (political) orientation of our children faster than we think. With the rate of their education and exposure, by the time these children find themselves in higher institutions of learning, they will make politics easier.”

  • INEC receives 79 nominations for presidential poll

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) on Friday said it received nominations from 79 political parties for the 2019 presidential election and 6,352 for the National Assembly.

    INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Abuja on update on the implementation of activities for the 2019 general elections.

    The breakdown of the nominations for NASS according to Yakubu, is 1,856 nominations for the 109 Senate seats, and 4,496 nominations for the House of Representatives with 360 seats.

    Answering questions on the Supreme Court judgment on the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State chapter primaries, Yakubu said that INEC was still awaiting the full text of the judgment to determine its next action.

    Also asked of update on INEC decision that APC Zamfara could not file in candidates for NASS elections, Yakubu said that the matter was still in three High Courts.

    “However, INEC did not receive any submission from APC Zamfara state. I will not say more than that because the matter is still in court.’’

    He said that three out of the outlined activities toward the 2019 general elections had been implemented starting with the publication of official notice for the elections.

    These, according to him, include submission of list and personal particulars of candidates that emerged from party’s primaries for Presidential and National Assembly elections from Oct. 10 to Oct. 18.

    Yakubu urged the general public to use the opportunity of the publication of the forms and particulars of the political parties’ nominated candidates at its offices across the nation, to raise their claims and objections.

    He said that the publication was for citizens to ascertain the personal details of the candidates to enable them to take informed decisions on election day.

    “Any person with reasonable ground to believe that any information on Form CF001 submitted by a candidate contains incorrect or false claims is at liberty to file an action against such candidate.

    “This can be filed at the Federal High Court or the High Court of a state or the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    “The current exercise is limited to candidates for Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    “That of personal particulars of those contesting in Governorship and State Assembly elections will be similarly published on Nov. 9, one week after the close of submission of nominations by political parties.’’

    Yakubu also disclosed that the register of voters for each polling unit would be displayed at the units nationwide for one week from Nov.6 to Nov. 12 for claims and objections.

    Read Also: Bamidele, Adeyeye, Olujimi, others cleared for Nass Poll

    He said that the Commission had cleaned up the register, using the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

    He added that citizens were allowed to examine the register and exercise their civic duty by drawing the attention of INEC to the prevalence of any ineligible persons to further clean it up.

    “The Commission will also appreciate the assistance of citizens in identifying deceased persons on the register so that such names can be annulled from our record.

    “It is also an opportunity to correct misspellings of personal details such as names, age and gender.’’

    Yakubu also disclosed that INEC recently received declaration of vacancies to conduct by-elections, following the election of two serving members of the House of Representatives as Senators in the by-elections conducted on Aug. 11.

    “The Speaker has declared consequential vacancies in the Toro Federal Constituency in Bauchi State and the Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa Federal Constituency in Katsina State.

    “Similarly, the Cross River State House of Assembly has declared vacancy in Ikom II State Constituency following the death of the member representing the Constituency. Consequently, the Commission will conduct by-elections in the three (3) constituencies.

    “We have directed our Resident Electoral Commissioners in Bauchi, Katsina and Cross River State to convene stakeholders’ meetings immediately and prepare for the by-elections latest by Saturday Nov. 17.

    “Detailed timetable and schedule of activities for the by-elections will be released on Tuesday next week.’’

    Yakubu assured Nigerians that preparations for the 2019 General Elections were proceeding in earnest and according to the detailed timetable and schedule of activities released by the commission.

    “It is exactly 112 days to the elections. We shall continue to faithfully and consistently implement the timetable and all activities.’’

  • I earned N60.2m in three years, Atiku tells INEC

    PDP candidate paid N10.3m tax

    Buhari’s papers ‘with military’

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has declared a personal income of N60.2 million in three years, according to the credentials he filed with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

    He also indicated in his tax returns attached to his presidential nomination form that he paid N10.8 million tax between 2015 and 2017.

    Atiku is reputed to be a billionaire, one of Nigeria’s richest. He has been campaigning  with his ability to create millions of jobs as, according to him, he does now with his numerous companies.

    His N60.2 million income in three years is likely to suprise many.

    The PDP candidate’s credentials indicate his highest educational qualification as a Diploma in Law of 1969 from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU).

    President Muhammadu Buhari, in an affidavit to support his form, said his credentials are still with the military.

    In the sworn affidavit, the President, who is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said: “I am the above-named person and the deponent of this affidavit herein. All my academic qualification documents as filled in my Presidential form, APC/001/2015 are currently with the Secretary of the Military Board as of the time of this affidavit.”

    Seventy-four other people, apart from Buhari and Atiku, have filed nomination forms with the INEC to run for President on February 16 – 112 days away.

    Yesterday,  INEC, in line with Section 31 (3) of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended published the names and particulars of the candidates.

    The candidates for senatorial and House of Representatives seats have also been published in the states.

    The final days for submission of names of presidential candidates and Senate/House of Reps  was last Thusday.

    The Electoral Act Section 31 (3) states: “The commission shall, within seven days of the receipt of the personal particulars of the candidates, publish same in the constituency where the candidate intends to contest the election.”

    Some of the other presidential candidates are Obadiah Mailafia of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Donald Duke of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)  and Olusegun Mimiko of Zenith Labour Party(ZLP).

    The list of senatorial candidates from the states as published include:

    Anambra

    Senators Victor Umeh, Stella Oduah and Uche Ekwenife are listed to contest senatorial seats.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC displayed the list of candidates for the 2019 general election and their particulars at the INEC state headquarters in Awka.

    Head, Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Leo Nkedife  said:

    “Today we formally publish the list of candidates as submitted by the political parties in line with Section 31(3) of the Electoral Act as amended.

    “It stipulates that INEC must publish the particulars of the candidates submitted to INEC within seven days.

    “In compliance to that, we hereby publish the list of candidates submitted to INEC.

    In Anambra Central Senatorial District, the published candidates are Mr Charles Odunukwe of Peoples Democratic (PDP), Umeh of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Ekwunife of All Progressives Congress (APC).

    In South Senatorial District, Sen. Andy Uba of the APC, Mr Chukwunedum Ubah of the PDP and Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu of APGA made the list.

    For North Senatorial District, Sen. Margery Okadigbo of the APC, Oduah of the PDP and Chief Chinedu Emeka of APGA made the provisional list.

    Nkedife said the list of governorship and House of Assembly candidates will be published on November 2.

    Bayelsa

    The INEC yesterday released the list of qualified candidates in Yenagoa..

    In Bayelsa West, immediate past Commissioner of Works and Infrastructure  Lawrence Ewhrujakpo is the PDP’s candidate.

    He will contest against Capt. Mathew Karimo of the APC.

    In Bayelsa East,  Edwin Blessing Ipigansi (PDP) and Bishop Degi Eraumieyo (APC) will square it up. In  Bayelsa Central, Douye Diri (PDP) and Festus Daumeri (APC) will slug it out.

    For the Sagbama-Ekeremor Federal Constituency, Famous Daumeigha (APC) and Fredrick Agnes (PDP); Yenagoa-Opokuma, Osomkeme Blankson, APC and Steve Azaiki PDP; Southern Ijaw, Preye Oseke, APC.

    Others are Ogbia Federal Constituency, Samuel Ogbuku (APC), Fred Obua (PDP); Brass, Isreal Sunny-Goli,  APC and Marie Ebikake,  PDP.

     Lagos

    .A check by a NAN correspondent at INEC office in Lagos revealed that 50 candidates are contesting for the three Lagos senatorial seats from 25 political parties.

    There are 249 candidates across 30 political parties contesting the state’s 24 seats in the House of Representatives.

    A breakdown of the list showed that the Lagos West Senatorial District has the highest contenders of 22 candidates. Lagos East and Lagos Central had 15 and 13 contestants.

    Political parties fielding candidates in Lagos West are: Accord, AA, ADP, AAC, ADC, APC, AD, ANP, APM, CAP, DPP, GPN, MPN, NCP, ND, PDP, PPN, PRP, PT, PPC, UDP and YPP.

    Political parties fielding candidates in Lagos East are: Accord, ACD, AAC, ADC, APC, AD, CAP, DPP, ID, MPN, PDP, PPN, PT and PPC.

    In Lagos Central, the following parties have candidates: Accord, ACD, ADC, APC, ANP, FJP, ID, LM, MPN, PDP and PT.

    For the House of Representatives seats, of the 30 political parties participating, only PDP, APC and ADC are fielding candidates in all the 24 federal constituencies. Others did not.

    Ogun

    The names of outgoing  Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun(Ogun Central) is on the list of senatorial candidates of the APC.

    The other APC candidates are Chief of Staff to the Governor Tolu Odebiyi (Ogun West) and Senator Lekan Mustapha(Ogun East).

    For the House of Representatives son of former Governor Olusegun Osoba, Hon. Olumide Osoba, is listed for Obafemi – Owode and Odeda Federal Constituency seat.

    The others are  Jimoh Ojugbele (Ado/Odo/Ota), Sulaiman Ismail(Ijebu North, Ijebu East and Ogun Waterside constituency), Ibrahim Isiaka (Ifo/ Ewekoro Federal Constituency),  Edun Oladapo, (Abeokuta South Federal Constituency), Biyi Otegbeye (Egbado South and Ipokia), Kayode Oladele(Egbado North, Imeko Afon) Osunsanya Korede(Ijebu North, Ijebu -Ode, Odogbolu) and Adewunmi Onanuga (Ikenne, Remo North, Sagamu).

    Senatorial candidates of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) are: former Speaker Titi Oseni – Gomez (Ogun Central), Mr. Adedeji Ashiru (Ogun East) and Mr. Babatunde Ogunola (Ogun West).

    FCT

    Also pasted at the INEC national secretariat is the particulars of 22 candidates for one FCT Senatorial District seat and 24candidates jostling for two FCT House of Representatives seats.

    Those contesting for the Senate are Sen. Zaphaniah Jisalo (APC); Sen. Philip Aduda, (PDP); Esther Audu,  (ADC) and Eric lbe, (SDP).

    For the House of Representatives (AMAC Bwari) are Lamorde Hallilu (APC) Micah Jiba (PDP); and Ene Idoko-Abel (ADC).

    Benue

    In Benue State, former Governor Gabriel Suswam PDP) will battle Senator Barnabas Gemade (SDP), Joseph Akaagerger (APGA) and Former Benue State Internal Revenue Service Chair Mrs Mimi Orubi (APC) will contest for the Zone A Benue North East senatorial seat.

    For Zone B Benue North West Senatorial district the top candidates are Senator George Akume (APC) and Chairman House Committee on Businesses (PDP)

    In Zone C which Senator David Mark is vacating, former Minister Abba Morro (PDP) is running against former permanent Secretary of Defence,Okibe Onoja Mike (SDP) are running.

     

  • 83m to vote, says INEC

    More than 84 million Nigerians are eligible to vote in next year’s general election, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu said yesterday.

    He spoke when he received a delegation of the   African Union (AU).

    The continental organisation promised to provide full support to INEC during the 2019 general election. The team was led by Musa Faki Mahamad.

    Prof Yakubu, said the commission had carried out the observations and recommendations the Union made after the 2015 elections.

    “Your visit is coming exactly 113 days to the elections in Nigeria scheduled for Saturday February 16, 2019.

    “In response, and for the first time in the history of elections in Nigeria, INEC conducted the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) from April 27, 2017 to  August 31, 2018 during which some 14.5 million new voters were registered in addition to about 70 million voters registered before the 2015 General Elections.

    “This brings the total number of registered voters in Nigeria today to well over 84 million. We have also systematically printed and made available the PVCs for collection by citizens in batches well ahead of the 2019 General Election.

    “The last batch of the PVC will be available for collection in early December and collection will continue until at least one week to the 2019 General Elections.

  • Amosun’s , Olumide Osoba’s names, others on INEC list

    Governor Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun Central), Tolu Odebiyi (Ogun West) and Senator Lekan Mustapha(Ogun East) made it to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) list for the Senate seats on the platform of All Progressives Congress(APC).
    Also, names of Hon. Olumide Osoba,  son of former governor Olusegun Osoba, is listed by INEC candidate for National Assembly election for Abeokuta, Obafemi – Owode and Odeda Federal Constituency seat and Jimoh Ojugbele (Ado/Odo/Ota).
    Others are Sulaiman Ismail(Ijebu North, Ijebu East and Ogun Waterside constituency), Ibrahim Isiaka (Ifo/ Ewekoro Federal Constituency),  Edun Oladapo, (Abeokuta South Federal Constituency), Biyi Otegbeye (Egbado South and Ipokia), Kayode Oladele(Egbado North, Imeko Afon) Osunsanya Korede(Ijebu North, Ijebu -Ode, Odogbolu) and Adewunmi Onanuga (Ikenne, Remo North, Sagamu).
    For the African Democratic Congress (ADC), names of former Speaker Titi Oseni – Gomez (Ogun Central), Engr. Adedeji Ashiru(Ogun East) and Babatunde Ogunola (Ogun West) also made it to the INEC list.

  • Observer hails INEC for smooth conduct of Osun election

    One of the accredited observer in the recently concluded Osun state election, Election Monition (EM) has commended the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) for the smooth conduct of the governorship election in the state.
     
    Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress was declared winner of the election by INEC.
     
    Coordinator of the non-governmental organisation, Mr Abiodun Ajijola, while presenting a report of the election in Abuja, said the electoral umpire needed to do more in ensuring all of its staffs were on the same page with the commission.

    Read Also: INEC issues nomination form to Abubakar

     
    He said the election was generally peaceful and well conducted by INEC despite few discrepancies that was noted.
     
    Ajijola urged INEC to probe these discrepancies to ascertain whether it should affect the general outcome of the election.
     
    He also urged INEC to investigate the circumstances that led to declaring the September 22nd election inconclusive.
     
    He recommended that there should be a more stringent reasons for cancellations of votes adding that for increase transparency a special form should be created for cancellations of elections at polling unit.
     

  • INEC issues nomination form to Abubakar

    The Independent National Election Commission (INEC) has issued a nomination form to Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abubakar as the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate in next year’s election.

    Abubakar is running for a second term.

    His Press Secretary, Abubakar Al-Sadiq, expressed confidence that the governor’s record in his first term will earn him a second.

    “This will enable him consolidate on the good work he started in the state,” he said.

    He called on aspirants who contested the primary against his boss to show sportsmanship and dedication to the party by working with the winner to ensure victory at the polls.

    ‘’I want to call on the other candidates who slugged it out with him in the primaries to accept the will of God and join hands with him for the development of Bauchi State and the APC as a party.

    “The good people of Bauchi State have spoken and they would come out en masse to vote for Governor Abubakar because his giant strides in all the sectors of the economy are second to none in the history of Bauchi State and one good turn deserves another’’

    “Governor Abubakar defeated three other aspirants, Capt. Bala Jibrin, Ali Pate, and Yakubu Lame to emerge victorious in the last APC’s governorship primaries.

    “Getting his nomination form has put to rest the speculations that the party headquarters may take a different decision on Gov. Abubakar’s candidacy due to pressure from the three defeated aspirants,” Al-Sadiq said.