The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reacted to the reports of ballot papers found in the possession of some people ahead of the general elections.
INEC Director of Voter Education, Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, told Channels Television that there was nothing wrong with that, provided they were specimens.
“Yes! we did give political parties a specimen of the ballot paper,” he said during his appearance on The Verdict. “There is nothing wrong with having specimen ballot papers in your possession.”
The INEC director added, “In terms of getting people out, teaching them how to vote correctly such that their ballots are not invalid.
“We even supported the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) which is an umbrella body for all political association of all political parties registered in Nigeria.”
Commenting on the arrest of two persons with ballot papers by the police in Kano State, Mr Osaze-Uzzi noted that the case was subject to an investigation.
He stressed that INEC was waiting for the police to conclude their investigation into the case since they had already confirmed that the ballot papers found were specimens.
The INEC official explained that a specimen is quite different from the original ballot paper as it does not have the security features contained in the real one.
Asked why political parties were given specimen of ballot papers, he said, “They were given specimen so that they will use it to demonstrate how you cast your vote, how you fold the paper, and how you do everything else.”
“I have seen so many (instances) where the political parties themselves, rather than give the blank one that we gave, now put the fingerprint on their logo. They are allowed to do that,” Osaze-Uzzi stated.
He added, “If they try to forge it and look for a surreptitious way to get it on election day into the scheme of things, then that is a crime.
“But for them to replicate it for voter education purpose and put specimen on top of it, there is nothing wrong with that.”
Specimen in that quantity !!!! why would you give anyone 17 bags of specimen ...why are you giving only APC millions of specimen and why is specimen not written boldly on it....this is proof that INEC has already compromised this election
Everything have a form of defense in this country. After tomorrow election no matter the outcome, I'm still going to win. The wise people know what I'm talking about. #TeamNoCredibleCandidate
Only cursed people are going to vote Buhari in the face of all the atrocities Buhari has committed against this country! I pray the life of anyone that votes Buhari will be like the economy of Nigeria that Buhari has ruined!! I pray that the persons family will permanently wallow in poverty just as Buhari govt has sent 90million Nigerians into poverty since 2015!!
Only cursed people are going to vote Buhari in the face of all the atrocities Buhari has committed against this country! I pray the life of anyone that votes Buhari will be like the economy of Nigeria that Buhari has ruined!!
100 Reasons Why Buhari Must Go 1. Buhari is the most nepotistic Nigerian president ever. He makes no pretense about it.
2. Economy, Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Corruption: These were his 3 cardinal campaign points in 2015. He failed in all of them.
3. In 2015, even before he appointed Ministers, Buhari approved over N39.4 billion naira to NNPC to prospect for crude oil in Northern Nigeria. The project has turned out to be a total waste of taxpayers’ money.
4. His current tenure witnessed the 3rd economic recession in Nigeria. The first was during his regime as a military dictator.
5. Within 3 years of his government, over 11 million Nigerians lost their jobs.
6. Under Buhari’s watch, Nigeria became the poverty capital of the world. 86.9 million Nigerians are now living in extreme poverty. This represents nearly 50% of its estimated population of 180 million.
7. Killings by Fulani Herdsmen rose to an unprecedented scale under Buhari’s watch. The killings were carried out with impunity.
8. Buhari destroyed almost all the free and fair electoral gains of the past administrations.
9. The Obasanjo administration removed Nigeria from international debt. Buhari plunged Nigeria back into extreme foreign debt. According to NBS, Nigeria’s debt profile grew by 40% within the first 2 years of the Buhari government. Currently, Nigeria owes N22.4 trillion ($73.2 billion).
10. He promised to sell off planes in the presidential fleet when he becomes president. He never did.
11. Buhari promised to clean up the severely polluted Niger-Delta. It never happened. The Ogoni Clean-Up project turned out to be a huge fraud on the people of the Niger-Delta.
12. It took Buhari 6 months to appoint a set of mediocre Ministers.
13. Ibe Kachikwu – his Minister of State for Petroleum - blew the whistle on illegal oil contracts worth $25billion (N9trillion) done by the GMD of NNPC. Buhari neither probed it nor removed the GMD.
14. Buhari uses state security apparatus to pursue vendettas. For instance, despite court orders for their release, he has kept Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and Sambo Dasuki illegally incarcerated.
15. Before his election, Buhari swore that fuel subsidy never existed. Today, his government has so far paid over 1.4trillion in fuel subsidy.
16. According to an Amnesty International report, the killer Fulani herdsmen have slaughtered 3,641 Nigerians. All these killings occurred within 3 years of the Buhari rule.
17. Till this day, not one killer herdsman has been arrested and prosecuted.
18. Folarin Coker, the former head of an agency in Lagos state, diverted N3billion from the account of the state government into his Wife's 32 bank accounts. Buhari recruited him into his government, as the DG, NTDC. The corruption case died a natural death.
19. The Nigerian currency – the Naira - devalued under his watch. The currency lost more than 50℅ of its value within a few months of his government.
20. Buhari’s mismanagement of the economy introduced Double digit inflation to the country.
21. Abba Kyari - Buhari’s Chief of Staff (CoS) - took a N500m bribe from MTN. He did it to help the company reduce the $5.2 billion fine imposed on it by the federal government. Even with concrete evidences presented to Buhari, he did nothing about it.
22. According to UNICEF, 13.2 million Nigerian children are now out of school. This is the highest in the world. Of which 69 % of these out-of-school children are in the North.
23. The Buhari government’s incompetence are often demonstrated when he appoints dead people into government agencies.
24. Nigeria is currently ranked as the 3rd Most Terrorized Global Nation among countries worst hit by terrorism. Nigeria has held that position four times consecutively during the Buhari administration.
25. He is selective in his fight against corruption. He deliberately ignored some corruption allegations and petitions against some of his appointees, aides, party members, etc.
26. Buhari dominates his top federal political appointments with northerner Muslims.
27. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the 1st quarter of 2016, the Nigerian economy shrank by 0.36% to hit its lowest point in the last 29 years.
28. The Buhari government make claims to have saved trillions of Naira in the TSA. Still, they kept gallivanting around the world in search of foreign loans.
29. Too many of his close relatives were recruited into his government. For instance, Mamman Daura (nephew), Chief of Staff (nephew), Minister of state for Aviation (nephew), his ADC ( in-law), his Personal Assistants (nephews), Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Investment (niece), etc.
30. He removed the Chief Justice of Nigeria without following constitutionally defined due process.
31. Buhari dominates the heads of security agencies with Northerners: NSA (Borno); Chief of Army Staff (Borno); National Security Adviser (Borno); EFCC (Borno); Minister of Defense (Zamfara); Chief of Air Staff (Bauchi State); IG of Police (Nassarawa); NSCDC (Niger); DSS (Kano); Nigeria Immigration Service (Jigawa State); Nigeria Customs Service (Bauchi State); Nigeria Prison Service (Kebbi State).
32. At the early stage of his administration, Buhari’s relatives and children of his aides were allocated 91 positions in an illegal and secret CBN employment exercise.
33. “Budget padding” entered the Nigerian lexicon after federal lawmakers spotted inflated cost of projects and items in Buhari’s National Budget proposal.
34. Buhari vowed to punish “budget-padding” culprits in his government. He never did.
35. $43 million cash was found in an Ikoyi apartment. It is already more than a year since a probe panel was instituted, yet nothing has come out of it.
36. Buhari has demonstrated that the South West (the Yorubas) are only important to him when it is politically expedient. They are not important enough for him for key government appointments.
37. On national TV, he instated that he would not obey court orders.
38. Under his watch, 20.9 million Nigerians became unemployed according to NBS. Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose from 18.8% (in 2017) to 23.1% (in 2018). It went from 10.4 million in 2015 to 21 million in 2018.
39. He has refused to make his asset declaration public.
40. Buhari uses the police, DSS, Army, etc., to supervises the systematic harassment and humiliation of perceived political opponents and people with contrary opinions.
41. Buhari increased the price of petrol, yet he still pays more subsidy on the product than the previous government, which it accused of ‘subsidy scam’.
42. Buhari approved the withdrawal $462 million from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) for the procurement of military aircraft, without a prior approval of the National Assembly.
43. Buhari insults and de-markets the country whenever he travels abroad.
44. Under his watch, the Nigerian Army has killed 492 Shiite Muslims in the last 4 years. These extrajudicial killings have gone on with impunity.
45. The “Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG)” protesters - on whose protests Buhari rode to the presidency of Nigeria - were tear gassed and persecuted by the Buhari government.
46. On a live TV broadcast, Buhari defended the Governor of Kano state who was caught on camera receiving $5m bribe.
47. Under his watch, his VP and his political party (APC) engages in systematic vote buying disguised as “Trader Monie”.
48. A good number of politicians working for Buhari’s re-election have pending corruption cases bordering on stolen monies worth about N300bn. They include: Abdullahi Adamu (N15bn); Aliyu Wamakko (N15bn); Godswill Akpabio (N100bn); Orji Uzor Kalu (N3.2bn); Babachir Lawal (N223m); Rotimi Amaechi (N97bn); Abdul’aziz Yari (N680m); Adams Oshiomhole ($51m); Bola Tinubu (N100bn); Abba Kyari (N500m); Musiliu Obanikoro (N4.7bn); Folarin Coker (N3bn), etc.
49. A member of the Buhari kitchen cabinet – Babachir Lawal - spent N220million to cut grass at an IDP camp. Yet, he has not been prosecuted for the offence.
50. The disgraced and sacked SGF, Babachir Lawal, was replaced with his cousin, Boss Mustapher. Effectively retaining the SGF position within his family.
51. The only leader that retains his appointees to government offices even when the senate refuses to confirm them or outrightly rejects the confirmation of such persons.
52. Under his administration, the Nigerian Stock Exchange lost more than 50℅ of its value.
53. Transparency International announced that corruption increased during Buhari’s government. The country's corruption perception index rose from 136th (2016) to 148th (2018) in the ranking.
54. He dominates the federal judiciary with northern Muslims i.e. Chief Justice of Nigeria (Mahmud Mohammed/Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad), president of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.
55. He has shown that he is not intellectually wired to understand when corruption is going on around him.
56. Adams Oshiomhole was accused by some of his party members of receiving bribes worth about $55 million before and after the APC primaries all over the country. The case is dead and buried by the Buhari government.
57. A Senator sympathetic to Buhari hired hoodlums who invaded the National Assembly and stole the maze. Buhari did nothing to bring the Senator to book.
58. Buhari promised to end medical tourism by public officials when he becomes president. When he became president, he became Nigeria’s biggest medical tourist.
59. His wife, Aisha Buhari, cried out and revealed that Buhari is not in control of the government. She further revealed that a certain cabal runs the show.
60. Under his watch, INEC created mobile voting centers for Muslim IDPs. This is unknown to the Electoral Act. He has refused to make same or similar arrangements for IDPs of Southeast and minority nationalities’ extraction such as through voters’ cards’ transfer provided in the Electoral Act of 2010.
61. The Buhari government spent an entire tenure blaming past governments for problems they were elected to fix.
62. Buhari’s nephew – Hadi Sirika, the Minister of State for Aviation - spent N1.5 billion naira of taxpayers money on propaganda and to kick-start the national airline – “Nigeria Air”. The company folded up even before it started.
63. Buhari is never aware of anything that goes on in his government and under his watch.
64. Alpha Beta Consult – a company that belongs to Bola Tinubu is facing a N100 billion-fraud allegations. Buhari ignored the petition. Instead, Buhari rewarded him with an important position in his re-election campaign team.
65. He pretends to be poor while his family lives in opulence. His children attend £26, 000 a year universities in the UK. His son had an accident with his motorbike estimated to be worth tens of millions of Naira.
66. He is resolute in his pursuit of the northern agenda.
67. The Buhari government lied that it has “technically” defeated Boko Haram. Still, he approved $1billion to fight insurgency in the North East.
68. The IPOB agitators have never killed anyone. Buhari classified them as a terrorist group. The killer Fulani herdsmen have killed over 3,641 innocent Nigerians. Till date, Buhari has refused to tag them as terrorists.
69. Buhari is the first Nigerian leader to appoint a member of his ethnic group as the head of the nation’s electoral body.
70. The Meyetti Allah is an open and vocal sympathizer of the killer Fulani herdsmen. Buhari is their Grand patron. Yet, he has never called them to order.
71. On several occasions, Buhari pleaded with non-Fulanis to give up their ancestral lands to the rampaging killer Fulani herdsmen.
72. Buhari’s Minister for Information, Lai Mohammed was alleged to have made financial demands from an agency (NBC) under his Ministry. The N13 million “loan” he demanded for was to enable him travel to China. Buhari ignored the allegation.
73. Billions of Naira was allocated to the Aso Rock clinic in the National Budget. Buhari’s wife, Aisha Buhari, revealed that the monies were misappropriated under his watch.
74. They have to translate English to English for Buhari.
75. Okoi Obono-Obla, one of Buhari’s aides – was alleged to have forged his WAEC certificate. Buhari ignored the allegation.
76. The Buhari kitchen cabinet planned and executed a siege on the houses of the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President. They also coordinated a failed legislative coup with a minority group of Senators. This was done to prevent the defection of members from the APC. Buhari never punished them.
77. Buhari supervised the fraudulent and disgraceful conduct of elections in Edo, Ekiti and Osun state.
78. A fugitive and pension thief - Abdulrasheed Maina – the former chairman of the Presidential Pension Task Team was secretly reinstated by the Buhari administration.
79. Under Buhari’s watch, there was a deliberate and scientific exclusion from voting of 12 million registered voters dominated by southern and northern minority populations.
80. Buhari decided that it was a good idea to share $321million of returned Abacha loot amongst some vague Nigerians. A few weeks later, he took a loan of $328 million from China for investment in the telecoms sector.
81. Buhari’s former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, was indicted for certificate forgery. She was never prosecuted.
82. His Chief of Staff - Abba Kyari - was accused by his cousin of collecting N29.9m to facilitate a contract to supply 15 Toyota Hilux vehicles to the Presidential villa, Abuja. Even with evidences provided by the accuser, Buhari defended Kyari on the allegation.
83. He enjoys foreign health facilities, while thousands of Nigerians die in ill-equipped hospitals in Nigeria. Yet, he has not built a single hospital in Nigeria.
84. Buhari retained Ibrahim Magu as the acting EFCC Chairman despite the fact that the Senate failed to confirm him twice.
85. He insisted that Abacha never stole, yet his government has benefited enormously from the unending return of the Abacha loot.
86. He craves for extreme powers. For instance, he demanded to have emergency powers in his first few months in office. Later, he signed and authorized Order 006 to give him powers outside the provisions of the EFCC Act and ICPC Act — as well as the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and the Criminal Code.
87. Buhari’s Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Ameachi, admitted his incompetence in a leaked audio tape.
88. He is the first president to publicly announce that he would not favour the regions that did not vote for him.
89. Buhari rarely grants interviews to local media. He prefers granting interviews to foreign journalists.
90. In 2015, the Kano state Electoral Commissioner and every member of his family were killed in the most suspicious circumstance. Ibrahim idris, who was the Kano state Commissioner of Police when the incidence occurred, was later rewarded with the position of Inspector General.
91. He runs away from intellectual discussions like debates.
92. He failed to disclose his ailment as it is done in transparent governments all over the world.
93. A human rights activist, Dr. Osadolor Ochei, wrote several petitions to the EFCC against Adams Oshiomole. The petition bothered on alleged looting of Edo state treasury while he was governor of the state. Buhari’s EFCC ignored the petition. Instead, Buhari rewarded Oshiomhole with the APC chairmanship position.
94. Despite its growing unpopularity, Buhari is a stoic crusader for nomadic cattle grazing.
95. Under Buhari administration, the Nigerian international passport now costs N70k, Car Number plate is N75k, driver’s license N30k, etc. Note, these are just the official rates.
96. His appointees and aides show open disregard for other arms of government like the Senate and the House of Representatives.
97. Buhari makes appointments into constitutionally and statutorily created offices in manners clearly incoherent with and unknown to the 1999 Constitution and the Civil Service Rules of the Federation (i.e. appointments of DG of DSS, Custom CG, and former INEC interim Boss).
98. He has shown open disregard for the Federal Character principle, which he has violated countlessly.
99. Buhari’s anti-democratic and dictatorial tendencies exhibits itself on several occasions when he jettisoned the justice and legislative system in order to have his way.
100. Due to some of his recent exhibitions, his memory, mental health status and fitness have become a matter of urgent concern.
SalamRushdie: Specimen in that quantity !!!! why would you give anyone 17 bags of specimen ...why are you giving only APC millions of specimen and why is specimen not written boldly on it....this is proof that INEC has already compromised this election
