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  • Ekiti poll: Tinubu congratulates Fayemi, commends Fayose, Eleka

    A national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, on Sunday, said the election of Kayode Fayemi in Saturday’s Ekiti gubernatorial poll was a victory for the people.

    Tinubu made the declaration in a congratulatory message to Fayemi, the APC candidate in Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State.

    In a statement signed by his media officer, Tunde Rahman, entitled – “Ekiti Election: A Victory for the People”, Mr Tinubu urged Mr Fayemi to avoid recriminations and run an all-inclusive government.

    Recall that Fayemi won the election after securing 197,459 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Kalapo Olusola of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who got 178, 121 votes on Saturday.

    “Dr Fayemi must keep in remembrance that the people have placed their future in his safekeeping and he must justify their trust in him by doing all he can do to advance their welfare.

    “I’m confident that Fayemi will keep faith with the programmes and policies of our party in order to improve the lives of the people of Ekiti.

    “I know Fayemi will establish an all-inclusive government that involves all stakeholders in his administration and in the governance of the state, ” he said.

    Tinubu said the people of the state had voted to take a path different from the one on which they had been.

    “In Ekiti, a chapter has closed and a new one has begun. This was not done by contrivance or artifice, nor was it the product of intimidation or improper influence.

    “This came about because it was the will of the people of Ekiti as expressed and manifested in the conduct of a free and fair election in that state. In voting, as they did, the people thus voted for themselves.

    “Here, we must congratulate Dr Kayode Fayemi and our party, the APC, for the successful campaign that was run and for the confidence the people of Ekiti have shown in transferring the mandate to govern them into our hands,” he said.

    Tinubu said there was much apprehension and concern leading to the election that the exercise would fall into disorder.

    “In the end, the election took place as it should for democratic elections are- a peaceful contest of ideas and ideologies.

    “In Ekiti, two clearly different perspectives of governance stood in contest for the people to decide and decide they did.

    “I make no bones that I am glad that Dr Fayemi and the APC won this contest, ” he said.

    Tinubu commended the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Olusola Kolapo-Eleka, for not resorting to violence to get his way.

    “However, I would be remiss if I did not say a good word about the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Prof. Olusola Kolapo Eleka.

    “He conducted a tough and energetic campaign. He wanted this seat but, in the end, he did not resort to violence to get his way.

    “He allowed the people to make their own decision and for his adherence to this democratic principle, he should be recognised, ” he said.

    Tinubu also commended Gov. Ayo Fayose for not crossing the line by trying to subvert the will of the people through violent means.

    “The same must be said of Gov. Ayo Fayose. He tried his utmost to bring his candidate to victory but he did not cross the line by trying to subvert the will of the people through violent means.

    “Dr Fayemi is a man of integrity and his government will not be one of recrimination. It is a government of the people and as such will focus its attention on helping the people, not suppressing yesterday’s political opponents.

    “I urge Gov. Fayose and Prof. Kolapo Eleka, as prominent citizens and leaders of Ekiti, to move forward in that same spirit. Let there be an orderly transition from the outgoing to the incoming government.

    “Last and most importantly, let us commend the people of Ekiti. Casting aside all the dire predictions, they conducted themselves with the patience, sobriety and collective wisdom befitting the moment.

    “Instead of turning things upside down, they turned to peace and mutual respect for each other as well as respect for the democratic process.

    “Above all else, the election was your election and yesterday was your day! With the choice that you have made, may tomorrow also be your best future, ” he said.

  • Ekiti 2018: Fayemi ‘versus’ Oni at the poll, By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Ekiti 2018: Fayemi ‘versus’ Oni at the poll, By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Months to the 2018 governorship election in Ekiti, holding this Saturday, July 14, polity watchers had surmised that the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) would have a mountain to climb, to regain control of the state it lost in 2014.

    That conclusion was based on the seeming stranglehold of the political terrain by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as powered by Governor Ayodele Fayose, on whose watch the party has swept all seats in elections conducted since 2015.

    But the relaunch bid by the APC for the state, fielding former governor and Minister of Solid Minerals and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, gave strong indications that the PDP and Fayose’s suzerainty might not be impregnable after all.

    This notion was premised on two reasons: One, the political environment of 2018 is different from 2014’s, which favoured Fayose with the so-called “federal might” to advance his cause and that of the PDP, against the then Governor Fayemi and the APC.

    This time, besides having the “federal might” on their side, Fayemi and the APC have the backing of incumbent governors in 24 states, and a coalition of 32 aspirants that vied with Fayemi at the party primaries on May 12.

    With a combination of these factors, and a well-executed campaign spearheaded by a committee of APC heavyweights from across the country, the party would be adequately prepared to climb the mountain, and grab the governorship on July 14.

    That was the assumption until the news broke that the Action Peoples Party (APP), and a chieftain of the APC had separately filed matters in Abuja courts to disqualify Fayemi from presenting himself as the APC candidate in the election.

    The APP filed a suit in a High Court at Bwari, praying for the disqualification of Fayemi for being indicted by a panel of inquiry established by the Ekiti government, which issued a white paper, banning him from holding any public office in 10 years.

    Both Fayemi and the APC had canvassed dismissal of the case, and the court ruled in their favour last Tuesday, July 3. While Justice A.O Musa quashed Fayemi’s indictment for lack of fair hearing, he held that Section 182(1)(i) of the Constitution, on which the suit was based, was non-existent.

    In the second case filed last Monday at the Federal Hight Court in Abuja, Mr. Oladimeji Olakunle Olatunji seeks disqualification of Fayemi on two grounds: That he did not resign his ministerial appointment before contesting the governorship primaries; and that he was indicted by a panel of inquiry, and banned by the Ekiti government from holding any public office in 10 years.

    On the strength of the alleged anomalies, the claimant prays for an order of perpetual injunction, restraining Fayemi from parading or holding himself out as the validly/duly nominated gubernatorial candidate of the APC for the Ekiti election.

    Spotlighting the APP case recently, all eyes were on Governor Fayose as being the instigator, in order to scuttle Fayemi’s chances at the poll. But observers couldn’t imagine that a bigger threat was coming from within, ostensibly at the behest of a co-contestant at the primaries, former Governor Segun Oni.

    As revealed by Mr. Olatunji, he’s in court not only to protect the interest of the APC from being denied a candidate in the election should the opposition raise similar issues, as he did, before or after the election, but also to project the political aspiration of Oni, who came second behind Fayemi at the primaries.

    Oni, former deputy national chairman (South) of the APC, was expected to lead the other 31 aspirants, to work with the 77-member National Campaign Council instituted by the National Working Committee (NWC) for the election. He did not decline this responsibility. Indeed, he asked his supporters to campaign and vote for Fayemi.

    But has he been faithful to his avowal? That’s doubtful, as the director general of the Segun Oni Campaign Organisation (SOGO), Dr. Ife Arowosoge, claimed that the Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation (KFCO) had sidelined Oni, and maltreated his supporters at campaign rallies for the APC flagbearer.

    Arowosoge boasted that Oni has the largest number of APC chieftains, party officials and supporters in the 16 councils of Ekiti, who, in the event of a stalemate from a court ruling or any other circumstance, would be mobilised to place him in good stead to slug it out with other candidates in the current or future election.

    So, the question of why Oni would want Fayemi disqualified has finally been rested. If he’s disenfranchised before the election, or removed after winning, Oni, being the aspirant that scored the second highest votes at the primaries, would profit as a replacement, to stand as the APC candidate in Saturday’s election (if the debarment were to happen prior to the poll) or any new exercise.

    Recall that the courts adopted this precept to sanction the APC’s choice of Mr. Yahaya Bello as candidate, and eventual winner of the Kogi State governorship election in November 2015, following the sudden death of Prince Abubakar Audu, who led in the results already declared by INEC, before his demise was made public.

    Which brings us to where we started: That not long ago, Dr. Fayemi and the APC had only a mountain to climb. That mountain could just have been the Olumo Rock, a mere 137 m (449 ft) above sea level. Now with a divided house, they are facing the highest mountain in the world, the Everest, with a height of 8,848 m (29,029 ft). Will they be able to surmount the snowy peak?

    In a matter of six days, we would know how formidable the APC was battling internal division, and combatting a political opponent as ruthless as Governor Fayose, who, though not on the ballot, has deployed all weapons at his disposal to install his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola.

     

    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos Nigeria.

  • Kaduna LG poll: APC wins 12, PDP takes five, others pending

    Kaduna LG poll: APC wins 12, PDP takes five, others pending

    The Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM) on Monday declared the local government elections results for Chikun as inconclusive.

    Samuel Ndams, SIECOM returning officer for Chikun local government, who made the announcement, said only results from seven wards out of the 12 wards of the area were submitted.

    Ndams said results from five wards were not submitted at the collation centre, “therefore after due consultation with the SIECOM headquarters we decided to declare the LG polls in Chikun local government inconclusive”.

    Meanwhile, official results declared by returning officers indicate that the ruling APC maintains its lead in 12 local government areas, while the PDP won in five local government areas, even as results from three LGs are still pending, making a total of 21 LGs.

    Election did not hold in Jaba and Kaura local government areas.

    In Kubau, Muhammed Tukur Bashir, the returning officer, declared Sabo Aminu of the APC who scored 46,535 votes as the winner of the poll, beating Umar Abdullahi of the PDP who scored 13,398 votes.

    In Giwa, Abu Shehu Lawal Giwa of the APC won with 57,005 votes defeating Bello Shehu Kago of the PDP who got 2,673 votes as declared by Muhammed Sani, the LG returning officer.

    Musa Yusuf, the returning officer of Kauru local government, declared PDP’s Shuaibu Goma, who scored 24,393 votes as the winner against Bashir Tanko of the APC with 21,564 votes.

    Also, John Mallam Lugards, the returning officer for Ikara LG, has announced Ibrahim Salihu Sadiq of the APC who polled 42,312 votes as the winner for Ikara polls, defeating his PDP counterpart Abdullahi Aliyu who scored 9,248 votes.

    In Lere, Aminu Ahmed Muhammed, returning officer, has declared Abubakar Buba of the APC who scored 92,854 as the winner, beating Jumare Tanimu Magaji of the PDP with 16,231 votes.

    Micah Victor, returning officer for Sabon Gari local government, announced Mohammed Ibrahim Usman of the APC as the winner after scoring 20, 576 votes against PDP’s Suleiman Ibrahim Gambo with 9,580 votes.

    Similarly, Ahmed Kofa, returning officer for Igabi local government, announced Jabir Khamis of the APC who scored 47,630 as duly elected chairman, beating Abubakar Abubakar of the PDP with 2,449 votes.

    In Sanga, Samuel Shamaki of the PDP emerged winner of the chairmanship contest with 20,843 votes, beating Charles Danladi of the APC, who got 19,757 votes.

    Similarly, Nuhu Garba, SIECOM’s returning officer announced PDP’s Peter Agite as the winner in the Kachia local government chairmanship contest with 42,242 votes to beat his APC counterpart, Peter Dan-Baki, who got 33, 817 votes.

    Returning officer, Kaduna north LG, Umar Hayatu announced APC’s Saleh Shuaibu, who scored 168,572 votes as the winner, beating Muhammad Sabo Babayaro of the PDP who got 12,467 votes, while the PRP candidate had. 4,956 votes.

    In Zangon Kataf local government area, Elias Maza won with 55,643 votes, against the APC candidate, John Hassan with 31,514 votes.

    In Jema’a local government, Arnaold Makeri, the returning officer, announced Peter Averik of the PDP winner with 45,361 votes to beat Cecelia Musa of the APC who got 25, 973 votes.

    Lawal Abdullahi-Tukur, returning officer for Kudan LG, announced APC’s Shu’aibu Bawa-Jaja with 72,021 votes as the winner in the chairmanship contest beating PDP’s Kabiru Isiaku who got 3,394 votes

    Aliyu Umar, returning officer Soba LG, also announced that Mohammed Mahmud Aliyu of the APC who scored 40,903 votes as the elected chairman against the PDP candidate Muhammad Surajo Tukur who got 13,835 votes.

    In Zaria LG, Aliyu Idris Ibrahim of the APC won with 42,859 votes to beat PDP’s Yusuf Namadi with 16,033 votes.

    Similarly, Musa Abdullahi Mahdi, returning officer for Makarfi LG said APC’s Kabiru Musa Mayere won with 25,199 votes against Ibrahim Isyaku of the PDP who scored 13,088 votes.

    SIECOM announced APC as the winner of Birnin Gwari local government area but results not yet obtained.

    The official results for Kagarko and Kajuru LGs were yet to be ascertained, while that of Kaduna south is still being awaited.

    While the APC and the state government have commended the results so far released as reflecting the wish of the people, the PDP has cried foul, saying most of the results were fabricated.

  • Kaduna: We are more concerned with organising credible poll than APC victory – El-Rufai

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state on Saturday said that having a credible electoral process was more important than his party, the All Progressives Congress’ victory in the same poll.

    The governor said this on Saturday after casting his vote in the local government elections going on in the state.

    He noted that credible poll was more important than the victory of the APC, even as he expressed delight over the impressive and peaceful turn-out of residents for the election.

    El-Rufai said that he does not care whether his party wins or loses at the local government election as long as it was credible, free and fair.

    El-Rufai said although there were initial hiccups with the electronic voting machine, the problems have been resolved.

    The governor, accompanied by some state executives, arrived at his polling unit at 12:47 p.m and went straight for accreditation and then patiently join the queue with other voters. He cast his vote at exactly 1:09 p.m.

  • Ajimobi dares Court, says LG election will hold as scheduled

    Ajimobi dares Court, says LG election will hold as scheduled

    Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State says the May 12 local government election will hold in the state as scheduled inspite of a court ruling stopping it in some wards.

    The governor gave the assurance in Ibadan at a rally held at the party’s state secretariat.

    Recall that a Federal High Court in Ibadan had on Wednesday stopped the conduct of the poll in some wards created by the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC).

    Five persons from Eruwa in Ibarapa East Local Government Area had approached the court to seek an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the local government election in the state from holding.

    Justice J.O Abdulmalik of the court had in his ruling stopped the conduct of the election in the affected wards pending the determination of the substantive case and had adjourned hearing till May 28.

    But Ajimobi said that the election would hold in all the wards across the state, including the disputed ones.

    He said the ruling did not in any way stop the scheduled council poll.

    Ahead of the APC congress scheduled to commence on Saturday from the ward level, Ajimobi also called for unity among party members in the state.

    The governor stated that the only way to have a strong and formidable party was when members work together in harmony for the party.

    “ You all should go back to your respective wards and work together.

    “Where you are pleased with the present executives, you can return them and where consensus on such is not reached, let the interested parties go to the field.

    “We won’t tolerate crisis and anyone who dares do such will be handed over to the police,’’ he said.

    NAN reports that the APC congress in the state was coming at a time the party was battling with internal wrangling within it.

    The rally was attended by executives of the party, political leaders as well as members of the party from across the 33 local governments in the state.

  • Voting commences in Liberia’s presidential run-off election

    Voting has begun in polling centres across Liberia as the West African country chooses its next president in a delayed presidential run-off election.

    The run-off is between former international football star, Sen. George Weah and incumbent Vice President, Mr Joseph Boakai.

    Weah won the first round of elections on Oct. 10 with 38 per cent of the total votes cast and was followed by Boakai who came second with 29 per cent.

    But, both men fell short of the 50 per cent plus one absolute majority vote required for a winner to emerge in the first round, hence the run-off.

    The winner will succeed outgoing President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is stepping down in January after completing her constitutional 12-year tenure of two terms of six years each.

    A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Correspondent in Monrovia, the capital, reports that polls opened at exactly 8:00 GMT at centres visited.

    However, voter turnout was low at the centres compared to the Oct. 10 elections.

    NAN observed the presence of security personnel and at least three queue controllers at each of the centres.

    Oppong Wennah, a polling official, told NAN that the process had been smooth and fast, but said the turnout was low.

    A voter, Dillion Boakai, said he spent less than 20 minutes on queue to cast his vote unlike Oct. 10 when he managed to vote after six hours.

    Others who spoke said they had no problem with the run-off holding on Boxing Day, adding that it was the necessary price for a peaceful transition of power.

    This is first transition election since 1973 in a country that is recovering from over a decade of devastating civil war.

  • Anambra 2017: APC about to kiss poll bye By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Unless respect for due process, equity and fair play guides its arbitration, what’s about to happen to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November governorship election in Anambra State is what history teaches those that do not learn from history: A bitter lesson!

    The party’s National Working Committee (NWC) in Abuja is treading a similar path that caused the APC the July 8 Osun West senatorial bye-election that was almost in its bag for keeps.

    A flashback to that election indicates that the screening and appeals committees for the primaries had disqualified Senator Mudashiru Hussain, a former commissioner in the cabinet of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, for allegedly failing to resign his appointment 30 days before seeking to represent the APC at the election.

    However, the screening committee cleared Chief Ademola Adeleke, a brother to the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke, whose sudden death in March created the void for the bye-election.

    Recall that during this period, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was asphyxiating due to each of its two factions’ desire to choose an acceptable candidate that the party members would back for the district balloting.

    Meanwhile, at an emergency meeting in Abuja on June 12, the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led NWC reversed the Hussain disqualification, thus incurring widespread disapproval from the party members in the senatorial district, and across the state.

    With the APC effectively bungling its own affairs just weeks to the actual polling, Chief Adeleke sought refuge in the PDP, which received him with pomp and ceremony, knowing that the prevailing sentiments in Osun after the demise of Senator Adeleke would swing the votes in its favour. And it did: the PDP prevailed, thanks to the lifeline thrown to it by the APC.

    Back to the Anambra State gubernatorial contest in November. History is about to be repeated, as the APC conducted what was pronounced as the freest and fairest primaries by any political party in the annals of the state.

    Party primaries, being the major determinants of who fly the flags at an election, are always contentious due to intrigues that attend canvassing for the delegates, the voting and its aftermath.

    Perhaps, the Anambra APC primaries on August 26/27 in Awka, the capital city, were no less wired, from whatever angle you may look at it: grassroots popularity, use of money, manipulation of delegates’ list, intimidation of delegates and preference by the party heavyweights.

    However, owing principally to the seeming transparency displayed by both the APC Screening and Primaries Committees, the election of the candidate, Dr. Tony Nwoye, received instant acclaim from the committees, contestants, delegates and party members.

    Of the 4,333 votes cast by the expected 5,000 plus delegates for the 11 aspirants for the ticket, Nwoye, a member of the House of Representatives, scored 2,146, to defeat his closest rival, Senator Andy Uba, who got 931 votes, according to the Chief Returning Officer and Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima.

    Poll over, the Chairman of the Anambra APC Election Planning and Strategy Committee and a former governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo; Governor Shettima; the party leaders in Anambra; and APC’s chieftain and former governor of Abia State, Dr. Uzor Orji Kalu, hailed the conduct of the primaries.

    But as things stand today, the November election may be far from Dr. Nwoye’s mind, as he fights to extricate himself from a web of scheming aimed at denying him the ticket he overwhelmingly won.

    The arrows are coming from the camp of Senator Uba, who has filed a petition before the APC appeals committee, alleging that Dr. Nwoye imported students, “who acted as thugs, damaged vehicles at the venue of the primaries and drove away delegates and voted in the place of the authentic delegates.”

    The question to ask: Was there any protest(s) in this regard lodged by Senator Uba and/or any other aspirant(s) before, during and immediately after the primaries?

    Yet, several so-called civil society organisations, previously heard or unheard of, including a Concerned Anambra APC Youths, are parroting the Uba petition, and praying the appeals panel to replace Nwoye with Uba, who they credited with having the “experience, maturity and political sagacity on his side,” which they said Nwoye lacks, to defeat the incumbent Governor Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

    Will any unbiased watcher classify Mr. Nwoye, a medical doctor, and a member of the National Assembly, who had won the usually fiercely contested presidency of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), as not sufficiently grounded in the political nuances of Anambra to vie for the governorship again, as does Uba?

    The schism in the Anambra APC is like a replay of the 2013 governorship election that brought the APGA to power. Then, Dr. Nwoye and Senator Uba, both of the PDP, couldn’t harmonise for a single primary contest.

    Instead, they held two factional primaries, and the party headquarters in Abuja, on account of a court ruling, belatedly endorsed Nwoye a few days to the election, which the PDP lost, placing second to the APGA.

    Interestingly, Nwoye, who appeared last week before the appeals committee to rebut the allegations, said that despite his entreaties, Senator Uba had refused to recognise him as the duly nominated candidate for the election.

    The reason for that is now obvious, against Chief Nwobodo’s timely reminder “for all the aspirants to keep to their promise to support the winner of the primaries.”

    Will the NWC of the APC, as it did in the Osun West bye-election, reject the candidate with the wider appeal among the party faithful, and who won the primaries with a margin of 1,215 votes, and hand over the party ticket to an aspirant that came a distant second?

    From the experiences of the PDP primaries of the 2013 election, and those of the APC in August, in which Dr. Nwoye consecutively prevailed over Senator Uba, who will the party credit with having the grassroots supports to run on its behalf?

    That decision is for the NWC to make, either for good or for ill!

     

    Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • Kenyatta’s rival, Raila Odinga hails Supreme Court’s ‘historic’ decision overturning poll

    Kenyatta’s rival, Raila Odinga hails Supreme Court’s ‘historic’ decision overturning poll

    Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga on Friday hailed as historic a court decision nullifying an election won by President Uhuru Kenyatta and calling for a re-run.

    “This is a historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension for the people of the continent of Africa,” said Odinga, adding it was the first time a presidential result had been overturned in Africa.

    “We are ready for elections but we don’t have confidence” in the electoral commission (IEBC), he added.

    “Those commissioners must go,” said Odinga. “Most of them belong in jail.”

  • Lagos LG poll : It was a clean sweep, says Ambode

    Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has said politicians aggrieved by the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the local government election shouldn’t resort to self-help.

    Results released so far has shown that the ruling party won in 20 local government council and 37 local council development areas.

    In a congratulatory message, Ambode said the party’s victory was a confirmation that Lagosians have confidence in the party.

    “It was a clean sweep for all the 57 chairmanship candidates of the APC as they were all declared winner by the Lagos state independent electoral commission (LASIEC) defeating all their rivals in the keenly contested election.

    “This victory for us is nothing more than a confirmation of the trust that Lagosians have placed on the party. In that regard, I like to congratulate our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the landslide victory at the Saturday’s election in all the 57 councils.

    “I particularly note with joy the peaceful conduct of electorate who came out to exercise their franchise in favour of their preferred candidates despite the heavy rain.

    “This is indeed a welcome development and it will go a long way to strengthen our resolve to push ahead with our vision to transform the local government system, being the closest to the people.

    “I am also happy that we are conducting the local government election during my time after almost six years that the election was last held in the state.”

  • Rivers re-run: Buhari canvases for peaceful, credible poll

    Rivers re-run: Buhari canvases for peaceful, credible poll

    …says elections shouldn’t be a ‘do-or-die’ affair

    In a bid to calm the already tensed atmosphere in Rivers State over the rerun elections scheduled to hold on Saturday December 10, President Muhammadu Buhari has called on politicians in the state not to see the election as a “do-or-die” affair.

    Buhari gave the advice while calling for peaceful and orderly conduct of the Saturday’s polls.

    In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Friday, the President appealed to politicians and their supporters in Rivers State to put the “higher interest of the people of the state in mind, as they go to the polls on Saturday.”

    Buhari also called on all electoral stakeholders to ensure that tomorrow’s elections are conducted without “rigging, violence and intimidation of opponents and electoral officials.

    The statement reads in path: “He also enjoins the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to do all within its powers to give transparency and fairness to the electoral exercise in Rivers State.

    “The rerun elections should not be seen as a do-or-die affair to the extent that people will be killed, maimed and property destroyed in a mindless display of crude primitive instincts.

    “Innocent blood should never be sacrificed on the altar of political contest for temporary power”.

    The President, urged security and law enforcement agencies to exhibit, “professionalism and non-partisanship in the discharge of their constitutional duties even in the face of extreme provocations”

    However, he directed security agents to deal decisively with “trouble makers” and those bent on “violating the sanctity of the electoral process.”

    The President maintained that his administration is committed to ensuring the conduct of free, fair and credible election, restating ”the commitment of his administration to deepening democracy in the country by enthroning a legacy of respect for the wishes of the people through free, fair and credible elections devoid of intimidation and violence throughout the federation.”