Factional national chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Ozo Victor Oye, has decried the various acts of impunity by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the buildup to the Anambra State governorship poll. The APGA chieftain urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly to call INEC to order, adding that the nation’s law enforcement agencies should deal with impostors causing confusion in Nigeria political space. He said those causing confusion in APGA are afraid that the party will win the governorship again, stressing, whoever “is strong politically should go to the people to test his/her strength and not go through the back door.” Oye, who spoke with journalists at the APGA national secretariat, Abuja, yesterday, regretted that the electoral umpire was conniving with a bunch of lawless politicians to confuse the electorate about APGA’s candidate for the November 6 election. The Guardian gathered that INEC listed Hon. Chukwuma Umeoji, who was elected at the primary organised by the Jude Okeke faction, as the candidate of the incumbent party for the forthcoming governorship election in the state. In the list of governorship candidates uploaded on its website, INEC published the name of House of Representatives member, Umeoji under APGA, Senator Andy Uba as All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, even as it temporarily dropped the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Valentine Ozigbo. The electoral umpire, however, indicated ‘Court Order’ as reason for its action on APGA and PDP’s candidates, thereby signalling that the list was not yet exhaustive. INEC National Commissioner & Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said the decisions were based on obedience to court orders served on the commission in relation to the party primaries and other processes leading to the election. It should be recalled that prior to its governorship primary, APGA was rocked by leadership crisis, even as two separate factions laid claims to its leadership. While the Oye-led faction threw up Soludo, the Okeke faction declared Umeoji winner of its own primary, just as the Chief Edozie Njoku camp announced him as its own candidate. Further, an FCT (Federal Capital Territory) High Court in Abuja had last Thursday ordered INEC to suspend moves to publish any name as the governorship candidate of PDP in the November poll. In his ruling on an ex parte application filed by one of the aspirants laying claim to the PDP’s ticket, the judge, Yusuf Halilu, directed INEC to maintain the status quo by not publishing any name as the party’s candidate in deference to ongoing proceedings. “Order that all parties to this suit be put on notice, and I also further order that status quo shall be maintained by INEC by not publishing the name of any candidate as governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice,” the enrolled order of the court read in part. Valentine Ozibo and Ugochukwu Uba had emerged as the PDP’s governorship candidate from parallel primary elections and both men are currently laying claim to the party’s ticket while reconciliation fails to unite the gladiators. Okoye said the commission would continue to act in consonance with the constitution and the law and will continue to obey the judgments and orders of courts served on it. The list showed that 18 political parties and candidates would participate in the November poll. The INEC commissioner on Voter Education added that the personal particulars of the candidates would be published in the commission’s Notice Board in Awka, Anambra State. But betraying pain and anger, Oye expressed surprise that INEC failed to upload the name of its gubernatorial candidate, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, despite the fact that it (INEC) monitored the governorship primary at which the former Central Bank (CBN) governor was elected. The national chairman disclosed how APGA “got feelers from INEC that one Jude Okeke and his co-travellers want to infiltrate the commission to publish an aspirant that did not make it through to the party’s primary and to announce him as the governorship candidate of APGA.” Describing Okeke and his co-travellers as strangers to APGA, Oye said the renegades decided to forum shop for complaint courts to create the impression that they represent the party. He stated: “To tell you how wicked the impostors are, apart from going to Jigawa to get the bizarre judgement in which my name was not even mentioned, they procured a fake lawyers to present both INEC and APGA. They went to the Jigawa State High Court to confuse the judge, pretending that they were the genuine party leaders. “How can you talk about change of leadership of APGA with the national chairman, who is still alive, and without adhering to the party’s constitution. As a law-abiding party, we have appealed against the Jigawa High Court judgement. “If that development holds true, it will be a big embarrassment to Nigeria’s political system, and embarrassment to Nigeria as a nation and its leaders, particularly to President Muhammadu Buhari, who is a stickler for rule of law and equity.” Going down memory lane, the embattled national chairman recalled how APGA started the processes for its governorship primary election by publishing a timetable. He stated: “We followed through to the primary that held on June 23, 2021 in Awka, duly monitored by INEC. Result turned in by the monitoring committee of INEC. As at July 23, it was only APGA, under my leadership, that have conducted its primary. “We are the first to conduct our primary among the three biggest political parties in Nigeria. And our primary was aired live by national televisions and witnessed by the entire world. After the primary, INEC sent me a letter to come forward to collect the code for uploading of particulars of our candidate and his deputy. “On July 2, in accordance with the Electoral Act and the Timetable of INEC, we uploaded the particulars of our governorship candidate, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo and his deputy, Dr. Onyekachi Ibezim.

FORTY-TWO Northern youth groups under the aegis of the Northern Youth Leaders Forum (NYLF) have described southern governors’ demand for a southern president n 2023 as insensitive, offensive and provocative. The national president of the NYLF, Eliot Afiyo, who made the position of the groups known at a press conference in Yola, Adamawa State, after a six-day consultative tour of the Northern-East, said with such a demand, the “Southern governors have exposed their political inexperience and infancy.” Afiyo said the declaration had established the fact that the southern governors lacked political mastery and planning. “This declaration tends to tell Northerners that the 2023 presidential election would be North versus South instead of the political parties. “We consider this declaration as provocative, insensitive, offensive, challenging and declaration of a political war which must be given thorough and intelligent consideration and action,” he stated. He therefore challenged the southern governors to summon the courage to specify the geopolitical zone in the south that would produce the next president if they desired the presidency.The group had last month endorsed the Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, as its choice candidate for the 2023 presidential election. Afiyo boasted that the NYLF had been making such choices since 1999 except in 2019 and all the group’s choice candidates had ended up emerging as Nigeria’s president. Meanwhile, the NYLF criticised the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for its protest in Kaduna State, warning the workers’ body to desist from holding any form of protest in the state or any other northern state against any government policy except insecurity. Afiyo lamented that many people, including 67 members of the NYLF, died as a result of the protest staged by the NLC in Kaduna through lack of medical attention in hospitals, hunger and the untold hardship occasioned by the strike. Also, the group commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the introduction of electronic transmission of election results in Ondo and Edo states governorship elections. Afiyo said this action had given credibility to the process and eliminated ballot box snatching, falsification of results and other election malpractices. NYLF therefore urged the National Assembly to include electronic transmission of election results and discard electronic voting in the Amended Electoral Act for now because of the rate of literacy in the country, especially in the North.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has adjusted the date of the commencement of physical registration for the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration from July 19 to July 26, because of the declaration of public holidays by the Federal Government. Disclosing this in a statement issued by Mr Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, on Friday, in Abuja, the commission said the one-week shift in the date, followed the government’s declaration of July 20 and July 21 as public holidays. Okoye said that the commission met on Thursday and deliberated on a number of issues, including the commencement of the physical registration of voters and the scheduled appointments by online registrants. 13, the commission met with Resident Electoral Commissioners and noted that the commencement of the physical registration of voters scheduled for Monday, July 19 might be affected by the public holidays. “Also, facing the prospects of interruption of their registration schedules are some of the online registrants who have scheduled their appointments for the completion of their registrations on dates likely to clash with the same public holidays. “The commission promised thereafter to meet on Thursday, July 15, to review the situation and provide clarity on the matter. This is what it has done. “With the declaration of Tuesday July 20 and Wednesday July 21, as public holidays by the Federal Government the date scheduled for the commencement of physical registration have to be adjusted. “Consequently, the physical registration of voters will now commence on Monday, July 26.” Okeye said that online registrants that have scheduled appointments from July 19 to July 23 would have their appointments rescheduled. He emphasised that the Continuous Voter Registration would run for a period of one year, assuring all Nigerians that no citizen eligible to register as a voter would be left behind.

The House of Representatives, yesterday, passed the Electoral Act (Repeal/Re-enactment) Bill, 2021, after the full consideration of the report on the bill by members in the Committee of the Whole. The Committee of the Whole was presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Ahmed Idris Wase, in line with the rules of the House. The bill was subsequently read for the third time before the House adjourned for its yearly recess till September 14, 2021. The majority of the 158 clauses of the bill were passed intact, including Clause 52 (2), which initially generated tension among members. The clause, which provides that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shall determine the mode of voting/transmission of election results, was left intact after attempts made by some members between Thursday and Friday to amend it failed. The retained Clause 52 (2) reads, “Voting at election and transmission of results in this Bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission.” This clause, therefore, leaves INEC with the option to use either electronic or manual transmission of results. The Senate had last Thursday passed its own version of the Bill, which requires INEC to seek clearance from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Assembly before deploying electronic transmission of election results in any part of the country. The clause generated serious disagreement among members earlier on Thursday, following which the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, invited the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to address the House on whether the country had attained the capacity to seamlessly transmit election results from across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT, using available telecommunications services. NCC’s Director of Technical Services, Malam Ubale Maska, while testifying before the lawmakers, disclosed that only 50.3 per cent of the 190,000 polling units in the country were covered by 2G and 3G networks. Claiming that the remaining 49.7 per cent was without network coverage, the NCC official maintained that only a 3G network could adequately transmit the results. Maska further admitted that INEC server was susceptible to manipulation by hackers even as the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, failed to appear before the House to state his own side of the issue. The House, upon receiving the briefing by the officials, resumed consideration of the bill, sticking to its decision to retain the original provision empowering INEC to determine the mode of voting and transmission of election results. The few clauses of the bill amended were 1; 5(2); 6; 36(3)(b); 49; 87(2): and 113(1). The bill was, however, passed in absence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members, who had earlier staged a walkout led by House Minority Leader, Mr. Ndudi Elumelu. Addressing his colleagues after the bill was passed, Gbajabiamila thanked them for their commitment to passing it, describing the bill as a “very important” one to Nigerians. Gbajabiamila, who touched on the burning issue of electronic transmission of results, appealed for understanding. He said much as it was the wish of many Nigerians, including himself, to have electronic transmission of results, available evidence suggested that it had yet to be possible because of the lack of capacity to deliver such a major task. “I believe we all have been better informed by the NCC people. We wish to have electronic transmission of results, but we do not want to disenfranchise anybody. “Even if it’s one person’s vote that will not be counted, then we have not achieved our desire to have a transparent election,” he stated. The Speaker buttressed the point made by the NCC that no system was free from being hacked into, adding that Nigeria might be losing at the end of the day if it hurriedly opts for the electronic transmission of results. “What we are even talking about here in our case, is electronic transmission of results; we are not talking about electronic voting. I believe we will get there one day as we continue to work on improving our electoral system,” he said. Spokesperson of the House, Mr. Benjamin Kalu, who later briefed reporters, also adduced explanations offered by the NCC official as basis for the decision to give INEC the discretionary powers over usage of electronic transmission of poll results. “Nobody is against electronic transmission of results. We are looking at what is on ground. It is not for people to say what they want. No Nigerian should be disenfranchised. As it stands, it is not possible for all Nigerians to be covered. We want INEC to determine what to do on the issue,” he argued. But Elumelu, who led dozens of opposition lawmakers to brief reporters, alleged that the position of his colleagues on electronic transmission of results was part of the grand design by the APC-led administration to rig the 2023 poll. He added: “We cannot be part of that fake process of depriving Nigerians of their rights for their votes to be counted accurately because electronic transmission of results will guard against fraud. It will guard against rigging and votes can count. But what they have done now is to discountenance our agitation that there should be transparency in the next conduct of our elections.” Meanwhile, human rights activist and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa, yesterday, said neither the National Assembly nor the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) could dictate to INEC on election matters. This is even as the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has described the Bill passed by the Senate as “illegal and deleting ‘independence’ from INEC and seriously undermining the ability of the electoral body to conduct transparent elections.” Adegboruwa, who was reacting to the Senate’s decision, said Section 78 of the Constitution gives only INEC power over procedure of elections not NCC or the National Assembly. He stressed that the proposed amendment to the Act as determined by the Senate on the issue of transmission of results would violate the Constitution. “Neither the Constitution nor the Electoral Act recognises the NCC in the process of election. The