Tag: 2019 Elections

2019 Elections: We are ready to conduct Diaspora voting if…INEC

The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said it is ready to conduct diaspora voting if the government provided the Commission with adequate funds for t exercise.

The INEC chair also urged the National Assembly to quicken the amendment of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act.

Yakubu made the call in Ibadan on Wednesday, at an International Conference organised by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.

The theme of the conference is “Enfranchising the African Diaspora: Comparing Notes across Sub-Saharan Africa.’’

Yakubu was represented by a National Commissioner of INEC, Prof. Anthonia Simbinne.

He said that the conference was organised to underscore the importance of the card reader and electronic voting towards deepening the electoral process and allowing Diaspora voting.

The chairman said that although the 2015 elections cost approximately N100 billion, conducting Diaspora voting in the next 18 months would gulp millions of dollars.

He explained that Diaspora voting would start with registration of Nigerians in Diaspora.

“The commission is ready for Diaspora voting, but problematic issues related to Diaspora voter registration components must be resolved,’’ he said.

Yakubu said that there was the need for deeper and further consultations with stakeholders in as much as the Diaspora voting was desirable and possible.

“It is important to state categorically that the commission is committed to implementing any and every activity that will improve the electoral process and accessibility of franchise to all Nigerians.

“The introduction of card reader and electronic voting has led to instances where polls have had to be cancelled due to non-use of smart card reader,’’ he said.

In her address, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said that the discussion about Diaspora could no longer be relegated.

Represented by her Special Assistant on Media, Abdulraham Balogun, she said that there was the need to examine certain dynamics, intricacies and realities of the Nigerian Diaspora.

According to Daburu-Erewa, there are several ways African nations can move to enfranchise their Diaspora when adequate legislative frameworks have been affirmed.

“I do not propose an absolute or sweeping legislative framework. The political climate of individual nations should dictate the texture of the policy formulation,’’ she said.

The Head, Diaspora and Transnational Studies, Institute of African Studies, Dr Senayon Olaoluwa, said that the conference was organised to attend to the political needs of Nigerians in Diaspora.

Olaoluwa said that the place of the Diaspora on their homeland development could no longer be undermined.

The Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, said that the institution had continued to offer leadership by being the first to have a programme focusing on the Diaspora and Transnational Studies.

Olayinka said that African Diaspora could not continue to be pushed to the margin.

He said that African Diaspora had taken the centre stage in the transformation of Africa in politics and economy as well as social fronts.

NAN

June 21, 2017
APC decides President Buhari’s fate for 2019 election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) looks to be deciding the fate of President Muhammadu Buhari for 2019 presidential election as a chieftain of the party has said the sick President is not guaranteed automatic ticket for election.

Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, chairman of the North-west zone of the party, took this position recently assuring that due process will be followed, and that all interested persons will get a level playing ground to contest for the 2019 presidential election, according to report.

The former minister said President Buhari will participate in the party’s primary elections if he wants and not just get an automatic ticket.

“2017 that we are in now, there is no vacancy. There could be vacancy any moment, anytime either in 2019, 2020.

“In 2019 the vacancy that exists is that whether you like Buhari or not, whether he wants to run or not, there will be a contest.

“What I mean is that the APC as a party is not a draconian party. We will allow the due process to take its course in terms of whoever wants to contest for the presidency.

“I am not a soothsayer, but I know that the rules and laws of the APC is that every member would be given chance.

“If you want to run for the presidency, you are welcome. When you say there is a vacancy it means there is nobody there.

“But for now in 2017, Buhari is the president of this country and by the present circumstances that we are, Professor Yemi Osinbajo is the Acting President and APC does not have inhibitions, this issue of giving automatic ticket to anybody. It is a party that allows democratic principles and norms to take its full course.

“How can you have automatic ticket? In any case the constitution of Nigeria and the electoral act do not allow automatic ticket,” Naij quotes Abdulkadir to have said.

June 18, 2017
Stop campaigning for 2019 elections, Saraki warns politicians

Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has warned politicians in the country to henceforth stop their subtle campaigns for the 2019 elections.

The Senate President noted that it was insensitive of elected political office holders to abandon serious issues of serving their constituents and preoccupy themselves with the 2019 elections.

Saraki noted that 2019 was still a long period for serious-minded politicians to concentrate their energy on to the detriment of good governance.

He admitted that elected public office holders had not met some of the expectations of Nigerians, adding that they should rather be committed to rendering services and fulfilling their electoral promises.

The Senate President stated this on Sunday during an interactive session with newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Saraki stated, “The year 2019 is a long way. Any serious-minded politician, who is interested in his people, should not be talking about 2019, especially if we want to be honest with ourselves; some of the expectations of our people have not been met. I think it will be insensitive if we have left that and we are now talking about 2019. We need to work hard to make sure that we meet those expectations.

“The economy is already moving in the right direction, which is why we are addressing the issue of security, which is good. We are fighting corruption; we need to do more in that area. By the time we work tremendously over the next one year, I think we will be in a place where we can beat our chest and say we have done well.”

Saraki added that though financial autonomy for local government areas might be approved during the ongoing constitutional review, it would be more desirable for the LGAs to be adequately funded to address their statutory responsibilities.

According to him, the current allocations to the local governments in the country are not adequate to meet their needs.

He said it might be desirable to reduce the burdens of the councils such as education, which he said would be better handled by the state government.

Saraki stated that without the support of state governments, about 95 per cent of local governments in the country would not be able to pay salaries, talk less of providing infrastructure.

He said, “The finances are not just there. All the 36 states cannot be doing something wrong. I do not think there is a place where the revenues of the LGs can meet their expenditure, despite that they still have responsibilities like primary education.

“We need to review that. Maybe we will go back and look at whether state governments should truly take over primary education, because the arm of government that cannot even meet administrative expenses, you now put on it a very important sector as education.

“There must be something structurally wrong with it and we need to put our heads together and take decisions on the way forward. Maybe we need to review what kind of responsibilities they have.”

June 5, 2017
Don’t contest 2019 elections should anything unpleasant happens to Buhari, Doyin Okupe tells Osinbajo

The Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe has said Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo should not contest the 2019 Presidential elections should anything unpleasant happens to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The former presidential aid also said the north are against President Buhari’s resignation despite his apparent ill health because they are afraid that what played out during late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s time might reoccur.

He noted that majority of people in the north felt they have been cheated when Jonathan was installed constitutionally after Yar’Adua’s death.

Okupe said this during an interview with The Tribune.

In his words: “We do not tell each other the truth. The north is afraid; they have the deja vu feeling.

“Because of the situation of the health of President Buhari, they are afraid of the scenario of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua playing itself out again.

“They don’t want that. And nobody should, if they want peace for this country, envisage such.

“In this country, it may not be written in the constitution but once a southerner is president and completes his term, the next president will come from the north and vice versa.

It is an unwritten constitution that we politicians follow and we ought to honour and respect that arrangement.

“For instance, when you pick a Christian as president, automatically, his vice president would be a Muslim and vice versa.

“These are unwritten laws that we all have an abiding faith in but we had a situation whereby Yar’Adua had a promising eight-year tenure, which was the turn of the north, but he did two years and died and constitutionally, they installed Jonathan, a southerner.

“After completing Yar’Adua’s term, Jonathan, with the support of some of us, went ahead and contested an election, won and by so doing, deprived the north of their legitimate turn.

“All the problems that Jonathan had, including Boko Haram and the kidnap of the Chibok girls, coupled with all the abuses he got that he was clueless, all the difficulties he had in governance were a result of that action.

“The majority of the people in the north felt that they were being cheated and didn’t say anything. It is the same thing that we are facing now.

“People in the north are afraid that such scenario will play out again but they don’t want to talk about it.

“Many people in the south are gloating and wishing that acting President Osinbajo assumes the office or run for presidency after completing the first term with President Buhari.

“No, it can’t work. We cannot punish the north because of an unexpected development in the polity.

“If we have an agreement that this is how we should run our country, neither sickness nor death should cause a violation of that agreement.

“That is where the elites err; rather than talk about it, they want to be deceptive about it.

“The south is being pretentious that they don’t know that such an agreement exists, while the north wants to be deceitful that they have a special answer.

“This is a national problem that needs to be openly discussed by the leaders so as to move the country forward, instead of playing games. You don’t play games with the destiny of Nigerians.”

June 3, 2017
El-rufai denies aide’s comment that he won’t contest in 2019

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has denied comment by his chief of staff, that he would not run for a second term.

This is contained in a statement he personally signed on Sunday.

The governor said he would not announce his next political move through anyone and vowed to fire appointees caught politicking instead of concentrating on their jobs.

El-Rufai also directed the signage agency in his state to pull down all billboards bearing campaign messages, in violation of election laws and guidelines.

Full statement titled ‘I will inform the public on second term when I am ready’ reads:

“My attention has been drawn to statements credited to our Chief of Staff which clearly misrepresented his good intentions aimed at encouraging youths in politics and governance of our dear state.

“What was reported was that I had no plans to run for another term of office, and will be succeeded by someone below the age of 50. Both statements are misrepresentations of my position and the government. It has become imperative that these wrong impressions thereby created be corrected.

“In 2014, when I complied with the directive of our leader President Muhammadu Buhari to run for the office of Governor of Kaduna State, I made the announcement in person. I did not employ surrogates to engage the public on this important decision.
“What I did not do as an aspirant for office, I will not do as incumbent Governor. I will not communicate my decision to run for a second term in 2019 through surrogates, but directly to the people of Kaduna State.

“Regarding the views ascribed to the Chief of Staff, they are perhaps his personal opinion. I do not wish to be associated with such sentiments. I am of the firm opinion that nobody, no matter the position they hold, can dictate to other citizens what they can or cannot aspire to.

“No individual can introduce into the electoral process conditions that are not embedded in the laws of our country and the norms of electoral competition.

“The Constitution of Nigeria, the Electoral Act and the APC constitution have no provisions imposing maximum age limits for those aspiring to elective office. I am a strict law-abiding citizen and loyal party member, and will not countenance anyone even hinting at circumscribing constitutional rights.

“While our administration believes strongly in encouraging youths, evidenced by the number of young people we have appointed into key government positions, we believe that it is the combination of the wisdom of the elderly and the energy of the youth that leads to societal progress”.

May 14, 2017
2019 elections: Buhari will win if he re-contests – Kachikwu

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said President Muhammadu Buhari will win the 2019 Presidential elections should he decide to re-contest.

Kachikwu revealed this while fielding questions from CNN anchor, Richard Quest, who is currently in the country.

Quest asked Kachukwu, “Is it likely, that within another year your president or his party will be fighting in an election, and pretty much you are already in an election mode?”

In his response, Kachikwu said, “Those of us in government are focused on getting work done; the president is probably going to win the election anyway.”

The Minister also disclosed that the Buhari-led government was making realistic efforts towards the diversification of Nigeria’s economy, adding that the results would be evident in the next five or seven years.

He said, “It is realistic. Five or seven years. Petroleum led us into this problem; it has to lead us out.”

April 30, 2017
2019 Elections: INEC to spend N1.4bn for purchase of ballot boxes

Ahead of preparations for the 2019 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has earmarked N1.4billion for the purchase of ballot boxes.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakub, said this during the 2016 budget defence session before members of the House of Representative Committee on Electoral Matters and Political Parties Affairs on Monday in Abuja.

Yakubu said that the commission intended to phase out the collapsible transparent ballot boxes and replace them with plastic ones.

According to the INEC boss, there will be no need to use the transparent ballot boxes during the 2019 general elections.

He said that the commission was confronted with the inability of local manufacturers to deliver the required volume within the stipulated timeframe for elections, much as it was willing to patronise locally made products.

“Sometimes, it is easier said that we have manufacturers who have the capacity; but when you engage them, you realise that we may not have such capacity for volumes and this not only peculiar to elections.

“Immediately you try to produce something locally, somebody rushes to register a patent and claims ownership of that idea.

“Right now, we have litigations running into trillions of naira by people who said the patent for smart card reader is theirs.

“And they may get favourable judgment that requires us to pay some fantastic amount.

“So, while it is important for us to encourage our domestic producers, we are also careful about that because some of the procurement items are time bound.”

Yakubu, who did not mention the specific amount INEC would need to conduct the 2019 general elections, said that the commission was adopting strategic plans that would ensure a hitch-free exercise.

“We wouldn’t like to guess an amount; so, we want to go through this painstaking process of producing a strategic plan.

“I think it is better for us to do the proper thing so that we approach the Executive and the National Assembly with a figure we can vouch for.

“And once it is approved, we don’t come back to request another supplementary figure.”

The INEC boss expressed concern that five resident electoral commissioners (RECs) would retire by March, bringing the total number of states without RECs to 33.

Yakubu, who decried the high rate of attacks on INEC offices and officials across the country, said that 24 INEC offices were burnt between 2015 and date.

He said that the commission would require a supplementary budget to repair its stores in the zones to guarantee the protection of electoral materials ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Yakubu also said that the commission had earmarked N500million for the continuous voter registration across the country.

Earlier, Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Aishatu Dukku emphasised the need for the commission’s 2017 budget to reflect public accountability and transparency.

“Election management bodies face the formidable challenge of ensuring that stakeholders have trust in the electoral process.

“The identification and adoption of best practices in electoral framework and administration have placed countries under pressure to introduce electoral reform measures.

“I am strongly advocating that this electoral reform measures form part of the budget of INEC.

“It is important that the budget of INEC be made to show widespread public accountability and transparency of the commission,” Dukku said.

February 13, 2017