..Says no more excuses
The Federal Government has again read out the riot act to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Federal Governmenton Wednesday said INEC is condemned to conduct election this Saturday; saying nothing less will be acceptable.
Besides, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mathew Onyeama said the government demands 100% assurance that this Saturday is sacrosanct.
Details shortly…
Mr Chris Finebone, Publicity Secretary, the All Progressives Congress ( APC ) in Rivers has denied allegation making round that the party plots to scuttle elections in Rivers.
Finbone told the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Port Harcourt that the accusation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was a mere imagination.
He also said that the allegation that the Transportation Minister,Mr Rotim Amaechi was holding secret meetings in Abuja and strategising to disrupt elections in the state was another mere imagination by PDP.
“Well, the claim by PDP that the Minister for Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, is holding any meeting whatsoever, dwells only in the infantile imagination of the PDP characters behind such outlandish allegation,” he said.
NAN reports that PDP , during a media briefing on Tuesday, accused APC of conniving with the security agencies and employing other undemocratic strategies to scuttle elections in parts of the state.
Finebone urged the public not to take the accusation serious, adding that it was a deliberate attempt to discredit APC and to dissuade its teaming supporters.
“Rivers PDP is doing exactly what the Holy Bible refers to as the guilty running when no one is pursuing.
“We hereby warn PDP to desist from maligning innocent members of APC who have done nothing wrong, whatsoever.
The Department of State Security ( DSS ) has not invited any National Commissioner or any top electoral official, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Tuesday.
A section of the media reported on Tuesday morning that the National Commissioner on Logistics, Dr Okechukwu Ibeanu, for questioning.
But INEC’s National Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakbubu, said there was nothing like that.
He warned politicians on the need to be cautious in their utterances so as not to heat up the polity.
Yabuku spoke while giving updates on INEC preparation to stakeholders in Abuja.
He also declared the commission has successfully deployed all the materials to states across the federation.
He reiterated its preparedness to conduct credible elections come Saturday and on March 9.
He also revealed that 95 percent of the Smart Card Readers have been reconfigured ahead of the scheduled time.
Yakubu further assured the remaining 5 percent will be concluded by Wednesday.
He also said it was not true that one of the suppliers of the Smart Cars Readers was involved in the configuration process, stressing that the configuration was done entirely by the staff of the commission.
The INEC boss also said that the commission has not received any complaint of any missing result sheets from any part of the nation.
He assured that the commission will do all it has to do to ensure that Saturday polls went well and is free, fair and credible.
Update Later…
*Says ballot box snatchers will face grave consequence
The Acting Inspector General of Police ( IGP ), Mohammed Adamu on Tuesday warned politicians and other Nigerians that it is fully prepared to deal with anybody planning to snatch ballot boxes or make trouble during the forthcoming elections.
He gave the warning while briefing State House correspondents after security meeting Presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting had reviewed security situation in the country, especially towards the general elections.
Adamu assured that the police is ready to protect every eligible Nigerian to exercise his or her civic responsibility.
Anybody that tries to disrupt the elections by engaging in ballot boxes snatching, he said, would have himself or herself to blame.
He also said that any act of thuggery and touting during the polls will be met with grave resistance.
He said, “Today, members of the security community and intelligence community came and briefed Mr. President on the security situation in the country.
“We deliberated on the consequences and came up with the resolve to further provide adequate security within the country so that the electorate will come out and cast their votes without any fear of molestation.
“Every Nigerian is encouraged to come out on the election day and cast his or her vote without any fear of molestation. The security personnel are ready and prepared to protect everybody.
“Anybody that feels that he can come out and disrupt process should have a rethink because that situation will not be allowed. If you plan and allow yourself to be used as touts, whatever happens to you, you will take it.
“Ballot snatching, ballot buying, thuggery will never be allowed, anybody that is planning to snatch ballot boxes or planning to be used as a tout, will have his or herself to blame on the Election Day. So you better don’t allow yourself to be used.” he said
…appeals for calm
The governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Uche Nwosu, on Tuesday, reassured that the party will deliver President Muhammadu Buhari in the rescheduled Presidential election.
Nwosu, who briefed journalists in Owerri, noted that the postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly election has not dampened his zeal and that of his supporters, adding that they will come and enmasse to cast their votes for the President.
According to him, even though the postponement came at a great cost to Nigerians, it would have been more costly if at the end of the day the election was discovered to have been compromised.
In his words, “we are prepared to deliver President Muhammadu Buhari on February 23, there is no going back on that. We are still committed to our promise to deliver one million votes to President Muhammadu Buhari and not even the shock and disappointment of the postponement can alter our resolve”.
He continued that, “on the day that the election was scheduled to hold, we had already mobilized massively and we were sure of victory for the President before the election was postponed but we are back to the trenches and we are seriously mobilizing our members across the state ahead the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections”.
Nwosu, however, enjoined members of the party, as well as all his supporters across party lines to remain calm and rise above the pains and disappointment of the election postponement and focus on the job at hand, “we should not despair, we should remain resolute in our support for President Muhammadu Buhari and make that we come out and vote on the new date”.
No fewer than three thousand food vendors in Oyo state under the Federal Government Home Grown School Feeding Programme embarked on a peaceful work around Ibadan, the Oyo state capital city to declare their support for the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The said the peaceful walk became imperative to show solidarity for the president on the heels of the postponement of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The food vendors who prepares meal for the school children from across the 33 local governments areas of the state said the school feeding initiative has not only helped them for means of livelihood as parents, it has also helped improve school attendance by school-age children in the state.
The vendors, mostly women also commended the All Progressive Congress (APC) led initiative as time-saving for farmers across the various sectors as the feeding programme has been helping to mop up farm produce that used to be in excess and discouragement to farmers.
Speaking at Oke-Ado were the vendors converge before hitting the street, the Oyo state coordinator, Mrs Ajobo Toyosi said they decided to endorse and declare support for Muhammadu Buhari because of the impact the Home Grown School Feeding Programme is having on their lives as well as on the children in promoting good education.
She also thanked the Oyo state governor, Abiola Ajimobi for agreeing to let the state be used as a pilot for the scheme.
Ajobo said, “We want to thank President Muhammadu Buhari that we are so grateful and we wish him good health. We the food vendors in Oyo state are so grateful for his kind gestures.
“As parents, we got the job to take care of our families and it is also good for our children from Primary 1 to 3, the school children numbers are increasing and they all happy staying in school as they eat free food.
“With all these, we are sure that President Muhammadu Buhari wants to increase and progress for all Nigerians. With this food, children come to school early and even stay in school and we are grateful, as parents and as the ones preparing the food for them.
“We the food vendors in Oyo state decided to use this rally to declare our support for PMB for his second term bid because we believed in him.
“We have over 3,000 vendors who are participating in the rally so that the whole world will know that we are solidly behind this government and President Buhari who has helped us to stabilize our lives.
“Agriculture is improving. Before now, when farmers in the farm make their product the excess that they don’t sell ends up as waste which often discourages them from farming. But when the FG started the initiative, farming has gone to another level and all farm produce are now in abundance and selling fast.
“We patronize the farmers and poultry producers who are always happy for creating the market to help mop up their farm produce. We are grateful to PMB for the efforts. We also want to thank Governor Abiola Ajimobi for allowing the state to be part of the first batch to accept the programme. We are really grateful because we are better for it.
Also, the state financial secretary of the group, Mrs. Bola Ajagbe, expressed happiness that despite not been a politician or card-carrying member of any party, she was shortlisted to be a beneficiary of the scheme.
She noted that the transparent and non-partisan nature of the selection of the vendors makes the initiative a truly national project in the interest of developing the people and the country as a whole.
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.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (lNEC) has okayed resumption of political campaign
The commission, at the end of its management meeting on Monday evening, said all campaigns for the rescheduled Presidential and National Assembly elections end on Thursday.
Details shortly…
Over 600 hoodlums have been prosecuted in Kano electoral- related crimes, Commissioner of Police Mohammed Wakil has stated.
Wakili, who spoke during an interactive session with reporters at the Command headquarters, added his men arrested over 780 suspects in connection to alleged electoral violence and political thuggery in the state.
According to him, the command is determined to ensure the conduct of peaceful rescheduled elections.
He said the rate at which youths were turned into political thugs was very alarming, especially at this moment of electioneering.
He stated: “we have arrested over 780 youths and suspected bandits who are being used as political thugs.
“These criminal elements also engage in pick-pockets, harassment of innocent citizens who they waylay and snatch their phones and other personal belongings.’’
Wakili noted over 600 out of the suspects have been prosecuted, adding that arrangements have been concluded to arraign others.
“We are serious on this mission to stamp out thuggery from Kano politics.
“We are leaving no stone unturned to make sure that Kano remains peaceful before, during and after the general elections.
“I call on parents and political leaders to guide their wards and followers. It is no fun for us arresting these youths, but they should obey the law and become good ambassadors of the society,” he stated.
He maintained that the Police in the state had embarked on special operations aimed at curtailing the menace of drug abuse in Kano.
According to him: “We have also declared total war against drug dealers and users because drug abuse is the major catalyst that drives these youths crazy and lead them into committing all sorts of crimes.”
He urged parents, guardians, community and religious leaders to collaborate with the Police and other security agencies aimed at addressing the challenges of drug abuse in Kano.
The People’s Democratic Party ( PDP ) has alleged plots by President Muhammadu Buhari and the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) to trigger widespread political crisis, aimed at derailing the democratic process and plunge the nation into anarchy.
The opposition party particularly faulted the President’s directive to the security agencies to deal ruthlessly with any ballot box snatchers and others that may act in ways that could threaten the electoral process.
A statement Monday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP viewed President Buhari’s directive as “threat to the lives of Nigerians”.
The President had, during the APC caucus meeting held in Abuja Monday, said anyone caught snatching ballot boxes should consider the offence the very last they would ever commit.
But the PDP said President Buhari’s statement was a direct call for jungle justice and attempt to divert public attention from details of APC’s caucus meeting where the President issued the warning.
The statement said, “We do hope that this call by President Buhari is not a camouflage for the fake soldiers mobilized by the APC to shoot at innocent Nigerians, snatch ballot boxes and execute their rigging plans on the election day. It is indeed a license to kill, which should not come from any leader of any civilized nation.
“The underlining fact to the above is that President Buhari and APC leaders, upon getting to their voting constituencies last Saturday, realized that there is a nationwide rejection of Buhari’s re-election bid, and this has thrown them into a panic mode.
“President Buhari must however bear in mind that his resort to threats and scaremongering will not deter Nigerians from coming out en-masse to vote him out of office on February 23.
“We are aware that President Buhari, who had earlier boasted that nobody can ‘unseat’ him, is bent on using every dictatorial and tyrannical act to truncate the process of a free, fair and credible election”.
The party also said intelligence available to it showed that the Buhari Presidency has directed the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reshuffle the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs).
According to the PDP, the alleged deployment was to eagle INEC deploy “compromised” officials to manipulate the electoral process in President favour, adding, as they did with the police shortly before February 16.
The said it’s also aware of the pressure allegedly being mounted by the Buhari Presidency on INEC to cancel elections in some states and make others inconclusive so as to achieve the President’s objectives of a staggered election not minding the crisis such will trigger across the federation.
“We want Nigerians and the international community to hold President Buhari personally responsible for any electoral crisis, otherwise he will as usual, claim that he was not aware of the plots and transfer the blame to Adams Oshiomhole and Rotimi Amaechi.
“It is already known that President Buhari has been unrelenting in his attempts to subdue our democracy by trying to subjugate the legislature, emasculate the judiciary and seize control of the electoral umpire.
“Nevertheless, the PDP wants to assure President Buhari that our nation is bigger than him and that Nigerians will never allow him and the APC to rig this election.
“Nigerians have reach an irreversible democratic consensus to vote Buhari out and elect the Peoples Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is ready to rescue our nation from the hardship, anguish, agony and bloodletting which the Buhari administration has plunged us,” the statement added