Politics

Gov’ship Polls: How We Will Transmit Results – INEC

Published

1 year ago

March 17, 2023

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has revealed how polling unit results will be transmitted during the governorship elections across the states of the federation on Saturday.

INEC Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, disclosed this while speaking on Arise TV on Friday.

Okoye said the commission had learnt valuable lessons from the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.

“The law as of today prescribes a dual mode of either transmission of results or transfer of results,” Okoye said.

He said when polls closed at the level of the various units, the Presiding Officer who superintended the polling unit would enter the scores of the various political parties in form EC8A which is the polling unit level result.

He said, “The PO will sign that particular result sheet and stamp it, the PU agent or party agent if available will also countersign and copies will be given to them and the police.

“That original result will be what will be scanned and uploaded to our INEC Result Viewing Portal for public viewing. Not only that, the accreditation data that has arisen from that polling unit will also be uploaded, but the physical result and the BVAS itself will also be taken to the Registration Area Collation centre.”

According to him, the Collation Officer will have the benefit of seeing the original results and the BVAS itself and have the benefit of looking at the accreditation data as transmitted, and the result sheet as transmitted from the polling unit. That is the dual mode that the law has prescribed for the commission and that is the mode that we’re going to use for the purpose of this election.

Speaking on real-time IREV delivery on Saturday, Okoye said results would be transmitted as soon as the polls closed from various polling units.

“The commission is determined to improve on its previous performance. What we have done is to learn valuable lessons from previous elections that we conducted, and we’re going to put those lessons into our planning purposes and processes, and into our deployment purposes,” Okoye said.

Speaking on the commission’s preparedness, Okoye said, “As of today, what we’re having is what we call state assembly and governorship elections.

“In all the states of the federation, both the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines and all the sensitive election materials have left the Central Bank and the various state offices of the federation.

“We want to ensure that all polling units open on time. Secondly, we made sure that we reconfigured all the BVAS that will be used for this particular election in terms of making sure that the BVAS perform optimally and also making sure that some of the challenges we had in the previous elections do not reoccur.”

He added that INEC had also given refresher training to all categories of staff that would be involved in the elections.

He said the country would be having 28 governorship elections and 993 state assembly constituency elections, saying “It’s a huge election and INEC will be paying very close attention to what is going on in the various states.”

Politics

Edo Guber: Why I Want To Become Governor – APGA Candidate, Osifo

Published

2 days ago

April 23, 2024

Editor

By Joseph Ebi Kanjo

The Edo State All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, governorship candidate in the forthcoming election, Dr. Isaiah Osifo, has said the yearning by Edo people for good leadership propelled him to join the race.

The former Chief of Staff to Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, who lamented that Edo State has been lacking good leaders for long, promised to deliver good governance if elected into office.

Dr. Osifo stated this during a chat with journalists in Benin City, the Edo State capital, over the weekend.

Rolling out some qualities expected of a good leader, the APGA governorship candidate said: “Many people have asked me why am I contesting? I have several reasons for contesting this election.”

He continued: “What is lacking in Edo State and in African democracy is good leadership. And that is what we’ve been battling with in Africa and Edo State.

“We have an abundance of young men and women, patriotic and talented young men and women that are ready to work. But what is lacking now is good leadership.

“It is that good leadership that’s motivating me to contest the election so that I can feel that gap; that vacuum of lack of good leadership. I said this repeatedly, and God has been so wonderful to me.”

“So, good leadership is needed for Edo State to develop. Good leadership is needed for Edo State to have democracy, because we already have the grace of God upon our life.”

Speaking on how some Edo South Elders are making moves to get the best candidate on board, Osifo noted: “When I met with them I told them there are three things that can make a state to be great: The grace of God; hardworking men and women, patriotism, and of course good leadership.”

He said in Edo people’s bid to elect a good leader in the September 21st governorship election, they must look out for three qualifications, viz: legal, political and moral qualifications, boasting that he is the only candidate that possessed all these qualifications.

He added: “Legal question: Now, you must meet some requirements as a law for you to contest as governor. You cannot go to the Oko prison to go and bring an ex-convict to contest for an election. The law does not allow it. A child that is 30 or 35 years below cannot contest for governor because the law says he must be above 35 years as a necessary requirement. That is a legal qualification.

“Session 182 of the constitution is so clear that if you have sworn to an oath of allegiance to a foreign country or to a foreign power, you are not qualified to contest for any public office.

“Ethically, a politician or a public servant who has sworn to an oath of allegiance is a traitor. Because patriotism is what defines citizenship. So, if you go and swear to an oath of allegiance to a foreign power, it shows you are a traitor. The Nigerian constitution forbids it. And that if you have sworn to an oath of office to a foreign power or country, you are not qualified to hold any public office.

“If you have sworn to an oath of office to foreign power and are still going about telling Edo people to vote for you, you are not going to be a good leader, because you have already lied, liars are not good leaders.”

He continued: “Political qualification: Franchise is defined as a right to vote and to be voted for. For you to be a candidate, you must be a voter here in Edo State. Now, if you have never voted in Edo state, and you are now trying to struggle to get a fresh voter card or to do a transfer, politically you are not qualified to run in this election.

“Moral qualification: I come from a cultural background, whereby a popular adage says you don’t use a stranger to make a head of a community. If you are an Edo man but you have not lived here before as an adult, your family is not here, your children don’t attend any school here, your wife does not go to any market here in Edo State, and you want to be governor, governor over who? “

Politics

Edo Guber Final List : Group Knocks LP, Commends, INEC, Yakubu

Published

2 days ago

April 23, 2024

Editor

A youth group within the Edo State Labour Party (LP), on Monday, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and Professor Mahmood Yakubu for adhering strictly to the rule of law in deepening democracy particularly in the party’s candidates list ahead of the September governorship election.

in Edo State (SYEG), Tuesday has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and Professor Mahmood Yakubu for adhering strictly to the rule of law in deepening democracy in Edo State Labour Party’s candidates list ahead of the September governorship election.

The statement by SYEG came in reaction to an earlier statement by the Edo State chairman of LP, Kelly Ogbaloi who faulted INEC’s listing Oluyinka Faith Alufohai as the running mate to Olumide Akpata.

A statement signed by chairman of the group, Comrade Jonah Ifada and Secretary, Osagie Omoregie also knocked the Edo State chairman of the party over his rejection of INEC final list and reminded the party that what the electoral body has done was in accordance with the law, hence deserves commendation.

The body under the umbrella ‘Shine Your Eyes Group’, also noted that what has become the lot and tragedy for the Labour Party in Edo State was a clear reflection of the shambles primary it conducted in the state where the “wishes of party’s faithful were subverted by those entrusted to run the affairs of the party.”

Ifada in a widely circulated statement in Benin noted, “Our attention has been drawn to the ranting by the Edo State chairman of the Labour Party, Kelly Ogbaloi, rejecting the nomination of Oluyinka Faith Alufohai in INEC announced final list of candidates as ludicrous.

“We want to state equivocally and remind Ogbaloi that INEC is not like the Labour party and that what INEC has done was in line with the rule of law and deserves commendation for being vigilance and thorough.

“We had warned the Labour Party to play by the rules of the game but they choose to bow to the weight of naira and dollars to subvert democracy and the wishes of our people.

“As stakeholders, we are however confident that the abnormality by the party would be corrected by the court as we have it on good authority that one of the aspirants, Barrister Kenneth Imansuangbon has gone to court to seek interpretation of the constitution as regards issues in the party’s primary.”

Recall that Imansuangbon in his petition stated that Barrister Olumide Akpata committed a horde of offences ranging from giving false information to the acquisition of citizenship of another country, which is a grand departure from the Nigerian Constitution’s accepted norms.

On the allegation of false information, Barrister Imansuangbon alleged that Barrister Akpata, while filling INEC form EC 9 “stated his name to be Akpata Olumide Anthony which is different from and not the same as Akpata Olumide Osaigbovo” which he earlier stated on oath to be his name and under which he contested and reportedly won the primary election of the LP.

Imansuangbon wanted the court to determine whether Akpata “has not supplied or otherwise given false information to the INEC within the meaning or contemplation of the provisions of section 29(5) of the Electoral Act 2022 read together with section 182(1) (a) and (j) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).”

On Akpata taking an oath of allegiance of Vanuatu, an independent and sovereign nation, Imansuangbon wanted clear interpretation of the Nigerian constitution to know if Akpata’s “claim on oath, in the said INEC form EC 9 that he has not voluntarily acquired the citizenship of another country is not or does not amount to false information, within the meaning of the provisions of section 29(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022, read together with section 182(1) (a) and (j) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(as amended).”

On Oluyinka Faith Alufokhai, “who is parading herself” as the running mate of Barrister Akpata, the petitioner cited some information that she supplied in INEC form EC 9 which do not add up. The information includes that “she was born in 1981 and that she obtained her First School Leaving Certificate in the same year of her birth.

“Her name is Alufokhai Oluyinka Faith while her former name was Ikheafe and she obtained three certificates namely OND, HND and PGD the same year, 2005.”

Politics

Ondo APC Primary; A Disgrace To Democracy – Cleric

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Editor

…It’s a shame APC is taking Nigeria back to dark days

The Senior pastor of Awaiting The Second Coming Of Christ Ministry, Adewale Giwa, has faulted the conduct of the governorship primary election conducted by the All Progressives Congress, APC in Ondo state.

Giwa, described the exercise as a disgrace to democracy and called on President Bola Tinubu to quickly intervene.

Recall that the exercise was characterized with violence, protest in Okitipupa, ldanre, Akure, the state capital, Supare, Akoko South-West, and other areas, by governorship aspirants, party members across the state.

Political thugs who stormed voting centers, disrupted the exercise and prevent supporters of some governorship aspirants from voting.

The governorship aspirants complained that election materials were reportedly not taken to many wards across the state.

Giwa, while speaking in Akure, called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to invite the State Commissioner of Police for questioning.

“We all witnessed what happened in our state.The exercise in Ondo state was a season of great disappointment and embarrassment. We thought the era of thuggery was gone, not until it resurfaced.

“You deliberately bought sophisticated weapons for political thugs to wreck havoc on the people you intend to govern. It’s a shame that the APC is taking Nigeria back to the dark days.

“Thugs were freely moving around the state with AK-47 riffles in the presence of security agents, and nothing happened.

“What are they turning this Nigeria into? Why do politicians want to be in power at all costs?

” If people say they don’t want you, thank God and leave the position honorably.

“A journalist was beaten, harassed and attacked like a party member. What a shameful act!

“A good name is more desirable than great riches. I don’t know why people don’t think that nothing is permanent in life.

“As one of the stakeholders in Ondo state, it will be unfair for me to encourage or support rascality. The exercise is a disgrace to the nation’s democracy.

“If the APC could fail to conduct a primary election within themselves, how can they transform Nigeria?

“Let me call on President Bola Tinubu to quickly intervene for the interest of the nation’s democracy.

“Also, I urge the Inspector General of Police to invite the State Commissioner of Police for questioning why his officers failed to arrest the political thugs who were moving freely with guns and other dangerous weapons,” he said.