The Peoples Democratic Party in Zamfara state on Friday declared Alhaji Dauda Lawal Dare winner of the governorship primary election rerun in the state.

The governorship primary poll rerun was conducted after a Court nullified the primary election that produced him as party’s flagbearer for the forthcoming general election.

At the convention, 431 delegates from 147 wards across the 14 local government areas of the state converged on Gusau, the state capital.

The chairman of the election committee, Senator Hassan Felix Hayat, declared him the winner of the election, saying he polled 422 votes to defeat his opponents Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Gusau and Hafiz Nahuche, who scored one vote each.

The agent of the ex federal lawmaker, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Gusau, and his supporters stormed out of the venue of the convention.

An aspirant, Alhaji Wadatau Madawaki, earlier stepped down for Dare and promised to support the latter’s candidature to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressive Congress in the state.

The chairman of the party in the state Dr Ahmad Sani Kaura expressed gratitude to the delegates.

Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has recalled how the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and a former Senate President, Saraki rebuffed former President Goodluck Jonathan’s pleas to rescind their decision of leaving the party in 2014.

Wike said the Sokoto Governor, Aminu Tanbuwal was among those, who humiliated Jonathan after the 2014 convention as they insisted that it was the turn of the north.

He said the party’s constitution contained provisions for zoning of elective and party positions but lamented that some people were doing everything within their powers to manipulate the system.

He said: “There shall be zoning of party and elective offices. It is clear. Not ambiguous. But people will always try to manipulate the system to suit them.

“They slant stories in such a way as to deceive the public. The founding fathers know the complexity of this country. They did it in a such a way as not to have problems.

“People should not forget history. In 2013 and 2014, there was an issue of the presidential candidate. Jonathan emerged. Atiku and others walked out of the convention. Tambuwal and former Senate President all worked out.

“Jonathan did everything to talk to them. But they rebuffed him as a sitting President. President travelled to London to see Atiku, but he rebuffed him. Former Governor Babangida Aliyu admitted that they all agreed to work against Jonathan”.

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has declared that he will not leave the Peoples Democratic Party for any reason.

The governor stated that he was rather interested in preserving the sanity of the party and would stay back to fight for the enthronement of unity, inclusivity, equity and peace in the PDP.

Wike made the declaration at the Rivers State PDP stakeholders meeting in Government House, Port Harcourt on Thursday.

The governor said he is a man of character, unlike those who cannot keep their word and walked out of the party at the Eagle Square in Abuja in 2014.

He said, “One thing I have always told people is if anybody is thinking, doing anything to think that we will leave PDP, foul.

“We will do the fight in the party. We are not like them when in 2014 they walked out of Eagle Square. They’ve forgotten. They walked out and joined APC. Is it not correct?

“Did they remain to fight inside the party? But we remained, they ran away. Now, there is a fight in the party, we will not run.

“We will fight it at this party. Those who run away from the fight are weak people. We will not. So everybody should know this is the state where we are. So that nobody tells you all kinds of stories.”

The governor insists that the constitution of the party clearly states that elective and party offices must be zoned which should be respected.

Wike wondered why the former PDP BoT chairman will be pressurised to resign and the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, is excusing himself from keeping to doing what is right.

He said, “You have taken presidential candidate, you have taken party chairman, you have also taken the D.G (director general) of the campaign. We are talking about party politics. Decisions are made by the presidential candidate, chairman of the party and the D.G of the campaign.

“They are telling you they told the chairman of the BOT to resign. So you know there is a problem. You said he should go and resign.

“You can put pressure on him to resign when his tenure hasn’t come to an end. But you cannot put pressure on the chairman to resign. You think at our level you will deceive us. You’ll tell us stories.”

Wike recalled how in 2015 the Federal Government used the military to invade Rivers State, interfered with and even annulled elections, but were resisted.

The Governor said he made sure the senatorial results for Rivers East were announced that delivered Senator George Thompson Sekibo and that of Rivers West, which produced Senator Betty Apiafi.

Wike regretted that despite the risk taken to deliver them, the same people are now in Abuja plotting against him, saying they won’t succeed because God has blessed him.

The Rivers State governor also clarified that he never promised anybody a governorship ticket of the PDP despite the pressure some leaders mounted on him or attempts made to divide the State House of Assembly.

He further said though he didn’t clinch the PDP presidential ticket, he actually made a good account of himself at the primary.

The governor said by next week, the Rivers State PDP campaign team would be unveiled and the campaign pattern adopted would be based on each local government peculiarity.

Wike emphasised that all PDP candidates in the State will be returned elected by Rivers people who are satisfied with the performance of his administration.

“We will take all. We are taking all because Rivers people are happy with what we have done in this state. we have not only provided infrastructure, we have also defended the interest of Rivers State,” he stated

He explained that it took courage and firmness for him to protect the interest and assets of Rivers State without compromising it with politics.

The governor stated that there the federal government won’t be able to use the army and the police in the 2023 election, because Nigerians will vote for political parties on the basis of their performance.

Wike caution party members who want to be moles and work against the PDP because they were not given the ticket that they sought.

He urged party members to be steadfast because God is on their side, and since they have not known defeat, PDP cannot be defeated in 2023 general election in Rivers State.

In his response, State Chairman of the PDP, Amb. Desmond Akawor, said the party in the state had already passed a vote of confidence in Wike for the way he has piloted the affairs of the state.

Akawor commended the governor for the consistent delivery of projects, defending the interest of the state, and declared that they will continue to follow the leadership that he provides.

The Zamfara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has commenced a mini congress to add women to the list of delegates ahead of Friday’s governorship primary election.

Addressing newsmen at the party’s secretariat in Gusau, the State capital, the State chairman of the party, Dr. Mohammed Sani said the mini congress has become compulsory.

According to him, the non-inclusion of women as delegates was one of the main reasons why the Federal High court sitting in Gusau nullified the initial governorship primary election that produced Alhaji Dauda Lawal Dare as the State governorship candidate.

He said the last governorship primary election that the party conducted, women were not included as delegates, saying that the party was trying to create the impression that gender is also important in politics.

“The issue of gender was one of the issues raised by the Federal High court because women were not represented which brought about the mini Congress”

Dr. Sani noted that the 14 PDP Local Governments Chairmen of the party gathered at the state party Secretariat to collect the materials for the fresh list of delegates.

“At least, each ward in the State will produce one woman as a delegate so that we can satisfy the court’s demand ”

“As I am talking to you now, some Local Government Areas have started the process so as to meet up with Friday’s governorship primary election”

He assured that the election would be fair, free, credible and acceptable, saying that every arrangement has been made to make the election a success.

The National Chairman of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, has cautioned Nigerians against voting for a sleeping president in the 2023 general poll.

Alkali, who spoke during a two-day training on social media for zonal publicity secretaries, state publicity secretaries, across the country, yesterday in Abuja, said NNPP would win next year’s election.

“How can a presidential candidate be sleeping even before the campaign starts? So that means that if you elect him, you will have a sleeping president for the next four years. Is that what you want — a sleeping president? Do you have confidence in him?

“Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is a man of substance; he is a man of courage; a man of determination and a man who has already made so much mark in his life.”

On his part, the NNPP National Publicity Secretary, Agbo Power, noted that the workshop was aimed at strategising to woo electorate through aggrieve media campaign.

He said: “It is our collective task by all patriotic citizens. As publicity secretaries of various state chapters of New Nigeria People’s Party, media aide to our esteemed candidates and social media activists, it is our duty to mobilise fellow Nigerians to this patriotic civic exercise of electing credible leaders which will pilot the affairs of the nation in the next four years.”

Senate President Ahmad Lawan may have finally lost out in his bid to return to the red chamber following the omission of his name from the final list of candidates for next year’s Presidential and National Assembly Elections.

This was as the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC published the names of All Progressives Congress APC Presidential Aspirant, Godswill Akpabio as the party’s candidate for Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial District, and Ibrahim Shekarau as candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP for Kano Central Senatorial District, despite having defected from the NNPP about a month ago.

Also presidential candidates representing the nation’s 18 registered political parties would be slugging it out in next year’s general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has stated.

This is in spite of reports that the African Democratic Congress ADC may have suspended its presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu.

However, at its regular weekly meeting held on, the Commission approved the final list of candidates for national elections (Presidential, Senatorial and Federal Constituencies) pursuant to section 32(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 and item 8 of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election.

INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye explained that the publication of the full names and addresses of all nominated candidates follows the political parties’ conduct of primaries and completion of the nomination exercise.

“Nigerians may recall that at end of the process, the personal particulars of all nominated candidates were displayed in their constituencies nationwide as provided by section 29(3) of the Electoral Act.

“Subsequently, validly nominated candidates had the opportunity to voluntarily withdraw their candidature by notice in writing and personally deliver such notice to the political party that nominated them for the election. Thereafter, political parties substituted such candidates under section 31 of the Electoral Act for which the last day was 15th July 2022 for national elections and 12th August 2022 for State elections as clearly provided in item 6 of the Commission’s Timetable and Schedule of Activities.

“Thereafter, no withdrawal or substitution of candidates is allowed except in the event of death as provided in section 34(1) of the Electoral Act or pursuant to an order of a Court of competent jurisdiction”, he stated.

According to him, the list published today contains the names of candidates validly nominated for national elections at the close of party primaries and the period earmarked for withdrawal and substitution of candidates.

He said the final list of candidates for State elections (Governorship and State Constituencies) will be published on 4th October 2022 as already indicated on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election.

“We note the fact that not all the political parties conducted primaries in all the constituencies, submitted the particulars of candidates that emerged from valid primaries or substituted their candidates after fresh primaries within 14 days as provided in section 33 of the Electoral Act.

“This has led to numerous litigations, some of which are ongoing. Where the Commission was served with Court orders by aggrieved aspirants or candidates before the publication of this list, these have been indicated under the remark column.

“In summary, all the 18 political parties have fielded candidates and their running mates for the Presidential election. For legislative elections, 1,101 candidates are vying for 109 Senatorial seats and 3,122 candidates for Federal Constituencies i.e. House of Representatives seats, making a total of 4,223 candidates contesting for 469 legislative positions.

“In terms of gender distribution, 3,875 candidates are male, made up of 35 for Presidential and Vice Presidential, 1,008 for Senate and 2,832 for House of Representatives. Similarly, 381 females comprising 1 for Presidential, 92 for Senate, and 288 for House of Representatives are contesting. There are also 11 Persons with Disability (PWDs) in the race.

“The list for specific constituencies is published in each State where they are located while the comprehensive nationwide list has been uploaded to the Commission’s website.

“We appeal to all political parties to channel any observations on the list of candidates to the Commission and such must be signed by the National Chairman and Secretary of the political party and supported with an affidavit as provided in section 32(2) of the Electoral Act 2022”, the statement added.

Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum & Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin @RotimiAkeredolu, SAN, has been appointed as the Zonal Coordinator of the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council in the Southwest.

Governor Akeredolu’s appointment was conveyed in a letter addressed to him and personally signed by the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Asiwaju Tinubu, in the letter, dated August 8, 2022, noted that Governor Akeredolu, who is also the Chairman, Southwest Governors’ Forum, deserved the appointment, owing to his impressive political achievements and the exemplary leadership he had demonstrated as Governor of his state and as a party member.

The letter reads: ”By way of this letter, we are pleased to formally convey your appointment as the Zonal Campaign Cordinator (South West) of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council.

“This appointment is fitting and appropriate given your impressive political achievement and the exemplary leadership you have demonstrated as governor of your state and as a party member.

“We are grateful that you have joined our campaign team We know you will do your utmost in this new responsibility as we conduct an effective, message-driven campaign leading us to victory in the 2023 presidential election.

A Federal High Court sitting in Zamfara State has nullified the primary election that produced Dauda Lawal Dare as the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

A former member of the House of Representatives, Ibrahim Shehu Gusau, had approached the court seeking the nullification of the PDP primary election won by Dare.

Citing gross irregularities and pray the court to order a fresh election.

Delivering his judgment on Friday, Justice Aminu Baffa Aliyu ruled that all the prayers of the plaintiff had been granted by the court.

In a 109 judgment, Justice Aminu ordered a fresh primary election in order to ensure justice and fairness is given to all parties.

Commenting on the judgment, counsel for the plaintiff,  Ibrahim Ali, noted that all their prayers have been granted.

“Our prayers were that the primary elections conducted by a committee led by Adamu Maina Waziri be nullified by the court and order be given by the court for the conduct of a fresh election in line with the PDP’s constitution and guidelines. All our prayers have been granted.

“The judgment was well evaluated because we proved our case beyond reasonable doubts and we are happy with the decision of the court.”

However, the state legal adviser of the party, Bashir Abubakar Masama, disclosed that “We will study the judgment and appeal.

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday said it might appeal the court judgement ordering it to accept and publish Godswill Akpabio’s name as the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the 2023 Akwa Ibom North/West Senatorial District election.

The commission however maintained that it won’t take a position until it receives a Certified True Copy of the court judgement.

A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, had ordered INEC to accept and publish Akpabio’s name as the APC candidate for the Akwa Ibom North/West Senatorial District election.

Delivering judgment, Justice Emeka Nwite, held that INEC’s refusal to accept and publish the name of the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, was in contradiction with the law, having received the name from the APC as its valid candidate.

Nwite, who said that the electoral umpire acted illegally, said the commission lacked the power to have disqualified the 2nd plaintiff (Akpabio).

Justice Nwite found that Akpabio was validly nominated as the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District candidate of the APC from the primary conducted by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) on June 9, 2022.

The judge declared that INEC “is bound by the provisions of Section 29 (3) of the Electoral Act to publish only the personal particulars of the candidate of the first plaintiff for the Akwa Iborn North West Senatorial District elections in the person of the second plaintiff (Akpabio) as received from the first plaintiff.

The judge also declared that INEC cannot publish any other name or particulars of any other candidate as the candidate of the APC for the senatorial district elections, “except as nominated, submitted and received from the first plaintiff (APC).”

Justice Nwite rejected INEC’s claim that it declined to monitor the primary conducted by APC on June 9, which produced Akpabio as the party’s candidate, because it had monitored the one conducted on May 27.

The judge faulted INEC for electing to monitor the May 27 primary conducted by an illegal faction of the party led by Augustine Ekanem as against the June 9 primary conducted by the APC NWC, an organ of the party authorised by law to conduct such primaries.

Speaking on a television programme on Thursday, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of, the Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said the commission would base its decisions on concrete evidence and on Certify True Copy of the said court judgement

He added that the commission does not rely on reports from the media.

“So as of today, the National commissioners and the chairman are not within the area of jurisdiction. So we have not received anything and we have not been served with anything where we are.

“When we get the Judgement, we will look at the specifics of the judgement and have a clear understanding of what transpired and what is expected of us and then we will study the judgements and see whether it is still within the purview of what the commission can concede.

“If it is not within the purview of the commission, then the commission will take it up but based on the commission procedure and rules, we obey court orders. This is because based on the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, we are a public institution and bound to respect court orders. But we have to receive the judgement, study it, and then make a decision whether the commission will appeal such court order or not but as at today we have not received any court judgement.

The campaign councils of three leading presidential candidates in the 2023 general election have dismissed a recent opinion poll that put the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, ahead of them.

In the result of the poll conducted and released by ANAP Foundation, on Thursday, Mr Obi, was ranked first, beating Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

Both Messrs Tinubu and Atiku shared the second position, while Mr Kwankwaso came a distant fourth position in the poll.

In the percentage rating, the LP candidate got 21 per cent while the APC and PDP candidates garnered only 13 per cent each from the poll said to have been conducted across the six geo-political zones in the country.

The researchers did not disclose the methodology and the number of people that participated in the poll.

Speaking on “Politics Today” a programme on Channels Television, on Thursday, the spokespersons of the campaign councils of the NNPP, PDP and APC, took turns to tear the outcome of the poll, saying it is laughable.

Abdulmumin Jubril, the spokesperson of the NNPP presidential campaign council, said the programme gave credence to the poll which should have been ignored.

Against the projection of the poll that Mr Kwankwaso, a former two-term governor of Kano State, lost the north, Mr Jubril said his principal has the region on “lockdown” and will garner the rest of the needed votes from the other parts of the country to win the February presidential election.

“Let me say this, NOI poll clearly projected that Jonathan would win the 2015 election but he lost, which included many other works (NOI) has done. There is no work that they have done, where you can say that the projections are right or anything.

“Well, that is the extent that I will go in giving any recognition to that statement. It is absolutely false and is not a representation of the reality on ground, particularly if you are talking about the northern part. I have said this repeatedly, Rabiu Kwankwaso has the northern part on lockdown, in a matter of three to four months, the fact will emerge,” he argued.

Weighing the chances of both Messrs Tinubu and Atiku against Mr Kwankwaso, Mr Jubril described the APC presidential candidate as “a good person (pilot) in a bad party (aeroplane) called APC.”

He said Mr Obi and supporters are divisive but admitted to the chance of Atiku picking a fair number of votes across the country in the election.

It’s mere hallucination, concocted trash – Bwala, Onanuga
In his reaction, the PDP campaign spokesperson, Daniel Bwala, said Mr Obi is basking in the euphoria of social media hallucination.

He dismissed the result of the poll and vowed to throw a party if the LP candidate is able to win just three states in the South-east, widely considered to be his stronghold.

Mr Bwala dismissed the poll on the ground that it failed to provide size of the participants, methodology and the margin of error which are basics in conducting a poll.

“I know they said it is a random sampling. But then, because of the result I am tempted to believe that this polling was carried out online because Peter Obi has a measure of people who are very active for him online much more than the other candidate and I will tell you why.

“There was an algorithm and data analytics that was carried out that came up with the finding that 57.5% of people who follow Peter Obi and engaged for him on social media do not live in Nigeria. In fact, the majority of whom are bots on Twitter, they are not real human beings.

“If you take away 57.5% of the people who are active for him, who probably live abroad and they don’t have voters card they are likely not to come to vote, then what it means is that Peter is basking in the euphoria of hallucination and this (poll) result is a true reflection of that,” he argued.

Mr Bwala said Atiku is the only candidate among the four that is accepted across the regions.

He supported his assertion by saying that President Muhammadu Buhari will not be on the ballot in the coming elections and this will be in favour of Atiku presumable as far as the north is concerned.

He said the PDP presidential candidate lost the 2019 election to Mr Buhari by over two million votes “when the APC was more united”.

‘Concocted’
The spokesman of the APC presidential campaign council, Bayo Onanuga, in his brief reaction, said the poll that gave Mr Obi a lead was “concocted and meant for the trash can.”

He noted that Mr Tinubu, believed to have an edge in the South-west, had only 18 per cent according to the poll.

“If you look at it, the reason why you have to dismiss this is this, the NOI poll gives our candidates 18% in the South-west, that is our own base. You don’t need to do any opinion poll to know that that is the stronghold of our candidate. And they went to the North-east and gave our candidate 18 per cent again, whereas the same people gave Peter Obi 64 per cent in the South-east. You can see that there is no logic in this thing,” Mr Onanuga argued.

An alleged ally of Hope Uzodinma, Nwankwere Morale Chinwen approach Federal High Court to stop INEC from using the BVAS machine or any other electronic equipment to accredit voters or transmit results.

As the crisis in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) persists, the camps of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar will on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, begin legal fireworks at the Federal High Court in Abuja on the legality of the primary election that produced Atiku.

The suit which was filed by a chieftain of the party, Chief Michael Newgent Ekamon seeks the court to invalidate the victory of Atiku and declare Wike as the valid presidential candidate of the PDP.

Wike's camp: Multiple sources privy to the development told newsmen that some Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) have been assembled by Governor Wike, while Ayo Kamaldeen Ajibade, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, will lead the legal team of Atiku.

A hearing notice sighted by newsmen indicated that the matter has been slated for a definite hearing by Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed.

Other persons dragged to court: The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/782/2022 also has Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as respondents.

The PDP crisis: The PDP has for months been rocked by crisis, with a camp loyal to Governor Nyesom Wike, demanding the removal of Mr Iyorchia Ayu, the party's national chairman, to enable a replacement from the south of Nigeria to be appointed. That camp believes that is one of the ways of addressing the lopsidedness in the leadership of the party.

Ayu takes a trip: Despite the unresolved issues in the party, Ayu has handed over to the Deputy Chairman (North) of the party, Umar Iliya Damagun.

Ayu’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications Simon Imobo-Tswam, on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, evening said the Chairman will be out of the country till the end of the month.

#NigeriaDecides2023- The Fight for Justice Continues. Today, we held a Consultative Meeting with Christian Leaders From the 19 Northern States and the FCT on the Pan-Nigerian Platform to Adopt in 2023.

Chairmen of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern States and the FCT, Abuja, on Tuesday, reiterated their rejection of the same faith ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections.

They declared that they would not change their stand against the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.

The chairmen made their position known during a meeting convened by Yakubu Dogara, the former Speaker, House of Representatives and Babachir Lawal, the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, in Abuja.

The former Speaker, who disclosed this on his Twitter handle, explained that the meeting with the Christian leaders from the North and the FCT was to decide 2023.

Dogara stated that the fight for justice continues, adding that they held a Consultative Meeting with Christian Leaders From the 19 Northern States and the FCT on the pan-Nigerian platform to adopt in 2023.

Rev. John Joseph Hayab, the Chairman of CAN in Kaduna State, also confirmed the meeting to DAILY POST, saying it was well attended in person by all the CAN chairmen from the North, except Katsina State.

He explained, “We are saying there is no going back on our stance against the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC.”

Hayab stated that they would consult with leading Christian politicians across party before deciding on the next line of action.

He added that they would also wait for signals from their (CAN) national body, stressing that they would point them to the way to go, “but the Muslim-Muslim ticket is out of the equation.”

He added that what they had expected from the APC was to explain themselves to them rather than hiring impostors to impersonate genuine Christian leaders.

DAILY POST reports that the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu settled for the same faith ticket despite stiff opposition from Christians.

Ever since then, the Northern Christians, who feel slighted, have been meeting to champion a way forward.