INEC met with the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on Thursday 5th July, 2018 after it met with political parties and officials of the Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC) at the Electoral Institute (TEI) on Wednesday during its Quarterly Consultative meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu reassured Nigerians of the commitment of INEC to ensure a secured electoral procedure. In his words, Yakubu said:

“I wish to assure you that our electoral processes have gone beyond the capacity of our own officials to manipulate. The procedures are robust. The claim that the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) are cloned and Smart Card Readers pre-loaded is simply ludicrous.

“The Card Readers are only configured to specific polling units 72 hours or less before an election, set to operate only on election day from 8am and is manually shut down for accreditation after the last person on the queue has voted or automatically by 8pm.

“We are aware that as we approach the 2019 elections, there will be a lot of interest in our activities for virtuous& malicious reasons. Few days ago, Nigerians were legitimately outraged by the image of a blank PVC advertised by an offshore Company for purchase in the open market

“Within a few hours, we contacted the online platform responsible for the advert which promptly removed it. What Nigerians may not know is that it was not a single advertiser. A second company was forced to remove a similar advert and only yesterday a third one was withdrawn.

You will recall last week, that news filtered in about an attempt to clone Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and sell them online. The claims were backed up with pictures of cloned PCVs sold on Alibaba.com website; admonishing people not to have hope of a transparent election come 2019.

Yakubu said that INEC have extracted a commitment from http://Alibaba.com to stop this unwholesome practice forthwith & will continue to work with the security agencies to track down those responsible for the advert as well as any prospective buyers of which there are none so far.



“We suspect that many dubious enterprises will keep trying openly and in the dark web. We have anticipated these challenges and we are far ahead of the mischief makers. Our security source codes are not only robust but continuously enhanced.



Yakubu has however reassured Nigerians to repose their trust in INEC as the procedures are secured. “We wish to reassure Nigerians that our sensitive and non-sensitive materials, processes and procedures are secure”, he said.

While the Federal Government has proposed cattle colonies as the sustainable solution to the continuous Farmers and Herdsmen clashes, Professor Danladi Atu, Director General of the APUDI Institute for Peace Studies and Social Rehabilitation (APIS) explains to Seyi Anjorin and Opeyemi Ologun of The News Chronicle why he thinks there is a better alternative.



Excerpts:
http://thenews-chronicle.com/tef-hosts-emmanuel-macron-and-tony-elumelu-entrepreneurs/

http://thenews-chronicle.com/2019-alibaba-com-to-stop-this-unwholesome-practice-forthwith-inec-chairman/

2019: Alibaba.Com to Stop This Unwholesome Practice Forthwith-INEC Chairman

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged Nigerians to disregard all malicious attempts to berate its effort in conducting a free and fair election.

Read the inspiring charge of Macron to Nigerian youths
http://thenews-chronicle.com/tef-hosts-emmanuel-macron-and-tony-elumelu-entrepreneurs/

"But to the conclusion: there is a Northern oligarchy of power existent till date and their modus operandi is scary."

Read the full article on this http://thenews-chronicle.com/zik-awo-and-sarduana-perspectives-configuration-of-nigeria/
Quite insightful, especially in voting for a candidate come 2019

http://thenews-chronicle.com/ekiti-2018-fayegbeyemi-or-elekadeji-the-people-lose/





Who becomes the next Ekiti helmsman? There are two main contenders. Both from an intellectual background, one is fully homegrown and the other is widely travelled. One is from Ekiti North while the other is from Ekiti South.

Both are gentlemen, only that the more learned and widely travelled candidate “claims he has learnt new local skills in politics.” The PDP candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola has a few positives to his advantage. The main factor on his side is the Fayose figure.

Fayose’s selection of Ado born Muslim, Deji Ogunsakin, to deputise the Ikere born Scholar at OAU is a subtle appeal to different demographics, including the two biggest voting blocs in Ekiti – Ado and Ikere. PDP also has the so-called Southern Agenda as an advantage.

Then there’s state incumbency. If Fayose possibly retains his 200,000 votes from the 2014 election for his protégé, then, victory could be close. INEC recently put Ekiti’s voting population at over 500,000 with about 300,000 PVCs yet to be claimed. That’s about 20% of the 2.5 million people.

Dr. Kayode Fayemi’s selection of a septuagenarian, educationist and one-time Commissioner for Education to be his running mate in the gubernatorial race reflects the scheme of picking deputy governors from state capitals, on many different occasions.

The committee set up by the national directorate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to ensure the party’s victory in the July 14 polls was said to have been involved in the selection of Chief Bisi Egbeyemi as Deputy Governorship candidate. These indeed are interesting times.

The APC is presenting technocrats who have been there, who have valid experiences in running the affairs of state at the micro and macro levels. Fayemi’s time as Minister has evidently added to his knowledge and expertise as an administrator too.

So we may not see any difference in a Fay’Egbeyemi Administration. What is likely, as we have seen in examples from other states is a lackadaisical attitude (since we are not seeking another term).

Fayemi’s manifesto in 2007 of digitization of the whole state and rapidly advancing Ekiti, if he got elected turned out to be the regular campaign gimmick – more or less. A Fayemi victory will enthrone him as a valid force in Ekiti and a figure to reckon with in South West politics.

It will sound a note of the strength of the APC in the region as we approach 2019. But not much will change in terms of social advancement and human development. For the ElekaDeji movement, the Fayose influence would of course be all over the regime if they emerge winners.

This is in fact a test of Fayose’s self-acclaimed position of the most valuable politician in Ekiti. Eleka’s political history can only go a few years more than he had spent as Fayose’s deputy. I do not see him as a firm, dynamic, authoritative leader with a voice of his own.

He can only build directly on his political father’s systems – software and hardware – especially the pattern of administration, which cannot be said to be the standard in any clime.

Governance should be about sincerity of purpose, the actual will of the people with no trace of personal interests. I do not see that in any of the two leading candidates. Same! We are reminded, yet again, of the need for a political reform process, which is yet to begin.

http://thenews-chronicle.com/ekiti-2018-fayegbeyemi-or-elekadeji-the-people-lose/

Who becomes the next Ekiti helmsman? There are two main contenders. Both from an intellectual background, one is fully homegrown and the other is widely travelled. One is from Ekiti North while the other is from Ekiti South.

Both are gentlemen, only that the more learned and widely travelled candidate “claims he has learnt new local skills in politics.” The PDP candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola has a few positives to his advantage. The main factor on his side is the Fayose figure.

Fayose’s selection of Ado born Muslim, Deji Ogunsakin, to deputise the Ikere born Scholar at OAU is a subtle appeal to different demographics, including the two biggest voting blocs in Ekiti – Ado and Ikere. PDP also has the so-called Southern Agenda as an advantage...

arsenal33:


You are a mistake.
Let people who have held power in the past without moving Nigeria forward be deceiving you.

Here is a Nigerian who wants to change the narrative of the country.
Let us do well to consider what we can do for our country in our own little way.


http://thenews-chronicle.com/the-dangers-of-a-single-story/

Do we have choice come 2019?

http://thenews-chronicle.com/one-on-one-with-prof-kingsley-moghalu-ypps-presidential-hopeful/

An account of an eye witness who participated in the protest.


http://thenews-chronicle.com/jos-massacre-we-are-either-going-forward-or-they-kill-us/

http://thenews-chronicle.com/jos-massacre-we-are-either-going-forward-or-they-kill-us/
http://thenews-chronicle.com/jos-massacre-we-are-either-going-forward-or-they-kill-us/

The youths in Jos took to the street today, June 27, 2018 to protest the killings of scores of people over the weekend in Barkin-Ladi and Riyom local government areas of the state.



There has been calls across the country for the Federal Government to find sustainable solutions to these incessant and barbaric attacks.



In an exclusive interview with The News Chronicle, Jerry Doubles, one of the youths taking part in the protest said: “The protest started in the morning about 9 am. The Muster point was around old airport junction. From there we walked down to the government house. Lots of armed men surrounded us.



“Our numbers are enormous; we are perhaps a thousand or more. They refused us entrance into the government house at first, but we were later allowed in.


“We heard rumours that the time taken was used to send the governor away from the vicinity. Rather, the Head of Peace Building Agency established by the government was sent to represent the governor, Simon Bako Lalong. The man was almost lynched.



“Sporadic gunshots everywhere as the protesters spread out in the entire government house.



Protest in Jos over #PlateauKillings @segalink @DrJoeAbah @obyezeks pic.twitter.com/ln38bFXoH4

— Nelson Owoicho (@apochiowoicho) June 27, 2018



“They were so overwhelming that the force agencies tripled their squad, in case things get out of hand.



“No one is turning back. It is either forward or they kill us.

“The pain is at its zenith and it’s pathetic that even after the president and vice visited the state yesterday, and the day before respectively, nothing has happened to the maiming inflicted on the plateau people.



“It is the Fulani Jihadist called the herdsmen who are doing this to our people.



“Our demands are that peace return; the Fulani communities be ransacked; the government take visible measures in combating this terror.