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Tag: Kassim Gaidam

  • APC may boycott Thursday’s supplementary election in Adamawa- Official

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa has threatened to boycott the supplementary governorship election if INEC insisted on conducting it on Thursday.

    The State Organising Secretary of APC, Alhaji Ahmed Lawan, made the party position known on Wednesday in Yola.

    Lawan told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the party had rejected the Thursday’s date and communicated its position to the electoral body.

    READ ALSO: Updated: Adamawa supplementary gov poll holds Thursday

    INEC had announced Thursday for the supplementary election in 44 units.

    This followed the vacation of an interim injunction that stopped it from conducting the election last Saturday.

    “We are not going to participate in the election, if INEC is going to conduct it on Thursday.

    “I don’t know why INEC is rushing, as conducting this election on Thursday will disenfranchise many voters, particularly workers and students who need to go to work and schools,” Lawan said.

    The PDP Chairman in Adamawa, Mr Tahir Shehu, whose candidate (Ahmadu Fintiri) is leading with a difference of over 30,000 votes, said they were ready for the election.

    When contacted, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Adamawa, Mr Kassim Gaidam, said that the commission would hold the election as scheduled on Thursday.

    Gaidam urged all the parties involved to work toward a hitch-free poll.

     

  • Adamawa election: INEC, Police laud electorate for peaceful conduct

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police have commended the electorate in Nasarawo/Binyeri constituency of Adamawa for their peaceful conduct during the Saturday bye-election.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nasarawo/Binyeri state constituency election in Mayo-Belwa Local Government could not hold on March 9 due to the death of APC candidate, Adamu Kwanate.

    The election was however, rescheduled for Saturday, March 23 by INEC.

    Speaking to newsmen at the Collation Centre in Jereng village, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Adamawa, Mr. Kassim Gaidam, said voting took place smoothly and collation at Ward levels had commenced.

    “The people of Nasarawo/Binyeri deserve commendation for their orderly and peaceful conduct.

    “Voting started on time and was concluded peacefully without any hitch; I have not received any report of cancel votes.

    READ ALSO: We’ll abide by court ruling on Adamawa guber rerun – INEC

    “Collation has commenced at Ward level across the seven wards in the constituency, while report from Uba/Gaya Constituency in Hong Local Government where we are having supplementary election in 3 units is also okay,” Gaidam said.

    Also speaking, the DIG Usman Tilli, deployed from Force Headquarters Abuja to ensure total security for the elections in Adamawa, said so far there was no security problem.

    “It’s a smooth and peaceful election; everyone is well behaved and we have not seen any wrong doing to warrant the arrest of anyone,” Tilli said.

    Tilli said that he had mobilised additional personnel to beef up security at the collation Centre to ensure that final result was announced without any security breach.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that seven political parties comprising ADC, APC, ANN, ANP, PDP, PPN and SDP fielded candidates for the assembly election

  • 29 candidates go for Adamawa governorship poll, 284 for Assembly seats

    A total of 313 candidates under 29 political parties in Adamawa State will be contesting for Governorship and House of Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday.

    Twenty nine candidates have been entered for the governorship election, while 284 will be vying for the 25 seats in the state House of Assembly, according to the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) the state, Kassim Gaidam.

    Four of the 29 governorship candidates are women, while 25 among the 284 candidates for the legislative poll are also women.

    The foregoing are however mostly figures on paper, as among the lot entered for the governorship race, for example, only four or five are known to Adamawa people to be in serious contention.

    They are incumbent Governor Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Umaru Fintiri of main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen Abdulaziz Nyako of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Emmanuel Bello of Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Rev Abel Behora of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN).

    Bindow who was representing Adamawa North District in the Senate when he contested election and won to become the state governor in 2015, will be going into the election with power of incumbency boosted by performance anchored on good roads and regular payment of workers’ salaries, but he will have intraparty opposition from a few powerful individuals to contend with.

    Fintiri is a former acting governor whose short reign, 15 July to 1 October, 2014; earned for him a reputation for action and love for workers’ welfare and the popular nickname ATM to go with it, but he is said to have issues with an elite group.

    Abdulaziz Nyako is the serving senator for Adamawa North whose father, Murtala Nyako, a former governor of the state, will be a strong deciding factor when Adamawa people go to the polls on Saturday, as Murtala Nyako’s reign (2007-2014) was popular among the people.

    Read Also: Adamawa: 10 guber candidates declare support for PDP

    Emmanuel Bello of the SDP is a former House of Representatives member who has carried out easily the most comprehensive governorship campaign in the state. He started early and was up to this week still strong on activities that should help his candidacy.

    Rev Abel Behora of the ANN has created some form of visibility for himself but he is the least likely to go far among the five who have shown some fighting spirit.

    The remaining 24 governorship candidates have not made any known move towards actualizing their supposed dream. Some have given up entirely, with ten earlier in the week announcing that they were stepping down their candidacies to support Umaru Fintiri of the PDP after they failed to sustain a deal with Bindow.

  • 29 for Adamawa gov poll, 284 for Assembly seats

    A total of 313 candidates under 29 political parties in Adamawa State will be contesting for Governorship and House of Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday.

    Twenty nine candidates have been entered for the governorship election while 284 will be vying for the 25 seats in the state House of Assembly, according to the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Kassim Gaidam.

    Four of the 29 governorship candidates are women, while 25 among the 284 candidates for the legislative poll are also women.

    The foregoing are however mostly figures on paper, as among the lot entered for the governorship race, for example, only four or five are known to Adamawa people to be in serious contention.

    They are incumbent Governor Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Umaru Fintiri of main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen Abdulaziz Nyako of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Emmanuel Bello of Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Rev Abel Behora of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN).

    Bindow, who was representing Adamawa North District in the Senate when he contested election and won to become the state governor in 2015, will be going into the election with power of incumbency boosted by performance anchored on good roads and regular payment of workers’ salaries but he will have intraparty opposition from a few powerful individuals to contend with.

    Fintiri is a former acting governor whose short reign, 15 July to 1 October, 2014; earned for him a reputation for action and love for workers’ welfare and the popular nickname ATM to go with it, but he is said to have issues with an elite group.

    Abdulaziz Nyako is the serving senator for Adamawa North whose father, Murtala Nyako, a former governor of the state, will be a strong deciding factor when Adamawa people go to the polls on Saturday, as Murtala Nyako’s reign (2007-2014) was popular among the people.

    Emmanuel Bello of the SDP is a former House of Representatives member who has carried out easily the most comprehensive governorship campaign in the state.

    He started early and was up to this week still strong on activities that should help his candidacy.

    Rev Abel Behora of the ANN has created some form of visibility for himself but he is the least likely to go far among the five who have shown some fighting spirit.

    The remaining 24 governorship candidates have not made any known move towards actualizing their supposed dream. Some have given up entirely, with ten earlier in the week announcing that they were stepping down their candidacies to support Umaru Fintiri of the PDP after they failed to sustain a deal with Bindow.

  • Polls:INEC allays fears of insecurity in Adamawa

    Mr Kassim Gaidam, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa, on Tuesday, allayed the fears of the people over insecurity, stressing that the forthcoming elections in the state would be peaceful.

    He described as false, the notion in some quarters that the elections could be hampered by insecurity.

    Gaidam, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Yola, said that Adamawa had been calm and peaceful in recent times.

    The REC said, “We have been holding regular meeting with relevant security agencies ahead of the Feb. 23 and March 9 polls.

    “The state is calm, we do not have bombing here again and we only hope the situation remains so.

    “Security situation in Adamawa is peaceful; the few cases of attempt to cause violence in the Northern region of the state have been nipped in the bud by security operatives.

    “The people always support security operatives; their vigilance in alerting the security agencies makes it impossible for miscreants to hatch their plans to disrupt electoral process.

    “There is also high level of cooperation among security agencies in Adamawa. Their collaboration is encouraging and we hope it continues before and after the general election.”

    He described the traditional and religious institutions, youths and women groups, in the state, as indispensable partners in the maintenance of peace, adding that they had been contributing to peaceful atmosphere, so far.

    The REC solicited the continued support and cooperate of the institutions concerned with the commission to build confidence and promote people’s participation in electoral processes.

  • 2019: INEC uncovers 1,224 death persons in Adamawa register

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has detected 1,224 dead persons’ names in its Adamawa voters’ register for the 2019 general elections.

    Mr Kassim Gaidam, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, disclosed this during the opening of a two-day workshop for North East Zonal lmplementers on election monitoring and support, holding in Yola on Thursday.

    Gaidam said that the statistic was uncovered during the recent display of voters’ register for claims and objections.
    The commissioner said that the exercise was successfully conducted across the state.

    He explained that during the exercise, the commission recorded 2,113 claims and out of the 1,588 objections, 1,224 were reported death.
    The commissioner noted that during the exercise, 38,658 Permanent Voter Cards were collected across the state.

    Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, said that the election monitoring and support centre was one of the significant tools used by the commission in planning, monitoring and implementation of support provision to field officers for credible conduct of the elections.

    Yakubu, who was represented by his Special Assistant, Prof. Muhammed Kuna, said that the commission would use all resources at its disposal to ensure fair and free conduct of the 2019 general elections.

    Read Also: 2019 Delta Council boss sues for peaceful electioneering

    He explained that the workshop was to strengthen the commission’s capacities to monitor the mechanisms and activities put in place for smooth conduct of the 2019 general elections, among objectives.

    Also speaking, Mr Samson Fadare, the representative of European Centre for Electoral Support, said the EU was proud to support INEC’s laudable initiative that sought to ensure free, fair and smooth conduct of elections.

    “It will be recalled that European Centre for Electoral Support supported the conduct of the election monitoring support implementer workshops for the off-cycle governorship elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun in 2017 and 2018, among others,” Fadare said.

    He noted that the workshop was the second of its kind designed for zonal implementers and would be organised across the six geopolitical zones to educate and familiarise the functionaries of the commission across the nation.

    It was reported that the workshop was organised by INEC and supported by European Union.

    Five out of the six INEC resident electoral commissioners from North East with their top management staff were participants, excluding Bauchi State.