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Tag: Inec

  • INEC vows to conduct free, fair gov rerun in Kano

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) on Wednesday vowed to conduct free, fair and credible supplementary election in the state on March 23.

    According to a statement by INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Prof. Riskuwa Shehu Arabu, the supplementary elections would determine the winner of Kano state governorship election.

    He explained cases of violence and over voting invoked the decision to cancel the ballots cast in some polling units.

    He added that the gubernatorial election was inconclusive, stressing the election did not produce a winner.

    “The Commission wishes to reiterate its commitment to the conduct of free, fair and credible election in the State. It also wishes to inform the general public that the Supplementary Election would be conducted on Saturday 23rd March, 2019,” Riskuwa stated.

    He explained the cancellation of results in some units located within some local Government Areas was due to violence and over voting, which lead to cancellations of results in 210 Polling Units which constitutes 88 Registration Areas, adding that the affected Polling Units has a total number of 128, 572 registered voters.

    The Kano REC said the contenders with the highest votes are the candidates of the All Progressive Congress (APC) with 987, 819, while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had pouch 1, 014, 474 votes.

    He said the Peoples Democratic Party PDP is currently on a marginal lead with 26, 655 while 128, 572 votes were cancelled.

    According to him: “Based on the above and looking at the marginal lead of 26, 655 between the two candidates with highest votes and the number of total votes cancelled which stands at 128, 572, a winner cannot be declared at this stage until a supplementary election is conducted in the affected polling units.”

  • INEC lacks power to withhold my Certificate of Return – Okorocha

    Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha has described the decision to withhold his Certificate of Return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after being declared winner of the Imo West Senatorial election as unfortunate and unconstitutional.

    The Imo Governor alleged that INEC is being used by those he said were fighting him ahead the 2023 Presidential election to stop him from going to the Senate, adding that it is only the Courts that have the powers to nullify any election after a winner has been declared and the Electoral umpire does not have the power.

    “In my own case, my Certificate of Return has not been issued and I wonder why INEC will withhold my Certificate for a frivolous reason, without hearing from me. I am not a violent person and those who know me know that. This is why we have peace in Imo State. The Returning Officer could not have done that under duress under the watchful eyes of the Police, DSS and party agents. I am not unmindful of the facts that those who are fighting me from Abuja are anxious to see me removed as a Senator. I urge INEC to do the right thing immediately by releasing my Certificate.

    The governor continued that, “let me tell every Nigerian that I fought no one and no one should fight me. If anyone fights me, he will be the loser at the end of it all. My INEC Certificate cannot be touched or seized, doing so is belittling democracy in Nigeria. It is only the Tribunal that has the right to say otherwise once a result is declared. INEC cannot seize my Certificate by mere petition written by somebody in a case I was not given the opportunity to present my own side of the story.”

    Okorocha who addressed thousands of youths, who came on protest over the conduct of the 2019 elections in the state, Wednesday, at the Government House, accused the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Professor Francis Ezeonu of wrecking democracy in the State “with the worrisome manner he has handled the Conduct of the 2019 elections in the State”.

    He added further that “the REC has shown that he was brought to Imo after the 2015 election to return PDP to power in the state”.

    The governor insisted that “the REC had acted illegally by ignoring the provision of the Constitution that makes it mandatory for a candidate to have 25% in 2/3 of the Local Governments in the State by announcing the PDP candidate, Emeka Ihedioha who only met the requirement in 9 Local Governments instead of 18 LGAs which is 2/3 of 27 LGAs winner”.

    Okorocha also wondered why the REC should accept the outrageous figures from the three Local Governments Areas of Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu Mbaise and Ezinihitte, where the PDP candidate got 64,219 votes from Aboh Mbaise alone, stating that the figures from the three LGAs constituted 50 percent of the total votes got by the PDP candidate in the State with 27 LGAs.

    The governor maintained that Uche Nwosu, the governorship candidate of Action Alliance (AA) won the election and has the required spread by having 25% in 21 out of the 27 LGAs in the State, adding that “the REC is working to set the state on fire”.

    The governor also regretted that “the REC has become a willing tool in the hands of those fighting him, adding that for the REC to have ignored the Constitutional provision for the announcement of the winner of the governorship election only explains his desperation to announce the PDP Candidate winner”.

    According to him, “I say so because going by the actual calculation, the person that won this election is Ugwumba Uche Nwosu. Uche Nwosu won the election landslide, if you remove the manipulation results from Mbaise, Uche Nwosu won with over 50,000 votes, if you cannot declare him a winner because you have someone already, then they should go for a rerun because you cannot change the Constitution if the Federal Republic of Nigeria because you want to favour a candidate.

    “In the course of this manipulation, we all observed that the REC decided not to use the collation officers from Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), which he disbanded for reasons he gave that they have met with politicians. Again, he brought some people whom he introduced from the University of Agriculture Umudike. They arrived just a night before the election date and we thought we have gotten the collation officers. Again, those ones were disbanded on the same reason that they have met with politicians, I wonder how this is possible having arrived the state after midnight on the election eve.

    “Now the REC went to his own University in Awka to bring in collation officers. We believed him not knowing that he brought people he has been training for a hatched job for some weeks now in Anambra State to come and carry out this injustice in Imo State.

    “These men arrived with heavy security from Anambra and went straight to the various Local Governments. We never knew that these were relatives of the PDP candidate and from the same Local Government. These are relatives of the PDP Candidate who were already briefed of what to do. This explains the over voting witnessed in Mbaise. Out of the 270,000 votes that he scored, 50% of it or over 130,000 all came from just three local governments of Mbaise”, he stated.

    He added “As far as I am concerned and we still maintain that REC has wrecked democracy in Imo State. Unfortunately for them, they were not smart enough to know that section 179 requires you to have a spread at least in 2/3 of the local governments before you can be declared a winner. They ended up with only 9 local governments instead of 18 required by law. The Returning Officer was advised by all the Senior Staff of INEC against declaring a winner without looking at the Constitution. This man in a hurry decided to announce the result against the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,

    “This is wrong, in doing so, the Returning Officer didn’t even consider the results cancelled, total voters cancelled in the different Polling Booths, was enough to declare the election inconclusive as the difference between the PDP and AA would have called for a supplementary election. With the speed with which he announced the result tells you that the man is part of the game. This again is unacceptable to all of us” he said.

    “It is obvious that this fight is targeted against me by some of those who have decided to fight me from Abuja. I am ready to take this fight as much as I can but don’t transfer this aggression you have against me to anybody associated with me, that I would not be acceptable. Allow the young men who won the elections to be so declared” he added.

    The leader of the youths, Comrade Ezenna Okoro said, “We are here to express our dissatisfaction with the manner INEC Conducted its election in the State. Particularly, we youths from Okigwe Zone demand that Uche Nwosu be declared governor and Emenike be returned as Senator elect because he won the election based on results gotten from the booths and wards,

    “INEC should not provoke us and we are giving them 24 hours to reverse the election of Imo North Senatorial Zone won by Emenike and as a matter of fact give us a date for the rerun between Uche Nwosu and the PDP Candidate having failed to make up the Constitutional requirement” he stated.

  • Edo: Gunmen attack Police Station, kill DPO, three officers

    Gunmen have attacked the Divisional Police Command at Afuze, headquarters of  the Owan-East Local Government Area of Edo, killing the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and three other officers on duty.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the hoodlums also attacked the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the town, and destroyed electoral materials and burning down a police van in the compound.

    The officers killed in the attack were: Supt. Tosimani Ojo, the DPO of the station; Sgt. Justina Aghomon, a pregnant woman, Insp. Sado Isaac and Cpl. Glory David.

    READ ALSO: ‘Police needs to redouble its efforts to curb rising crime rate’

    A witness, Mr Godwin Ikpekhia, told NAN on Wednesday that the incident occurred at about 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, while many of the officers in the division had gone on outside duties.

    “We only heard gunshots and nobody knew what actually happened until Wednesday morning.

    “The divisional police officer, alongside three other officers who were on duty were killed on the spot, inside the building.

    “The hoodlums didn’t just stop at that; they went to the INEC office and were shooting sporadically at policemen who were on duty there.

    “Election materials and a police van at the INEC office were burnt by the hoodlums,’’ he said.

    The Edo Commissioner of Police, Mr Muhammed Danmallam, who visited the scene, said that investigation would commence immediately.

    Danmallam vowed that those responsible for the attacks will be brought to book.

    “Urgent steps will be taken to curb the increasing cases of criminality in the Owan axis of the state,’’ he said.

    NAN recalls that the attacks on officers and men of the Nigeria Police have become quite unusual in the Owan area.

    On July 14, last year, four police officers were killed at a checkpoint in the area and burnt inside their Hilux Patrol van.

    Also on Jan. 23, this year, the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Assembly candidate for Owan-West, Mr Ohio Ezomo, was kidnapped, while his orderly was killed on the spot.

    NAN

  • Imo: APGA faults Ihedioha’s declaration

    …Demands cancellation of poll

    The Imo State chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has rejected the results of the governorship election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Emeka Ihedioha was declared governor-elect by the Returning Officer, Prof. Francis Otunta.

    But APGA in a statement signed by its state secretary, Eberendu Alphonsus, said that the PDP candidate failed to meet the constitutional requirements of 25% of total votes cast in 2/3 of the 27 Local Government Areas in the State.

    READ ALSO: We will deploy 20,000 ad-hoc personnel in Imo for 2019 election- REC

    The party therefore called for the total cancellation of the election, stating that “it is absolutely unconstitutional to declare a candidate that did not meet with the Constitutional requirement as winner”.

    It also accused of complicity in the irregularities that marred the election, especially by accepting the results from the three Local Government Areas of Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu Mbaise and Ezinihitte, which the party noted were heavily manipulated.

    According to the statement, “many INEC officials were compromised and made themselves available for manipulation and doctoring of genuine results in favour of the PDP. The open complicity of INEC officials in the electoral fraud that marred the election, even made the State Returning Officer order the arrest of some of these officials.

    “We state without equivocation that this election failed to meet with all known standards in civilised democracy. The substantial noncompliance with the Electoral Act by INEC in the conduct of this election makes it imperative that it should be cancelled. This is the only way to ensure peace and justice in the State”.

  • Int’l Observers to Buhari: assent to amended Electoral Act

    An International Election Observer group, Pan African Women (PAN) projects that monitored the General elections in Nigeria has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the amended electoral Act.

    Ms Mphoentle Keitseng, the Publicity Secretary of PAN project 2019 who monitored Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom made the appeal during an interactive session with newsmen in Uyo on Wednesday.

    According to her, the electoral bill will help to facilitate and regulate a proper conduct of subsequent elections in the country.

    She noted with dismay that the just concluded governorship and house of assembly elections were marred with irregularities such as vote buying, ballot box snatching, intimidation, thuggery and disruption of voting process.

    Keitseng harped on the need to review the electoral act in order to help strengthen the electoral process.

    She called on federal government to create election tribunal in order to prosecute offenders of the electoral processes.

    Keitseng decried heavy presence of military personnel in polling units which she observed was scaring voters.

    She advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to improve on arrival of materials and election kick off at the gubernatorial and state of assembly elections.

    “We commend the transparent and credibility exhibited by INEC in Akwa Ibom in conducting free, fair Presidential/National Assembly and Gubernatorial/State House of Assembly elections,” said.

    Keitseng also advised INEC to recruit ad-hoc staff that were above 30 years of age for sensitive positions as polling officers because as many polling officials who were young lacked the maturity to take decisions on time, especially where violence erupted.

    NAN

  • APC wins in 13 states, PDP in nine as INEC declares 22 governors-elect

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared winners in 22 of the 29 states where governorship elections were held last Saturday.

    Of the states, 13 were won by candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), leaving the rest for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The exercise has been declared inconclusive in six states while the electoral process in Rivers State was undergoing review by the electoral umpire.

    The states where the INEC will organise supplementary elections are: Sokoto, Bauchi, Adamawa, Plateau, Benue and Kano.

    All but one of the states so far won by the opposition party are in the Southeast and the Southsouth. Only two of the elected governors  are coming into office afresh.

    The seven incumbent governors who have been declared governors-elect are: Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia); Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom); Ben Ayade (Cross River); David Umahi (Ebonyi); Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta); Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Dairus Ishaku (Taraba).

    The two new PDP governors are Emeka Ihedioha and Seyi Makinde of Imo and Oyo states. The duo dislodged the APC administration that held the forte in the states for eight years.

    Of the 13 states declared for the APC, eight are  – PDP is dislodged in Gombe (Inuwa Yahaya) and Kwara (AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq).

    The other new ones are: Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos); Dapo Abiodun (Ogun); Mai Mala Buni (Yobe); Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa); Muktar Idris (Zamfara) and Prof Babagana Zulum (Borno).

    Returned as governors-elect on the APC banner are: Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna); Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina); Abubakar Bello (Niger); Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi) and Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa).

     

  • INEC erred declaring Adamawa governorship election inconclusive – PDP

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) erred in declaring the governorship election in Adamawa State inconclusive because the margin of lead was lower than the number of registered voters in places where voting was cancelled.

    The state chapter of the party contended at a press briefing in Yola on Tuesday that INEC should have reckoned not with all the registered voters but only the number of those who collected their permanent voter cards (PVCs) in the indicated units, which it said was smaller than the margin of lead in the election.

    The PDP had polled 367,472 votes; as against the next leading party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which received 334,995 votes after results from the state’s 21 LGAs had been collated by Monday morning; but INEC declared the election inconclusive on the argument that the margin of lead by the PDP, which was 32,467 votes, was lower than the number of registered voters, 40,948 in 44 polling units (PUs) where elections either did not hold or were cancelled.

    The PDP however said, in the text of briefing read to newsmen by a former governor of the state under the party, Boni Haruna, that INEC’s argument was untenable.

    Read Also: Declare results, Rivers monarchs urge INEC

    The PDP said, “We’ve been able to establish that the number of PVCs collected by voters in the 44 PUs is 31,027. So, 31,027 are the only eligible voters in those units. If there is going to be a rerun, the 31,027 people who collected their PVCs are less than PDP’s margin of win. How then would the rerun affect the leading position of the PDP? So, there was no basis in declaring the Adamawa State governorship election inconclusive.”

    The party said it rejected declaration of the election as inconclusive and demanded that INEC rescind its decision and declare the PDP candidate, Rt Hon Umaru Fintiri, as the winner.

    It asked that if INEC would insist on a rerun, it should provide the number of PVCs collected in each of the 44 PUs and number of voters accredited in the units for the March 9 governorship election; and should ensure that all electoral materials for the rerun are distributed in a transparent manner.

    In its own reaction to the outcome of the governorship election in Adamawa State, the APC had on Monday alleged widespread irregularities and called for a redress.

    “As a party, we reject the results of the governorship election in Adamawa State in its totality and we call for the cancellation of all … places where card readers were not used, and where there was over-voting,” the party said at a briefing in Yola.

     

  • PDP’s Ashiru rejects Kaduna gov results, heads to court

    Kaduna State gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP ), Hon. Isa Ashiru, has rejected results of the contest, vowing to challenge the outcome at the election petitions tribunal.

    Ashiru alleged militarisation of the electoral process in various part of the state, arguing “military personnel were used to intimidate voters particularly in the areas where our party has an overwhelming strength and support.”

    The PDP gubernatorial candidate, who addressed a press conference at his Kaduna home few hours after the declaration of El-Rufai as winner, also alleged Smart Card Readers were not used during the elections in a lot of polling units in Giwa, Birnin Gwari, Kaduna North, Igabi, Zaria, Lere and Ikara Local Government Areas.

    According to Ashiru: “I wish to state without any fear of contradiction that reports obtained by our party from across the State indicate that the elections were marred by a lot of irregularities.

    “It is on the basis of these established irregularities that our party in a petition to the State Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, rejected the results and called for its outright cancellation.

    “Available reports have shown that Smart Card Readers were not used during the elections in a lot of polling units in Giwa, Birnin Gwari, Kaduna North, Igabi, Zaria, Lere and Ikara Local Government Areas.

    “It is our firm believe that the non-usage of the Card Readers which is a violation of the electoral guidelines have rendered the results from these areas invalid and should have been cancelled.

    “Another issue of concern to our party was the clear militarisation of the electoral process in various parts of the State as military personnel were used to intimidate voters particularly in the areas where our party has an overwhelming strength and support.

    “Of a particular example is the use of military in Birnin Gwari and Kauru local government areas. Soldiers were also used to alter the result of our House of Assembly candidate to in Makera Constituency of Kaduna South local government area.

    “I am sure a lot of People in Kaduna State will consider it unbelievable the disparity between the numbers of votes obtained in the Presidential elections and the Governorship elections.

    “How could the people of Kaduna State be convinced the APC could get more votes during the governorship elections than it got in the last Presidential elections?”

    He went on: “Based on this and other irregularities, I hereby stand by the position of my party to challenge the concocted results at the election tribunal to get back our stolen mandate.

    “On this note, I therefore call on our supporters and citizens of Kaduna State to remain calm and be law abiding.”

  • APC kicks as INEC declares Okowa re-elected in Delta

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) in Delta State has declared Ifeanyi Okowa winner of the Delta State Governorship elections.

    Announcing the results Monday in Asaba, State Returning Officer, Prof Seth Accra-Jaja said the candidate of the PDP polled 925,271 votes to defeat his closest rival Great Ogboru of the APC who scored 215,938 votes.

    According to Prof Accra-Jaja, the number of registered voters is 2,831,205 while the number of accredited voters is 1,188,784.

    He said voided votes are 24,147 votes, adding that valid votes cast stands at 1,154,188 votes.

    The State Returning Officer said the total number of votes cast stands at 1,178,335 votes.

    The indicate that the ruling People’s Democratic Party won in 23 local government areas spread across the three senatorial districts while the APC won two local government areas.

    The APC won in Ughelli North and Ethiope East LGAs.

    Read Also: Delta polls: Okwa in early lead

    But the APC has rejected the results announced, stressing that the elections were marred by massive vote rigging and non- compliance with the electoral law.

    APC State agent, Prof Festus Arunaye said,” I reject the votes as announced because right from the ward level to the local government collation centre there was gross mayhem, violence which has resulted in deaths. The elections were conducted in gross violation of the electoral laws”.

    He said his party will seek legal redress to claim the mandate given by the people of Delta State.

    PDP State Chairmen, Mr. Kingsley Esiso expressed happiness over the PDP’s victory describing it as a victory for Deltans.

  • Kano gov results safe, says INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) has declared the results of Kano governorship elections are intact and safe.

    It allayed fears over delay in the release of results of the gubernatorial election in Nasarawa local government area of Kano state.

    Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano, Professor Ristuwa Arabu Shehu, gave the assurance while briefing journalists on the update on the controversy sounding delay in the collation of the results.

    He assured the commission will be fair and transparent in its responsibility.

    Shehu posited INEC will regenerate the results from the primary and secondary data where 10 out of the 11 wards where collation had already been concluded.

    “We are on it, we would be transparent. We have nothing to hide all what we are demanding for is for the parties to be patient to allow the commission to regenerate the gubernatorial results from the source,” he stressed.

    He however urged residents to be peaceful so as not to trigger unnecessary trouble in the state.

    “There is need for us to conduct ourselves in a peaceful manner so that when there is peace, harmony will reign. This is what we are pleading for the people to understand,’’ the REC said.

    Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Rabiu Suleiman Bichi urged INEC in Kano to declare the gubernatorial election results in favor of PDP.

    According to him: ” I am baffled why the INEC is delaying the declaration of PDP as the winner of the March 9th, governorship election, arguing that, since there are 11 wards in the LGA and 10 have already been concluded, the isolated ward should not have affected the release of the results in the whole LGA.

    “We are pleading for as a matter of urgency to declare PDP as the winner of the election for peace to reign in Kano because the atmosphere in Kano is tense”.