The Nation Newspaper

Tag: parties

  • Parties urged to include under-represented groups in activities

    Parties urged to include under-represented groups in activities

    Country Director, Westemister Foundation for Democracy (WFD), Adebowale Olorunmola has called on political parties to include under-represented groups in their activities.

    Olorunmola urged the parties to make their platforms open to them for political participation.

    He said this at a leadership conference to promote inclusive political party practices organised by WFD in Abuja yesterday.

    He said in 2027 Nigeria must have a different story contrary to what it has had in the year, especially among the under-represented groups.

    He said: “Political parties are the only platform where all, including the vulnerable, can contest for election because the country does not have an independent candidate yet.”

    He asked how many political parties have persons with disability in their Boards of Trustees, National Working Committees or delegates during primaries.

    He said the people involved were often mostly males, adding that the WFD was looking at parties that would be guided by their constitution by signing peace accord with the foundation

    Read Also: ‘Why we must celebrate Nigeria for ensuring democracy stands’

    Prof. Fatai Badru of the University of Jos, Plateau State, who gave the keynote address, said there was a need to promote inclusive participation among political parties and commitment to implementation.

    He said political parties must proffer solutions to deal with exclusion of these groups, adding that the factors responsible for the discrimination must be identified.

    He called for a strategy to ameliorate the menace, adding that there was no conscious evidence that political parties were ready to absorb the under-represented group.

    Director – General, National Institute for Democratic and Legislative Studies (NILDS), Prof Abubakar Suleiman urged President Bola Tinubu not to appoint persons of his age group as the Minister of Youths.

    He commended the president for appointing a substantial number of women into his cabinet, most of whom he said were youths.

    He said: “You can see what the president has done by bringing sizeable numbers of women into his cabinet. Now, we need a youth as the minister of youth, not a person of my age.”

    He called on political parties not to fail in reflecting on how to deepen democratic processes by their action in refusing to give the women, youth and persons with disability a chance.

    He said a political party that excluded the youth, women and persons with disability had excluded the majority in participating in democracy.

    He said: “Political parties exist as a platform where broad based ideas should be actualised and it’s a fulcrum for inclusion where ambitions should be realised. “

    He said the abysmal representation of women in the 2023 election, where 3.6 per cent women were represented in elective positions, was unacceptable.

    According to him, Nigeria retrogressed from 25 Senators to 15 Senators and nine to three House of Representative members from 2019 and 2023.

    He said as long as persons with disability, women and youth were left out of decision making, the country was still practicing monarchical government, adding that the party structure must accommodate them.

  • Parties seek unbundling of INEC for efficiency

    The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the umbrella body of all registered political parties in the country, has proposed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) be unbundled to make it more efficient.

    IPAC said the electoral body currently has too many responsibilities to handle.

    The council said an unbundled INEC should be left with the responsibility of conducting free, fair and credible elections for the country.

    IPAC’s Chairman Peter Ameh spoke at this year’s annual summit of political parties and stakeholders.

    The summit reviewed the conduct of the political parties during this year’s general elections.

    The event was organised by Political Parties Leadership and Policy Development Centre of the National Institute for Policy and strategic Studies (NIPSS) with support from the European Centre for Electoral Reforms.

    Read also: Okorocha: INEC lacks power to reverse my election

    Also, Niger State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Sam Egwu, who represented INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission was concerned about the unbundling of the commission for more efficiency.

    Ameh said this year’s general election was marred by irregularities resulting from what he called structural failure on the part of the commission due to the huge responsibilities it is meant to handle.

    He said: “We are here today to carry out a review of the 2019 general election, which was marred by various malpractices and all sorts of electoral malpractices, desperation by politicians, high level of thuggery, vote-buying, citizens’ inaction and civil society failure to be non-partisan.

    “There were security agents perceived to be biased and the structural failure by the INEC. I called it structural failure because of my long-standing conviction that INEC should be unbundled, if we all want electoral efficiency. INEC should be unbundled if we all want an electoral system that will work effectively, free of all forms of baggage.

    “As it presently stands, INEC carries a lot of responsibilities. It is responsible for registration of political parties, it is responsible for voter education, it is responsible for voter registration as well as legal activities involving those that have gone to court as a result of elections that have been adjudged unsuitable.”

     

     

  • Parties beyond the 2019 poll

    Now that outcomes in about all outstanding constituencies under the 2019 general election cycle have been electorally – take note: not judicially – decided, attention must turn to life beyond the poll.

    While awaiting the final reports of the many international and domestic observers of those recent elections, and, of course, the upshots of associated litigations, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has served notice that it is already looking ahead to off-season governorship poll in Kogi and Bayelsa states. The public’s expectation is that the electoral body will mine lessons from practical circumstances of the just-concluded poll to improve its processes for future elections. But that is concerning INEC. For Nigeria’s legion of political parties, it seems just the perfect time to head back to the smithery and rework their brand if there’s one, or freshly forge one if there’s none. The whole idea is to prospect for better relevance in the scheme of things.

    Before the electoral commission called a halt to registering political parties ahead of the 2019 general election, it had a haul of 91 of them on its roll, out of which 73 parties put in appearance for the February 23rd presidential poll. For most part, that appearance was tokenistic, because the election was in actual terms a two-horse race between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Considerably fewer numbers of political parties pitched in respectively for the other elections into the national assembly, governorships and state houses of assembly. Still, the 2019 poll featured a grossly crowded field of contending parties compared with the 2015 general election for which only 30 parties were on INEC’s register, out of which 14 parties stepped up to the plate for that year’s presidential poll.

    Now that the 2019 general election is behind, the statute of time limitation on INEC to register more parties has lapsed. And you need no special skills to forecast that new associations will soon begin to file applications to get on the electoral roll. With the minimalist criteria prescribed in our laws, the commission can’t help enlisting most fresh applicants; and that means the number of registered parties in Nigeria will yet swell beyond the present level that many would argue is already bloated. The catch here is: other than the few political parties with some stake in power at different constituency levels, nothing typically gets heard from the fringe parties until the next election cycle when they – some, certainly not all – barely manage to rouse and put in nominal appearance on the ballot for select constituency elections.

    Under Nigerian electoral law, there is virtually nothing stopping any party getting on the ballot for any election. But then, the electoral commission has never shied from making clear the challenges that huge numbers of fringe parties pose for its logistics and other processes in the context of elections – among them, its statutory mandate to monitor the parties’ primaries before the poll, and the time it would take after voting to return winners through the forest of also-rans. The immediate past leadership of INEC under Professor Attahiru Jega attempted resolving those challenges by applying the provisions of Section 78(7) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as Amended) in deregistering some dormant political parties. Only it was overruled by the courts, which held the said Electoral Act provisions inconsistent with freedoms guaranteed by our country’s Constitution. By the way, it curious (isn’t it?) that those provisions yet remain in the Electoral Act as of today.

    But having a crowd of political parties on the electoral roll is not by itself the problem. Many of the world’s pluralist democracies parade bloated registers of political parties that do not, for that very reason, hobble their electoral system. A recent publication by the Election Commission of India, the world’s largest democracy, which kicked off its marathon (six-week-long) election just last Thursday, showed that the country had 1,841 registered parties. But those parties were restricted to jurisdictions and couldn’t play beyond their respective sphere. Of the whole number, there were seven as national parties, 51 as state parties, and 1,785 ‘unrecognised’ parties – so designated because they did not enjoy the privileges attached to ‘recognition’ by the electoral commission such as a reserved party symbol, free broadcast time on state-run media, being consulted in the setting of election dates, and making input to electoral rules and regulations. Meanwhile, the electoral body periodically reviews the parties’ respective status based objective criteria.

    In the United States, the country whose model we have adopted in Nigeria, the historical duopoly of the Democrats and Republicans has not shut out other players. Although those two parties exclusively alternate power and share the seats in Congress, there are at least three minor parties at the national level namely the Libertarian Party, the Green Party and the Constitution Party. That is not mentioning scores of other parties at the state and regional levels. But here’s the catch: whereas the fringe parties do not hold any seat in Congress, their existence is sufficiently justified by their active preoccupation with self-assigned social and ideological agenda. For instance, the Libertarians advocate non-interventionist foreign policy and civil liberties; the Greens are left-wing environmentalists who promote social democracy and respect for diversity, peace and non-violence; while the Constitutionalists canvass American nationalism, greater attention to the U.S. Constitution, and conservative ethics of Christianity such as opposition to abortion.

    Besides, U.S. parties all have strict jurisdictional fields of play. But the places to really find political parties for whom political power isn’t the major objective are the states and communalities. Yes, you read that right: the operational relevance of most parties, by design, is restricted to the states and provinces. Other than Independents, allowed by the country’s Constitution, minor parties include the United States Marijuana Party, which obviously is keen on marijuana legalisation; the New Black Panther Party, which promotes Black Nationalism; the United States Pacifist Party, concerned with pacifism; and the United States Pirate Party that is focused on Pirate politics. Among a throng of others, regional parties include the Natural Law Party in Michigan; New York State Right to Life Party, Rent Is Too Damn High Party, and Women’s Equality Party – all in New York; and then, Ecology Democracy Party and Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party – both in Minnesota.

    Even in United Kingdom where the Liberal Democrats pose a third force to the parliamentary duopoly of the Conservative and Labour parties, there are other major parties that contest within specific regions – say, in Ireland and Scotland. And those are national parties. Several local parties contest only within a specific area, a single county, borough or district.

    The point here is that even though Nigerian electoral law, as we already observed, does not prescribe jurisdictional limits for political parties, the parties could by themselves consolidate their base jurisdictionally ahead of the 2023 general election. One ready way of doing that, perhaps, is by gunning for a stake in respective local government elections.

    And that is for parties keen only on political power. Nigerian parties should begin to commit to social and community causes, on which basis they could connect with the public and drive for membership that would evolve to become their regular support base. That should be a foundation on which to subsequently build the quest for political power.

    But to really tidy up the clogged electoral system in this country, INEC must itself pursue evolving regulations for ballot access by political parties, or, at least, status regulation of the parties as is the case in India.

     

    • Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.be for conversation.

  • Parties, others: APC plotting to rig Imo elections

    Governorship candidates in Imo State and pressure groups have described the redeployment of senior police officers in the state, including the commissioner, Dasuki Galadanchi, as a ploy to manipulate the elections in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    They said the redeployment of the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Ali Janga, to Imo, barely two months to the election, was a calculated attempt to rig the polls.

    The Main Igbo Movement (MIM) alleged Janga was drafted to the state to do a hatchet job for APC, saying it was the same Janga, who aided Ahmed Gulak to compromise APC governorship primaries.

    Its National President, Nze Simeon Okokwe, who addressed reporters in Owerri, said: “The manner the senior police officers were transferred from the state without considering the security implications leaves no one in doubt that APC wants to use the police and security agencies to compromise the election.

    “We know the antecedents of Ali Janga in states he had conducted elections, especially Osun and Ekiti; he is the one APC uses to do hatchet jobs. We, therefore, call on the Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris, to rescind the decision.

    “Though we do not meddle into internal affairs of the police, we will not fold our arms and allow APC rig the election.”

    Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Ifeanyi Araraume reminded the incoming commissioner that “Imo is a no-nonsense state”.

    He advised Janga to restrict himself to securing life and property, and not allow himself to be used against the people.

    Araraume said the people would resist any attempt to subvert their will.

    Speaking through his Contact and Mobilisation Director Vitalis Ajumbe, the APGA candidate said he was contended with any police commissioner deployed in the state, but warned that the state would not “condone any form of irregularity from any quarter”.

    He said: “You know Imo is an enlightened state, whatever the people of Kogi think might not be what Imo people think. We are comfortable with whoever they bring here, but we are a no-nonsense state and we shall resist any form of rigging”.

    Former Governor and governorship candidate of Accord Party Ikedi Ohakim warned that the Imo electorate would not allow anyone to subvert their mandate.

    Ohakim, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Collins Ughalaa, said he was not perturbed about the changes in the police hierarchy, but the people would resist any plan to undermine the election by anybody or party.

    “We have implicit trust in President Muhammadu Buhari as a man of integrity to allow the will of the people to  preval. We believe that he will do the right thing by ensuring that security agencies are not used by desperate politicians to manipulate the election,” he added.

  • Parties to sign peace accord Dec 11

    POLITICAL parties are to sign peace accord agreement on December 11, it was learnt yesterday.

    This was agreed after a meeting in Abuja between the Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar-led National Peace Committee and registered political parties.

    The meeting is aimed at ensuring peace before, during and after the 2019 general elections slated for February 16 and March 2, 2019.

    The committee met with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday on the preparedness of the electoral body and promised to help address some of its challenges.

    Briefing reporters at the end of the meeting, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Matthew Hassan Kukah said after extensive discussions, the parties agree to ensure a peaceful elections.

    Bishop Kukah noted that the parties also agreed to adopt the principle of 2015, as a template ahead of the general polls.

    He said: “We discussed the theme of trust as a key ingredient in the conduct of our affairs.  In the end, we have resolved to adopt the same principles that guided the very successful 2015 elections and therefore commit ourselves to run issues-based campaigns at national, state and local government levels.

    “In this, we pledge to refrain from campaigns that will involve religious incitement, ethnic or tribal profiling, both by ourselves and by all agents acting in our names.”

    The parties are also expected to commit themselves to monitoring the adherence to the provisions of the peace accord and to support institutions of government and the security agencies to act and be seen to act with impartiality.

    Under the initiative, the committee said the political parties and politicians are to forcefully and publicly speak out against provocative utterances and oppose acts of electoral violence,  whether perpetuated by  supporters or opponents.

    In his remark at the meeting, Abubakar admonished them to help stem election violence and the growing practice of hate speeches.

    He cautioned the parties and their candidates on the need to ensure a successful and rancour-free campaign.

     

     

  • Parties in last-minute rush to submit candidates’ names

    It was a flurry of activities yesterday at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Collection Centre as Political parties engaged in last-minute rush to submit list of candidates for the states elections.

    INEC had fixed November 2 as the last day for submission for the March 2, 2019 polls, in accordance with the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

    The submission started on Monday with low attendance.

    However, as the closing hour drew near, major political parties besieged the International Conference Centre (ICC), INEC collection Centre to submit the list of candidates for governorship and State House of Assembly elections.

    At the time of filing this report, 38 political parties had submitted their forms.

    They include the PDP, All Progressive Congress (APC), African Democratic Party (ADC), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Labour Party (LP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), among others.

    United Progressives Party (UPP), Green Party, Accord Party, Nigeria Community Movement Party (NCMP) were also among political parties waiting to submit their forms.

    Our correspondent, who was at the submission centre, gathered that most political parties were at different stages of submission of their nominations forms.

  • Parties in last-minute rush to submit names to INEC

    Political parties yesterday resorted to a last minute rush to beat the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deadline for the submission of list of candidates for the elections.

    INEC scheduled the submission of parties’ candidates’ names for the Presidential and National Assembly between Oct. 10 and Oct. 18 and deadline for the Governorship and State Assemblies election on Nov. 2.

    The International Conference Center (ICC) Abuja venue was a beehive  as many party leaders and representatives were just arriving at the venue at about 6:00 p.m.

    To fast track the submission process, INEC grouped the political parties into seven teams, comprising 13 parties in each group.

    Some of the parties’ representatives came into the venue with some of their forms to obtain tally, while still sorting other forms elsewhere, to beat the deadline.

    Some were seen using torch lights at car park to sort their forms before submission.

    While the deadline is fixed for Thursday, last political party to obtain INEC tally before 12 midnight would be allowed to submit its forms.

    The Presidential candidate and National Chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Dr Yunusa Tanko commended INEC for the arrangement.

    Tanko, who was still waiting to submit with tally number 37

    Eunice Atuejide, National Chairman, National Interest Party, also commended the process, saying INEC was not responsible for the rush.

    Presidential Candidate of the Zenith Labour Party Dr. Olusegun Mimiko was at the venue with the party’s National Chairman Dan Nwanyanwu.

    The party got tally 73 as at 5.30 p.m.

    The National Chairman of the Advanced People’s Democratic Alliance, Mohammed Shittu, attributed the delay in submission to large size of country.

    The National Chairman of the Young Progressives Party Bishop Amakiri who was still waiting to be called for submission of his party’s forms, said the delay was to make sure that everything was properly done to avoid unnecessary mistakes associated with rush.

    The National Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alfa Mohammed, said that the party got tally number 78.

  • N14b pension scam: Parties to adopt final addresses

    An FCT High Court in Maitama yesterday adjourned till December 5, for the adoption of final written addresses on a trial-within-trial called by Veronica Onyegbula.

    Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf adjourned following the absence of the prosecutor, who came late to court.

    Onyegbula is the fourth defendant in the case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against her and six others.

    They were accused of diverting N14 billion police pension fund.

    Others are: Esar Dangabar, Atiku Kigo, Ahmed Wada, Sani Zira, Uzoma Attang, and Christian Madubuke.

    Onyegbula’s counsel Mr. Ernest Ikeji told the court that EFCC forced her to make statements, which it wanted to tender and prayed for a trial-within-trial.

    Onyegbula said she made 10 statements, five of which were dictated to her.

    She added that the EFCC asked her to cooperate so that they would call her as a witness to testify against her directors.

    The accused said she was promised by the EFCC that if she cooperated, her charges would be dropped.

    Justice Yusuf ordered a trial-within-trial to ascertain whether or not Onyegbula’s statements to EFCC were voluntary.

    The prosecution called three witnesses and closed its case; Onyegbula gave her testimony and closed her case.

  • INEC to parties: Sunday’s deadline for primaries sacrosanct

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) warned political parties yesterday that Sunday’s deadline to conduct primaries to pick candidates for the 2019 elections and resolution of disputes remains sacrosanct.

    INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee Solomon Soyebi said “the resolution was made at the end of the commission’s weekly meeting on Thursday in Abuja’’.

    He said 89 of the 91 registered political parties that gave notice of their intentions to conduct primaries as required by the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) had commenced and were at various stages of the process.

    He added that “INEC wishes to restate that the conduct of primaries and resolution of all disputes arising therefrom must be concluded on or before Oct. 7 as earlier published in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 general elections.

    “The last day for submission of lists of sponsored candidates (Form CFOO2) and personal particulars (Form CF001) remains Oct. 18 for Presidential and National Assembly and Nov. 2 for Governorship and State Houses of Assembly.”

    Soyebi restated that the commission would only accept list of candidates submitted by the National Chairman and the National Secretary.

  • Parties, observers, others take stock of Osun poll

    A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs), the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, political parties and others yesterday took stock of Saturday’s inconclusive governorship election in Osun State.

    The CSOs expressed worry over the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) delay in collating the Osun governorship election result.

    The Convener of the Situation Room, Mr Clement Nwankwo, in a statement yesterday, said there was need for INEC to change the trend on collation of results and use of electronic method.

    Nwankwo also expressed concern that the result collation took place mostly at night.

    “On collation of results, Situation Room is concerned that the process of collation is delayed and appears to happen mostly at night.

    “This is when the political parties, candidates, observers and other election stakeholders may have depleted away from observation of the process, especially with fears of insecurity.

    “This trend needs to change and INEC should consider an improvement and innovation in its processes that will enable the collation of results in as much of daylight as possible and thus reduce night time election activities.”

    Nwankwo called on the INEC to open up its e-collation method to independent observers and other stakeholders in the electoral process to eliminate the present suspicion that now clouds the use of the said e-collation system.

    He said this would create an understanding of this aspect of the election process and win support for its use.

    “To further increase the credibility of election results, INEC will need to return to its previous practice of immediate publication of polling unit election results .

    “As well as publishing all of the comprehensive details of collated results, including the Form EC60E, on its website and to be accessible to all.

    “Situation Room also calls on INEC to ensure that its announcement of the introduction of Braille for voting is made operational across the country and that all persons with disabilities are able to vote during elections,” he said

    Nwankwo said the Situation Room deployed observers across the 30 local government areas of the state to monitor the election .

    He said incidents of vote buying reoccurred in the Osun State elections, even though at a reduced and less brazen manner.

    He called on INEC to intensify the training of the different cadres of its staff to enhance their understanding of election duties and increase their confidence and ability to respond to election day challenges.

    He, however, hailed INEC on early commencement of the voting process, adding that polling units across the state opened early for accreditation and voting.

    He commended the people of Osun, the political parties and the security agencies on their good conduct.

    Nwankwo said the announcement by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and law enforcement officials that they would arrest vote-buyer suspects and charge them to court helped significantly in reducing the malpractice.

    He said: “As with recent INEC conducted governorship elections, incidents of vote buying reoccurred during the Osun State governorship election, even if at a reduced and less-brazen manner.

    “Incidents now seem subtler with the announcement by INEC and law enforcement officials that suspects would be arrested and charged to court, and the actual deployment of security personnel to enforce this helped significantly.”

    The coordinator commended Osun residents and political parties for conducting themselves peacefully during the poll.

    He, however, called on INEC to intensify training of its different cadre of staff to enhance their understanding of their election duties and increase their confidence and ability to respond to election challenges.

    Nwankwo said it was observed during the election that some INEC staff and officials were not sure of their responses to voters’ concerns or voting procedures, which he said created delay.

    He also called on the electoral body to look into the process of results collation, which he said was usually done at night when political parties, candidates, observers and other election stakeholders “may have been depleted”.

    The NCS recommended that INEC should ensure that its announcement of the introduction of Braille for voting was made operational across the country and that all people living with disabilities were able to vote during elections.

     

    Group lauds INEC, police over peaceful conduct of election

    A SOCIO-POLITICAL group, Southern Nigeria Peoples Mandate (SNPM), has lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police over peaceful conduct of Osun governorship election.

    Its President, Mr Augustine Chukwudum, gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu yesterday.

    Chukwudum also applauded INEC for the prompt arrival of voting materials and early commencement of voting in most polling booths in the state.

    He said: “The SNPM is calling on the nation’s electoral body, INEC, to extend this recorded peaceful conduct of Osun governorship poll to the much-anticipated 2019 general elections.

    “We are also calling on INEC to look into the issue of malfunctioning Card Readers.’

    Chukwudum praised the Nigerian Police, for arresting some vote buyers and sellers during the election, adding that it should serve as deterrent to other Nigerians engaging in the ‘shameful act’.

    He added: “The SNPM commends the Nigeria Police for the professional conduct of its personnel which led to the arrest of some vote buyers and sellers.

    “It wants all Nigerians to completely frown at vote buying and selling, as well as expose those in the shameful habit.”

    Last Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State took place amidst a peaceful atmosphere, compared to other previous governorship elections held in recent times.

     

     APC hails INEC’s decision

    THE Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that the state has been saved from the savage jaws of evil with the declaration.

    In a statement by its spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi, the APC said: “It was providential. Osun has been miraculously saved from the savage jaws of the evil that could have been fallen into if the monster called the PDP had won the election. It was the limit that corrupt money could go to buy up an election.

    “Now that Osun has been given a second chance to escape from the calamity it almost fell into, the people of Osogbo, Orolu, Ife South and Ife North now have the enormous task to save the state from predator-politicians.

    “On Thursday September 27, that is the mission that they have. We therefore call on all citizens in these polling areas to sacrifice everything they can on that day to become the great heroes and heroines  of our beloved state.

    “We use this opportunity to thank all those who summoned courage in spite of  the ‘blood’ money on offer by the PDP to vote against their conscience, stood their ground and voted for the APC. The unfinished job will be concluded on Thursday by the Grace of God.”

     

    All quiet in Iragbiji over election

    IRAGBIJI and its environs were quiet yesterday, after last Sunday’s governorship election was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Iragbiji is the home town of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the election, Gboyega Oyetola. The ordinarily sleepy  town was alive at the weekend with the expectation of victory for Oyetola.

    When our reporter went round the town,  residents gathered in groups in a few places, discussing the outcome of the election, but traders were already out with their wares to return to their normal life.

    The front of the palace of the Aragbiji was empty, unlike Saturday when voters and other indigenes besieged the town centre to chat with friends and recall fond memories.

    Taxi drivers and commercial motorcyclists also returned to business after an early noon rainfall.

    A resident who spoke to The Nation in confidence, expressed disappointment with the election, saying it would be difficult to predict the outcome of Thursday’s supplementary poll.

     

    No one should be underestimated, says Oyo APC

    THE Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday declared that the conduct of last Saturday governorship election in Osun State should serve as a lesson that no one should be underestimated in any contest.

    The party said judging by all the negativity that trailed the APC  leading challenger in the Osun governorship poll, anyone would have written him off in the contest.

    Reacting to last Saturday’s election in Osun State, which was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) , the APC Director of Media, Research and Strategies and Publicity Secretary,  Dr AbdulAzeez Olatunde, said the experience garnered in the Osun election would be deployed to good use in Oyo State, starting from the  primary election.

    Olatunde said: “Also, the keenness or the  competitiveness of the Osun election is a reminder to the people that have the mandate of the electorates that there is a judgement day in waiting when the mandate would  either be renewed with good performances or repositioned to another party or person.

    “In relation to Oyo State, it shows that no one can be taken for granted or underestimated, considering all the negativity that trails APC leading challenger to the election, most would have written him off. That is another lesson that voting patterns and trends are most times unpredictable.

    “As for Oyo 2019, we have learned a lot of lessons which we hope to deploy to good use starting from our primaries.

    “Also, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  in Oyo State, Mr Seyi Makinde, has described as unacceptable the reason given by INEC for declaring the Osun governorship election inconclusive.

    Makinde said the PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, won the highest number of votes and scored 25 per cent in more than two thirds of the 30 local government areas in the state and as such ought to have been declared the winner of the election.

    Makinde said Senator Adeleke won the election fair and square.

    He said INEC must have buckled under pressure from desperate politicians whose cupboards are filled with filth.

    The PDP governorship aspirant said that the decision by the election umpire is a disservice to democracy and will not stand the test of time.

    He said such miscarriage of justice, no matter how short, will not be allowed to happen in Oyo State.

    Makinde, on behalf of members of PDP in Oyo State, applauded the good people of Osun State for the role they played against anti-democratic forces who did everything humanly possible to reverse the wheel of progress.

    He said it is disheartening to note that since the advent of the APC at the federal level, all elections conducted by INEC have been riddled with controversies and failed to meet basic international standard.

    Agoro hails Ooni for not voting

    Olapade Agoro, the presidential candidate of the National Action Council (NAC) in next year’s election yesterday hailed the decision of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, not to cast his vote in the last Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.

    There were media reports that Oba Ogunwusi did not vote despite the fact there is a polling unit by the palace, because he saw all the governorship candidates as his subjects.

    Speaking with reporters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, yesterday, Agoro commended the revered traditional ruler, describing his action as “very laudable and respectable”.

    The NAC presidential candidate maintained that what the Ooni Ogunwusi did was honouring the throne of Oduduwa and the whole of Yoruba race.

    He said: “The Ooni ‘risa, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi has placed himself on the side of honour. The position of the Ooni of Ife is above all political positions. The Ooni should be a rallying point for all sons and daughters of Oodu, irrespective of political inclinations.

    “The Ooni has been doing well since he ascended the exalted throne. He has been promoting the rich culture of the Yoruba race above political considerations. So far, so good, he has been doing a good job on the throne.”