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Tag: Ondo governorship poll

  • 16 parties for Ondo governorship poll

    16 parties for Ondo governorship poll

    • Ondo PDP primary: Another aspirant rejects consensus candidate

    Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said yesterday that 16 parties have indicated interest in participating in the November off-cycle governorship election in Ondo State.

    Yakubu, who spoke at a meeting with leaders of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Abuja, however, said the commission would no longer accredit CSOs, who failed to submit a report of their election monitoring to the commission after every election.

    He said some CSOs were yet to submit their report and recommendations for the 2023 general election as a fulfilment of one of the conditions for their accreditation.

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    Yakubu said the commission would publish the particulars of candidates for the Edo State governorship election on March 31, in line with the timetable and schedule of activities for the election.

    Another governorship aspirant in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, Otunba Bamidele Akingboye, has rejected plot by some leaders of the party for the emergence of a consensus candidate, to avoid a rancorous primary election.

    Akingboye, who spoke to reporters in Akure after purchasing his nomination form, said he no longer believed in the consensus arrangement.

    He said he was ready to step down for a consensus candidate, but he couldn’t find any aspirant more qualified than himself.

    Former Governor Olusegun Mimiko and some leaders of the Ondo PDP had, last month, met with eight aspirants and urged them to look for ways to adopt a consensus candidate.

    Last week, Adeolu Akinwumi, an engineer; bought the nomination form and said he had backed out of the consensus arrangement.

  • Ondo governorship poll and INEC

    Ondo governorship poll and INEC

    After months of bitter political campaigns, the fiercely contested Ondo State gubernatorial election finally reached its conclusion with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaring the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Olurotimi Akeredolu, winner with 244,842 votes. Akeredolu clinched the exalted political position  in the Sunshine State by defeating his closest rivals – Eyitayo Jegede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Olusola Oke  of the Alliance of Democracy (AD), who polled 150,380 and  126,889 votes  respectively.
    But unlike the just-concluded United States presidential election result which sent shockwaves around the world, the Ondo poll did not betray the expectations of many political pundits who had earlier tipped Akeredolu as one to beat in the race.
    The election has been largely adjudged as not only free and fair but also credible by all the election observers and participating political parties. Many have also gone as far as scoring INEC as high as 99 per cent in the conduct of the election, particularly observers.
    While the Prof. Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC left no one in doubt that it is ever and fully competent and committed to credible election as exhibited in Ondo State, the November 26, poll has also drawn a pocket of criticism from some elements on issues bordering on pre-election matters.
    The governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, fired the first salvo on the electoral umpire. Fayose, who reportedly accused the commission of complicity in the run-up to the election, said that the PDP went to the election with its hands tied to the back because of the uncharitable actions of INEC regarding the issue of the party candidate.
    But the governor failed to tell Nigerians whether INEC was responsible for the emergence of two factions in PDP or the conflicting judgements that threw up two candidates for the  same election before the intervention of the Supreme Court. It is high time politicians purge themselves of the penchant for casting aspersion on the electoral umpire to score cheap political points. There is no need to shout wolf where there is none in the conduct of INEC in the election, as doing that will not only endanger democracy in the country but also tarnish the image of highly-respected individuals who work day and night to ensure that election in the country are not only free and fair but also credible.
    The November 26, Ondo  State guber poll, which many political commentators have already dubbed “a textbook approach of free and fair election,”  is worthy of commendations. INEC deserves a pat on the back for improving on its performance in the also well-adjudged Edo State gubernatorial election.
    As testified by election observers who monitored the Ondo State poll, materials and men for the election were deployed as early  as 7:30 am while accreditation and voting started as early as 8: 30 am in almost all the polling units across the state. Card readers were fully used in the election to avoid issue of rigging and over-voting. Faulty card readers were replaced with immediate alacrity and in some few cases incidence forms were used to ensure no eligible voter was disenfranchised.   The swiftness in which the electoral umpire announced the result further endeared INEC to Nigerians and put paid to  any perceived conspiratorial theory.
    The nation’s security agencies that participated in the election  also  lived up to expectation as there was no incident of violence or loss of life during  the election, apart from the skirmishes that occurred in Owo a day before the poll.
    All the political parties, apart from the PDP, totally accepted the outcome of the election as a reflection of what transpired in all the polling booths in the state. The three candidates that garnered the highest votes in the election all exhibited their strengths in their various strongholds. While the eventual winner, Akeredolu garnered large chunk of votes from his Ondo North Senatorial zone and other areas, the PDP candidate, Jegede, showed that he was a major force to reckon with in Ondo Central even as AD’s Oke gave a good account of his political prowess   in the southern part of the state where he hails from.
    As torrent of commendations continues to pour in over the peaceful conduct of politicians and INEC performance in Ondo State, it is the expectation of many Nigerians that the same feat will be replicated, if not surpassed, in the forthcoming Rivers State rerun election. INEC will have to remain resolute as ever, because politicians will always be politicians.
    While I commend the security agencies for protecting human lives and ensuring electorate did not cast their vote in a tense environment, their chiefs will have to look into the allegation of vote-buying. The allegation that security agents watch each political party openly inducing voters with money to vote for their candidates must be probed and, if found to be true, culprits must be punished. But to be just, security agents assigned to work with INEC during election must be well taken care of, both by the authorities and INEC. Only then can we achieve a near perfect election.

    •Amadi, a public affairs commentator, writes in from Abuja.

  • Ondo governorship poll of controversies

    Ondo governorship poll of controversies

    IN their response to allegations of orchestrated fiddling with delegates’ votes during the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election, leaders of the party simply brushed off protests by three aspirants whom they said did not do enough to substantiate their complaints. The three — Olusegun Abraham, Ajayi Boroffice and Olusola Oke — felt so aggrieved that they distanced themselves from subsequent party activities. The party’s preferred candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu, who is also believed to be a sort of lightning rod for a budding faction of the party based in Abuja, has felt so confident about victory in the November 26 poll that he has carried on regardless of the feelings of the aggrieved troika. Yet, the troika commands such a large following in the state that it is near impossible for candidate Akeredolu, a lawyer and senior advocate, to win without their support.
    But whether Mr Akeredolu would win or not, it is chastening that the APC has not felt the need to discharge the burden of justice evoked by the primary election, let alone convince the three aggrieved aspirants that they had legitimate concerns about the motives of the party in skewing the primary in one person’s favour. Mr Akeredolu’s backers felt so emboldened that they even organised a photo opportunity for their candidate with the president sometime last week. Could that translate into victory? It is doubtful, for the only man really scouring one rural community and town after another is Mr Oke, who is also a lawyer and grassroots politician. He is candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to which he defected.
    The two Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) factional candidates, Jimoh Ibrahim from the Ali Modu Sheriff faction and Eyitayo Jegede of the Ahmed Makarfi faction, are embroiled in a bitter struggle to get the Independent National Electoral Commission’s final approval. The governor, Olusegun Mimiko, is with Mr Jegede. Consequently, the two disputants’ campaigns have been constrained by the court cases hanging on their necks. With Mr Akeredolu not really a dyed-in-the-wool politician, and Messrs Jegede and Ibrahim playing cat and mouse, it has left the field and the whole excitement to Mr Oke. Should he secure the tacit support of both Messrs Boroffice and Abraham, it could make him the man to beat on the 26th. That is of course assuming that the pusillanimous INEC can manage to conclude the election and ensure fidelity to electoral principles and procedures.
    What is, however, most important in the Ondo poll is the confusion plaguing the APC. Not only has the party’s leadership in Abuja been hijacked by forces which also betrayed Kogi State in the last governorship election, it is now also clear that the party is engaged in an internal struggle to demystify one of their own in a campaign that makes party leaders subordinate party principles to private and selfish goals. If this is not terrible enough, then consider that the party, by disavowing internal justice, is also showing that its mantra has nothing to do with the great and lofty philosophies it has propagated since 2013, but the practical and grasping philosophy of intrigues and subversion to secure personal advantage.
    This column usually endorses a candidate for important elections irrespective of their outcomes. It has decided to endorse Mr Oke, whether he wins or loses. The reason is that right from the inception of this column, it has never sided with injustice, especially one so flagrant and insulting as the one that produced Mr Akeredolu. Should Messrs Boroffice and Abraham decide to bury the hatchet to ensure APC victory, this column will still gladly side with Mr Oke to underscore the point that yielding an inch to unfairness, not to talk of one triggered by a determination to punish or outwit a faction of the party’s leadership, is embarking on a dangerous misadventure whose consequences cannot be gauged. But why not Mr Ibrahim or Mr Jegede? Mr Ibrahim is a spoiler in the mould of Donald Trump of the U.S. He stands grandly and obtrusively for nothing. And Mr Jegede, despite his geniality and sophistication, is a stooge of Dr Mimiko, the obtuse thinker and non-performing governor whose tainted support is a negation of the little political morality his protégé claims to possess and represent.

  • Ondo governorship poll: Sheriff backs Jegede

    Ondo governorship poll: Sheriff backs Jegede

    The disputed National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, has thrown his weight behind the party’s governorship candidate in Ondo State, Eyitayo Jegede.

    In a statement yesterday by his media aide, Inuwa Bwala, Sheriff said as a law abiding citizen, he was bound by the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Jegede as the party’s candidate.

    Stating his commitment to treat issues on merit and in accordance with the law, Sheriff dismissed insinuations linking him with the various petitions against the electoral body.

    According to him, both Jegede and Jimoh Ibrahim, who is contesting INEC’s choice, are respectable members of the PDP and that it made no difference which of the two eventually got the ticket.

    Sheriff had submitted the name of Ibrahim to the INEC as the party’s choice candidate.

    He, however, stated that INEC was bound to act based on its own mandate.

    “Sheriff is not unmindful of events leading to the emergence of the two candidates, but wishes to assure Nigerians that steps are being taken to resolve all such issues even beyond what INEC may do, to avoid past experiences occasioned by internal bickering in the PDP,” the statement added.

    The statement conveyed Sheriff’s assurances to the people of Ondo State that he had joined other party leaders in working for the victory of the PDP candidate in the election.

     

  • Appeal Court judgment on Ondo governorship poll

    From all I have demonstrated above my inescapable conclusion is that from the pleadings and the totality of the evidence the Tribunal was not right in declining jurisdiction on the issue of the validity of the 2012 Voters Register that has allegedly not compiled in accordance or compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended. However, on the pleaded facts and evidence the various acts of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2010 orchestrated in the petition have not been shown to have substantially affected the outcome of the election.

    Section 168(1) of the Evidence Act, 2011 provides that when a judicial or official act is shown to have been done in a manner substantially regular, it is presumed that formal requisites for its validity were complied with. This presumption, rebuttable though, enures in favour the judgment of the Tribunal appealed. The burden is on the Appellant to show that the judgment appealed is a travesty of justice. These Appellants have not shown how the judgment appealed had occasioned substantial injustice of miscarriage of justice to them in the light of the facts and the prevailing circumstances of the extant Electoral Act, 2010. Apart from the Tribunal wrongfully declining jurisdiction on the issue whether the Voters Register used in the election was valid in law and in compliance with the Electoral Act, 2010 it is my firm view that the Tribunal correctly exercised its discretion to dismiss the Petition No. EPT/GOV/02/2013 filed by the Appellants herein.

    All the findings of fact on non-accreditation, over voting, and the sundry acts of electoral malpractices pleaded by the Appellants, as the Petitioners, were made upon painstaking and scrupulous evaluation of the evidential materials on them. Upon these proper evaluations of facts, as done by the Tribunal, the findings of the Tribunal on the issues of non-accreditation, corrupt practices, and the sundry acts of electoral malpractice cannot be faulted. It is, of course, trite that an appellate court will not readily interfere with findings of fact made upon proper evaluation, unless the findings are perverse. It is on this trite principle of law and practice that I refuse to disturb those findings.

    Chief Olanipekun, SAN of Counsel for the 1st Respondent seemed to have suggested that the 1st Appellant, himself, was a beneficiary of the acts of indiscretion or illegal injection of names or registrants into the 2012 Voters Register. The 1st Appellant was the candidate sponsored by the 2nd Appellant in the election. The blanket allegation of illegal injection of names into the register without complying with Section 19 and 20 of the Electoral Act, 2010 would seem to make the Appellants in pari delicto in the very acts they complain of against the INEC, the 3rd Respondent, in this appeal. According to the Senior Counsel for 1st Respondent this is a case of a pot calling a kettle black. I leave this judgment at that without any further comments of mine.

    I make no order as costs.

    • Ejembi Eko Justice, Court of Appeal.