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No Certificate of Return for Candidates Declared Winner Under Duress, Says INEC

Published

5 years ago

March 8, 2019

Eric

The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it will not issue Certificates of Return to candidates in places where its officials are held hostage or forced to declare winners under duress in the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections on Saturday (tomorrow).

The commission also threatened to record zero vote and cancel the results of polling units where its personnel deliberately failed to deploy the Smart Card Readers.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this on Thursday during the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security held at the commission’s Conference Room in Abuja.

Yakubu said, “The commission is concerned that many of our materials, including ballot boxes, voting cubicles, voter registers and Smart Card Readers were lost to acts of hooliganism and thuggery in the elections held two weeks ago. Most worrisome is the attack on electoral officials.

“Some of our staff were abducted and taken hostage in an attempt to disrupt elections or influence the outcome. In fact, some of the supplementary elections were caused by such acts of thuggery.

“I am confident that working together with the security agencies, we will consolidate the largely peaceful conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections while also taking decisive steps to deal with the minority of violators’ intent on disrupting the conduct of peaceful elections.

“However, the commission will not tolerate the act of holding our officials hostage and forcing them to declare winners under duress. Where such occurs, the commission will not reward bad behaviour by issuing them Certificates of Return.

“We have once again reconfigured the Smart Card Readers for the elections on Saturday. The use of the card readers is mandatory and there will be no exemption to their deployment for accreditation of voters.

“Under our regulations and guidelines, there are clear penalties for the deliberate failure to deploy them on the part of our members of staff. Where such happens with the connivance of communities, the result of election in the polling unit(s) will be cancelled and zero vote will be recorded.”

According to him, governorship election would be conducted in 29 states, state assembly poll will elect 991 members of Houses of Assembly in all the states of the Federation, six Chairmen as well as 62 councillors for the Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory.

The INEC chairman said that in addition to elections into 1,082 constituencies nationwide, the commission would conduct supplementary elections in 14 states of the federation covering seven Senatorial Districts and 24 federal constituencies.

The supplementary elections, he said, were necessitated by electoral fraud, violence and thuggery perpetrated by political thugs and politicians in the February 23 elections.

The INEC chairman also stated that materials for the polls on Saturday had been delivered to all states and the FCT.

With this arrangement, Yakubu said the commission was confident that all polling units would open at 8am nationwide.

INEC also hinted that Cs of R for governors and deputy-governors-elect, members of state Houses of Assembly-elect and chairmen and councillors for the FCT “shall be presented in each state of the federation by the Supervising National Commissioners and the Resident Electoral Commissioners on a date to be announced next week.

For Senatorial Districts and Federal Constituencies in which winners have already emerged, Yakubu said the commission would issue their Certificates of return next week.

He said, “On behalf of the commission, I extend our deepest condolence to the families of those who lost their lives, including personnel of the security agencies. We are glad that the police have made several arrests and investigation is ongoing.

“I wish to assure Nigerians that the commission will work closely with the police to ensure the diligent prosecution of all violators of our electoral laws. Citizens are asking for effective but non-intrusive protection before, during and immediately after the elections in which their rights are respected and their choices safeguarded.”

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Stay Away from CBT Centres, JAMB Warns Parents, Threatens Arrest

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

As this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) begins on Friday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has vowed to arrest parents found near any Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre during the 2024 UTME exercise.

The directive was issued at the final briefing of the CBT centre owners, which was held virtually on Wednesday, 17th April, 2024.

The spokesman for JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, said this directive became necessary following the intrusive disposition of some parents during the Board’s previous exercises.

Benjamin, who quoted JAMB Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said any parent, who disobeys the order would not only be arrested but his ward would also be disqualified from sitting for the examination.

Oloyede explained that this measure became necessary as it has been discovered over time that many of these intruding parents are facilitators of examination infractions while others have, by their actions, disrupted the Board’s examinations in the past.

He added that some miscreants also disguise as parents to infiltrate the centres to perpetrate all forms of infractions.

“The Board’s helmsman noted that going by the extant national policy on education, a candidate for the examination must have attained the age of 17 years.

“Therefore, it is evident that these parents had not allowed their wards to pass through the classes as defined in the document, hence the desperation to follow their wards to the examination venue with the aim of compromising examination officials.

“At any rate, it is clear to any discerning observer that these parents deserve to be sanctioned as they had obviously ‘smuggled’ underage children into the ranks of those scheduled to sit the examination,” the Board note through a statement.

Furthermore, the Registrar said all arrangements have been concluded for the conduct of the 2024 UTME, which will be held in over 700 CBT centres across the nation.

He disclosed that the Board expects a seamless exercise but it has nevertheless made adequate provision to tackle any technical glitch that might occur in the course of the examination.

He, however, warned that if a session experienced any technical challenge, candidates in subsequent sessions would be allowed to sit their examination as scheduled while the candidates in the challenged session would be rescheduled for the last session for the day or the following day or even further depending on the centre schedules.

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Oyo Govt Demolishes Operational Base of Yoruba Nation Agitators

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

The Oyo State government, on Wednesday, demolished a building serving as the operational base of the Yoruba Nation agitators led by Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, in Ibadan.

Onitiri-Abiola, one of the widows of late Bashorun M.KO Abiola, had declared the creation of the so-called Yoruba Nation in a video posted online, which has been widely condemned.

Last Saturday, some armed men in military uniforms invaded the Oyo State Secretariat, with the motive to forcefully take over the State House of Assembly, before they were dislodged by the combined efforts of police and troops for the Nigeria Army 2 Division..

Mr. Fatai Owoseni, Special Adviser on Security Matters to Governor Seyi Makinde, confirmed the demolition of the house located at Toye Oyesola Street in Ibadan South West Local Government Area.

Already, no fewer than 29 suspects – including a lecturer – arrested in connection with the foiled armed invasion were on Wednesday arraigned by the police before a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ibadan.

In a case with charge number Mi/520c/2024 between the Commissioner of Police and the 29 suspects, they were accused of a seven-count charge of treasonable felony, unlawful society, illegal possession of firearms, and conduct likely to cause breach of peace.

Inspector Bakare Rasaq, the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, said the offence contravenes, and is punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Vol. II, Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria, 2000.

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PDP BoT Queries Damagum, Anyanwu’s Continued Stay in Office

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

The Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party has queried the continued stay in office of the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, and National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu.

Recently, many party members have raised concerns about the ongoing tenure of Damagum and Anywanwu in their respective positions.

Previously serving as the PDP National Deputy Chairman (North), Damagum assumed the role of acting National Chairman following the court’s suspension of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, in March of the preceding year.

With the National Secretary being selected as the PDP candidate for the Imo State 2023 governorship election, the South zone has been grappling with nominating a replacement. Despite this, he, along with other party leaders, contested and retained the position of party secretary after losing to Governor Hope Uzodinnma.

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