₦airaland Forum

Abuja – The Federal Government may have put embassies and diplomats under surveillance over its suspicion that they are interfering in election matters in the country.

Daily Independent learnt that the government’s action would be in reaction to the suspicion that these diplomats may have brought in some sophisticated equipment meant for election monitoring and installed them in their embassies.

According to the source, the Federal Government believes the equipment would be used for the forthcoming election.

The government’s response, according to highly placed sources, may define the country’s relationship with the international community if President Muhammadu Buhari wins the presidential election on Saturday.

The Federal Government and its security agencies believe that diplomats and their embassies are meddling in the electoral exercise – an action forbidden in diplomatic circles.

“Diplomatic rules forbid diplomats from making comments on Nigeria’s internal matters. We are aware that key politicians and media also encourage this trend,” explained a top security source.

According to the source, all members of the Nigerian intelligence community who frown at this trend have since put some of the diplomats under watch.

“We have no problem with anybody who brings equipment explicitly for polls monitoring, but we frown at the use of such device to compromise our national security,” the source said.

The source further stated that there would be sanctions from the Nigerian government in the event of any diplomatic infractions by embassies and diplomats.

Regardless, international polls observers, including embassies with strong ties to the nation, insist that the February/March elections were very critical not only for the survival of the country, but also for the West African sub-region. They, therefore, insist that the standard of the polls should not fall short of that of 2015.

But there are other versions to the allegations made by government and the threats of sanction on diplomatic missions in Nigeria.

Some sources, however, said what security agencies might be alluding to as “surveillance equipment” could just be the Parallel Voting Tabulation (PVT) system, which is being introduced by opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The PVT, a vote integrity monitoring application, is principally a replica of electronic vote transfer app but with improvements in taking audio, visual tabulation of results, starting from basic polling units.

It was also learnt that its margin of error is single digit, less than 5 percent.

According to Osita Chidoka, Special Adviser on Strategy and External Engagements to National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while speaking with newsmen at the PDP Legacy House, Abuja, on the PVT, he said the device was a scientific tool that prevents rigging and assures the credibility of the election result.

“The PVT is a tool that will assure that PDP partisans accept the result of the elections, and that the country remains peaceful and respectful of its differences. We are aware that other PVTs will be conducted by civil societies.

“Hard copies of the signed voter tally provided to all party agents by the NEC officers will be transported to the central command centre should future disputes need to be reconciled.

“We have built a national network of fully equipped situation rooms and call centres.

“PDP has established a reporting system for the PVT through the wards, to the district headquarters, to the states, to the national tally centre.

“The system has redundancies built at all levels – in the event of an internet or communications shutdown or failure or any other eventualities.”

According to him, the PDP would deploy an unprecedented number of trained party agents to each of the 176,000 polling units across the country to monitor the election.

Indications are also rife that the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) are interested in what the outcome of the PVT would be and might be poised to recommending such in future elections elsewhere.

This development, say other sources, has created unease in some circles in the presidency.

According to this group, the PVT might be encroaching on the roles of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the country’s sole election umpire.

“Are they saying that INEC can’t be trusted?” asked a bemused source in the presidency.

But with Buhari’s refusal to sign the electronic voting bill into law, pundits aver that any measure meant to ensure voting transparency would be welcomed by the international election observers.

“PVT, introduced by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in conjunction with other opposition parties and some critical stakeholders, has attracted the interest of observers,” explained a European Union (EU) monitor to Daily Independent.

But going by some developments in the Presidential Villa last week, the matter might well be out of the president’s hands.

For instance, at a closed door meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and Patricia Scotland, Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations, it was impressed on the president that the international community and lots of independent observers would be keenly focused on the election and would not settle for anything less than a transparently conducted election.

“There were talks of agitations raised by opposition parties. The Secretary General also used the opportunity to draw the president’s attention to human rights records in Nigeria, asking that he prevail on security agencies to avoid voter intimidation,” stated a presidency source.

After the meeting, Buhari was said to have summoned security chiefs and head of intelligence agencies in the country to tell them that their conduct must not lead to loss of credibility for the polls.

The All Progressives Congress said it is bothered by the leaked security report of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) plan to deploy $111 million for vote-buying across the states under the pretence of “logistics” during the General Elections.

APC said the plan raises new fears ahead of the forthcoming polls.

“It is now clear that the PDP has no plans to win the elections through legitimate votes, but through illegally procured votes”, Lanre Issa-Onilu, the APC national publicity secretary said.

“Again, in the aftermath of the configured card readers recently recovered from PDP agents in some states, the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has gone to town with face-saving conspiracies that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has imported slow-working card readers from China which will be deployed to the South South and South East which Atiku considers his “stronghold”.

“Atiku also alleges a plan to shut down communication on Election Day. How illogical that a party that is in a contest with clear superior numerical support would shutdown communication on Election Day. Will the communication shutdown affect only the PDP while leaving APC supporters and agents? Nigerians can see through the infantile lies.

“Nigerians will recall that the APC had earlier reported the PDP’s plot before last Saturday’s postponed elections. The recent arrest of several armed PDP political thugs and recovery of INEC card readers and arms from PDP agents in some states points directly to the PDP’s plan as revealed by the security report.

“Atiku has called on the president to retract his instruction to security agencies regarding violence, ballot box thieves, and other electoral malpractices. The question is how such instruction disturbs anyone that is truly interested in free, fair and credible elections.

“We reiterate the resolution of the Monday’s meeting of the APC expanded National Caucus which urged the security agencies to step up their activities by ensuring that all those involved in violence, ballot box snatching, falsification of results, vote-buying and other election illegalities should face the full weight of the law. It is a shame that PDP is kicking against this. We are not surprised because PDP has marshalled plans to get to power by all means possible. The option of one man one vote is not on the PDP’s table.

“Atiku has admitted what we already know that he is not popular by claiming he has two geopolitical zones while the APC has the four other geopolitical zones. On Election Day, Atiku and the PDP should prepare for the shock of their lives. The South South and South East are not oblivious of the unprecedented developmental achievements recorded in the zones under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration, compared to the PDP’s wasted years. The good people of the South South, South East and indeed all the geopolitical zones will speak through their legitimate votes, not the procured ballots planned by the PDP.

“The PDP’s illegal plot requires improved surveillance by our security agencies particularly the Department of State Services (DSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and allied agencies to check illicit financial flows and movement in the lead-up to and on Election Day.

“On INEC’s part, following the unfortunate last-minute postponement of the election, the electoral body must realise that it has a lot to prove to the Nigerian electorate that it is still able to conduct credible elections. A first step will be that the electoral body identify and change its officers who have now beyond doubt become partisan and are actively working for partisan interests.

“Finally, PDP Tuesday’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting has achieved only one thing: Atiku and PDP sank into a new low of rudeness and incivility. They showed acute disrespect to the office of the President with the choice of words employed. This is the same office they intend to occupy”.

Baawaa:
PDP and rubbish news,

By KULE OLASANMI



Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been accused of attempting to jeopardise the forthcoming presidential election in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by conniving with some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Some concerned stakeholders, under the auspices of National Front of Nigeria (NFN) made these allegations in a press statement they issued in Abuja, yesterday.

The presidential and National Assembly elections suffered a huge setback after the electoral body admitted lapses in logistics as well as plots by certain groups to hijack the exercise.

According to NFN’s president, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, a former Public Complaints commissioner, Obasanjo was in the forefront in compromising the entire process.

Tsav said that the ex-president had finalised plans to rig the elections with the support of his cohorts such as Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

“The evil that was planned against Nigeria by Chief Obasanjo and his protégés – Atku, Wike and others is beyond imagination.

It was as if he has sensed that Nigerians will vote in a way that will disgrace him with his failed alliances and lying letter so he decided the only way to save face is to manipulate the elections by compromising the umpire,” Tsav said.

“A last minute realisation of the crimes that have been committed in INEC is what jolted its chairman out of his lethargy to postpone the polls in the hope that remedial actions can still be taken to reverse the damage that the PDP, Obasanjo and Atiku have done to its credibility.

“Before now, there have been several calls on these men to desist from their acts that are capable of plunging the country into crisis but it is now apparent that they are not amenable to reason.

Instead of retracing their steps they have approached their western allies to mount undue pressure on INEC while unfairly accusing the government of the country.

They are activating their international enforcers to declare the elections as fraudulent while ignoring the capacity of this irresponsible move to cause widespread unrest.

The media is also replete with fake news they are pushing to the effect that the elections would be rigged by the ruling party while in reality, they, the PDP, are the ones that are desperate to win in the Obasanjo ‘do or die” style,” he added The NFN, however, urged Nigerians to be more assertive in declaring the kind of country they want while ordering the immediate dismissal of the compromised INEC officials.

Taraba State Government has reinstated Alhaji Haruna Kawuwa, the husband of late Safiya who died at a presidential rally in Jalingo two weeks ago.

Kawuwa was sacked by Taraba state government few days after his wife Safiya died along with seven other persons at APC presidential rally.

Sacking of Haruna who is a senior local government staff was condemned by many people including members of ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

The letter reinstating Mallam Haruna Kawuwa, with reference no LGSC/SP/SAR/5/VOL1/335 dated 15/2/2019 was signed by permanent secretary local government service commission.

The letter which was addressed to Mallam Haruna Kawuwa reads in part “His Excellency the executive Governor, Darius Ishaku Dickson, has approved that your dismissal be waived consequently you are by this letter recall back into the service.”

Mallam Haruna Kawuwa while reacting to reversal of his dismissal by the state government said he thanked God for everything pointing out that he knew justice will be done to him because he did not commit any offence to warrant his dismissal.

By Dirisu Yakubu



Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara has accused the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress, APC, of plotting to embarrass the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in a bid to remove its chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu from Office.

He also described comments credited to President Muhammadu Buhari at the national caucus meeting of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Monday warning that intending ballot boxes snatchers would be risking their lives, as a call to jungle justice, saying the nation’s extant laws are enough to deal with electoral offenders.

Addressing a press conference at the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential Campaign Office, Maitama, Abuja yesterday, Hon. Dogara condemned President Buhari and APC national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s allegations accusing the PDP of having prior information of plans to shift the polls last week.

“We know they are doing everything humanly possible to discredit INEC, remove the chairman and stall the process conscious of the fact that they cannot win this election.

“From our position, we strongly believe that the deliberate delivery of election materials to the wrong electoral centers, cancellation of flights, and other actions that undermined the logistics arrangement of INEC were deliberately done to sabotage and manipulate the process.

“We are also very familiar with the pressure brought on INEC by top government officials and APC leaders to go ahead with the elections despite not being adequately prepared for the election.

We are also aware the APC wanted the INEC chairman to conduct elections in some states and postpone in other states so as to have staggered elections. It should also be noted that the areas that would have been affected by inadequate delivery of materials were PDP strongholds,” he said.

Quoting President Buhari as saying that “Anybody who decides to snatch boxes or lead thugs to disturb the election, may be that would be the last unlawful action you would take.

I have given the military and police the order to be ruthless. I am going to warn anybody who thinks he would lead a body of thugs in his locality to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system; he would do it at the expense of his/her own life,” Dogara urged Nigerians not to be deterred in their quest to elect a new government next week.

He said, “we categorically deny these false claims and unnecessary blackmail and regard the President’s statement as a call for extra-judicial killings considering the fact that there are adequate provisions in our laws to address electoral offenses.

“These statements clearly indicate that our democracy has become the victim of a full blown dictatorship, when one considers that a democratically elected President would give a directive that is in clear violation of the laws of the land which by his oath of office he is to defend and protect.

“In view of this statement by the President, it is obvious that the military has been given a central role and co-opted into the conduct of the election despite the fact that they have no constitutional role in our electoral process.”

He called on Nigerians not to forget that “our party chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, was the first to call for an inquiry into why the elections were postponed last Saturday.

In reality, we support a genuine and transparent probe into why the Presidential and National Assembly elections could not hold. We also hope that the President’s inflammatory statement is not a threat aimed at intimidating the electoral commission.

Dogara also had some words for the APC chairman, whom he tasked to reflect on his allegation against the PDP.

“We also strongly condemn Mr. Oshiomole’s false, mischievous and inflammatory claims against our party, when he said INEC colluded with PDP to abort last week’s elections.

This is a very surprising statement considering the fact that the federal government controls every institution and agency involved in the electoral process, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Nigerian Airforce, Aviation authorities amongst others.

“It is important to note that the APC in its usual manipulative style is now shifting the blame on INEC leadership while absolving itself and the other institutions of government under its control of any blame.

That is the common strategy that super villains always employ. Dogara who is a technical adviser to the PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar expressed worry that a sitting government is playing the victim card; a development he described as a novelty in the nation’s political history.

“This is the first time that we have witnessed a ruling party play victim,” he continued, stressing that it is “a clear indication that they have lost the plot. Evidently, their recent actions and statements clearly show they are panicking and desperate to cling onto power, even when the people have rejected them.”

AWKA – The chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign council in Anambra state Hon. Henry Obaze has said that INEC is yet to apologise to Nigerians for the catastrophic abortion of the Presidential and National Assembly election last Saturday.

Obaze, in an interview yesterday said INEC must accept responsibility for causing so much frustration to Nigerians most of who had travelled long distances to perform their civic duty.


He said that elections have improved since 2010 and there has been precedence that the chairman of INEC failed to learn from.

Obaze said everything including money was at the chairman’s disposal and so he has no reason to fail.

He said, for example, non-sensitive materials ought to have been moved to Central Bank of Nigeria custody and if it has problems with delivering sensitive materials to states, the commission ought to contact the presidency which should authorise the use of military aircraft to do that.

According to him, to rely on Port Harcourt airport to deliver materials for the South East when there are airports in the area and even Asaba smacks of systematic failure.

Obaze said INEC’s shift of the election vindicated his earlier stand that INEC was never ready for the election.

He said it is difficult to understand why the commission’s offices should be set on fire in broad daylight where there are dozens of security personnel.

Nevertheless, Obaze faulted INEC chairman’s stand on the stoppage of the election campaign has stopped, saying that the electoral act says that campaign will stop 24 hours to the election.

There is a crack in the Benue State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Its leadership appeared divided over funds released for the presidential and National Assembly elections.

It was learnt that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the elections to save APC in Benue State from recording a heavy defeat at last Saturday’s polls.

The state’s APC stakeholders were in an expanded meeting yesterday at City Bay Park in Makurdi, the state capital, to address contending issues.

The Nation investigation revealed that on the eve of the elections, APC leaders disbursed funds at the Makurdi home of the Director General of Jime-Ode Campaign Organisation, Chief Tilley Gyado.

Some key party chieftains were alleged side-lined.

Sources said a “cabal” within the state APC family outsmarted others and shared the funds among its members.

The development was said to have resulted in bad blood and divided loyalty, which pushed some members to vow to work against the party at the postponed polls.

At yesterday’s meeting, the aggrieved members reportedly stated their grievances and urged the party’s State Leader, Senator George Akume, to henceforth take charge of logistics ahead of Saturday’s polls to avoid another conflict.

Most APC stakeholders expressed dissatisfaction with the way some party chieftains hijacked its affairs and made it a “one-man show”.

A party chieftain from Otukpo, Peter Ogwuche, said the APC campaign in Benue State was being managed like a cult.

He said: “There is no publicity. You don’t even see journalists around them. No one got to know of APC presence in Benue State.”

Ogwuche said a national newspaper was right to have predicted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would win in Benue State because APC members appeared bent on going after campaign funds.


He added that INEC’s postponement of the polls seemed to be a divine intervention.

Attempts to speak with the State Chairman of the party, Comrade Abba Yaro, were unsuccessful.

He was reportedly still consulting with other party bigwigs at the stakeholders’ meeting.

The meeting was still holding last night and journalists were sent out of the hall.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has directed its members to reduce petroleum pump price from N145 to N140 as part of the association’s contribution towards encouraging voters to participate in the election processes.

The directive was announced on Sunday by the National President of the association, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, represented by Northwest Zonal chairman of the association, Alhaji Bashir Salisu Tahir in Kano.


According to him, the association’s president, Mr. Okworonkwo has directed that the implementation of the directives should take effective from Wednesday.

He said the decision followed last Saturday’s postponement of Presidential and National Assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to him, Nigerians had travelled to different places across the country in order to cast their votes, but to their dismay, the elections were shifted.

He added that IPMAN was prompted to slash N5 from the N145 official petroleum pump price in a bid to motivate Nigerians to return to their respective destinations to vote on February 23 and March 9 respectively.

“We urged all our members across Nigeria to immediately reduce the price of petroleum pump price from N145 to N140 as directed.

“This is because of the political situation that hit the country after INEC suddenly announced the postponement of Presidential and National Assembly elections after Nigerians were fully prepared.

“We are all aware how Nigerians travelled to different destinations across the country in order to exercise their civic duty; unfortunately, they heard a sad news of postponement of the polls.

“This made us deemed it fit to reduce the pump price in order to ease their suffering, and to also motivate them to travel again to exercise their franchise on February 23,” he said.

The IPMAN president urged his members nationwide to immediately implement the directives maintaining that the IPMAN’s decision to reduce the petroleum pump price followed President Muhammadu Buhari’s concern over the election postponement.

“We decided to express our concern over the postponement, as President Buhari expressed concern over the development. As Buhari apologised to Nigerians to show restraint and return to polling units on February 23, IPMAN therefore called on the citizens to exercise patience and come out en masse to cast their votes on the rescheduled date,” he said.

Millions of Nigerians went to bed on Friday evening hoping to wake up on Saturday to cast their votes. By the time they woke up on Saturday, a familiar story had played out: the elections had been postponed. For the third successive general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to keep its oft-repeated promise of “we’re ready”.

Immediately, theories started pouring forth from various factories. Uche Secondus, the national chairman of the the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accused INEC of working hand-in-glove with the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), because of imminent defeat. The APC, in return, accused INEC of acting out PDP’s agenda. Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, said it was “hand of Esau and voice of Jacob” — accusing APC of being behind the poll shift. On social media, APC supporters wondered why PDP fans already tweeted that the elections would be shifted at a time other Nigerians did not have any inkling. And so on and so forth.

After sifting through the various conspiracy theories, TheCable has consolidated them into three major categories.


THEORY NO. 1: INEC WAS PRODDED BY FOREIGN POWERS

This theory, suspected to be coming from the PDP, says APC wanted INEC to conduct “staggered elections” in which only 26 states would vote on Saturday while elections would be postponed in 10 states. The presidential poll would be declared inconclusive. Based on the pattern of results, APC, using federal might, would then deploy full security and financial resources to the remaining 10 states to suppress PDP’s votes and claim victory. This strategy, according to the conspiracy theory, was used effectively by APC in Osun state whereby the governorship election was declared inconclusive and voting was allegedly suppressed in the run-off and APC carried the day. This theory says the US, UK and EU, sensing what APC wanted to do, mounted pressure on Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman, not to stagger the elections but shift them to a date on which every state could vote simultaneously.


THEORY NO. 2: PDP COLLUDED WITH INEC TO AVOID DEFEAT

Faced with the reality that most pre-election opinion polls did not favour them, PDP decided to collude with INEC to postpone the elections and buy time — according to another conspiracy theory propounded by some APC supporters. It is alleged that most of the personnel at INEC were appointed or recruited when PDP was in power and they still owe their allegiance to the party. Therefore, the theory goes, the INEC personnel decided to sabotage the elections at the prompting of PDP so that there would be more time to gain support for Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential candidate. PDP supporters have countered this claim, asking why the same INEC staff did not sabotage 2015 elections in favour of the PDP government. Meanwhile, some APC supporters are asking why PDP fans knew beforehand that the elections would be postponed if indeed their party was not working in tandem with INEC.


THEORY NO. 3: APC, SENSING DEFEAT, SABOTAGED LOGISTICS

There is yet another theory — that APC leaders met in Abuja on Wednesday and concluded that the elections were not looking good for them. Security agencies and other government agencies were directed to sabotage the election, thus paving the way for INEC offices and card readers to be burnt, the theorists allege. They further claim that working with INEC insiders, the APC made sure materials did not get to some locations ahead of Saturday so that elections would not hold simultaneously across the country. Those who believe in this theory also link it to theory no. 1 above, concluding that but for the international community, INEC would have gone ahead with staggering the elections. APC supporters have a counter-argument: why would they want the elections moved when they were the favourites to win?


CONCLUSION

No matter the conspiracy theory that you believe, there is a consensus that INEC was right to have postponed the elections as a result of the issues it highlighted. Many commentators have blamed the electoral body for poor preparations, but Yakubu, in his address to stakeholders on Saturday after the postponement, said there was sabotage, although he did not point his fingers at any particular direction. Whatever theory is right, the indisputable conclusion is that the postponement has created room for conjectures and allegations. It would be difficult to persuade the purveyors that there was no political motive behind the postponement, either in favour of APC or PDP.

A former Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel on Thursday was engaged in a last minute push for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar ahead of Saturday’s poll, blaming inadequate timing for the former Vice President’s inability to conduct open rally in the state.

Daniel, who is the Deputy Chairman of PDP Presidential Campaign Council (South), led Atiku’s campaign train to Ogun Central and West Senatorial districts, ahead of the election.

Daily Trust reports that Atiku did not hold a rally in the state, but his wife, Mrs Titi Abubakar had visited the state to campaign for her husband.

Daniel, in an interview with newsmen today on the sidelines of the tour, noted that “Ogun is already a done deal for Atiku.”

He said: “He (Atiku) has been to Ogun State on a number of occasions. It’s just a question of strategy. Sometimes you go and do big rallies. But don’t forget rallies that are done like that are meant to collect the converted. And you know our Ogun State is a very sophisticated environment. I think we have done what we need to do.

“For instance, yesterday, he was to be in Abuja and we cancelled Abuja. Time is very short. Part of the situation here is that we are quite sure in Ogun everybody is rooting for Atiku. It’s a done deal as far as we are concerned.”

The former Governor warned Nigerians to resist rigging and any attempt to postpone the election, saying such move may amount to derailing transition in Nigeria.

He also pointed out that the PDP candidate has demonstrated that “he has the capacity to restructure and he would restructure our country.

Taraba State Government has sacked Alhaji Haruna Kawuwa who is the husband of Safiya who died along with eight others in a stampede during the APC presidential rally in Jalingo last Thursday.
Haruna Kawuwa, before his sack, was Head of Local Government Administration (HOLGA) in Ardo-Kola Local Government Council in the state.
Haruna’s sack was contained in a letter with reference no LGSCSAR/S/vol1334 and dated 13 February 2019. It was signed by the Permanent Secretary Local Government Service Commission, Malam Lawal Yakubu.
The letter, however, did not disclose the offence committed by late Safiya’s husband but it was gathered that Governor Darius gave the order for the sacking of Malam Haruna for allowing his wife to attend an APC rally.
The junior brother of Mr. Abel Peter Diah, Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly has been appointed to replace Malam Haruna.
Meanwhile, All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state has condemned the sacking of Malam Haruna Kawuwa.
The publicity secretary of the party, Mr Aaron Artimas said the action of the state government was undemocratic and inhumane.

The National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus yesterday disclosed that over one million dead voters are still in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) register.

Specifically, the PDP boss said that the party has evidence that over 1,050,051 dead voters will vote in this election.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja at a press conference, Secondus said that there has been a coordinated approach to register foreigners as voters, mainly from Niger and Cameroon, “that is why INEC has established so many polling units along the border with Cameroon and Niger.

By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA:



The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has dismissed as untrue, allegations by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, that the electoral umpire was working in cahoots with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to short-change it in the general elections.

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, told Vanguard, Wednesday night, that the commission is not a political party, explaining that the fate of APC in Zamfara and Rivers states were as a result of judicial pronouncements.

“It is not true that the Independent National Electoral Commission is working hand in gloves with any political party to do the wrong things.

The issue of Zamfara and Rivers are well known. “In the case of Zamfara, the Commission had written to the APC leadership to notify it that, due to its inability to conduct its primaries in Zamfara State within the stipulated time as required by law, the party cannot field candidates for the governorship election. Thereafter, two cases were instituted in court resulting in two rulings which were delivered the same day.

The Commission then adopted one of the rulings. “In the case of Rivers, it was the Supreme Court that took a final decision on the fate of APC. Therefore, both cases were purely judicial and INEC, being a law abiding institution, will always obey court orders/judgment.

“The Commission is not a political party and does not have a candidate for the forthcoming general elections. Our duty is to provide a level-playing field for all registered political parties and ensure that elections are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner,” Oyekanmi stated.

APC had accused two Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, of INEC of campaigning side by side with the PDP in the South-south, saying the Commission is grossly unfair to her.

National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole stated this, Wednesday, in Abuja while speaking with journalists. According to him, “If there is anything, this INEC has been very, very unfair to APC.

But we just discovered that we have a moral responsibility, the fact that we are a governing party gives us a certain level of oath that we cannot afford to want to be seen to rubbish the situation because, if we rubbish everything, it will then be seen as we do not want to have the elections.

“As we speak, there are two RECs that are virtually campaigning side by side with PDP. INEC, without giving us any concrete explanation or giving concrete evidence went ahead to say that we cannot conduct election in Zamfara, we cannot field candidates in Zamfara state, thereby seeking to award without any contest, nullify democracy in Zamfara state. Is that the way your friends behave if they were our friends? “INEC is working more for PDP based on evidence I can show.

How can they explain that a court of competent jurisdiction gave orders in Zamfara to say this candidates are eligible to contest election and another High Court in Abuja gave the verdict saying APC did not conclude its primaries but it did not give order to INEC.

“There is no order issued by the Abuja high court given to INEC. But there is a concrete existing order by a Zamfara high court which upheld the primaries that were conducted in Zamfara. The INEC chairman had said that if there were two judgements, they will adopt the last judgement.

The Abuja judgement came first, the Zamfara judgement came last even though it was the same day. “As much as INEC said they will abide by the last court order, when it came to Zamfara, they changed the goal post.

We have been at the receiving end of abuse. There is a candidate in Kano whose nomination we forwarded to INEC, INEC changed the nomination and as we speak, we are in court and we showed our evidence”, he alleged.

Vanguard recalls that INEC had said where there are two conflicting orders from courts of coordinate jurisdiction, that it would maintain the status quo. On his part, INEC’s Director of Publicity and Voter Education, Oluwole Osaze-Uzi challenged the APC to furnish the Commission with evidences of bias against the RECs.

He said the commission was preparing for Saturday’s elections and would not allow itself to be distracted. “We will not join issues with anyone but we have been accused by the PDP too.

However, we do not want to be distracted because we are focused on preparations for the elections. If they have hard evidences, they can write to the Commission and attach the evidences”, he said

The European Union (EU) has added Nigeria to countries on its “dirty money blacklist”.

According to Reuters, the EU said the nations in this category pose a threat because of tax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering.

Also added to the list which was initially 16, are Saudi Arabia, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Panama, Libya, Botswana, Ghana, Samoa, the Bahamas and four US territories of American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam.

The other listed countries are Afghanistan, North Korea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and Yemen.

Criteria used to blacklist the countries include low sanctions against money laundering and terrorism financing.

Other criteria were insufficient cooperation with the EU on the matter and lack of transparency over the beneficial owners of companies and trusts

The move has triggered criticism from several EU states worried about their economic relations with the listed states, notably Saudi Arabia.

The list now includes 23 jurisdictions, with Bosnia Herzegovina, Guyana, Laos, Uganda and Vanuatu removed.

The 28 EU states have one month, which can be extended to two, to endorse the list.

Vera Jourova, EU justice commissioner, who proposed the list, was quoted as saying she was confident states would not block it.

She said it was urgent to act on the list because of the “risks spread like wildfire in the banking sector.”

She added the commission would continue monitoring other jurisdictions not yet listed.


IMPLICATIONS

Apart from reputational damage, inclusion on the list complicates financial relations with the EU.

The bloc’s banks would also have to carry out additional checks on payments involving entities from listed jurisdictions.

This comes at a time President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is insisting it has been committed to the fight against corruption and money laundering.

In 2017, the president signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to give room for prosecution of Nigerians who launder public funds to the country.

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja


There was palpable tension Saturday when hoodlums attacked the campaign convoy of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Dei-Dei axis of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), setting at least ablaze nine cars.

The violence occurred about a week to the general election and four days to the presidential campaign mega rallies scheduled by both APC and the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja.

The convoy had the FCT Minister’s representative and his Chief of Staff, Bashir Mai-Borno, the APC Chairman in the FCT, Abdulmalik Usman, the DG FCT Campaign Council, Hon. Musa Yahaya Mohammed, candidates of the party to various offices in the forthcoming election as well as other supporters.

THISDAY findings showed that the convoy was attacked on its way to the palace of the Serkin Jiwa. The hoodlums set up a blockade around the Timber Market axis along Dei Dei road and prevented the APC convoy from proceeding to the palace of the Sarkin Jiwa.

Several vehicles also had their windscreens smashed while some individuals sustained varying degrees of injuries.

A statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the FCT Minister, Mr. Abubakar Sani said the attackers pelted the APC convoy with rocks and other deadly missiles.

He added the vehicles in the convoy were set ablaze by attackers throwing petrol bombs. Other motorists, caught in the mêlée were also not spared as their vehicles suffered serious damages.

Although no life was lost, the timely intervention of the security personnel ensured that the situation did not escalate.

The hoodlums were said to have taken advantage of a PDP rally which was also holding around the Timber Market, to unleash mayhem on the APC campaign convoy.

The security detail attached to the office of the FCT Minister and others covering the event, however responded by firing shots in the air to calm the situation.

Unfortunately, the convoy was attacked again around the same spot while it was returning from the palace and heading to the grand finale of the APC FCT campaign at the Old Parade Ground.

The security team, who fired live bullets in the air helped to calm the situation and allow the APC campaign convoy to retreat and follow another route to safety.

The statement described the attack on the APC campaign convoy as coordinated.

After the incident yesterday, the Director General, FCT APC Campaign Council, Hon. Musa Mohammed, described the attack as unfortunate, saying intelligence information suggests that the attack may have been premeditated.

He was, however, quick to dispel the notion that some PDP supporters or ethnic elements were behind the attack. He said the ugly incident will be reported to the proper quarters to forestall a re-occurrence.

“I don’t consider it to be a crisis between two parties. It was a premeditated attack on the APC stalwarts but we didn’t have a privy knowledge of what was awaiting us. It’s quite unfortunate that it happened.

“On our way going, we were attacked and of course on our way coming back, we were also attacked. But as law abiding citizens, we retreated and took another route in order to avoid loss of lives. Unfortunately in the course of retreating, some of our vehicles were set ablaze.”

by Yusuf ALLI,


THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday seized the international passport of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN), Mr. Joe Agi, who is being investigated for allegedly paying $30,000 into a domiciliary account of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen. The passport seizure is aimed at ensuring that he does not leave the country until the conclusion of his case.

Although Agi was granted bail yesterday by the EFCC, he has another date with the agency on Monday for further interrogation, The Nation gathered. Yesterday, detectives continued their scrutiny of the lawyer’s bank accounts and some documents retrieved from his residence when a search warrant was executed.

The EFCC is also on the trail of a vital suspect said to have questions to answer in respect of the payments into Onnoghen’s accounts. The suspect’s name is being kept secret for security reasons. A reliable source who confirmed Agi’s passport seizure said: “one of the conditions for admitting Agi to bail was the depositing of his international passport in order to restrict him from leaving the country.

“We have directed him to report to the EFCC intermittently, as may be scheduled, from Monday for more interrogation.

“Although Agi has made a useful statement, our detectives are currently screening his accounts following fresh clues with regards to his relationship with the CJN. “We have demanded for comprehensive details of Agi’s accounts and transactions which might take time to analyze or clarify with the suspect.

“The SAN has told our detectives that the CJN is his brother having come from Cross River State together.” For much of yesterday, detectives analyzed the documents retrieved from Agi’s Abuja residence. The source added: “We have isolated some issues for Agi to respond to when he comes around for another grilling. We are sieving some documents on which he ought to shed more light.”

Sources also said the EFCC team was on the trail of another suspect linked with the deposit. “We are hopeful that we will be able to locate and interact with this suspect in the next few days, “ the source said. Apart from the $30000 payment, detectives also said the SAN was Onnoghen’s referee when the suspended CJN was in the process of opening one of the domiciliary accounts traced to him.

Agi is the first suspect linked with some suspicious lodgments in Onnoghen’s accounts, which were effected between 2012 and 2016. The lodgments, amounting to $3million in five accounts, were undeclared in the Assets Declaration Form of Onnoghen.

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit(NFIU) was mandated to restrict the operation of the five accounts Standard Chartered Bank coded as USD No. 870001062650; Euro account No. 93001062686; Pound Sterling A/CNo. 285001062679; e-Saver Savings (Naira) account No. 5001062693; and a Naira A/C No. 0001062667. An intelligence report on the CJN’s accounts reads in part: “Pattern of structured payments of $10,000.00 each in 2012.

For example, a total of $630,000.00 was credited to the accounts using this pattern. “Similarly structured payments of $10,000.00 amounting to $297,800.00, $50,000.00 and $36,000.00 were deposited in the account in 2013, 2015 and 2016 respectively.

“There was also a credit of $121,116.00 into the account from 2014 to 2016 from Life Friend Plc. The payments were in four installments, of $30,279.00 each. These payments suggest the suspect has investments “A payment at $482,966.00 from Alicia Redemption Pro and shortly after, $800,000.00 was invested in SCB Investment subscription. We are in the process of verifying these transactions; “Other suspicious transactions in the account are credit of $19,764.00 from Pur of Noble and seven payments of $3,250.00 each amounting to $22,750.00 from Lloyds TSB. On the pound sterling (GBP), the investigative team discovered “a self-transfer of £40,268.40 into the account on May 31 2016.”

“There were also self-deposits by the suspect of £49,760.00 from July 2015 to September, 2016 but the balance as at September 30, 2016 was £108,348.00,” the report added. Regarding the Naira account, the report said: “The following highlights some of the suspicious activities in the account: A transfer of N41,262.000.00 ($260,000) was made from the Dollar account.

The money was used to make payment of N41million to the Ad hoc Committee on the Sale of Federal Government Houses, suggesting that he bought a property with proceeds of the transfer; “The only other significant transactions in the accounts are six structured cash payments of N500,000.00 each and one payment of N700,000.00 amounting to N3.7million from November, 2013 to August, 2016.”

We’ve nothing to do with vote buying – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has however dissociated itself from the act, saying it has nothing to do with vote-buying, while noting that it is working hard to sell its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to Nigerians. Spokesperson for the presidential campaign organisation, Kassim Afegbua, alleged that vote-buying is associated with APC. “We are still running adverts. We cannot be sold to this APC strategy of votebuying because our candidate is very popular and largely accepted across the geopolitical zones of the country. ”We are running jingles, we are campaigning, we are mobilising the voters, we are telling the electorate how to monitor their votes to ensure that the votes truly count. “We cannot be dragged into such criminal engagement of votes-buying. The APC has been buying votes using tradermoni all over the country because of their morbid fear for defeat,” Afegbua stated.


Vote buying is corruption – APC Presidential Campaign Council

The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has also dissociated the party and the council from the allegations of vote buying. According to the PCC, vote-buying is a sort of corruption and it is against the tenets of the present administration, as the President and APC Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari would not condone it. There have been allegations of vote buying against political parties and their candidates from some stakeholders. Even the electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had decried votebuying with recent statement that those buying votes were wasting the time as the would not be useful. The Nigeria Police also had decried vote-buying by politicians and political parties. But reacting to the allegation of vote-buying against the ruling party, the Deputy Director General of the APC PCC, Arc. Waziri Bulama, said that the party and the Presidential Campaign Council were not given into vote-buying. He said: “Our party is not involve in vote buying, our party has not made any arrangement with anybody on vote-buying or inducing voters financially. “What we are doing is to engage the voters responsibly by conscientising and arousing their patriotic feelings and patriotic conscience to go and vote during the elections. We are engaging them seriously and to make sure that they understand the benefit of good governance. Our party emphasises good governance, our party shows Nigerians the achievements of APC under President Muhammadu Buhari. That if Nigeria is responsibly managed it would work for everybody. “It possible in Nigeria for a good governance to deliver some services and essential commodities to Nigerians without problem. So, Nigerians appreciate this modest efforts. “Our President is a man of integrity, our president detests anything related to corruption or violence or any corrupt way of doing things. By putting fight against corruption as the number one programme on the three prone agenda, the President is not only talking about financial corruption but in all its ramifications including elections. “Vote buying is a form of corruption just like violence and other things related to illegal advantage in the election. We are completely against vote buying and we have no plans for vote buying at all. We just talk, persuade and bring out Nigerians decently to come out and vote.”


INEC extends PVC collection by 3 days

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended, by three days, the collection of permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) nationwide. The commission had fixed February 8 as the last day for registered voters yet to collect their PVCs to do so. But at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) yesterday to review preparations for the elections, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the extension was necessitated by demands of Nigerians to review the process of PVCs collection. “In the last couple of days, we have been inundated by calls from Nigerians to review the current process of collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards,” Yakubu said. He stated that the collection of PVCs scheduled to end on Friday had been extended to Monday, February 11, including Saturday and Sunday. “The collection of PVCs will now take place from 9am to 6pm daily. All State offices are hereby directed to review the procedure for the collection of PVCs and dedicate all the staff of the Local Government offices to the collection process. “Staff are enjoined to be civil in attending to citizens and to escalate issues that they cannot immediately resolve to their superiors.”

By Olalekan Osiade, Emmanuel Ifeanyi, Ali Garba, Okegwo Kenechukwu, Dominic Adewole, Daniel Atori, Muhammad Kabir, Pauline Onyibe, Emmanuel Marsha, Onyekachi Eze, Johnchuks Onuanyim


Despite the huge campaign against vote-buying by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA), some Nigerians, across political party divides, are yet to desist from the illegal act, checks by Saturday Telegraph have revealed. However, those involved in the dastardly act are no longer going by direct vote buying as witnessed in the previous elections. This time, the new method adopted is through the purchase of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) from individuals willing to sell. Though the method is not entirely new, as it had been used before, it is not as open and notorious as the direct system of vote-buying. In the open system, a voter is directly paid at the polling unit after voting for the party paying the fee, while the indirect system allows a voter to sell off his right to vote before the Election Day. With this new system, a voter is clandestinely disenfranchised while the beneficiary of the purchase will use the card to favour the party picking the bills. This is usually in connivance with polling agents and the INEC ad-hoc staff, who must have been bought over, for the illegal permutations to be perfected. A scenario witnessed by some of our correspondents in Ikeja and Agege areas of Lagos during the 2015 election shows how the fraudulent system works. In a chat with a beneficiary of the fraud who corroborated what our correspondents witnessed, a female politician narrated how the operation of the illegal system was simplified to fit into a normal electoral process. “Once the PVCs had been collected, those behind the purchase will go a step further to organise people that would use the card and assemble them in one place on the eve of the election. “In most cases, we use people of northern extraction who we call ‘mola’, and they must be at a designated place before the day of voting, so that they won’t be caught napping with the restriction of movement order, which is always in place. “They are the ones that will line up and do the voting on behalf of the real owners.

The INEC staff, the police and the polling agents of political parties are all in-volved; they always look the other way, having greased their palm. “But it is only possible in places where you are popular and you have an edge, it is a bit difficult if the area that is not your stronghold”, she explained. Asked why the need to go through such harrowing and risky experience since the party in question is already popular in the area, she simply responded thus: “it is a way to shore up votes because what you have in one area can make up for your loss in other areas, when the total figures are collated. “As a party leader, if my party can pull all the votes in my area, numbering over half-a-million, it would be to my advantage, because it is possible that we may not have up to 10 per cent of that in the strong hold of our opponents. “It is the huge number we have here that we will use to augment the loss from other areas. It is like a game of football competition, if you are able to score many goals during the group stages, it will help you on the long run when determining who will qualify for the finals. “Let me give you an example; in the last election, we lost some areas including Oshodi because of the attitude of our brothers and sisters from the South East. You know how big and populated Oshodi is, but we were able to make up the overall figure from what we had here and our other strongholds”, she explained.


Abia voters confirm

The rumours making round about the buying of Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) seems to hold waters in Abia State as most voters confirmed that they were actually called to sell theirs for N10, 000. Some of the voters however said the buying took place within the end of last year and added that they had not been offered such since the New Year. A voter, among many others residents that confirmed in Umukalika in Obingwa LGA of Abia State told Saturday Telegraph that his brothers sold theirs and that if he had one, he would have done same because he is not going to vote for anybody. The tricycle rider whose name was withheld at his request said it was better for him to have sold his card than to keep it for nothing. A voter who identified himself simply as Pascal and is residing in Aba South said he is looking for the buyers because he wants to sell his own PVC. He said that he had no use for it because he didn’t see anybody qualified to earn his votes. “Who should I vote for? Ikpeazu, Ogah or Otti? Buhari or Atiku? I don’t care about these people. They don’t know me; I don’t know them and I got the PVC because I don’t want to have problems with bank issue. “But now that I’ve seen that no bank is asking me for it, I want to sell it. Ten thousand is not much as I have heard they’re buying, but I rather take it and let them do their things which they will also do whether I vote or not.”


Poverty forcing us to sell, say Bauchi electorate

Ahead of the elections, politicians in Bauchi have deviced another method of winning elections which is through the purchase of PVCs In Bauchi, a source within the state INEC confirmed that the commission was under intense pressure from politicians to sell PVCs to them at any cost, but checks by our correspondent reveal that in the rural communities, the story is different. Rather than politicians seeking PVCs to buying, it is the electorate that are luring politicians to buy their PVCs, no matter how ridiculous the amount is. According to a respondent, “the reason most of these youths engage in the selling of PVCs is that they don’t believe in politicians, they don’t know who to trust because many have failed them. Poverty is the main factor for us selling our PCVS”. He said people are ready to sell their PVCs between N10, 000 and 20,000, depending on the location and who is buying.


Anambra voters say its business

Some eligible voters in Anambra State have refused to put a price tag on their cards but noted that they are now making brisk business from the buying of votes as most of those involved confirmed that they have thrown patriotism and conscience to the wind. Most of those interviewed by our reporter are of the opinion that it would turn better for them to collect money and vote for the highest bidder than to vote and their votes do not count. A chieftain of one of the major political parties, Hon John Egbue, contended that votes cast in Nigerian elections do not count. “I have been in this game for more than 40 years and had also keenly contested for LG chairmanship and had come to realise that what is done is selection and not election. “It does not also not make sense for one to risk one’s life to vote for someone who after being declared winner of an election would turn his back on electorate only to come back to share bags of rice, salt, his or her branded cloth to canvas for yet another vote. A sales girl, Miss chioma Ndumadu, told our reporter that her vote is for the highest bidder. According to her, she had voted several times, but each time, the candidate elected would not be declared winner. “What you will hear is that they have gone to court and at the end, the highest bidder will carry the day. It is better I collect the one I see than waiting for unfulfilled promises of politicians.


Delta PVCs for highest bidder

In Delta State, PVCs are now essential commodities in ‘marketplaces’ as political parties and supporters jostle according to their purchasing powers. A chieftain of the APC in Ughelli North axis of Delta Central Senatorial District said he was approached with N10 million for 100 PVCs, which are expected to come from his supporters.”The deal is that aside the cost of my defection, which the emissaries have not disclosed, N100, 000 each has been dedicated to buy the votes of the first one hundred supporters that will defect with me.” While the chieftain did not mention the party that struck the deal with him, the presidential spokesperson for APC in the state, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, however accused the PDP-led administration in the state of planting votebuyers in every ward under the disguise of special assistants, and thereby using them to stockpile PVCs for the elections. But the state PDP chairman, Barr. Kingsley Esiso, denied the allegation, saying, “unprogressive change agents” in the APC are junketing round the country, and have infiltrated Delta State in their desperate bid to snatch the state. “We are aware of their extravagant trips. They are sharing N10, 000 to unsuspecting voters to buy their PVCs. We see them on television, on the pages of newspapers and hear them o the radio stations. “Their door-to-door buying and selling of PVCs is known to us. The good news is that, the voters are wise; they are going to keep Governor Okowa till 2023”, Esiso said. A voter, who hails from Abraka in Ethiope East council area, who identified herself simply as Ngozi, said she received N10, 000 from an undisclosed political party. “What is the essence of holding on to a PVC when hunger is staring at me. I better sell it for economic advantage, instead of waiting for my vote not to be counted.”


Niger monarch: Politicians use syndicate to buy PVCs

In Niger State, a top traditional ruler, the Emir of Lapai, Alhaji Umar Mohammad Bago, confirmed that buying and selling of PVCs occur in his domain, saying that the selling and buying of the card is real. The monarch confirmed this in a message to the Stakeholders Consultative Forum organised for royal fathers in the state by INEC. The monarch who was represented by the Maiyakin Lapai, Alhaji Abubakar Sulaiman said politicians were using surrogates to purchase the PVCs at N10, 000. “The syndicate move from ward to ward in the emirate and they buy each PVC for as low as N10, 000 and in some cases N5000. In Umaru Majigi A Ward of Bida Local Government Area, an eligible voter who identified himself as Bologi Mohammed, said: “When the APC visited us, they asked us to gather at our polling units. After some time they were requesting for our PVCs, saying it is only those with PVCs that will get the money, it is N10, 000 for men and N5, 000 for women. “We waited but we started asking who is in charge of paying the money because they wanted to collect our cards first but we said no, we needed to be sure whether it is real. “When the gate was opened, our people refused to submit their PVCs unless we are given the money”.


Osun voters hide under house-to-house campaign

In Osun, a cross-section of politicians had been able to penetrate prospective voters by hoodwinking them to exchange their PVCs for as much as N10, 000. Saturday telegraph investigations revealed that, the desperate politicians now embark on house-to-house political evangelism to recruit fake voters who had been bought over to perpetrate electoral fraud. The recruitment exercises which was said to have cut across all the major political parties in the state but got pronounced within the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) political camps, is now being x-rayed by different political analysts who express their divergent views on the move. A politician, Chief Mufutau Lasisi, said there was nothing bad in selling his PVC to another person if it would bring food on his table. He argued that, with the abject poverty in the country, he could go to any length to make money so far it would allow him take good care of his family members. When asked of the consequence, Lasisi said: ” I am the owner of my PVC and I can do anything with it. I don’t care about the consequence because, untold hardship has taken over the land. “In fact, I am anxiously waiting for whosoever that may want to buy or exchange my PVC for money. ”


Kano politicians buy to resell

In Kano, Saturday Telegraph’s checks revealed that politicians go into areas where the residents are of low-level awareness to buy PVCs at N10, 000 and sometimes above. It was also gathered that even some of the newly registered parties who have no structures in most places as required by INEC are involved in the purchase of the PVCs and further sell to bigger parties. Politicians that engage in the purchase of the PVCs were buying at N10, 000 from the voters only to resell but the resident have quickly increased the money to N20, 000, having realised that politicians are in need of it. The major parties are said to have identified hundreds of hamlets were they stormed to purchases the materials. A villager in one of the remote areas said; “it is true people from the city come to purchases the PVCs although many people, despite their low level awareness refuse to sell. “In fact, one of the politician that comes to purchases the PVCs, was shown hell because he received the beatings of his life, and since then, we have not witness any other person coming to buy the PVCs “.


We are ready to sell, say Bayelsa voters

In Bayelsa State, the 2019 campaign is different, as candidates of the major parties have decided not to spend money on campaigns believing that there will still be buying of votes as it was done in 2015. In 2015 elections in the Bayelsa State, the highest bidders had the votes between the political parties. A journalist, John Odeh, who spoke with Saturday Telegraph said: “When you say they planned it, it is just stating the obvious because it is something we have seen. Nigerians have witnessed it and it has been happening. “The most recent elections, which were held at Ekiti and Osun states, they didn’t pretend about it, they bought votes. A resident, Francis Dufugha, said: “Vote buying, inasmuch as I know, is unlawful but whether we like it or not, people will still sell their votes because the poverty level is so high, to the extent that they have known the antics of the politicians. “And they believe that whether the politicians give them money or not, they will not still deliver the dividend of democracy to them. Even if it is now they want to start the sensitisation of selling or not selling their votes, it might not stop vote buying because Nigerians are so wise. They will be devising different means to buy the vote”, he said. Another respondent, Tony Amgbare, said: “if they are ready to pay for the votes, I am willing to take the money and sell. “For me I’m looking for money. I will go to my village because money will come out.

Even if it is N10, 000 or N15, 000, I will collect because whether I collect or not, they are the same people.” Another voter, Shade Bankole, a trader, who admitted having her PVC said: “If they sell the vote, I will collect money. What brought me to Yenagoa”? Another trader, Joy Emmanuel, who plies his trade in Swali Market said; “If I have the opportunity of selling my votes, I will sell it to the highest bidder because it might be the only thing I will benefit from this government. “It is not a question of voting my conscience. Right now, nobody has conscience in this country. There is no moral in politics. My vote goes to the highest bidder. I will wait patiently until I see the person that will give me what I will be satisfied with. “If it is 20,000 or 50,000 it depends on what is happening in the polling unit where I am going to vote. I will sell my vote and collect my money. A visibly angry respondent Ebi Ozegbe told Saturday Telegraph that vote-buying had become a common occurrence and nothing new in the state. Ozegbe said: ”Government has refused to make things easy for the people. Government has deliberately improvished the people. People are in penury. They are in pains. People can’t take two square meals in a day. “Vote-buying is a normal thing every governor must send money to different wards to enable some people to go and vote. Vote-buying is a normal thing that should be done. “Government must take care of the people. When there are good programmes in place, vote buying won’t even come in but deliberately they have succeeded in in making things so difficult for the masses. If I see N100, 000, I will collect. Government should make things right to abolish vote buying”.


Rivers: Non-indigenes used as puns

In Rivers State, some voters interviewed said that payment ranges from N1, 000 to N5000 and that voters are mobilised long before the election. “If this is not done early enough, a voter might end up voting for another party,” said a trader, who disclosed that his younger brother had been handing out cash to people with PVCs in the Waterlines area of Port Harcourt. The main targets in the state are non-indigenes, who are approached through their leaders. Almost the entire country’s tribes have groups that are invited to political rallies and meetings where they were promised appointments. ”The most organised group in the state is the ‘Non- Indigenes Without Borders.” According to one Musa Maina, who brings in foodstuffs into Rivers from the North, some politicians had approached them for votes. “Some have negotiated N2000 with some of our leaders, but we want it to be N5000 for each voter. I will only vote for the party that gives me more cash. I don’t really care what our leaders say,” he said. Another voter, who said that he got his PVC on the last day before the extension of INEC’s deadline, noted that he initially didn’t want to do anything with his PVC, but he changed his mind when a friend told him that he could get some cash during elections. “Yes, I attended a political meeting where they shared N2, 000 to those present. I am praying that I get N5, 000 for my vote during election. But I have not been approached by any politician yet,” he said.

Two female members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC serving in Ebonyi state have become the latest victims of the pants for rituals practice presently ravaging the country.

The two corps member, it was gathered, were reportedly forced by unidentified hoodlums to remove their clothes including their pants and hand them over to the hoodlums.

One of the corps members, who was on her period also had her blood socked pants and sanitary pads taken away by the hoodlums.

The incident, it was learnt, happened at Oshiegbe community, near the boundary between Ohaukwu and Ezza North local government area of Ebonyi State.

Police spokesman in the State, Loveth Odah confirmed the incident.

She said: “On 5th of February, 2019, Female corps members reported to Divisional Headquarters in Ohaukwu Local Government Area to report that on their way coming from Ezillo in Ishielu Local Government Area to Abakaliki, a Jeep stopped in front of them and asked them to pay N200 each to be conveyed to Abakaliki. They entered”.

According to the spokesman, on reaching 135 Junction, at Ezzamgbo, the men diverted to another direction and told them that they wanted to pick something from a teacher at St. Michael Secondary School, Ezzamgbo.

“When they got to Oshiegbe community, at the boundary area between Ohaukwu and Ezza North Local Government Areas, the driver stopped and came down”.

“He told them that he wanted to ease himself. He immediately went to the back door, opened the door and pointed a gun at them; ordering them to come down and give them all their cloths including their pants.

The spokesman said that one of the corps members shed tears when she remembered that she was in her period.

“They collected their pants and her sanitary pad and drove off. Before driving off, they collected their phones and smashed them on the spot”.

“We also learnt that when they meet women who are not wearing pants, they give them pants and force them to wear them for about five minutes before taking them away from their victims”, Odah said.

She urged travelers to always go to designated motor parks to board vehicles to avoid such attacks.

SUZAN EDEH


https://www.independent.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Muhammadu-and-Late-Hassana-696x445.jpg


BAUCHI – Residents of Bedi community in Bauchi are still battling to recover from shocks over the tragic death of 42year old woman in Bauchi, Hassana Muhammadu, who cut her stomach with a sharp razor due to intense labour pains.

Hassana,an indigene of Bedi village in Ganjuwa local government was married to Mallam Muhammadu Maikudi, a trader and the union was blessed with seven children.


Sources in the village say that Hassana was previously married to another man who she had two children before she remarried Mallam Muhammadu.

Daily Independent reports that the unfortunate incident, which threw the residents of the community into shock, happened on the 27th of January 2019, around 8pm. On that fateful day, there was no inkling that the deceased who served her husband and his friend food earlier in the afternoon will decide to resort to cutting her stomach open because she was suffering from labour pains.

Her husband, who narrated to Daily Independent how the incident happened, said that he was still in shock and could not believe that his wife could go to the extent of taking her own life.

“I got a call from a neighbour that my wife wanted me to come home because she was not feeling well. When I got home, I met her in intense labour pains, so I decided to call a traditional birth attendant who can assist her with the labour, but my wife insisted that I should call her junior sister who lives nearby to attend to her.

“So I went to look for her junior sister who followed me to the house. On getting inside the room, her sister shouted and called me to come to the room. When I got into the room, I saw my wife in a pool of blood with her stomach ripped open as result of a sharp razor blade with which she used to cut her stomach open because she was in pains”

“ I then sought the help of the village head who later came to my house with some of his subjects. The village head then arranged for a vehicle that will convey my wife to a nearby hospital, but we later changed our minds and took her to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Hospital, Bauchi because the case was an emergency one and the hospital had experienced doctors who could attend quickly to her case. Unfornuately for me, on getting to the hospital, my wife gave up the ghost. We have buried her according to Islamic rites”

He expressed sadness over the incident, saying that his wife had been suffering from mental disorders which made her to always isolate herself from people.

According to a source , Hassana does not associate with other women and always kept to herself.

“She is always keeping to herself and does not mingle with people. Sometimes, you just see her talking to herself or doing things abnormally. We did not know that this will be the height of this mental problem she has been suffering from,” the source said

The village head of Bedi community, Muhammad Idris, expressed grief over the incident, saying that such a thing has never occurred in the history of the community.

“I was in my house, when a boy ran to me that Mallam Maikudi’s wife was in labour pains and needed my assistance. I felt maybe the husband wanted me to help him get a vehicle to convey his wife to the hospital since this is not her first pregnancy, unfornuately when I got to his house, what I saw shook me to my bones”

“I saw the woman lying in her pool of blood with her stomach torn open. At first I thought she fell down or she was attacked by someone, only for me to be told that she used a razor blade to tear her stomach open because she was in pains. I decided to arrange for a vehicle to convey her to the hospital for treatment, unfornuately on getting to the hospital, we lost her,”he added.

Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has vowed not to share his role as returning officer of the presidential elections with anyone.

Yakubu said this on Thursday during an interactive meeting with Catholic Bishops in Abuja.

He was speaking in reaction to comments still trailing the appointment of Amina Zakari who is reportedly related to President Muhammadu Buhari as the head of the committee on collation centre.

Zakari’s appointment was misconstrued in some quarters to mean she would be involved in the collation process.

Yakubu, however, said he remains the only returning officer who would announce results for the presidential election.

“The chairman of INEC is the chief returning officer for the presidential election and I am not going to share that responsibility with anyone,” he said.

He also urged Nigerians to always draw the attention of the commission to any infraction in the national voter register for rectification

Yakubu said: “We have been doing so consistently. After the last one, we received only a few comments from the states, I think 48,000 out of 84 million registered voters.

“Part of the difficulty is that we are very careful if someone says that one person is dead, because of the experience the commission had in 2015.

“We received a letter from one particular political party that a candidate was dead and they submitted a death certificate obtained from a government hospital. They also went to court, swore to an affidavit and his family also attested to the fact that the candidate was dead. They filed all these documents at the commission. A week later, the supposedly dead candidate turned up and said he was alive.”

Security operatives attached to President Muhammadu Buhari prevented some aggrieved youth from attacking Buba Marwa, former military administrator of Lagos state, at the presidential rally of the All progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa state on Thursday.

Trouble started after Marwa, who addressed the rally in Hausa, was accused of saying some uncomplimentary things about Mohammed Bindow, governor of the state.

Marwa and the governor belong to different factions of the APC in the state. The ex-military administrator is of the Mahmood Halilu faction which lost the battle to secure the governorship ticket to Bindow’s group.

Despite the backing of Aisha Buhari, wife of the president, Haliliu who is Buhari’s in-law failed to secure the governorship ticket.

Buhari had pacified the angry youth and directed security operatives to whisk Marwa from Ribadu Square, Yola, venue of the exercise.

Marwa is an ally of the president. On Monday, he led former military generals to Aso Rock to endorse Buhari for another four years.

He currently heads the presidential advisory committee on the elimination of drug abuse in the country.

Marwa had said if Buhari had failed in his duties, they would not have endorsed him.

“As an officer and a gentleman, his word is his bond. After winning the elections, he brought out simple three-points programme – security, economy and fighting corruption. He led the fight and is leading the fight by personal example. That is the height of leadership. Do as as I do not as I say. He has demonstrated that,” he had said.

Asked if the endorsement was out of fear, Marwa said: “Absolutely not.”

At the rally, Buhari pledged to complete the abandoned federal government projects in Adamawa, especially those started under the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), if re-elected.

Buhari told the crowd that his administration had fulfilled the promises made in the 2015.

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A couple earlier reported to have ended their marriage over the wife’s insistence on voting for President Muhammadu Buhari has denied the report.

BBC Hausa had reported that Abdullahi Yada’u of Unguwan Gero, Kanaam Local Government of Plateau State, divorced his wife for vowing to vote for Mr Buhari. Mr Buhari is seeking reelection on February 16 on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The report said Mr Yada’u insisted they should both vote Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but the woman refused.

The report was republished by other media platforms, including PREMIUM TIMES on January 24.

However, Daily Trust on Sunday said its reporter who visited Unguwar Gero village found that the story was not true. The newspaper did not state the time of the visit.

According to Daily Trust, the reporter met Mr Yada’u and the wife, Fatima, in their home in Unguwan Gero. They both told the reporter that there was never a fight between them, the newspapers reported.

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The reporter gathered that the people who spoke to BBC Hausa where not members of the couple’s family. They lied to the BBC on record, the newspaper reported.

The reporter said he met Mrs Yadu’a bathing one of the couple’s three kids to get him ready for afternoon classes. She said her name is not Hafsat as stated in the BBC report.

Expressing anguish that a fallacious report about her marriage had “travelled far and wide”, Mrs Yadu’a said she and her husband did not listen to the BBC report.

She said their home was besieged by sympathisers and angry acquaintances after the report.

“We have been married for seven years. I feel the report was an attempt to disgrace my marriage,” she said.

“My husband and I live peacefully and happily, we have never invited a third party into our affairs and he has never raised a finger to my head not to mention beating me up to the point of knocking out my teeth.

“They claimed my husband had pronounced the divorce on me twice and assaulted me because he had asked me to vote for Atiku, and I insisted on Buhari. That was a lie, it never happened, both my husband and I are supporters of Baba Buhari,” she said.




Mr Yada’u, however, said that he is still in pains over the story.

“We have a place where young men assemble to discuss issues. So on that fateful Wednesday around 1:30 pm, they were discussing the presidential election and I suggested that it would be good for someone to put up the discussions on the internet.

“Khamisu Maidankali quickly said using radio would be better and he suggested the BBC. Shortly before I left the assembly, Khamisu Maidankali approached me and requested that we phone in the BBC together. But I told him I was only joking and had nothing to say. He later approached me again and I declined. I picked my motorcycle and left for Gajinduguri village.”

But that evening, he said unknown to him, Mr Maidankali and an accomplice made their way to the foot of a baobab tree on a hill where the villagers usually find cellular phone signal and communicate.

He said the accomplice, identified only as Hamisu, impersonated him, “while Maidankali disguised his voice to pose as Ibrahim Suleiman.”

Mr Yada’u also said he had to make a statement at Dengi Police station confirming that he was not part of the concocted story.

“I was invited by the Dengi police station and I made my statement there. I was so scared after what my friends did and was thinking of even running away. I felt really bad. The two people involved in this are at large at the moment because the Dengi police are looking for them,” Mr Yadu’a said.

The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) has commenced the deployment of sensitive materials and non-sensitive materials to states ahead of the forthcoming general elections.

Sensitive materials are the ballot papers, result sheets and others.

Besides, the commission said it has taken a decision on APC Rivers.

According to Barrister Festus Okoye, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) state officers have started receiving the sensitive materials

On the burnt Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), Okoye said the commission would look at the possibility of printing new ones for those affected.

Besides, INEC has directed its offices in the states to beef up security.