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Tag: Rufus Akeju

  • INEC assures NYSC corps members of adequate security

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday assured that adequate security would be provided for all ad-hoc staff of the commission, especially members of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) that will participate in the next general elections.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Ondo State, Dr Rufus Akeju gave the assurance during a courtesy visit to his office by the state coordinator of the NYSC, Mrs. Grace Akpabio.

    He said the commission has made necessary security arrangements for its staff during the forthcoming elections.

    According to him, the commission has trained security personnel that would participate in the general elections.

    Akeju said they had engaged experts who took these officers on the specialized area of election monitoring, handling and supervision.”

    His words “I want to assure you that corps members and NYSC staff would be adequately protected alongside other ad-hoc personnel recruited for the exercise, NYSC being a special partner and an indispensable stakeholder to the success of the elections in the country would continue to enjoy the conferred privilege because of the long standing relationship.

    He disclosed that 3933 corps members would be engaged for the February 16 general elections, stressing that the selection would be based on competence and diligence.

    The INEC commissioner assured that the corps members engaged would be remunerated appropriately by the commission.

    Read Also: NYSC tasks corps members on credibility

    Akeju assured the NYSC team that the Commission had put in place sound machinery in place to ensure seamless exercise and that all security agencies and para-military organizations have been put on red alert to protect the lives and properties of all personnel that would be engaged.

    The NYSC State Coordinator, Mrs Akpabio urged the INEC Management not to deploy NYSC corp members to troubled places during the elections

    She requested that life jackets and tags should be made available to corps members that would be deployed to riverine areas to prevent mistaken identity by scrupulous individuals who may want to take advantage of non-provision of those items.

     

  • 371,444 PVCs uncollected in Ondo State – INEC

    371,444 PVCs uncollected in Ondo State – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) in Ondo State has said that 371,444 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) are yet to be collected in the state.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Rufus Akeju, said this in a telephone interview with our reporter in Akure on Friday.

    Akeju, however, said that 44,410 voters were captured during the April, 2017 Continuous Voter Registration in the state.

    He said that 199 people reported that their cards were stolen during the first phase of 2018 revision exercise while 561 people were cases of de-faced PVCs.

    The REC reiterated his readiness to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure free, fair and credible elections in the state in 2019.

    Read Also: INEC, EFCC partnership will strengthen Nigeria’s democracy

    He urged the residents to pick their PVCs at INEC offices in the 18 local government areas.

    Akeju said the CVR was ongoing and advised residents who just attained the age of 18 to register to enable them to vote in the coming elections.

    “We will do everything possible to ensure that 80 per cent of the uncollected PVCs were collected by their owners.

    Akeju was the immediate past Oyo State Resident Electoral Commissioner and resumed as Ondo REC on Jan. 25.

     

  • REC: Senate rejects Zamfara nominee, confirms two

    REC: Senate rejects Zamfara nominee, confirms two

    The Senate on Thursday rejected the nominee from Zamfara, Mr Ahmad Mahmud, as Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC).

    The upper chamber, however, confirmed the nominees from Lagos State and Kebbi State, Dr Rufus Akeju and Dr Mahmuda Isah, respectively.

    This followed the consideration of the report of the Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which was presented by its Chairman, Sen. Suleiman Nazif, at plenary.

    Nazif said that the nominees appeared before the committee in May, 2017.

    He said that after careful study of the nominees’ documents, the committee found those from Lagos and Kebbi suitable for the position of Resident Electoral Commissioner, but had to step down that of Zamfara.

    In his contribution, Sen. Adamu Aliero (APC-Kebbi) said that it was true that they initially had reservation on the nomination of the nominee from Kebbi, but that the issues were later resolved.

    According to him, after due consultation with the relevant authorities in the state and other stakeholders, we resolved to allow the nomination. We are in support of his nomination.

    Similarly, Sen. Kabiru Marafa (APC-Zamfara) said: “I don’t accept the statement that after careful deliberations and consultations, the nominee from Zamfara was rejected.

    “With all sense of modesty, I am a critical stakeholder in Zamfara politics; nobody consulted me.

    “These nominations are entirely the exclusive right of President Muhammadu Buhari and no other person.

    “I respect the state governor and his views as to why he took some actions. At the same time, we are senators and by our oath, we are supposed to live above board.

    “I was not consulted about this gentleman. I don’t see the sufficient reason for his rejection; I oppose his rejection completely for want of evidence,” Marafa said.

    On his part Sen. Tijjani Kaura (APC-Zamfara) said that he was totally in support of the committee’s decision in rejecting the nominee.

    “The reason is that Ahmad Mahmud is not an indigene of Zamfara even though he hails from Sokoto which is a sister state.

    “The essence of appointing Resident Electoral Commissioners is to represent states. We feel in Zamfara that Mahmud does not represent the people of Zamfara,” he said.

    In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, congratulated the nominees whose nominations had been approved by the senate.

    Read Also: Senate orders probe of alleged sharing of 222 mansions recovered by Maina

  • Protest in Ibadan over REC’s deployment

    Protest in Ibadan over REC’s deployment

    •’I’m going nowhere’

    More than a thousand supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Accord Party, Labour Party (LP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Oyo State took to the streets yesterday to reject Rufus Akeju as the new Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC).

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  announced the redeployment of the 37 RECs and directed them to conclude all handing and takeover formalities by tomorrow.

    Akeju was posted from Osun; his predecessor, Nasir Ayilara, was posted to Niger.

    The protesters, who marched on the INEC headquarters, carried placards with inscriptions, such as: “Akeju must go”; “Don’t bring back the old wild wild west”, “Oyo rejects Akeju”; “Akeju is not fit to conduct election in Nigeria”; “Oyo wants credible elections”; “We reject him”; “Akeju will destroy Oyo election.”

    One of the leaders of the protesters alleged that Akeju was partisan.  He urged INEC Chairman Prof Attahiru Jega to transfer him to the national headquarters.

    Rasheed Rufai, a member of the Accord in Ibadan North-East, Mrs Mojisola Soyooye (LP), Adisa Jelili (SDP) in Oluyole Local Government Area, Adeniran Adekola from the Youth for Better Society, and others said they wanted another REC.

    But Akeju said the protesters have the right to demonstrate, noting that they cannot stop him from resuming.

    “They can demonstrate. That is their right. They have no right to say I cannot resume. It is as simple as that.”

    Clearing the air on the allegation that he is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he said: “They should go to court and prove it. They have been saying that all over. It is the same people.”

    Ayilara said: “I believe Akeju is a man of integrity and I believe by the time he resumes, he would conduct the exercise in a manner that will accord him the respect he has earned within the community.

    “I was not around when the protesters came but it was well handled by the officers they met on ground.

    “Unfortunately for the protesters, they were not organised. There was no letter to really back the protest, meaning that we are not really sure of the groups that are even protesting. So, it was not a true gathering that has genuine intentions to really say their views to Nigerians.

    “We regarded them as hoodlums who wanted to disrupt our activities here. That was why we called the security agents.

    “If there is a court ruling that says he is not competent to be a REC, I know the INEC chairman would not post him.

    “I believe there is no ruling that restrains him from conducting any election in this country. I know the right thing has been done.

    “The people of Oyo should allow him to do his job in a manner that will be favourable to all of us. It is a national service; one can be posted to any state, except your state of origin.”

  • INEC: 800,000 Osun voters registered more than once

    INEC: 800,000 Osun voters registered more than once

    No fewer than 800,000 eligible voters registered more than once in Osun State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said yesterday.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Ambassador Rufus Akeju, spoke at a Southwest Stakeholders’ Forum on Advocacy for Inclusive and Accessible Electoral Process for Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria.

    The forum was organised by the State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI) and held at the Premier Hotel in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    Akeju said people who registered more than once would be prosecuted, adding: “Anyone who engages in double registration will be detected by INEC machines and his/her name will be deleted from the Commission’s data for a long time, in addition to prosecution.

    “These people will automatically miss the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice in the coming governorship election and those to come after it, because they are the ones creating problems for us.”

    He warned registered voters against selling their voter cards to parties, adding that anyone caught with another person’s card will be jailed.

    Akeju said the legislative and executive arms of government must provide blue prints for structures, scope and resources to provide a friendly environment for persons with disabilities to participate in elections.

    He said: “Although the Federal Government expressed its desire to protect the rights of people with disabilities by ratifying the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its accompanying optional protocols in 2007 and 2010, the country is yet to fully domesticate the provisions of the convention by giving legal backing to the international instrument.”

    Akeju said INEC lacks the power to redesign the voter card or reserve a quota for people with disabilities, adding that only the National Assembly could do that.

  • ‘Call for Osun REC’s removal idle’

    The Osun State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Wale Afolabi, has described the call for the removal of the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Rufus Akeju, as “not only pedestrian, but idle.”

    Speaking with reporters yesterday in Osogbo, Afolabi said the attack on Akeju was “calumnious and unfounded.”

    The state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called for the REC’s removal, accusing him of being partisan.

    Afolabi said Akeju was neither an agent of the government nor of the ruling party.

    He described the allegation as “a propaganda orchestrated by the frustrated PDP.”

    On the issue of contempt against the REC, Afolabi said the PDP played to the gallery, as the case was stayed by an order of an Appeal Court.

    He said: “The truth here is that during the elections in April, 2011, the PDP approached the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, seeking the determination of five issues, all relating to the competence/legality or otherwise of the REC to conduct the April, 2011, elections in Osun.

    “An order preventing the REC from conducting the elections was granted on March 28, 2011 and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appealed against it at the Court of Appeal, Akure. It is important to emphasise again that the interlocutory orders granted by the Federal High Court, Osogbo, was appealed against and thence put the enforcement and further proceedings in the case in abeyance pending the outcome of the appeal.

    “Curiously, it was the counsel to the plaintiff/now respondent (PDP), against known practices, that approached the lower court for a stay of proceeding.

    The practice, which the court described as “curious and bizarre”, albeit was granted and the proceedings stayed. The originating summons and the prayers sought therein were in respect of the April, 2011, elections. It is trite and an elementary principle of law that no court will grant what is not sought or prayed.

    “Therefore, the impression that the court gave a perpetual order against INEC restraining its officer from conducting any election in Osun is not only erroneous, mischievous or, at best, a display of ignorance of this universal principle of law.”

     

    “The order made by the court and the competence of the said originating summons is at present a subject of Appeal at the Court of Appeal Akure. It was the counsel to the plaintiff in the suit (PDP) who curiously sought and obtained the stay of proceedings of his own suit.”