Vote Buying: EFCC Intercepts N11.04m, Arrests 14 Suspected In Imo, Bayelsa, Kogi
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested 14 suspected vote buyers in Otueke, Adawari playgrounds in Bayelsa and at various polling units in Imo and Kogi. EFCC Spokesperson Dele Oyewale said this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja. According to him, the suspects were arrested on Saturday in intelligence-driven operations that commenced several days before the ongoing governorship elections in the three states. “Also, a total sum of N11,040,000, comprising N9,310,00 intercepted from suspected vote buyers and sellers in Bayelsa, and N1,730,000 intercepted from electoral fraud suspects across Imo State, were recovered from them. “Also, two vehicles were intercepted from the suspects. They will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded,” he said. The commission had earlier deployed its personnel to monitor the Saturday’s governorship elections in the three states. Oyewale had said in a statement on Friday in Abuja, that the aim of the deployment was to prevent politicians and their agents from engaging in vote buying during the elections. He explained that the exercise was part of the commission’s drive to checkmate electoral fraud and associated financial crimes.
Guber Elections Underway In Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi As INEC Conducts Off-Cycle Polls
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday initiated the first off-cycle elections since the 2023 general elections, with residents of Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states casting their votes to determine their governors for the next four years. A total of 46,084 regular and ad-hoc staff have been deployed across the three states, and 126 national and international organizations, along with 11,000 observers, are accredited for the elections. Additionally, 80 media organizations have applied to deploy 1,203 personnel, including journalists and technical/support staff. Security measures are robust, with 92,565 police personnel mobilized, including helicopters and gunboats. The Federal Road Safety Corps has also deployed 1,500 operatives and 105 vehicles. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, revealed that the elections will be held in 10,470 polling units across 649 electoral wards in 56 local government areas. Voting commenced around 08:30 am in observed polling units, following the arrival of INEC officials with sensitive and non-sensitive materials. Over five million voters are expected to participate in the elections, with the outcome potentially influenced by the significant representation of youths and middle-aged individuals, comprising over 60% of the total PVCs collected in the three states. In Imo State, registered voters are 2,419,922, with 2,318,919 PVCs collected. In Kogi, there are 1,932,654 registered voters, and 1,833,160 PVCs collected, while Bayelsa has 1,056,862 registered voters and 1,017,613 PVCs collected. Sixteen political parties are sponsoring candidates in Bayelsa, and 18 in both Imo and Kogi, with elections taking place in 10,470 polling units across the 56 local government areas in the three states. INEC has deployed nine Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and two national commissioners to each state, with 46,000 staff overseeing the elections. The Result Viewing Portal (IReV) is assured to work smoothly despite previous glitches experienced in the technology during the February 25, 2023 presidential poll.
Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi Elections: Vote Only PDP Candidates, Atiku Begs Nigerians
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Abubakar Atiku, has appealed to Nigerians to cast their votes for PDP candidates in the upcoming gubernatorial elections in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states. Atiku acknowledged concerns about the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) handling of the 2023 general elections but emphasized the importance of citizens exercising their democratic rights. “The governorship elections in Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa states are scheduled for this Saturday, November 11th,” Atiku stated. “These elections, categorized as off-cycle, mark the first set of polls after the 2023 general elections in our country.” Despite challenges faced by INEC, Atiku urged citizens to actively participate in the electoral process, emphasizing the importance of defeating anti-democratic elements. Atiku appealed to the people of Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi to support PDP candidates, highlighting their achievements and capabilities and contrasting them with their APC counterparts. He praised Governor Duoye Diri in Bayelsa, Senator Dino Melaye in Kogi, and Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu in Imo for their leadership potential. In contrast, Atiku criticized the APC’s nominees, alleging that they are “stooges” of political godfathers, emphasizing that these elections should prioritize the needs of the common people rather than political elites. Atiku urged the people of these states to vote for the PDP and reject the APC, which he blamed for the country’s current hardships. He emphasized that these elections are about the common people’s fortunes and the triumph of democracy, which ultimately benefits the people.
Upcoming Guber Elections: INEC Assures Staff Of Payment Of Full Allowances
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has assured staff of the Commission that all allowances will be paid in preparation for the upcoming gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa, Kogi, and Imo scheduled for November 11. Addressing the commission’s staff, Prof. Yakubu acknowledged the staff’s concerns regarding the delay in receiving the 40% palliative meant to alleviate economic hardship caused by the removal of the fuel subsidy whilst empathizing with their dissatisfaction. The INEC chairman reiterated his commitment to ensuring the prompt payment of staff allowances, as well as the commission’s dedication to conducting free, fair, and credible elections, adding that “INEC’s role in overseeing the electoral process is pivotal in upholding the principles of democracy.” “I know that many of you are not happy because you have not received the alert for the 40 per cent palliative awarded to all civil servants to cushion the effect of the economic hardship being experienced due to the removal of the fuel subsidy,” Yakubu said.
ERA/FOEN Decries Shell’s Slow Response To multiply Spills In Bayelsa
The Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has expressed dismay at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) slow response to multiple crude oil spills in the Diebu Creek in Peremabiri community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. ERA/FoEN in a statement by the Communication Officer, Elvira Jordan on Sunday, said its position came in the light of a field visit by ERA/FoEN team led by Programme Manager Niger Delta Resource Center, Comrade Alagoa Morris. The NGO had visited the community with a team of journalists following a save-a-soul call from the community over multiple spills along the Diebu creek. Prior to the visit, the community had informed ERA/FoEN that Shell said a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was to visit the site of the spill but failed to keep show-up, including the very date ERA/FoEN visited. After two unkempt JIV, the JIV only took place a day after the field visit by ERA/FoEN with Shell sponsored news statements that attributed one of the spills to equipment failure and the other tagged inconclusive. Speaking to the team, the youth president of the community, Benjamin Ebinibo expressed his dissatisfaction over the conduct of Shell and their response to spill issues. According to him, the people of Peremabiri are not known for sabotaging crude oil pipelines and so the leak must have been from faulty Shell equipment. Describing the plight of the women of the community, the Assistant Women Leader of Peremabiri, Favour Morganlamented that the recurring spills in their community, and how it has destroyed their environment and collapsed fishing and farming activities, which is their primary source of livelihood. On his part, the CDC Chairman of the community, Basil Young narrated the ordeal of the people of Peremabiri, citing issues ranging fromneglect suffered by the community as host community in terms of absence of basic amenities to negative impacts of the current oil spill incidents. Reacting to the spill incident, the Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Chima Williams said “we have it on record thatthe promise by Shell to visit the Spill site for JIV on 10th and 11th October, 2023 did not happen. Rather, we were duly informed that the JIV took place a day after the field visit by the ERA/FoEN led team; on the 12th October.” According to him, “going to sites and communities of interest with the media by ERA/FoEN is a deliberate strategy to enable stakeholders to come face to face with victims of incidents and get information from primary sources.” Williams further stated that while booming crude oil to prevent spreading on the surface of water is commendable, such actions do not prevent the soluble elements of crude oil to have chemical reaction within the marine ecosystem, adding that this is why effective and prompt clean up should follow booming of crude oil in any marine ecosystem. He called on Shell to take immediate action to clean up and restore the environment around Peremabiri community, and admonished NOSDRA and the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment to follow up on spill incidents and ensure clean up and compensation matters are affected within a reasonable time frame.
November Polls: INEC Cautions Political Parties Against Peddling Fake News
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has cautioned political parties against spreading fake news, ahead of the November 11 Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo governorship elections. Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman stated this in a statement in Abuja.Oyekanmi was reacting to a statement by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) that INEC was configuring Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines at the Government House, Lokoja, with the intention of manipulating the state governorship election.“The attention of INEC has been drawn to a statement signed by ID Ijele, the Director of New Media of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) of the governorship campaign team.“The statement alleged that three staff of INEC are right now maliciously reconfiguring the BVAS machines in the Government House, Lokoja, with the intention of manipulating the Nov.11 governorship election in a part of the state in favour of a candidate. “The story is untrue. The three persons mentioned are not associated with the configuration of the BVAS machines and not even in Kogi at the moment. “Nicholas Ocholi is on his duty post in our Ondo State office in Akure.“Ibrahim Egbunu is attending to a very close family member hospitalised in Abuja, Mohammed Adara retired last year and is no longer a staff of the commission,” Oyekanmi said.He said that the configuration of BVAS was done simultaneously and exclusively in INEC offices in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi by teams deployed from the national headquarters, Abuja. “The public is advised to disregard the story as fake news. “At the same time, the commission appeals to political parties to desist from engaging in malicious rumour mongering of this nature,“ Oyekanmi said.
Peter Obi Flags Off Labour Party Campaign In Bayelsa
Mr Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25 Presidential election, has flagged off campaigns for the November 11, 2023, governorship election in Bayelsa, with an assurance that the party will be victorious. Obi, who spoke in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa capital, alongside the National Chairman of LP, Mr Julius Abure, to flag-off the governorship campaign of Mr Udengs Eradiri, said that the party has overwhelming support base in the state coupled with its performance and excellence. Obi urged the people of Bayelsa to come out en mass and vote Eradiri as the next governor of the state on November 11. He said that the process that produced Eradiri as the party’s governorship candidate in the state was credible. He said: “what Nigeria is lacking is verification and that is one of its major problems. If you don’t know where you are coming from that means you don’t know where you are going to. “As I was coming from Port-Harcourt to Yenagoa, you will see poverty, Nigeria has failed Bayelsa in 57 years after oil was discovered. “After Sokoto as the poorest state, then Bayelsa is the next. The state suffered from one of the worst flooding incidents last year, since the history of Nigeria.” National chairman, Abure, said he was confident that LP would form the next government in Bayelsa. He said that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) had failed Nigerians and the people of the state in particular. He said: “We will change the economic narratives of Bayelsa state. Eradiri is the only governorship candidate of Labour Party in Bayelsa state. “LP is founded on integrity, performance. PDP and APC have failed. We have tried PDP and APC and they failed. “Their results are insecurity, poverty and infrastructural decay. Labour party has come to change the narratives. Vote Udengs Eradiri, vote LP come November 11,” he said. Speaking after the party’s flag was handed over to Eradiri, the governorship candidate of the party, promised to fix the state if he wins the governorship election. He said his programme is to engage the people but not about making noise but to reach out to the people in the rural areas to let them know his ambition. Eradiri promised not to play politics with the development of Bayelsa, but will ensure they have a better life if he is elected governor. He said that he has held various positions from the grassroots, state government level and at national level, promising that his experience in those places will position him to solve problems in Bayelsa state.
Kenneth Kaunda prophesied my emergence as president– Jonathan
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed how the late Kenneth Kaunda prophesied his emergence as Nigeria’s president in 2006. Jonathan gave the revelation in a speech he delivered at the 2nd Kenneth Kaunda Memorial Public Lecture on Saturday in Pretoria, South Africa. It is titled ‘Kenneth Kaunda’s Lessons for Humanity’. Kaunda, who was the first President of Zambia served from 1964 to 1991 and died on June 17, 2021. Jonathan said this in the statement at the weekend in Abuja. He said though he was then Governor of Bayelsa State, he never had the dream of becoming Nigeria’s president as at that time. He recalled that during his time as Bayelsa Governor in 2006, he invited Kaunda to the state because of their shared interest in the protection of their people against HIV/AIDS. He recalled with relish the impressive pace displayed by Kaunda, then aged 82 years, at the symbolic Three Arms Walk for HIV/AIDS on the streets of Yenagoa. “My political journey was not the one which attracted much attention from spiritual leaders and seers because many then could not see me playing notable roles in the national affairs of my country, since I was not active in partisan politics back then. “However, I must say it now that Kaunda in the early days of my political career, captured my political trajectory to the presidency in an accurate prophetic revelation that has continued to amaze me till this day. “In 2006 when Kaunda had ended his visit to us in Yenagoa and was returning to Zambia, I remember seeing him off to the Port Harcourt Airport in neighbouring Rivers State. “As he stood up and was about to board a vehicle that would convey him to the aircraft, he turned back and said to me, “Young man, you will be the president of this country one day.” “I and my Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Amb. Boladei Igali, who was with me simply looked at each other in amazement, because the presidency was never in our dreams, at that time. “Farfetched as these words seemed to me then, I later saw his prophecy fulfilled in my life within a decade. “So I can say that KK was the man who saw tomorrow as it related then to my political future and fortune, as I eventually became the President of my country,” Jonathan said. The former Nigeria president also said that his political experience, in certain ways, mirrored that of Kaunda. He said that like Kaunda, he handed over to the opposition party after losing election. “I am glad I made that happen without any contestation in the interest of peace and sustainable democracy. “Let me end by saying that Dr Kaunda’s political profile as a leader and Pan-Africanist experienced varied fortunes, but in the end, he refused to be defeated and lived his life to show others that politics is about the people and that there is life after office. “He was a man of the people right to the end of his ripe old age of 97 years when he passed on. “This is what I am learning from him as I continue to devote my time to the pursuit of peace, good governance and sustainable democracy in Africa,” Jonathan said. He said that Kaunda was not only of very great significance to Africa’s struggle for liberation, he was also quite significant to him. He said that one of the reasons he accepted to assume the position of the Chancellor of Cavendish University, Uganda, two years ago was because Kaunda as well as Tanzanian former President, Benjamin Mkapa had served in the same position. He said that Kaunda would continue to serve as a propelling force for Africa’s struggle for independence and economic emancipation. “Kaunda’s voyage on Earth was an odyssey marked by many exciting milestones, the most significant being his role in nation-building and his passion for a just and peaceful society. “He was a foremost Pan-Africanist, who worked tirelessly with his contemporaries like Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba and Ahmed Sekou Toure to birth freedom for many of our countries. “They worked together to promote African unity and solidarity, and to advocate for self-determination and economic development. “Kaunda’s timeline was defined by courage, strength, and resilience, championing hope and freedom and good governance in Zambia, Southern Africa, and the entire African continent.” He added that Kaunda’s dedication to the causes of justice and African emancipation paid off, with the decolonisation and freedom of his neighbours and brothers in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. “Kaunda was such a vociferous anti-colonialist that from 1954 he refused to drink tea and coffee in protest against British colonialism – a personal protest he kept up for the rest of his life.”