The Nation Newspaper

Tag: REC

  • Akwa Ibom rerun: REC alleges snatching of result sheet

    Akwa Ibom rerun: REC alleges snatching of result sheet

    The Resident Electoral Commi-ssioner in Akwa Ibom, Mr Gabriel Ada, yesterday alleged that suspected thugs snatched result sheet from an electoral officer in Saturday’s state assembly poll in the state.

    Ada told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibesikpo while monitoring the election that the incident took place in one of the polling units in Obot Akara.

    According to him, suspected thugs in Obot Akara beat up an electoral officer and took away the result sheet for the polling unit.

    “We are still having pockets of violence in one or two places in Obot Akara but I think the security presence is good enough.

    “In one of my polling units in Obot Akara, a staff was beaten and the result sheet was collected,” Ada said.

    He disclosed that security personnel were adequately deployed for the re-run election and that their presence had accounted for relative peace during the exercise.

    “Before this time, we had a lot of interactive meetings with political stakeholders, where they all resolved that the election will be peaceful,” he said.

    Ada restated the commission’s commitment to free, fair and credible re-run, adding that most polling centres received voting materials quite early.

    He said that he had not received any report of malfunctioning of the card reader, adding that he was impressed with the turnout of voters for the exercise.

    “The card reader is function well and the verification of the PVCs, which it is doing, is very important to us.

    “Once a voter is verified, we also cross check to ensure that your name is in the voters’ register and after that, you are given your ballot papers to cast your vote,” he said.

  • Kogi: Tribunal orders rerun in 14 LGs

    Kogi: Tribunal orders rerun in 14 LGs

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is to conduct re-run election in 1, 988 polling units in 14 local government areas of Kogi State on February 20th.

    The Kogi State Resident Electoral Commission (REC), Mallam Haliru Pai disclosed this on Thursday during a stakeholders meeting.

    According to him, the re-run election as ordered by the state election petition tribunal will hold in two senatorial districts of the state, Kogi Central and Kogi East.

    He further disclosed that All Progressives Congress (APC) will not be participating in the Kogi Central and Kogi East senatorial election following the court ruling which barred the two candidates and the APC from contesting.

    He said that the APC will not participate in federal constituency election into Ogoro/Okene federal constituency as a result of court ruling, adding that only the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is eligible for the re-run election.

    On the Kogi State House of Assembly re-run, the REC said the APC and its candidates will not participate in the Ofu and Ankpa 1 re-run, but that the party will participate in Idah, Dekina/Biraidu and Okura re-run.

    He stressed that in Idah, re-run will only take place in one unit, Ogegele ward, unit 003.

    He said about 9,816 ad-hoc staff including youth corpers, security officers and other personnel will be participating in the re-run election.

    He assured the people of the state of a free and fair re-run election, stressing that the reason why re-run election will take place in the 14 local government areas of the state was as a result of non conduct of primary by one of the parties, “which led to litigation.”

  • Bayelsa REC

    Bayelsa REC

    •The INEC chief has undermined his own credibility

    As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) attempts to resolve the mess that was the inconclusive gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State, the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Baritor Kpagih, has worsened matters by undermining his own credibility as an honest broker.

    In a newspaper interview, Kpagih claimed that he had been approached by unnamed individuals who had attempted to bribe him to influence the outcome of the elections. His refusal, he said, had resulted in threatening calls and mysterious visits to his official residence after the cancellation of the elections in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.

    Clearly presented as an attempt to shore up his honesty of intention and sincerity of purpose, the Bayelsa REC’s disclosures actually achieve the opposite aim. He did not state the names of those who allegedly attempted to bribe him, and there is no indication in his interview that he reported the matter to either the police or to his superiors at INEC. Why did he choose to reveal this information now, weeks after the elections took place, and not sooner, when such forthrightness could have helped to ensure a free and fair polls?

    It is an obvious fact that the Bayelsa governorship election was riddled with many of the irregularities that conspire to make Nigerian elections a violent and chaotic process. Personal animosities, the profusion of weapons, the presence of militant groups, and the state’s pre-eminence as the home state of former President Goodluck Jonathan all helped to ensure an inconclusive outcome. Despite the vaunted deployment of security forces, voters were attacked, ballot boxes were hijacked, and electoral officials were taken hostage.

    Mr. Kpagih’s disclosures, however, do little to bolster any confidence that the electoral process he superintends will be better handled when it resumes in January. By making allegations apparently unsupported by any evidence, he has unnecessarily heated up the polity and cast doubt on his own competence, neutrality and effectiveness.

    Indeed, from being a referee supposedly above the fray, he has become a player with a vested interest in the outcome. Instead of focusing on improving INEC’s logistics, working more purposefully with the security agencies, and ensuring that all interest groups are kept in the loop, he has unwittingly turned the polls into a referendum on his administrative capabilities.

    Given this situation, it is clear that Kpagih cannot be relied upon to carry out a free and fair election in Bayelsa. INEC should redeploy him and bring in a REC who is more circumspect and less prepared to heap his failings on others. After the Kogi conundrum, the commission can ill afford yet another drawn-out electoral mess that will only strengthen growing perceptions that it is unable to build upon the successes of the 2015 polls.

    INEC’s unimpressive performances in Kogi and Bayelsa states have put it at a crossroads. If it is to move in the right direction, it must embark upon a comprehensive reform of its operations. There are simply too many issues left untreated which eventually become major obstacles to the attainment of successful elections. There is its persistent inability to move election materials and officials to voting locations on time; there are the often-incestuous relationships between RECs and state governors; there is the inexplicable failure to punish electoral offences despite repeated claims that it fully intends to do so.

    If the commission does not undertake the structural reform that is clearly overdue, its effectiveness as national electoral umpire will degrade to the point of unrecognisability, and the unwarranted comments of individuals like Kpagih will sadly become the rule rather than the exception.

     

  • Rivers polls: INEC transfers REC, others

    Rivers polls: INEC transfers REC, others

    •REC: I’m yet to receive transfer letter 

    Ahead of fresh elections in Rivers State, ordered by the tribunals and Courts of Appeal in Abuja, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, has ordered the transfer of top officials of the commission in the state.

    The affected officials include the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dame Gesila Khan, and other senior officers of the commission, who allegedly compromised the processes during the March 28 and April 11 elections in favour of the PDP.

    It was learnt last night that some top officials of INEC at the Rivers State headquarters in Port Harcourt got their transfer letters on Friday from Abuja; others would get theirs today.

    Prof Yakubu was said to be saddened by what a source called the embarrassing revelations from the tribunals and Courts of Appeal on the sham and massively-rigged elections in Rivers State and other parts of the country.

    The INEC chairman was said to have deemed it necessary to make the mass transfer.

    The massive nullification of the “victories” of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) candidates in the state, sources said, angered Governor Nyesom Wike, a former Minister of State for Education.

    A top INEC official in Rivers State, who testified at the tribunal, was described as an “S.U.” or born again Christian.

    The alleged rigging by the PDP was said to have made the party to “win” the governorship and three senatorial seats as well as all the 13 seats in the House of Representatives and 31 of the 32 seats in the House of Assembly.

    Josiah Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the Eleme Constituency’s seat in the House of Assembly.

    Dame Khan denied any wrongdoing during the elections when she spoke on phone yesterday with our reporter.

    The REC noted that transfers in the civil service were routine, adding that at the close of work on Friday, she had not received any transfer letter.

    Dame Khan said: “Do not mind them. They are telling lies against me. It is part of the propaganda of the APC to discredit me. I did not collect money from any politician and I did not share money to or with anybody.

    “I was transferred to Bayelsa State from Delta State on January 5, 2015 and I put in my best before, during and after the general elections. Those abusing and lying against me should ask about me in Delta State, where I also put in my best.

  • Bayelsa: Returning officer, others yet to arrive collation centre

    Bayelsa: Returning officer, others yet to arrive collation centre

    Journalists are waiting anxiously at collation Centre in  Yenagoa Council hall, Bayelsa State to hear the results of three Local government areas which was said to be ready for declaration.

    The three Local governments are- Yenagoa, Sagbama and Kolokumor-Opunkuma.

    The agents of each of the political parties were also worriedly seated at council hall waiting for the result to be announced.

    But the reason for the unavailability of National Commissioners, returning officer and Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) at the collation Centre is unknown at the press time.

  • Kogi 2015: REC makes case for ADR

    Kogi 2015: REC makes case for ADR

    Ahead of the November 21 governorship election in Kogi, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Halilu Pai has advocated the employment of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

    Speaking during a ‘Pre-Election Awareness Workshop’ Thursday in Lokoja, the REC explained that resorting to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in conflicts arising from electoral conflicts, has the uniqueness of erasing ‘bad blood’ between contending parties.

    He noted that disputes arising from electoral matters have continued to bug the system, adding that any means through which the process could be made less cumbersome is welcome.

    “The commission in its commitment towards conducting a free, fair and credible election has deemed it necessary to educate political parties and all stakeholders on the need to embrace Alternative Dispute Resolution in our political process to enable us compete in the comity of nations as a growing democracy.

    He stated, “It is my great hope and desire that we would get to embrace the whole concept of Electoral Altrrnative Dispute Resolution in our political process as an added innovation in our nascent democracy.

    “Elections in Nigeria have resulted in quite a lot of litigations, which has led to killings in some cases and bad blood in the system.

    “The long process is a drag on our system. The Electoral Alternative Dispute Resolution is an avenue that should be given the due attention that it deserves. It is a welcome development.”

     

  • More awards for Rivers REC as departed souls key in

    The last general elections in Rivers State that sent many residents to their early graves was conducted by Dame Gesila Khan. Since Governor Nyesom Wike took office as a result of the election,  Mrs Khan has been receiving awards from registered and unregistered organisations for a job well done. The last of the award was on Tuesday the day an official of the commission  revealed that the governorship election was a farce.

    Mrs Khan is not the only Resident Electoral Commissioner in Nigeria but she has received more awards than any other REC.

    Now a new twist is being added, as the late Cyracus Wobodo from my home town (Ubima community) who was sent to early grave during the governorship election  appeared to me in a dream and dragged me to witness a meeting of their association in the land of ghost. In that dream, he told me that their organisation was planning to appreciate the REC for conducting the best election ever in the history of the land of the living.

    I was shocked when he made such comment but somehow I kept quiet knowing that the bullet that hit him to death might have also affected his thinking.  The name of the organisation was “Association of Departed souls in Rivers 2015 Election” and their motto is: “Our killers have no peace”.

    Addressing members of the association, the chairman, late Hon. Christopher Adube, former Caretaker Committee Chairman of Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government Area, who was sent to early grave with his family in one day, said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss how to present their award to Rivers REC for conducting a decent and transparent election ever in the history of Nigeria.

    The Auditor of the organisation, the late Chief Godspower Ahiaidu  from ONELGA,  who was murdered during one of the election rallies in the area, insisted that since the award was to appreciate the REC  for presiding over an election that led to their untimely death, they must go in group like other unregistered organisations to present their award. He said with the recent award presented to REC chairman by youth wing of Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN)   he can now attest why many Christians are queuing at the gate of hell.

    When another ONELGA man raised his hand to speak there was a commotion which made the chairman to call for calm.  Later I discovered that the noise at the meeting was because another   ONELGA man wanted to speak and the young man from Etche Local Government Area,  Mr. Hope Allison, who was killed and burnt alive during  election in the area shouted on the late Mr. Sampson Oreke,  the late Mr. George Eweh  and the late  Mr. Nwabueze Robinson who were  murdered in Okposi  and  Obiozimini in ONELGA during  election.

    Though  the late Hon Clever Orukwowu, APC youth leader in Ward 6 Idu-Obosiukwu community ONELGA,  who  was murdered by armed thugs in military uniform while accreditation was going on, wanted to fight late Allison for insulting his elders. Orukwowu who introduced himself as the youth leader of the organisation said there numerical strength in the organisation was because their killers considered their zone as must- win area. He reminded them that the chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is from his zone and for that nobody should talk about dominance.

    At the end of the argument late Allison from  Etche  Local government who was burnt alive during the governorship and House of Assembly elections, said as the secretary, they will do everything possible to ensure that the Award get to INEC office in Rivers State. He said he left behind an aged parent because he came out on the Election Day to cast his vote. He also suggested that if they cannot physically walk down to INEC office they can spiritually send the award across to REC chairman in Rivers.

    Before Allison stood up to speak, I thought he was speaking on behalf of the  six Etche citizens killed during election violence at Umuaturu community in Etche Local Government Area. But the late Miss Ada Wele, a pregnant young lady, who was  among the six victims,  said the award must get to Madam for her excellent job.

    But the Publicity Secretary late Mr. Saturday Lekia  from  Tai Local government in Ogoni land,  the only surviving son of his family who was murdered on the day of governorship and House of Assembly elections said the number of people who attended the meeting were few compared to the number of people killed  before, during and after the 2015 election in Rivers State. He announced that by next week Monday they will queue behind other numerous organisations who have appreciated the good work done by REC to present their Award. Then, I suddenly woke up, asking myself:  Is this  a dream?

     

  • REC joins Egypt’s O Capital to tap Middle East, Africa

    REC Solar Holdings AS has signed a deal with O Capital, the renewable energy arm of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding SAE, forming a partnership to sell solar panels and related services in the Middle East and Africa.

    O Capital will manage tenders and turnkey installations while REC will be responsible for the engineering side, it said in a statement. The companies are seeking to provide REC’s solar panels to residential, commercial and utility-scale projects.

    REC sees Middle East and Africa as growth areas for the solar industry, according to Luc Graré, senior vice president for the region.

    “Beginning in 2017, we are expecting 10 gigawatts to be installed every year in the Middle East and Africa, which would make the region second in the world for new solar capacity after China,” he said by phone.

    Egypt is expected to be a major contributor to this growth, since the country is targeting to get 20 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2020.

    To reach this goal, it would need to install 2 gigawatts to 3 gigawatts of clean energy a year, Graré said. Cairo-based O Capital was chosen as a local partner to facilitate access to the Egyptian market and surrounding area.

    REC plans to establish similar partnerships in Ghana, South Africa and Kenya.

  • Alleged N15m bribe: Yobe REC refuses to testify at tribunal

    YOBE State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Abu Zarma, in whose accounts an aide to Governor Ibrahim Gaidam allegedly paid N15 million, refused to testify before the state’s governorship election tribunal yesterday.

    Zarma, who had indicated his intention to testify and also call his witnesses yesterday, told the tribunal that he would close his case without testifying and calling any witness.

    He is named as a respondent in the petition by a former governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Waziri, and the party. Other respondents are: Gaidam, his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Zakari Deba (the Aide De Camp to Governor Gaidam).

    Waziri and the PDP are challenging the outcome of the last governorship election in which Gaidam was declared winner.

    The petitioners alleged, among others, that Gaidam, in a bid to compromise the REC, made Deba to pay N15 million into Zarma’s two accounts with two new generation banks.

    To prove the allegation, the petitioners called officials of the banks and an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as their witnesses. The three witnesses confirmed the payments.

    Testifying on August 12, an Investigating Officer (IO) attached to the Economic Governance Team 7 of the EFCC, Christopher Adekunle Odofin, said N15 million was actually lodged into Zarma’s two accounts with the banks, adding that the lodgements were reversed days later when Zarma protested.

    Odofin, who said he was part of the team investigating the case, said although the investigation had not been concluded, his team made substantial discoveries and made recommendations.

    He said his team discovered that on April 8, three days to the last governorship election, Deba made a bank’s Assistant Branch Manager (Damaturu), Bamaji Mohammed Kukawa, to pay N7 million and N8 million into Zarma’s accounts with the two banks.

    Odofin added that on April 9, Zarma complained to both banks, in writing, that wrong deposits were made into his accounts, to which the banks’ management asked him to issue cheques in the amounts deposited, to enable them reverse the transactions.

    He said their investigation revealed that Zarma wrote on April 29 to (former) INEC Chairman, complaining about the strange cash deposits in his accounts.

    Odofin said investigation revealed that based on the cheques issued by Zarma, the banks revered the deposits and returned the money to an account maintained with another bank by a company, Saleh and Hanif.

    He said checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) linked the company to Deba, who was also discovered to be the sole signatory to the company’s accounts.

    “From our investigation so far, we found that there was a clear and concerted attempt by Deba and Kukawa to financially induce Zarma to get favour,” Odifin said.

    The EFCC officer added that the report indicted Deba, who, as a serving police officer, floated a private company, which he said was an illegal act.

    “We recommended that Deba and Kukawa be prosecuted for attempting to bribe Zarma,” Odofin said.

    Had he testified, Zarma would have had to either confirm or deny the payment and give a picture of the role he played in the N15 million transaction during examination-in-chief and cross-examination.

    When the case was called yesterday, lawyer to Zarma and INEC, Abeny Mohammed (SAN), announced that his clients had elected to close their cases without calling any witness.

    “The short adjournment afforded me the opportunity to review and evaluate evidence adduced by the petitioners.

    “Our conclusion is that we are not calling any witness but to rest our case on the case of the petitioner. I, therefore, close the case of the third and fourth respondents (Zarma and INEC) in this petition,” Mohammed said.

    The tribunal had adjourned for some days because of the sudden death of a member, Justice Audu Bako.

    Before the commencement of proceedings yesterday, lawyers in the matter commiserated with the rest of the tribunal members over Justice Bako’s death.

    Proceedings resume today, when Deba, listed as the fifth respondent, is expected to present his case.

    His lawyer, Titus Ashaolu, assured that his client’s witnesses would attend the proceedings.

  • Rivers APC, REC disagree on detention, others

    The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dame Gesila Khan, have disagreed on political activities and the REC’s detention.

    APC, through the Secretary of its Media and Publicity Committee, Godstime Orlukwu, yesterday in Port Harcourt, declared that Dame Khan was a victim of her devices.

    The party noted that the REC’s claim that she was detained by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) for two weeks was the figment of her imagination.

    But the REC insisted that she and other INEC officials were putting in their best and not taking sides.

    She expressed surprise at her alleged arrest and detention by the DSS.

    The party said: “The APC believes the DSS that Dame Khan was never detained. Rather, the DSS invited her for questioning, having been convinced that her actions and deliberate inactions constituted a serious threat to the security of Rivers State and, by extension, that of the country.

    “Dame Khan’s decision to be evasive, in order not to release the materials used in the last elections to the APC and to avoid complying with the tribunal’s orders on inspection of electoral materials, were deemed to be grave, capable of negatively affecting the peace, tranquillity and security of the state and nation.

    “She was making one excuse or the other to avoid complying with the orders of the tribunal.

    “The APC will like to challenge Dame Khan to show evidence that she was detained overnight by the DSS, let alone two weeks, as she is claiming.

    “If Dame Khan complied with the law, why should INEC’s national headquarters in Abuja send a task force to Rivers State to deliver the materials, as ordered by the tribunal?”

    APC said it was convinced that the REC’s latest assertions were aimed at currying public sympathy and drawing attention away from her alleged deceit before, during and after the March 28 and April 11 general election.

    The party added that such antics would not exonerate the REC, an indigene of Bayelsa State, and her cohorts from their electoral sins in Rivers State.

    Dame Khan said during the presidential election, three national commissioners were in the state; same during the governorship poll.

    The REC said three INEC’s administrative secretaries are currently in the state.

    She noted that the presence of the administrative secretaries was meant to fast-track the sorting of the electoral materials used in the last general elections, as ordered by the tribunal.

    Dame Khan added that the requests were time-bound and the materials voluminous.

    She said: “We have been working since. Today (yesterday), it is either this document or another. Some they want in long hand, while some they want it in short hand. So, the law says when they request, you give them, and since the time is very short, we have to.

    “The head office (INEC in Abuja) decided to draft three administrative secretaries as support so that we can meet up with the time. I think you have seen them. We should conclude this exercise (inspection of election materials) before the tribunals’ sittings comes to an end.

    “We are human beings, and if you are told to produce 1,000 copies today, you will produce it. Even machines break down, not to talk of man. So, we are going to put in our best. That is what you have seen there (INEC headquarters in Port Harcourt).”

    On her rumoured transfer from Rivers State, the REC said: “I am here and I am still here. I have not been transferred. If I have been transferred, I should not be sitting here. I should be picking my things.

    “Even if I have been transferred, there is nothing wrong with that, because it is government work and anytime you are called to move, you must move. But for now, I have not been called to move.”

    When asked by reporters on if she had any regrets working as INEC’s REC in Rivers state, she said: “No regret whatsoever. I am a Human Resources practitioner. So, anything you see in life, you move along with it. You cannot predict man. They are free to think and say what they want.”