16032019 - How women stripped half naked to half rigginh

14—SATURDAY Vanguard, MARCH 16, 2019
Benue guber: reenactment of PDP/APC rivalry
By Peter Duru, Makurdi
ast Saturday’s Governorship and State
LAssembly elections in Benue state, once
again reenacted the deep rooted rivalry
between the two dominant political parties in
the state, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP
and the opposition All Progressives Congress,
APC. However the PDP candidate and
incumbent Governor, Samuel Ortom got the
better of his rival though the election was
declared inconclusive by INEC.
At the end of collation of results from the 23
local government areas of the state, the
Collation Officer for the Governorship poll,
Prof. Sabastine Maimako declared that
Governor Ortom polled 410,576 votes ahead
of Mr. Emmanuel Jime of the APC who
garnered 329,022 votes.
Prof. Maimako noted that “the number of
canceled votes which is 121,019 is more than
the margin of lead between the PDP and the
APC which is 81,554.”
According to him, a total of 2,480,101 voters
were registered for the election but 816,969
voters were accredited and of the said number
804,662 votes were cast explaining further that
710,102 was the total number of valid votes
while 14,560 were rejected votes.
“Based on the aforesaid therefore, I hereby
declare the election inconclusive. INEC will
conduct supplementary election for this
purpose,” he declared.
But one significant feature of the
governorship election in Benue state was the
fact that Governor Ortom earned majority of
his votes from areas of the state that suffered
the brunt of marauding herdsmen in the last
two years.
These areas which are known high voting
areas includes Logo, Ukum, Guma, Agatu,
Buruku and Gwer West local government
areas.
His APC rival on the other hand enjoyed the
support of the Idoma speaking but low voting
areas where his wife comes from, aside Agatu.
From the spread of the votes, it might
therefore not be wrong to hold that the people
through their ballot somewhat expressed their
stance and disapproval of the manner the APC
led federal government handled the killings
in the state hence they rallied round the
governor and showed gratitude for his
resilience and forthright defense of the people
in the face of adversity.
Reacting to the outcome of the polls,
Convener of the Middle Belt Movement for
Justice and Peace, MBMJP, Comrade Joe
Bukka took a swipe at INEC for not declaring
Governor Ortom winner of the election
stressing that available records showed that
the PDP candidate clearly won the election.
Bukka said, “the declaration is shocking for
some of us, INEC is a body that works with
statistics and they keep records as well. We
all know from the records that 179 Polling
Units, PUs, were affected in the cancelation.
“Instructively from our record which was
obtained from INEC, the total number of
Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, collected by
the electorates in the effected communities that
hosts the PUs stands at 61,040.
“Our verifiable findings is that all of the
places where INEC cancelled the results,
which are known PDP strongholds, the total
number of people who came out to actually
vote and were actually accredited before the
elections were cancelled was just about 28,000
in the totality of the 179 polling units.
“This is except Mbalon where the people
worship the Governor as their hero, and where
no election took place because the electoral
materials were completely burnt.
“This clearly indicated that there is no way
the APC can cancel the deficit. So why did
INEC which is the custodian of this statistical
Guber rerun: APC walks a tight rope in Kano
By Abdulmumin Murtala, Kano
The ruling All Progressives Congress,
APC, had an easy ride during the
presidential election due to the
popularity of President Muhammadu Buhari
although the turnout was not encouraging. The
APC defeated the Peoples Democratic Party
with a wide margin as the PDP could not even
secure the mandatory 25% of the total votes
cast in Kano getting only 20%.
The real contest in Kano took place during
the gubernatorial election where both parties
displayed their political prowess. The PDP was
able to gain the support of the local
government areas within the municipality
which have high population while the APC
still managed to cling to the usual support for
Buhari outside the local government areas
with less population.
In Nasarawa local government for example
which is in the municipality, it has 98,550
accredited voters while a place like Kibiya
Local Government Area that is outside the
municipality has 34,609 accredited voters.
Also, the voting pattern was such that within
the municipality where the PDP has its strong
support, the vote margin between the PDP and
the APC was wide while the vote margin
Post election violence
claims five lives in Taraba
By Femi Bolaji, Jalingo
he peaceful atmosphere that
Tcharacterized the governorship
elections in Taraba was thwarted by the
post election violence that rocked Jalingo,
the state capital.
This however led to the imposition of 24
hours curfew in the state capital, which
had all economic activities put on hold,
but was later relaxed to 14 hours by the
state government.
According to a document obtained from
Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo, by the
state government and presented to
newsmen by Governor Ishaku’s Senior
Special Assistant on Media and Publicity,
Bala Dan Abu, over 60 persons were
admitted, while five were confirmed dead.
Security agencies including men of the
Nigeria Army were still combing the
nooks and crannies of the state capital to
ensure peace returns.
Meantime, incumbent governor and
governorship candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, Darius Ishaku was
able to secure reelection by defeating his
closest contender who was a former
acting governor of the state and
governorship candidate of the APC, Sani
Danladi and a former minister of Women
Affairs and Social Development, Aisha
Alhassan.
The battle for the state’s number one
seat was smooth sailing for Ishaku who
won 12 of the 16 local government areas
in the state.
This was however a contrast to what
played out in 2015 when Alhassan who
was then the governorship candidate of
the APC gave the governor a run for his
money.
This time, Alhassan who was the
flagbearer of the United Democratic Party,
UDP, was able to gather only 16, 289 votes
across the state while Danladi who was
the candidate of the APC, scored 362, 735.
Ishaku who was declared winner by the
Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, had 520, 433 votes, a
difference of 157, 698 votes from his
closest contender, Danladi.
The collation of the results which lasted
three days was suspended twice, which
however raised some concerns among
observers including the state government
why there was unnecessary suspension of
the process at various intervals.
At this time, some media reports had it
that an aide to the governor was caught
with over 300 Permanent Voters Card, PVC
which spread like wild fire.
The report was however refuted by
Governor Ishaku, who called it cheap
blackmail just to malign him and his
government.
The SSA to the governor on Media and
Publicity, Bala Dan Abu who spoke on
behalf of the state governor said “the SSG
has checked the list of Special Advisers
to the governor but the name quoted in
some media reports was not found on the
payroll of the state government.”
outside local government areas where the APC
is stronger was small. This was how the voting
took place in the state.
After the collation of the votes cast in all the
43 local government areas, the ruling APC got
987,819 votes while the PDP took the lead with
1,014,474 votes. This gives a difference of
26,655 votes that is far less than the cancelled
votes from 172 polling units totaling 100,873
votes. According to the Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC’s regulations, the
election stands as inconclusive.
Meanwhile, the APC led in the number of
local governments won with 24 out of the 43
information not declare Governor Ortom
Governor?
“We smell a rat and INEC must come out
clean in this matter. They must convince us
that what we are hearing of a plot to subvert
the process in favour of the APC is not true,”
Bukka added.
In his reaction, Governor Ortom appealed
for calm. In a statement through his Chief
Press Secretary, CPS, Terver Akase, the
Governor stated that “from the results of the
Presidential, Governorship as well as National
and State Assembly Elections, Benue people
have demonstrated that the PDP remains their
preferred choice.
“PDP won all the three senatorial seats in
the state, six out of the 11 so far concluded in
the House of Representatives, 18 of those
announced from the State Assembly with
bright chances of winning the others not yet
concluded.”
The Governor expressed appreciation to the
people for voting massively for the PDP and
wished that they remained resolute in their
determination to give their mandate to
candidates of the PDP.
He stated that he was confident of winning
the rerun overwhelmingly and pledged to
support security agencies to curtail electoral
malpractices on the date to be scheduled by
INEC.
The Governor appealed to the people of the
state to turn out en mass for the repeat elections
in the affected areas even as he expressed the
hope that INEC would also be patriotic enough
to discharge its duties professionally.
On his part, the APC candidate through the
party’s Campaign Secretary, Prof. Eugene
Aliegba said his party would submit to the
decision by INEC and would present itself for
the rerun elections.
“As a law abiding party, we recognize the
decision by INEC as legally binding. We
remain upbeat and urge our supporters to stay
calm and optimistic ahead of a rerun date. We
will do the work required to clinch victory and
earn the mandate of Benue people,” he added.
local governments while the PDP took control
of 19 LGAs.
However, INEC has to ascertain the
genuineness of the cancellations made by the
Returning Officers and come up with the exact
number of polling units where there would
be rerun, as some might have been recorded
as cancelled whereas they were supposed to
be recorded as zero. In any polling unit where
the Card Reader is not used, the unit will be
recorded as zero, not cancelled. Other
problems that have to do with over-voting or
disruption of elections and destruction of
electoral materials by hoodlums will fall under
cancelled votes that would go for rerun.
Guber rerun: APC walks
a tight rope in Kano
By Abdulmumin Murtala, Kano
ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, had an easy ride during
Tthe presidential election due to the popularity of President
Muhammadu Buhari although the turnout was not encouraging. The APC
defeated the Peoples Democratic Party with a wide margin as the PDP
could not even secure the mandatory 25% of the total votes cast in Kano
getting only 20%.
The real contest in Kano took place during the gubernatorial election
where both parties displayed their political prowess. The PDP was able
to gain the support of the local government areas within the municipality
which have high population while the APC still managed to cling to the
usual support for Buhari outside the local government areas with less
population.
In Nasarawa local government for example which is in the municipality,
it has 98,550 accredited voters while a place like Kibiya Local Government
Area that is outside the municipality has 34,609 accredited voters.
Also, the voting pattern was such that within the municipality where
the PDP has its strong support, the vote margin between the PDP and the
APC was wide while the vote margin outside local government areas
where the APC is stronger was small. This was how the voting took place
in the state.
After the collation of the votes cast in all the 43 local government areas,
the ruling APC got 987,819 votes while the PDP took the lead with 1,014,474
votes. This gives a difference of 26,655 votes that is far less than the
cancelled votes from 172 polling units totaling 100,873 votes. According
to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s regulations,
the election stands as inconclusive.
Meanwhile, the APC led in the number of local governments won with
24 out of the 43 local governments while the PDP took control of 19 LGAs.
However, INEC has to ascertain the genuineness of the cancellations
made by the Returning Officers and come up with the exact number of
polling units where there would be rerun, as some might have been
recorded as cancelled whereas they were supposed to be recorded as zero.
In any polling unit where the Card Reader is not used, the unit will be
recorded as zero, not cancelled. Other problems that have to do with overvoting
or disruption of elections and destruction of electoral materials by
hoodlums will fall under cancelled votes that would go for rerun.