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From Okwe Obi, Abuja, Noah Ebije, Kaduna, Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri, Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin, Paul Osuyi, Asaba, Okey Sampson, Umuahia
The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has backed the postponement of the governorship and Houses of Assembly elections.
The poll was initially slated for tomorrow but the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday night announced a shift to March 18 to allow it reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
IPAC Chairman, Yabaji Sani, at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, in Abuja, tasked all stakeholders in the electoral process to bear with the commission as it puts its act together for the new date. He said adequate time was needed to ensure things are properly done as the destiny of over 200 million Nigerians were at stake.
“With the assurance that BVAS will function properly and results upload to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time, Nigerians and the international community expect free, fair, credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful gubernatorial and legislative elections. The commission should this time justify the confidence Nigerians reposed in it and improve on its performance in the disputed Presidential and National Assembly polls.
“Council urges security agents to sit up and be alive to their constitutional mandate to secure lives and property before, during and after elections so as to avert the violence and other security breach witnessed during the presidential election. Council further urges Nigerians to come out en-masse and vote for their preferred political parties, and ensure their votes count in the overall results. The ballot is sacrosanct, the will and mandate of the people freely given to a political party must be respected,” Sani said.
He reiterated the need for aggrieved politicians to seek legal redress rather than resort to self help which could plunge the country into unwarranted violence.
•Abia candidates sign peace agreement
Meanwhile, governorship candidates of political parties in Abia State have signed peace agreement, committing to conduct themselves and their supporters in peaceful manner during the election.
The peace accord organised by state Police Command was signed at the Officers’ mess in Umuahia, with many of the candidates in attendance.
The Commissioner of Police, Mustapha Bala, said his Command organised the peace accord to ensure a peaceful environment during the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections. While promising his Command was working with other security agencies to ensure peaceful conduct of polls, he assured that officers and men of the Command were trained for the tasks of ensuring peace,
He tasked Abians to conduct themselves in responsible manner while voting for candidates of their choice.
Administrative Secretary of I INEC in Abia State, Clement Oha, promised the Commission would deliver credible elections to Abians, assuring that Ad-hoc staff have been adequately trained for the exercise.
He cautioned against violence, stressing that the governorship and House of Assembly elections would be tougher than the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Mr. Ceakay Igara, appealed to INEC to ensure free and fair polls.
Candidate of the Action Peoples Party (APP), Mascot Uzor Kalu, charged INEC to ensure early arrival of election materials to avoid a repeat of what happened on February 25.
The candidates who participated in the peace signing agreement included Okey Ahaiwe of PDP, Chief Ikechi Emenike of APC, Bishop Sunday Onuoha of ADC, Ukpai Iroh of NNPP, Mascot Uzor Kalu of APP, Enyinnaya Nwafor of YPP while Ceakay Igara, chairman of Labour Party, signed on behalf of Dr Alex Otti, his candidate, while Augustine Ehiemere signed on behalf of Prof. Greg Ibe of APGA.
•Solidarity walk for Makinde
A huge crowd of supporters grounded human and vehicular movement in Ibadan on Wednesday, during a walk in support of Governor Seyi Makinde’s reelection bid .
The crowd which included youths, teachers, civil servants, traders, artisans, motor dealers among others began the march at Mapo through Beere, Oje, Gate, Total Garden and terminated it at the state secretariat.
It was organised by a support group, led by Dr. Wasiu Olatubosun, Mr. Oriyomi Hamzat, and Ms. Seyi Peace.
The supporters defied the cloudy weather and walked round several streets in a carnival-like atmosphere. They walked tirelessly, making their voices heard and chanting songs in support of Governor Makinde.
Appreciating the people for their love and dedication to his re-election bid, Governor Makinde expressed confidence that the outcome of the election would favour the PDP. He charged them to come out en-masse, vote and stand by their votes.
At the state secretariat, representatives of various unions, associations and beneficiaries of government employment under the administration reiterated their support for Governor Makinde.
Various speakers described him as having competence, character, and capacity and is qualified to continue another four years as governor of Oyo State.
•Ex-gov, Makarfi, alleges plans to arrest 80 PDP members in Kaduna
Former Kaduna State governor and PDP chieftain, Senator Ahmed Muhammed Makarfi, has raised the alarm over alleged plans by power-that-be to arrest and detain 80 members of the party from participating in the forthcoming governorship and State House of Assembly elections.
His alarm followed the arrest of three top PDP members in the state by security operatives over alleged inciting statements early in the week.
Makarfi, former chairman of the PDP National Caretaker Committee further alleged that PDP was in possession of the list of those pencilled down for arrest before the governorship and House of Assembly elections, saying “this has grievous implications.”
The former governor said those pencilled down for arrest were drawn from Kudan, Sanga, Igabi, Lere,, Kachia, Jaba and Kaduna North local government areas, which are believed to be PDP strongholds. He warned the APC government against arbitrary arrest of members of the opposition party.
Former commissioner of information, Saidu Adamu and two PDP officials at Kabala Costain Ward were arrested and detained by security operatives after allegedly making comments on the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC.
•Imo LP dissolves, swears in new exco, aspirants kicks
Imo State chapter of LP has dissolved its executive and inaugurated a new one.
Former state chairman of the party, Ambrose Onyekwere, who confirmed the dissolution, however, said it was normal as his tenure had expired.
But a source from the party noted that the dissolution may not be unconnected to the scheduled primary of the party which comes up in less than two weeks.
The source also claimed that this was also part of the reason the governorship interest form was increased from N7.5 million to N25 million to separate the early aspirants from the new moneybags indicating their interest.
“We have dissolved our executives and have a new one in place. I’m afraid this may have to do with the forthcoming primaries of the party, a lot of moneybags are now indicating interest. The governorship interest form was sold N7.5 million last year but today it’s sold for N25 million. We’re already having a lot of moneybags picking the forms. They have realised LP is a good brand and everybody wants to be identified with it.”
The new executives had their maiden meeting today at the party secretariat in Owerri presided over by their new chairman, Sleek Ukoha.
•Kwara PDP alleges inducement of voters by APC
The Kwara State PDP, yesterday, accused the APC of moving huge sums of money from government accounts into private bank accounts for subsequent disbursement to induce voters in the gubernatorial and house of assembly elections.
Director-General of the party’s Governorship Campaign Council in Kwara, Professor Ali Ahmad made the accusation at a press briefing in Ilorin.
“We have correct and factual information about how political office holders, private individuals outside government, influential people in our society and even bureaucrats receive huge money from government accounts and these individuals then either retain the money as their own to buy their support while some others are charged with paying a huge part of the money in tranches of N20,000, N30, 000 and N10,000 to ordinary voters. This is a big political scam that is going on in our state.”
Professor Ali said the new financial regime being promoted by the APC government in the state has also ensured there is an acute scarcity of cash and so the people involved in this scam are being forced to transact this fraudulent business using the banks.
“This means there is a clear paper trail. The transactions can be traced, tracked and trailed. Even those who design the idea of using payment wallets on some special platforms still leave a trail.”
The DG reminded the people involved in the alleged scam to know that what they are doing amounts to diverting Kwara State government money to fund political and partisan activities.
• Entertainers endorse PDP’s Oborevwori
Players in the entertainment industry in Delta State have endorsed governorship candidate of the PDP, Sheriff Oborevwori and his running mate, Monday Onyeme.
Rising from a meeting in Asaba, the group under the aegis of Delta Entertainment Stakeholders (DES), in a communique, said the profiles of the contestants were painstakingly evaluated, declaring that the Sheriff/Onyeme was the most suitable to continue the good work that the outgoing administration started.
The entertainers comprising of actors, actresses, comedians, musicians, DJs, content creators, among others, said the PDP governorship ticket was unanimously endorsed.
The communique was jointly signed by Rume Aku, chairman of DES; Oyubu Joy Aghogho, secretary; Ochuko Akpovwowo, Delta central coordinator; Dike Emmanuel, Delta north coordinator; and Harry Allen Preye, Delta south coordinator.
The group chided the APC-led Federal Government for wide spread insecurity as well as the general hardship of Nigerians as result of the difficulty in purchasing petroleum products.
They, however, commended Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for what they said was his impactful contributions to the sustenance of the industry through the appointment of creative professionals into his administration.
•Court orders INEC to list Udofia as A’Ibom APC candidate
The Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered INEC to list Mr Akanimo Udofia as candidate of the APC for the governorship election in Akwa Ibom.
Justice James Omotosho gave the order in Abuja following an application by Udofia asking that a consequential order to be made to allow the electoral umpire list his name as APC’s governorship candidate in the state.
Justice Omotosho in his judgment, held that the case of the plaintiff was justiciable and subsequently granted the prayers and ordered INEC to list him as candidate of the APC in Akwa Ibom governorship election.
Udofia and Ita Enang, former presidential aide were in court asking the court to decide the authentic candidate of the APC in the Akwa Ibom governorship race.
Arguing the motion for order of mandamus, Udofia’s counsel, Mr Emeka Etiaba, said the apex court’s decision which upheld the process through which Udofia emerged as candidate was not enough.
He said that was why his client had to approach the trial court to direct INEC to list him as a candidate in the Akwa Ibom governorship election having been declared as lawfully nominated by his party.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, dismissed Enang’s appeal against the judgment of the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, which nullified the judgment of a Federal High Court that sacked Udofia as candidate of the APC.
However, since a consequential order was not made, Udofia approached the trial court for an order of mandamus compelling INEC to list him as the authentic candidate of the APC for the rescheduled March 18 governorship election in Akwa Ibom.
The Supreme Court had in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun in the suit marked SC/CV/158/2023, dismissed Enang’s appeal against the decision of the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal.
•Enugu stakeholders express mixed feelings
Stakeholders in Enugu State have expressed mixed feelings over the postponement of the poll.
In their separate interviews, the stakeholders agreed with INEC to reconfigure the BVAS but cautioned against any attempt to tamper with the presidential elections result.
Mr Onuorah Odo, legal practitioner and the state publicity secretary of LP said the postponement arising from the court order is in good faith and a welcome development.
A civil society activist, Mr. Olu Omotayo, also said the postponement was inevitable due to time factor.
Omotayo, a legal practitioner, however, warned that the reconfiguration should be done in a way that all the processes of the last election will remain intact.
Also, Lt.-Col. Aaron Ugwu (retd), chieftain of LP, alleged that the postponement was a ploy by INEC to meddle with the presidential election under investigation.
Mrs. Margerret Udeh, woman leader of Action Alliance, Awkunanaw ward, said the commission’s action is in order but the public does not have the trust in them anymore.
“It’s done in good faith but how many Nigerians are still interested in the process,” Edeh said.
