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Tag: Inec

  • Kogi: Wada, Faleke, Yahaya, others know fate Friday

    Kogi: Wada, Faleke, Yahaya, others know fate Friday

    A Federal High Court in Abuja will Friday resolve the dispute arising from the November 21 governorship election in Kogi State as it is set to deliver judgment in five suits arising from the disagreement over the inconclusive poll.

    The court will among others, decide whether or not the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) could proceed with its planned supplementary election scheduled for Saturday.

    Justice Gabriel Kolawole gave the indication Thursday after taking arguments from parties in the five cases which, with the agreement of lawyers in the cases, he consolidated and heard together.

    The cases included the one filed by the Deputy Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Party (APC), James Faleke, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/977/2015, where he faulted the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare the election inconclusive; asked the court to among others compel INEC to declare his joint ticket with the late Abubakar Audu winner of the election and to restrain it (INEC) from proceeding with its planned supplementary election.

    The second suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/962/2015, is by the state governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Idris Wada and his party where they want the court to compel INEC to declare Wada winner of the election, on the ground that he is the only surviving candidate in the election who scored the second highest votes after the deceased candidate of the APC.

    The third suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/973/2015 was filed by Emanuel Daiko, who claimed to have contested the election as a candidate of the People for Democratic Change (PDC) and wants the court to among others hold the supplementary election is illegal, prevent APC from substituting its deceased candidate and to prevent APC from participating in the election on the ground that it no longer has a candidate.

    The fourth marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/958/2015, filed by Raphael Igbokwe (a PDP member of the House of Representatives from Imo State) and Stephen Wada Omaye wants the court to annul the election and conduct a fresh one. It has INEC and APC as defendants.

    The fifth suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/952/2015 was filed by a Johnson Jacob Usman (who claimed to be an indigene of the state, a registered voter and a lawyer. He seeks among others, to compel INEC to suspend all actions in relation to the election pending the determination of the suit and a declaration that the election ought to be cancelled. It has the AGF and INEC as defendants.

    Before entertaining arguments from parties, the court joined the APC’s substitution for Audu, Yahaya Bello and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as defendants in the case.

    Arguing Thursday, Faleke’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) stated that the court possessed the jurisdiction to resolve all issues raised in his cleint’s case.

    He said the case was not one for electoral tribunal because the plaintiff only requested the court to apply constitutional provisions in determining the various questions raised.

    He argued that it was a provision of the Constitution that where a principal dies in an election contested with a joint ticket the constitutional vested interest inures to the benefit of the running mate.

    Olanipekun contended that INEC’s decision to declare the election inconclusive was not because Audu died, but because it voided elections in some 91 polling units in 18 Local Governments, where it now intends to conduct supplementary election. Relying on newspaper publication, noted that as at Novemeber24, INEC was reported to have denied knowledge of Audu’s death.

    He argued that what his client wants the court to do was not to announce a winner, but like an order of mandamus, compel INEC to perform its statutory responsibility by declaring a winner in an election where results have been computed and announced.

    Olanipekun argued that INEC lacked the power to issue the directive (as contained in its “public notice” of November 24, 2015) to the APC to substitute its governorship candidate in the election following the death of its earlier candidate, Abubakar Audu and that it would hold a supplementary election on December 5.

    He described Yahaya Bello, who APC has now substituted Audu with, as an interloper, who wishes to usurp the interest of his client. He further argued that by Wada’s prayer to be declared winner on the ground that he was the first runner up, was an admission that the election was concluded and that there was the person who came first.

    Responding, lawyers to INEC, APC and PDP, who are defendants in the case urged the court to dismiss it because all the prayers sought by Faleke could only be granted by election tribunal.

    Adegboyega Awomolo- SAN – (for INEC) argued that “it is trite law that any matter related to, connected with or arising from election process, whether concluded or not could only be referred to the election tribunal.”

    Lawyer to Yahaya, A. A. Adeniyi argued that since the issue was about election, the resolution of the dispute should be taken before the election tribunal.

    Lawyer the PDP, Pius Akubo (SAN) argued in similar vein, insisting that Faleke could only inherit the outcome of his joint ticket with Audu if they had been duly elected, with the election concluded as prescribed in the Electoral Act.

    Lawyer to APC, Bola Aidi, who agreed with the other defendants, equally urged the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that it was only election tribunal that could determine the issues raised.

    Earlier while arguing Wada’s suit, his lawyer, Chris Uche (SAN) urged the court to grant his client’s prayers.

    Awomolo (for INEC), T. A. Gazali (for the Attorney General of the Federation), Aidi (for APC), Adeniyi (for Bello) argued that the proper forum for the determination of the issues raised was the election tribunal.

    “Having regard to prayers sought, it is not seeking the interpretation of the Constitution, but the declaration of winner and issuance of certificate of return. The best place to go is the election tribunal created for Kogi State,” Awomolo said.

     

  • Kogi poll: INEC distributes sensitive materials

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has distributed sensitive materials for the governorship supplementary election that will hold in 91 polling units in Kogi State on Dec.5.

    The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Halilu Pai, while supervising the distribution in Lokoja on Thursday, said the materials included ballot papers and result sheets, among others.

    Pai said the materials will be accompanied to INEC offices in 18 local government councils affected by the supplementary election, adding that the materials will then be moved to the polling units early morning of Dec. 5.

    He appealed to voters to approach the election with maturity and to eschew violence and electoral malpractice.

    Pai also said that only voters with the permanent voter cards will be allowed to vote, and that accreditation of voters will be done electronically.

    At the INEC office to witness the distribution of the materials were representatives of the Labour Party and the All Progressives Congress, civil society groups and security agents.

  • Still on the Abia tribunal blunders

    Still on the Abia tribunal blunders

    Many commentators, especially legal experts have continued to air their views regarding some of the judgments delivered by both the Houses of Assembly/National Assembly Tribunal and the Governorship Tribunal that sat in Umuahia recently.

    It is normal for people, both experts and laymen to try to scrutinize election Tribunal judgments because they have a lot to do with our democracy and leadership which centre on ensuring the well being of the people.

    One is always careful in commenting on such a sensitive issue to avoid being accused of partisanship, however, when one takes into consideration some of the events that took place before and during the elections in Abia, and subsequent events that played out during proceedings at the election Tribunals coupled with the reactions of majority of Abia voters, then it would not be out of p lace for a concerned citizen to comment.

    It would be recalled that while the Governorship case was pending at the Guber Tribunal, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and her candidate Alex Otti who were challenging the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate Okezie Ikpeazu, filed a motion to inspect the materials used in one of the contentious LGAs of Obingwa, their request was granted by the Tribunal, and after series of delay and frustration by INEC they agreed to grant APGA legal team and forensic experts access to the materials, unfortunately this legitimate order was flouted as thugs suspected to be working for the PDP assaulted the APGA legal  team, and prevented them from assessing those sensitive materials needed.

    This development  no doubt frustrated APGA as they were forced to return to the Tribunal to seek another order compelling INEC to bring the materials to  the Tribunal premises for inspection, unfortunately, less than twenty four hours before this order would be carried out, some arsonists also suspected to be supporters of the ruling party (PDP) stormed the INEC office in broad day light and set the place ablaze.

    APGA and her candidate were left with the option of requesting for materials of the other LGAs which were later brought for inspection after PDP and some INEC staff were said to have connived and mixed up the materials to frustrate the inspection.

    Having suffered avoidable delays as a result of INEC and PDPs unwillingness to obey the orders of the Tribunal on time, APGA and her candidate prayed for time extension to bring more witnesses, which observers believed would be the material contents of the forensic  examination, but shockingly, and suspiciously this motion was turned down by the Tribunal under the pretence that the parties were granted  seven days each to present their witnesses, and that having exhausted theirs, APGA would not be given additional time.

    The Tribunal took such a terrible decision without first of all considering that by the provisions of the electoral act, each of the parties was  entitled to fourteen days for presentation of witnesses,  and that the seven days given was because the Tribunal claimed it  was running out of time.

    Again, the Tribunal denied the extension of time without recourse to the delay tactics applied by INEC and the defense team who were never punished for their disobedience and lack of diligence.

    The Tribunal did not also reason that the petitioner’s legal team was given only seven days to face the three joined parties of Okezie Ikpeazu, PDP, and INEC  who were allocated separate number of days during the presentation of witnesses.

    Surprisingly, the Tribunal that claimed it was running out of time added extra four days to the date earlier agreed for adoption of written addresses, claiming that Abia judiciary wanted to use the Tribunal complex for a certain activities that ought not to have interfered with the Tribunal time table; this time around the Guber Tribunal wasn’t running out of time again, the same Tribunal that denied APGA time extension.

    To climax what could be described as an absurdity of legal proceedings, the Tribunal repeatedly used the word “re-run” against APGA  while delivering it’s judgement, when it was obvious that no re-run took place in Abia.

    The Tribunal in the most bizarre manner refused to align with APGA and her candidate in the case of Osisoma LGA where it was proven beyond reasonable doubt that the PDP L.G Collation agent and their House of Assembly candidate signed the results of the entire Ten Wards of the LGA instead of the Ward collation Agent as prescribed by the electoral act, the Tribunal did not just give their blessing on the grievous electoral crime, but also accepted the lies of the LGA and ward collation  agents of PDP who were caught  red handed lying under oath.

    The over eighty thousand votes fraudulently allocated to PDP and her candidate is one result that should alarm any unbiased mind even without going through the details of the election considering the pattern of voting and election results in the last election across the country, let alone the LGA in question, Obingwa LGA.

    As expected during the Tribunal proceedings, the result from Obingwa was exposed to the world as fake when a staff of INEC from Abuja appeared before the Tribunal and tendered a gazzetted INEC document in evidence which clearly contradicted and indicted the result earlier declared.

    Unfortunately the same Tribunal that accepted and never disputed the content of the document ignored its undisputed facts while delivering its judgment.

    In the case of Chief NnamdiIro Orji, the APGA candidate for Arochukwu/Ohafia constituency, the National Assembly Tribunal shocked everyone when it rejected the pink copies of the election results tendered by APGA showing the original results as earlier given by the INEC presiding officers before the fraudulaent results were announced by Senior INEC Officers in the State.

    Again, in one of the INEC result sheets that bore a report written by the INEC Officer in charge, it clearly listed details of votes as scored by the individual political parties and clearly showed that APGA won in all the polling units of the areas in question. The INEC staff also detailed how some agents of the PDP came and snatched the result sheets, and subsequently entered fraudulently figures which contradicted the genuine results, as the scores in figure differed in words. She subsequently used asterisk to differentiate the fake result from the original, unfortunately, the Tribunal used her discretion in the most unfair manner to accept the ones marked as fake.

    In another interesting case involving the APGA candidate for Aba North State Constituency in the Abia House of Assembly, the Tribunal said that it established a case of certificate forgery against the Aba candidate and thus nullified his election, ordered for fresh elections in some polling units, and subsequently barred APGA from taking part in the would be rerun election.

    However, in what looked like a selective justice and bizarre contradiction, the same Tribunal  established a case of double registration and forgery against the PDP candidate for Bende North State Constituency, but did not nullify his election on that basis, rather recommended  him for trial in a regular court? Two pre-election election matters, two parties but different judgments.

    There are other clear examples of miscarriage of justice involving the lower Tribunals that sat in Umuahia which cannot be listed here for want of space.

    One is no trying to play the innocent here or cast aspersion on the judiciarybecause of avoidable inactions of some judicial officers, but some of these judgment are not only conspicuously questionable but clearly suggest that there was a huge compromise taken to the point of ridicule.

    The appropriate authorities and institutions charged with the responsibility of ensuring justice and sanity in situations like this need to urgently look into what transpired in Abia so that a very dangerous precedent would not be set at the expense of the suffering masses.

    Injustice any where is a threat to justice everywhere-Martin Luther King Jnr.

     

     

    The author, Ekeoma is a social commentator

    He writes from Abia state, Nigeria.

  • Kogi: Protesting women besiege INEC office

    Kogi: Protesting women besiege INEC office

    Scores of women protesting the declaration of the November 21 Kogi governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission as inconclusive yesterday laid siege at the commission’s head office in Lokoja, vowing not to vacate the place until INEC put things right.

    Decked in black apparel, the placards carrying women sat strategically at the entrance of the INEC office, while a detachment of policemen from the nearby state police headquarters kept close watch to forestall breakdown of peace, because of the already tense situation occasioned by the ‘inconclusive’ poll.

    The women many of who brought along with them garri, water and other edibles, accused INEC of plunging Kogi State into political turmoil and uncertainty, by declaring the victory of the duo of Prince Abubakar Audu and Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, of the All progressives Congress (APC), inconclusive.

    One of the protesters, Mrs. Folashade Joseph said INEC created the problem and must hasten to solve it.

    Her words: “We are here to register a protest about INEC’s declaration that the election was inconclusive, and to let them know that they are the ones that have created this problem now.

    “INEC wants to deliberately set Kogi on fire, for reasons best known to them.

    “We have over 2,400 polling units in Kogi State. We do not understand why INEC will say election inconclusive; in 91 polling units that had issues according to INEC, the registered voters are only 49,000, out of the over 500,000 people that that voted in Kogi State, and out of this 49,000, only 28,000 have PVC to vote, which means the votes expected cannot be more than 28,000.

    “APC is leading with over 41,000,   which shows that the party was victorious in the election and INEC should have clearly declared the election concluded and announced APC winner.

    “INEC has treated Kogi State very unfairly and is responsible for this various factions that has come up in APC. The election they intend to conduct is a mere waste of time and resources.

    “We are going to sit out here till INEC reverses it decision by doing the right thing and announce Audu/Faleke won; they won for APC, they have a joint ticket.

    “We are calling on well-meaning Nigerians and the president who is our father, to wade in, so that the right thing can be done.”

    Mrs. Olabisi Sunshine, another of the protesters said; “We have already done election. We want INEC to release our result; Audu/Faleke mandate, the result that they have already is utright win for their APC candidacy.”

  • Faleke to APC, INEC: don’t tamper with my victory

    Faleke to APC, INEC: don’t tamper with my victory

    The deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 21 election in Kogi State, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, has warned his party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to do anything that will compromise his mandate as the deputy governor-elect.

    In two letters written through his counsel Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) to INEC and the APC yesterday, Faleke informed both parties of the court case he instituted and vowed not to betray the late Prince Abubakar Audu by surrendering their joint victory.

    He told the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, that he was “not ready or prepared to negotiate, compromise, surrender, mortgage or part, in any way whatsoever, with the mandate already given to the said joint ticket by the electorate of Kogi State.”

    He again pleaded with the APC not to submit his name “as an associate or running mate to any person or newcomer into the supplementary election which INEC is proposing to hold in 91 polling units on December 5, 2015.”

    The 91 polling units, Faleke emphasised, have only 25,000 prospective voters with Permanent Voter’ Cards (PVCs) and that INEC’s declaration of the election as inconclusive was “a mystery.”

    Faleke told the APC leadership that “as a man of conscience” he did not want to betray the late Audu by assigning their joint mandate to any person, “particularly Mr. Yahaya Bello, who engaged the late Prince Abubakar Audu in a war of attrition throughout the primary election and continued to mount a campaign against him till he passed on.”

    He claimed that Bello jumped ship after losing out at the party’s primary election.

    “Immediately after the primary election was conducted, Mr. Yahaya Bello defected from the APC to the Social Democratic Party (SDP),” Faleke alleged.

    Bello, he added, did not participate in the electioneering which he and the late Audu embarked on “throughout Kogi State”.

    Faleke said Bello neither contributed “a dime to the electioneering” of the Audu /Faleke ticket and “did not make himself available for any assistance to the APC in the state”.

    He claimed that Bello “indeed campaigned and worked against the APC, to the knowledge of all and sundry”, observing that the party lost in Bello’s polling unit, ward and local government.

    Faleke was also of the view that “the fielding of Bello by the APC is not just undemocratic, unconscionable, unjust and unfair, but also against the ethics, robbing Prince Abubakar Audu to pay Mr. Yahaya Bello”.

    “The APC is not merely sponsoring Mr. Yahaya Bello to reap from where he did not sow, but also to harvest from where he stoically prevented the sowing or planting,” he added.

    He urged his party to cooperate with him “and avoid a situation where, by some acts of omission or commission, the APC might wittingly or unwittingly fritter the mandate given to it by the electorate of Kogi State.

    In the letter to the Chairman of INEC, Faleke said the commission had made “a cocktail of errors and catalogue of improprieties” regarding Kogi governorship election.

    He said INEC’s decision to term the election as inconclusive and the directive to the APC to replace the late Audu through a supplementary election was “glaringly wrong”.

    Faleke told the commission that he was not “in anyway whatsoever and howsoever relinquishing, compromising, surrendering or parting with the mandate freely given to the joint ticket of Prince Abubakar Audu” and himself.

    He emphasised that he was ready to defend and protect the said election and he would not run as associate or deputy to any person or candidate presented or to be presented to INEC by the APC.

    Relying on Section 187(1) of the Constitution, he argued that a gubernatorial candidate could not be validly nominated without a running mate and urged INEC to renounce its declaration that the election was inconclusive.

  • PDP accuses INEC, security agencies of plotting to rig

    PDP accuses INEC, security agencies of plotting to rig

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has again accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies of plotting to rig Saturday’s election.

    Its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, at a news briefing in Abuja, alleged that the plot was to rig the election in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He said: “The PDP wishes to declare to INEC and security agencies that the people of Bayelsa State and our members have been rallied in their numbers to combat, head to head, any move by anybody or group whatsoever to rig the December 5 governorship election.

    “We wish to make it clear to all, especially INEC officials, both regular and ad hoc that the atmosphere in Bayelsa is tense and that any of them, who in any way allows himself to be used for manipulation, will be doing so at his own peril.

    “Bayelsans, conscious of the ugly records of brazen doctoring of votes by INEC in favour of APC in the Borno and Kogi governorship elections, are determined to stop the commission in its trail and ensure that such is not repeated in their state.

    “We are aware of the marching order handed down to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at his furtive meeting with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, to rig Kogi and Bayelsa elections in favour of APC, but we wish to let the commission know that attempting so in Bayelsa will have repercussions.

    “Prof. Yakubu and other INEC officials involved in Bayelsa election must note that the state has unique political characteristics and its resistance level to electoral injustice and fraud comes with dreadful costs.

  • Kogi’s confusion and INEC’s complicity

    The cacophony of newspapers’ howling headlines such as ‘APC picks Bello as Audu’s replacement’, ‘Faleke picks Audu’s son as ruining mate’, Kogi’s State House of Assembly threatens to impeach any governor-elect other than Audu’s son’, ‘PDP and Wada pray court to declare Wada governor elect’, that daily hit us on the face, more than confirm the confusion going on in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.

    The confusion as many have argued is a subterfuge by PDP and its INEC sympathizers to destabilise Kogi following their loss of yet another state to APC. And still  for many others, the logjam is the price the nation is paying for the indiscretion of President Buhari who many believe did not search deep enough for an independent-minded person that can measure up to the larger than life image of Jega, the immediate past INEC chairman.

    Those who speak of conspiracy theory base their analysis on the facts as presented by INEC. There is sufficient evidence to show that the election pronounced ‘inconclusive’ had been won ‘round and square’ by APC candidate. Matters are not helped by the actions and pronouncement of defeated PDP and its candidate who is scheming to reap from the misfortune of Audu in character with PDP that massively rigged elections in 2003, 2007 and which was wrestled to the ground in 2015 by Jega who insisted on the use of card reader machines to check electoral frauds.

    Preceding the current contrived confusion, INEC’s returning officer for the Kogi governorship election, Emmanuel Kucha credited APC’s Audu with 240,867 votes to PDP Wada’s 199,514, leaving the former with a positive variance of 49,953 votes. His report also showed Audu had secured no less than one quarter of the votes cast in 16 out of the 21 local governments of Kogi state while Wada managed to secure a quarter of votes cast only in five states. Audu by that declaration had fulfilled the constitutional and electoral acts provisions to be declared winner of the contest. The outstanding 25, 000 votes will not positively change the fortune of Wada and PDP.

    But curiously even though it was obvious that only 511,000 of the 1,379,000 INEC registered voters turned up for accreditation for the election, INEC’s Kucha still went ahead to pronounce an election already won ‘inconclusive’  on the basis of 49.000 registered voters out of which only 25,000 had permanent voter cards.  ‘This figure as well as the accredited number of voters ought to have been the concern of INEC’, according to Jiti Ogunye, a clear-headed legal mind. But INEC, according to him “went overboard and started talking about registered voters that they didn’t all give PVCs.” For him, “that was a pretext by INEC to stalemate, for whatever reason, the election.”

    That ‘whatever reason’, from the point of view of those who talk of conspiracy theory is the desperate rush by PDP and its thoroughly trounced candidate to court praying “that in view of the death of the APC candidate, Abubukar Audu, Wada should be declared the winner of the November 15 governorship election, that INEC be compelled to issue a Certificate of Return to Wada and finally that INEC be restrained from conducting the supplementary election scheduled for December 5”. PDP’s Uche Secundus and Wada seem to have forgotten St. Paul’s admonition to the foolish Galatians (Galatans.6:7) that ‘a man cannot reap what he does not sow’. But no one can blame PDP for catching on APC indecisions and mutual suspicions arising from intra-party struggles among coalition groups. For instance, it is the dumped APC deputy governorship candidate that is fighting the battle that APC ought to lead.

    Before APC oligarchy could settle down to address their internal demons after the party’s victory, Buhari, detested by northern parasitic elite that had held their people down for 16 years suddenly became their hero. Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank under Soludo, Yar’Adua’s  Minister of Finance  from May 2007 to January 2009 and Jonathan’s  Minister of National Planning between January 2009 to March 2010  representing the group, first tried to create disharmony among APC oligarchy by publicly claiming Buhari won the election on his own merit without the Yoruba votes.”So what’s it that the region is bringing to blackmail Buhari into handing over the government to Tinubu who thinks controlling Lagos is same as Buhari?” he was quoted to have said. What an old man sees sitting down may be invisible to a young man standing up, as Yoruba saying goes. Pa Akande alerted the oligarchy about the new strategy of enemies of change. Strangely, the president himself started saying: ‘I belong to no one; I belong to everyone’ adding that he was indifferent as to those who preside over the National Assembly. The enemies of change started quoting him to justify the trading off of APC victory to the defeated PDP.

    Those who wanted the president to celebrate his righteousness forgot he finally won the election after repeated failed attempts not by being righteous but by playing hard politics. Oyegun, the APC chairman is a perfect gentleman who believes society like our mother earth is governed by laws. But you cannot apply Biblical and Koranic moral laws and physical science absolutes when dealing with those whose Bible is the 1513 Niccolo Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’, which celebrates the real nature of man over abstract ideals such as morality.

    Mistrust and lack of coherence more than absence of strategic thinkers explain why there has been hardly any decision taken with sure-footedness since Nigerians gave APC victory. It was this weakness Saraki and Dogara exploited.  Today as Senate President and Ekweremadu as his deputy and with Dogara as Speaker, and PDP’s control of half of the chairmanship of the House committees including those of all important petroleum resources (upstream and downstream, gas resources, aviation, works environment and Niger Delta Commission), APC may be in government, it is PDP that wields power. In fact Saraki and his ‘like minds senators’ have become a threat to the change Nigerians fought for.

    These intra-party feuds, many believe deprived the President the much needed support and rigour required in the appointment of an INEC chairman. Yakubu Mahmood  the new INEC chairman, a  professor of political History and International Studies at the Nigerian Defence Academy with a first class degree in History from the University of Sokoto and a PHD from Oxford,  was first appointed the executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua  in 2007. He also served as Assistant Secretary of Finance and Administration at the 2014 National Conference. There were unproved allegations by ex-President Jonathan’s political enemies  that he secured his 2010 PDP ticket  by mobilizing funds from TETF with the help of Sanusi Lamido as CBN governor.

    Even if this was untrue, from the experience of Lamido Sanusi who ably supported PDP policies but was humiliated out of office following his criticism of government; General Patrick Aziza, former National Security Adviser to Jonathan, removed for alleging PDP was behind Boko Haram; and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who tried to ‘walk the tight rope’ by covering up PDP stalwarts that were involved in fuel subsidy and import waivers scams, we know PDP can hardly keep anybody who does not share its worldview in office.

    It is for the above reasons critics believe that Mahmood, although a first class material and an eminent Nigerian was a wrong choice for the INEC chair by virtue of his association with PDP. His involvement in the on-going INEC’s contrived constitutional crisis in Kogi seems to further confirm that. As Jiti Ogunye puts it: “He failed the litmus test in his first outing”.

  • INEC: we’re confident of a fair poll

    INEC: we’re confident of a fair poll

    •’14,000 policemen  ‘ll be deployed’ 

    The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Solomon Arase, said yesterday that they were ready for Saturday’s election.

    They were in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, to meet stakeholders and address issues concerning the poll.

    Yakubu and Arase stopped at the police command and later headed for a stakeholders’ meeting at Otiotio, involving parties vying for the election.

    Addressing reporters, the INEC boss said everything was set for the poll.

    He urged voters to perform their civic duties.

    Yakubu said INEC had released about 52,000 permanent voter cards (PVCs), generated from the last continuous voter registration, to the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), for distribution to owners.

    He said he was in the state to address stakeholders and assure them of INEC’s readiness for a free, fair and credible election.

    Yakubu dismissed allegation of federal might, saying the electoral umpire would provide a level-playing field for parties.

    His words: “INEC is prepared. We have come to speak with stakeholders. On November 10, the parties and their candidates signed a peace accord. I’m happy that they are abiding by the terms.

    “We reassure Bayelsans that the election will be free and fair. They should come out on Saturday and vote. The poll will be free and fair.

    “The election is in two dimensions- the responsibilities INEC will discharge and the police responsibilities. This is why we have come with the chief security officer of the country, the IGP, to assure Bayelsans that we will create an enabling environment for a free, fair and credible election.

    “The 52,000 PVCs from the continuous voter registration have been transferred. They have arrived Bayelsa and we handed them over to the REC this morning. We will find the most effective means of distributing them.

    “No Bayelsan will be disenfranchised. The PVCS will be distributed before Saturday. No matter where the electorate live, whether they stay at the coastline or in inland areas, irrespective of their peculiarities, everybody will have equal access to the ballot box.”

    Yakubu said card readers would be used for the election, adding that they had been configured, tested and charged.

    Said he: “The card readers have passed the tests. They have been configured, tested and charged. We have backups. Accreditation of voters will be done on the basis of the card readers.

    “No card reader, no voting. Where the card reader fails to pick the biometrics, there will be the incident forms. But INEC officials must be satisfied that there is a facial identification. Then the incident forms will be filled. We are confident of a credible election on Saturday.”

    Arase said the police were ready to ensure a violent-free poll, noting that they remained apolitical.

    He said: “We are ready. We did a similar thing two weeks ago in Kogi State. We are prepared to replicate it in Bayelsa. We will deploy 14,000 officers and men in the eight local governments.

    “We will dominate the security space. There will be aerial surveillance. We will police the waterways. A deputy inspector-general is supposed to supervise the elections with three commissioners.

    “It will be impossible for politicians to bring in fake policemen because we have a unique identity for the policemen we will deploy. So, anybody who has invested in getting uniforms, has done a bad investment.”

    “The police are apolitical. We are not a political party. Our job is to guarantee security, to allow people vote.

    “I came with the INEC chairman to have a stakeholders’ interaction, to reassure them that we are prepared to conduct a free and fair election. I also want to address my men and tell them what I expect from them as law enforcement officers.”

    Addressing his men at the command, IGP advised them to be of good conduct and shun inducements.

    He said any policeman caught compromising standards would be punished.

     

     

  • INEC’s decision puts Nigeria’s democracy on trial – Wada

    INEC’s decision puts Nigeria’s democracy on trial – Wada

    Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State has described the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the governorship election conducted on November 21 as the height of mischief that has only succeeded in putting the country’s democracy on trial.

    In a statement issued in Abuja at the Federal High Court on Monday by Governor Wada’s Chief Communications Manager, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, the governor said INEC should not have swallowed the directive of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) hook, line and sinker, especially since it is now being rumored that the AGF’s action is part of a grand plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to grab Kogi State at all costs.

    Shaibu slammed the decision of INEC to allow APC to substitute its candidate in the middle of an election, saying such directives were null and void for inconsistency with the provisions of the constitution.

    He said INEC’s decision ignores the fact that its action can denigrate the Commission – and indeed Nigeria’s democracy – just because it is playing into a grand design by the ruling APC to grab Kogi State at all costs.

    ”There is something terribly awry in a system in which a body set up to uphold the rule of law and protect the sanctity of people’s votes  is the same one that has gone ahead to undermine it,” Shaibu said.

    Shaibu said the Electoral Act was clear that in view of the death of the All Progressives Congress’ candidate, Abubakar Audu, Wada should be declared the winner of the election being the only surviving candidate with the majority of lawful votes cast in the election held on November 21.

    Wada’s Communications Manager said whatever votes Audu scored in the election died with him and wondered why  INEC , a body established to be the custodian of the rule of law would ignore the fundamentals of the rule of law in arriving at the decision not to issue him a certificate of return.

    “It is disheartening, therefore, to see an Institution that is financed by the Nigerian People to assail and flagrantly treat the constitution of Nigeria with disdain as well as arrogate to itself the powers of the Court. The Pertinent question is: What is INEC attempting to hide? Whose interest(s) is INEC trying to protect? We assert, very strongly that it is not the desire of the Nigerian People, to whom Sovereignty belongs.

    “INEC should know that, an electoral umpire is expected to be impartial unto death. INEC is like a judge, required to do justice and be fair to all concerned. INEC is a referee, expected to apply the rules and respect the rights of all parties. INEC is the co-ordinator of an orchestra expected to ensure the best performance of the ensemble.”

    He however reiterated optimism that the courts would declare the governor as duly elected and order INEC to give him the certificate of return for the Kogi State gubernatorial polls, insisting that Captain Wada’s mandate is from God.

  • Court restrains APC, Oyegun, others from dissolving Delta exco

    Court restrains APC, Oyegun, others from dissolving Delta exco

    The Federal High Court in Warri has restrained the All Progressives’ Congress (APC), its National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, its National Legal Adviser, Mr Muiz Banire (SAN) as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from taking steps to dissolve the executive council of the party in Delta state.

    The chairman of the party in the state, Prophet Jones Erue, along with two other persons, had filed a motion ex-parte on Friday, November 27, 2015, seeking an order to restrain the national body and its executive members from dissolving the executive council of the party in the state.

    The motion, with suit number FHC/WR/CS/165/2015, before Justice M. Shitu Abubakar, had requested the court to give “an order of interim injunction restraining the 1st – 3rd Defendants/Respondent’s from taking step or any other step of dissolution of the Delta state executive committee of the All Progressives’ Congress, headed by 1st Plaintiff and the setting up of an interim executive committee, pending determination of the motion on notice.”

    However, after hearing the motion, as put together by counsel to the plaintiffs, J.A. Otorudo, the court ordered that the national body of the party stayed action on any planned dissolution of the subsisting executive body in the Delta state branch of the party.

    “It is hereby ordered that the respondents are ordered and show why the application should not be granted as prayed or couched by the Plaintiffs/Applicants. However, since the matter is now subjudiced, the respondents are ordered to suspend their action for a while and or maintain the status quo ante bellum, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice, which is already filed before this court,” the order read.

    The hearing of the motion on notice has, however been slated to Monday, December 7.