Politics
Osun guber: 37.5 percent of PVCs collected so far – INEC REC, Babalola
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Osun State, has disclosed that 192,702 Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, representing 37.5 per cent of those distributed so far, had been collected by eligible voters across the state.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Oluwatoyin Babalola, who gave the assurance on Sunday during the Osun Citizens’ Town Hall Meeting held in Osogbo, assured voters that every valid vote will count in the August 15 governorship election, while reaffirming the commission’s commitment to delivering a peaceful, credible and transparent electoral process.
Babalola said the commission was still expecting sensitive election materials for the poll, adding that adequate preparations had been made to ensure smooth conduct of the election.
She also revealed that INEC had deployed multiple voter education channels to encourage citizens to participate actively in the electoral process, saying, “we have deployed various platforms to educate voters on the importance of exercising their civic responsibility. Every vote will count and we encourage all eligible voters to come out on election day.”
The REC disclosed that INEC had identified flashpoints across parts of the state, including areas prone to thuggery, communal violence and cult-related activities.
According to her, “the information had already been shared with security agencies to enable proactive deployment and effective security arrangements.”
She said the commission had maintained close collaboration with security agencies, expressing confidence that the election would be peaceful and secure adding that sufficient ad hoc staff had been recruited and that training would commence shortly.
She also announced that a mock accreditation exercise would be conducted on August 1 in four local government areas, one from each senatorial district, to test the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System ahead of the election.
Addressing questions on the reported factionalisation within transport unions in the state, the REC said no faction had been introduced to the commission.
“I am speaking with the representative of the national body. Whatever issues they have are their internal affairs. They have deployed their Director of Organisation to the state and we are dealing with him,” she stated.
A member of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, JONAPWD, Osun State Chapter, Sunday Smith, urged INEC to accord assistive materials for persons with disabilities the same level of priority as sensitive election materials and appealed to the commission to ensure its ad hoc staff received adequate training on supporting voters living with disabilities.
Representing the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, assured participants that security agencies had developed new strategies to guarantee peace before, during and after the election.
He disclosed that no arrest had been made over the recent developments in Odo-Otin Local Government Area.
Also speaking, the Deputy Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Afuye Kikelomo, representing the State Commandant, Igbalawole Sotiyo, warned that anyone involved in electoral malpractice would face the full weight of the law.
The Akire of Ikire-Ile, Oba Azeez Olatunbosun, described the town hall meeting as a timely initiative that would strengthen citizens’ participation and promote inclusive elections.
He rejected the notion that politics was inherently dirty, saying governance remained a noble calling but had been tainted by violence, intolerance, thuggery and other unethical practices by some politicians.
The monarch described the August 15 governorship election as “an important opportunity for Osun State.
“I appeal to political actors to embrace peace, fairness, tolerance and respect for the rule of law throughout the electoral process. Elections will come and go, but the consequences remain.
“Let us place the peace of Osun State above political interests.”
The Elegboro of Ijebu-Jesa, Oba Moses Oluwafemi Agunsoye, also disclosed that traditional rulers in Ijesaland had taken steps to minimise violence, adding that their collective prayer was for peace to prevail throughout the electioneering period.
Also speaking, both the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in Osun State, Rev. John Adeleke and Grand Imam of Osogbo, Sheikh Musa Muhammad Robiu Animashaun, urged political stakeholders and voters to maintain peace, stressing that every citizen had the constitutional right to vote freely and without intimidation.
They discouraged religious activities capable of distracting voters during the poll and encouraged educated citizens to participate actively.
They similarly called on all eligible voters to come out with their PVCs, urging them to vote according to their conscience and reject vote buying.
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President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has charged the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to stop dreaming that he won the 2023 presidential election because he lost the poll.
Onanuga said Obi should stop living in denial and delusion because he came a distant third.
He was reacting to Obi’s latest interview on Channels television where he claimed to have won the 2023 presidential election but was rigged out.
In a statement he signed, Onanuga described the interview as a “PR” disaster for the former Anambra State governor.
Reacting to the interview, Onanuga said: “Two issues caught my attention while I watched him. First, when his interviewer, Seun Okinbaloye, questioned him about his political nomadism, he tried to make the question a non-issue, saying, with a smirk on his face, that he has not done anything different from what President Bola Tinubu has done in his political odyssey.
“No, Mr Obi. Tinubu has not been jumping from one ideologically different party to another. Since he joined party politics in 1991/92, Tinubu has stayed the progressive path all the way. He started with the Social Democratic Party and won an election to the Senate on the party’s platform, polling the highest vote ever by any candidate in the country.
“The second issue is that Seun gave you a golden opportunity to redeem yourself in respect of the outcome of the 2023 election. You lost, Peter. You didn’t win that election.
“You did well in the election, no doubt- a politician with no structure in the states, except the noisy followers on X, Instagram and Facebook. But I was utterly surprised that more than three years after the Supreme Court threw away your petition, you are still in denial of the loss, and you still nurse the delusion that you won the election, echoing the sentiment of your gullible followers on the streets. Mr Obi, it is time you accepted the stark reality of the loss. Stop dreaming of a victory that you never had.”
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The African Democratic Congress, ADC, says President Bola Tinubu’s administration has crossed many lines in the governance of Nigeria as a nation.
The national spokesman of the party, Bolaji Abdullahi, made this statement during an interview on Symfoni TV.
He lamented that the President is ruling the country with impunity with the help of the National Assembly headed by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
“This Tinubu-led APC government has crossed the line so many times that we have forgotten where the line was in the first place.
“The principle of checks and balances is intended to create what is called positive tension between the various arms of government-the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature-in order to prevent dictatorship. That is why the National Assembly and the judiciary exist.
“But what you find is that the three arms of government now appear to have all gathered together on President Tinubu’s mandate and willing to do only what the president wants.
“This is the first time we have a government that has not implemented national budget. Budget is the law passed by the representatives of the people, the National Assembly. And the moment it is signed by the president, it becomes a law.
“When you are running three budgets at the same time, you have not implemented any, what do you call that? A few weeks ago, an international organization told us that there are about 8.8 trillion naira unbudgeted expenditure carried out by this government.
If that is not an impeachable offense, if it is actually a violation of the law, then what is?
“How many times has this government flagrantly disobeyed court orders. How many times have they flagrantly done things that are against the law of Nigeria and got away with it with the active collusion of the National Assembly under Senate President Godswill Akpabio?
“Everything that this government has done is to undermine opposition political parties. All these court cases that you see, where are they coming from? This government has undermined democracy itself, and that is against the spirit of our constitution,” the ADC spokesman said.
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The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has said that the President Bola Tinubu administration will be held responsible if anything happens to former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Bolaji Abdullahi, made this assertion in an interview on Symfoni TV.
Abdullahi said El-Rufai’s detention is not about the law, justice or crime but about politics.
“If anything happens to El-Rufai while he remains in state custody, President Bola Tinubu and his administration will bear full responsibility.
“El-Rufai is not being held today because he committed any crime. That would have been left for the court to decide. Let the court pronounce that he is guilty or is not guilty.
“But to continue to hold him interminably speaks to something else, and that is why it is clear to us that the desire or the intention of this APC government is to continue to hold El-Rufai to ensure that he does not participate in this election and strengthen the opposition. That is exactly what they plan to do.
“This same El-Rufai fought for President Bola Tinubu when when everyone in the Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet didn’t want him,” he said.
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