15032019 - INEC kicks as court stops make-up polls in Adamawa

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42 — Vanguard, FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019 Ondo: Chieftains prepare Ambode Treatment for Akeredolu PALPABLE moves aimed at frustrating Governor Rotimi Akeredolu from running for a second term as governor of Ondo State have commenced. Though the governor has yet to commit himself to a second term bid, his aides have, however, pledged themselves to a run. The All Progressives Congress, APC governorship primary is to hold next year. It would be recalled that the National Working Committee, NWC of the party recently issued a query to the governor over alleged anti-party activities. Vanguard gathered that the move to give Akeredolu the ‘Ambode treatment’ is coming on the heels of the disappointing outing of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 23, 2019, presidential and National Assembly elections. The party lost six of the nine House of Representatives seats as well as two of the three Senate seats to the opposition in the state. According to a source close to the National Working Committee of the APC, the party’s discreet investigation into the remote and immediate causes of the defeat showed that the governor did not act as a team player with the larger interest of the APC at heart. The moves against Akeredolu according to Vanguard sources is being instigated by influential power brokers from within and outside the Southwest. The newly elected National Assembly members on the party’s platform and a handful of stakeholders are equally not happy with the state Exco of the APC. According to the source, the By Abdulmumin Murtala Kano The declaration of the Kano State governorship election as inconclusive has again brought to fore the unpredictable nature of Kano’s politics. Until Governor Ibrahim Shekarau in 2007, the state had the uncanny record of not returning a governor for a second term. Against the claim by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje that he would deliver five million votes to the All Progressives Congress, APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, his failure to deliver one million votes for himself has brought to light the challenges against the governor. Kano gave President Buhari, 1,464,768 votes in the presidential election against the 391,593 delivered to his main contender, Atiku Abiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Atiku’s votes amounted to about 20% of the total votes. So, a repeat of the trend was expected last weekend. The PDP governorship candidate in the state Abba Kabir Yusuf despite the challenges against the incumbent was also faced with his own challenges. Issues were made about him being an in-law of Senator Rabiu outcome of the last State Assembly election showed that the opposition PDP was not anywhere close to the APC. “We made it clear that we were going to probe the real reasons we lost both the presidential and National Assembly elections to the opposition PDP in Ondo State. “We have analysed the results in each of the senatorial zones as well as the federal constituencies and observed that the governor was not interested in the presidential and National Assembly candidates at all. “He was said to have told a close ally in his government that President Muhammadu Buhari should be the one to fund the National Assembly candidates and not him. “How he starved all t h e candidates of funds was not just the reason but the anger t h a t stakeholders in the party visited on the preferred candidates he abandoned midway for his AA candidates. “The implication was that both •Governor Rotimi Akeredolu The allegations against Akeredolu •Lackadaisical towards APC in the presidential/NASS polls •Battled APC NASS candidates to weariness •Allegedly supported third party candidates Kano: Why change is constant Kwankwaso, t h e undisputed leader of the p a r t y following the exit of M a l l a m Shekarau. There were also issues on the conduct of t h e gubernatorial primaries w h i c h contributed to the PDP breaking into factions. There were •Abba also issues relating to drawing the line between the party and the Kwankwasiyya members that joined along with Kwankwaso. The challenges against Ganduje were, however, multifarious and scathing. They ranged from the alleged involvement of his family, especially his wife, in the administration of the state. He is also accused of excessively taxing the citizens and stopping the free education programme APC and AA shared our votes. To worsen the situation, by fielding AA candidates, the governor was already providing an incentive for •Ganduje people to play antiparty. “From our findings, if the governor had exerted the same energy on the presidential and National Assembly elections as he did for the State Assembly election, we would have been more comfortable as a party. “But what we have seen today means that Governor Akeredolu is not a team player who thinks about himself and his interest alone. We do not believe such a person should go beyond the first four years as governor”. Though it could not be immediately linked with the latest move, newly elected Ondo federal lawmakers who arrived Abuja on Wednesday for the collection of t h e i r Certificates of Return were said to have met with a handful of some party stakeholders last night. They have also resolved to push for the dissolution of the State Exco of the APC while calling a introduced by the Kwankwanso regime. However, the matter relating to his personal integrity was a overwhelming factor that touched on many political sensibilities. It especially became a factor after the circulation of video clips showing the governor allegedly receiving bribes from contractors. For whatever factor, women who came out to vote were reported to caretaker committee in its place. Those who met with the incoming lawmakers according to an inside source include two former governorship aspirants of the party, a former zonal leader, one-time deputy governor and a serving senator. Reacting, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alex Kalejaye said “Those calling for the dissolution of the State Executive Committee of the APC in Ondo State do not love the development of the party. “The State Exco did what was expected of it to secure electoral victory for the party during the Presidential and National Assembly elections. It was clear to the blind that the Peoples Democratic Party heavily monetized the polls. “The whole process was monetized and even those saddled with the responsibility of ensuring a credible process could not resist the temptation of financial inducement. “With the elections behind now, the State Exco is preoccupied with rebuilding a more virile and united party that is capable of maintaining a stronghold in the state. The state information commissioner Yemi Olowolabi could not be reached on the telephone for comment. But the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Segun Ajiboye said the issue of the query to the governor was only read in the national dailies and that his principal was yet to be queried. “We read about the query in the newspapers. The governor has not seen any question. I am not aware of any question to the governor. “Governor Akeredolu is busy with governance and would not be distracted by any argument about his second term ambition. Ajiboye said “Why jumping the gun, we are still in our second year in office. We are still in the day.” have overwhelmingly voted for the PDP candidate. He received massive votes from the nine local governments within the Kano Municipality which raised his chances and made up for the votes lost to PDP in local governments outside the municipality. Abba is ahead of the incumbent Ganduje of the ruling APC after 43 of the 44 Local Government Areas’ results have been collated. However the result as at the time of this write-up indicates that the PDP scored 951,531 votes while the APC has 935,451 votes in the 43 LGs. With only one local government left, the PDP is comfortably leading with a margin of 16,080 votes. The APC is leading in the the number of local governments while the PDP is leading in the figures. The PDP is in the lead because result margins at APC winning points were slim while they were wide in PDP’s winning points. Undoubtedly, the people of Kano had been celebrating even before the announcement of the winner by INEC and many are hopeful for a change, but with the decision of the election management body to conduct a supplementary election, the view is that all options are open.
VANGUARD, FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019 — 43 Lagos PDP leaders rage against Agbaje’s "unserious" campaign •They are unserious – Agbaje By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor THE on-again-off-again internecine political war in the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has taken a new dimension with the directorgeneral of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Layi Ogunbambi and the party’s governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje at each other’s throat. The new development follows the party’s poor showing in the recent governorship election and the quick acceptance of defeat by Agbaje. Speaking at a post-mortem of the election organised at the Luggard Avenue residence of party leader, Chief Bode George two days ago, Chief Ogunbambi described Agbaje as being unserious in his aspiration and deliberately making conditions unpalatable for those who had the genuine desire of pushing the interests of the party ahead. His assertions were immediately challenged by Agbaje who drew reference from his repeated attempts at the governorship and his Afenifere background to accentuate his commitment to the governorship. Party sources at the meeting where Agbaje and his running mate, Mrs. Haleemat Busari were present expressed disappointment that Agbaje was not remorseful especially in the light of the sunken hope of the 40 House of Assembly candidates. “Let me quickly seize this opportunity to thank our leader, Chief Bode George, immensely for the confidence reposed in me all the time since l became a member of Lagos State PDP. l was duly sworn in as DG of Atiku campaign council at the Party Secretariat in Ikeja and curiously Jimi Agbaje never called me to discuss with me the operations and work schedule of my office. “There was no template for harmonization of his group with the legitimate organ and structure at the party office in Ikeja. With his rigid application of dogma, it was patently obvious that he was not going to work with me and the party on 2019 general elections. “ln fact, he made it clear to many and even went on social media to put on record that he was not going to have anything to do with me as the DG. l spoke with him several times on the phone in my attempt to diplomatically bring some focus and sanity to his ego without any success,” Ogunbambi alleged at the •Jimi Agbaje meeting. “The stagnation remained substantially the same to date. Jimi was emphatic when he said publicly that Leke was his DG because he needed somebody he could control just like he wanted to control the entire party with his inner core group that have done more to disfranchise the Party in Lagos State for years now,” Ogunbambi said. “My issue with Jimi is not about Ceaser and Brutus. It is about a man supported with my time and money in 2015 and 2019 and later discovered that he was nothing but a serial politician coming every four years to use our Lagos PDP platform to amass enormous wealth for himself. Countering the claim yesterday, Agbaje speaking through his media aide, Felix Oboagwina said: “Well, that is not true. If you know Jimi Agbaje he has been in the struggle from the days of June 12 when he was treasurer of Afenifere and was somebody who stuck out his neck for the enthronement of democracy, and such cannot be said to be an unserious minded person. He was forced out of AD in those days when Bola Tinubu did what he did and imposed his candidate, “(Babatunde) Fashola on the party and you would recall that many of them left including Obanikoro and many other people like Tokunbo Afikuyomi. “So, he had always had the ambition. If a level playing field were allowed in those days, he would not have left that party, and he went into DPA and contested. DPA was not a wealthy party, but he used his resources and his name and his brand to promote the party in those days. “So, he has a history and that history is that of a credible person who is serious-minded, who is visionary and who wants the welfare of the land and people of Lagos State. Whoever is saying that he is an unserious person is himself unserious and very shallow minded,” he said yesterday. Supplementary Polls: Dingdong on the Plateau By Marie-Therese Nanlong CIVIL Society Organizations/ Coalition of Domestic Observers which deployed its members to observe the recent governorship election in Plateau State have raised concern about the emerging trend of inconclusive elections across the country, Plateau State inclusive. The leader of the CSOs, Godwin Okoko noted that the trend of inconclusive election is already having a negative impact on the people as was seen in the apathy in the State during the March 9, 2019 governorship and House of Assembly elections stressing, “We must say that such trend in Jos North/ Bassa constituency contributed to voters apathy.” He appealed to the State government to ensure the strengthening of peace and security structures in the State with special attention to communities where the supplementary election will be held and recommended that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC “ensure the prosecution of all her staff involved in electoral malpractices, improve on logistics for its officials to perform their duties optimally and improve on the general conduct of the elections specifically; smart card readers should be further enhanced.” It would be recalled that the National Assembly elections for Jos North/ Bassa federal constituency and that of the Plateau South Senatorial seat had to be conducted twice while the governorship election was declared inconclusive and a new date set for a rerun. The affected communities across the nine local government areas where the rerun would be held are Barkin Joju polling unit in Barkin Ladi local government area where they are 570 registered voters, in Bokkos, five polling units including Bot Buut - 907 voters, Primary School, Dimak - 300, Primary School, Orit - 1,062, Bot Bot - 1,871 and Mandar - 1,174, totalling 5,314. In Bassa, two polling units of PU 1 with 695 voters and Mr. Ali - 2,383 totaling 3,078. Langtang South had results cancelation in six polling units of Dadin Kowa - 845, Magama - 951, Timbul - 870, Turaki - 741, Timbul PU001 - 1,192, Timbul PU002 - 1,192, Violence - 2,094, totaling 7,595. Brexit has taken notable step backwards *May By Luke McGee IT’s tempting to be lieve the cliche that in Brexit, nothing ever changes. But after three nights of dramatic, confusing and chaotic votes in the House of Commons, things are looking a little different. We now know that on Thursday of next week (March 21), Prime Minister Theresa May will ask the European Union to extend the Article 50 Brexit deadline. For how long depends on whether or not her Brexit divorce deal is approved by her own lawmakers before that date. As things stand, her deal looks no closer to passing a vote in parliament. On Thursday, 188 members of her own party voted against the government’s motion to delay Brexit. Only two things of late have carried a majority among lawmakers: opposing a no-deal Brexit and delaying Brexit, which both sound distinctly un-Brexity. And neither is entirely within the United Kingdom’s control. But as we drift closer to the big day when the UK is slated to leave (March 29), the Commons is giving us a better idea of what it doesn’t want. It doesn’t want May’s deal, a no deal or to scrap Brexit altogether. It doesn’t even want a second referendum, despite the noise made about putting the vote back to the public by some in the political class. An amendment to hold a second vote that would have “remaining in the EU” on the ballot paper was crushed on Thursday by 334 votes 85. The Labour Party’s decision to abstain, despite only a few weeks ago confirming that it supported a second public vote, was behind the poor turnout. While the result doesn’t make a second referendum impossible, it does raise serious questions as to whether there will ever be the political will for one. And for what it’s worth, the EU is not keen on the idea. Other things MPs decided they didn’t want on Thursday include taking time to seek crossparty support for alternative plans and having a third vote on May’s deal — amendments giving MPs more control over Brexit and killing off May’s deal were respectively defeated and pulled. So it looks like Brexit is going to have to be delayed. But to what end? May is running out of time for any meaningful changes to be made to the political declaration accompanying her deal. And based on MPs’ objections The temptation to say that nothing changes is usually a reference to the fact that Brexit seldom seems to move forward; it’s pretty clear that this week, Brexit took a notable step backwards to her deal to date, it’s unclear what could be added in order to turn over such a huge loss. Any new deal would require a willingness on the part of the EU to negotiate again, which is far from certain. Why? Because it would face exactly the same problems that May has faced: there is not majority for anything in the UK and the EU is not in the business of wasting any more time and political capital on policies of failure. Things have changed a little in Brussels, also. While once upon a time, extending Article 50, delaying Brexit and even keeping options for the UK to reverse decision were firmly on the table, it’s fair to say that affection for the Brits is in shorter supply these days. The attitude to the UK varies from country to country, but it’s generally held that the longest extension that the EU would be willing to consider, if May’s deal passes, is about 6-8 weeks. Obviously, should May’s deal completely fail next week and new options need to be explored, it will take a lot longer than 6-8 weeks to sort this out. And while some in Brussels don’t mind the idea of extending for up to and over a year, remember that it only takes one member state to veto an extension. So throwing things up in the air and starting from scratch comes with some pretty major risks. May will travel to Brussels on March 21 and request that the Article 50 deadline is extended. In coming days, we will find out if that request will be for a short extension that allows for the implementation of May’s deal, or for an unspecified length of time as the UK is forced back to square one. And of course, in all of this, the default of a no deal hangs over everyone’s head. Never in this process has the UK’s destiny seemed so at the mercy of Brussels. The temptation to say that nothing changes is usually a reference to the fact that Brexit seldom seems to move forward. It’s pretty clear that this week, Brexit took a notable step backwards. *Culled from CNN
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15032019 - INEC kicks as court stops make-up polls in Adamawa

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