₦airaland Forum

emk4lif: LMAO, obviously you are not from delta state neither do you reside in warri ....the election was largely free and fair and most people went about their normal activities, simply cuz your party didn't win doesn't void the election, stick to your states and stop making spurious claims....
@franchizy which violence,certainly not in warri here,

(URHOBOTODAY)-Information reaching Urhobotoday has affirmed that hoodlums suspected to member of one of the political parties whose candidate are contesting the Delta Central Senatorial election has snatched a ballot boxes and voting materials as INEC officials were moving the materials to Imohwe polling booth at Ekiugbo, Ughelli North LGA, Delta State.

Urhobotoday correspondent monitoring the election at Ekiugbo axis reported that hoodlums who were shooting sporadically into the air stopped the vehicle conveying the voting materials to the polling booth and ordered the occupants out of the vehicle after which they sped away with the ballot box, voting papers and other electoral materials.

The occupants of the vehicle who are four youth corpers, a uniform para-military man and the driver later took another vehicle to an unknown destination.

Report has it that the polling booth where the ballot boxes and material were snatched is made up of mostly the supporters of DPP and APC. It is suspected that the hoodlums who snatched the voting materials may be working for PDP.

As when going to press, polling booths at Ekiugbo Primary school, Oseri and St Theresa Grammar school all located at Ekiugbo, Ughelli North LGA have no gotten voting materials. Meanwhile voters who arrived at the various polling booths as early as 7 am have been lamenting and complaining of non-availability of voting materials.


SOURCE: www.urhobotoday.com/?p=8843

barcanista:

If given approval by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the 2015 general elections will take place either in January or February of that year.

Chairman, INEC, Prof Attahiru Jega, dropped this hint at a two-day international workshop on “Ethics and Elections: Challenges and Institutional Responses” organised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation in Abuja.

Jega also canvassed direct line charge of funding for State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) to make them independent.

Explaining why the 2015 elections might hold early in that year, Jega said the 2011 general elections would have been held earlier to allow for litigations to be resolved before the inauguration date of May 29 but for the voters registration exercise which preceded it.

He lamented that pre-election cases which dealt with disagreements arising from nominations and primaries had to drag on for years into the tenures of some candidates.

He expressed hope that the judiciary would henceforth not deal with such cases routinely but adopt a business-like approach.

He said: “The key challenge is when these cases go on forever; they are not given priority. Three years after, we’re still dealing with pre-election cases.”

Canvassing for Direct Line of Charge funding of SIECs, Jega noted this would ensure independence for the state electoral commissions.

He argued that “if their funding can be guaranteed like INEC’s, it can go a long way.”

On independent candidacy, the INEC chairman said it was a position which had been canvassed and which he supported but insisted that given the number of political parties, there was the need to set regulations, thresholds and benchmarks. “We’ve many political parties as it is,” he observed.

Peeeee>> Mohamadu Buhari
VPeeee>> Oshiomole/Rochas/Fashola

taharqa: Yuguda is in an Executive position, so d law does not affect him.... Borofice's seat is in d process of been declared vacant on d urging of Labour party; you wud hv known this if you were following d News more often, rather than waiting for others to do d following for ya. I bliv the parties are presently in court on d mata

3ace: This is why we should all support ASUU. Our politicians are wicked. They will find it easy to embezzle billions but when it comes spending our money for the benefit of the citizenry, wahala go shele.

Why do you think you merit a return?

This question is coming at a time the electorate are asking those they have sent to represent them at any level of government to give account. Primarily, the business of a legislator is to make laws and as we speak, I have in my credit about 14 bills and of-course the major one which is globally either acclaimed or condemned is the prohibition of same sex marriage which I believe by now, the president ought to have signed it into law.

What is your position on the alleged jumbo pay for lawmakers, they get so much and give so little?

The Senate as a body has dealt with this over and over again.

When you use the word jumbo pay, I don’t know in which context, but I know what my salary is. I don’t earn up to N1million a month. It is glaring, the banks are there, and these monies are paid directly to the banks.

Like the Senate spokesman said recently, let this debate be for the three arms of government, let us organise a debate, we want to know how much they are spending in the Villa.

Even CBN that is just an organisation, it’s budget is more than N350 billion in a year. How many people do they have as employees and you come to the National Assembly, where we have well over 5,000 management staff coupled with our salaries and over-head and we are using less than 3 per cent of the annual budget while a Ministries use well over 8 per cent of the country’s annual budget and what are many of these ministries doing?
For how many years now have you seen roads being constructed? So, we are saying that the money going to the federal government is too much, this has to be decentralised.

Let’s send these monies to the states and local governments, so that there will be nothing that will be attractive at the centre. All these crises you find within political parties are because of the centre. They believe that there is money there and everybody wants to come and steal and this money belong to the people.

The pay in the National Assembly is not the issue. It is clear propaganda to bring the legislators down and it is because for a long time, Nigerians were used to military regime; they are used to the judiciary, they are used to parliamentarians. So, we are ready for a public debate with these other arms of government.

Domingo Obende is a Senator representing Edo North Senatorial District in Edo State. As a first timer in the Senate, Obende has sponsored and co-sponsored at least 14 bills in the last two years including the controversial same sex marriage prohibition bill and has attracted at least 54 projects across the six local government councils that make up Edo North.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/Domingo-Obende.jpg In this interview with Alemma-Ozioruva Aliuin Benin City, Obende spoke on the proposed national dialogue, centenary celebration and other issues.

What will you say on the proposed national conference by President Goodluck Jonathan?

Sometimes, a lot of things that happen come with agenda. I have always said that the people that will sit down to draft the agenda of a meeting know exactly why the meeting is being held. As far as I am concerned, I don’t see anything visible that is going to come out of it.

If we want to have a sovereign national conference, let us have it; if it is a National Conference that we are going to nominate people or allow government to select people to go debate the situation of Nigeria, obviously, my belief is that it is not going to be people-friendly.

This is because they have hidden agenda and it is that agenda that will be driven into the minds of the committee members. It is like writing a report before the sitting of a committee. It as also diversionary in the sense that they will set up committees.

Right now you will see people struggling to be members of these committees and that alone will destabilise a couple of things and the real issue of governance will be avoided.

They will now come and draft a list of many people and they will now say this committee commences in January or February and before the committee submits its report, we are done with election. I don’t think Nigerians should be treated in this manner. Let Nigerians sit down and discuss the future.

We have always believed that Nigeria cannot break, yes, if there are skirmishes here and there, I don’t think a National Conference is what we need to negotiate that.

If it is a Sovereign National Conference for instance, you can find people who could not even speak English but know what they want for their people, they will come there. So, to me it is like a hidden agenda that is clearly known to those that are setting up the committee.

Do you subscribe to the notion that the amalgamation of 1914 was a mistake?

There is a lot of wisdom in the amalgamation of Nigeria 99 years ago. We came into the African continent with strength and today, we can say Nigeria is the most populous African nation. We are able to get this strength because of the amalgamation but I must tell you that the colonial masters were the ones that created these problems by initially giving strength to specific units and giving weaknesses to other units.

It has been an impression that a northerner must always be in power because the British gave them the powers. It is also clear that when you are talking about the economy, you are talking of the Yoruba nation and of Igbo nation but to me, our amalgamation was a blessing.

We must sit down under a Sovereign National Conference to discuss the future of Nigeria because when a marriage is hitting the rock, the only wise thing the couple can do is for them to sit down and discuss; where have we gone wrong, why is this marriage going this way, can we bring ourselves back to our first love when we first met? I think that is what we should be discussing now.

Are you going to seek re-election in 2015?

I did say that to whom much is given, much is also expected. My people gave me votes and I have not disappointed them. I can point out projects that I have done and still doing. We have realised that the people voted for us and we must do exactly what the people want us to do.

And as much as I am still in the good books of my people and for as much as the leadership of my party is aware that I am doing the right thing by way of making sure that we make laws for the good governance of our country and for the betterment of environment and community, I am coming back and I believe that God will create that enabling environment and my coming back will not create any controversy.

The Governor of Delta State has moved the seat of power from the State capital, Asaba to the oil city of Warri in a desperate move to secure victory for the Delta Central Senatorial bye-election taking place tomorrow, in eight local government areas. The Governor who has been in Warri since Wednesday we gathered is in the area to mobilize the neighbouring town of
Uvwie, by doling out money to voters through associates to induce them voting for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate. Uvwie and Udu which are among the local government area are close to Warri South where the Delta State government house annex is located.

According to a source, the governor has always complained that the only reason that will make PDP lose the election is failure to allow Udu and Uvwie local government areas to vote for another party, noting that both local government has always voted against his party and casting their votes for Great Ovedje Ogboru of the Democratic Peoples Party (PDP). According to the source, the governor has vowed not to have a repeat of such incidents; hence he is mobilizing all the politicians and chiefs in the two local government to convince their people to vote enmasse for the PDP candidate, Aguariavwodo Edesiri.

A reliable source in know of the governor’s action told this paper that the governors biggest threat is double barreled in nature. When ask what he meant by such; he stated that the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Emerhor O’tega former opponent, Festus Keyamo is from Uvwie while Udu and Uvwie are die hard loyalists of Great Ogboru, who has pleaded with them to vote for Ede Dafinone of the DPP. This we gathered has given the governor sleepless nights as this election will determines PDP victory or loses in the 2015 gubernatorial at the election.

The governor has marshaled foot soldiers to personally give out money to voters at the polling units to enable them cast their votes for his party, A source who was at the house of a PDP chieftain in Oghara, Hon Henry Ofa, who is the commissioner representing Ethiope West, Sapele and Okpe in the DESOPADEC board squealed that the politician gave the women a N1000 each to vote for PDP, while he gave the men N500 each. According to the source who is a beneficiary, Ofa assured them that he will give them more on Monday after the victory of PDP, he further revealed that the notable politician pleaded with them to vote for Chief Ibori who is literary the one vying for the Senatorial position.

The election for tomorrow will be the hardest election ever witnessed in the district as all the candidates are credible. Some of the political figures who spoke to us however gave the day to the PDP candidate, whom they stated has proven himself when he was a House of Representatives member as well as Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). They also attributed his road to victory in his humble nature. An attribute which the candidate of the DPP and APC lacks.

omaigala: Then, I'd suggest, you stop poke-nosing into affairs that doesn't concern you.

Thanks.

omaigala: Sorry, if I may ask, are you a mod? Super mod? Or on what ground did you come to this conclusion?

clint77ng: Am not saying that it was an act of God, but y did femi kayode use prayers during his time to avert crashes?

omaigala: Mods! My friend wishes to know why he was banned.
According to him, for almost 3months plus, he hasn't violated any of nairaland's laws. He didn't insult nobody.

So, on what basis was he banned?