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Tag: Yunusa Tanko

  • INEC is frustrating us – Labour Party cries out

    INEC is frustrating us – Labour Party cries out

    The Labour Party has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of frustrating its petition against the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.

    At a press conference in Lagos, spokesman of the Presidential Campaign Council of the party, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, accused INEC of disobeying the Order of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal which directed it to grant the Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, access to the certified true copies of materials used in the conduct of the poll.

    He said the order of the presidential election petition tribunal was duly served on INEC on March 3 despite the fact that the commission was present and represented at the tribunal when the order was made.

    He said the party also sent a letter to the Commission on March 6, reminding the electoral umpire that it was yet to obey the order.

    Yunusa threatened that Labour Party might ask its supporters to stage protests at offices of the commission over the refusal to obey the court order.

    “It should be noted that in a democracy like ours, rule of law must triumph not only in our legal system but also in our body polity as a whole. Parties to a litigation like in the instant case must accept and obey every order of court in good faith and no party should be seen to employ self-help to disparage or disrespect an order of court which if not checked and curtailed could possibly undermine our democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism.

    “The action of INEC under reference also constitutes for all intent and purposes, an act of judicial insubordination and willful refusal to comply with the order of court,” he said.

    He noted that while INEC has refused the party access to the election materials, the commission has started reconfiguring the BVAS machines without representatives of the parties in the case in attendance to confirm the data that is being backed up.

    “We therefore call on the general public to note the level of lawlessness and brazen disobedience to a lawful order of a court by an important statutory agency such as INEC, and which is a well calculated attempt to undermine and frustrate the presentation of the Petition by the Labour Party and its Presidential candidate before the tribunal in good time.

    “We therefore want to state that we will not fail to call our supporters to march to INEC offices nationwide in a non-violent protest which is allowed by law. This is to curtail the flagrant disobedience to court orders by INEC,” he added.

    Dr. Tanko who maintained that Obi won the election from the results submitted by its party agents from the polling units, urged Nigerians to vote for candidates of the party in the rescheduled March 18 governorship/State Assembly elections.

  • We will occupy your offices nationwide, Labour Party tells INEC

    We will occupy your offices nationwide, Labour Party tells INEC

    The Labour Party (LP) has threatened that it will call on its members to occupy offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission nationwide for allegedly frustrating its petition against the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.

    The spokesman for the Presidential Campaign Council of the party, Dr Yunusa Tanko, in a statement obtained Saturday, accused INEC of disobeying the order of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal directing the electoral umpire to grant Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, access to the certified true copies of materials used in the conduct of the poll.

    “It will be recalled that the aforesaid order of the presidential election petition tribunal was duly served on INEC on March 3, 2023, despite the fact that they were present and represented at the tribunal when the Order was made.

    “Not minding the service of the said order on INEC, and a reminder letter dated March 6, 2023, and delivered same date at the INEC Headquarters Abuja, the electoral umpire has continued to ignore and or disobey the valid Order of such magnitude till now,” Tanko said.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on March 3 granted the request of the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his LP counterpart, Obi’s request to inspect the election materials used during February 25 presidential poll.

    Atiku and Obi had approached the Presidential Election Court to seek permission for the inspection of election materials used during the poll.

    Atiku and Obi refused to concede defeat in the February 25 presidential election, vowing to recover their mandate in court.

    The two candidates rebuffed the gesture of conciliation made by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, who in his acceptance speech after he was declared the winner of the poll asked them to support him in the task of building the nation.

    Both the PDP and the LP rejected the election results over alleged rigging, and voter intimidation among other reasons.

    Reacting further, Tanko said, “The action of INEC under reference also constitutes for all intent and purposes, an act of judicial insubordination and willful refusal to comply with the order of court.

    “As we speak INEC has chosen to obey the court order given to it to reconfigure the BIVAS machine, which they doing right now and ignoring the order granted to us to inspect electoral materials.

    “We, therefore, call on the general public to note the level of lawlessness and brazen disobedience to a lawful order of a court by an important statutory agency such as INEC, and which is a well-calculated attempt to undermine and frustrate the presentation of the petition by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate before the tribunal in good time.

    “We, therefore, want to state that we will not fail to call our supporters to march to INEC offices nationwide in a non-violent protest which is allowed by law.”

  • 2023 elections: Labour Party expresses fear as Big Brother Titan set to premiere

    2023 elections: Labour Party expresses fear as Big Brother Titan set to premiere

    The Labour Party (LP) has warned Ni­gerian youths against the new reality show, Big Brother tagged: ’The Titans’, saying it was a distraction to them.

    Dr Yunusa Tanko, the Chief Spokesperson of the LP presidential Campaign Committee, (LP-PCC), stated this during a press briefing in Enugu, on Wednesday.

    According to him, it is targeted at distracting them from casting their votes on the election dates.

    Tanko alleged that the reality show was being sponsored by one of the major opposition parties, to distract the youths from voting their choice of candidate

    The television programme is designed to hit the airwaves by Jan. 15 barely 40 days to general elections.

    Tanko said, “The essence of this press conference is to alert the ever vibrant Nigerian youths of the hidden agenda behind the new reality show tagged: “The Titans”.

    “We have credible information that it’s being sponsored by one of the major opposition parties to distract the Nigerian youths from changing the leadership that has placed them in perilous times laced with abject poverty,” he said.

    He stressed that the information made available to them revealed that the son of one of the presidential candidates in active collaboration with others visited South Africa to hatch this plan.

    “As a party with the sole aim of turning our dear country into a place where poverty, unemployment, ‘japa’ will be seen as a taboo is being threatened by an opposition that hates the Nigerian youths with passion.

    “Big Titan or whatever they may call it, will distract the youths from taking what belongs to them now.

    “The Big Brother Naija ended not long ago, why the ‘Titans’ now that we are facing a major election that will determine the future of the Nigerian youths,” he queried.

    Tanko said that the reality show now was laced with a lot of unforeseen dangers for the youths because their attention would be divided.

    “As a party we are not against reality shows because it helps the Nigerian youths to break the poverty line but for now, for the common good of all it should be shifted to another convenient date.

    “This should be after the general elections must have been concluded.

    “Those putting together a reality show at this time when we are counting days to the general elections are enemies of the Nigerian youths and by extension all well meaning Nigerians,” Tanko said.

    He said the question Nigerians should be asking the organisers was whether they were truly friends of the political entity known as Nigeria or enemies of progress.

    The LP-PCC spokesperson further said the reality show was concocted and designed by a major opposition political party stressing that at the right time they would unmask them to the Nigerian youths.

  • Labour Party raises alarm over distribution of PVCs

    Labour Party raises alarm over distribution of PVCs

    Ahead of the Feb. 25 presidential election, the Labour Party (LP) has raised alarm over the slow distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The party is insisting that the electoral body must immediately and speedily deliver PVCs to Nigerians to enable them to vote in the forthcoming general polls.

    Dr Yunusa Tanko, the chief spokesperson of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Committee (LP-PCC) raised the concern on Wednesday at a media briefing in Enugu.

    He expressed concern that the electoral body had less than two weeks to deliver the PVCs, pointing out that INEC appeared to be unconcerned about the date.

    He wondered how INEC would be able to meet up with the deadline to ensure that Nigerians got their PVCs within the stipulated period.

    “INEC has less than two weeks to deliver PVCs to Nigerians and the reports we are receiving nationwide about the ineptitude of its staff is disheartening and frustrating most PVC collectors.

    “We have received reports from all the geopolitical zones in Nigeria and the messages are all the same, people complaining of the snail pace at which the PVCs are being distributed,“ Tanko said.

    He said people had less than two weeks to collect their  PVCs.

    “People go and queue for hours to collect their PVCs and out of about 500 on the line, fewer than 20 of them are able to collect theirs.

    “What kind of miracle is INEC going to perform that will ensure Nigerians get their PVCs within this short period if there’s no sinister motive underneath,” the Labour PCC spokesman asked.

    He noted that though the process for the collection of the PVCs started on Dec.12 and was expected to end on Jan. 22, many potential voters were complaining that the process was cumbersome.

    “We have said it in different fora that on no account should any Nigerian be denied his inalienable right to cast his ballot,” he said.

    Tanko urged INEC to take action on what he described as “deliberately designed weak operations“ so as not to create the impression that it has a “hidden script unknown to the public“.

  • Obi/Datti will double Buhari’s 2019 votes in 2023 – Dr Yunusa Tanko

    Obi/Datti will double Buhari’s 2019 votes in 2023 – Dr Yunusa Tanko

    …says they enjoy wide acceptance in northern Nig

    …insists we’ve maintained the cleanest campaign so far

    Chairman of National Conscience Party, NCP and spokesperson of Third Force, Dr Yunusa Tanko has said the Obi/Datti ticket of the Labour Party have what it takes to double the 15million votes garnered by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 to change the Nigerian political narrative.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Dr Tanko made this disclosure in a webinar organized by the Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy… Obi/Datti Presidency Project, late Sunday night with vivid analysis pointing to the preparedness of Labour Party to unseat the ruling APC.

    Tanko in his presentation stated that from Labour Party’s projections, Buhari’s 2019 will be doubled with little or no stress as the Obi/Datti support base is in the youths.

    Tanko explained that his presentation is in three perspectives bordering on how we started, where we are and our focus.

    He said for the past 15 months the labour movement started but had been in the struggle for over three decades right from the days of Dan Nwanyanwu down to the present chairman, Comrade Julius Abure and our Hon Secretary, Umar Farouk.

    “This is the first time that the labour movement is well coordinated towards a common purpose and common interest and this should be well encouraged to get the desired results.

    “The TUC, NLC and trade unions across Nigeria are well enmeshed into this movement and there’s urgent need for proper cohesion.

    “By May 2022 Peter Obi joined the movement primarily to give back government to the youths and galvanise Nigeria into a productive nation and not a consumer nation.

    ” I just arrived from a sensitisation tour of the North West with our Hon Secretary where we discovered the massive support for the Obi/Datti ticket as this was an opener considering our findings in the seat of the caliphate, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano and Kebbi.

    “Our findings were astonishing as we discovered that the support cuts across the core northern states of Nigeria.

    He explained that “when we got to Sokoto the only standing billboard was that of Obi/Datti When we got to sokoto one the major billboard is Peter/ Datti standing while some are destroyed signifying acceptance of the Obi/datti candidacy.

    “By the time we finished the sensitisation program in Sokoto, a physically challenged lady, by name Aisha wept uncontrollably that she’s going to support the Obi/Datti ticket with her vote.

    “Just imagine what the outlook will be if all the physically challenged persons in the zone mobilise themselves to support us.

    “The man galvanising the Sokoto axis is Comrade Ikenna Ikeagwu, a Pharmacist who resides in Sokoto, he really deserves commendation for all his efforts.

    Tanko further buttressed that “on a daily basis people register on our website and the numbers are in multitudes across Nigeria and in the diaspora.

    “We have more than 150 support groups across Nigeria and they’re broken down into different groups across various endeavours.

    ” We have the intellectual, financial, volunteer, central groups working day and night to ensure victory is attainable next year.

    On 2023 projections:

    “The 2023 elections is close by and we have the youths behind us and the figures are looking up towards as the recently released figures of newly registered voters in 2022 are 12million with youths having 71percent which represents 8.7m youths between the age of 18 – 34 years.

    “Out of 2022 registration, in Kano had 569,000, Lagos 585,639, Rivers 473,974.

    “These are verifiable figures in the public domain that can be cross checked by anybody.

    “The catch here is that we can’t match the money bags money for money, intimidation for intimidation but we can match them with a procedure that I can’t disclose here for security reasons.

    “There’s an urgent need to arrange the various volunteer groups into a central body for proper coordination to achieve greater results.

    “The NLC, TUC, the various critical stakeholders, now is the time to collapse all into a central group because we all have a home now.

    “So far so good we have the cleanest campaign approach strategy and this we must maintain and by God’s grace victory will be ours in 2023.

    Other participants at the webinar and speakers include Professor Eddie Oparaji, a former NADECO chieftain and convener of Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy… Obi/Datti Presidency, Moderators: Chijike Ndukwu and Dr Jude Iheoma.